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: Lartigue Page 2 of 6

Lacken Post Box, Gleeson’s, and The Lartigue and volunteers

Knowing my fascination with post boxes Mattie Lennon sent us a photo of this one in Lacken.

Sometimes its nice to look back on the days when we were all the one and those times when a lick of green paint could make it all alright.

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Gleeson’s


Eileen Sheridan’s photo brought back many happy memories for blog fiollowers. 

Marie Nelligan Shaw wrote

Love, love, love the picture of Gleesons/Jumbos. Remember Ned Gleason, his son Eddie, his wife Annie? And Eddies wife Frances? who played the organ at St. Mary’s. Old Mrs. Gleason was blind and would trace my face with her hands to see if I looked like the Neligan’s or the Fitzgerald’s. There was also a lady who lived with them (believe her name was also Annie) who would walk Mrs. Gleason to mass at the convent chapel every morning. Great memories. Thanks Mary!

Philomena Moriarty Kuhn also had happy memories of the Gleeson family

I used to sing in the choir.  Mrs. Gleeson was our teacher. Lovely memories.

Imelda Murphy remembers too.

 I remember Gleeson’s pub lovely memories of my Grandfather Jackie Hartnett taking us in there for A bottle of lemonade

Vincent Carmody wrote this for us.

The Gleeson picture reminded me of the history of the house, I carried a mention in my 2012 book, pages 88 & 89 and more in the 2018 book, pages 66 & 67.

The house (Gleesons/Jumbos)  was actually built in the 1860’s by Daniel Broder for his daughter Johanna and her husband John Buckley. They had gone to America previously and John had died there. Johanna came home with her three children and operated the pub/grocery business, operating under the name, the Widow Buckley (page 89, 2012 book)  Her three Buckley children were, Lar, John and Daniel. 

Lar became a cooper, serving his time at Kirby’s in the Square, having completed his apprentice he married Ellen Kearney and set up a cooperage in Upper Church Street in a house which belonged to the Kearney family, Been of an entrepreneurial nature, Lar was aware of the ongoing development of Upper William Street and it’s potential with  its closeness to the Market and the Railway Station. he purchased a site from Lord Listowel on which he built two houses, now, No’s 24 and 26. He lived and worked in No. 26, the other he leased. It was in No 26 that he raised his family, his eldest Kathy, afterwards finding fame as chief cook in the White House. Laurence was an elected member of the Listowel U.D.C. in three  elections between 1905 and 1918. 

John Buckley, ( Lar’s brother) married a Matilda Walsh from Tarbert and then went to Melbourne. 

Daniel, the third of the Johanna’s children died as a young boy. 

In the 1870’s a rail connection was developed between Limerick and Tralee. Listowel then became an important terminus due to its large fairs and vibrant butter market. One of the railway personnel that found employment in Listowel was Tipperary man (I think he was from Upperchurch ?)  Timothy Gleeson. Over time he met with the Widow Buckley, first friendship, then romance and in December 1871 they married. They had five children, Edward, Julia, James, Mary and Daniel. Edward  (Ned) was the man the gave the address of welcome to Parnell. 

Johanna Buckley and Timothy Gleeson had a long life together, they both died within 4 days of each other, Timothy, on the 19th of December 1918, aged 76 and Johanna on the 22nd of  December, aged 98. 

My first cousin, Eileen (Buckley) McCaffrey, Johanna’s great granddaughter once told me the her family attributed Johanna’s longevity to her having a daily, morning full body dip. in a water filled large whiskey casket, which she kept for that purpose in a back shed.

In my book of 2018, page 45, I  presented a poster of the sale of a cottage in Courthouse Road, this was in 1903, the seller was Daniel Broderick (Broder), aged 82.. He was the man previously mentioned as having built the house for his daughter Johanna Buckley  In my comment about the poster I pointed out that Daniel Broderick, beside’s his daughter having a business in the town, he also had two sons, John, who owned a public house in the premises now housing the Credit Union (he was grandfather of Fr. Tony Gaughan) and Joseph, who was grandfather of Joe Broderick and great grandfather of Diarmuid, who runs Brodericks well known hostelry down in Tay-Lane.

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A Trip on the Lartigue


I brought some visitors to the Latrigue last week. As usual they really enjoyed the visit and they learned so much. They were delighted.

Bill and Tim were two of the volunteers on duty.

Michael Guerin was our driver and guide for the day.

As well as looking after the train and the museum, the volunteers also look after the flowers.

Pat was doing a bit of dead heading. The flowers are beautiful and a credit to all who care for them.

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Home from Spain

I met Ursula (Carmody)  Stack and her dad as they set out to do a spot of tidying up before The Races.

Ballybunion Country Market, The Lartigue Museum and Coco Kids

Ballybunion Country Market

I took this photo of a musician in Kilcooley’s Ballybunion at the Saturday morning market recently.

A basket maker was making an selling.

This potter has some absolutely beautiful pots.

I met this family buying hens at the horsefair recently. Today they were selling. I bought some eggs. They were delicious.

There were some beautiful crafts to buy.

There were organic food and cosmetic products.

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Artefacts at The Lartigue Museum


You’d never know what you’d see at the Lartigue Museum I was talking here about  a Primus stove only the other day and here is one in The Lartigue Museum.

This comes from Banteer. When the train was leaving the station there was a kind of baton handover like a relay race when responsibility is passed from one person to the next. This was the one used in Banteer.

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Listowel Skyline, August 9 2019



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Coco Kids has Moved 

Macroom, Travelling by Train, The Lartigue Monorail and Guerin’s A &O

Macroom, Co. Cork



Macroom Town Square is lovely with all its historical buildings.

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Kent Station, Cork

One of the great perks of growing old in Ireland is the access to free travel. I recently travelled by train and it was a great experience. I wandered around Kent station a bit and saw some of the historic artefacts they have there, including  Engine No. 36.

This stone is in Thurles. I had to change here so I had a while to wander around and take a few snaps. This stone intrigued me. Any idea what it means?

Thurles train station is beautifully maintained. It was pinning its colours to the mast in style this summer 2019.

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Today’s Fun Fact


from The Second Book of General Ignorance

If you toss a coin are the chances of it’s landing on heads fifty fifty?

The answer is No.

If the coin is heads up to begin with the chances are fifty one forty nine.

Students at Stanford University (with a lot of time on their hands!) recorded thousands of coin tosses with high-speed cameras and they discovered this interesting? fact.

They discovered that coin tossing is not random but “a measurable event that obeys the laws of physics.” If all the conditions are exactly the same then the chances are fifty fifty.  However, the slightest change in conditions, such as speed and angle of tops, height of coin from the ground, which side is facing up at the start, will affect the result.

A historic toss of a coin was not such a fun fact if you were Russian. In 1968 Italy and Russian were the teams playing in the semi final of The European Football Championship. The game ended in a scoreless draw. There were no penalty shoot outs in those days and there was no time in the schedule for a replay. The result was decided by the toss of a coin. Russia lost. Italy won the toss and the game and went on to win the final.

I wonder did anyone suggest doing best of three?

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More from my Visit to The Lartigue Museum




Our guide on the day I visited the Lartigue was Michael Guerin who wrote the book on The Lartigue. He pointed out to us that this wheel on top of the trestle track is the wheel that keeps the train running. The smaller wheels on either side just keep the carriages balanced.

Michael has visited Panissieres where the only other Lartigue train was commissioned on several occasions. He is very knowledgeable about the history of the train in our French twinned town. The train actually never ran and was the cause of a big scandal, with much money expended on the project and no train service to show at the end of the planning process.

Michael was the Mayor of Listowel when the Lartigue restoration project was first started. He was one of the driving forces behind the project. He paid huge tribute to Jack McKenna who was a generous benefactor, supporter and volunteer at The Lartigue from the start until his recent death. The museum is dedicated to him. Jimmy Deenihan was another generous benefactor and supporter of the project from the start. Without the support of these and many other workers we would not have this great visitor attraction today. Everyone should visit. It is open every afternoon until September.

These Danish visitors were enthralled and videoing everything.



Original timetables

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Remember when?




Brasso is a product that I only use very sparingly and very rarely. My tin is very old. I thought that maybe some reader might be able to put a date on it based on the price sticker.

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Culture Corner at Revival 2019



In The Kerry Writers’ Museum during Revival on August 9th and 10th 2019 there was a craft fair and poetry session.




Commemorative Benches, Woody Estates, Rats and The River Walk

A practically deserted Church Street, early morning on a July Sunday in 2019

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There was an old woman who lived in the woods….


Have you noticed that so many Listowel housing estates take their names from trees or woods? It might look to an outsider that Listowel is one big forest.

Below are just a small few examples.

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Commemorative Seats by the River Feale


Three new seats have recently been installed by the river. I would really appreciate if someone would tell me a bit about the men who are commemorated on the benches. Wouldn’t it be a lovely little project and a service to us all in town if someone would put together a little booklet with the locations of the seats and a little bit about the people they commemorate.

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Monday Washday in Kerry



Bridie O’sullivan posted this photo of her washing line last Monday, July 15 2019

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Today’s Fun Fact



You are never more than six feet away from a rat!

Wrong, wrong and utterly wrong, by a factor of about ten.

Rentokil, and they should know, estimates that most city dwellers are about 70 feet from the nearest long tailed one.

Here are a few rat facts;

  • In the UK rats outnumber people by about 10%.
  • Rats carry about 70 infectious diseases.
  • They eat a fifth of the world’s food supply each year.
  •  Rats’ teeth never stop growing.
  • A quarter of all electric cable breaks are down to rats gnawing through the cable.
  • ” Ratty”in Wind in the Willows is not a rat. He is a water vole.

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A River Walk


I took Molly for a walk along by Gurtinard Wood and on to the River Walk on one of last week’s lovely summer mornings.

The level of the water was very low.



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Poignant Sight Yesterday on the John B. Keane Rd.



The flag at the Lartigue was flying at half mast as a mark of respect to Jack McKenna who passed away on July 20 2019.

Jack volunteered at the visitor attraction until he was in his nineties and he was a huge supported of the project from day one.

I took this photo of Jack and his late wife, Sue with Jimmy Deenihan and the German ambassador at the official opening of the project in 2013.

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It Doesn’t Get any More Irish



Saturday night mass next weekend moved to the earlier time of 5pm to give mass goers a chance to watch Limerick beat Kilkenny in the All Ireland Semi – Final ( please god)  From Athea Tidy Towns.

Ballybunion, What our Forefathers Ate and some Listowel Premises getting a Facelift

Molly’s Back

Trouble -the -House is back for her Kerry holidays. You’ll spot us out and about these days as I reintroduce her to her second home.

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Ballybunion is Buzzing


Ballybunion loves a Summer Sunday. The Bunker was full to capacity and overflowing on to the street.


Flash had set up outside the Railway Bar and was entertaining the whole street on Sunday July 7 2019

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Food in Olden Times


from the Dúchas Folklore collection 

(Read to the end. I think he got the bit about the tea wrong.)

In olden times the chief food of the people was potatoes three times a day and sour skim milk and sometimes porridge made from yellow meal for supper and two meals of potatoes. 

Breakfast was usually taken at nine o’clock in the morning so that three hours work was done before breakfast. 

At each meal the table was placed in the centre of the floor and all sat down and commenced eating. In later years meals became more plentiful and bread was made from it by mixing with boiling water and afterwards baked in a griddle. The breakfast consisted then of yellow bread and sour skim milk filled out in wooden mugs. In the morning the bread was often heated in front of the fire before being eaten. In those days very little meat was used but salt mackerel for supper but potatoes were not unusual, supper hour being about nine o’clock. 

Easter Sunday was a feast and each member of the house was allowed as many eggs as he or she could eat. 

Tea was scarcely known until some sixty years ago and was not drank only at Christmas. Then it was made in a parcel and put away until the arrival of Christmas again.

Location: Cappagh, Co. Kerry- Teacher:T.F. Sheehan.

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Running Repairs in Listowel 

Fitzpatrick’s iconic bay window in Church Street is being replaced.

Jumbo’s is being repainted

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A Trip Back in Time




Dont forget to take a trip on the Lartigue in summer 2019. Open every afternoon.

Michael Guerin, Lartigue Driver. Oxana Sean, Seamus Kyritz from Tampa, Florida. Diane and Robert Moloney from Ennismore Listowel Canada. Pat Walsh Lartigue wayman.

These visitors to the Lartigue on Wednesday are descended from  families who left Listowel for Canada under the Peter Robinson Resttlement Scheme of the 19th century.

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Weekly Guided Walks



This photo was taken before the start of the first guided walking tour of the town on Saturday last. It is planned that these walks will take place every Saturday until the end of August, starting at 11.00a.m.

The cost is €5 and includes tea or coffee and a scone in The Kerry Writers Museum at the end of the walk.

If you are planning on taking the tour tomorrow,  July 13 2019, your volunteer guide will be…………….me.

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