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: Tarbert

Neighbouring towns, Tarbert and Ballybunion

This photo from Kerry’s Eye tells a sad story. After 66 years of trading the Lynch family of Tarbert have closed their filling station leaving the village with no fuel station. This blow came hot on the heals of the closure of the bank branch.

Is the life being stifled out of this lovely little village?

No way. Tarbert people are a resilient lot and they will overcome these minor reversals.

Visit them here,

 http://www.tarbert.ie/

and see all that is going on.

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Our broadband is due to get a whole lot faster according to this story on Radio Kerry

6pm – Broadband services in Kerry are set to improve further with Kenmare, Listowel and the Tralee suburbs of Mounthawk and Killerisk included in the next phase of fibre network roll-out.  This next phase of Eircom’s fibre network – Phase 5 –  will be completed by 2014.  Tralee town is included in Phase 3 of the roll-out which will be completed this coming April, while Killarney is included in Phase 4 which will be completed by the end of this year.  The new network will provide broadband speeds of up to 70 megabytes per second to customers. 

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Elizabeth Smith is looking for help with her family research. Below is her letter.

Hi,

 I wondered if you could help me with researching my ancestry. I have hit a brick wall – 

My Grandfather Henry George Shield was the son of William Shield and Catherine Lynch. Catherine according to the 1891 England census was born in Listowel Kerry Ireland about 1852 and her brother John Lynch was born about 1950 also in Listowel Kerry Ireland. Their father was Maurice Lynch born in Ireland about 1810 and mother Margaret born Listowel Kerry Ireland about 1821.

They lived with or next door to a family William Reagan born about 1847 and Bridget born about 1849 in Ireland, listed in the England 1981, 1891 and 1901 census’s and Catherine and John are listed as Uncle and Aunt to their children in the 1891 England census.

 I cannot find any further information relating to Maurice Lynch or his wife Margaret. I would be very grateful for any information and hope to visit Listowel in 2013. 


Regards





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I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,

And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,

And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,

And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide

Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;

And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,

And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull’s way and the whale’s way, where the wind’s like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

John Masefield

I count myself blessed to live so near to Ballybunion. During the holiday I got the opportunity to take a walk along the beach.






These 2 pictures tell their own story. It is saddening to see that some people do not appreciate the great asset that this lovely beach is for us all.


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Jer found this following in the Perth diocesan archives.


From Perth Diocese archives

Jan 2013

John Senan Moynihan, son of Thomas and Mary Moynihan, was born on 25 November 1900 at
Meeascarthy Camp, Castlegregory, County Kerry, Ireland. He was baptised on 25 November 1900.
He was educated at Aughaeasia National School (8 years) and St Brendan’s Seminary, Killarney (4
years) and matriculated in June 1918. He studied at All Hallows, Dublin from October 1918-March
1919. He joined the Capuchin Order in 1920. He was ordained in Ireland in 1925. 

The Capuchin Annual was published from 1930-1977. Fr Senan OEM Cap. was Editor until 1953/1954.
He came to Perth at the invitation of Archbishop Redmond Prendiville. He arrived in Perth on 25/10/ 1959 from Ireland and was incardinated into Perth on 1 April, 1959. On arrival he took up a position as Chaplain to the Sisters at St Anne’s Hospital, Mt Lawley [now Mercy Hospital]. He was not the Chaplain for the patients.
Archbishop Redmond Prendiville appointed him the first Archivist of the Archdiocese of Perth on 25/
7/1962-1970. 

He died in Perth on 26 July 1970 age 70. He is buried at Karrakatta Cemetery IC 19.
He died without a Will and his estate was auctioned.

 I did find the original copy of Padraig Pearce’s Poems written the night before he was executed in Kilmainham Gaol. There were four sheets and they had been laminated. The heat sealing was lifting and it cost some hundreds of dollars to separate the poems from the laminating. I then sold the originals [with the permission of the Archbishop] to the National Archives in Dublin where you will be able to see them.


Till bells ring….

This is Betty McGrath’s window; the first Christmas window I spotted in Listowel. Since then I’ve seen lots of festive displays in town.

Today is Black Friday, the day when our stateside friends go on a mad spending splurge. Thanks to the internet we can all get in on the act with lots of online stores offering bargains for one day only.

BUT this year Listowel traders want everyone to make a special effort to spend our money locally. We are not going to have Black Friday, we are going to have Liveline inspired Fiver Friday. Starting next week, look out for €5 promotional deals in lots of local shops.

AND THERE’s MORE….

Shops will open on Sunday afternoons from now until Christmas.

Local independent traders will sell vouchers which will be valid for  one year. These will be a kind of local currency to be spend with any of the participating traders.

All the bumph about this and other great offers is available here

https://www.facebook.com/ListowelTown

Now, after the ad break, the address of our website, as promised. Niall of  RPM has been working through the night to get everything ship shape and Bristol fashion for our debut.

Here it is  

 http://www.northkerryreachingout.com/

With help from our friends we will be adding  to the content as time goes on.

Lastly; don’t forget tonight is trad. night in The Swanky Bar, Tarbert

Our time has come

Do you all recognise this timepiece? It hangs outside Mai Fitz’s on William Street. It should not be today’s picture because I should have thought of taking a photo at our meeting on Monday night. I was so excited by the sight of the huge attendance that I forgot to fish out the camera and record the occasion. Apologies. Kerry’s Eye did take a photo or two so I’ll see if they will share.

The meeting was a great success.The over capacity crowd was very enthusiastic and ready for the challenge of preserving our history.

I’ll outline the format of the night for those who couldn’t make it. Ger Greaney, our hard working chairman, introduced the project and gave a bit of the background to its beginnings. Cara Trant then gave a presentation on the pilot project in Loughrea. She showed us all that it could be done. We can learn from any mistakes our Galway pioneers made and we can build on the model they have outlined for the work.

 Ger was next up. He had diligently traced the history of one lesser known but mildly famous Listowel family. He was greatly helped in this research by all the hard work that had been done and is now shared on line by Robert Corridan. This family is the Stack family, formerly of 53 Church St. Michael Stack is a state senator for Philadelphia but his family originated in Listowel, Co. Kerry. Seven of the children from this family alone emigrated to the U.S. and have all done well in their adopted homes. Ger traced this family using on line records and he painted a fantastic picture for us of what could be done. Of course it will not be so easy to trace people less in the public eye.

It never ceases to fascinate me what can be found online. Only yesterday I found a marriage record for my great grandfather from 1839. This record had been kindly uploaded by another member of my extended family who was researching through church records for another ancestor.

Back to Monday night. With everyone fired with enthusiasm for looking back, we came to the highlight of the night, Vincent Carmody’s slide show of pictures of North Kerry. Vincent presented to us a varied and interesting insight into North Kerry in the past. We saw a beached plane on Beale strand and what looked like half of North Kerry under its wing. We saw a photo of a fleet of naval warships sailing up the Shannon estuary. This sparked one of the audience to recount his mother’s memories of the same sailors on a paper chase training exercise. He told us that the sailors had stayed in Tarbert for 6 months and had assimilated well into the local community. I heard on the radio yesterday that our own Irish soldiers are likewise bonding with the people of Tibnin today. We marvelled at progress as we saw a picture of the first car to be registered in Limerick as well as one of Mrs. Raymond in full regalia heading to town in her ass and cart. Many people in the audience recognised friends and relations, and in one or two cases themselves, in the photos.

A lively question and answer session ensued. Everyone agreed that it was a very enjoyable night. The next question is, Where to from here? All suggestions will be brought to the attention of the committee.

BTW I have not forgotten the bandsroom. Vincent is on it and will give me something to post on it shortly.

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