Listowel Connection

This blog is a personal take on Listowel, Co. Kerry. I am writing for anyone anywhere with a Listowel connection but especially for sons and daughters of Listowel who find themselves far from home. Contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com

Month: January 2020 Page 3 of 5

Young Scientists in 1983, landlords and Tenants and Extension planned fro Pres. Secondary School

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On January 20, 2020

In Uncategorized



January with the ladies in Ballincollig Regional Park



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From the Archives



Young Scientists in Listowel in 1983 pictured in The Kerryman


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Some Facts Stranger than Fiction


The oldest bridge in Paris is Pont Neuf meaning new bridge.

The first woman to play golf was Mary Queen of Scots.

Agatha Christie was a keen surfer.

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Landlord and Agent



Kay Caball is the acknowledged expert in the area of Kerry ancestors. Her book, Finding Your Kerry Ancestors and her website, My Kerry Ancestors and her blog

Kerry Ancestors blog

are required reading for anyone researching their Kerry roots.

Here is a small section of a series of blogs on Landords and Tenants;

“In Ireland we are very much aware of the importance of ‘the land’.  Who owned the land? Who rented the land? How  did the system work ? These are just some of the questions that my colleague Jim Ryan of Flyleaf Press and Ancestor Network has answered in his definitive article on Irish land records or Rentals in his recent blog.   

Jim has kindly given me permission to reproduce his blog in sections. I will publish these over the next few weeks, finishing with a list of surviving Kerry land records and where to access them as in my book Finding Your Ancestors in Kerry.

Agents.  The practical day-to-day management of estates was usually the work of land agents,  also known as estate agents.  These could be hired by large estates as members of staff, or contracted as  external estate managers.    There were several large land or estate management companies that  could be hired to perform this role.  Some of these external companies managed hundreds of small estates on behalf of their owners.  Agents provided the estate owners with regular rental reports detailing rental income due and received.  These reports were particularly important for ‘absentee landlords’ who did not reside in Ireland.   These were entirely reliant on their agent to manage their estate business and to keep them informed of issues that might affect their income.  Land stewards, sometimes referred to in documents,  were staff who worked under land agents.

Agents were generally reviled by tenants.  A popular contemporary quote was that ‘Landlords were sometimes decent men,  but agents were devils one and all’.   This is not entirely fair as there were many agents who were respected by their tenants,  but a larger proportion performed their function through coercion and threat of eviction.  In their defence, the historical evidence suggests that most were not provided with the funding or authority which might have allowed them to assist their tenants to improve their farming methods or land,  or to facilitate access to markets etc. Further background to the complex roles and circumstances of the land agent can be found in 2 books:    Landlords, tenants, famine:  the business of an Irish land agency in the 1840s.  Desmond Norton. UCD Press 2006. ISBN 978-1-904558-55-2;  and  The Irish Land Agent 1830-60:  the case of Kings County.    Ciaran Reilly, Four Courts Press 2014.  ISBN 978-1-84682-510-1

Observations.   Most rentals have an ‘observations’ column which is variable in its use.  Some rentals contain no observations,  others are used by the agent or landlord for their own accounting notes, while others are used by agents to provide information to their landlord on the circumstances of a particular tenant.   These include brief comments such as ‘good tenant’,   ‘lazy tenant’,  ‘promises to pay’, ‘pauper‘ etc,  but may also contain more valuable family history information  such as  ‘died in August‘,  ‘emigrated in December‘,  ‘a son of Luke Murphy of Ballinamore’ etc. ”

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Good News for Pres. Secondary School



Chairperson of the Board of Management, Shay Downes with Principal, Eileen Kennelly following the announcement this week of Department approval for two state of the art science labs, specialist rooms and classrooms. Exciting times ahead!

Duagh’s Church and Live Crib and Some Facts

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On January 17, 2020

In Uncategorized

Duagh at Christmas







Duagh’s Live Crib

Duagh people are proud of their local writer, George Fitzmaurice and have commemorated him in  a mural in the carpark.

A Wall of philosophy and philosophers

In the crib building there were lots of local animals enjoying all the attention.

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Facts Stranger than Fiction


Half the food produced in the world is left to rot.

A litre of milk in a supermarket can contain milk from a thousand different cows.

The average meat eating person consumes 8 cows, 36 sheep and 36 pigs in a lifetime.

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Roadworks that May Impact You


KN WORKS: Cable installation works will continue on the Piermount Road and R551 (Tarbert Ballylongford Road) on Monday the 20th to Friday the 24th of January and will continue towards the Cross of the Woods. Residents in the area impacted by these works will be notified by the liaison officer. No road closures will be required for these works on the Piermount and R551 Roads. Minor work will take place on the Moyvane Tarmons Road from Monday the 20th to Friday the 24th under traffic lights or a stop and Go traffic management system. Shane  087/9829576.

St. Patrick’s Day 2020,, Listowel Writers’ Week at 50 and a Poem

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On January 16, 2020

In Uncategorized

Enduring Love

My friends, Maureen and Jim Connolly spotted walking in step in Market St. on Weds. Jan 8 2020.


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Ah Here!


Seems like Christmas is barely over and already shops are advertising St. Patrick’s Day garb. When did all this change and every occasion is now a fancy dress occasion?

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Is That a Fact


From my new book of jaw dropping facts comes these nuggets for you to chew over.

Wrigley’s originally made soap.

Chewing gum costs 3p a sick to buy and 10p a blob to clean up off the pavement.

(The book is English, but the story is the same here)

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Listowel Writers Week at 50



You will be seeing the new Writers’ Week logo all over town in the lead up to the 50th festival.

I’m on a crusade to gather memories of past festivals. I’m hoping to get some memories and photographs from some of the many people who have fallen in love with Listowel and particularly with Listowel Writers’ Week. Please do a bit of a rummage in those old photo albums or rack your brain for old memories of festivals past.

Here is a lovely poem from a regular attendee, Michelle McCormack

Storming Heaven

We stormed Heaven today in Listowel

You and I, 

Well I stormed and you listened  

Way above in Gods Kingdom on a high.

We talked silently,

Amid the windows of stained glass

In St Marys with the reds, blues & yellows

Dancing in the sunlit aisle 

After Writers’ Week mass.

I talked to you of a week of writing celebrations,

You would listen for a while, to my literary delights

Then you’d say “oh light a few more candles there,” 

You know for the relations…

I thought of how you taught about me all the writings of John B, 

The stories of Brian McMahon, the works of Maurice Walsh 

And the poems of Brendan Kennelly.

As I stood there with my candle in my hand 

I though of how you loved to talk about their prose and poems

When you were out working on the land.      

Then I told you all about the great literary debates,  

The many a Listowel Arms discussion, 

The artistic late nights and of where I was going next, 

To the John B Healing session.

I could see you raise your eyes in Heaven

You’d say well, “for all those late nights

You should be going to confession…”

I thought of how you would have loved the River Feale.

As the June summer sun shone on its foaming water.

This magical place awakening my love of writing,

Bestowed from a father to a daughter.

You know, maybe up there in Heaven you could your hero’s meet,

Well thank them for all the inspiration,

For memories, both old and new

As I hear a pianist on a Market Square seat.

I thought of how you never passed a church, 

There were too many candles to be lit. 

well thanks to God for a week of Literary treasures

So, I smile to you here in spirit as I sit.

Yes, we stormed Heaven today, 

You and I, and as Listowel Writers’ Week ended

I only hope that my little candle,

Lit up your Heavenly sky.  

                  

Michelle McCormack                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Duagh, Listowel Primary Care Centre and two Facts

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On January 15, 2020

In Uncategorized

Changes at William Street


Carroll’s of William Street, one of the old Listowel businesses has been closed for some time. Maybe 2020 will see a new name over the door.

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Duagh Remembers

In the grounds of Duagh church they now have a Memory Room with photographs and memorials to local people.

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Listowel Primary Care Centre

This is the primary care centre as seen from the grounds of the nearby Listowel district hospital.

This the relatively new HSE treatment centre where speech and language and physiotherapy treatment are now carried out.

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Is that a Fact?


People know how much I love quirky facts  and interesting anecdotes. My Christmas gifts reflected that interest. I’ll be sharing with you a few of these from my “1339 Facts to Make Your Jaw drop”;

The word “infant” comes from the Latin meaning unable to speak.

During Hitler’s years in power Mein Kampf was given away free to every newly wed couple.

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Just a Thought



My last week’s sets of Reflections as broadcast on Radio Kerry are at the following link

Just a Thought

Some of these are also in my book, A Minute of Your Time, which is available from me or in Woulfe’s, Eason or Flavin’s Listowel, O’Mahoney’s in Tralee, Philip’s Bookshop in Mallow, Presents of Mind or Kanturk Bookshop in Kanturk.

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Operation Transformation



The Listowel 5k walk takes place in Childers’ Park on Saturday next at 11.00

John Paul 11 Cemetery, Kerry Wool Listowel closing and Ard Churam Dementia Care

By

On January 14, 2020

In Uncategorized

Kerry Candlelight 



Duagh 2020



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Another Listowel Business Closure



 Kerry Wool in Church Street is closing shortly.

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Christmas in John Paul 11 Cemetery, Listowel

Here are some more of the many many Christmas floral tributes to the good souls buried in John Paul cemetery.

Gone but not forgotten

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Ard Churam

Building work is already underway at the dementia care centre at the Ard Chúram site.

I took these photos on January 8 2020.

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