School: Ballymartin, Croom (roll number 4466)
- Location:
- Ballymartin, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: Teresa Lynch
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0525, Page 079
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- All the fields around Tory Hill house were orchards. An orchard-man had a cabin built against the "House of Prayer" and his duty was to watch the orchards, the fruits of which were in the "House of Prayer."
The man demanded from the priest a gun with which to protect himself. He got the gun.
One night the orchard-man was very tired on retiring and he slept heavily. A red-haired man entered and stole the gun as a joke. The priest then took the man's two pigs - which were then kept for two harvests and allowed to graze in the fields - in compensation for the gun.
The man aggrieved went to Biddy Early. She cut the cards for him, but failed to divine his loss. She asked him if it were iron metal or steel, but he refused to answer at first. Finally, he told her that it was wood and iron. She then cut the cards again and told him of his loss and where to find it by nettles in a rabbit burrow, but that he should remove his coat to get his arm in far enough to recover the gun. He did as directed and procured the gun which he returned to its owner, and he got back his two pigs.
Fr. Hartnett used to charge 10/- yearly to those who would take grass for a goat on the hill
