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: The Famine Page 1 of 3

The Best of us and the Worst of us

Beautiful Ballybunion in March 2025

Comhghairdeas

Could they be more Irish than the Irish themselves? The enormously talented musicians, Yershovy Sisters, last night were crowned winners of the TG4 Réalta agus Gaolta. Ukraine’s loss, our gain.

The Famine in Listowel

John Pierse included these extracts from the schools folklore collection in his book, Teampall Bán.

Emigration is Hard on Everyone

In an Unkind World

St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2025

A few I took on Church Street

Daffodil Day 2025

A few of the hard working committee in the very poorly lit Mermaids. Some beautiful blooms donated for Daffodil Day.

A Fact

Irish magpies are suffering similar problems to Irish humans. Lack of houses, or, in the magpies’ case, nesting sites, mean that up to 50% of magpies don’t breed.

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Daffodil Day

Listowel branch of Kerry Library

Daffodil Day

Today is Daffodil Day. To co- incide with the fundraising, the local committee has shared a photograph of the first Daffodil Day committee.

Home, Sweet Home

St. Patrick’s Day Parade 2025

A few more from the parade…rescue services

The Famine memembered by schoolchildren

Extracts from the schools’ folklore collection are included in John Pierse’s Teampall Bán

A Fact

A magpie can hatch three to ten eggs but, on average, only one or two from any brood survive to adulthood.

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Remembering The Famine

Horse chestnuts ripening nicely in the sun and rain of summer 2023

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Famine in The Lane, Kiskeam

The Lane in 2023

Extracts from Kiskeam by Fr. John ORiordáin

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Social History

We’ve had an email from Sarah Moore with some invaluable guidelines for anyone going about recording the reminiscences of an older person

Hi Mary,

I was just wondering if you were still updating https://listowelconnection.com/australian-kenneallys-some-family/. We’ve just created a great guide to help people interview their elderly family members for genealogical research, and how to get the best experience and understanding from those interviews. You can see it here: https://ourpublicrecords.org/interview-elderly-relatives/

If it would be useful to your readers, we’d love to be included on your page!

Thank you,

Sarah Moore

Marketing Specialist

https://ourpublicrecords.org/

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Molly in The Garden of Europe

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A Thought

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Kildare, Some Socks and a Soccer Match Fact

An image from summer 2021 with St. John’s surrounded by scaffolding.

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My Trip to Kildare

Kildare Town Square in August 2021. Lots of accommodation for outdoor dining in the spacious town centre area.

It was Heritage Week so reminders of Kildare’s heritage were everywhere; St. Bridget, horses and horse racing. There were a few sheep too from the nearby Curragh.

The bunting outside the turf accountants was jockeys’ silks.

How appropriate.

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A Wedding and some US Visitors

My niece got married. Covid made much of the planning a nightmare but it was all “alright on the night”.

I was wondering what token to buy for the U.S. branch of the family who were travelling for the occasion. I wanted something small, light, useful and easy to pack but something also that says Ireland. What better than Listowel native Anna Guerin’s Sock Coop’s beautiful socks. I bought them online and they were delivered in 2 days.

They were a big hit!

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I know this for a fact

In October 1963, 90 men who worked in Dunlops in Cork were suspended. They took time off without permission to watch a soccer match on TV.

The match that nearly cost them their jobs was England versus The Rest of the World. (Source The Irish Examiner)

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A Casualty of Covid and Lack of Funds

(Story from Mark Holan’s Irish American Blog)

Museum Closure

Ireland’s Great Hunger Museum in Connecticut, closed for over a year due to COVID-19, will not reopen, owner Quinnipiac University says. The museum is said to hold the world’s largest collection of historic and contemporary Irish famine-related art works. The pandemic has further eroded the museum’s poor financial footing, which surfaced in 2019.

“The university is in active conversations with potential partners with the goal of placing the collection on display at an organization that will increase access to national and international audiences,” Associate Vice President for Public Relations John Morgan wrote in an early August statement.

The museum opened in 2012. The 175th anniversary of “Black ’47”, the worst year of the famine, is next year.

Ireland’s Great Hunger Institute, founded and directed by history professor Christine Kinealy, remains open, as does the special collection of famine-related books, journals, and documents at the Arnold Bernhard Library on the Mount Carmel Campus, Morgan said.

I visited the library and museum in March 2013. I hope this impressive collection finds a good home.

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Gresham Menu 1972

This old Gresham Menu has gone viral on Facebook. In 1972 eating in a restaurant was a big treat, not an everyday thing. I don’t know why I believed that it was horrendously expensive!

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Tralee in the sixties, Rebel Abbey, 2 Day Revival 2019 and Listowel, A Printer’s Legacy

The Gap of Dunloe


Photo: Chris Grayson





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Christmas Shopping in Tralee in the sixties


Photo: Historical Tralee and surrounding areas



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Maureen Flavin of Knocknagoshel and Black Sod



Remember Billy McSweeney’s great story of the Kerry lady who married the son of the Blacksod Lighthouse keeper and found herself playing a vital role in the timing of the DDay landings. Well didn’t a loyal blog follower know all about Maureen and he sent us this.

This is Maureen in a wedding photo from 1946

Maureen’s mother was a Mulvihill . The Mulvihill family was also famous. Ned Mulvihill bred a greyhound called Rebel Abbey who won all round him.





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Listowel, Get Ready to Rock in 2019




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Leonard, Listowel Mill Owner; Villain or Saint



The next instalment in the debate;

Hi, Mary,

 Interesting debate opening up. I don’t think any heavy work was done by inmates in the workhouses- they were in poor shape, weakened and poorly fed- certainly not enough work to enrich anyone.  More importantly, able-bodied persons were liable to the rigours of the law if they attempted to get into the workhouses! Auxiliary Workhouses in premises privately owned were  rented by the Board of Guardians and they ran the show after that. I have never come across a privately owned and operated workhouse. I don’t see many certain ‘facts’ on either side of the current debate.  TF Culhane  wrote about Maurice Leonard being ‘remembered’ as having given the barrels of flour; he was not recalling that as his own personal memory. The Folklore Commission relied on stories and memories also. Using ‘recalls’ is no worse that using ‘Keane reported…’ as ‘reported’ has the following meaning:  “give a spoken or written account of something that one has observed, heard, done, or investigated.”  ‘Folklore’ hardy meets this qualification. The reference to TF Culhane’s thoughts are included in the North Kerry Literary Trust, Listowel, excellent 2007 edition of  the book, “Kerry Memories”- this is steeped in Listowel Connections spanning generations. This book is painstakingly thorough in relation to what it includes. Pádraig de Brún and Jimmy Deenihan were instrumental in this publication. It is well-worth a read by anyone connected with Listowel. Bets or speculation and political points are not of much use at this remove. I was a bit doubtful of the number,  ‘six thousand barrels’ as that would be an enormous amount of wheat for the Listowel area in those pestilential days. Perhaps the local memory  was a bit defective in both cases in debate? And there are those who would claim that all such wheat would have been exported in any case to England, while the local people starved. I agree that a factual and disinterested  assessment of the ‘Listowel wheat or barrels of flour’ conundrum is required.  I am sure there will be many well-qualified and  willing to take in on.

Regards,

Nicholas.

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People at a Book Launch


Seán Kelly, Nora Sheahan, Peggy Hilliard, Lilly Nolan and Vincent Carmody in The Listowel Arms on December 9 2018 at the launch of Listowel , A Printer’s Legacy.

Vincent Carmody with Jimmy Deenihan

Historians and politicians at the launch.



Maurice O’Mahoney gets in a quick read before the crowd gathers.

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Christmas 2018 in Listowel


Another great idea from Christmas in Listowel 

The Listowel Treasure Train

Join us on a magical trail around Listowel’s beautiful shop window displays on the Listowel Treasure Train.

Each of the 14 participating shops have a Little Green Train displayed somewhere in their window. Can you find them all? 

The Runaway Red Train
Our Runaway Red Train has a mind of its own and moves from window to window.

Each day we will post a photo of the Runaway Red Train’s new location, as well as the day’s prize on the Christmas in Listowel Facebook Page. Simply tell us where the Red Train is, to be in with a chance of winning one of our amazing prizes every day.

The prizes will be displayed in Galvin’s Window and available for collection at the end of the competition after Saturday 22nd December.

Follow us at “Christmas in Listowel” on Facebook to take part in this fun game.

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