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

Tag: Corpus Christi

Olden Times in Listowel and Kanturk

Listowel Garda Station in May 2025

One of the Greats

Text from Mad for Trad on Facebook

Séamus Ennis (1919–1982) was a master uilleann piper, singer, and one of Ireland’s most important collectors of traditional music. Born in Finglas, Dublin, and taught by his father, he began playing the pipes at 13 and later worked for the Irish Folklore Commission, where he collected nearly 2,000 songs, tunes, and stories from across Ireland, often traveling by bicycle with only pen and paper. His meticulous fieldwork preserved a vast repertoire that might otherwise have been lost.

Ennis was also a pioneering broadcaster, recording and promoting traditional musicians for Radio Éireann and the BBC, and he played a key role in legitimizing Irish music on radio and television. In 1968, he co-founded Na Píobairí Uilleann, the society dedicated to the promotion of the uilleann pipes, and was renowned for his generosity in sharing his knowledge with younger musicians His playing style, noted for its elegance and mastery of slow airs, set a benchmark for future generations.

His legacy endures in the thousands of tunes he preserved, the standards he set for piping, and the influence he had on Irish music’s revival and transmission. Ennis is commemorated by the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre in Naul lrish cultural life.

St. John’s

St. John’s in May 2025

An Emigrant’s Descendants Return

Email from Gina;

I was excited to find your Listowell blog as I have a connection to this beautiful town.  My mother’s grandfather migrated to Australia in 1863 from Listowell, Kerry. His name was Martin Collins. I found your blog through a postcard that was sent to my Gx3 Grandfather from Mount Rivers, dated 1906.tI was from Nell? C MacElligott. I have attached photos.

I am hoping to find some more information about my  Great x3 Grandfather’s background. I know his parent’s names were Thomas Collins and Mary Lynch.

Hope you are able to  help or lead me in the right direction.

Kind regards,

Gina Wheeler

If anyone reading this knows anything of Martin Collins or Mary Lynch, Gina would love to hear from you.

American Wealth in Kanturk in the 1960s

This is the late Danny O’Sullivan of Kanturk. He returned from the USA just before the Great Depression. His father, also called Dan, had emigrated like so many Duhallow people to Oregon.

Dan Sr. amassed a huge fortune. It is said that he owned a Street in Boston by the time he liquidated his assetts and returned with his family to live in Kanturk. He opened a bar in The Square. As his sons matured and married they each opened a business in town. The businesses names acknowledged the source of their wealth. They were the USA Café, the USA Bar and the USA Stores. Dan also bought a farm.

As well as running the café, Danny, who was an excellent photographer, had a part time business photographing first Communions and other occasions. He had his own dark room.

This is just one of several cameras he owned.

Danny was out with his camera on every big occasion in town. This is the Corpus Christi procession. This was a huge event in the Kanturk of my childhood and Danny’s archive of pictures has many processions over the years.

This is years later when Danny added colour film to his offering.

Fancy Dress parades were also a favourite subject. In those days adults took part in these parades and they were a great source of fun and entertainment.

Danny left us a huge archive of precious mementos of a different era in Kanturk.

A Fact

The phrase ‘to turn a blind eye” comes from Admiral Nelson’s time. A message was sent to Nelson to cease fighting. He put his telescope up to his blind eye, claimed he never saw the message and continued to fight.

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Summertime is Visitor Time

What a difference a week makes; St John’s under cloudy skies in June 2023

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Corpus Christi Processions

This year the feast of Corpus Christi fell on June 8. The tradition is to hold a processsion preceeded by this year’s first communicants on a weekend near the date.

Listowel procession photo from Listowel Girl’s Primary Facebook page

Athea parade photos by Bridie Murphy

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In Kerry Writers’ Museum

Even a short visit to Listowel gives time to take in some of our lovely visitor attractions.

Last week I accompanied Phil to Kerry Writers’ Museum.

Our visitor centre in the square used to be called The Seanchaí. A statue of Eamonn Kelly, Seanchaí, greets visitors at the foot of the stairs.

Phil enjoyed the John B. Keane room. She remembered attending his plays and always enjoying his writing.

I was anxious to show her the Michael O’Connor corner. The beautiful pieces look marvellous under the light in their climate controlled cabinets.

When you look closely at the above details on the St. Patrick’s Breastplate scroll you will be amazed at the intricate detail achieved by this super talented local artist. I hope many many Listowel people visit the exhibition this summer. You will be amazed.

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Varying Shades of Dolly

Brendan O’Sullivan rocking the denim and stetson look

Most people accessorised with a guitar, this man brought a skateboard

I met Phil adding a few sparkles to her outfit

If your footwear was too undollylike, people in the Costume Fixing marwquee had plenty of high heels to cowboy boots available.

Jimmy Deenihan as you have never seen him before.

The queue moved along slowly but in good form. Everyone had to be photographed and braceleted for the record.

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Meanwhile in Ballybunion

Ballybunion Golf Club annual captains’ weekend was a huge success raising funds for seven local charities.

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Listowel Through a Lens at a bargain price

Recently, Ger Greaney, our chairperson in NKRO took a trip with his family to The Big Apple. While there he visited the New York City Library and, just for curiosity,  he looked up what books they have about Listowel, Co. Kerry. They have two. One is Fr. Anthony Gaughan’s Listowel and its Vicinity, a second edition of which sold recently at auction for €400 and the other was …

Listowel Through a Lens.

Apart from bragging, why am I telling you this?

Because I, Mary Cogan, publisher of this book, am making the last remaining copies of it available at €5 each, while stocks last. If I have to post it to you, the bad news is that you will have to cover that cost, which, unfortunately will be more than the cost of the book.

For those of you not familiar with the book, it is a book of photographs of Listowel during the Celtic Tiger years. Much has changed since I took the photos between 2000 and 2009. The book records a prosperous and dynamic time in the history of Listowel.

Below are a few of the many photographs

A Corpus Christi procession with Fr. Donal O’Connor.

Joe Stack of RTE shares a joke with his former teacher, Eleanor Scanlon who, I am sad to say, passed away earlier this year.

A group of Ashes old boys who togged out for a victorious trip down memory lane.

The late great Michael Dowling, in the role of St. Patrick, a role he did so well, leads Listowel Emmets down Courthouse Rd.

Local historian and businessman, Jack McKenna, leads locals and visitors on a walking tour of the town during Writers’ Week.

You can contact me at listowelconnection@gmail.com if you would like a copy. 

Why not bag a collector’s item for the grandchildren!

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