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: Gurtinard House

All Souls Day. Kefir, Dublin Footballers and some Australian tourists

Today is All Souls Day. Traditionally it is the day for visiting the resting places of our dead loved ones. It is a day for remembering those who have gone before us.

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The Square, Listowel in Autumn 2017

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New Local Health Product in Town



Elaine of Halo Health introduces customer, Carine Schweitzer of Cork to a new Moyvane product, Kefir Milk.

“What is Kefir ?” you ask

Wikipedia has the answer;

Kefir or kephir (/kəˈfir/ kə-FEER),[1][2] alternatively milk kefir, or búlgaros, is a fermented milk drink that originated in the Caucasus Mountains made with kefir “grains”, a yeast/bacterial fermentation starter.[3] It is prepared by inoculating cowgoat, or sheep milk with kefir grains.[4] Traditional kefir was made in goatskin bags that were hung near a doorway; the bag would be knocked by anyone passing through to help keep the milk and kefir grains well mixed.[5]

Its health benefits are numerous and if even half of the claims are true we should all be drinking it.

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Something to Look Forward To





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Australian People with a Listowel Connection


This is what Fáilte Ireland refers to as “the shoulder season” between summer and Christmas. This time of year is a popular time for our friends from down under to visit us. Last week I met two families who have grown to love Listowel and Ireland because of some lovely welcoming local people.

Berenice and Lionel came to Ireland first to trace family and to meet Jack McKenna who is a cousin. They stayed with Kathy Walsh at Gurtinard House. They had a great time. It was Race Week but Billy Keane found them a seat in his packed pub, John McKenna took time out to show them the family connected locations his mother Sue had told them all about in a long and productive visit. They fell in love with Listowel and resolved to return.

Gurtinard House on their first visit was a work in progress so they were anxious to see what progress Kathy had made. They were well impressed with the changes to the house and garden.  They came this time during Storm Ophelia. Kathy lit a fire and they sat around like old friends and reminisced. Their trip to Ireland took them to locations all over the country, including a visit to prospective in-laws in Mayo.

These Australian visitors whom I met with their friend and mine, Mary Sobieralski, in Scribes had also explored Ireland, North and South. They are Trish and her granddaughter, Sarah Jane. Sarah Jane is on her grand tour. She has been all over Europe (a spell in Turkey was her favourite) and then her Gran joined her for the last leg in Ireland.

Why Ireland?

They came to visit Trish’s friend, Mary . Mary and Trish met over twenty years ago when Mary and her late husband, Wulf, toured Australia. They have stayed in touch ever since and Mary visited Trish in Australia when she went there on a holiday with her son a few years ago.

These two stories are proof, if proof were needed, that lovely welcoming people like Kathy and Mary are our unsung tourism ambassadors.

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Brogans Boys Before they were Famous



Well, maybe one of them was already famous .

Photo: Kieran Cunningham on the internet

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KDYS Halloween Parade 2017



There was a greta turnout for this year’s Halloween parade on October 31 2017. The weather was perfect for it.

Gurtenard House, Vincent’s Dublin launch

Gurtenard House, then and now

Old photo and text is provided by Jimmy Moloney. The later photo is from MyHome.ie

The list of families associated with the house are Collis, Church,

Fitzgerald, Crosbie ( all these 4 were agents of Lord Listowel),

Armstrong ( left circa 1921. He owned a sweet factory near where
Carrolls

Yard is now), Bank of Ireland, Church of Ireland, 

Moloney
1948-2006,

Lawlor 2006-

The story of Armstrong is interesting. He ran a sweet factory
near the

castle. After Arthur Vickars was shot and Kilmorna House burned
in

1921 his wife stayed in Gurtenard House for safety. Shortly
after this

Mr. Armstrong left Listowel.

The following is taken from Houses of Kerry by Valerie Barry

“No date is given for the building of Gurtenard, but in 1837,

S.E.Collis  was in residence, although it was probably
built before

his time. Dr. Church later became owner, being followed by

Brinsley-Fitzgerald. James Crosbie, of Ballyheigue Castle (q.v),
may

have used it as a town house for he was  possession early
in the

1800s. Between 1870 and 1890, the Earl and Countess of Listowel
stayed

for a season in the house and thereafter occasionally returned
and

entertained the local families. Lady Listowel found the town
very

congenial and spent a number of Summer holidays here. Between
the

World Wars I and II, Gurtenard House had a chequered career and
began

to deteriorate. In 1948, the Moloneys bought and restored it. It
is

now open to Summer guests.”

(As far as I know, Gurtenard House is currently on the market.)

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It was just another paper sold for Joe Treacy until he looked up
at the customer: a rather tall-looking Jimmy Stewart. Photo taken on O’Connell
Street, Dublin on 1st August 1962.

I took this great photo and caption from a website called Irish Photo Archive

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 This photograph from The Kerryman celebrates Michael Barrett’s great win in Clonmel in 1973 with his dog, Dashing Newdown.


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 If you are a Listowel person exiled in the capital, a great Listowel night is planned for February 21st. Vincent Carmody has assembled a great line up of high profile Kerry people for the Dublin launch of his acclaimed book.

Everyone is welcome; being from Listowel is not a requirement.

Put it in your diary now.


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Did you have one of these?



Lamb tongues???????



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Annie Kett

Ireland’s oldest woman has died at the age of 107

Clare native Annie Kett was born Annie Hayes in 1905 in The Glen, Killaloe, Co Clare. After training as a nurse in London, she moved to Kilkishen where she farmed with her late husband, John who died in the 1970s.

She passed away at Thorpe’s Nursing home in Clarina, Co Limerick on Sunday 3rd Feb 2013, Annie celebrated her 107th birthday with family and friends just before Christmas 2012. Annie Kett is survived by her son and daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Before Annie,

Ireland’s oldest person was Laois woman Mary Kate Byrne, who celebrated her 108th birthday in August 2012.

Requiem Mass for Annie Kett at Garraunboy Church on Thursday 7th February 20013,  burial in church grounds.

Picture from

http://kildimonews.blogspot.ie/

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Stieg larrson and The Cows’ lawn, Hurricane Sandy

The Cows’ Lawn  (By Kay Caball) continued…..

While the Hares were not in the accepted sense ‘absentee landlords’, the
purchase of this estate was an investment by a successful businessman, who
mainly lived elsewhere. Richard Hare and his descendants intended collecting
every last penny from the estate. They put in place land agents who would run
the estate on their behalf, in a business like matter. The Hares, later Earls
of Listowel, only used
 Gurtinard House and its demesne for very short periods. The Hare’s main
residence was at Convamore in County Cork.

This was a magnificent residence designed by James Pain, ‘standing above
the most beautiful stretch of the Blackwater’. Hare did not replicate this in
Listowel, but built a handsome Georgian house in 1815 at Gurtinard with a pleasing
demesne surrounding the house including woods and the ‘two 
fields’ known to the occupants of
the ‘big 
house’ as the ‘front lawn’ and the ‘back 
lawn’. We can see in the 1763
map the
  suitable location later selected for, this
house and demesne, in its proximity
to the 
town . As well as occupying the most imposing site available it was
also a convenient location for the agent from which to conduct his estate
business and collect his rents.

Over the years there is evidence that the current Lord and Lady Listowel
would stay there only for short holiday periods. Bertha Beatty, who was a guest there in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century
tells us that their stays there were during ‘the season’ when they entertained
the local ‘county’ families. During this time the ‘two lawns’ were pleasure
grounds, including a tennis court. The lawns, which were fenced in were divided
in two by a grove of trees with a steam running though, giving an uninterrupted
view from the house to the River Feale in the distance.

Joseph O’Connor tells us that in 1895 his Grandfather’s house in Church
Street:

‘ended at the high wall of Lord Listowel’s demesne of Gurtinard. Beyond
that wall lay forbidden territory. Woe, betide the commoner who dared climb the
stone barrier to have a peep at the Great House, when the family was in
residence during the off-season in London. Nothing less than a month in Tralee
Gaol would purge his transgressions’.

This uncompromising attitude by the Hares and their agents towards the
townspeople continued. During the harsh winter of 1916-1917 despite a plea from
the Clerk of the Listowel Union for a contribution of timber towards a
fundraising effort for the local poor, it was refused.

In February 1917, with shortages & rising food prices due to the
war, Listowel Urban Council requested the Earl of Listowel to ‘make two large
fields, known as the “‘the two lawns” available for cultivation for the poor people of the town’. There was an unproductive series of letters
exchanged between the Urban Council and Lord Listowel. Jack McKenna, Chairman
of the Urban Council pointed out that all they were seeking was permission to
use ‘vacant’ land as tillage. He stressed how important this would be in the
context of food shortages being experienced at the time due to the Great War,
that ‘even in London the Royal Parks are being ploughed for tillage’. His plea
was in vain.

……………

(more tomorrow)

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Some of the magnificent trees in The Town Park

Gurtinard House today

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Recently I revisited a website called Letters of note.

I liked this letter. Maybe you will too.

On November 9th of 2004, Stieg Larsson — journalist and author of the posthumously published Millennium series of novels, the first of which wasThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo — passed away after suffering a heart attack. He was 50-years-old. The next month, Stieg’s long-term partner, Eva Gabrielsson, found the following letter amongst his belongings, marked “To be opened only after my death,” and written prior to a trip to Africa in 1977 when he was just 22.

Eva read extracts of the letter at Stieg’s funeral, the day after its discovery.

(Source: “There Are Things I Want You to Know” About Stieg Larsson and Me)

Stockholm,

February 9, 1977

Eva, my love,

It’s over. One way or another, everything comes to an end. It’s all over some day. That’s perhaps one of the most fascinating truths we know about the entire universe. The stars die, the galaxies die, the planets die. And people die too. I’ve never been a believer, but the day I became interested in astronomy, I think I put aside all that was left of my fear of death. I’d realized that in comparison to the universe, a human being, a single human being, me…is infinitely small. Well, I’m not writing this letter to deliver a profound religious or philosophical lecture. I’m writing it to tell you “farewell.” I was just talking to you on the phone. I can still hear the sound of your voice. I imagine you, before my eyes…a beautiful image, a lovely memory I will keep until the end. At this very moment, reading this letter, you know that I am dead.

There are things I want you to know. As I leave for Africa, I’m aware of what’s waiting for me. I even have the feeling that this trip could bring about my death, but it’s something that I have to experience, in spite of everything. I wasn’t born to sit in an armchair. I’m not like that. Correction: I wasn’t like that…I’m not going to Africa just as a journalist, I’m going above all on a political mission, and that’s why I think this trip might lead to my death.

This is the first time I’ve written to you knowing exactly what to say: I love you, I love you, love you, love you. I want you to know that. I want you to know that I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. I want you to know I mean that seriously. I want you to remember me but not grieve for me. If I truly mean something to you, and I know that I do, you will probably suffer when you learn I am dead. But if I really mean something to you, don’t suffer, I don’t want that. Don’t forget me, but go on living. Live your life. Pain will fade with time, even if that’s hard to imagine right now. Live in peace, my dearest love; live, love, hate, and keep fighting…

I had a lot of faults, I know, but some good qualities as well, I hope. But you, Eva, you inspired such love in me that I was never able to express it to you…

Straighten up, square your shoulders, hold your head high. Okay? Take care of yourself, Eva. Go have a cup of coffee. It’s over. Thank you for the beautiful times we had. You made me very happy. Adieu.

I kiss you goodbye, Eva.

From Stieg, with love.

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Unfortunate name

from Google street view  in Norwich

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Letter from New York

Hi, everyone –

Well, we survived the storm here in Brooklyn Heights with minimal disruption. Seems most of us lost cable TV and internet service and had some minor impact on electric lights last night. Lots of trees down as the video in this link will show – our beautiful old neighborhood has trees that are a hundred years old or more and we lost quite a few last night.

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50486

This morning, people were out and about on our Promenade looking down on the harbor as this post from the Brooklyn Heights blog shows. It has been raining here still today and, while the wind has died down, there’s still a brisk breeze.

http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/50513#more-50513

The big challenge will be getting to work as the subway tunnels under the East River all flooded. Never before has this happened. Not sure what to do about that…..Can’t imagine I’ll find too many taxis around here tomorrow morning.  And the mayor is not optimistic about when the repairs will be made and the subways functioning again.

The damage elsewhere in the city has been devastating – especially in the Rockaway Beach/Breezy Point section of Queens (a big Irish/Irish-American neighborhood), where a fire started last night and with the high winds quickly spread completely destroying more than 80, possibly as many as 100, homes. For those of you not familiar with that neighborhood, it’s a narrow band of land with the Atlantic on one side and JamaicaBay on the other. You fly right over it on a descent into JFK airport.

New Jersey, parts of Long Island—badly damaged. In NJ, Spring LakePoint Pleasant, Bay Head, Manasquan and other towns along the ocean in that part of the state – all towns surrounded by the ocean on one side and the bay on the other—hit very, very hard. The storm surge pushed the water in at an incredibly high rate and today, if a house is still standing, it is no doubt flooded and covered with sand or has a boat parked in the living room.

The surge was unbelievable here in the city. A huge tanker moored in the harbor washed up on a residential street on Staten Island. And a 35 foot wave was recorded in the harbor (wonder how they measure that?).

The wind last night was unreal. My apartment building, a solid brick building, has been standing for 110 years and you could feel it shaking as 80 mph or higher sustained winds battered it from about 7 pm on through the night.

But we’re here to tell the tale and that’s what’s important.

Thanks to all for your e-mails. It was great to hear from everyone.  Amazing isn’t it….to be able to connect so quickly around the globe.

Best regards,

Joanne


(From Joanne Dillon in Brooklyn)

Moloney’s

Jimmy Moloney shared some more photos from the family album with us.

Gurtinard House

This is a group taken on a pilgrimage to Lourdes in 1954.

Jimmy’s grandmother is in the middle of the first row.  I’m not clear if the rest are Listowel people.

This is a De Valera rally. Jimmy is not sure if it is in Listowel but thinks it is. Dev certainly has a lot of support.

This is an old picture of Moloney’s garage.

The Big Bridge

The house in white beside the church was later knocked down in order to extend St. Mary’s.

An old postcard of the river Feale

A date for the diary:

On Friday next in The Seanchaí NKRO will officially launch our website. Come along and see what we are at. Everyone welcome.

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The mood in town at the weekend was darkened by news of the untimely death of Dr. Louis O’Carroll.

Only one week ago he was one of the stars of this fundraising event for Writers’ Week. By all accounts he was in fine voice as he held the audience enthralled with his renditions of  John B. Keane’s Sweet Listowel and Bryan MacMahon’s haunting My Silver River Feale.

Louis was known for his generosity to his local town. He launched his cd  in St. John’s in a fundraising concert for Listowel hospice.

Here is a link to a youtube clip from that event

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiVBUT-oJe4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Go ndéana Dia trócaire air.

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