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Showing posts with label Kilrush. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kilrush. Show all posts
Monday, 22 January 2018
Monday, 6 February 2017
'GHOST' SHOP GETS A NEW LIFE... KILRUSH
EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
Click to enlarge
As it was...
Courtesy of The Irish Times 4th Feb, 2017
Friday, 1 July 2016
JULY FESTIVAL MADNESS IN COUNTY CLARE
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Monday, 6 May 2013
BEHIND THE SCENES KILRUSH'S FAMINE COMMEMORATION DAY 3 MAY 5 2013
with Guest Blogger, Paddy Waldron...
Sunday morning's technical difficulties began with recharging the batteries for the portable PA system. It came with three rechargeable batteries and the last thing on my mind when the first battery ran down during Saturday's walk was remembering which battery was charged and which was discharged. I searched the bag in which the system came for a manual, but the only one I found was for the usual custodian of the system - a long list of his regular medications. It turns out that this charger displays a steady red light while charging and a flashing red light when fully charged. My camera charger displays orange while charging and green when fully charged. Every other charger seems to have a different convention. Why did nobody ever think of an international standard for these things?
I set off with three fully charged batteries for a day which began with 12 noon mass in Kilrush. There was plenty of parking for massgoers this week, but such may not be the situation next week, by when the stage for the main ceremony will be in place around the corner on Frances Street and parking will be somewhat restricted. A mass for famine victims was concelebrated by Fr Martin Blake C.C. and Canon Mullins from Miltown Malbay.
Afterwards there was no sign of the rest of the committee, who had gone by car to Old Shanakyle, so I had to take the initiative and take out my PA system and get a few dozen walkers moving in the direction of the cemetery, about a mile away. The walk provided opportunities to compare notes on Kilrush history with Senan Scanlan and also to suggest to Michael O'Connell that a radio progamme should be made about the late great Seán Moloney, recognised after yesterday's lecture, among many other claims to fame, as Clare's greatest cliffter. It's hard to believe that it will be a quarter century since his sudden death next August.
About 60 people in total gathered at Old Shanakyle, including a large contingent from the extended Madigan family, who were there as much as anything to recognise Stephen Madigan, late of Carnacalla and the Bronx, who sent monthly contributions home to Canon Ryan in the early 1960s to fund the cross. Michael Cusack has done a marvellous restoration and cleaning job on the cross in recent weeks.
The Mayor, Mairead O'Brien, welcomed those in attendance, and then I read Dr. Madden's account of the burials in the famine pits in Old Shanakyle:
``The dead are interred every morning in a churchyard (Shanakyle) about a mile and a half from the town. The bodies are carted away without any appearance of a funeral ceremony; no attendance of priest, no pall.''
``The coffins --- if the frail boards nailed together for the remains of the paupers may so be called are made by contract and furnished at a very low figure. The paupers' trench in a corner of the churchyard, which I visited, is a large pit, the yawning aperture about twenty feet square. The dead are deposited in layers and over each coffin a little earth is thinly scattered, just sufficient to conceal the boards.''
``The thickness of the covering of the clay I found did not amount to two inches over the last tier of coffins deposited there. A pauper who drives the cart and another who accompanies him to assist in the trench, are the only funeral attendants. It is very rare that any of the kith or kin of a pauper accompany his remains to the grave. Because there are so many deaths and so much difficulty in ascertaining anything about the identity of such a multitude of paupers as those amounting to half a hundred or more who die a week, it is seldom anything is known of the deaths in the poorhouse by the friends outside.''
Pat Burke, nephew of Stephen Madigan, recalled the story of one lucky individual who was thrown into the pit, thought to be dead, but was observed to move and rescued by the Murphy family who lived nearby. He made a full recovery, emigrated, returned twenty years later to thank his rescuers, and lived to a ripe old age.
Assumpta Kennedy then sang Lone Shanakyle, her third public performance in three days, so there'll be no nerves when she sings it again in front of the President next Sunday.
There were actually three pits, and the group moved from the first pit down to the third pit on which the cross stands for the wreath-laying ceremony, performed by Mary Hamilton née Madigan, niece of Stephen Madigan. This was followed by a minute's silent prayer.
I had my second cemetery speaking engagement of the afternoon in Drumcliff Cemetery in Ennis at 3pm, so there wasn't time to walk back to my car in Toler Street, and I begged a lift first from Kay Clancy, who disappeared off with her cousins to check out ancestral graves that she didn't know about and left me stranded, so it was Mary Rose Counihan who took me back to town.
The crowd was starting to gather when I arrived at Drumcliff for the Clare Roots Society's contribution to the Famine Commemoration. Mayor of Ennis, Peter Considine, is just out of hospital, but fulfilled his commitment to unveil a new monument on the famine plot at the top of the hill. John Bradley, profit on whose book about the cemetery funded the new monument, was MC. Many of the Clare Roots Committee were unfortunately away on account of it being a Bank Holiday weekend. John asked me to say a few words about the National Famine Commemoration and the history of the Famine in Ennis and throughout the county. There's no harm in recycling a good speech and as I knew I was the only one present who had been in Shanakyle earlier, I pulled the quote from Dr. Madden out of my pocket and read it again to conclude my remarks.
Fr. Tom Hogan P.P. and Rev. Bob Hanna then led a prayer service, with contributions from Mary Hester and a few others.
The local press were well represented by reporters and photographers. I finally met Joe Ó Muircheartaigh of the Clare People, to whom I have spoken many times on the phone.
Edel Greene, editor of the forthcoming issue of The Other Clare, was also present and I was able to reassure her that she will have an article from Paul O'Brien and myself about Famine sites in Kilrush as soon as the National event is over.
I was also deputed to take up the collection for Trócaire today and a very generous EUR 108.76 was contributed.
Before I left Ennis, Eric Shaw loaned me the Clare Roots Society portable PA system, so now there will be facilities available for clashing events, multiple buses, and other contingencies.
Speaking of clashing events, I was sorry I couldn't attend the event in Killaloe, scheduled for the same time as Drumcliff.
I decided to stop at Fanny O'Dea's to eat on my way back to Kilrush and was very disappointed to find that the restaurant there has closed. It was worth stopping from a historical point of view, as I noticed the date 1790 in the plasterwork over the former restaurant door. Having studied the folklore concerning Fanny O'Dea and her relationship to the Brew family of Kilrush, I suspect that 1790 is far more likely to have been the year of her birth than the year she established her famous business. Plan B was to return to Crottys for dinner for the third time this week.
I popped into the Teach Ceoil on the way to make sure that Brian Comerford was OK. His thoroughness saw him request access from 3pm to prepare for a 7pm production and he had everything fully under control.
I had a good chat about family history with Kevin Clancy, proprietor of Crottys, who asked about Waldrons who lived in Kilrush. Apart from my grandparents staying there occasionally on holidays, the only Waldron resident of the town I know of was my greatgreatuncle John Waldron who was based there with the R.I.C. until he was transferred to Waterford as a consequence of marrying a 19-year-old Kilrush girl called Ellen Molony back in 1885. We could trace no relationship between Kevin's Clancy ancestors from Moyasta and mine from Killard.
Paul O'Brien joined me for dessert, and brought the shocking rumour, from three different sources, of the death of one of his former teachers whom I had met as recently as Friday. I was delighted to learn that the same man was seen getting into his car a couple of hours later, and had also been seen at mass a few hours after the rumoured hour of his demise. Bad news travels fast, even when it thankfully isn't true.
Paul and I planned our route for Thursday's bus tour, for which I now have 43 bookings in my notebook, plus 22 people signed up via facebook. Please let us know in advance if you intend to come (087 7885494). We will be meeting our bus provider Noel O'Shea tomorrow to confirm the route, which will have to be tailored to the numbers travelling. Michael O'Connell also joined us to make final arrangements for Monday's Cammoge walk and associated events. It was good to hear that a great walker of yesteryear, Donncha Ó Dulaing of RTÉ, may be joining us, thanks to his friendship with P J Murrihy, whose recent compositions include a song about Donncha as well as the West Clare Famine Song.
We just missed Terry Fitzgerald and her sister Laura who flew in from Seattle this morning and are staying in Crottys.
Brian was no longer on his own when we returned to the Teach Ceoil, which was now a hive of activity. Kay Clancy was dropped off by her husband, minus the visitors' book for the week which is in her custody. I had to fly back to her house with her to collect it, leaving her niece Eileen to mind my precious parking space beside the gate!
Paul Edson brought along his iPad to show off a photograph of the eviction scene painted on the gable wall of Joe Whelan's museum (the Old Creamery) which was completed this afternoon. Joe has also kindly volunteered to mount the various commemorative plaques which will be unveiled during the week, and the first one is already in place.
A message was phoned through (from a garda on surveillance duty!) that I was on The History Show on RTÉ Radio 1. I had almost forgotten the interview that I did with Lorcan Clancy in the Templegate Hotel in Ennis three weeks ago yesterday. The 7 minute slot was over before I could get back to the car radio. It is online at
http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A20198131%3A5392%3A05-05-2013%3A
and I was able to listen back online later.
The Teach Ceoil filled up rapidly and we had to pull out all available seats and think about putting out house full signs. I eventually closed the gates to deter anyone who wasn't really desperate to attend. There must have been at least 150 people in attendance and it was standing room only. For once the Teach Ceoil felt warm and we had to turn off the heating!
There were three parts to Brian's performance, which was preceded and followed by the usual excellent speeches from Mairead.
The first part was a tableaux of the Miss Kennedy Distributing Clothing sketch outside in the churchyard. The audience filed out row by row to view it. I barely recognised Susi Matejka, dressed in rags and minus her usual spectacles.
The second part was a live performance of `We were never beggars' with a cast of seven, including Brian's daughter Ciara returning to the stage after a long absence as Mary McMahon.
After an interval, the final part was a radio play by Brian also on the subject of the Famine in Kilrush, originally broadcast in 1980, with a larger cast ranging from the late Cissie Roughan to Fr. Gerry Kenny, now P.P. of Kilkee. Unfortunately a slight technical glitch meant that the last few minutes of the recording wouldn't play, so Brian improvised.
Due to a misunderstanding, the Trocaire bucket began to be passed around the audience, who may have felt that they were at mass! At future events, it will be placed discretely at the entrance, so that nobody feels pressured to contribute.
Well done to Brian and all his cast and helpers for a great evening's theatre.
So a third wonderful day drew to an end and I headed back to base to recharge my own batteries for a long walk tomorrow.
To conclude: There are rumours of a new famine spreading in and around Kilrush. Various spoiled husbands are going hungry as their wives have fallen victim to a new disease thought to be Famine Commemoration Fever. Stephen O'Brien, Liam Clancy and Randal Counihan are among those unfortunates left to fend for themselves as their spouses have become full-time Famine Commemoration organisers. This new famine is not thought to be related to the failure of the 2013 early crop of lumper potatoes in Kilrush. Efforts to force the traditional variety in time for the Commemoration have met with very limited success during the bitterly cold and wet spring which has just ended, and potato rationing has been introduced. There have been requests for as many as six lumpers for various individual commemoration events, but as this equals the size of the entire crop, each event is being limited to one single lumper potato.
Sunday morning's technical difficulties began with recharging the batteries for the portable PA system. It came with three rechargeable batteries and the last thing on my mind when the first battery ran down during Saturday's walk was remembering which battery was charged and which was discharged. I searched the bag in which the system came for a manual, but the only one I found was for the usual custodian of the system - a long list of his regular medications. It turns out that this charger displays a steady red light while charging and a flashing red light when fully charged. My camera charger displays orange while charging and green when fully charged. Every other charger seems to have a different convention. Why did nobody ever think of an international standard for these things?
I set off with three fully charged batteries for a day which began with 12 noon mass in Kilrush. There was plenty of parking for massgoers this week, but such may not be the situation next week, by when the stage for the main ceremony will be in place around the corner on Frances Street and parking will be somewhat restricted. A mass for famine victims was concelebrated by Fr Martin Blake C.C. and Canon Mullins from Miltown Malbay.
Afterwards there was no sign of the rest of the committee, who had gone by car to Old Shanakyle, so I had to take the initiative and take out my PA system and get a few dozen walkers moving in the direction of the cemetery, about a mile away. The walk provided opportunities to compare notes on Kilrush history with Senan Scanlan and also to suggest to Michael O'Connell that a radio progamme should be made about the late great Seán Moloney, recognised after yesterday's lecture, among many other claims to fame, as Clare's greatest cliffter. It's hard to believe that it will be a quarter century since his sudden death next August.
About 60 people in total gathered at Old Shanakyle, including a large contingent from the extended Madigan family, who were there as much as anything to recognise Stephen Madigan, late of Carnacalla and the Bronx, who sent monthly contributions home to Canon Ryan in the early 1960s to fund the cross. Michael Cusack has done a marvellous restoration and cleaning job on the cross in recent weeks.
The Mayor, Mairead O'Brien, welcomed those in attendance, and then I read Dr. Madden's account of the burials in the famine pits in Old Shanakyle:
``The dead are interred every morning in a churchyard (Shanakyle) about a mile and a half from the town. The bodies are carted away without any appearance of a funeral ceremony; no attendance of priest, no pall.''
``The coffins --- if the frail boards nailed together for the remains of the paupers may so be called are made by contract and furnished at a very low figure. The paupers' trench in a corner of the churchyard, which I visited, is a large pit, the yawning aperture about twenty feet square. The dead are deposited in layers and over each coffin a little earth is thinly scattered, just sufficient to conceal the boards.''
``The thickness of the covering of the clay I found did not amount to two inches over the last tier of coffins deposited there. A pauper who drives the cart and another who accompanies him to assist in the trench, are the only funeral attendants. It is very rare that any of the kith or kin of a pauper accompany his remains to the grave. Because there are so many deaths and so much difficulty in ascertaining anything about the identity of such a multitude of paupers as those amounting to half a hundred or more who die a week, it is seldom anything is known of the deaths in the poorhouse by the friends outside.''
Pat Burke, nephew of Stephen Madigan, recalled the story of one lucky individual who was thrown into the pit, thought to be dead, but was observed to move and rescued by the Murphy family who lived nearby. He made a full recovery, emigrated, returned twenty years later to thank his rescuers, and lived to a ripe old age.
Assumpta Kennedy then sang Lone Shanakyle, her third public performance in three days, so there'll be no nerves when she sings it again in front of the President next Sunday.
There were actually three pits, and the group moved from the first pit down to the third pit on which the cross stands for the wreath-laying ceremony, performed by Mary Hamilton née Madigan, niece of Stephen Madigan. This was followed by a minute's silent prayer.
I had my second cemetery speaking engagement of the afternoon in Drumcliff Cemetery in Ennis at 3pm, so there wasn't time to walk back to my car in Toler Street, and I begged a lift first from Kay Clancy, who disappeared off with her cousins to check out ancestral graves that she didn't know about and left me stranded, so it was Mary Rose Counihan who took me back to town.
The crowd was starting to gather when I arrived at Drumcliff for the Clare Roots Society's contribution to the Famine Commemoration. Mayor of Ennis, Peter Considine, is just out of hospital, but fulfilled his commitment to unveil a new monument on the famine plot at the top of the hill. John Bradley, profit on whose book about the cemetery funded the new monument, was MC. Many of the Clare Roots Committee were unfortunately away on account of it being a Bank Holiday weekend. John asked me to say a few words about the National Famine Commemoration and the history of the Famine in Ennis and throughout the county. There's no harm in recycling a good speech and as I knew I was the only one present who had been in Shanakyle earlier, I pulled the quote from Dr. Madden out of my pocket and read it again to conclude my remarks.
Fr. Tom Hogan P.P. and Rev. Bob Hanna then led a prayer service, with contributions from Mary Hester and a few others.
The local press were well represented by reporters and photographers. I finally met Joe Ó Muircheartaigh of the Clare People, to whom I have spoken many times on the phone.
Edel Greene, editor of the forthcoming issue of The Other Clare, was also present and I was able to reassure her that she will have an article from Paul O'Brien and myself about Famine sites in Kilrush as soon as the National event is over.
I was also deputed to take up the collection for Trócaire today and a very generous EUR 108.76 was contributed.
Before I left Ennis, Eric Shaw loaned me the Clare Roots Society portable PA system, so now there will be facilities available for clashing events, multiple buses, and other contingencies.
Speaking of clashing events, I was sorry I couldn't attend the event in Killaloe, scheduled for the same time as Drumcliff.
I decided to stop at Fanny O'Dea's to eat on my way back to Kilrush and was very disappointed to find that the restaurant there has closed. It was worth stopping from a historical point of view, as I noticed the date 1790 in the plasterwork over the former restaurant door. Having studied the folklore concerning Fanny O'Dea and her relationship to the Brew family of Kilrush, I suspect that 1790 is far more likely to have been the year of her birth than the year she established her famous business. Plan B was to return to Crottys for dinner for the third time this week.
I popped into the Teach Ceoil on the way to make sure that Brian Comerford was OK. His thoroughness saw him request access from 3pm to prepare for a 7pm production and he had everything fully under control.
I had a good chat about family history with Kevin Clancy, proprietor of Crottys, who asked about Waldrons who lived in Kilrush. Apart from my grandparents staying there occasionally on holidays, the only Waldron resident of the town I know of was my greatgreatuncle John Waldron who was based there with the R.I.C. until he was transferred to Waterford as a consequence of marrying a 19-year-old Kilrush girl called Ellen Molony back in 1885. We could trace no relationship between Kevin's Clancy ancestors from Moyasta and mine from Killard.
Paul O'Brien joined me for dessert, and brought the shocking rumour, from three different sources, of the death of one of his former teachers whom I had met as recently as Friday. I was delighted to learn that the same man was seen getting into his car a couple of hours later, and had also been seen at mass a few hours after the rumoured hour of his demise. Bad news travels fast, even when it thankfully isn't true.
Paul and I planned our route for Thursday's bus tour, for which I now have 43 bookings in my notebook, plus 22 people signed up via facebook. Please let us know in advance if you intend to come (087 7885494). We will be meeting our bus provider Noel O'Shea tomorrow to confirm the route, which will have to be tailored to the numbers travelling. Michael O'Connell also joined us to make final arrangements for Monday's Cammoge walk and associated events. It was good to hear that a great walker of yesteryear, Donncha Ó Dulaing of RTÉ, may be joining us, thanks to his friendship with P J Murrihy, whose recent compositions include a song about Donncha as well as the West Clare Famine Song.
We just missed Terry Fitzgerald and her sister Laura who flew in from Seattle this morning and are staying in Crottys.
Brian was no longer on his own when we returned to the Teach Ceoil, which was now a hive of activity. Kay Clancy was dropped off by her husband, minus the visitors' book for the week which is in her custody. I had to fly back to her house with her to collect it, leaving her niece Eileen to mind my precious parking space beside the gate!
Paul Edson brought along his iPad to show off a photograph of the eviction scene painted on the gable wall of Joe Whelan's museum (the Old Creamery) which was completed this afternoon. Joe has also kindly volunteered to mount the various commemorative plaques which will be unveiled during the week, and the first one is already in place.
A message was phoned through (from a garda on surveillance duty!) that I was on The History Show on RTÉ Radio 1. I had almost forgotten the interview that I did with Lorcan Clancy in the Templegate Hotel in Ennis three weeks ago yesterday. The 7 minute slot was over before I could get back to the car radio. It is online at
http://www.rte.ie/radio/utils/radioplayer/rteradioweb.html#!rii=9%3A20198131%3A5392%3A05-05-2013%3A
and I was able to listen back online later.
The Teach Ceoil filled up rapidly and we had to pull out all available seats and think about putting out house full signs. I eventually closed the gates to deter anyone who wasn't really desperate to attend. There must have been at least 150 people in attendance and it was standing room only. For once the Teach Ceoil felt warm and we had to turn off the heating!
There were three parts to Brian's performance, which was preceded and followed by the usual excellent speeches from Mairead.
The first part was a tableaux of the Miss Kennedy Distributing Clothing sketch outside in the churchyard. The audience filed out row by row to view it. I barely recognised Susi Matejka, dressed in rags and minus her usual spectacles.
The second part was a live performance of `We were never beggars' with a cast of seven, including Brian's daughter Ciara returning to the stage after a long absence as Mary McMahon.
After an interval, the final part was a radio play by Brian also on the subject of the Famine in Kilrush, originally broadcast in 1980, with a larger cast ranging from the late Cissie Roughan to Fr. Gerry Kenny, now P.P. of Kilkee. Unfortunately a slight technical glitch meant that the last few minutes of the recording wouldn't play, so Brian improvised.
Due to a misunderstanding, the Trocaire bucket began to be passed around the audience, who may have felt that they were at mass! At future events, it will be placed discretely at the entrance, so that nobody feels pressured to contribute.
Well done to Brian and all his cast and helpers for a great evening's theatre.
So a third wonderful day drew to an end and I headed back to base to recharge my own batteries for a long walk tomorrow.
To conclude: There are rumours of a new famine spreading in and around Kilrush. Various spoiled husbands are going hungry as their wives have fallen victim to a new disease thought to be Famine Commemoration Fever. Stephen O'Brien, Liam Clancy and Randal Counihan are among those unfortunates left to fend for themselves as their spouses have become full-time Famine Commemoration organisers. This new famine is not thought to be related to the failure of the 2013 early crop of lumper potatoes in Kilrush. Efforts to force the traditional variety in time for the Commemoration have met with very limited success during the bitterly cold and wet spring which has just ended, and potato rationing has been introduced. There have been requests for as many as six lumpers for various individual commemoration events, but as this equals the size of the entire crop, each event is being limited to one single lumper potato.
Sunday, 5 May 2013
BEHIND THE SCENES KILRUSH'S FAMINE COMMEMORATION DAY 2, MAY 4, 2013
with Guest Blogger, Paddy Waldron...
I spent the morning struggling with facebook and a new version of Fotobounce. Some of Friday's photos uploaded successfully to
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151419311253947.1073741825.732808946
Others uploaded without the name tags or captions that I added offline. Others have refused to upload at all! I'll try again tomorrow.
My first appointment of the day was at 11am with Paul O'Brien to plan our guided walking tour of the famine sites in Kilrush. Paul was up all night with food poisoning after eating chowder but recovered well enough to take part in the day's events. He and Kay Clancy had already been to the Teach Ceoil to clean up and put out chairs for this afternoon's lecture.
It was 11:30 before we eventually convened in the Buttermarket Café in Burton Street, which has become Famine HQ in recent days and weeks. Many thanks to Cillian Murphy and Mary Redmond and Anne O'Brien for insisting that my coffee and bun were on the house. Mary was working on a Famine era soup recipe for later in the week: Did `beet' in the recipe refer to sugar beet or beetroot, or was it just a typo for beef? The consensus was that sugar beet probably didn't come to Ireland until the Irish Sugar Company was established in the 1920s and that the recipe called for beetroot. A quick google search now reveals that there actually was a sugar beet industry in Ireland just after the famine: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/sugar_factory.htm
Paul had printed off the latest draft of the article that we are working on for The Other Clare about the workhouse buildings and other famine era sites in Kilrush and I had brought along Paul Gleeson's new edition of "A walking tour of Kilrush" which has a very helpful map of the town. We quickly put our planned route together.
There were already over a dozen people waiting at the advertised starting point outside Regina House when we arrived just after 12:45. Paul counted an attendance numbering in the 80s later on, by when some of the younger and older participants had dropped by the wayside. I must thank the Thomond Archaeological and Historical Society for the use of their portable outdoor PA system, and also Connie Corry for carrying the speaker for the duration. Thomond Society President John Cussen had come by the Shannon Ferry all the way from Newcastle West, and Cindy O'Dell from Indiana was probably the longest traveller.
After some introductory remarks at Regina House, built partly on the site where the main Kilrush Workhouse stood from 1842 to 1936, we had decided to go the Moneypoint sports club premises which command a wonderful view over the workhouse site, the town and the estuary. One slight hiccup is that we forgot that the gate would be locked! Most brave participants (including an 81 year old nun!) either climbed or were lifted over a concrete fence, while Kay Clancy and Josephine Glynn kindly went off to borrow the key. The gate was duly opened just in time for the last half dozen participants to exit without climbing, including myself bringing up the rear.
Numbers were too large to make it practical to make a close examination of the only functional part of the workhouse still standing - the blocked up doorway in the wall used by successive clerks of the union Augustus Warren and Timothy Kelly to make their way to work from their home in the adjoining Broomhill House, previously an auxiliary workhouse. This doorway leads into the tiny back garden of one of the houses in St. Patrick's Terrace, which was built on the main part of the workhouse site after it was demolished in 1936.
Paul was well enough to come along, look after timekeeping, direct pedestrian traffic, do head counts, take photographs and answer one or two questions, but I did almost all the talking (so that I had no chance to take any photographs myself). A lot of what I said I have learned from Paul over the last couple of years. I have learned more from Senan Scanlan's wonderful notes on the history of Kilrush and I was honoured to have him among the audience.
The basic route of the tour was by the Back Road to Paupers Quay, and then by Frances Street, Moore Street, Stewart Street, Factory Lane and Terret Lane to Kilrush Churchyard. The objective was to see the ten buildings in the town which served at various times as workhouses or auxiliary workhouses, some still standing, some easy to identify, some more problematic.
We detoured to pay a quick visit to the statue of Fr. Tim Kelly, parish priest of Kilrush during the Famine, in St. Senan's Church. There was an upmarket wedding scheduled for 2:30pm, but we managed to get in and out before guests started to arrive.
Charlie Glynn was on hand to open up what remains of the Leadmore Auxiliary Workhouse, which has also served as a distillery, a national school and a fertilizer factory in its long and chequered history.
I didn't even realise that Assumpta Kennedy (née Madigan) was at the back of the crowd when I stopped at Lillis Travel to talk about her ancestor Thomas (The Poet) Madigan, which picture is now displayed in that window along with the words and music of his best known composition Lone Shanakyle. Assumpta very kindly took the microphone and sang the song most beautifully again.
We phoned ahead to ask that Críostóir MacCarthaigh's lecture on the impact of the Famine on the Irish language be held off until we arrived at the Teach Cheoil, about five or ten minutes behind schedule. Some people were disappointed that there wasn't time to go into more detail on the history of the Churchyard and the buildings that it has contained, but there will be more time for that during the rededication ceremony next Saturday.
Críostóir, from the Folklore Department at University College Dublin, but with roots in Tullaher near Kilrush, gave a fascinating lecture on the history of the Irish language in county Clare from the 1700s up to the present day. About 50 people attended. I was amazed when Críostóir put up a photograph of Clare's last native Irish speaker, Anraí de Bláca, taken outside his home in Kilbaha with my greatuncle-in-law Gerald Burns and my second cousin-in-law Anraí Ó Braonáin. I was equally surprised to hear Irish folklore which had been collected from Domhnall Bán Ó Loinsigh of Kilcloher, whose grandchildren were my next-door neighbours during holidays in Carrigaholt.
Meanwhile, Laura Foley Lyons was having another busy day, giving a walking tour in Kilkee at 3:30pm as part of the Famine Commemoration, following her Kilcredaun walk in the morning as part of the Oyster Festival.
After the lecture, it was time for a meal in Crotty's with Paul, Kay Clancy, and Kay's sister and niece who have come over from Birmingham for the commemoration.
The Inis Cathaigh Comhaltas Seisiún was in full swing outside in the Market Square by the time we finished eating. That was followed by Ennis traditional band Socks In The Frying Pan. Unfortunately the weather had turned cold and drizzly and miserable by this stage, which kept numbers down.
(Editor's Note... to hear Socks in the Frying Pan sing another favourite, go to
I was delighted to meet Linda Culligan Bruce who has come from Wisconsin on another visit to the town that her Culligan and Simmons ancestors left around the time of the Famine. Pat Joe Culligan has taken her on a tour of the graves of her Culligan ancestors, etc., earlier in the day. It's great to have a Mayor like Mairead O'Brien who is always willing to whip out her chain of office and step into a photograph to make a visiting tourist like Linda feel like an important guest.
Michael O'Connell returned from the Kilkee walk with a question about the Famine plot in Moyarta Cemetery: Who was the Susan Murray who erected the cross? Picture at
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=643972772295845&set=a.610035525689570.1073741825.389603917732733
Hopefully Murray Ginnane in New Zealand or someone else reading this will know!
I also met Geraldine Keating, a returned Yank, originally from Carrigaholt (where I knew her family) and now teaching in Querrin.
Tiredness and cold got the better of me, and I returned to my quarters in Doonbeg before Socks in the Frying Pan finished their set. Their rendition of Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore, another song of emigration, brought back memories of my years in Philadelphia, where I often heard it sung by Mick Moloney and the various groups that he was involved with.
I spent the morning struggling with facebook and a new version of Fotobounce. Some of Friday's photos uploaded successfully to
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151419311253947.1073741825.732808946
Others uploaded without the name tags or captions that I added offline. Others have refused to upload at all! I'll try again tomorrow.
My first appointment of the day was at 11am with Paul O'Brien to plan our guided walking tour of the famine sites in Kilrush. Paul was up all night with food poisoning after eating chowder but recovered well enough to take part in the day's events. He and Kay Clancy had already been to the Teach Ceoil to clean up and put out chairs for this afternoon's lecture.
It was 11:30 before we eventually convened in the Buttermarket Café in Burton Street, which has become Famine HQ in recent days and weeks. Many thanks to Cillian Murphy and Mary Redmond and Anne O'Brien for insisting that my coffee and bun were on the house. Mary was working on a Famine era soup recipe for later in the week: Did `beet' in the recipe refer to sugar beet or beetroot, or was it just a typo for beef? The consensus was that sugar beet probably didn't come to Ireland until the Irish Sugar Company was established in the 1920s and that the recipe called for beetroot. A quick google search now reveals that there actually was a sugar beet industry in Ireland just after the famine: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlcar2/sugar_factory.htm
Paul had printed off the latest draft of the article that we are working on for The Other Clare about the workhouse buildings and other famine era sites in Kilrush and I had brought along Paul Gleeson's new edition of "A walking tour of Kilrush" which has a very helpful map of the town. We quickly put our planned route together.
There were already over a dozen people waiting at the advertised starting point outside Regina House when we arrived just after 12:45. Paul counted an attendance numbering in the 80s later on, by when some of the younger and older participants had dropped by the wayside. I must thank the Thomond Archaeological and Historical Society for the use of their portable outdoor PA system, and also Connie Corry for carrying the speaker for the duration. Thomond Society President John Cussen had come by the Shannon Ferry all the way from Newcastle West, and Cindy O'Dell from Indiana was probably the longest traveller.
After some introductory remarks at Regina House, built partly on the site where the main Kilrush Workhouse stood from 1842 to 1936, we had decided to go the Moneypoint sports club premises which command a wonderful view over the workhouse site, the town and the estuary. One slight hiccup is that we forgot that the gate would be locked! Most brave participants (including an 81 year old nun!) either climbed or were lifted over a concrete fence, while Kay Clancy and Josephine Glynn kindly went off to borrow the key. The gate was duly opened just in time for the last half dozen participants to exit without climbing, including myself bringing up the rear.
Numbers were too large to make it practical to make a close examination of the only functional part of the workhouse still standing - the blocked up doorway in the wall used by successive clerks of the union Augustus Warren and Timothy Kelly to make their way to work from their home in the adjoining Broomhill House, previously an auxiliary workhouse. This doorway leads into the tiny back garden of one of the houses in St. Patrick's Terrace, which was built on the main part of the workhouse site after it was demolished in 1936.
Paul was well enough to come along, look after timekeeping, direct pedestrian traffic, do head counts, take photographs and answer one or two questions, but I did almost all the talking (so that I had no chance to take any photographs myself). A lot of what I said I have learned from Paul over the last couple of years. I have learned more from Senan Scanlan's wonderful notes on the history of Kilrush and I was honoured to have him among the audience.
The basic route of the tour was by the Back Road to Paupers Quay, and then by Frances Street, Moore Street, Stewart Street, Factory Lane and Terret Lane to Kilrush Churchyard. The objective was to see the ten buildings in the town which served at various times as workhouses or auxiliary workhouses, some still standing, some easy to identify, some more problematic.
We detoured to pay a quick visit to the statue of Fr. Tim Kelly, parish priest of Kilrush during the Famine, in St. Senan's Church. There was an upmarket wedding scheduled for 2:30pm, but we managed to get in and out before guests started to arrive.
Charlie Glynn was on hand to open up what remains of the Leadmore Auxiliary Workhouse, which has also served as a distillery, a national school and a fertilizer factory in its long and chequered history.
I didn't even realise that Assumpta Kennedy (née Madigan) was at the back of the crowd when I stopped at Lillis Travel to talk about her ancestor Thomas (The Poet) Madigan, which picture is now displayed in that window along with the words and music of his best known composition Lone Shanakyle. Assumpta very kindly took the microphone and sang the song most beautifully again.
We phoned ahead to ask that Críostóir MacCarthaigh's lecture on the impact of the Famine on the Irish language be held off until we arrived at the Teach Cheoil, about five or ten minutes behind schedule. Some people were disappointed that there wasn't time to go into more detail on the history of the Churchyard and the buildings that it has contained, but there will be more time for that during the rededication ceremony next Saturday.
Críostóir, from the Folklore Department at University College Dublin, but with roots in Tullaher near Kilrush, gave a fascinating lecture on the history of the Irish language in county Clare from the 1700s up to the present day. About 50 people attended. I was amazed when Críostóir put up a photograph of Clare's last native Irish speaker, Anraí de Bláca, taken outside his home in Kilbaha with my greatuncle-in-law Gerald Burns and my second cousin-in-law Anraí Ó Braonáin. I was equally surprised to hear Irish folklore which had been collected from Domhnall Bán Ó Loinsigh of Kilcloher, whose grandchildren were my next-door neighbours during holidays in Carrigaholt.
Meanwhile, Laura Foley Lyons was having another busy day, giving a walking tour in Kilkee at 3:30pm as part of the Famine Commemoration, following her Kilcredaun walk in the morning as part of the Oyster Festival.
After the lecture, it was time for a meal in Crotty's with Paul, Kay Clancy, and Kay's sister and niece who have come over from Birmingham for the commemoration.
The Inis Cathaigh Comhaltas Seisiún was in full swing outside in the Market Square by the time we finished eating. That was followed by Ennis traditional band Socks In The Frying Pan. Unfortunately the weather had turned cold and drizzly and miserable by this stage, which kept numbers down.
(Editor's Note... to hear Socks in the Frying Pan sing another favourite, go to
http://astheywere.blogspot.com.au/2013/03/socks-in-frying-pan-ennis-historical.html )
Michael O'Connell returned from the Kilkee walk with a question about the Famine plot in Moyarta Cemetery: Who was the Susan Murray who erected the cross? Picture at
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=643972772295845&set=a.610035525689570.1073741825.389603917732733
Hopefully Murray Ginnane in New Zealand or someone else reading this will know!
I also met Geraldine Keating, a returned Yank, originally from Carrigaholt (where I knew her family) and now teaching in Querrin.
Tiredness and cold got the better of me, and I returned to my quarters in Doonbeg before Socks in the Frying Pan finished their set. Their rendition of Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore, another song of emigration, brought back memories of my years in Philadelphia, where I often heard it sung by Mick Moloney and the various groups that he was involved with.
Friday, 1 February 2013
Famine Commemoration Community Meeting - Tuesday 5th February 2013 7pm Kilrush Golf Club
Greetings
You may be aware that Kilrush has been selected as the host location for the main 2013 National Famine Commemoration. This is a huge achievement for not only Kilrush but the entire West Clare area and it is fully acknowledged that although Kilrush will be the host location for the main Commemoration, the entire West Clare area or Kilrush Poor Law Union as it was known was severely affected by the Famine and is very much part of this Commemoration.
The main Commemoration is expected to take place during the month of May and will be preceded by a week long programme of commemorations with many remembrances taking place outside of Kilrush. A dedicated and experienced Steering Group has already been formed to manage the Commemoration along with a number of sub working groups dealing with different aspects to the commemorations/remembrances.
We feel it is vital that each and every community group and parish in the West Clare area (Kilrush Poor Law Union) participates in these events and with this in mind we feel it most appropriate that the people of West Clare and in particular the community leaders and groups of the area have input and participate in proposed commemorations.
You are cordially invited to a "Famine Commemoration Community Meeting" on Tuesday 5th February 2013 at 7pm in Kilrush Golf Club.
I strongly urge you to attend this meeting and would be very grateful if you could confirm your attendance to Siobhán Garvey (Email: sgarvey@clarecoco.ie) before Friday 1st February 2013. Please feel free to forward this email to anyone who you feel may be interested in attending.
With the kindest of regards
Cllr. Mairead O'Brien
Mayor of Kilrush
Siobhán Garvey
Marketing & Development Officer
Kilrush Town Council
T. 0659051047
Monday, 23 April 2012
CLARE CHATTER.. KILRUSH FAMINE PROJECT
With this title, you know you must read it...
from Clare People, courtesy of Clara Hoyne, Secretary of Clare Roots Society... Paddy Waldron is one who is involved...
As always, please click on the image to enlarge...
'Kilrush has a hunger for famine project'
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