School: St Columba's, Cloonagh, Granard (roll number 12813)

Location:
Cloonagh, Co. Longford
Teacher:
Peter O'Reilly
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0762, Page 372

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0762, Page 372

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  1. XML School: St Columba's, Cloonagh, Granard
  2. XML Page 372
  3. XML “Paddy Kavanagh and His Wife Nancy”

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  1. In the townland of Corbawn now better known locally as Leitrim the old people point to a spot, where once stood a house, that was inhabited long, long ago, by a remarkable pair named Paddy Kavanagh and his wife Nancy.
    The old people say, that their fathers or mothers pointed out the same spot to them, at the foot of Brian McGivney's rock, a very large boulder where the Leitrim hills slope abruptly to the plain below. This portion of the Leitrim hills, is owned by a man called McGivney, and that is the reason the rock gets its name.
    Paddy and Nancy were very poor, as they were of the cottier type, so common in Ireland in those days. They had seven sons and no daughter and as it was to be, to add a bigger burden to their poverty, the seventh or last son was a cripple and he was also dumb until he recovered his speech in a remarkable way.
    Old Paddy was a fisherman, he had a kind of a cot, that he made out of a tree, and in this frail craft, he was to be found at all hours, and in all weather, on the [?] lough, as long as there was any chance of a catch. He was an expert fisherman, and the people used to say that he had
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Folktales index
    AT0329: Hiding from the Devil
    AT0531: Ferdinand the True and Ferdinand the False
    Language
    English
    Informant
    Mr Joseph Kiernan
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Corbaun or Leitrim, Co. Longford