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
This is the photo that was posted by a member on my Old Postboxes group. I saw that it was located in Castlelyons in Co. Cork. I have a friend in Castlelyons and she very kindly went in search of the location for us.
Margo tried to get the old Victorian box and the new one right across the road in the same shot.
The old box is on this old mill or barn type building.
Castlelyons is really two villages because just over the bridge, pictured above, is Bridesbridge and this village is a continuation of Castlelyons. The church is on the Bridesbridge side of the river. The Centra, which incorporates the post office and the primary school are also there.
Castlelyons has two pubs, dwelling houses, a Community Centre and a sizeable GAA complex which has two fine pitches, a public walkway, a gym, a community hall, meeting rooms and more.
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A Classic
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A Fact
In 1855 the first train crossed Niagara Falls on a suspension bridge.
St. Mary’s looking lovely for last Friday’s confirmation.
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Eleanor Belcher Remembers the Sheehy Brothers
Mary, You showed a bench remembering Martin, Michael and John Sheehy of Main Street recently. I grew up with the Sheehy family. Marty( Martin) was the oldest and was very important to all of us who used to play tennis on the Cows’ Lawn where there still was a hard court and the club house was an old carriage from the Lartique Railway. Marty organised tournaments, got a large official poster where he organised seeding and ran tournaments for us. He also showed me how to pour a beer when I was about 16 at a party in Helen Buckley’s home in Ballybunion. I thought it was so sophisticated! He went on to be some an anaesthetist in the US.
I don’t remember Michael but Pat was next , He was great fun and very popular. I think he entered the Seminary for a while but as far as I know didn’t go on to be a priest.
The twins were John and Jerry, John being the more solemn one. Jerry loved comics and got the Dandy. My mother didn’t allow us to have comics and Jerry used to share his with us. We used to sit on the steps of what were then the Dennehy and McGuire houses in the Square. So I got to know Dennis the Menace, , the Bash Street kids and more. Again Jerry loved soccer which was not discussed in my home( my Dad having played rugby). Jerry was a fan of Denis Law and I thought of him recently when the great Scottish player died and his funeral was big news in Glasgow.
It is lovely that the family are remembered on that bench.
It is lovely to see such successful men still fondly remembered by their old friends in Listowel.
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Street Furniture
In one small space on Upper Church street there is a wealth of Irish, and Listowel history in three items of street furniture
Eamon Bulfin (1892–1968) was an Argentine-born Irish republican. He was the son of writer William Bulfin (1864–1910) of Birr, in County Offaly (then called King’s County). His father had emigrated to Argentina at the age of 20 and was a writer and journalist who became the editor/proprietor of The Southern Cross. (Wikipedia)
Bulfin was the man who raised the flags on the GPO in 1916. He was later condemned to death but reprieved.
He lived in Argentina and worked as a journalist.
In the 1920 County Council elections, Bulfin was nominated in his absence for a seat on the council of Offaly, his family’s county of origin. He was elected and though he was in Argentina, immediately appointed chairman of the council. One of the first actions of the new council was to agree that King’s County be renamed Offaly, the name of the ancient Gaelic kingdom from which part of the modern county was formed. (Wikipedia)
He was a senior commander in the Easter Rising of 1916. After release from prison just over a year later he was soon re-arrested on separate charges of sedition, and died as a result of forcible feeding whilst on hunger strike in prison. (Wikipedia)
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For the Grieving
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1942 Tourism Survey
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A Fact
In 1906 William Kellogg formed the Battle Creek Toasted Cornflake Company. I think by now his wildest dreams have come true.
Nancie, Hannah, Mary and Liz volunteering in my favourite charity shop on Friday March 7 2025. It is always a pleasure to meet these ladies and they are always so helpful and hard working.
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Listowel and Curraghcroneen
Deborah Cronin has been in touch with pictures of her Irish ancestors. These McAuliffe and Fitzmaurice people are the Chicago branch of a very Kerry family.
McAuliffe sisters; the child standing is Deborah’s grandmother, Maude Fitzmaurice
These two people are Deborah McAuliffe Fitzmaurice and John J Fitzmaurice
Deborah gave us a full list of the family;
John J. Fitzmaurice was born in Listowel in 1861. His parents were James Fitzmaurice (1833-1898) and Mary Dee (1840-1905.) John arrived in Chicago in 1879 and ultimately became a Police Sgt. Deborah McAuliffe was John’s second wife. She was born to Thomas McAuliffe & Margaret McCarthy in Curraghcroneen in 1870. She died in Chicago in 1896. John & Deborah were parents of my grandmother, Margaret (Maud) Fitzmaurice born in 1892 in Chicago. Deborah died when Maud was 3 so she (standing child) was raised by her Aunts (Deborah’s sisters.) All the Aunts moved to Chicago, their brothers stayed in Ireland.
The McAuliffes: Johanna 1861-1945 John 1862-1926 Bridget 1864-1944 Nell 1867-1914 Margaret 1868-1958 Deborah Ellenor(1872-1915) Michael (1874-1933) Catherine (1876-1954) Daniel (1879-1912) Thomas McAuliffe’s children from a prior marriage to Honora Fitzgerald. Hannah (1856-?) Patrick (1858-1948) Mary (1858-1917)
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We only have now
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Just because
A horse is a horse, of course, of course
And no one can talk to a horse, of course…
Not true. This fellow was out to the door posing for the camera with his ears cocked as soon as he heard my voice.
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End of an Era
Postboxes in Copenhagen…(picture from the internet)
The Danish post office has been collecting and delivering letters since 1624. After December 2025 that service will be no more and the postboxes will be removed from the streets. 1,500 jobs will be lost. Parcel post will still be handled and I think you will still be able to send or receive a letter through the post office mail room.
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A Fact
The first Irish St. Patrick’s Day Parade took place in Dublin in 1931.
When I was in the park last week, the coucil outdoor staff were busy clearing fallen and dangerous trees.
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Lixnaw
A man called Alan Young posted this photo and the following text on a Facebook page about disused railway stations.
LIXNAW was a station in County Kerry on the line between Tralee and Listowel. Lixnaw closed in February 1963 when passenger services were withdrawn between Tralee, Listowel, Newcastle West, and Limerick. Goods services were then withdrawn in stages from the route, and the section through Lixnaw was closed to all traffic in January 1977. I took this photograph in April 2008 .
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Pick Yourself Up and Dust Yourself Off
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More from Kilkenny
Jenkinstown House is located in a lovely wood and forest park, popular with local dog walkers. On the Saturday of our visit some of us went for a stroll.
There were historical artefacts like this all around but no explanation nearby to satisfy our curiosity.
Anne and Aoife posed in front of a more modern shelter cun picnic area.
Aoifew having her nails painted in preparation for the birthday party.
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Date for the Diary
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Mattie Lennon on Pat Ingoldsby R.I.P.
By Mattie Lennon.
“In 1893, W. B. Yeats referred to Zozimus as ‘the last of the gleemen’ but he obviously failed to foresee the coming of Pat Ingoldsby- an old fashioned travelling bard to rival the best of them.” ( The words of Bobby Aherne in his book , D’you Remember Yer Man ? A portrait of Dublin’s famous characters.)
Irish film director Seamus Murphy made a documentary film about much-loved Dublin poet Pat Ingoldsby.
Pat has presented children’s TV shows on RTÉ, written plays for the stage and radio, published books of short stories, and been a newspaper columnist but is mostly known for his unconventional and often humorous poetry.
The award-winning Murphy, speaking to RTÉ Entertainment, Murphy said, “Pat is suddenly back in fashion. I talk about him any time I’m doing interviews because I’m trying to raise money for the film but also because I’m trying to build his profile back up again and then there was a poetry festival recently where people were re-enacting his work.”
Writing for the website Just Six Degress, Murphy has said: “I got to know Pat while I was making Home is Another Place, a short film I made for The New Yorker over the summer in Dublin in 2013.
“Pat appeals to our reason through invention and surrealism, in a voice understandable to everyone. He is a rare and sympathetic witness and champion of the underdog – of which there are many in Dublin. Above all he is very funny.
“There is no better company than Pat and his poems to roam with around the streets of Dublin; absorbing its stories and conspiring with the mirth and darkness of the city.”
Murphy says that Ingoldsby, who has recently passed away , was initially reluctant to appear on screen again.
“He wouldn’t appear because he doesn’t want to appear in front of the public but these performers were performing his poems so there seems to be a bit of a comeback without him doing anything,” the director said.
“His poetry is extraordinary and every year he produces another book, self-published, and he could really have done with a good editor so this film will really try to pick out the best of him.
“He said to me, `you can make the film, I’d love you to make the film but I’m not going to be in it’. I said OK, it was almost like the PJ Harvey thing, but slowly I’d go out to him and I’d recorded him and we got to know each other and slowly he started trusting me and now I’ve got lots of stuff.”
“I’ve almost shot all I need of him, it’s the other stuff I need to do.”
Most of Pat’s poems are about his personal experiences, observations of life in Dublin, or mildly surreal humorous possibilities.
Topics of personal experiences vary from the death of his father, or the electroconvulsive therapy he received (c. 1988), to his appreciation of the natural world or his pets (mostly cats, but also some fish).
Observations of Dublin are mostly humorous conversations overheard on the bus, or the characters he sees and talks to while selling his books on the streets. Some observations are not so cheerful as he also sees the drunks and the homeless of Dublin city, and the some aspects of modernisation which he isn’t pleased with.
His most distinctive style of poetry is his humorist style. A recurring character, Wesley Quench, appears in roles such as the driver of a Flying See-Saw Brigade. Another poem, “Vagina in the Vatican,” depicts a vagina sneaking into the Vatican unstopped because no one knew what it was – except for a few who couldn’t let slip that they did.
He also occasionally produces stories for children. These are a childish version of his mildly surreal style.
During the rapid increase in the use of mobile telephones, he offered a “Mobile Phone Euthanasia” service on the streets of Dublin, where he would destroy phones for annoyed owners.
His cousin Maeve Ingoldsby is a playwright.
When Pat is selling his books, more often than not, he can be found on Westmoreland Street.
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His poem For Rita With Love was selected as one of the Ireland’s 100 favourite poems as voted for by readers of the Irish Times.
You came home from school
On a special bus
Full of people
Who look like you
And love like you
And you met me
For the first time
And you loved me.
You love everybody
So much that it’s not safe
To let you out alone.
Eleven years of love
And trust and time for you to learn
That you can’t go on loving like this.
Unless you are stopped
You will embrace every person you see.
Normal people don’t do that.
Some Normal people will hurt you
Very badly because you do.
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A Fact
Until 2008 Nelson Mandela was banned from entering the USA and needed a special waiver any time he wanted to visit.
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.
