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The Schools’ Collection

This is a collection of folklore compiled by schoolchildren in Ireland in the 1930s. More information

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  1. Fairs

    CBÉS 0607

    Page 130

    Nowadays people do not go to the fair greens but they hold the fairs in the streets. There is no place around here that they call the fair field. They hold fairs in the most villages and towns. They have a certain date every year for the fairs such as the fourteenth of July in Ballynacally and the thirtieth of May in Clare Castle.

  2. Hidden Treasures

    CBÉS 0609

    Page 504

    7When all these people were going to war they hid heaps of gold.There was a man named O Leary was going to war He did the same thing buried gold in Ballynacally.

  3. The Forge

    CBÉS 0606

    Page 225

    There are five forges in this parish - two near Ballynacally, one in Burren, one in Lana and one in Lissycasey.
    Tommy Sullivan and Paddy Gavin own the two near Ballynacally. Tom Quinn is the smith in Burren, Mick Quinlivan in Lanna, and Andy Sexton works in the forge in Lissycasey.
    All the smiths work very hard, and all the forges are thatched except Tommy Sullivan's which is slated and which is perhaps the most up-to-date and best equipped forge in the parish.
    He has a drill for boring iron and he has also an implement for putting threads in bolts.
    In each forge there is a bellows which is made from hide.
    When the bellows gets broken the smith is able to piece it with leather.
    In the shaft in Tommy Sullivan's forge there are two flues, so that two smiths can work together

  4. The Lore of Certain Days

    CBÉS 0487

    Page 184

    Nellie Fitzgerald,
    Ballynacally.

    The Lore of Certain Days.
    Monday: People never marry on Monday as it is considered unlucky.
    Friday: Is considered a lucky day to enter a new home, but at the same time, the flour, soda and other food stuffs should be placed in the house the night before the people themselves enter the house.
    Saturday. It is considered unlucky to begin business on Saturday. An old saying and a true saying. Work begun on Saturday is never finished.

    Told to me by my father.
    Thomas Fitzgerald,
    Ballynacally,
    Ardagh.

  5. (no title)

    “A man named Leally Ballynacally went to Biddy Earley to know if his mother, who was ill, would get better”

    CBÉS 0593

    Page 405

    405
    A man named Leally Ballynacally went to Biddy Earley to know if his mother, who was ill, would get better.The evening previous to his going he was riding on an ass down Paradise Hill and at an old lime kill the ass took fright threw him and he had quite a narrow escape from very serious injury. Biddy on his arrival ,just said "No ,your mother will not recover ,as she knew his errand ,ere he spoke .Then she said -You had quite a narrow escape last evening in Paradise Hill and only for i was there and interceded for you ,youd be "finished"said Biddy.

  6. Occupations on Coney Island

    CBÉS 0604

    Page 168

    Farming is the principal Industry, this includes, rearing of cattle, pigs, sheep, horses and ponies.
    Butter-making is also a very important industry-each household now having a separator .
    The market for this industry is Ballynacally, and from here it is sent to Ennis-the buyer in Ballynacally making more on the butter supply he took from the Islanders-trade in eggs is done similiarly .
    Farmers here sell their "yearlings"-not having enough to feed them on during the winter months.
    Long ago the land here was one large tract of land and it was not easy for each farmer to keep his flocks from straying on to strange land.
    It was however divided up and now stone walls divide each farmers portion.
    When the land was being divided care had to be taken that each farmer got an equal share of good land. This resulted in each farmer having land here, there, and everywhere-and not going with or near the house- Seeing a field near the home one naturally thinks it belongs to the people of the home,
    not so here-this arrangement makes the work for the farmers here very hard. driving cattle on the rough roads here , too, is not easy, they must walk at snails pace-and dogs must not be put after them.

  7. (no title)

    “One night a man had a dream that there was gold hid ...”

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 013

    One night a man had a dream that there was gold hid in Breen's Torth. It is situated a mile east of Ballynacally. He also had a dream the second night about the gold. The third night he asked a neighbour to go with him to search for it. They dug a deep hole and met a flag. It was supposed that under this flag the gold was. They were just lifting up the flag when twelve men came and laid down a coffin beside them and the cleared for their (lifes) lives. Lights were often seen there in the nights. The money is still hidden there. no body likes to look for it

  8. (no title)

    “Daingean Castle is situated a quarter of a mile ...”

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 016

    "Daingean" Castle is situated a quarter of a mile east of Ballynacally. On the left hand side of the road. The ruin is there always. It is believed that money is hidden there. A Kerry man dreamt that there was three crocks of gold hidden there. So he came to the castle with a boy of the Morans'. They went into the castle (was) while Mass was being celebrated. They began to dig for the gold as soon as they did a bull followed them. They ran for their lives and went home disappointed. It is supposed that nobody could look for gold until a hundred years afterwards

  9. (no title)

    “There is a castle situated a half mile east of Ballynacally.”

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 020

    There is a castle situated a half mile east of Ballynacally. It is said that there is money hid in that castle. A certain man dreamed of the money, and that it was a hid under briar long side the castle. One night at twelve o'clock himself and two others went to the Castle to look for the money, and they brought spades and shovels with them. They began to dig, and they dug until they came to an iron gate, they saw the shade of a bull there, and they lost courage and went home

  10. Daoine Cáiliúla

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 027

    Dawson was an important man in the parish. He was a Protestant. He was a native of Scotland, and came as a herdsman to Mr Ball. He got a big farm of land from him in the townland of Ardnagla, half mile north of Ballynacally. A great big slated house is there at present, and many big two storey high outhouses. Peter Dawson worked on every day on Sunday as well as any other day. He was a very hard working man. He had a lot of tillage and hired many servants.

  11. Liosanna

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 090

    Fort Fergus: a mile to the east of Ballynacally there is a fort in the farm of Mr. Garry. The fort is now covered. As many years before the English Settlers came to this country, Big houses had to be built for them So the sight of Lady Ball's house was marked on the top of this fort. Three men were hired to plough the fort. They set to work early, but no sooner had they started than there horses fell dead. They got new horses, like wise happened. So the men were sacked, and six work men hired for H a day to dig the fort. The fort was cleaned any the mancion built. A Man then came to get a good name for the house. He could see no name for the house but fort Fergus. A from a room in the house, you can see a River called the Fergus. It is often called Fergus view.

  12. Holy Wells

    CBÉS 0605

    Page 095

    There are four blessed well in out parish St Martin, St Scríobán's, St Neadans and St Ruth.
    St Martins. There is a blessed Well in Ballynacally by the name of St Martins. It is situated a few hundred yards in from the road in Mr Mc Mahon's field. It is good for sore eyes and feet. People visit it on the 11th of November. The Rosary

  13. Kilchreest

    CBÉS 0606

    Page 015

    This church yard is situated a short distance from Ballynacally. It is well preserved.
    A little way from it, stands the castle

  14. Prayers

    CBÉS 0606

    Page 202

    Grant me the benifit of this Blessed Mass and Holy Water.
    ----
    O merciful Jesus have mercy on me.
    My soul and my body I give in to thee,
    In honour of the five bleeding wounds that were nailed to a cross
    O merciful Jesus have mercy on me.
    Here I lay down to sleep,
    I pray to God my soul to keep
    If I sleep and never wake I pray
    to the Lord God my soul to take
    Informant: Thomas Malone (68), Grandfather, Breaffa, Ballynacally
    Collector: John Ayers, Breaffa, Ballynacally

  15. A Good Mower

    CBÉS 0606

    Page 172

    My grandfather John O Dea of Lavalla, Ballynacally in his time was a good Mower. At about four o clock in the morning he got up and had as a breakfast a bowl of sturobout. Then he got his scythe and went to the meadow. He continued like this untill about one o clock and then came in to dinner. He had potatoes and buttermilk for dinner. Then he started to mow again and at six o clock he had an Irish acre of hay leveled. He was a strong man and lived until about eighty years.

  16. A Faction Fight

    CBÉS 0606

    Page 179

    A large cut was put on my uncle's head, and he had to spend a week in the work-house hospital.
    The Ballynacally lads were defeated.

  17. Old Schools of the District

    CBÉS 0609

    Page 013

    Old Schools of the District.
    There were no National Schools there long ago.Hedge- Schools the scholars went to.The first national school was built in 1860.The old school is in the District of Kanturk .Morrougheyfrom Ennistymon and Crawford from Miltown that built it.Master Daly was the first on teacher to teach there.He came from Ballynacally.he got married to Margaret Murphy from Connolly.he taught -English reading ,and writing,history ,geography,grammar,Euclid Algebra ,book-keeping and sums

  18. Biddy Early

    “One time a man in Labsheeda had an only son and he was very sick.”

    CBÉS 0629

    Page 324

    One time a man in Labsheeda had an only son and he was very sick. His father was told to go to Biddy Early for a cure, which he did accompanied by another man. They had a long way to travel on horse back to her place. When she saw them she knew what they wanted and said "Men I am sorry you did not come a day sooner your son just died at two o'clock last night as you were passing the bridge to the east of Ballynacally". She also said he had been over looked by a fair haired young lady a few weeks before that. When they went home they found out that the boy had died at the exact hour that Biddy told them.

  19. A Story

    CBÉS 0487

    Page 169

    Nellie Fitzgerald,
    Ballynacally,
    Ardagh,
    Co. Limerick.

    A Story.
    Once upon a time there was a fellow at school this day. He had a blot in his copy, and the master asked him, what was it for, and he said it was a pig, and the master told him not to call it a pig but a blot. He had a comma after a word, and the master asked him what was it for, and he said , it was a tail,. The master told him not to call it a tail, but a comma. The next day the boy was absent, and when he came to following day, the master asked him what kept him, and he said, "My father was killing a blot, and I had to hold him by the comma"
    Told by my father.
    Thomas Fitzgerald,
    Ballynacally,
    Ardagh,
    Co. Limerick

  20. (no title)

    “Some years ago there was a man named Kielly in Low Island Ballynacally who used visit Biddy Early whenever his stock or friends used be ill,”

    CBÉS 0593

    Page 404

    Philomena Degidon.
    I got this from Bridget O' Dwyer.
    Some years ago there was a man named Kielly in Low Island Ballynacally who used visit Biddy Early whenever his stock or friends used be ill, as it was common belief that by her witchcraft she could tell whether health would be restored on them or not. On one occasion when cattle were ill he went to Biddy, and she said, Do you remember last night when all the plates in the dresser clattered. Yes he said, I got up to hunt the cat as I thought it was the cat prowling about. No indeed, "is mise a tí ann" said she. Now you can go home and your cattle won't die this time, said Biddy,