Local Walkers: -
Mrs. McCarty, Doon, Ballybunion.
Patrick Buckley Beale.Swimmers: -
Tommy O'Connor, Ballybunion.
BatMurphy, Doon, Ballybunion.
Johnny Oats a police man in ancient times in Ballybunion.Dancers: -
Jerry Molyneaux, Ballydonoghue.
Neddy Walshe, Tullamore, Listowel.
Daniel Daly, Bromore, Ballybunion.Musicians: -
Jerry Breen, Ballybunion.
Daniel Daly, Bromore, Ballybunion.
Thomas Hanrahan, Tullamore, Ballybunion.

I am going to describe the foundress of Ballybunion Convent, Chapel and the house in which Doctor Hannon now resides or Ballybunion House. This lady was the second wife of a tea planter. She brought the remains of her husband who died in Dublin and also the remains of his first wife and of the latter's daughter who were buried in Glasnevin, to Lislaughton Abbey, Ballylongford and from there to Killakenny, Ballybunion, where they lie at present beside her own remains in a stone tomb.
The convent was built at first as a residence by

Some time ago there was a small hut at high water mark, in the Ballybunion strand occupied by a family named "Bo Buide". Old Michael, the head of the family would run to Listowel from Ballybunion for a wager. He would do it in an hour and a half and return almost out of breath. On a race day the natives of Ballybunion would place a ladder across the street, and Michael and his son, Patrick, would leap over the ladder for a wager. One would fall over the other and there would be great fun. The natives would

The roads around here go by different names = The Listowel road leading from Ballybunion to Listowel. A part of this road is called a new line. The long road leads from the Barracks up as far as Dr. Hannon's and there it goes over near the cliff where it meets the Doon Road going north to Doon Chapel and the Cliff road going down along the cliff. The Sandhill Road begins at Ballybunion and goes down as far as the graveyard. The Moohane Road leads from Ahafona to Gun's Cross. From Ahafona to Ballyeigh is Barrack's Road. The Strand road from Ballybunion down in to the strand. The Lahasrough Road branches off the Barrow Road and goes up as far as Tullamore. Common's Road starts at Barna Bridge and goes up as far as the townland of Commons. The Horse Road is an old by-road which is used only for horses carrying loads. The Lahardane road goes through the townland of Lahardane.

Tim Enright of Beal Ballybunion used thatch in Ballybunion and took prizes. He used thatch with reed and straw and bent and gilcock and scollops.

The nearest Castles to me are Lick Castle, Beale Castle, and Ballybunion Castle. There are a lot of other ruins along the bank of the Shannon but these three are the nearest to me. There is an old ruin opposite this school and it is said that there was mass said there in days gone by but it was burned down. The castles round here were important strongholds in ancient times but there is very little of them to be seen at present. Those cases belonged to O'Connor Kerry lived in Beale Castle and it is said that a man named Stack was invited to the Castle and that a quarrel arose and he was murdered. O'Connors wife was a sister to Dermot Mór O'Brien Prince of Thomond, and it is said that he never spoke to her after the sad event in Beale. All that can be seen of Ballybunion Castle is a wall standing abut twenty feet high. Those castles were built in Norman times and Ballybunion Castle was destroyed in 1582. rather than let it fall into the hands of the English. This was about the time of the downfall of the Geraldines
Lick 1382 to 1582

There are four forges in this parish. There is one in Bromore, it is situated on the side of the road. There is one in Doon it is situated on the side of the road about 1 1/2 mile from Ballybunion. There is one in Ballybunion it is situated off the side of the road. There is one in B? Ahafona it is situated on the road. The one in Bromore belongs to Michael Leahy, his father was a smith. The one in Doon is belonging to Edmond Leahy, his father was a smith. The one in Ballybunion belongs to John Vaughan, his father was a smith.The one in ? Ahafona is belonging to Jack Landers, his father was a smith. When the smiths are ironing wheels they make a big fire of turf near the forge. There is a pond of water near every forge for putting the wheels into it to cool them when they are ironed. Forge water is good for

Patrick Halpin, Doon, Ballybunion.
Patrick Higgins, Doon, Ballybunion.
James Carrig, Doon, Ballybunion.
Each of those mowers, could cut an acre of hay in the day.

Bill Barret of Beal Ballybunion used make baskets out of the sedge that grew in the sandhills in Beal and he used make straw hats out of the sedge and the same man used make cradles for babies. He used make rad-cars for horses out of twigs and he used make gads for flails for threshing the corn.There was a good thatcher in Beal Ballybunion and his name was John Connor. He used thatch for many people in Ballybunion. The thatch used hold two or three years. He used thatch with straw and scollops and rushes. He used get prizes for thatching. Sometimes he would thatch with

houses in Ballybunion. It was the worst flood that occurred with a long time

In former times there was a lime kiln in the sandhills of ballybunion by old Tom Buckley, but when he died his sons did not carry on the business at all.

there one time and one evening she went out for wood for the fire. She went up to this cluster of trees and she broke a branch off the tree and as soon as she did an angle appeared to her. On that night the old people say you can see a figure dressed in white at this castle and a ghostly light there. There is no such thing as fairies now like long ago. People say that there is a fort below at the cross of the wood. Last winter Doctor OConnor saw nine women dressed in white. The people say that the person who lays to a branch of a tree of a fort in Kilmaine in the parish of Knockanure that they don't have luck. There are many forts on the road to Ballybunion. There is a fort in one of Jim Walshes meadows in the parish of Ballybunion.

(1) Some of us have recollections of old Tom Carty known as Moll Tom. He played for many years at the base of the old Castle in the Castle Green Ballybunion. Some of us heard him say one fine Autumn evening that he would play for us for many years to come but didn't happen because poor Tom died before next year. Visitors arrived when he was about to die. He requested that the pipes be put into his coffin with him and buried but any of his relations wouldn't hear of it and the piped were kept by a relations of his. But now later then the first night of Tom's peaceful rest in the grave-yard did the pipes conmence to play and continued on playing until the friends decided to have buried with him. This seems to be the final story of poor Tom Carty and his pipes in Ballybunion.

The Lartigue railway ran from Listowel to Ballybunion, a distance of about ten miles. It was erected in 1887. It was a single-lined railway and it was the only one of its kind in the world. The single line was carried on trestles about three feet high. The carriages were divided into two parts, one on each side of the trestles. There was a wheel in the middle of the carriage and it was ran on the line. The Lartigue Railway was owned by a Scottish Company. The men in charge of the construction were Mr. Gore and Mr. Frazer. On its trial run the Lartigue took a week to got to Ballybunion. The first man to drive the engine was Joe Hollyoake. The carriage had to be carefully balanced and when the train was going there was a swinging motion. This unique railway was dismantled in 1923 and the iron was sold as scrap.

Once upon a time there was a landlord called Supple. He had an estate of his own. One day two people called Galvin were going to Ballybunion on certain business. Two other people were also going. During this time a person would be considered very grand to possess a trap and a pony. Very few people possessed these two things. Every day in Listowel a trap could be hired. This day the galvins and the other party hired the trap. On the road that led to Ballybunion they met Supple himself mounted on a horse. He was overjoyed to see some of his tenants with a trap and at once he gave them the royal salute. One of the Galvins then felt sorry for having the trap. The next day Supple visited the Galvins and he increased

he pulled up his boat and and made it fast. They unloaded the boat and he turned around and made for home. The man that went from Limerick with him stayed there and the next morning there was no sign of Kilstoheen to be seen.
Martin Leahy, 4.6.1938
Bromore, Ballybunion.
Information from my uncle Edmond Leahy, Bromore, Ballybunion. He got this story from his grandfather.

33
In the wondrous caves, with their devious ways
You may wander far from the light of day,
Where is days of old the smuggler bold'
So securely hid his loot away.The sights there concealed by torch are revealed,
The fairy like scene in amazement you scan;
Arch, pillar and dome till thought is brought home,
To matron's own work how feeble is man.From the Hill of Gold the whole scene unfold,
Clare, Galway, Arran, and Killarney's boys;
The Shannon's shore, Cork, Limerick and More,
And Barques gliding o'er Atlantic waves.Sweet Ballybunion! I thus could sing on,
Still your beauty would be left untold;
For Nature's grandeur with lavish squander,
Has decked your brow with gems of gold.
* The Castle Green
J.H. Akins, Ballybunion
(Copyright)
Michael Lynch, Down, Ballybunion, July 15th 1938. Mr Atkins was a Presbyterian from the North of Ireland who settled down in Ballybunion about 1900 or 1901 taking photos and "snaps." A few years later he purchased a disused barrack at a small place where he started a shop. He was (about 1922) at an advanced age removed ill to tralee and thence to the North.

Mr. William O'Sullivan, the popular proprietor of the Hibernian Hotel, kindly sent for publication the poem below which was written by Mr. Upton D'Arcy of Newcastle West, who died many years ago at an advanced age.
The poem opens with references to the unrivalled beauty of Ballybunion, and then deals with the finding of the decomposed body of a shipwrecked sailor lashed to a plank and washed ashore at Doon Bay in the second half of the 18th century, probably about 1770. Ballybunion, at that time, consisted of a few houses only.
Mr. D'Arcy himself wrote the following introduction to the poem.
More than seventy years ago, when I was a boy, I was sauntering along the

Mrs. Young. She kept a number of orphan-girls there and took them to Doon Mass every Sunday.
She built the Church of St. John's in Ballybunion. She wished to call it St. John's always because her husband was John. Had Mrs. Young lived longer, she would have the Ballybunion Church fully finished and a spire erected. She left money for this in her will but her will was disputed. It was in the second house she built that she died and Doctor Hannon lives in it at present.
This lady came to build the Convent and Church at the time the Parish Priest of the place was a Rev. Father

Many years ago there was no train running from Ballybunion to Listowel until the year 1887. The company put down a railway line commonly known as the Lartique Railway. It was put down by a French man and they called it after him. They had the same patent out in France but it was scraped years ago.
This railway used take sand and all classes of goods and passengers to and from Listowel to Ballybunion. It was build on a single rail and carriages and goods waggons had to be ballanced equally at both sides. It was quite safe to travel in. It used to