Greethill

Paddy Healy

RELIGION

Athenry Church. Children were examined on their religion.

WEDDINGS

Doweries were given in the form of money or livestock. There was one individual in the area who was a matchmaker.

WAKES

Laying out a few corpse – a few neighbours would come to the house to lay out the corpse. The “wake” varied from 24 to 48 hours. The funeral left the house.

LISHEENS

There is a lisheen in Greethill area – burial ground for babies. of the mother.

The churching of mothers took place after a confinement. They had to visit the church before they could go out in public. The christening usually took place on the day of the churching of the mother. The christening procedure was the same as today.

CONFIRMATION

The examination of children took place in the church. There were no sponsors.

EDUCATION

Schools in the area – Coldwood N.S. Teachers: Mr. O’ Regan and Mr Treacy – in Coldwood

Time off for harvesting – mainly for the picking of potatoes. There were no hedge schools or travelling teachers.

THRESHING

John Joe Cahill owned the threshing mill (50’s, 60’s, 70’s)

BOGS

Turf cutting. The local residents cut their own turf in Cloonkeen Bog.

Farmers brought hay, turf, bonhams, calves, vegetables, fruit, eggs, butter, to the Galway markets.

Thatchers usually came from neighbouring villages. There was no blacksmith in the area.

FAIRS

Tolls – Doherty’s of Athenry collected the tolls.

Best part of the town for selling stock was “The Square”. Buyers came from Northern Ireland, mainly and the also came from the Midlands.

There were horse fairs and cattle fairs.

Luck Penny – very common in dal making. On selling stock the seller gives the buyer a small amount of money (change) for luck – with the animal or goods sold.

Pubs opening – opened very early for fairs. – many deals were made in the pub

 Fair Green – there was no fair green in Athenry. All fairs were held on the streets.

Bargaining

– very common at the fair.

– slashing of hands to make the deal

– on-lookers called on to make/split the deal.

Shorthorn were the most common breed for sale.

All payments were in cash.

Hiring Fairs – Connemara people – Known as “Spailpins”. Connemara people assembled in Athenry at the weekend. Local farmers came into town to hire these people usually on Sunday after Mass. Inclination to choose the “strongest” looking individuals. These “hired workforce were used mainly for picking potatoes and thinning beet, turnips and manglods.

OLD LANDMARKS

Underground tunnels – “puirin’s” from one field to another, beneath a road.

HILLS – Cnocan na choinin. Briar Hill

PISHROGUES

On going to the fair if one met a red-haired woman, he would turn back home as the red-haired woman was an omen of bad luck.

People who came to a house to visit, on going home were always requested to leave by “going out the door through which they came in”, to avoid ill luck.

SUPERSTITION

There are fields in the area in which the “Foidin Maruil” existed. meant that one who entered this particular field/s would stray he would be unable to exit from the field. However, if he turned his jacket inside out and wore it in this way he would then be able to leave the field.

The Banshee (bean si or fairy women) was very dominant in the area. A small woman dressed in black frequented the local gardens known as “the old gardens”. She was known to cry for certain families with “0” and “Mac” as a prefix to the surname

The banshee was known for her distinguished cry or “caoineadh” – a sorrowful cry.

STORY

A local man was walking in the vicinity of the river (local area) and he heard the splashing sound of water. He went to investigate this and saw the banshee washing her clothes. Being a character, he made away with some of her clothes. He hit for home as fast as his two legs would carry him and he had just entered his thatched house when the banshee arrived outside seeking her clothes. This man’s mother requested him to return the “stolen” clothes.to the woman by placing them on the prongs of a hayfork (which was kept in the house at the time) and holding onto the handle of the hayfork, he put the clothes out the window. The banshee on grabbing her clothes from the hayfork brought one of the prongs of the fork with her – to show her annoyance and anger.

LOCAL SHOPS

Nearest was Athenry town.

There were no travelling shops prior to ’50’s, ’60’s, ’70’s,

Conroy’s in ’50’s

Jimmy Nolan 2 in the ’60’s and ’70’s

Murphy’s Arch

SHEEBEEN

There was no Sheebeen in the area.

Local characters in the area – Tommy Finn R.I.P.

LOCAL PRIESTS

Fr. Tom Keane R.I.P.

NUNS

Sr. Anastasia Keane – order – Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart Baltimore, Maryland – U.S.A.

Sr. Colm Keane – order – St. Joseph of Cluny Order Dublin

BROTHERS

Brother Brendan Keane R.I.P.