Later on, around 500 BC, the Celts started arriving in a process that lasted for quite some time slowly overlaying the local population who adopted their language and culture.
The Annals of Innisfallen state that St. Ciarán of Cape Clear came back to his native place from Rome in 402 AD and introduced Christianity to the area.
[citation needed] Some time in the sixth or seventh century, the family now known as the O'Mahonys from the Eoghanach in North Munster arrived in the area.
[citation needed] From 1375 onwards, the herring fishery was established in the area, and tribute was paid by the French and Iberian fleets to the O'Mahony, O'Driscoll and McCarthy families.
Later on Carew and Mountjoy employed the services of Aongus O Dalaigh of Kilcrohane the prime satirist of the times to compose a satire on 'The Tribes of Ireland'.
However, following the 1641 rising and the raid on Sir William Hull's fish palace involving the O'Mahonys of Dunmanus the lands comprising 1,594 acres (6.45 km2) were confiscated, taking effect in 1649.
In the opinion of Bantry antiquarian Paddy O' Keeffe, it was a unique example of the work of craftsmen who transferred the castle-monastic ornamentation to Cul na Long.
In Bishop Dive Downes' tour 1699, he refers to Vicar Thomas Holmes of Kilmacomoge preaching every fourth Sunday at Captain Evanson's house at Four Mile Water.
In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries families in West Cork and South Kerry such as the O'Donovans, the O'Leary, the O'Sullivans, the Sweeneys and McCarthys managed to acquire leasehold interests as middlemen and had close ties of marriage with each other.
Added to this widespread sub-division, early marriages, the availability of wasteland, smallpox inoculation and the presence of a cottier textile industry and the contribution of fishing allowed a massive population expansion.
The face of the country now wears a different aspect: the sides of the hill are under the plough, the verges of the bogs are reclaimed and the southern coast from Skibbereen to Bandon is one continued garden of grain and potatoes except the barren pinnacles of some hills and the boggy hollows between which are preserved for fuel' (Original in British Library) In the pre-reformation period tithes were a voluntary offering to the clergy in thanks for their work.
Kelleher, Curate of Durrus, that 'the lands are let to the highest bidder; the competition is very great, the tenant holds no tenure in almost every case, but his landlord's will or caprice and that neither landlord or tenant look beyond the gain of the hour the face of the country testifies' Daniel O'Connell presided at a monster meeting in July 1842 attended by an enormous crowd from all districts of West Cork.
Dunmanway and travelled with him by coach and four, as they approached Skibbereen they were feted by a procession made up of bakers, blacksmiths, shoemakers, tailors and weavers preceded by a band.
In 1860 a memorial was presented in Bantry to establish a branch of the National Bank, it was pointed out that there was a lack of coins and notes restricting commerce.
May Roberts, Brahalish in the 1890s remembers Lord Bandon arriving in the area in a four-wheeled car drawn by a pair of fine grey horses with Timmy Burke, the coachman on top.
In the period after the famine the larger farms were run on more commercial lines and firms such as Warners in Bantry supplied an increasing range of machinery.
He described the period after the truce, when in April 1922 a wave of killings by Irregulars included Solicitor Francis Fitzmaurice in Dunmanway whom he had considered joining in practice.
3 Brigade led by Ted O'Sullivan, on Durrus Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) Barracks, Constable Donovan injured his right hand and eventually lost it.
[citation needed] A German plane was hit by the Royal Navy's SS Major C and crashed into Cashelane Hill, Dunbeacon on 5 February 1941, killing five of its crew while one was taken prisoner.
By the mid-18th century, the dairy trade in the area sent butter to the Cork market, but the round trip by horse-drawn cart from Skibbereen could take eight days.
Patrick and Andrew Gallwey of Bantry wrote in 1737 that the small cows in the district would have produced from half to two-thirds of a hundredweight of butter per annum.
In the post-famine era, with consolidation of holdings and the collapse of grain prices with the passing of the Corn Laws, dairying assumed greater importance.
[citation needed] This creamery was opened before those at Caheragh, Kealkil and Bantry and apart from Durrus farmers, other suppliers from those areas delivered their milk on floats carrying 15 or more churns.
[citation needed] Winkles have been harvested along the shores of Dunmanus Bay for many years, and in the past were purchased for the French market by a company operating from Crookhaven who stored them in ponds awaiting transportation.
Collins Administrator of Skibbereen, giving evidence to select committees of the House of Lords and Commons in 1824 referred to 'presents' being given to the magistrates of corn, cattle money and having their turf cut.
The contractor was Daniel O'Donovan, Bantry and the stone was provided from a quarry at Fahies, Clashadoo owned by the Shannon family and drawn to the site by Patrick Crowley of Ahagouna.
[citation needed] Brady mentions a church and chancel in Durrus in 1615 and the Rector Thomas Barnam says in 1639 that it was in good condition unlike the one in Kilcrohane.
Schools at Knockroe, Gearhies and Gortalassa employed Irish-speaking teachers including Seamus O'Suilleabhain of the Ui Shuilleabhain Fachdnaidh at Bonane near Kenmare.
Penitents inside were on their knees, some with arms uplifted praying aloud others counting rosary beads or using a small pebble or cutting notches on a stick to indicate the number of prayers to be repeated.
As early as 1836, consulting engineer Charles Vignoles put forward a scheme to the Railway Commission for a trunk line from Dublin to Cork, including a branch running from Blarney through Macroom and Glengarriff to Castletownebere.