School: Birr (Mercy Convent)

Location:
Birr or Parsonstown, Co. Offaly
Teacher:
Sr. Flannan
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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0821, Page 224

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The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0821, Page 224

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  1. XML School: Birr (Mercy Convent)
  2. XML Page 224
  3. XML “The Penal Days”
  4. XML “The Penal Days”

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  1. (continued from previous page)
    doctor were sent for but the young man died on the third day.
    The above information was got from Michael Carroll, Mill St, Birr. Aged 65
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
  2. In the townland of Walspark which is on the Portumna Road, about 5 miles from Birr, a priest hunter lay dying. He sent into Birr for a priest - a death-bed repentance. At Gallow's Hill the messenger was pursued by two black hounds with flaming eyes. The horses raced madly for the town never slaking even up Gallow's Hill. Here they disappeared only to re-appear when the priest was returning with the messenger. The priest's name was Fr. Hurley. (He was known by teller's grandfather). A made race ensued the hell hounds trying to obstruct the horses. The priest arrived at the house, but going upstairs he saw it was too late, but he continued into the sick room. The face of the corpse was black and fearful and something black hovered near it's head. The poor lost spirit had passed the priest on the
    (continues on next page)
    Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.
    Topics
    1. time
      1. historical periods by name (~25)
        1. penal times (~4,335)
    Language
    English
    Informant
    Michael Carroll
    Gender
    Male
    Address
    Birr or Parsonstown, Co. Offaly