Listowel Bridge at Night, From Laois to Kerry, Billy Keane's Listowel launch and two lovely Listowel ladies

The Big Bridge at Night

Photos by Deirdre Lyons on November 4 2016

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You'll Love This!

Danny Hannon gave me a VHS tape of the official opening of The Garden of Europe but I couldn't do anything with it so that I could share it with you. Then I surmised that if a tape existed,  someone must have videoed the event. As luck would have it, I ran into Charlie Nolan on my morning walk and sure enough, it was he who did the job. True to his word he dropped me in a dvd of the big day.  You will love seeing the faces of your old friends, sadly some of them now passed and gone.
I did not attend the opening so I never knew that I missed one of the best speeches I have ever heard by a Listowel man. Paddy Fitzgibbon's speech at the opening of the Garden of Europe in 1995 is a gem. 

Official Opening of The Garden of Europe May 1995

Danny told me that the original intention was to have a piece of sculpture from each of the 12 countries in their respective gardens. Germany was the only country that responded to that request so that is why we have Schiller and the Holocaust memorial today.

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Launch of The Best of Billy Keane in The Listowel Arms, Saturday November 5 2016


Gabriel Fitzmaurice was our MC. Joanna O' Flynn performed the launch and Mickey McConnell and Fergal Keane provided the entertainment.

Me with the author

Billy signs a book for Liz Dunne, chair of Listowel Writers' Week, watched by Gabriel Fitzmaurice and Jim Dunne.

Lainey and John Keane, Gabriel Fitzmaurice, Joanna O'Flynn and Elaine Keane

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From Laois to Kerry

(Book review from The Irish Catholic)

From Laois to Kerry by Michael Christopher Keane 

(Beechgrove, Ovens, Cork 

€20 + P&P; contact: mjagkeane@gmail.com).

J. Anthony Gaughan

This little book falls into two parts. The first deals with the Laois origins and continuing presence in Kerry of the Moores, Kellys, Dowlings, Lawlors, Dorans, Dees, and McEvoys. The second part records the remarkable lives of their transplanter and landlord Patrick Crosbie and his successor Sir Pierce Crosbie,

The above surnames are among the most popular family names in North Kerry at present.  The ancestors of those people once resided in what is now known as Co Laois.  This is an account of why and how they were transplanted to Kerry by Patrick Crosbie in 1607-9.

The surnames belonged to members of the Seven Septs (clans) of the O’Moore territory.  In the early seventeenth century they opposed attempts by the English to pacify the midlands.  Eventually they were vanquished and their leader, Owny Rory O’Moore, was killed in battle. 

The authorities in London decided to expel the Seven Septs from their ancestral lands and replace them with loyalist settlers.  Land was available in Kerry following the ethnic cleansing of Munster during the Elizabethan-Desmond war.  Patrick Crosbie, who already had extensive landholdings, was given a grant of some 25,000 acres in North Kerry and undertook to settle the O’Moore Septs as tenant farmers on his new acquisition.

Michael Keane, himself a descendant of one of the Septs, traces the continuing strong presence of the Laois Sept descendants in Kerry through the centuries down to the present day. 

He also records that some members of the Seven Septs were able to avoid the transplantation by taking refuge in forests and other inaccessible places.  In addition some of the original transplantees, despite a sentence of death being imposed on those who returned, found their way back to their ancestral lands.  Hence the prevalence of their surnames also in Co Laois today.

In part II the author provides detailed profiles of Patrick Crosbie (d. 1610) and his son Sir Pierce Crosbie (1590 -1646).  Patrick Crosbie also known as Patrick MacCrossan belonged to a family who were rhymers to the O’Moore chiefs.  This, Keane points out, is the generally accepted view of post-1922 historians.  In so doing he makes some insightful comments on the claims of historical revisionism. 

Patrick Crosbie was better than most other people at weaving his way through the corrupt and Machiavellian politics of his time.  From the 1580s onwards he was a trusted English ally for which he received grants of extensive landholdings in Queens County (now Laois) and Kerry.

Commander

Sir Pierce Crosbie inherited Tarbert along with extensive land and properties in North Kerry and Laois following the death of his father in 1610.  He was close to the royal court, where he acted first as cupbearer and then gentleman to the king’s chambers.  A member of the Irish Parliament and of the Privy Council, he was also a distinguished military commander and was involved in successful campaigns on the continent.  After crossing swords with Thomas Wentworth, the Lord Deputy, he found himself in jail.  However, following Wentworth’s execution for treason, he soon regained his standing at the royal court. 

Despite the dominance of the Protestant religion and the advantages of subscribing to it, Pierce appears to have remained a Catholic throughout his life and had a prominent role in the Catholic Confederacy in his later years. When he died in 1646, the Crosbie legacy in Kerry was assured.  By virtue of their extensive landholdings the family was to dominate the local politics and society of the county for the next three hundred years.

This study of the Crosbies and their tenants from Co Laois is a valuable contribution to the local history of North Kerry, and will be of particular interest to those bearing the surnames of the Seven Septs of the O’Moore county.

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Humans of Listowel

Agnes Heaphy and Elaine Foran, two Listowel ladies I met while I was praying for the dead in John Paul ll graveyard recently.

Ballybunion in the aftermath of January storms 2014

This is Ballybunion on Sunday, January 12 2014

 The beautiful beach was fairly empty except for our family.

Banks of sand were washed up beside the Sea Rescue garage.

Damage to the the remaining door of the Sea Resue premises

This piece of driftwood looked a bit like a beached alligator.

Damage to the sea side windows of the little shop

Grass on the cliff looked as if it had been "combed" by the wind.

I don't think I'd like to live in this cliff top apartment.

Two birds on a wire surveyed the deserted beach.

Looking down from the road

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A mystery nearing a solution

Do you remember the obituary to Pat Abruzzo?

"Mrs. Nora Patricia Abruzzo, of Woodstock, GA., passed away Tuesday December 24, 2013 in an automobile accident in Warren County, GA. She was 67.

A Funeral Mass will be held 10:30 A.M. Thursday, January 9, 2013 at Transfiguration Catholic Church with Father Tran officiating. Burial will follow at 12:30 P.M. Thursday January 9, 2013 at Georgia National Cemetery. Visitation will be held from 2-7 P.M. Wednesday, January 8, 2013 at Woodstock Funeral Home.

Mrs. Abruzzo was born March 12, 1946 to the late Dan and Nora Sweeney Kirby in Listowel County Kerry Ireland.

Mrs. Abruzzo was the Director of the Microbiology Department at Kennestone Hospital."

A few local people set to work on solving this mystery. Progress was slow but Kay Caball cracked it for us . This lady, who was known as Patsy Kirby in Duagh, came from The Mall.

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Jer. Kennelly took this photo of The Big Bridge

This is Timothy John MacSweeney's study of 2 swans at Ross Castle, Killarney

National Library picture of Adare Co. Limerick, 1900

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Maura Esmond sent me these.

The annual Snow Sculpture contest in Breckenridge, Colorado, attracts contestants from all over the world. These are just a small sample of the many magnificent works of art on display . They are all made from snow.

An Rás leaves town, Busking Day and some gathering events

Photo by Denis OCarroll of Listowel's Big Bridge and the River Feale taken on May 23 2013. Superb!

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These are some of the musicians and volunteers who worked so hard to make Friday's MS fundraiser such a hit.

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On May 21, as The Rás came through, the boys from Scoil Realt na Maidine were safely positioned behind the wall at The Slua Hall.

The following photos are of local people out in the sunshine to enjoy the excitement. It was great to see such a positive buzz in town and everyone forgot about recession for a day or two.

Some people were working; John McCarthy is welcomed home by his daughter after the finish in his hometown, Listowel. Press photographer, John Reidy was snapping some local colour.

Some local media and local supporters.

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The Gathering

Dont forget tomorrow night Tuesday May 28 RTE will repeat The Gathering Homeward Bound with Tadhg Kennelly.

In conjunction with The Gathering there are lots and lots of Clan and family gatherings taking place.

On the left is Martin Griffin. He, along with the Lartigue crew, is planning a gathering of descendants of people who worked on the monorail. This is planned for later on in the year. I'll keep you posted.

Junior tells me that he is Griffin from both sides of his family. Both Griffin sides are planning a family reunion .

This is Damien Stack's photo of his family shop which was established in 1910. The gathering of the Stack clan back to their Listowel roots promises to be a great hooley.

The Stack Clan and all its branches and adopted sons and daughters will make their way to Listowel  from July 19 to July 22 for a packed weekend.

https://www.facebook.com/stack.clangathering?fref=ts

Meanwhile in Dingle all this week a week of events to welcome scattered descendants of Corcha Dhuibhne emigrants is taking place.

I read all about it here:

Find your Kerry Ancestors

"The Dingle Peninsula has a unique and complex history.   A lot of damage was inflicted on the Peninsula during the course of the Second Desmond Rebellion, the Nine Years War and the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Its remoteness and isolation may have protected it from the worst excesses of the Williamite War and the 1798 Rebellion.  

 It is one of the places in Kerry thas has experienced the highest level of emigration over the past  three hundred years.   

 It was particularly devastated during the Famine, with up to 5000 people dying in the Dingle Workhouse alone.   The Kerry Examiner of 8 February 1847, records ‘The state of the people in Dingle is horrifying.  Fever, famine and dysentery are daily increasing, deaths from hunger daily occurring.  From all parts of the country, they crowd into the town for relief and not a pound of meal is to be had in the wretched town for any price’.   

Thankfully all these wars and famines are behind us and the Dingle Peninsula has survived.

This year, the year of The Gathering, the people of the Dingle Peninsula are taking the opportunity to welcome back our diaspora from all over the world so as that they too might experience The Corca Dhuibhne Peninsula, the Gaeltacht, the friendliness of our people, the goodness of our food and the wealth of our culture, language and heritage.  
Corca Dhuibhne – one of the most beautiful places on earth. 

 23rd May to 30th May 2013."

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Joanne Dillon sends us this link to a very poignant article from Irish Central.  It tells the fate of many Irish immigrants who died in quarantine.

Independence Day

July 4th commemorates the birth of the great nation that is The United States of America. Happy holidays to all our friends stateside.
Daniel Webster delivered one of the more famous Fourth of July orations
"This anniversary animates and gladdens all American hearts. On other days of the year we may be party men, indulging in controversies more or less important to the public good. We may have likes and dislikes, and we may maintain our political differences....But today we are Americans all, and all, nothing but Americans."
Still true today.

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Another one gone: the Polish shop closed its doors this week.

Recently I took a stroll by the river. After all the recent rainfall the level of the river is very high.

I observed that the ball alley has been prepared for its facelift.

I went up onto the bridge. Its lovely now with the flowers and the new lights.

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Some more nunsense: these from Paul Woods

http://perrylane.org/photoshoots/nunday/index.html

and the final countdown from Tom F.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJTVR7xfnqo

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Jer Kennelly tells me that this could be a Listowel man.