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

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Charles St., Women in Media 2019 and Teampall Bán

By

On May 2, 2019

In Uncategorized

Easter in St. Mary’s


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Charles Street/ Sráid Uí Chonghaile

Here is another example of a street with a name in English, by which it is known and a name in Irish which no one uses. I have also discovered that not only does no one I know use the Irish name but most of my friends  are unaware that there is an Irish name that is not a translation of the English.

In the case of Charles Street, local lore has it that the street was named by Lord Listowel after one of his sons.

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Women in Media 2019


Here are a few of the local people I photographed in Ballybunion on Saturday April 28 2019

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Teampall Bán



I had visitors for the weekend and, as well as going to two productions in St. Johns, a few panel discussions in Women in Media conference, and a brilliant seminar in Lixnaw I found a minute to bring them to Teampall Bán. They absolutely loved it and vowed to return.

They thought this gable mural by Maurice Pierse was both moving and prayerful.

They loved the little oratory and the stations of the cross.

They appreciated that there was somewhere to sit and contemplate all the history that is gathered in this place, a whole swathe of Listowel’s population wiped out by the Great Hunger.

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The Workhouse



from the Dúchas Folklore collection

The Workhouse was built in 1841. In the famine years it was full up of people who had no food to eat and other houses were used as workhouses. One of these was the college and another Dowd’s house. The People who died in the workhouse were buried in Teampall Bán. In the year 1920 the workhouse was closed and the poor people were removed to the county Home in Killarney. 

The house next to the workhouse was turned into a convent in 1891. The mercy nuns lived here. Before that this house was occupied by a party of British horse-soldiers called the Scots’ Greys. They lived there from 1880 until 1883. One of these was drowned in the river and the place is now known as the Corporals’ hole

In 1922 the workhouse was burned down by the Republicans and at the present time a new hospital is being built.

COLLECTOR
Maurice Bambury

Mayor’s Award for LWW, Garda John O’Donnell R.I.P.. Auction at Gurtinard House and changes on Charles Street

By

On January 28, 2019

In Uncategorized

Listowel Garda Station in 2019




Church Street, Listowel, January 2019


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Mayor’s Award for Writers’ Week

The great literary festival that is Listowel Writers’Week was recognised last week at the presentation of the Mayor of Kerry’s awards,

If ever there was a definition of blue sky thinking, Writers’ Week is a living example. The literary festival goes from strength to strength. Now it is expanding outside a short week in summer into a year long engagement with other festivals and events. The visionary committee well deserves this award.

Accepting the award on behalf of everyone in Listowel Writers’ Week are;

Left to Right; Eilish Wren, Joanna O’Flynn, Máire Logue, Norma Foley (Mayor)

 Madeleine O’Sullivan, Miriam Griffin and Elizabeth Dunn

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The Late Garda John O’Donnell




I told this story before in 2012 but I think it’s worth telling again.

Garda John O’Donnell who was in his early thirties was stationed in Kanturk, Co. Cork.  In the summer of 1940 he was on holiday in Ballybunion with his wife and three young children.  He told a relative that he would have preferred to holiday in his native Burtonport but petrol was rationed during the war  and he couldn’t secure enough fuel for the journey.

On the evening of July 20 1940 he was swimming near Castle Point when a freak wave swept him and other swimmers on to the rocks. John drowned while attempting to rescue two local girls, Vera and Patricia O’Carroll. The girls were eventually rescued by others who were present.

Listowel’s Dr. Joseph McGuire was the coroner who presided over the inquest which was held on the following day. The jury commended Mr. Jack McGuire, then a medical student, for his bravery in taking out a life buoy into rough seas in a vain attempt to  save John O’Donnell who was being dragged out to sea by the strong current.

In an extra tragic twist, the body of John O’Donnell was formally identified by his brother who was then only 17 years old.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, letters were published in The Kerryman calling for life guards on Ballybunion beach and the presence of a rescue boat and a competent crew to man it.

Garda O’Donnell was remembered in Kanturk, where he had been living for six years, as a quiet, unobtrusive, helpful brave man. 

He was posthumously decorated by the state for his bravery. 

This courageous man was the grandfather of the very talented artist, playwright and composer Mike O’Donnell.

Dave O’Sullivan found a few newspaper cuttings relevant to the awful tragedy.

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Auction at Gurtinard House in 1868


In June of 1868, Lord Listowel’s agent, James Murray Home sold everything in Gurtinard House in an “unreserved auction”. The notice was published in the Evening Post of May 23 with a list of items to be disposed of. It makes interesting reading

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Then and Now




Charles Street, January 2019

Knockanure, Charles Street friends, Fr. Roger and Doran’s Pharmacy, Church Street

By

On May 28, 2018

In Uncategorized

Photo: Chris Grayson

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Knockanure parish church in May 2018

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First Communion, Knockanure May 2018


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Boyhood Friends


Martin Griffin gave me this old photo to share with you.

In front;  Billy Dore, Dominick Scanlon and Richie Chute R.I.P.

Back Buddy Jones and Frank Chute

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Convent Chapel May 2018



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R.I.P.   Fr. Roger Duggan

Last week I attended the funeral mass of Fr. Roger Duggan in St. Mary’s Listowel. It was a small funeral, because, in the words of Fr. John Fitzgerald who celebrated the mass, Roger had become a Kerryman only recently.

Fr. Roger was far from “unknown” and during his life he had travelled and served and sang and had many adventures.

As was fitting for a man who loved music his funeral mass featured some of the most heavenly music I have heard in St. Mary’s, Listowel.

So who was this gentle holy man?

Fr. Roger Duggan was the only brother of Una Hayes, whom I have come to know through our both belonging to the  Knitwits knitting group.

Una and Roger were born in Wales to Irish parents. They moved to Birmingham and it is here that Roger and Una grew up.

Roger worked in Wales, in England and eventually in Australia. His cv is very diverse. He worked in taxation, in sheep shearing, in the hospitality industry and in railway building.

Eventually this very intelligent and well read man decided on a life in the religious order of Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.  He was ordained in 1993 and spent his life in ministry in Australia.

When he retired, he relocated to Cork. He took up a new role as chaplain to the local convent and he helped out with the work of the parish.

When he fell into ill health it was decided that he would be happiest nearer to his beloved Una and her husband Liam and so he spent his last years being well looked after in Oaklands Nursing Home.

May he rest in peace

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Doran’s Pharmacy, Listowel opening





I disturbed Norma and staff as they put the finishing touches to her new shop. Outside, the final brush was being put to the paint.

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Things ar Hotting up in the Writers’ Week office




All hands on deck, shoulders to the wheel and noses to the grindstone. Writers Week 2018 is 2 days away.



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Nathan Carter meets a Star and her husband



Images of Listowel and Maidhc Dainín ÓSé remembered

By

On October 23, 2017

In Uncategorized

A Listowel Sign

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Brendan Kennelly’s verse in Listowel Town Square

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Our Fish Shop

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Charles Street

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Maidhc Dainín ÓSé R.I.P.; the Listowel Connection


Maidhc Dainín ÓSé was the father of Daithí ÓSé. Ever before Daithí found fame, Maidhc Dainín was a well known author of several books in the Irish language. He was also an accomplished musician.

Maidhc’s day job was as a lorry driver for Kerry Ingredients in Listowel.

Maidhc was tickled pink when his autobiography, A Thig ná Tit Orm (Oh house, don’t fall on me) was chosen as a text for the Leaving Cert. Every year during a period in around the turn of the millennium Maidhc used to come to The Seanchaí during Seachtain na Gaeilge to read from his book and to play for the students.




I hope I have uploaded the little clip properly. Maidhc was describing the deal he made with the director of the Cúrsa Samhraidh. He would play for the small weekday ceilí in exchange for free admission to the Ceilí Mór. Money was scarce and the céilithe móra were where the girls were so he was anxious to try his luck there.

Maidhc was a breath of fresh air after Peig. He told his story with humour and much self deprecation. My pupils loved him.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.

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Micheál Flavin R.I.P.


(Photo shared by Noreen Keane Brennan on Facebook)

Micheál lived in Church Street, Listowel. He was Bryan MacMahon’s friend and preferred bookseller. His shop is still in the Flavin family. Long may it continue to trade in his memory.

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Storm Damage in The National Park, Killarney



Kathleen Griffin braved it to work during Hurricane Ophelia. She took these photographs in Muckross on the day after, October 17 1017




14 Charles St.,Listowel, Adare, More than one rosary and the passing of Gus Cremin

By

On November 20, 2014

In Uncategorized

Plus ça change, plus c’est la meme chose



This photo which I snapped opportunistically on Charles Street last week has proved very popular. Vincent Carmody got in touch with me to remind me that in his book, Listowel, Snapshots of a Market Town, he has a photo taken at the same spot over 100 years ago.

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Adare Manor

J.P. McManus has purchased Adare Manor. This photo on Limerick Life shows Queen Victoria arriving there in 1897.

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An cloch is lú ar mo phaidrín



My title for my little story comes from an Irish phrase that means, literally, the littlest bead on my rosary or, figuratively, the least of my worries.

Recently I was told a story of a lady who purchased a rosary beads for an elderly relative. When she got the present home, she discovered that it had only 4 decades. She returned it to the shop where the shop assistant discovered that the whole batch of beads had only 4 decades. Everyone presumed that the rosaries were faulty and another example of shoddy workmanship.

I was, however, aware of other sets of beads beside The Holy Rosary as we know it.

I had a very saintly grandmother who, like many of the women of her day was devout and prayerful. After her death I inherited her little purse where she kept her beads. It contained 3 sets of prayer beads.

Conventional, if rather large, rosary beads

These two sets of beads are a mystery to me; one has five “decades”, each of 5 beads; the other has seven “decades” each with 7 beads.  Any ideas?

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+   Gus Cremin R.I.P.  +




(photo; Terrace Talk on Facebook)

End of an Era



Gus Cremin of Lisselton, Gaelic football legend, passed away last week.


Gus Cremin born 1921 was Kerry’s oldest living winning All-Ireland

Senior medal holder in Gaelic football.


With his team mate and fellow midfielder, the great Eddie Dowling, Gus


helped the Shannon Rangers win the 1945 Kerry County Championship,


thus putting him in line for the Kerry captaincy the following year.


He was chosen for the Kerry Juniors in 1946 and then went straight


onto the senior side for the All-Ireland semi-final against Antrim.

In the final against Roscommon he captained Kerry and became the

youngest ever to lead the side in an All-Ireland final. It was a

dramatic match and late goals from Paddy Burke and ‘Gega’ O’Connor

helped snatch a draw for the Kingdom. Gus was shouldered high from the

field by supporters after an amazing game. However, Kerry caused a

sensation by relegating their captain to the subs; Gus was

dramatically dropped for the replay.

With fifteen minutes left in the replay the Kerry team were trailing

the Connaught men by two points, and Roscommon showed no sign of

losing their lead. Entering that last quarter Kerry made the move that

won the match by finally allowing the former captain to come on the

field as a sub. He immediately set up Paddy Burke who found the net

and the Kingdom were ahead. With a few minutes to go in the match Gus

scored a magnificent point from 50 yards. This was the decider and

Kerry went on to win. Later it was described as “one of the most

perfect and valuable points ever scored in Croke Park.”

The following year Gus was most unfortunate when a broken leg

sustained in a North Kerry League game prevented him from traveling to

America for the historic 1947 Polo Grounds Final in New York. He

played his last game for Kerry in the 1948 All-Ireland semi-final loss

to Mayo.


Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Cremins


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