Buttevant, Bridge Road, a tip for Town Planners and Rás Tailteann 2018

 Photo: Chris Grayson

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 I was in Buttevant

Butevant is a very historic town in North Cork. I was there recently and I made a few observations.

Isn't this a good idea? They have  seats celebrating local families and the history of the family in a notice close by.

There are lots of old shopfronts left unchanged.

Just like us they have a castle in the middle of the town. Ours is in better nick though.

The convent in Buttevant has been sold.  The identity of the buyer was a topic of speculation on the day I was in town.

This old graveyard is in the grounds of the church. It is ironic that the man whose funeral brought me to the town would be the very man who could have told me all of the history.

The church had an ancient feel to it too. The galleries, there were three, are accessed by a stairs from the outside.

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Bridge Road

Prompted by Derry Buckley's account of Bridge Road houses, Kay Caball who also came from Bridge Road, wrote the following;

".....In connection with Derry Buckley's photo of  the Bridge Rd.,  my parents rented one of the three houses built and owned by his grandfather, facing the river.  Then they moved to the left hand side of the bridge to what must have been new houses in the early 1940s.  We lived in the second from the stone wall - I think it was owned by Mrs. Murray who had a shop in Main St., selling religious goods - rosary beads, holy pictures, scapulars etc.  (The Murray also must have had the 'franchise' for holy goods at the missions in all the north Kerry churches. They would have covered stall in the yards of the churches at .mission time' selling all these good like hot cakes.

Other people who lived down our (left hand side) of the Bridge Rd., were the Nielsens (Hilary Nielsen taught in the tech), the O'Sheas (Fr Kieran O'Shea), Mr. O'Sullivan the Creamery Manager, (we called everyone Mr. or Mrs. then, had no idea of their christian names). the McElligotts (I think Mr. McElligott sold encyclopedias) and the Woulfes (Mr Woulfe worked in McKennas).   Accross the road we the Griffins (Juniors people) the Kennys, Hassetts, Rita Purcell and her lodger Dan Daly, the Callagys and at the top of this side there were two shops- beside the road going down to the track - Bolsters who sold lovely Lucan Ice Creams and Moloneys (no relation) who had a large shop selling everything, tea, sugar, meal  and shoes."

Peggy Brick who also lived in Bridge Road remembers a Mulligan's shop as well.

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Seen on Twitter

A picture paints a thousand words

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Neighbourly chat in Charles Street

I met Jerry and Violet on a sunny morning in May 2018

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Rás Tailteann in Listowel May 22 2018...a little known Listowel Connection

It's May 22 2018. There I was on Market Street waiting for the Rás to hit town and filling my time by taking a few snaps of the locals when.........

who do I spot across the street but my old school friend from Scoil Mhuire, Kanturk? 
Why was Mary Kiely (now Corkery) in Listowel at the Rás finish?

This is why. Her lovely grandson is riding in the race. Here is Dylan Corkery with three proud grandparents.  
\And here is the Listowel connection or, to be more precise, the Duagh connection. Dylan's grandfather is an O'Keeffe from Trienireach, Duagh. Dylan at 19 is one of the youngest riders in Rás Tailteann.

(More from the Rás to come)