A heavy snowfall occurred ten years ago, in the month of February, which id much damage. Cattle were smothered in high drifts of snow in Knocktoosh and sheep in Ashford. A man named Mr. Moynihan, who had delivered turf in Drumcollogher, was smothered in a high drift of snow near Ashford, when he was returning home. It was four feet high in some places and in some places in the hills it was 6. Lorries were unable to travel, cows were smothered in a shed owned by Mr. Callaghan of Boola.

of surface over the place where he is buried. The mound of surface it is about nine yards long, and it is around five yards wide and about 10 feet high. Long ago there were only a few roads in the country, and the principal one was from Cork to Kerry used to be from Abbeyfeale to Cork city and it is called Ballagh meaning the way, because it was the way that people could travel to Cork. Ashford was the name that was given to the road passing through Ashford village.

The Protestant teacher afterwards became a convert and is buried in Cong Abbey.The Catholic School was situated in Michael Holian's house. The teacher's name was Mr. Murphy. He was able to teach Reading and Catechism in Irish. The pupils had planks for seats rested on stones and paid him two pence or four pence a week for a salary. When the pupils were a few years going they had to go to Cross to learn writing.
ASHFORD - In Ashford there was a hedge-school. Peggy Coalman was the teacher. The school was her dwelling house and situated on the road leading to Mahony's quay at Ashford. There were twelve house in the village at that time. There was also a village close by called Deerpark.

gone down the town and to go down and do) go down and drive it up. He went down the street and all the people were out on the doors watching the big man.
He ran after the sheep and taking (holt) hold of it with his hand he threw it up on his shoulder and walked up the street, with one hand in his pocket, and the other having hold of the sheep, and carried it up to the rest of the sheep. He went to Ashford the next Sunday and there was a congregation of people there. There was no man there like himself, and he said that there wasnt a man in Ashford except himself and another man who was Benjoe Reidy. They all appeared like school boys to him. Another day Ben Reidy walked from Ashford to Cork which is a distance of eight miles and he walked back home the following day. There is a strong man living beside [?] me. His name is Jim Sheaham. One Sunday we were at O Glenquin Castle and he [?] lifted a big stone about six hundred weight. There did a horse

Hurling and football matches.
There were several matches played locally in olden times.There was one famous game player in Meelin in olden times. The teams that played were the Ashford team and the Meelin team. There were about twenty men on each side twenty on the Ashford side and twenty on the Meelin side.
The teams were picked, the best foot -ballers were picked to play on both sides. The matched was played in Meelin in the townland of Knockduff. It was parish games. The Meelin team won several scores over the Ashford team, and the Meelin team was victorious. The Meelin boys won fame over many , on them days.
The players were always dressed in short pances and ganseys. The ball was of rubber round in shape and as big as a basin. There were goal posts used. They used be put here and there in the field. There were many games played in recent years. They were played in Meelin between Newmarket and Meelin,

I did not hear of any story connected with the Penal Times locally. The Mass Rock of Ashford is still pointed out to us, where Mass was celebrated during the Penal Times. This Rock is known as "Poll na Righle". During the Mass there were a number of men at the top of Ashford hill watching lest the priest hunters or soldiers might come. Once, while the Priest was celebrating Mass, they saw at a distance a crowd coming towards them. The priest ran and took refuge at Clais an Aifrinn in the district of Monagea, while the others ran and took refuge around the district.When the English government ruled Ireland they treated the Irish badly and enacted The Penal Laws to do away with the Catholic Church. The priests travelled secretly in all sorts of disguise, even as beggar men, and travelling musicians. The Irish were deprived of all rights and all Catholics having property value under two pounds, the English Government would take their property.

There is an old graveyard in Killeedy. There is a ruin of a convent in it in which Saint Ita lived. It is about two miles from Ashford. It is square. It is full now and the people must get a new one. It is in the Con Magners field. There is an old ruin of a castle not far away from it. There is only one piece of a wall standing now. There are about 160 yards of a wall all round it. In 405 it was build. There was a church and a convent built there. There is an old grave in the parish Ashford in the townland of Gore na Cloca in the Barony Glenquin in the County of Limerick. It belonged to a protestant minister. One day a man cut the hay out of the graveyard, and in the Winter he gave the hay to calves and all the calves died after the hay. There is a story connected with the cattle of Killeedy, and it is said when the end of the world will come that a woman dressed in white will come out and walk around the castle, and that the castle will fall down on her and kill her

and finally arrived in Kileedy.She taught for some time and it is said that a thorn stuck in her foot. She picked out the thorn and stuck it in the ground. It grew to be a tree and all its thorns are growing downwards. After some years she went to Ardagh and was mocked there. She then cursed them and said that " every Monday morning there would be a man dead in Ardagh parish ". She left then but the people begged her take the curse off them. She did so but put it on the birds and from that day to this a thrush is found dead at the right hand side of the church gate.She then went to Ashford and was mocked there also and she said " As long as Ashford will be there, there will be a blackguard in it.

In Ballamurne[?] (Parish of ) there is a very old house. An old woman named Byrne lived in it. There are two secret rooms in the house one behind a Grandfathers Clock, the other behind a chimney. A priest was kept in hiding here during the Penal Times. His vestments can be seen to this day. He was two years in hiding.When the parishes of Ashford and Wicklow were one parish, a priest named Father O Toole was parish priest. He lived in Ashford, but came and said Mass in the Old Abbey in Wicklow. A cottage was built for him in the Abbey grounds. One day the owners of the inn (now Hunter's Hotel) at newrath overheard the soldiers planning to attack and kill the priest. They informed him and he escaped

There are three holy wells in Ashford parish, namely, Trinity Well, Saint John's Well and Saint Brigid's Well. Trinity Well is the best known of the three, and it is nearer to the main road than any of the others. The townland between Ashford and Ballyduff is called Trinity, and in one of its fields, there is a holy well known as "Trinity Well". People from far and near visit this well on Trinity Sunday. When people have sores, cuts or wounds they bathe their sores with a piece of a rag which they dip in the water. Then they kneel down and say some prayers. They tie the piece of rag on the tree which grows over the well.
A "pattern" is held at Trinity well every Trinity Sunday. The people visit the well first. Then they go out on the road and dance and sing and play music. The younger people take part in the dancing, while the old people sit down and enjoy themselves looking at the performers. We never heard of any saint mentioned in connection with this well. It must be in honour of the Blessed Trinity. Every disease especially warts, can be cured by the water from

My father told me a story about the names of fields in William Dellee's farm.It is the parish of Ashford, Newcastle west, in the barony of Glenquin and in the County Limerick. The name of this field is the high field and the name was given to that because is it much higher than the others and it is a very big field also. There is another field in the farm and it's

are some families who use certain Graveyards although they may be farther away than the Parish Graveyard. They do that because they like to be buried with their ancestors. In this Graveyard there is one beautiful Monument erected to the memory of Terence O'Connor of Ashford, and to my opinion it is the nicest Monument in the Churchyard of Killeedy.

About fifty years ago there were boys going to school to Ashford Co. Limerick from Kileedy and Glenquin. When roll time came the schoolmaster called the rolls. When the master called a boy named Jim Cussen his brother Robert

There is a well in Ashford called "Trinity Well" It is believed some years ago there was a man and he had crutches. He went to the well some years ago, and he was cured.

this well. Invalids drink water form this well and they bathe their sores with the water. The only relics that are left are the rag and sometimes a medal. The tree that grows over this well is an elder tree.
Saint John's well is in Bolinass. It is situated in a field on a farm owned by Mr.Thomas Pearse of Bolinass. This well is in the third field from the road. Father John Hickey blessed this well, when he was a curate in Ashford, about thirty years ago. There is a big white flagstone at the side of this well, where the priest knelt when he was performing the ceremony. Before the well was blessed it used to run dry nearly every summer, but since it has been blessed it was never known to go dry. Cows drink water from a stream which flows from this well. The people use the water out of the well for cooking purposes. Father John Hickey told the people to call this well after him, so, that is why it is called, "Saint John's Well".
Saint Brigid's Well is in a district called Tubber, it is about half a mile from Ashford. There is very little known about this well, and we have no idea how it got its name. Cows never drink from this well.

(This story is true.)This story is given in "Jerry's" own words:-My Father had a sister married back behind Ashford, and he often went to visit her. This day he went to see her, and 'twas very dark before he got to Ashford. Twas getting late, and the night was dark so he said to himself that he would try and get a lodging in some house for the night. He didn't see any house, so he walked on until he met a man walking against him. He asked the man if there was any house near him where he could get lodgings. The man pointed to a light a good bit away and he told my father he could get lodgings there.My father walked on until he came to the house. He knocked and a woman let him in. He wasn't long inside until he saw, in through the door of the room, a dead man on a bed and four candles lighting around him. My father was afraid after this and he thought it very quare that the man should be dead and no one there only the woman.After a while, at any rate, the woman asked him to go to the well for a bucket of water, but my father wouldn't go. He told her he didn't know where the well was and maybe this the way that he would be drowned if he went for it.After a while, another man came in, and he went for the water and they made tay and drank whisky and said the rosary for the dead man. My father went into the room where the corpse was then, and the woman of the house and the other man stayed outside and they talking to one another as hard as

his leg in an accident before death. When asked who he was she would not tell him, but she turned over to one of the men and said "there is his coat you are wearing" which was his own brother's coat. She then told the man that had hold of her hand to reach his hat outside the door which he did and there was a piece of freshly cooked meat droped into it. Sh told him to eat it, that it would do him no harm, he ate it. Biddy departed for Ashford the next night on a similar errand and the next night the man that Biddy said would die died.

there was only a few more miles to travel. On she came, and passed through where the present village of Ashford, now stands with Sliabh-Lucra at its back, but the third Light did not yet appear. She walked on a direction and here to her delight the third light appeared. here was to be her Convent and future home. But what authority had she to build in this district a stranger whom no one knew. When she asked the Chieftain for a piece of Land. Where on she might build at once her granted it to her, and not only that, he never assisted her in building her Convent - this was about 492 A.D. Then came the girls of the surrounding country each eager to join the Blessed band and the fame of Killeedy spread far and wide

John Brennan of Lisnafully was a famous dancer in his locality. He taught dance in Broadford, Feonagh, Killmeedy, Tullylease, Knocktoosh and in his own house. He won prizes at a competition in Newcastle and Ashford, where he stepped danced on a platform and was loudly cheered by a large crowd, who were present. He was sometimes paid quarterly and sometimes weekly. He was also a flute-player and fiddle player. He taught jigs, reels, waltzes and other different kinds of dances. Everywhere the taught dance, he did his best to please them, and kept good order in all his classes.

travelled never tiring and never despairing and the second light appeared to her on the hills dividing Limerick from Cork at a place called Mount Plummer. Here she was instructed that her journey was now almost complete, as there were only a few more miles to travel. On she came and passed through where the present village of Ashford now stands with Sliabh Luacra as its back, but the third light did not yet appear. She walked on a further two miles in a Westerly direction and here to her delight the third light appeared - here was to be her Convent and future home. But what authority had she to build in this district, a stranger whom no one knew, still when she asked the Chieftain of the district for a piece of land whereon she might build he at once granted it to her, and not only that but he even assisted her in building her Convent this was about 492 A.D. Then came the girls of the surrounding country each eager to join the blessed band, and the fame of Killeedy spread far and wide. Under the