School: Árd Phádraig
- Location:
- Ardpatrick, Co. Limerick
- Teacher: Pilib Ó Conaill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0509, Page 207
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- XML “The Old Fair of Ardpatrick”
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- The fair green was in the angle made by the old road (previously referred to) with the road which runs from Ardpatrick upper cross to Kilmallock. The site is for the most part occupied at present by a labourer's cottage & plot.
The old fair green had no boundary fences & I believe no fences lay between it & the roads at the time. This was a famous fair & is referred to in the song 'Priosún Cluáin Meala'.
Faction fights took place here, the offending parties being the 'three year olds' & the 'four year olds'. A tragic occurrence put a stop to these fights & as far as I could gather to the fair also.
A blacksmith who lived at this cross & whose brother was injured at the fair took a hammer & followed the agressors overtaking them somewhere on the road to Kilmallock. With the hammer he struck & killed a man, and a great outcry was the result. The clergy spoke against the fights & factions & this ended the business.
As regards the factions I myself saw an old man said to be nearly 90 'wheeling a stick about his head and shouting out a war cry about a 'three year old'. This happened shortly after my coming here, in say 1903 or 1904. Some 'lads' had annoyed the old man by shouting out the opposite slogan.
