who was a great runner in his youth. His name is Joe McAuliffe. He often ran a race with other men and he nearly always won. He used to be running at Sports long ago which were held in Tralee, Listowel, Abbeydorney, and Cork. He won a race at one of these Sports and for a prize he got a woolen blanket and some beautiful green plates as a tea service. The distance he used to run was one or two miles and it would only take him five minutes to run a mile. This man also challenged other men to race him and was sure to win. He also ran against a horse from Tralee to Abbeydorney and he reached Abbeydorney village before the horse.
There was an old woman living in Croughcroneen long ago. Her name was Mrs Horgan and she was a famous walker. She once walked from Bathea to Cork with

A Storm
In 1896 Dan Peiner's (?) shed was carried of from Ballysheen with the wind and was blown to Abbeydorney.There were four trees blown down and two sheep blown into the river. The house was blown from Ballysheen to Ballymacquinn.The storm carried off a horse's-cart and it was found no more. Tom Hurley's porch was blown off to Dillon's in Abbeydorney. When Tom Hurley got up in the morning at six o'clock he opened the door to see what kind the day was. When he saw the porch gone he got a fright. Jack Dillon who lived in Abbeydorney told Tom Hurley that he saw somebody's corrugated iron near his own place.

Maurice Scollard Deepford Abbeydorney who would be 150 years now had he lived was the strongest man in this district. He would catch a horseshoe or any bar of iron and break it in two with his hands. One day a man was driving a horse and cart with a load of meal and the cart was capsized and Maurice came on, and turned it up right.
He would catch a weight of about 1/2 cwt and throw it 50 yards.
One day in Jim Leahy's forge in Abbeydorney there was a challenge that he would not break a horse-shoe. He caught it and broke it and of course won.
Tom Rice and Michael Ware were swift runners. They would run three miles in ten minutes.
Thade Regan from Kilcooly was a great weight thrower. He used to throw 56 lb weight 24 feet without follow.
There was a parish priest in Abbeydorney his name was Father Tom Brosnan, he swam into the big rock Muclac at Banna nine miles and back again.
Mrs Conway Banna who is about 80 years now swam as far as Muclac also.
Jerry Callaghan, who lived in Lios na gCoiníní in the parish of Abbeydorney and who would be a hundred and six years old had he lived, was a

About 10 years ago we had a great snow storm in Ireland. Cattle and sheep were killed and people had to stay indoors for weeks. There was a man from the fourth of Abbeydorney by the name of Harry Walsh and as he was going home from Tralee and when very near his home the wind blew off his hat into a near by field. He went for to get it, but he was caught in the deep snow and buried alive and smothered.
Another man from the same parish by the name of Flaherty was also in Tralee and so he was eating his dinner and he got choked by a piece of meat.
He was taken to the hospital and coffined. On the following day all his Abbeydorney neighbors collected and with shovels they cleared a path on the road from Tralee to Abbeydorney. This snow was 9 feet high in some places. All the hares foxes and birds died. The birds used to fall from the chimneys. People had to burn some of the furniture for firing. It remained on the ground until the [ninth]? of May.

In the year 1577 the Castle underwent a great siege, just a year before the Desmond rebellion. At this time there was a monastery in Abbeydorney and the ruins of of the walls can be still seen. During the siege at Lixnaw Castle the Abbot of Abbeydorney helped Fitzmaurice and he was killed in the fight. Shortly after this, in 1582, Fitzmaurice distroyed that Castle himself so the English would not have the satisfaction of destroying it. It was afterwards repaired and the Fitzmaurices again lived in it. In the year 1599 Charles Wilmot was sent into Kerry to conquer all the Castles but he found Lixnaw Castle empty. It was undermined and was propped with timber, ready to be destroyed. Wilmot left an army in the Castle to defend it. When the Spaniards landed at Kinsale in the year 1601 the Castle was taken by the Irish. It was besieged by Wilmot in 1602. It was taken after a short struggle, Wilmot took it by strategy as he cut off the water supply from the garrison in the Castle and they

About fifty years ago Rev. Fr. --- was stationed as Curate in this parish. He had a great thought of himself as an athlete and he used to boast that there was no man in this parish his equal at weight throwing or jumping. At that time there lived at Clounametig a farmer named Tom Stack. One day Father --- met Stack and started as was usual with him to run down the Athletic prowess of the men of Abbeydorney. Among other things he asked Stack "if there was a man at all in Abbeydorney able to throw a stone". Stack mentioned among others Mike Fitzgerald and Thady Duggan as being very good stone throwers but Fr. --- had no respect for those and said he could beat either of them with his left hand. Stack got nettled and being a bit of a joker asked "Have you ever tried Andy Savage Father? I have not" replied Father --- is he a good man". "He was never beaten yet at stone throwing" said Stack.
Now Andy Savage was an old man who had been crippled with rheumatism for a number of years and who certainly was not an athlete in any sense of the word.

The names of the old local roads in the district are, Abbeydorney road, Ballysheen road, Lerrig road, Baltovin road, Killahan road, and Ahamore road. Those are old roads made 85 years ago by means of the board of works. The men that were working in them were getting a shilling a day payment. The road called Abbeydorney road leads from the village down to Ballysheen on to Killahan cross, then on to Ahamore direct to Causeway. The Ballysheen road leads from Tubrid to Kilgurbin and then to Rasconnell. The Lerrig The Lerrig road comes from Lerrig to Baltovin on to Killahan and on to Ballinclogher. There is an old by-road still used from Leary's house in Fortwilliam down to Brassils and on to the Ballysheen road. It was a school road to Ardrahan. It was made a century ago. There is an old school=path leading from the Parkhouses through Ardscoile to our school. There was an old school path from Lon an Chnuic and Ballihenery to Killahan school. There is a mass-path leading from Killahan to Kilbricane. There are no big rivers or bridges in the district. In olden times it was the custom to have an all-day Sunday dance in summer at Killahan cross. There

Weathers' Well got its name from this story. Between Causeway and Abbeydorney there is a Mass rock where people gathered during penal times to hear Mass. One morning soldiers came along with blood hounds. The people thought they were caught when three weathers rose up from the ground and went towards the sea and the hounds went after them. The people made their escape.

Weathers' Well is between Causeway and Abbeydorney. There is a Massrock at Weathers' Well. A priest was saying Mass there during the penal times and a number of people were gathered there to hear Mass. As the priest (and the people) was saying Mass soldiers came towards them with blood-hounds and the priest and the people thought they were caught but three weathers sprand up from the ground and went off towards the sea and the blood-hounds went after them. So the people and the priest made their escape.

There is a well between Abbeydorney and Causeway. Once when a priest was saying Mass there soldiers came on with blood-hounds. The priest and the people thought that they were caught. Three weathers sprang up from the well and ran towards the sea and the priest and the people escaped. There is a mass rock at Weathers' well.

"Billy Crosbie Ardfert commonly known as Billy the Leveller" and for his generosity Shanahan was deprived of this trust and the charity meal was given in charge to Sheahan who acted very niggardly to the poor people, and they often left him with a bad wish in their heart. It was a strange thing that none of his family, who at that time owned the biggest farms in Abbeydorney, Ardfert, and Lixnaw has a male heir and their lands passed through the female line into their hands.

At the present day fairs are held in the vicinity of towns, but in olden days fairs were held in crossroads, and to the present day in some places fairs are held there. Long ago fairs were held at every crossroad in the country but as many accidents occurred the fairs were changed to towns, and in the towns they have a special field for the purpose and it paid for by the town commissioners.
The greatest local fairs in my district are those held in Tralee, Listowel, Causeway and Abbeydorney. There is a fortnightly pig fair held in the market in Tralee. The horse fairs are held on November's day, and October the 13th one is held in the fair field. An annual fair called the Fair of the Cross is held in Abbeydorney on the first of December. Farmers from the neighbouring towns and districts come to this fair to dispose of their cattle. Jobbers come from all parts of Ireland to purchase.
When an animal is sold luck is paid according to what the animal makes, every bargain big or small means a luck penny. It is said that if you let a piece of a rope go with an animal you let your luck go too. When an animal is

There is a lot of forts around Laccamore, and Abbeydorney. There is one in Cloghers, Ardfert near my grandmother's. It belonged to Mr. Pierce last year. But he sold his farm, and he bought out Palmer's old house. He is not living in it yet. But soon he will

About 150 years ago the English were hunting down our Irish heroes and hanging them when ever they could catch them. In the parish of Tralee to the north side of the town on the top of Rock Street on the right side of the road from Tralee to Abbeydorney by Listellick and just west of the New Burying Ground there is a little patch of land called Gallow's Green (Páirc na Croiche). Here many of the White-Boys were hanged in public. At that time there was a large hole of water in the centre of the field and into this hole of water the English executioners used throw the body of the poor executed Irish man.
One day as a man by the name of Pat Barry of Lisanerla (Lios-an-Iarla) was going home from Tralee with his horse and car (the road called the New Line now going from Tralee to Listowel was not then made) and as he was approaching Gallow Green (Páirc na Croiche) he got word that the English soldiers were waiting for a cart to hang a White Boy from. Pat Barry immediately turned back and he went around by the old Ardfert Abbeydorney way and so reached his native townland of Lisnearla (Lios-an-Iarla) by doing a big circle.
But it is told that they hanged this poor White Boy afterwards. All the landlords, big gentry, their agents etc used to bring their relatives to [?] on at the public hangings - even their women folk and children were present.

About fifty two years ago there was a great thunderstorm. There were several people killed by it. An old lady by the name of Mrs Cahill and her grand-daughter were coming home from Tralee together. They were very near their house being only about a quarter of a mile away from it when they both were struck by a flash of lightning and killed instantly. They were buried in Abbeydorney.

The parish of Ardfert (3) The Hedge School in William Dillanes’ Field called the Road Field about half a mile north of this school on the Tralee Abbeydorney Road.
(4) The Hedge school in Mr McMahon’s field Listellick Tralee.
(5) The Hedge school in Hatey’s field Loca More Abbeydorney.
(6) The Hedge school in Rathanny (Ráth an fháinne) just to the north of Tralee town.
Norah Trant Lisnearla Tralee
Aged 50 years.

This old road starts at Boherbee, Tralee, continues to Ballinorig, to Fitzmaurice Castle in Ballybeggan on through Droumtacker. It takes a bend here and leads through the townland of Knockawaddra. It continues through Lismore to Leith and down through Laccamore and on to Abbeydorney burial ground. It leads eastwards towards Lixnaw and crosses the river Feale by ford at Bealacuilla, through Erismore to Greenville and onto Listowel.

There is a holy well called Wethers' Well in Abbeydorney, Tralee, Co. Kerry. St. Kevin, was supposed to have been baptised in a well nearby and as the water was being poured over him, two wethers appeared and vanished into a hole, some yards away. A spring suddenly appeared and has never gone dry since. Thousands of invalids visit it every year and leave rags on the bushes round it.

great storyteller he used to tell them first in Irish and tell them back in English and the house used to be thronged every night to hear him.
Thomas Dowling Ardrahan Ardfert who would be about a hundred and twenty years of age if he lived was a great hurler. In Carney's field not far from Ballyrobert cross there used to be a hurling match every Sunday, between Ballyheigue Lixnaw and Abbeydorney and Ardrahan. One Sunday before the match Thomas Dowling went into the field and he got the ball and was throwing it up and down; the first time he threw it up he struck it coming down and again he threw it up and he struck it coming down and the third time he threw it up he struck it coming down. When he had that done the Lixnaw and Ballyheigue fellows ran out of the field they would not play Abbeydorney and Ardrahan they got in dread of them on account of the brave man from Ardrahan Thomas Dowling.
James Scanlon Lerrig Ardfert was a great weight thrower. He used to throw a fifty six pound weight a hundred yards with a sling.
John Moore Ballyrobert Ardfert was famous for lifting sacks of grain and potatoes. He used to lift a sack of potatoes up in his back without any one helping him.
Tadg Regan Kilmoiley, Ardfert, was good for lifting

Irish stories. They all taught the Catechism in Irish. They taught writing, spelling, composition and Arithmetic very well. A man named John Henry Duggan taught for a short period at O'Sullivan's, Cloghane Leskirt. He was considered a very good teacher. Grown-up boys and girls came a long journey to his school. Duggan was a native of Abbeydorney. After that there was a permanent school at Lyre in the house that afterwards served as a national school till 1911. It was held by a man named Foley. He was succeeded by Molyneaux - the first National Teacher. He was a young labouring man before he went to school to be educated himself. The writing was done on slates.