1. dúchas.ie
  2. The Schools' Collection

The Schools’ Collection

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

Filter results

Results

87 results

  1. (no title)

    “There are several specimens...”

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 183

    There are several specimens of the weavers' and spinners' arts still to be seen here in Kilmuckridge and Ballyvalden.
    There is a woman Mrs J Carberry

  2. The Famine

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 048

    for the purpose. The furrow was then dug and chopped to make fine and this was spread on the top and made the surface of the ridge smooth.
    In dry land the ridges were spread in the same way. A harrow was sometimes used to level the surface and make the clay fine. Furrows about one foot wide were cut with a plough between each ridge. The clay from the furrow was shovelled on to the ridge.

    In the village of Kilmuckridge there was what was known as a Stirabout Kitchen. The meal was supplied free to the persons in charge. The stirabout was made and the the food ready cooked was given free of charge to anyone making application for a supply.

  3. Local Forges

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 145

    It is not so very effective now he says as no big irons like the plough irons, coulters etc of former days are cooled in it. When it was almost as black as ink it had its full effect.
    When hard horny hands were washed in it they became soft and white.
    He remembers to have seen bullocks shod - two half-shoes for each hoof. He remembers to have seen bullocks ploughing at Móg Briens of Upton near Kilmuckridge and at Morton's of Ballinaclash Blackwater. Large straw collars were plaited to take the draught chains.

  4. A Local Hero

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 253

    In Athletic circles the most notable Co. Wexford performer was Mr John Mangan.
    H Kilmuckridge who has the following records to his credit in slinging the 56 lbs over the bar
    In 1899 he threw the same weight without following 31 ft 6 ins.

  5. Hidden Gold

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 295

    Hidden Gold
    It is said and is true that on the land of Mr George Malone Ballinahown, Wells, Gorey, Co Wexford that a treasure is hidden. The treasure is a box of gold sovereigns that the Yeoman hid when the insurgents took out Darcy Howlin and shot him.
    It is thought to be hidden in a mate near the house as Mr Malone found a King George the Third Sovereign near the moat when ploughing the field. A man by the name of Patrick Connors, Kilmuckridge, Gorey, Co Wexford found another King George Sovereign in the same place where Mr Malone found it and both men came to the conclusion that the treasure might be hidden in the moat. The couple of sovereigns that were found might have been

  6. Local Happenings

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 319

    It is said that there has been many shipwrecks off the Morriscastle coast Kilmuckridge Gorey, Co. Wexford many years ago. It is said that there was one ship which was almost broken.
    Most of the men which were on it escaped, but there was one man who injured and could not escape.
    He brought the ship almost to land and the coast Guards went to rescue him. They were going to send rocket out, but one man told them not to for they would kill the man, but they did not take his advice and they killed the man. They afterwards went out and brought him in.

  7. Local Place Names

    CBÉS 0886

    Page 337

    Hills.
    The Church Hill in the townland of Kilnamanagh on the road between Wexford and Gorey. It is so called because the Protestant Church is situated at the top of it.
    Ned's Hollow. On the road between Kilnamanagh Gorey, and Kilmuckridge Gorey
    It is so called because an old tramp how was called Ned died in a field there and it is said that his ghost appeared there at night for some time

  8. Local Marriage Customs

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 019

    1916 to 1920. There were upwards of one hundred fifty pupils in Roll in the parish school.- St. Joseph's Kilmuckridge today the Roll is 73, giving an average for 31st December 1938 of 56.
    These figures speck for themselves; there is something rotten, not in the state of the marriage market but in the conditions that have brought such an appalling decline.
    Specking of match making it must also be mentioned that very often the parents of the young people of this place used "to see eye to eye with each other" and work up a match for as they considered this their lasting blessing benefit.

  9. Local Marriage Customs

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 015

    Local Marrage Customs
    Notes from Mrs. Doran age 58
    Ballyadam, Kilmuckridge
    "Love matches" just like silk stockings & powder puffs seem to be well established in this part of the Country now, but not so was the story that could be told of years ago when matches & marriages were made not in Heaven but by some local genius well verified in the subtle craft of making up weddings. There were two or three very well known mediators in the marriage market in this area, and it is said that their services were not so or gratuitous as their partner to the high contracting parties

  10. Prominent People

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 031

    Some ordinary and others yet extra ordinary.
    It is a proud boast of any land to honour its heroes, yet here in this very area there lived a man of international fame in the field of prowess - athletics and who it might almost be said went unhonoured + unsung to the dust. I mention the name of Mr John Mangan a native of Ballinahask, Kilmuckridge. I knew him well + often has long talks with him on sport in general, and in weight throwing in particular which latter was his strong point, but one, owing to the natural modesty + simplicity of the great man that he never cared to discuss.
    He was a giant, measuring

  11. Prominent People

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 033

    trio, and won fame in many an athletic field
    John however was the best of the bunch, and reached as is stated, international fame.
    I attach a table of his records further on and a glance through these, will verify the claim that Kilmuckridge should make in history's pages they stand out even today in feats that any land should be proud of, but to appreciate them fully one should have known the modest, unassuming hero that made these records
    These same thee brothers were members of the famous "Ton" tug of war team , the exploits of which are also given at the end of this memoir.

  12. Prominent People

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 037

    of this book. Furthermore, we will give a detailed account of Murtha, one of his brothers, who won even world records in weight throwing, discus throwing etc, + was an all round man in the athletic fields of the very highest standards.
    John Mangan now interred in Kilincooley graveyard near Kilmuckridge, and over whom was erected an everlasting memorial with a most suitable epitaph giving all his victories, surpassed all men of his time in the handling of the 56 lbs. He left behind, some world records in the throwing of the 56 lbs. which are not even yet broken.
    Like many more athletes of his day Mangan was indifferent to fame and seldom travelled

  13. Local Distillery

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 045

    Local "Distillery"
    Not far from Kilmuckridge in the townland of Ballyadam about a mile and a half from here there were up to a few years ago the remains of an old house where it is said a great trade was done in the manufacture of illicit whisky. It is up to 90 years ago since any stuff was made, and it is said that the whisky, or potteen was always carried or dragged "across country" to the towns or villages to avoid detection in transit.
    Notes supplied by Patrick Dempsey, Ballygarron, who died 5 yrs ago aged 82 years.

  14. The Wreck of the Pomona

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 051

    It is alleged that the Captain was crazy drunk, and in a mad fit ran her resignedly in the Banks. The unfortunate passengers were almost all latched down which accounts for the fact so few of them were saved.
    When the ill fated vessel broke up, corpses came floating in, and strewed the shore. It is stated in these parts that several local fishermen have been warned of approaching storms by hearing music from the place where the Pomona ran in the Banks. The general belief is that it was all due to a drunken fit. An old man of this town land (Kilmuckridge) further tells me that only one man (a native of Cahore, a few miles

  15. Wreck of the Lydia 1860

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 056

    and I have been told that here in Kilmuckridge there are still to be seen some of the plates & dishes from the Lydia.
    They are in the style of the old Willow Pattern so common in the old days.
    In Nov 27th 1860 a storm gale blew from the Eastward & drove the ill fated vessel inside the Bank. The Captain made several unsuccessful attempts to get out again to the other side through a narrow channel (there are gaps in this Bank), but he finally abounded the effort and looked for the best spot to run her ashore.
    This he found at Ballinamona and all the time the shore was crowded with people, waiting & watching anxiously to see the

  16. Holy Wells

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 063

    There are many holy wells in Kilmuckridge + district
    From information supplied by the pupils of this school - and obtained from their parents there are records of at least four.
    One very well known and much frequented even up to the present day is, St. Monkins well situated in the townland of Killincooley - one of the townlands of Litter parish. It is near the site of an old church but there now no traces of the church beyond an old wall which it is said formed part of the old church.
    There is an old church yard burial place in the vicinity too surrounded by a high wall

  17. Some Feats and Heroes

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 084

    His big manly voice was ever mellowed by an inate kindness of soul that ever shone through his soft kindly eyes. Kilmuckridge + district is today the poorer for his demise for a real a true, a lasting friend, a friend in need was dear big hearted "big Paddy"
    To help others and be kind to speak well of all + sundry seemed his mission, and now that he has been called to his eternal reward he brings with him, our blessing and our prayers. It is our very least ~ and yet our very most ~ our best prayers.
    We mourn for him + think well of him in death. Who is there for miles + miles again that has not shared largely + often of Paddy's kindliness + whole hearted generosity ~ his

  18. Crafts

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 118

    in the Bog - or in the harvest field they often brought some of these sustaining "Biscuits" with them and in this way - they were often able to work from dawn to sunset. They didn't mind a long "fast" as long as they had these revivers at hand.

    Weaving.
    An old man named Thomas OBrien aged 80 yrs. of CastleAnnesley Kilmuckridge has told me that there were in his fathers day, three very famous weavers in Blackwater. They used at first work together for the common good but later set up each in his own and in the words of the old narrater they "upset one another," so much so that they give up the business

  19. Some Ghost Stories

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 123

    gave some hot drinks and then proceeded to drive him to his home in Blackwater, 12 miles away. It was now near day and my visitor who has told me this tale, states that he was in the F[?] Street (Kilmuckridge) when this much frightened very battered man came driving in the jennet's car with his benefactor Mr Fortune[?].
    Mr Carberry states that he seemed torn to bits by briers and bushes, and was too frightened to give any coherent account of himself. It was only after several days that a more or less tangible story could be go out of him. He said he was "whisked away off his feet" and he firmly believes that it was the wee folk who thus

  20. Some Ghost Stories

    CBÉS 0887

    Page 121

    that moment till he found himself, first at the front entrance of a local gentleman named Mr Wm Bolton of Island, Kilmuckridge - this was his first whisk, a mere matter of five miles or so as the crow flies. At Mr Bolton's residence and out in front of the stately pile known as Island House - this unfortunate man, was made "to dance a hornpipe" till he remembers (or thinks he does) falling from sheer exhaustion.
    His next 'stop' was at the residence of another gentleman named Mr Colley, Paunden, a distance of over four miles from the Island the scene of the Hornpipe experience.
    At Mr P[?]s place in Ballywa[?]n, the nocturnal