Jill Friedman's Listowel, poet John McGrath, Lord Omathwaite and Spanish Flu

Still Working

A KWD refuse truck passes Listowel Garda Station on March 26 2020

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Local poet, John McGrath shared this poem on Facebook. I know it will resonate with many of my emigrant readers.


The Week after St Patrick’s


The week after St Patrick’s, my mother
pressed his suit and packed his case,
Then drove him to the station for the early train
from Ballyhaunis to the crowded boat,
Then on to Manchester and solitude
until All Souls came slowly round again.
I don’t remember ever saying Goodbye.

At seventeen I took the train myself
and saw first-hand my father’s box-room life,
the Woodbines by his shabby single bed.
I don’t remember ever saying Hello
Just sat beside this stranger in the gloom
and talked of home and life, and all the while
I wanted to be gone, get on with mine.

Westerns and ‘The Western’ kept him sane,
newspapers from home until the time
to take the train came slowly round once more.
Lost in Louis L’Amour, he seldom heard
the toilet’s ugly flush, the gurgling bath

next door. Zane Grey dulled the traffic’s
angry roar, outside his grimy window.

Back home the year before he died we spoke
at last as equals, smoked our cigarettes,
his a Woodbine still, and mine a tipped;
My mother would have killed us if she’d known.
The phone-call came as Winter turned to Spring
I stood beside him, touched his face of ice
And knew our last Hello had been Goodbye.


John McGrath March 2018

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Jill Friedman's Kerry

Internationally renowned photographer, Jill Friedman took these photographs on trip to The Kingdom.

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Lord Ormathwaite

Lord Ormathwaite was mentioned in one of the old stories last week. Kay Caball has come across him in her research.

In 1770, John Walsh  (uncle-in-law of John Benn Walsh, Lord Ormathwaite) had purchased land from Francis Thomas Fitzmaurice, 3rd earl of Kerry, in both Clanmaurice and Iraghticonnor for £15,230, and again, in 1774, for £5,944.  John Walsh, was a wealthy nabob, born in Madras, who returned from India to Britain after the battle Plassey.  He became an MP, with a country estate in Berkshire.  He bequeathed his Irish estates after his death to his niece Margaret Benn-Walsh in trust for her son, who became Lord Ormathwaite, owning  9,000 acres in north Kerry at the time of the Great Famine.[1]

Sir John Benn WLSH (later Lord Ormathwaite) visited north Kerry in 1823 -1864 and kept a journal relating  these visits to the different [named] tenants.     Excerpts from this journal are published in John D. Pierse's book Teampall Bán: Aspects of the Famine in north Kerry 1845-1852, p. 241

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[1] Kay Caball, The Fall of the Fitzmaurices: The Demise of Kerry's First Family.

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North Kerry and The Spanish Flu

The last great pandemic was the Spanish flu, which ravaged the world in the years after World War 2

Photo from Ballydonoghue Parish Magazine 2018 shows workmen wearing masks.

This magazine has a very informative article about the pandemic.

 North Kerry was particularly hard hit, with many deaths.

In 1918 532 deaths were reported in the Listowel district. As well as the flu, people died of TB and  natural causes and many had lingering injuries acquired on the battle front.

Irishgenealogy,ie has a database of civil and church records that hold fascinating information. If you want to know how your ancestors fared during this last pandemic you could search the death records. Each entry records the cause of death and the duration of the final illness. If you make any interesting discoveries, we'd love to know.

School Photos

Pres Gitrls 1986

Priests Leap, old photos, Ceol Soul Podcasts and The Great Flu of 1918

Beautiful Ireland

These stunning images of a beautiful little place called Priests' Leap on the Cork Kerry border were taken by Cathal Noonan

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Ireland in 1935

Poor Fr. Creed would be scandalised if he were to see today's young ladies.

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Jill Friedman

In the 1970s and 80s, photographer, Jill Friedman was a frequent visitor to Kerry  and she often stayed in Listowel. Below are some of her photographs from her book recording her visits

These photos were taken in Listowel and Finuge

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A Podcast Recommendation

Katie Lucey is a young Listowel lady. She is embarking on a new venture, recording podcasts with Irish artists, not just musical artists but people who are important in the Irish Arts scene.

Katie with Sean Keane who she interviewed during his recent trip to Listowel for a sold out concert in St. John's.

I remember Katie when she wore the brown uniform of Pres. Secondary School. She is at the other side of the desk now.

Here is a link to Katie's podcast channel. Enjoy her first interview with the great Seán Keane.

Ceol Soul

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A Story from the last Pandemic

Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh on the Late Late Show referred to his aunt who died in New York in 1918.  His nephew Joe posted The Keryman account of her death on Twitter.

Death of Nellie Moriarty of Dún Síon

The Colleen Bawn, Listowel Drama Group and Listowel Marching band

Childers' Park Playgrounds in March 2020

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Messages of Hope

Ballybunion in March 2020 photographed by Marie Moriarty

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Old Listowel Drama Group Photos

from Máire MacMahon

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The Tragic Story of The Colleeen Bawn who died in 1819

An article from The Clare People in The Clare County Library

(Sorry about the formatting)

The Colleen Bawn (1803 - 1819)

In the Autumn of 1819, at Moneypoint, Kilrush, were found the remains of Ellen Hanley. The victim, now known to story, drama and opera as the Colleen Bawn, was not quite sixteen years of age. Her body was washed ashore there six weeks after her marriage. She had been murdered at the insistence of her husband, John Scanlan, of Ballykehan House, near Bruff County Limerick.


Ellen Hanley is reputed to have been of outstanding beauty, and in addition, was of a bright and friendly disposition. She was the daughter of a small farmer at Ballycahane, near Bruree in County Limerick. Her mother died when she was six years old and she was reared by her uncle, John Connery (Conroy).


Soon after she became acquainted with John Scanlan he proposed marriage to her. Scanlan, a young man in his twenties, belonged to the ascendancy and being anxious about the difference in their social position she was unwilling to marry him. However, he calmed her fears and the marriage was arranged. She eloped from the home of her uncle in early July, 1819. There is some uncertainty about where the marriage took place. They may have been married at Limerick or in the Old Church at Kilrush.


Shortly afterwards, Scanlan tired of his young bride, and with his servant, Stephan Sullivan, her murder was planned. Using Scanlans boat Sullivan took her for a trip on the river. Armed with a gun, he lost his nerve just as he was about to commit the awful deed. He returned with Ellen to Glin. Scanlan plied Sullivan with more whiskey and convinced Ellen to resume the boat trip. In mid-stream Sullivan murdered her with a musket. He removed her garments and ring which he kept in the boat. She was tied with a rope which was attached to a stone and the remains were dumped in the Shannon. Six weeks later the body was washed ashore at Moneypoint. This appalling crime created feelings of horror and pity among all classes.


Both men had by this time disappeared but the full powers of the law were put in motion and Scanlan was the first of the two to be found, arrested and brought to trial. His trial took place in March, 1820. Owing to the high social position of his family, the trial created a big sensation. He was defended by the famous lawyer, Daniel O'Connell, the Liberator. It was assumed that there would be an acquittal as it was felt that one of the ascendancy should not suffer for a crime against a commoner. Nevertheless, Scanlan was found guilty and sentenced to death. He was taken from the Jail on March 16th, 1820, to Gallows Green, the place of execution at the Clare side of the Shannon. A carriage and horses were procured for the journey of one mile. Crossing the bridge, en route to Gallows Green, the horses stopped, and though the soldiers who accompanied the procession used whips and bayonet-thrusts they could not get the horses to move. Scanlan was obliged to leave the carriage and walk to the place of execution. He was duly hanged.


Sullivan was found shortly afterwards and his trial took place some four months after Scanlans. It excited almost as much interest as that of his master. He was tried at Limerick, found guilty and sentenced to death. On the gallows he confessed his guilt and admitted that his master was the proposer and that he was the agent of the murder.


Ellen Hanley is buried in Burrane cemetery, between Kildysart and Kilrush. The late Mrs. Reeves, of Bessborough House, which is situated near the graveyard, erected a Celtic cross at the head of the grave. It bore the following inscription:-

"Here lies the Colleen Bawn, Murdered on the Shannon, July 14th 1819. R.I.P." There is no longer any trace of this cross. It was chipped off, bit by bit by souvenir hunters.  Many stories and sketches have been written about the Colleen Bawn, amongst them the successful novel "The Collegians" by Gerald Griffin. As a young reporter he had covered  the trials of Scanlan and Sullivan for the newspapers and in the novel you will find them thinly disguised as Hardress Cregan and Danny Mann. Dion Boucicault also commemorates her  in his drama entitled "The Colleen Bawn". In Benedicts opera called "The Lily of Killarney"  she is the leading character. The real facts of her life and death are not related in any of these.  Thus ends the tragic story of the Colleen Bawn, a story of infinite pathos and stark, unrelieved tragedy.

Fr. P.J. O'Connor of Kerry and St. Louis and Listowel ICA some years back

Portmarnock Beach  in March 2020 photgraphed by Eamon ÓMurchú

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Remembering a St. Louis Pastor with a Listowel Connection

Dear Mary ,

As you were looking for Archival material for the Listowel Connection  I am sending you an article on the Rev P.atrick J O.Connor who was a first cousin of my Grandfather Dr Michael O'Connor. late of The Square Listowel.

 Rev  P. J. O'Connor, Pastor of St. James Church, born at Coolkera Listowel, County Kerry, Ireland in the parish of Ballybunion January 1, 1883 was the , son of Cornelius O'Connor and Mary nee Corridan. Baptized at the Chapel Ballydonoghue January 3, 1883, confirmed there July 1895, attended the National School, at Coolard and later Tullamore, entered St. Michael's College, Listowel, August 23, 1897. the ecclesiastical college, Carlow College Sept. 3, 1901, ordained a priest June 9, 1907, said his first mass at the Poor House Chapel Listowel June 11 for the inmates in the presence of a few relatives and Sisters of Mercy.  

  Coming to the United States in the year of his ordination he was appointed to St. Edward’s parish in St. Louis as an assistant pastor. After five years he was transferred to the St. James parish where he spent the remainder of his life, the years from his appointment until 1918 an assistant pastor, and from 1918 until 1929 as administrator of the parish. He was appointed pastor on Nov. 14, 1929.

Besides building the magnificent 11th century type stone church which was erected in 1927 and consecrated in 1941. Father O’Connor was the builder of a large school, a convent for the Dominican Sisters who teach in the school, and a parish rectory. The rectory which was completed less than a year before Father took sick, serves also as a meeting place for parish social funtions.                                                                 Father O’Connor was survived by his three sisters, Mrs. Margaret Slattery and Miss Lil, and Miss Joan O’Connor. and Dr Michael O'Connor his first cousin  of The Square Listowel. He was also survived by a number of nieces and nephews who lived  in New York and who came to St. Louis for the funeral..                                          

  Enclosed find  a photo  of Fr P J O'Connor, his  Obituary card  and Grave stones in Listowel  Cemetery and St James Church St Louis Mo. 

   

With kind regards,                                                                                      

Mary Geraldine O'Sullivan.

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Castle  and Literary Centre closed

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More Old Ones

Some more treasures shared with us by Máire MacMahon, Listowel ICA in St. Patrick's Day parades

Portmarnock, Listowel Writers Week 2007 continued, some old news and St. Patrick's Day in times past

Portmarnock Beach in March 2020 during the Covid 19           Photo credit; Eamon ÓMurchú

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Listowel Writers' Week 2007

Mattie Lennon remembers

On Saturday morning that Cork Legend Niall Toibin unveiled a statue to the late John B.Keane in the small square. 

It is at the intersection of Church Street, where John B. was born, and William Street, where he died.

The annual Literary and Historical tour, starting at 2 O’clock, took in Gortaglanna, Knockanure, Moyvane and Lenamore.  Gortaglanna was the scene of a brutal killing by the Black-and-Tans. (Octogenarian songwriter Dan Keane, has written a new version of The Valley of Knocknanure to commemorate the slaughter.)  Moyvane was the birthplace of poet, philosopher and mystic, John Moriarty, whose funeral was on the day of the tour.

Bi-location would have come in handy because An Audience with Melvyn Bragg got under way in the Listowel arms at 2.30, followed by a reading by Liam Browne and Mia Gallagher at 4 O’ clock.

And it would have meant very tight scheduling if one tried to fit in a meeting with author Irvine Welsh at 5 O’clock. His first novel Trainspotting was described as, “ the fastest-selling and most shoplifted novel in British publishing history”.

I missed the lecture by Alain de Botton in Saint John’s Theatre at 6 30. and later Frank Pig says Hello because I was making preparations.

Wait ‘til I tell you.

I have told you before, about when I first became interested in storytelling. It was when my, visually impaired, mother was given a radio by the National Council For The Blind in 1959. Once a week, on The Rambling House, the Seanachai of all Seanachais, Eamon Kelly came into our humble kitchen.

Occasionally, in later years, people who didn’t know any better, would describe me as a storyteller. It must have gone to my head because this year I submitted a story to the International Storytelling Competition dedicated to the memory of the above-mentioned Eamon Kelly.

I got into the final, which was held at 9.30.

Now, no self respecting Seanachai (even one as amateur as yours truly) would be seen without the traditional garb of the Irish storyteller. It’s not the sort of clobber you can purchase in Saville Row or from sartorial purveyors on the high street.

Being a man of modest means, who was doing his small bit to keep the art of storytelling alive, I thought that some native drapery merchant would sponsor my outfit. I approached many but I am sorry to say that not one supplier on the Island of Saints and Scholars donated as much as a bootlace. (I even contacted the County Secretary of the GAA in Wicklow asking for a shirt in the county colours but I wasn’t even granted the courtesy of a refusal. I was ignored.)  But, a number of offshore benefactors came to the rescue.

Photo; Tom Fitzgerald

Because of the nature of my act a number of shirt changes was necessary, but not just any shirt. It had to be a Grandad shirt. Those garments were very kindly sponsored by;

Boden On-line shop (www.boden.co.uk).

Starlight; (www.istabright.co.uk

Ethnic Fashion; www.ethnic-fashion.co.uk

and

Stars; (www.shopatstars.com)

And of course the waistcoat.

A collector of waistcoats who wants to be known only as “The Waistcoatman” (www.thewaistcoatman.org.uk) donated a period waistcoat.

In the past no true Irishman would be seen bareheaded unless he was in bed or in the Church (some of them slept in both places). As the aforementioned Eamon Kelly used to say, “There was respect for the brain then”. The necessary Fedora was provided by Treasured Parts (www.treasuredparts.co.uk) The top half of me was now period.

Men of my father’s era wore a two-and-a-half-inch wide leather belt with a rectangular brass buckle. In the Beano and the Dandy misbehaving juniors were punished with the slipper but in rural Ireland the male parent’s belt was the “correction tool” of choice. My father was a kind man and (apart from the occasional “larrup” on the backs of the legs for severe mischief) I escaped. So, as a tribute to Tim Lennon (no mean story teller himself) long gone to his reward, I decided I would wear an appropriate leather belt on stage. But where would I get one? Susan McKenzie, Director of The Inner Bailey, in Kentucky “gave me a belt”. She can be found at www.theinnerbailey.com

On Sunday I missed a reading by Gisele Scanlon, “Allergic to Beckett”, a  reading by Giles Foden and “A Treasury of Poets”.

Those omissions weren’t through laziness or apathy; I couldn’t miss the Dan Keane children’s poetry event in Finuge This is a poetry competition for children where the next generation of literati are judged by thecritical eye and ear of Dan who was born in 1919. There had been children’s events all week but to my mind this was the highlight. It was an open competition but not surprisingly Kerry schools shone; particularly pupils from Dromclough National School. There is a healthy crop of young poets in the Kingdom.

The Irish Network of Dramatic Arts, from West London, presented Big Maggie, by John B.Keane, in Saint John’s Theatre on Sunday night.

On Monday morning as “the road to Abbeyfeale”  brought me further from the culture capital, I hoped that the Great Creator would leave me here to repeat the experience in 2008.

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ICA in St. Patrick's Day Parades

Máire MacMahon sent us these photos from yesteryears

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Infrastructure Improvements in 1824

(from old newspapers)

Sunday last, Mr. Griffith laid the foundation stone of the new bridge, over the river Feale, which is to be called Wellesley Bridge, in commemoration of the Viceroyship of his present Excellency, to whom the public are solely indebted for so many important works now going on in that hitherto neglected part of the Country. The three first stones that were laid weighed over seven tons. A quantity of whisky was poured on them when they were put down.

The public will be gratified to learn, that the line of Road between Limerick and Tralee, part of which was executed at the private expense of Mr. Rice, of Mount Trenchard, is nearly complete, and that a Mail Coach will be started in August, to run between Limerick and Tralee.- Mr. Rice will be repaid his expenses by the Grand Jury. It is curious to remark, that Mr. Rice excepted a piece of road for 200l. for which a sum of 2,000l. was demanded for by contract.

Ballybunion Toilet, Listowel Writers Week 2007and The Clock of Life

Covid 19 has sucked the fun out of so many things

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Ballybunion's New Facilities

Danny McDonnell brings us up to date on building work on the new toilet.

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Remembering Writers' Week 2007 (continued)

Mattie Lennon

On Friday, self-taught painter Liam O’Neill had an exhibition of his paintings in Saint John’s Theatre. This was followed by a one-person show written and performed by Martha Furey. It tells the, sometimes, tragic story of Isadora Duncan, the American dancer who introduced the art of modern dance.

Roger McGough, OBE , one of Britain’s best loved poets, made an appearance in the Listowel Arms at 1.30 and Alice Hogg and Aslison Weir “Brought History to Life” in The Seanchaí Centre at 4. O’clock.  This was followed by an art exhibition (the work of Maria Simonds-Gooding) titled The Dingle Peninsula.

Friday evening saw the launch of Shadows On Our Doorstep, a collection of poetry by farmer/poet P.J.Kennedy from Belturbet, Co. Cavan.
 ( Have you ever noticed how farmers speak in a poetic manner in everyday conversation? Recently I heard a farmer commenting about a wet day in May, " That's coming in the right time. A day of that would do more good in a fortnight now than a week of it would do in a month later on in the year").  
It is no exaggeration to say that P.J. is a 21^st century Kavanagh. Like the man from Enniskeen he can take the banal and make it universal.

The vet being called for a sick cow is portrayed in such a way that it grips the imagination of the most urban reader.

I phoned the vet:

“Mastitis in one quarter and travelling,

Mother’s milk reduced to whey.

Tell him to come quickly”.

“Is she in calf?”

“Yes and strong twins suckling her”.

Noel listened with his stethoscope,

He could hear she was very ill indeed.

I caught her dewless nose

With the Siberian tongs.
She moaned as if to say, “ Ah, go easy.”

P.J’s cow survived and his poems, in the words of Carlo Gebler, “ . . . give equal pleasure to readers who know the world the poet describes and to readers who know nothing of that world”. Shadows On Our Doorstep is available from www.originalwriting.com.

You’ll be hearing more of P.J.

Playwright Billy Roche brought his singing, acting and musical skills into play when he read from his short story collection Tales From Rainwater Pond.

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A Timely Reminder

Writers Week 2007, St. Patrick's Day 1961 and an old class photo and Helen O'Connor R.I.P.

We were never more conscious of the truth of this statement on the Listowel Community Centre gable than now in March 2020 at the height of the Covid 19 crisis.

Greg McDonough of Listowel and China who has just come out of quarantine set up a Facebook group for us

Listowel Covid 19

Here you can find up to date information about shop closures, services and who to turn to for help.

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Listowel Writers Week

Plans for a big birthday celebration are frozen for the moment but hope springs eternal....

In the meantime Mattie Lennon, a great of friend of Writers' Week and a great friend of this blog has been reminiscing. Here are his memories of the 2007 festival. His essay is a long diary like text so I'll give it to you over a few days.

Once again I paid my annual visit to the most prestigious literary festival in Europe, if not in the world. On Wednesday 30^th May Writers’ Week 2007 was officially opened  by renowned writer Joseph O ‘Connor. The author of such masterpieces as Star Of The Sea and more recently Redemption Falls, as well as many humorous works, complimented the Kerry people on their organising skills, literary and artistic prowess, footballing ability and of course . . . their great humility.

He later gave an example of Kerry wit when he told about meeting a friend of his who was on his way to meet Carlo Gebler and Joseph was asked, “Will you follow me up to Carlo?”Prize-winners were announced (Roddy Doyle won the €10,000 Kerry Group Irish Fiction Award for Paula Spencer). Pauline Scanlon who spent three years with the Sharon Shannon Band provided music, to a packed house.

On Thursday a full schedule started with a recording of Sunday Miscellany in Saint John’s Theatre where local writer Cyril Kelly regaled us with the story of how he had been in that particular venue when it was a mortal sin (Saint John’s was a Protestant Church at the time).

Through the day readings by Joseph O’Connor, Colm Tobin, John McGrath (whose book of poetry Blue Sky Day was launched), Roger McGough, and others stimulated the literary minds of the visitor.

Food for thought was in plentiful supply at Amnesty Event with Fergal Keane, Gerard Stembridge and Zlata Filipovic. Next Door by Listowel man John McAuliffe was launched and Poet Laureate, Andrew Motion read from his autobiography In The Blood; A Memoir of My Childhood.

Poets, essayists and others got a chance to perform their own work at the microphone at Poet’s Corner where the Master-of-ceremonies was the inimitable George Rowley.

(I've just read that and marvelled at the star studded lineup of visitors in 2007.)

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St. Patrick's Day Pageant 1961

Máire MacMahon found these among some old Drama Group stuff. Does anyone remember this?

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Mr. Kenny's Fourth Class sometime in the 1980s

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+ R.I.P. Helen O'Connor +

Helen O'Connor, who passed away at the weekend was very happy  and proud on this summer Sunday in her beloved Duagh as she introduced me to her godson, John Relihan, who had brought a taste of international outdoor dining to her little corner of the world.

Helen had a gifted pair of hands. Her name will live on in the many many crochet and knitted pieces that she made for clients all over the world. If you have one of Helen's creations, keep it and treasure it and tell your family that it was made by a lovely lady, who was one of the best crafters in Kerry in her time.

I took this photo of Helen with our knitting group in Scribes  the last time I met her. She was in good form and breathing a sigh of relief that she was free of treatment for a while. Helen told us that she had done something while on chemo that she hadn't done before. She knitted a sweater for herself. It was beautiful. Helen was pleased with it and was planning to knit the pattern again in another colour. She had lost a lot of weight but Helen was seeing this as a positive and was determined to keep her weight down in future.

Because of the present Covid 19 restrictions, Helen's grieving family are deprived of the comfort of a funeral. We, her many many friends are deprived of a chance to tell Tom and all her family how much we loved her and we will miss her too.

Helen's busy hands are now still, A huge wealth of talent and skill has gone into the grave with her. I count myself among the many who were blessed to have known this humble and kind lady. 

May she rest in peace.