APHSource: FAS Scheme 1990s
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Landlords
Who was the landlord?
Did he reside there?
Religion
Which church did people attend?
Stations – were the children examined on their religion ?
– dues?
– mass paths?
Weddings – doweries etc. match making?
Wakes – laying out corpse, funeral from house?
Lisheens – babies, burial grounds, confirmation – examination of children?
churching of mothers, christening?
Confirmation – religious examination of children
Education
Which schools in this area? Local songs, stories or folklore?
Teachers?
Time off for harvesting?
Any hedge schools or travelling teachers?
Farming
Field names in this area?
Gardening?
Threshing – who owned the threshing mill?
Bogs – turf cutting? Where did people get their turf?
Did farmers bring hay or turf to the Galway markets?
Thatchers or Blacksmiths in your area?
Fairs
Tolls – who collected them and what was the money used for?’
Where was the best part of the town for selling the stock?
Where did the buyers come from?
Horse fairs and cattle fairs – were they separate originally?
Luck penny?
Pubs opening?
Fair Green – often talked about – why wasn’t there a Fair Green?
Bargaining?
What breed of cattle were most common?
Was it all cash payment?
Hiring fairs – Connemara people?
Old Landmarks
Any short cuts?
Any old names for bridges, turns, hills, etc?
Any Pishrogues?
Superstition?
Local Shops
Travelling shops ? Sheebeens?
Local Characters in your area
Your help with any of the above material will be greatly appreciated
Currantarmuid
By Peter Coady
The landlords in the local areas were Major Hall, Knockbrack, Walter Lambert, Castle Ellen, and the Daly’s of Dunsandle.
A priest used to walk from Athenry to Newcastle. He carried a blackthorn stick. There were several mass paths in the area. One of those leads from Bredan Ryan’s (Montpelier) out through Tysaxon, over by the burial ground and on to the chapel.
There was a thatched chapel at Licklea beside the river, in the 18th century. The first church on the present site was built around 1830. On the 6th January 1839 the west gable and was blown by a bad storm.
Tenants had two and five sheep. Some were not able to meet the rent money. Sheep used to be blessed by the priest. All the sheep used to have the same brand so that the sheriff would have to walk away, without knowing what each tenant owned.
There used to be a castle where the present hall is built, Squires lived there.
For the stations, boiled eggs used to be served half duck, and half hen eggs, homemade bread and currant cake was a novelty .
For a wedding a pig would be killed, a pot of cabbage and potatoes would be boiled. Black porter was served. Many men drank too much porter. The wedding celebrations would last for about two weeks.
Molloys had a forge in Newcastle when the Molloy man died his two sons did not carry on the trade. Madden’s had a forge where Burke’s shop now stands.
At the time of the famine there was a soup school run by Hall. Food was scarce and people died from overeating of porridge. There were no graveyards or coffins. The people were wrapped in swaddling clothes and buried in fields.
Knockbrack (Hall’s Estate)
Matty Feeney
House built around 1840
Blacksmith – Molloys in Newcastle Reillys in Roundfield, Monivea
Carpenter – Gardiners were coach builders
Gates
Duke Gates – because a duke is supposed to have jumped it with a horse
Grand Gate – Main Entrance Gate
Back Gate – back entrance
Peggys Gate – Entrance to part of land off main road
Shiney wall gate – sun shining on it
Major Hall’s father came to live in Knockbrack in the 1840’s. He had a son and daughter, but he died at a young age from a virus. Major Hall left Knockbrack with his wife and daughter (Gladys) in 1922. His daughter was 27 at that time. Gladys married Norman Strong who later became speaker in Stormont Parliament. Gladys’s husband and son James got killed by the IRA in 1980. They lived Tynan Abbey in Co. Tyrone.
Lisheen – There is a lisheen on Johnny Lally’s land of Knockbrack. There were children buried up until 50 years ago.
Mount Garret – Garret Burke owned it before Major Hall came.
No. 4 Wood – now no. 4 field
Cnoc Preachain – hill of crows
Paircin a bhfeadog – whistling park
Sally’s field – Great grandmother of Eddie Monaghan in Knockbrack
Jack’s garden – named after John Mc Donagh who then moved to Bengarra.
There was a cave in Knockbawn (in Josie Hynes land Knockbrack) where it is said it went to Oranmore. It was for those on the run hundreds of years ago. It was known to go to Oranmore as chaff from the corn was thrown in on the Knockbawn side and it is said to have come out in Oranmore – the other end of the cave. It is now closed in for the past 20-30 years.
Local Characters
Billy Cooke from Kilkerrin Clonberne. He was in England working as a horseman for years came back to Ireland and bought 3 acres of land in Mount Garret (joining Knockbrack). He came in the 1930’s and left around 1966. He built a galvanised hut in the middle of his land and lived there. No window. no chimney and he slept in the loft in the hut with 2 horses underneath him. He ate off the floor with no legs on the chair and would only eat after the horses were fed. He lit the fire in the middle of the floor where the smoke went out the door. He earned his living by working with the local farmers – hay. bog etc. When he grew old in the 1960’s his nephew came to take Billy with him to look after him. He died shortly afterwards.
