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

Tag: Lyreacrompane Page 2 of 6

Piseoga, a Rainbow and the Opening of Moyvane Church in 1956 and A minute of your Time Launch nears

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On October 17, 2019

In Uncategorized

Listowel Castle, October 2019

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More Folklore from the Dúchas collection

More Piseóga from Lyreacrompane in 1936

27. It is said that you should not throw away feet-water at night.

28. It is said that you should never sweep the dust of the floor out the door.

29. If you see a sod falling out of the fire it is said that someone will come into the house soon after.

30. If a sod falls out of the fire and sparks hop out of it, it is said that money will come into that house.

31. If you see two cocks fighting it is said that you will have strangers. (to visit)

32. If you see two looking into a mirror together it is said the two will fight.

33. If anyone goes to the well after 12 o’clock on Little Christmas night (January 6)it is said that that person will be dead before the next morning.

34. If you get meat you should never return it.

35. You should never kill a pig on a Monday for it is said that the meat will get bad.

36. Some people say that if you throw a cake of bread against the door on New Year’s Eve, it is supposed to keep the hunger away for that year.

37. Some people bless the cattle on May eve, expecting that they would not die during the year.

38. If you put your dress on wrong in the morning it is supposed that you will have good luck for the day.

39. If a widow’s curse will fall on you it will stay on you.

40. If you steal anything out of a forge it is said you will never have a day’s luck.

41. If you put on your right shoe first in the morning it is said that that you will have good luck for that day.

42. If a spider hops on your shoes or on your clothes it is supposed that you will get new shoes.

43. If you break a cup on Monday it is said to bring bad luck.

44. If a ring falls from a person who is getting married it is said that that person will not have a day’s luck during life.

45. If you go on a journey you should if possible go into a church before you perform it.

46. If you met a greyhound at night it is said that he is a devil. (A person was ill one night and they sent for the priest. When the priest was coming he saw a greyhound singing inside a fence and it was said that that was a devil singing Cailín Deas Crúidh na mbó and that song was never sung again.)

47. If you give away a black cat it is said that you give away all your luck.

48. If a spoon falls from a table it is supposed that a lady will come in.

49. If a knife falls from a table it is supposed that a gentleman will come in.

50. You should never refuse good money for a horse. (A few weeks ago a man refused thirty pounds for a horse and a few days after, the horse fell and broke her leg and the owner of her shot her.

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A Rainbow over a Shed

Could there be a pot a gold behind the cowshed?


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Opening of Moyvane Church in August 1956


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Still Promoting A Minute of Your Time

Yesterday I gave a few sneak peeks to local people. The reaction was invariably good from the hairdressers, the pharmacy, the theatre and the bookshop.

Danny and Yvanna

Brenda of Woulfe’s Bookshop liked what she saw.

Máire Logue of St. John’s is enjoying her promotional copy.

Oonagh thought it was one of the nicest books she has seen launched in Listowel in a long time.

Listen out for me today Oct. 17 2019 talking to Deirdre Walsh on Radio Kerry.

Below is the link to the piece I did with Mary Fagan on Horizons.
Horizons

Dromcollogher Fire Tragedy, Piseóga and St Mary’s Listowel

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On October 16, 2019

In Uncategorized

In Listowel Town Square in October 2019

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Remembering a Tragedy 


This story was one I revisited in the book commemorating 100 years of The Irish Examiner.

This is the story as it appeared in the paper in 1926. As I was growing up it was something that was well remembered in folk memory in my part of the country and was spoken of in hushed tones as the greatest tragedy that had happened for a long time.

I wrote about this horror before and below is the link to the story

Dromcollogher Cinema Fire

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Piseóga from Lyreacrompane in  the Dúchas collection



The Schools’ Folklore Collection is a great anthology of old wisdom and superstitions collected by Irish schoolchildren in the 1930s from their elders.

The children of Lyreacrompane set to collecting old piseoga and superstitions. They were very diligent and they collected a huge number of these. Here are the first few. I hope you love the local idiom and colloquialisms of the children e.g. no. 21

Piseóga.

1/5/36 Fuaireas iad so leanas ó Bhorca Ni Dhiolaín, cailín sgoile ais Chlocán-Leiscirt.

1. If you see one magpie in the morning it means to you that you will have bad luck for that day.

2. If you see two magpies it means that you will have good luck for that day.

3. If you see three, it means that you will hear of a marriage during that day.

4. If you see four it means that there is a wake to be held that day.

5. If you see five it means that you will get silver from some friend or find silver lost.

6. If you see six it means that you will get gold lost.

7. If you see seven it means that you will hear a secret that was never told before.

8. If you break a mirror in a house it means that there will be bad luck in that house for seven years.

9. If you spill salt on a table it means bad luck.

10. If you meet a brown haired woman in the morning, it is as well for you to turn home for you will not do your journey that day.

11. If you walk under a ladder it means bad luck.

12. If you open an umbrella in a house it means bad luck.

13. If you find a horse shoe lost on the road you should spit on it and throw it away again and it is supposed to bring you good luck.

14. If you find a rack (a hair comb) or a half-penny lost on the road you should take it and keep it for it is supposed to bring you good luck.

15. If you shake a crane(For hanging pots over an open fire)on a Sunday it is supposed to bring bad luck.

16. If you burn a pack of cards it is supposed to bring bad luck.

17. It is said that you should never give away milk without putting a pinch of salt in it.

18. It is said that if there are three persons with the same Christian name in one house one of them is bound to die.

19. If you meet a hare crossing the road it is a sign of bad luck.

20. It is said that if you cut your nails on a Sunday it is as bad as to eat meat on a Friday.

21. You should never carry a “sup” of milk in a bucket to a well for it is said you will be in want of it after.

22. If you hear a cock crowing at night it is the sign of a death.

23. If you hear dogs crying that is the sign of a death.

24. It is said that you should never interfere with a fort.

25. If you hear a bell in your ear it is the sign of a death.

26. If you see a star falling it is the sign of a soul going to heaven

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The Main Altar in St. Mary’s




St. Mary’s Listowel has some beautiful mosaics and stained glass.

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Don’t Forget


Saturday next,  October 19 2019, in St. John’s in The Square at 7.30 I will be launching my new book. Elaine Kinsella of Radio Kerry is the special guest and there will be music and readings. 

John B. Keane, a Wall and the Rte Newsroom in 1968 and a letter from Australia

By

On October 3, 2019

In Uncategorized

Photo: Ita Hannon

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Sticks and Stones


John B. Keane in The Limerick Leader

MOST of our English teachers warned us at one time or another of the folly arising from the use of a big word where a small one would do just as well, and a few weeks ago we dealt in-depth, with this aspect of communications as indeed we do and have done with all manner of subjects.

But be this as it may, there was nothing so deflating to an ignoramus or bostoon or a common thug as a barrage of well-timed, well-spaced, multi-syllabic tongue-twisters.

Backward and suspicious folk, unversed in the subtleties and sonorousness of sublime expression, have a healthy respect for the man who has words at will and will give him a wide berth for fear of invoking his wrath.

In fact, there are many sensible country people who would much prefer a lick of a naked fist.

The worst a belt of this nature can do is give you a black eye or a broken jaw, either of which can be cured easily and forgotten about altogether in the course of time.

Not so with a nicely mounted cluster of sharp, scintillating words.

These can leave scars and sores that will not heal for a genesis of generations.

Punishing

How many will disagree that an absurd soubriquet has twice the punishing powers of a comprehensive physical beating?

The old Gaelic chieftains had a greater fear of satire and ridicule than of sworn enemies out for a man’s blood.

At least you could build castles against your enemies buy against the invective of a disgruntled bard. There was no defence whatsoever, and even if you cut off his head before he got started one of his brotherhood was sure to lambast you with a lacerating and lineage-defiling displode which was sure to be remembered unto the third and even the fourth generation.

Anything was preferable to the poet’s curse or the wit’s tag, and if ’twas the last fork of mate in the house itself, it was wiser to part with it rather than risk the wrath of a half-starving poetaster.

Worse still, of course, was to be fettered by a mouthful of words which the benighted victim would have no hope of understanding.

Bad as he is, than the devil one does not know, and what an ordeal to have to through the world like a dog with a canister tie to its tail.

There are others, of course, notably schoolboys, who have no fear whatsoever of the spoken word when delivered by a disgruntled teacher.

The longer the tirade, the less likelihood of physical punishment.

The maxim here was:

“Sticks and stones may break my bones

But words will never hurt me.”

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RTE Newsroom 1968






Photo from Rte Archives



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They’re Building a Wall



Where?  Beside Áras an Phiarsaigh, Listowel

Why? I have no idea

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Lyreacrompane 1970




Photo from Facebook

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Any Henrys or Brosnihans out there?


My name is Jan Allen and I live in Australia. I have been researching my ancestory. Your website has interested me as I know I have ancestors in your area. 

My great-grandmother, Mary Henry, was born in Listowel in 1855 and I know that her parents’ names were Michael Henry and Mary Brosnihan. I have found her baptismal date but have not been able to find her parents’ marriage date or their birth dates. Ballygologue was referenced in her baptismal record. 

I have been scanning through all the records I have access to but there seems to be some missing records – I have not been able to find any information about the Brosnihans or the Henrys. I am assuming that they lived in the County of Listowel as Mary was born there. 

In 2010 my husband and I travelled through the Republic of Ireland but at that time, I had not done any research into my ancestry. Since my mother passed away in 2018, I have become very interested in her family history.  The other side of her family (Foley) were born in Edenderry, Ireland.

You have indicated that you are interested in connecting with people related to the area, although my connection may be quite remote. My great grandparents were both born in Ireland, travelling to Australia, then marrying in Cooktown, Queensland. 

Yours faithfully,

Jan Allen (formerly Matthews)


Cork’s Denny Lane, Tarbert Bridewell and some Bird Stories from Dúchas

By

On July 3, 2019

In Uncategorized

Summer 2019

Aisling and Molly in Ballincollig Regional Park in sunny June 2019

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Cork’s Denny Lane

I spotted this on South Mall in Cork last week.

This is the elegant doorway to the Lane house

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Tarbert Bridewell Relaunch


Here I am with another visitor and our guide, Mary O’Connell at the relaunch of the Tarbert Bridewell project on Saturday June 29 2019. If you want to give your children an easy history lesson or if you just want to find out something about rough justice in the 19th century this is a great place to come.

We follow the story of Tom Dillon who is accused of leaving his cow to trespass on his neighbours property. His defence was that the cow wandered through an open gate and he entered the field to retrieve her. The policeman who attended was having none of it and Tom was brought before the court sitting in The Bridewell Tarbert.

This is Dillon. Members of the local Tarbert drama group have recorded the story in dramatic fashion which we listened to as we went from room to room.

This is the maligned Mrs. Ahern whose grass Tom’s cow was eating.

The judge was a bit harsh I thought. You’ll have to visit to find out the sentence.

In another cell is this poor prisoner, emprisoned with her young baby.

Tarbert Bridewell visitor experience is located on the road to the ferry. It’s well worth factoring in a stop there if you are going to Clare. There is a lovely coffee shop and souvenirs as well.
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Bird Lore from the Dúchas Folklore Collection


There was once a middle aged man who had little or no money. Then it was coming near Christmas his shoes became worn and he began to collect all his money a few days before Christmas she found he had twelve shillings so he went along the road to the nearest town to buy a pair of shoes. When he had gone little way he heard a black bird on a bush saying “Spend and God will send”. He went on and he heard a thrush saying “Be merry today to-morrow you die.” He went on to town and spent the twelve shillings on drink and as he was coming home he heard a wren saying. “Have it yourself or be without it.”

Some people go torching. They light a candle and having the bottom of a bottle knocked out, they put the candle into it. The lighting side of the candle should be stuck up the jowl of the bottle. You must follow the wind always. When you see a bird you must strike him on the head with a piece of stick and kill him. A stormy night is the best sort of night to go torchhing. The How pigeons build their nests. The hen goes into and box and the cock lungs straw in and the hen fixes it and after about two says the nest is made and in about a day or two the hen lays an egg and the next day she lays another egg. Then the cock hatches in the day and the hen hatches at night and about three weeks the young ones come out. Then you should get crushed corn and give it to the pair. Then the pigeons fill their craws and throw it up into the young pigeons mouths and in about three week they come out of the nest and in about five days they can fly.

Collector Pat Mc Elligott, Address- Bedford, Co. Kerry
Informant Tom Halpin- Age 27 Address, Bedford, Co. Kerry.

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Lyre Concert



NKM Strike, MS Coffee Morning and Denny Factory is No More and some early spring flowers in Lyreacrompasne

By

On February 28, 2019

In Uncategorized

Abandoned House; Photo; Chris Grayson

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Employment Unrest in Listowel in 1922


NKM on the banks of The Feale was going along nicely until 1922 . A strike at the factory caused the owners to relocate their business to Dublin leaving many in Listowel disappointed. Dave O’Sullivan did the research.

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There it is….Gone


Photo: Seán Lyons

The old Denny factory in Tralee has been levelled and the site cleared.

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North Kerry MS Coffee Morning


On Saturday February  16 2019 the North Kerry branch of MS Ireland held a very popular coffee morning in Tomáisíns in Lisselton.

I was there enjoying the fare and taking a few photos.

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Road Signs




At the junction of Charles St. and Courthouse Road

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February 2019 in Lyreacrompane





The green fingers  and the photographs are those of Joe Harrington and Kay O’Leary. Doesn’t warm the cockles of your heart to see such beauty and such promise of Spring?

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Looking for Love Second Time Around



Tune in to First Dates Ireland  on RTE 2 tonight, February 28 2019 at 9.30. Pamela Behan, formerly of Listowel, is one of the ladies looking to find love.

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