School: Davidstown (roll number 9682)

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1. An Oven of the Famine

   

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   There is a Finnian oven in our haggard. It is like the bottom of a lime kiln, lined inside with very big stones with little wee stones in between them. It is very wide & the stones appear to be black. It is about 4ft deep & 2 1/2 ft wide at the top. It gets narrow at the bottom.
   Eilis Leacy (12) Ballyelland told by her father that it is a Finnian oven. In Stafford's field (Ballyelland) there is an old rath. The round is there still & remains of a ditch inside. A light is supposed to be seen there very often after midnight.

   

   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

2. Fair at Moneyhore

   

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   Pat Hennessy (22) Davidstown told him by his father Michael Hennessey (50) Davidstown - told him by Nicholas Keating Ballinavarrey died 1918 aged 100. Faction fighting & Matchmaking took place at the fair of Moneyhore. Faction fights were between the people of one district & those of another between one parish & another & those of one barony and another. Fights were furious & often fatal. Champion faction fighters of this locality were:- Paddy Kearns, a faggot cutter and William Staunton - ex Crimean veteran, Boolabawn. The latter's niece Mrs Mary Breen, Boolabawn now resides in his house. Armed with blackthorn sticks they used to challenge two of the best men from the Duffrey, who boasted that "a Duffry man would eat more bread and drink more beer than ten from Bantry or Shelmalier". In every fight of the 2nd & 3rd decades of the 19th century, these men were the victors.

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   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. trade
            1. buying and selling (~3,622)
      2. social activities (~7)
         1. rites of passage (~573)
   2. agents (~1)
      1. supernatural and legendary beings (~14,864)
         1. Fianna (~595)
      2. people
         1. factions (~230)
   3. objects
      1. man-made structures
         1. historical and commemorative structures (~6,794)

   Language

   English

   Informant

   Pat Hennessey

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   22

   Address

   Davidstown, Co. Wexford