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
Text from Antony Gaughan’s Listowel and its Vicinity
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What a difference a Season Makes
Stuart, Pat Breen’s bull, was a surprise breakout star of my Moments of Reflection.
He was photographed by my niece in early spring, after a wet and mucky winter. He was a bit overweight from all the weather related confinement.
Here is the bold Stuart a few months later in May 2025. He is happily grazing among his ladies. He is slimmed down, clean and much more attractive to his harem.
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Out and About with Camera
The fine weather saw me out in town and I was delighted to have a few local people pose for me.
Two lovely ladies who are always a joy to encounter in the Vincent de Paul shop. Mary and Eileen are both over seventy but still volunteering and working hard.
Jean, always cheerful and energetic, rested for a minute on the Tidy Town seat.
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Lidl Yesterday
looks like the foundation of the new store
Corner of Dowd’s Road and John B. Keane Road
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A Thought
People who don’t learn from the mistakes of history are destined to repeat them.
Killian and his friends climbed Carrauntuathail on a sunny day in May 2025.
Ballincollig lads on the summit, Killian, Riain, Sorin and Callum
A photo Killian sent on his way up.
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Congratulations
What an achievement for Billy Alexander and all the wonderful crew at Kells Bay, a third gold at the Chelsea Flower Show.
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Listowel Writers’ Week 2025..Listowel Literary Festival
Opening night is tomorrow night. There is a great programme planned for the week.
Here is a new venture involving the local community… Your chance to be part of the story.
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Clarification
An eagle eyed reader spotted yesterday that Fr. Antony Gaughan in this extract from his Listowel and its Vicinity refers to the street we know as Church Street as Ashe Street.
We have been down this road on Listowel Connection before. A quick recap is all I’m going to give here. A burst of republican fervour at one time in Listowel lead to requests to change the street names to commemorate Irish patriots. That campaign failed. Changing street names poses a huge problem for businesses with several issues, some of them fairly costly as well as inconvenient, of changing their business address on all printed and other documents, on bank accounts and invoicing accounts with suppliers etc.
Anyway the issue was eventually resolved by a compromise which saw the Irish version of the street names commemorating the dead republicans and the English version left unchanged. The above sign is an example.
Some people, unhappy with this solution, went on to call Church Street Ashe Street. Fr. Antony Gaughan, it would appear, was one of these.
Probably the best example today is Patrick Street which is in fact Upper William Street. There is no Patrick Street in Listowel.
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Progress at Lidl
This is where Dowd’s house used to be.
The present Lidl store on the left will be demolished.
The store was busy yesterday. Monday is always busy with the “specials’.
This big lorry arrived to the site while I was photographing.
We are going to get a brand new store, just like the Tralee one and the bigger carpark will be where the shop is now.
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A Fact
In 1310 shoes were made for the left and right feet for the first time.
Statue of Schiller in the Garden of Europe, one day in early spring 2025
Hugh Stancliffe’s memorial seat with a view of Schiller.
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Writers’ Week Reveals its new Curator
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R.I.P. Pat Ingoldsby
In memory of Pat, I’d like to share one of his most powerful poems. Pat was a very empathetic observer of the world around him. We need more like him.
TONIGHT THEY PUT THE COTSIDES UP
Tonight they put the cotsides up
onto the old man’s bed,
“You can’t fall out and hurt yourself,”
that’s what the nurses said.
And God you should have seen it,
you should have seen his face,
as metal sides both rattled
and bolts clanked into place.
He sat there numb
and silent,
silent
and very very still,
and nobody who saw him,
nobody ever will
forget the way the colour
drained right out of his face,
as metal sides both rattled
and bolts clanked into place.
The nurses said the cotsides
were to keep him safe in bed,
“You can’t fall out and hurt yourself,”
that’s what the nurses said.
The rest of us lay looking,
we know that no matter how far
that old man fell in future
it could never leave a scar
the way those cotsides did.
Nobody wanted to catch his eye,
he was curled up silent and still,
maybe he’ll go asleep for us,
that’s it – maybe he will
go asleep embraced in a cradle,
in the morning they’ll take
the sides down,
Go asleep embraced in a cradle,
that’s the way Jesus was found.
You couldn’t go over and talk to him,
for that would only mean…
you couldn’t go over and talk to him
for then you’d have to lean and look in over the top,
nobody wanted to do that,
remind him of the way you’d stop
and gaze at a new born infant.
And merciful God you couldn’t peep,
peeping through the bars would be worse,
You couldn’t go over and talk to him,
Softly he started to curse,
“Do yez think I’m a bloody baby,
Do yez think I’m a baby or what?”
then he sank down under the covers,
In between the sides of his cot.
Tonight they put the cotsides up,
onto the old man’s bed,
“You can’t fall out and hurt yourself,”
that’s what the nurses said.
The rest of us lay looking,
we knew that no matter how far
that old man fell in future
it could never leave a scar
the way those cotsides did.
…
Welcome to my Head, 1986, Anna Livia
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Birthday Celebrations Continuing
My birthday party is a bit like The Wedding Feast of Cana. It’s been going on now for over a week.
Part 2 was a day out with my friends to Adare with lunch in the Carriage House restaurant. Still feeling like a queen!
A little bit of horse lore on the menu
The meal was delicious and the company relaxed and entertaining, a lovely treat.
After lunch we transferred to the Manor for an post lunch cup of tea.
My image lools a bit funereal. These top hatted doormen were everywhere. I didn’t open a door all day.
Then we took in the chocolate cottage. Here you can drink hot chocolate or buy a souvenir confection to take home. A bar of chocolate; which is made on site, is 10 euros.
This box of luxury chocolates, handmade in Adare, costs 450 euros. I know it’s kind of vulgar to talk about prices in these places but….
We didn’t bother with the souvenir shop. We knew we’d have to take out a mortgage to buy anything there. We did visit the golf shop however to see how they were preparing for the Ryder Cup.
As expected, the merch is already in and selling well.
All in all a trip to Adare Manor is a luxurious treat, a great way to feel really special and to get a glimpse at how the other half live.
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A Fact
In 1970 one maneating tiger devoured 48 people in India. A maneating tiger can eat up to 400 people in his lifetime.
When I was in Kanturk I went to see the Famine Pot in St. Patrick’s Place.
This pot was still intact when a local farmer dug it up. Kanturk Tidy Town committee have placed it at the entrance to the site that once housed the Kanturk Union workhouse.
Six acres were donated by the Earl of Egmont, the local landlord, to the Board of Guardians to erect a workhouse and fever hospital.
The workhouse was built to accommodate 800 people but during the tragic period of the famine almost 1,800 people lived there. North Cork was thought to have suffered some of the worst effects of famine during this catastrophic period of history.
Many of these large cauldrons were donated to the Irish People by the Quaker community during the height of the famine in 1846.
They were used to make soup or stirabout, a kind of porridge made from the cheap meal that was imported to feed the starving hordes who converged on the workhouses.
This is still a health centre. It used to be a dispensary.
It’s worth enlarging this to read about the full horror of those awful years. The pot is a timely reminder of what our ancestors came through.
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A Poem
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Ushering
As essay by Mick O’Callaghan
Ushering in and out
I was reading in the papers that the election of Donald Trump in America would usher in a new era in American/China relations as Donald was proposing the introduction of a 60% surcharge on all goods entering America from China.
I also saw that all our own political parties were promising that if elected to government that they were going to usher in new priorities in Housing, Education, Health and many more areas of government. This word usher was an ‘in’ word which I just had to explore.
The word usher has been around a long time with God being the very first usher – as he ushered in day and light (Gen. 1:3-4). God ushered man into the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:15). Ushers or forerunners are depicted throughout the Bible.
In the New Testament, Temple ushers were given unusual authority as uniformed guards. In Acts the “captain of the temple” is referred to in connection with arrests and general handling of crowds. It was these ushers who carried out the orders of the high priests to persecute the apostles.
The word comes from the Latin ostiarius (“porter”, “doorman”) or the French word huissier. Ushers were servants or courtiers who showed or ushered visitors in and out of meetings in large houses or palaces.
My first encounter with usher was in the 60’s when we went to the Picturedrome Cinema in Tralee to see a film or a movie as they call them nowadays. We bought our tickets at the little box office in the hall and waited to be admitted. Sam from Ireland ushered everyone to their seats guiding them down the steps with his long torch. If there was any play acting or noise during the film, he shone the torch on the person involved. Any couples who were getting too close, as they said in those days, got similar treatment.
In those pre-equality days, the usherette sold the tubs of ice cream from her usherette tray during the intermission.
Then of course there were the church ceremonies, particularly at Christmas when the big crowds turned up for midnight mass. There were quite a few people who went straight from the pub to church. The church ushers went around trying to get a seat for everyone. They also had a role at the front door discouraging those whom they adjudged to be carrying a sup too much on board to go home rather than heading up the aisle. This became a problem and mass time was changed to 9 o clock. I don’t think they have that same overcrowding situation today with less people attending services.
I was recently at a funeral of a relative in Kinnitty, County Offaly. The church was in a small rural area named Cadamstown and I just loved it when the parish priest and the usher went around getting people a seat .It was a fine day and there was a reluctance of locals and others, including myself, to be ushered up the church and so there was a sizeable group in the church grounds discussing local topics and the state of Offaly hurling and football. It was a nice social occasion despite the circumstances.
Later when the funeral was over, we were all invited back to the community hall where 140 people were served a beautiful meal. Local people acted as ushers, finding seats, serving desserts and making everyone welcome. It was all so nice, friendly, sociable and a relaxed civilised occasion.
I noticed ushers at a few weddings I was at recently and their names were noted in the wedding booklet. They were all young men who were family members or close friends of the groom who were showing people to their seats but were not members of the inner bride and groom party.
I just love those scenes in films when in a courtroom a male attendant leads in the judge. I looked up the dictionary for a fuller meaning of court usher and found this” Court ushers ensure that everyone involved with a court case is present, that they know what they must do during the hearing, as well as providing personal assistance for the judges to whom they are assigned”.
We all encounter occasions when people are ushered into meetings or concerts because the event is just about to start. The ushering is usually preceded by an announcement over the P.A.
In newspaper accounts we regularly read that officials and security personnel have quickly ushered the protesters out of the hall after a protest or interruption at a public meeting.
We have of course got Usher’s Quay in Dublin which reputably is named after a prominent Dublin family named Usher/Ussher who were supposed to be descended from Gilbert de Neville, admiral of William the Conqueror’s fleet in 1066.
In Ashford in County Wicklow, the garden of Ireland, we have the lovely Mount Usher Gardens.
In literature many of us will have encountered that tragic short story by Edgar Allan Poe entitled “The Fall of the House of Usher” and first published in 1839.It was serialized for TV last year by Netflix.
Finally, I refer to the ushers in Dail Eireann who are always immaculately dressed in their state uniform.
I am now happier that I am a trifle more educated about the lovely word usher so whether you are ushering in or out or being ushered in or out there is an absolute certainty that we will all usher in the new year of 2025 at the end of December 2024 with the usual ushering aplomb. Nollaig Shona.
Mick O Callaghan 03/12/2024
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Some Listowel Christmas Windows
DIY Christmas Crafts
From the Schools’ Folklore Collection
Candles; “My grandmother used make candles out of the fat of cows.” My grandmother used make candles out of the fat of cows. She used buy the fat from the butcher and after they killed a cow for their own use. First of all she used put it into a mould and put a cord in the hole at the end of it and knot it. Then she used pull the cord through the mould and pour in the fat and leave it so for a day or two. The candles are about as wide as Christmas candles now. Patrick Fitzgerald used make baskets out of twigs. The twigs grew near his own house. He used pick them in the month of October and leave them so for a week or two. My grandmother used spin and weave. The flax used be sown in Spring and pull it in August. They used take it to the bog and put it into a bog hole and leave it so for a couple of weeks. Then they used pound it with a mallet.
Collector- Nora Shine, Address, Derreen, Co. Limerick (Kilbaha School) Informant, Patrick W. Shine. parent, Address, Derreen, Co. Limerick.
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Killarney at Christmas
Their bauble is bigger than ours. I was in this corner of Killarney yesterday dropping off copies of Moments of Reflection to the The Priory Bookshop.
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A Fact
Charles Dickens is believed to have popularised turkey as the centrepiece of the Christmas dinner. When the reformed Scrooge brings Christmas dinner to the Crachit family he brings them turkey.
I found your website from google search and with the recent passing of my Dad i decided to look into my family tree, i starting using the tools available to my online and i came across that my Great Grandad was in the army in the early 1900s based in Listowel , i have found alot of documents of his but most are unclear. I was just interested to find out more but struggling to find much information. I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction. He had something to do with horses at the age of 18 with 21st reserve Bn Lancs, and it seems he continued that interest on after leaving the army.. There are records that say he may have lived on William Street and has connections with a shoe repair shop by the name J.J walsh approx 1915s… Any more information you could provide would be gratefully appreciated..
Kind Regards
Andrew Cain
Kay Caball is helping Andrew to research details of his great grandfather’s time in Listowel. Maybe someone reading this has information that might help Andrew with his Listowel connection.
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On The Greenway
I was having a cuppa and a chat in Lizzie’s busy café when two ladies came in. I remembered Marlene (sitting next to me in the photo) but I discovered that her sister, Liz (far left) is also a bit of a fan of Listowel Connection and Just a Thought.
Marlene and Liz were fuelling up before they cycled the Greenway. Liz promised to send me a photo and an account of their adventure. Marlene confessed that she had never ridden a bike with gears. When she last rode a bike, the only power was pedal power.
Liz and Marlene (daughters of the late Bill and Pat Kearney) all kitted out and ready to go. Marlene told me that one wag asked if she had made her will.
The ladies had a ball and really enjoyed their first cycle on our greenway.
Here is Liz’s account.
Two ladies, formerly Listowel, currently residing in ‘Tír na nÓg’, pedalled the Greenway from Listowel to Abbeyfeale, Tuesday, 23 July. Grateful for the encouragement of LikeBikes staff, Andy – ‘you will surprise yourselves’ – and Diane – definitely avail of his help to adjust your bike – and for our encounter with John in Kilmorna – ‘ye have all day’ – and the two ladies who pointed out that we had cycled past Abbeyfeale and directed us to ‘An Siopa Milseán’, a homely sweet shop, surprising visitors with option of coffee or ice cream too! Our two ‘99s set us up for homeward journey! It was a lovely section of Greenway, mostly flat, edged with wildflowers and offering a peaceful view of Duagh and beyond. We couldn’t help hearing the lilt of some of John B’s songs referencing Abbeyfeale in our minds! Great amenity!
Note from me….my visitors made the same mistake and overshot the exit for Abbeyfeale. Maybe it needs better signage.
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A Listowel Gardener
James Kenny with his first sunflower of 2024
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+ Edna O’Brien R.I.P.+
A Listowel connection
Photo credit (all photos) ; Ger Holland
This is the absolutely beautiful trophy awarded to Edna O’Brien as the recipient of the John B. Keane Lifetime Contribution to the Arts Award at Listowel Writers’ Week 2018.
Eileen is not just a master silversmith goldsmith, she is a supremely talented jewellery designer. She researched the recipient thoroughly and executed a unique personalised piece that was received with joy and treasured.
Ger Holland’s photo of Edna O’Brien in The Listowel Arms on opening night 2018.
Eileen Moylans, in her Facebook tribute to the late novelist, shared the grateful, appreciative note that Edna wrote to her after the presentation ceremony.
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A Fact
One in fifty Americans claim to have been abducted by aliens.
