A Parade in the 1980s, Change is the peat industry in the 1960s and a Church Street skyline in 2019

At the Corner of Charles Street and William Street


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Last of Danny Gordon's St. Patrick's Day in Listowel in the1980s Photos

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Trinity College and Dame Street, Dublin in 1930

Photo ; National Library

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Changing Times at Bord na Mona

A photo from the Foidin machine, taken in 1967. There's also another one in the background. The Foidin or small sod programme, began work in 1965 and was an attempt to produce small sods of peat on milled peat bogs. This was because of a succession of bad summers during the 1960s. Much of the experimental work was carried out at Oweninny, Co. Mayo. However the machines were too big and the programme was dropped in the early 1970s. The seventies also brought a lot of dry sunny summers.

Photo and text: Tony McKenna

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Look Up

Signs and shingles on Church St., Listowel in March 2019

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Vincent Carmody on His Book Tour

Vincent met up with the Carpenter family, who are frequent visitors to Listowel, on his book tour cum holiday in the USA.

Photo: John Carpenter on Facebook

Listowel Celtic, The Case of the Black Pudding and will the next US ambassador be a Corkman?

Photo: Donal Murphy, Mallow Camera Club

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Reliving a memory with Listowel Celtic

These photos from Listowel Celtic's Facebook page are from the official opening of the soccer playing field at Tannavalla. May all of those who were part of the occasion and are gone from us rest in peace.

The late Jack Carmody (The Sherriff) with his family.

John Delaney with club chair, Aiden OConnor and Beatrice and Jack Carmody

Some great club stalwarts.

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The Council of Dirha by John B. Keane continued from yesterday

.........However, this is another matter. It is with the pre Pope Paul period of fast and abstinence that I propose to deal now. Before I do, let me say that fireside theology was reduced to a very fine art in those days. There was no opposition from television and the country was far from motorized. Consequently there was genuine profundity in most fireside exchanges. The subtler arts of sarcasm, irony and cynicism all flourished and were brought to such a degree of excellence by common country folk that ordinary comment was almost totally outlawed.

The first serious council held by hobside theologians to which I was a witness was held in Dirha Bog circa 1935. So great was the fear of excommunication in those distant days that even today I am not at liberty to mention the name of the house owner. The council was well attended and present at the time were such venerable sages as the late Sonny Canavan and Jack Duggan. The main spokesman was a spailpín by the name of Billy Drury, brother of the poet, Paddy. The main item on the agenda on that memorable occasion was whether the consumption of black puddings on a Friday constituted a breach of the laws of fast and abstinence. Pork steak and puddings were a common enough diet at the time. Every countryman kept his own pig and when the creature was fat enough to be butchered substantial quantities of pork steak and home filled black puddings were distributed among the neighbours.

It was universally accepted even amongst the most extreme heretics and schismatics that under no cicumstances was the eating of pork steak to be countenanced on a Friday or any other days of fast and abstinence. Puddings, however were a different kettle of fish altogether. If I might be permitted to the use of a widely used saying at the time, “there were puddings and puddings.”  It was with this aspect of the matter that the Dirha theologians concerned themselves. When is a black pudding not a black pudding or, to put it another way, what are the chief characteristics of a sinful pudding?

more tomorrow 

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The Next U.S. Ambassador to Ireland ?

Ohio businessman Ed Crawford has emerged as the front-runner to become the next US ambassador to Ireland. 

A long-time Republican party donor, Mr Crawford is the chairman of Park-Ohio Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed manufacturing and supply-chain company which has operations across the world, including in Cork. 

He was the finance chairman for the Republican National Committee’s Ohio campaign during last year’s presidential race, and was an early supporter of Donald Trump. 

Mr Crawford, whose grandparents came from Co Cork, has also been centrally involved in the Irish community in Cleveland, hosting the then taoiseach Enda Kenny at an event to mark the rededication of the Irish Cultural Garden in the city in 2012. 

His emergence as the top candidate to become the next US ambassador comes after Brian Burns, a Florida businessman and friend of Mr Trump, withdrew from consideration for the post.

I read the above in The Irish Times and I decided that the next time I passed through Newmarket, I'd stop for a look around and see how this man's ancestral place was doing now.

Newmarket is a neighbouring town to my own Kanturk and , apart from the old tribal rivalries of the G.A.A. Newmarket people were friends.

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Listowel Boy Scouts and Leaders

Photo from Mike Hannon from the John Hannon archive.
This looks like a St. Patrick's Day parade passing through Main Street. I'm guessing the 1970s because the Spinning Wheel is where Footprints is now. I could hazard a guess at some of these men and ladies  but, for fear of mistakes, I'll let it up to you. Tell me if you recognise yourself.

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Sam In O'Connell's Avenue

The man on the far left is Tom Sweeney, a man whose family is steeped in football. The others are Tom Lyons, Mick Carey and Gigs Nolan R.I.P.

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One for the diary

On Sunday next, April 22 2018 Kay Moloney, formerly of Gurtinard House, Listowel will give a talk in The Seanchaí at 7.00p.m.

The subject of her talk will be an incident that was very significant in the history of Listowel.

One hundred years ago a group of local men ploughed up Lord Listowel's lawn.

Who were these men?

Why did they convert Lord Listowel's lawn into a tillage feld?

What were the consequences? 

These questions will be answered by Kay on Sunday evening and the answers might surprise you.

You won't want to miss this one.

Daithí OSé, Listowel a "pauperised town" in 1831, Mill Lane and a poem by Alice Taylor

Chris Grayson was in Barrow

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Before He was Famous

From The Kerryman archives...August  2001

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Poverty in 1831

(Extract from a debate in The houses of Parliament discovered recently by a blog follower)

…..The electoral division of Listowel as defined by the a commissioner consisted of the town and parish of Listowel, the parish of Finuge, including a small portion of the parish of Dysert. Mr Hawley, in the course of his observations called Listowel a “pauperized town” and such, Mr. Collis was sorry to say, was the case. In confirmation of that statement, `Mr. Collis held a document which was put into his hand previous to his coming into the room, by his friend Rev. E.M. Denny.

This document detailed the state of poverty in the town of Listowel and its minuter districts during the trying and scarce summer just past- a period of famine he might call it. It appeared from that document that in one locality, Glounafous, consisting of 236 houses, 1175 paupers had received relief through the medium of the charity meal while 4,000 paupers in the town and the immediate vicinage, had daily obtained relief. He found that the entire of the parish consisted of 4,300 acres, which, with Finuge gave an area of say 6,000 acres for the electoral division of Listowel. The population in 1831 was about 4,900 souls, considerably exceeding the adjoining parishes: although these parishes contained a much greater amount of surface, equaling Listowel in quality of soil. This position Mr. Collis illustrated forcibly by interesting statistical details, contrasting the quality of the soil and population.

Mr. Collis went on to show that the population of the town of Listowel alone exceeded in 1831 that of the parish of Knockanure and Lisselton, and nearly equaled Killeheny, Galey and Murhur. Of the entire parish of Listowel the preponderating proportion was in the town of Listowel. Of these residents in the town the majority were paupers migrating from other districts- very generally from the surrounding parishes. He was, he thought, justified in assuming that in the district proposed for the electoral division a relative proportion of the lands to the population would be one acre to one individual.

Mr. Hawley; You calculate according to Irish acres?

Mr. Collis said the comparison still held. Finuge, a poor district was added to Listowel; but the addition would rather prove an incumbrance than a means of lessening the burden that threatened to press upon Listowel. Finuge was a miserable parish. Galey with its population of 2,900 souls and surface of 1,300 acres, had no pauper population. The average in that parish would be as four acres to one inhabitant – in Murhur two to one. In the other parishes to which he referred the proportion was equally favourable; while in Listowel with its dense and pauper population the proportion was as one acre to one individual.


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Fresh Flowers by Alice Taylor

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Mill Lane in October 2017

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International Soccer in Listowel

It was the occasion of the official opening of the new soccer pitch at Tannavalla. Aiden O'Connor, who was chair of Listowel Celtic at the time came into the secondary school to tell the girls about the game and to introduce the two local lads who were to play on that evening.

Guess what year?

Listowel June 2017, the convent and Listowel Celtic Under 12s in 1990

Church Street June 2017

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Gurtinard Wood

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Down Memory Lane with The Advertiser

This photo appeared recently in The Advertiser. Apart from Bunny Dalton at one end and Roly Chute at the other I dont recognise any other men.

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The Steady Decline of the Convent and Chapel

June 2017

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Listowel Celtic Under 12 team 1990/91

I posted this picture with no names back in 2013. Now Kevin Donovan (front left in the photo) has given me these names. Can anyone supply the few that are missing?  The trainer is Henry Molyneaux.

Back row L-R

Donald Griffin

Don't Know

Enda Galvin

Simon Adams

Noel Kennelly

Don't Know

Ger Galvin

Front Row L-R

Don't Know

Maurice Carmody

Taigh Kennelly

Kieran O'Sullivan

Don't Know

Connor Hayes

Kevin Donovan

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A Thought provoking poem for you

“Pity the nation whose people are sheep,
and whose shepherds mislead them.
Pity the nation whose leaders are liars, whose sages are silenced,
and whose bigots haunt the airwaves.
Pity the nation that raises not its voice,
except to praise conquerors and acclaim the bully as hero
and aims to rule the world with force and by torture.
Pity the nation that knows no other language but its own
and no other culture but its own.
Pity the nation whose breath is money
and sleeps the sleep of the too well fed.
Pity the nation — oh, pity the people who allow their rights to erode
and their freedoms to be washed away.
My country, tears of thee, sweet land of liberty.”

― Lawrence Ferlinghetti

1960s advertising, Kanturk and some Church St. people

It's Official; Summer is here

Yes, we know one swallow doth not a summer make but I'm still delighted to see that Mike Enright spotted this little harbinger of sunny days in Ballybunion last week.

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Wild Flowers in the Park

Primroses and buttercups on the bank of the glaise that flows through the park

"Bare ruined choirs where late the sweet birds sang."

This section of the pitch and putt course is covered in daisies.

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Back to my Roots

Kanturk in Times Past

Ger Greaney alerted me recently to this great old series of photographs of my hometown. Looking at the comments when he shared the Youtube video I realized that you don't have to be from Kanturk to enjoy this one.

The sequence opens with an old railway carriage in the train station at Kanturk. The station is now only a memory but what a memory!

The ballad of The Bould Thady Quill has a line, "Proceed to Banteer to the athletic sports and hand in your name to the club committee". In my youth the way to proceed to Banteer was by train. It cost 3d for the short train journey and I can only remember making it on Sports Day.

Michael O'Sullivan, who made the slide show, is the next generation of O'Sullivan's from Klamper who have left their mark on the town forever. The O'Sullivan brothers emigrated to the USA where they did very well. They brought their wealth back to Kanturk, set up several businesses in retail, catering and the licensed trade and they transformed the face of Kanturk. They brought with them a whiff of US glamour and they opened our eyes, in the Kanturk of the 1950s and 60's to a world we only saw in the movies (films we called them then.)

Just doors away from the local cinema the O'Sullivans opened a café, the like of which had not been seen before in Kanturk. It had a juke box!!!

Do you know the lyric? "Please Mister, please, don't play E17. It was our song; it was his song but its over….."

Only people who remember a juke box will have any idea what this is all about. Each record had a number and for 6d. you could choose the song you wanted played. Through a glass, you could watch the drum turn the records and then  the selection tool would take the chosen record and place it on a turntable, the stylus would come across and the whole café listened to your selection. There was a kind of honor system in operation where people took turns to pay for the music. He who paid the piper always called the tune despite much pressure. The proprietors got in new records regularly and there was great clamouring to listen to the latest arrivals.

One of the photos in Michael's slide show was taken in the café. The machine in the photo is a weighing scales and, sadly, not the juke box. There are also other familiar local scenes like the official opening of the Marian grotto, the mammoth Corpus Christi procession, Fancy Dress parades, firemen, FCA and much more.

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Talented sisters

Rosaleen and Patricia hard at work in Craftshop na Méar. These two are multitalented and make many of the lovely items available in Craftshop na Méar in Church St.

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Bang for your Buck

Listowel people were well versed in the art of advertising back in 1960. Who could resist these bargains?

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Snapped in Flavins, Church St. April 15 2015

Flavins is an old style newsagents where the personal touch is valued. In the words of John B. in another context, "Courtesy and civility guaranteed at all times."  Long may it continue!

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Well done, girls!

(photo: Listowel Celtic)

Listowel Celtic U12 girls after winning their match away to Killarney Celtic 6.0. They are now JK Sports U12 league champions!

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2015 Nano Nagle Poker Run

These and lots  more lovely photos from Saturday's bike run in aid of Nano Nagle school  here;

John Kelliher