ABSTRACT
BEING A WEALTHY LADY of leisure, Mrs Brenane took frequent holidays, accompanied by the young Patrick Lafcadio. In Japan, Lafcadio could remember living at Clontarf, North Dublin, when he was a very small boy.l As Clontarf is on the coast, he may have been there for holidays. His grand-aunt would have been familiar with the area from the time she shared a house with her sister at nearby Fairview Avenue. But it was Tramore, a seaside resort in south-eastern Ireland, noted by contemporaries for its fine, long beach, spacious hotel and comfortable lodging-houses, which was her particular favourite. Communications with the city of Waterford were good and it was a favourite summer resort for the people of the nearby counties.2 Mrs Brenane had probably formed the habit of going to Tramore when her late husband was alive and they lived in the adjoining county of Wexford. She may have had contact with the many Roman Catholic Hearns in the area, especially now that she had a young Catholic Hearn under her care. This was a connection which would later prove fatal to Lafcadio's financial prospects.
