Brrrrrr!!  Early March 2015






Spring how are you?

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Remember when water was free?






I photographed this pump in Ballincollig. I remember when they were a feature of every town in Ireland.

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Interesting Tralee fact from Historical Tralee



Have you ever noticed the gate about half way down the railing in front of the houses at Day Place? Well, the wrought-iron railings on cut limestone plinth with iron bollard to gate were put in place around 1800 to separate the front area of the houses from the river which at the time still flowed over ground along what is now the road.  The opening was for access to the river.

Princes’ St. was known as Princes’ Quay as the Big River flowed through it. The river was used at high tide to bring small boats up to the Dominican Abbey which stood where the Abbey Car Park is today.The Dominicans were originally situated at Abbey St. until the last prior, Thaddeus Moriarty was arrested and hanged in Killarney in 1653 by Cromwell’s soldiers. In 1864 the Dominicans moved to to their present site. They had a school at No.1 Day Place from 1862 to 1910, called the Jeffers Institute.

Day Place was built in 1805 by Judge Robert Day. The residents had direct access to the river through a gateway in the railings…this is still to be seen today. Ozanam house was the home of Fr. Paul O’Sullivan who established a men’s club called “The Tralee Catholic Library Society (T.C.L.S.), also still to be seen today.

Staughton’s Row got its name from a family who were large landlords in North Kerry.

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1932 Schoolboys



Paul Corridan visited his uncle,  John Corridan, in Cork and this is what he reported back . John remembers his class well and he too has kept that photograph through all these years.

He said the year was 1932.

He also believed the following.

Back extreme left ;  ? Sheahan

Back 2nd from left; Gerald Larkin Ballygrennan now the home of Jimmy Hickey. Was a butcher in Ballybunion.


3rd Row extreme left. ? Sweeney from Greenville

2nd Row Paddy O”Connor whom he believes was a genius , became a teacher , into the arts and when his time came he got 1st in Ireland in his Leaving Certificate

2nd row No.8 he says was not a Guerin but Paddy Dwyer from Church St


Front Row. I think you left out No.5 so it should read as follows


1Richard(Dick) Bolster, Bridge Rd. had a shop  probably where Mulligans live next to Vincent Moloney. Opposite Cows Lawn entrance.

2 T Lynch  Market St or Convent St

3 L O Brien (Willie)

4 Sean Kirby  and so on to pupil no. 12


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Memories, memories


Do you remember that I mentioned the annual visits of the washer woman during my Kanturk childhood? 

There were washer women in Listowel too but I can’t find anyone to give me a name.

 Cathy Dunne has this memory of another such traveling tradesman.

…. we had a blind man called Mick Doody who came every year to take the horse hair out of the mattresses and “pull” it to let air through it and make it more bouncy.  Then he would use the new “ticking” my mother would have bought to make the new covers, stitch them by hand with a sacking needle and put buttons into the covers and he presto a practically new mattress!  All done by a blind man.  We looked forward to Mick and his little terrier coming every year.

Anyone else remember him?

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