School: Béal an Átha Móir (B.)

Location:
Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
Teacher:
Seán Ó Heslin
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0225, Page 129

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0225, Page 129

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    In the townland of Lanour there grows on a barren stretch of road one large tree known locally as the Spy Tree.

    In the townland of Lanour there grows on a barren stretch of road one large tree known locally as the Spy Tree.
    Tradition has it that in the black old days of '98 a man who sold a priest to the Redcoats paid the penalty of his crime at this place. On the sixteenth of October the infuriated peasantry riddled the spy with musket balls and afterwards chained his body to the tree where it rotted away month by month.
    Anyone who passes this tree after dark on the 16th of October can see the strange drama acted there again, and many people will tell you that a strange odour surrounds the silent spy tree, and the people, say it is the odour of the decaying body of the spy just as it
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Language
    English
    Collector
    Seán Flood
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim
    Informant
    John Giblin
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim