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: Vincent Carmody Page 4 of 18

Turfcutting, A Tall Tale and Listowel Primary Care Centre

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On February 6, 2020

In Uncategorized

Photo: Bridget O’Connor

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Shlawns or Sleáin


This poor man when he was breaking his back cutting turf in some midland bog sometime in the last century never dreamed that one day he would be famous on the internet.

The sight of him working his slean and Kate Ahern from California with a totally different method of turf cutting prompted Vincent Carmody to share a few thoughts with us about his experience of this implement.

“….I was going to to explain to you about the different type of Sleans, however I desisted, as people would say, Carmody thinks he knows everything !!. However,as  I have been involved in helping, cutting, and saving my families and my own turf since the 1950s up to the present day, you might say I have a little experience.  

  

The type that is used up the country is called a breast slean, is is amenable for a one or two man exercise, with this slean the cutter has more control and can deposit the cut sod up on the bank in one movement. If needed, he could have a second man spreading the cut turf on the bank, With the one used in North Kerry, you had the cutter, who cut the sod which fell forward off the slean, the breancher ?  He was positioned in front of the sleanman, he would pike the sod up on the bank as soon as it fell from the slean, Then, in North Kerry fashion, a third man, overhead on the bank, he was known as the spreader, would spread the turf as far out on the bank as was required by however deep down in the bog hole they were cutting. 

A lot of people would cut the turf down to the mud. The depth of bogs varied, Shallow bogs might be only 2 sods deep, whereas, in the likes of Lyre or up the midlands, the bank could be, 8, 10 or even more sods deep. “

Vincent.




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Listowel Primary Care Centre Update




I took this photo  last week. It looks like the building of this huge facility is nearing completion.

This picture gives you a better idea of where the Primary Care Centre is located.

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Away with The Fairies in Rathea

Years ago a man and his wife and daughter who were living in Rathea were coming home from town in a horse and car. Himself and his daughter was sitting in front and his wife was sitting behind. They came on to Pike glasha where the horse took a drink. 

When they were coming up the hill he missed his wife from behind him and he says “God help me my heart is broke from her”. She was in the habit of getting the falling sickness. He knew there was no use in looking for her for he always said that the good people had something to do with her. 

He came home cráite and he told a few of the neighbours that his wife was missing and they came to the house to spend the night with him. About midnight the door opened and in walked his wife with a riding switch in her hand and they all knew that the riding switch didn’t belong to the house nor any of them never see it before. She faced the ladder that was near the dresser and went up a few steps and put the switch on the top of the dresser saying as she did so “Gearoid’s pony won the race tonight”. With that she fell into one of her fits and when she got out of it she said “My cure is over in the holy water stone in the Teampaillin if anyone has courage enough to bring me a drink of water it will cure me. 

The only one that consented to go was her daughter and a neighbouring boy. Away they wint and they couldn’t make out the stone. The daughter wouldn’t come home without the water and she called a neighbour living near the Teampaillin and he came and his dog followed him. The dog happened to run on before them. When they were nearing the stone he was struck and ran away

yelling and they found the stone and got the water. She brought it home and gave it to her mother and she got alright. Some of the water fell on the daughter’s hand she rubbed her hand to her eye and she was blind for the remainder of her life in that eye and the two men that were with her one of them got a sudden death and the other one was crippled for life.

COLLECTOR
Seán Treannt
Gender
male
Address
Rathea, Co. Kerry
INFORMANT
mother
Relation
parent
Gender
female
Address
Rathea, Co. Kerry
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Wren Boys, Listowel shops and Christmas Things

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On December 23, 2019

In Uncategorized

December 2019

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Some Listowel Shops at Christmas 2019



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A Christmas Tradition

Wren boys by Vincent Carmody

The wren-boy tradition on St. Stephen’s Day is unfortunately, now nearly a thing of the past. Now, only a few small groups, or individuals carry on a tradition, the origins of which, are lost in the mists of time. In the time of the big batches of wren-boys, under the leadership of their King, these groups would traverse the country roads all day, and as evening and night approached, they would head for the larger urban areas to avail of the richer pickings in the public houses.

The North Kerry area was well catered for, with two large groupings in the Killocrim/Enismore and Dirha West areas, There was also a strong tradition in the Clounmacon side of the parish.

Some time after the wrens-day, it was the custom to organise a wren-dance. When the date was picked, a house offered to host the dance. The dances were all night affairs, with liberal quantities of food and drink provided. 

In the early 1960’s I spent three years in London,  during which, I worked in a pub, The Devonshire Arms, in Kensington, for a year or so. At this time, The Harvest Festival Committee, under Dr. Johnny Walsh, organised the wren-boy competitions in Listowel. Mr Johnny Muldoon, of London, had met Dr Johnny in Listowel and told him that he would organise two dances in his Dance Halls in London, provided that the Listowel committee send over three or four wren-boys to be in attendance. During their stay in London, Dan Maher, who managed the Devonshire, invited the Listowel contingent to the pub. On the particular evening I was serving in the lounge bar. (the pub was a gathering place for many film and TV actors who would have lived nearby). Suddenly Dr.Johnny threw the double door open, and in came the Listowel wren-boys, led by the leader, Jimmy Hennessy. Jimmy, wearing a colourful pants, had only some fur skin over his shoulders and chest and a headpiece with two horns. The others followed, faces blackened, and wearing similar outfits, all beating bodhrans. To say the least, those present did not have an idea what was happening.  To this day, I can hear the remark which one man, Sir Bruce Setan, (he, of Fabian of the Yard) at the counter said to the other, Christopher Trace (of Blue Peter fame), Blimey, they’re coming in from the jungle. They will kill us all.
There was no one killed, and I think that Jimmy Hennessy enjoyed drinking pints of Guinness and pressing the flesh, surrounded by people he usually saw, only in the Plaza and Astor.

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My Christmas Things

This is my new favourite Christmas thing, a beautiful Jim Dunn Christmas scene.

My second favourite Christmas thing is my Woodford Pottery crib.

And finally my little Judy Greene nativity

Blacksmith sculpture, Autographs in the 1940s, memories of an Altar Server in the Convent Chapel and a gift of flowers

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On September 5, 2019

In Uncategorized

Blacksmith sculpture in Tralee Town Park

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An Old Autograph Book

During a recent clearcut of the attic at my old home this treasure turned up.

It is my mother’s autograph book. It is nearly 100 years old. In my mother’s day and in mine we didn’t collect autographs of famous people. We never met any famous people. We used to write in each other’s books. Usually we wrote silly little rhymes or pieces of doggerel. Here are two examples from my mother’s book. It was common practice as well to only put your initials or to put no name at all.


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Down Memory Lane with The Kerryman

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Memories of the Convent

The images of the Convent Chapel bell brought back memories to Vincent Carmody.

It was a long time tradition for people growing up in Upper William Street (Patrick Street) to attend Sunday Morning Mass at the Convent Chapel at 7.00 pm , and for the more devout, weekly morning Mass at 7.00 pm. These attendees would have been ‘called to prayer’ by the peeling of the bell, which is now on public view on the side-yard of our Parish Church. This bell, been smaller in size than the bell in St. Mary’s Parish Church also had a more tinny tone than the full throated bell of the Church in the Square.

The Convent bell, was operated by the pulling of an attached rope, this was located close  the Sacristy, which was at the back of the Sanctuary. The ringing of this  bell was mostly the preserve and duty of the Sacristan, Sr. Aloysius.

For one year, back in the mid 1950s, (c 1956), I was an Altar Server. My mother decreed that, as my father, his two brothers and my two older brothers had donned the surplice and the soutane of the Convent Chapel, then I would have to follow in their footsteps. So, when arrangements were made, I had to undergo a crash course in the old form of the Latin Mass.  For this I was coached by Tony Dillon, a senior altar server at the Convent. When I was deemed proficient I then had to go before Sr. Aloysius for the oral exam, The Latin, was learned off like a parrot without any knowledge of what it meant, even today 60 years on, much is still remembered, ‘Introibo ad Altare Dei’, Mae Culpa, Mae Maxima Culpa etc etc. Practical training followed before been allowed to doing any serving. 

I enjoyed my year and a memory of it came back to me some years ago, on this occasion I had spoken to a group on Kathy Buckley’s time in the White House, at a question and answers after the talk, I was asked if there was anyone in life that I had met and afterwards regretted that I had not spoken to them of their earlier life. I thought and said yes. An elderly couple used attend daily morning mass at the Convent Chapel in my time as a server, their names, Ned and Anne Gleeson, Anne was blind and she would link Ned as they went, they were daily communicants and many a morning I held the paten under their chins as they received, years later as I developed a love of local history I found out that Ned Gleeson was the man who delivered the Listowel Town Commissioners address of welcome to Charles Steward Parnell, on his famous visit to Listowel in 1891. In racing parlance, that would have been a story, straight from the horse’s mouth.

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Thank You, Folks


These lovely people took the guided walking tour on Saturday. We got on so well that I gave them a copy of my book from 2009. They had never been to Listowel before except for when Janet made a brief stop here during her cycle from Malin to Mizen and fell in love with our lovely town and vowed to come back.


They went to the trouble of finding out my address and sent me these. I hope they are keeping their promise and checking in with the blog so that they can see that I received the flowers and I am truly bowled over by their kindness.

Vincent Carmody in New York, Ballybunion in the 1920s and an anecdote about begging

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On March 18, 2019

In Uncategorized

Jim MacSweeney

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St. Patrick’s Hall, Listowel on St. Patrick’s Weekend 2019

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The Book Tour is Going Well 


Vincent Carmody’s Listowel      Gerry O’Shea

In the bar area of the Kerry Hall in Yonkers there are portraits displayed  of five well-known Kerry writers, and three of the five come from the town of Listowel or its hinterland:  Maurice Walsh from Ballybunion, author of The Quiet Man, John Moriarty, poet and philosopher from Moyvane and, of course, John B Keane from the town itself. 

The management of the bar would find it hard to explain why the marvelous Bryan McMahon is not on display or Brendan Kennelly from Ballylongford or George Fitzmaurice, a noted dramatist and short story writer in the 19th century or Fergal Keane of current BBC fame.

I have no idea why a small and – at first walk-through – an  unimposing town accounts for so much exuberant artistic talent. And now we have local historian, Vincent Carmody,  producing an excellent and intriguing communal history: Listowel: A Printer’s Legacy. The title is further explained in the cover as The Story of Printing in North Kerry 1870-1970.

If, like me, you associate the work of the town crier with Shakespeare and Elizabethan England, you will find out that the job was alive and well in Listowel in Queen Victoria’s time and indeed right through the Irish Independence War a hundred years ago.

Carmody displays a rather menacing photograph of Mick Lane, town crier supreme, complete with his bell. Apart from making community announcements, Lane saw his job as promoting the sale of various items of local interest. A literate man who liked verse, his best-known quatrain was:  

Go forth in haste with brush and paste,

Proclaim to all creation

That men are wise that advertise,

In every generation.

The author deals in detail with the Cuthberton family, owners of the main printing press in Listowel from 1880 until they closed shop in 1960. They were a prominent Church of Ireland family who included in their work posters and meeting notices ordered for various branches of the emerging nationalist movement  especially during the first two decades of the 20th century.

 The British authorities were very critical of a printing company, especially one with the Cuthberton religious pedigree, that was open to working for what they considered seditious organizations like Sinn Fein and the Gaelic league.

Mr. Carmody introduces readers to Sir Arthur Vicars who spent considerable time in Kilmorna House, an elegant Victorian building located a few miles from Listowel. Sir Arthur  was appointed custodian of the Irish Crown Jewels in 1893. In 1907 the jewels disappeared and have never been recovered. The Royal Commission that was set up to solve the mystery failed to come to any conclusion but recommended that Vicars should lose his title. 

In 1921, during the War of Independence, the IRA suspected that Sir Arthur was a British spy. They burned Kilmorna House and executed Mr. Vicars. There is still no conclusive report on the jewels or how they disappeared.

 An enterprising Hollywood producer could involve the indefatigable Mr. Carmody in untangling the intriguing  possibilities here. Vague rumors about a hidden vault at the north end of Kilmorna House might provide a good starting point!

The late Con Houlihan, a noted sportswriter and humanist, from  Castleisland, down the road from Listowel, wrote that all human life can be found among the people in a country village. Vincent Carmody confirms this observation in Listowel: APrinter’s Legacy which proclaims his love of place in every chapter.

 The photographs and posters with their stories entice the reader to flip  from page to page – auctions, North Kerry ballads, fairs and, of course, local productions of plays are all described in the language of the time. Special kudos to the book’s design and layout team, including the attractive cover.

 The Foreword to the book by retired teacher Cyril Kelly, another erudite Listowel writer, is exceptional, especially the four magnificent paragraphs describing the day-to-day work of Tadhg Brennan, a local blacksmith. I highly recommend Mr. Kelly’s contribution to aspiring writers and to old timers too who may recall visiting and playing with the bellows in their village forge fifty or more years ago. 

The book was launched in New York before a big crowd by Dr. Miriam Nyhan Grey of the Irish Studies Department in NYU in the Kerry Hall in Yonkers on Friday March 8th. It is available online at listoweloriginals.com.   

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Holiday Snap from the 1920s

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Happy a Butcher’s Dog




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Beggars and Choosers


I got a very good reply to my post last week of a story from Mattie Lennon about his experience with the mendicant profession


Great piece about beggars and their targets. I’d say his willingness to give was the primary attraction! Many years ago, I was accosted by a well-dressed fellow who was drunk, and obviously seeking funds by which he could get drunker. At the time, I myself could not afford to drink, if I ever could! In answer to his slurred supplication I replied, as politely as I could, ‘No, thank you.’ He was genuinely taken aback and shouted: ‘I’m not effing giving you money, I am effing asking for it!’ 

1975 Cinderella, Spectators at the tennis and Listowel Writers Week Literary Evenings.

By

On February 6, 2019

In Uncategorized

Robin in The National Park photographed by Chris Grayson

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Listowel Tennis in the 1980s


Watching a tennis game are Denis O’Rourke (standing) and the late Paudie Finnegan (seated).



Miriam Croghan and Jacintha Egan

Photos; Danny Gordon

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1975 Panto




This old newspaper clip of some of the cast of Cinderella in 1975 brought back many many happy memories.

One sad fact I was reminded of is that Mary Dooley who played Cinderella was tragically killed in a Road Traffic Accident a few years after this happy time leaving behind a young husband and family.

At the other end of the scale another blog follower told me that there is a video of this panto somewhere and the drag show at the intermission is hilarious.

If you have real photos or would like to pen a few memories, there is an audience out there hungry to relive those happy busy winter days in 1970s  Listowel.

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Listowel Writers’ Week Literary Evenings




You are still in time to catch the last of these tonight. This partnership between Writers’ Week and The Rose Hotel Tralee has added a whole new dimension to the festival and brought in a whole new local audience.

Because these soirees were free it was an ideal opportunity to sample a literary event and maybe find that it wasn’t quite so literary after all but warm, welcoming and accessible. The interviewers and guests have all done an excellent job, the venue is intimate and elegant and all in all this is a super venture and must be repeated.

On Weds January 23rd I went to hear Deirdre Walsh interview Carmel Harrington and came away eager to read the book. It was a lovely evening.

Mark, on behalf of The Rose Hotel, did the welcoming.

The inimitable Seán Lyons, on behalf of Writers’ Week, did the introducing.

Deirdre Walsh did the interviewing.

Here is the best selling author of seven novels with some of her Kerry friends, Mark Sullivan, Máire Logue, Liz and Jin Dunn and Deirdre Walsh (seated)

Posing with our books are Seán Lyons, Mary Cogan, Joan O’Regan and Mairead Costelloe.

Just like at Writers’ Week people queued to have books signed.

Just for a night, Liz forgot about Marie Kondo and the pleasures of decluttering. Anyway, this one sparked joy.

I missed the next one which was the very popular Tomi Riechenthal.

Tonight it’s the last in the series, the spoken word poet, Stephen James Smith. Should be a good one.

This series has been a resounding success. Thanks are due to Seán Lyons and Mark Sullivan for dreaming it up and to Listowel Writers’ Week  for organising another great project.  I think I can safely predict that this venture will be repeated.

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Big Night in Store for The Dublin Kerry Crowd




Everyone is welcome

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