1. Cunningham of Bruff walked from Bruff to Dublin in 4 days a distance of 118 miles2. Tom O'Regan of Bulgaden walked recently from Limk. city to his own home, a distance of 20 mls. He had missed the bus3 William Bennett of Lough Gur threw the hammer 15 ft. high.4. Mr. J.Ryan of New Castle West walked in one day from New Castle to Elbon a distance of 33 mls. 5. A Cronin man from Ballinacoloo Bulgaden lifted with his teeth, a tankard containing 20 gallons of milk at Bulgaden Creamery. He tried a cord or rope round the handles of the tankerd and lifted it, by catching the rope between his teeth, from the car to the platform where the Manager takes the milk6. William Hennessy of Ballina, Bulgaden, was a great mower. He started mowing at six in the morning and at six in the evening had cut from six to seven acres with a scythe.

shot Doctor Clery, a famous fenian and a soldier. Pat Hasset of Bulgaden was badly wounded at the attack also. He rushed down Orr St., and into the house of Kit Wheelan called (Kit the soldier) because her husband was a soldier in the British Army. There he was anointed and soon after died; the Military discovering his whereabouts ordered his body to be buried at once. But no one would give his name to the authorities. If they did the little public house which they owned in Bulgaden (now belonging to Mr Meade) would be taken from them, and so over his grave was written an inscription: - "Here lies one who loved his his country well:- etc. An old blue coat torn from Hasset in his struggle at the Barracks was given to

spans the Lubac, and leads from Kilmallock from towards this parish of Bulgaden) pierced with several gun-shot wounds; but no one could recognize who he was or from whence he came. He was respectably dressed and had a gentlemanly appearance. His identity has ever remained a mystery.
One local solution of his identity was that he was one Paddy Hassett only brother to late Mr. Tom Meade of Bulgaden Cross who went to "the rising" and never returned whose name does not appear on the stone cross in Kilmallock. Old Fenians denied this, and their children maintain that Paddy Hassett came half-way home suffering from a broken skull, died by "quarry-hill"(1/2 ) from Kilmallock) is buried in our local graveyard Kilmartin.
Another solution is this. Old natives assert that the man wore a (dress) coat inside, which was unusual in this district, but which was worn in the Co. Clare by farmers, that is a "bawneen". That showed he was not a native of the surroundings here. Over 20 yrs ago in the Co. Clare I heard an old

The maids of Bulgaden
(1)
When down the slope of fortunes which
I slided slowly to the base,
Of home and friends I then took leave,
To find protem another place;
I went to Drom and Charleville,
But with them stopped not long therein,
Yet soon I found good pay and place,
Among the maids of Bulgaden.
(2)
The place I liked, but better far,
The people there all brave and true,
Devoted to their country's cause,
As were the men of Eighty-two;
The women on the Limerick walls
Who fought when Sarsfield led his men,
No braver were, than are to-day,
The lovely maids of Bulgaden.
(3)
Sweet Bulgaden to thee, farewell,
May peace and pleasure long be thine;
Through every scene may thou be blest,
And Saxon swords ne'er o'er thee shine,

BULGADEN is separated from Kilmallock by a stream which in olden days was crossed by stepping stones, when the people walked to town. Hence its name.The oldest residents always call it Bulog-a-Dín for it is surrounded by hills on the south and on the N.W. (?) by woods and trees - hence its meaning - the place of shelter.Bulgaden is in the parish of Kilbreedy (old Church). In the barony of Coshlea (beside the Galtees It is part of the "Golden Vein" to which St. Patrick gave his 'seven blessings'.The townlands forming the parish are:-1. Fanstown.
2. Gibbinstown.
3. Stephenstown.
4. Gormanstown.
5. Balline.
6. Ballycullane.
7. Bonagh.
8. Ballinscaula
9. Bulgaden.The river Maigue with its tributaries drain the East of the County. It rises in the Cork-Limerick border

John Clery of Gibbinstown, Bulgaden mowed an Irish acre and three quarters (134 I.acres) from 8 o'clock in the morning to six in the evening.Michael O'Brien, Ballycullane, Bulgaden.Patrick Webb of Water St. Kimallock walked to Limerick (20 mls) and back in twelve hours. He started to walk at 'cow-time' in the morning and was home when they were going to the cows in the evening.Eugene Corkery of Martinstown walked to the races at Banogue and back again.The Doctor in Kilmallock (deceased) rode to Cork (40 mls) and back on a bicycle with solid tyres. He had only the use of one hand riding as the other was tied up. He went in the morning and returned on the same day - D.r. P.J.Clery, Kilmallock

There is a haunted house not far from Bulgaden. One night a man was asked to sleep in it and he agreed to do so. Just as he had composed himself to sleep he saw four men coming downstairs with a coffin. They put the coffin down by the fireside and lifted a man out of it. Then they put him into the coffin again and buried him at the fireplace. The man was afraid to stir and when he found himself alone again, he ran home.

At Ballycullane Cross, Bulgaden, there grows a hawthorn tree which bears, instead of white thorn during May, beautiful rich red-thorn flowers. An old resident told me a Bishop was hung there in penal times, and that no matter what colour the white-thorn trees round it are, it will always be red, when in full bloom.

The morning of the '67 Rising was a terrible one in Kilmallock when the Fenians attacked the Barracks there. The Mill (the Creamery of to-day) which belonged to a man named Creed was also the scene of a skirmish. Weldon, the land agent of Ashill, went into the Mill - he was a "Crack" - shot - and helped the Police to shoot the Boys. He had his wife with him and Mr. Creed ordered him to leave his house instantly. He did and they say on his way to the Barracks he and his wife had to cross a stream which was called "Poll an t-Sagairt" as a priest was supposed to have been drowned there. They said 'twas Weldon shot Doctor Cleary, the famous Fenian and soldier, that day.That day also Pat Hassett of Bulgaden was badly wounded at the Barrack attack. He rushed down our St.. and into the house of Kit Whelan (called Kit, the Soldier) as her husband was a soldier in The British Army. There he was anointed soon after died and the Military discovered his whereabouts, ordered the body to be buried at once. But no one would give his name to the authorities. If they did the little Public-house which the Hassett's owned in Bulgaden (now belonging to Mr. Meade) would be taken from them. And so, over his grave was an inscription "The Unknown Fenian" and the verse:
"Here his one who loved his country well" An old blue serge coat torn off Hasselt was afterwards

During the time of the Whiteboys a group of them were riding on by Kilbreedy which is situated a bit east of Kilmallock. At a place in the road near Kilbreedy there was a sally tree growing near a stile, and here they met Father Mulqueen of Bulgaden. It was very dark but he recognized them and advised them to give over their life of plunder and reprisals. One of the group suddenly drew his gun and fired point blank at the priest killing him instantly. At once the sally tree split with a great crack from top to bottom, and away went the priest's horse leaving the dead priest behind him. The priests murderer fired at the run-a-way horse but missed him. A second Whiteboy then levelled his gun at the murderer but before he could fire the murderer jerked the gun upwards - the bullet passing off harmlessly. This was the end of this band of Whiteboys. The priest's horse

There were two men drawing gravel for the building of a new house near Bulgaden. On their return journey with the empty cars two old women came down along a boreen with a firkin of butter. "Any chance you'll carry this a bit of the road for us" says they to one of the carmne. "RIghto" says the man "throw it up." They did so and he whipped on the horse but the horse refused to move. "Begorr" said the carman isn't it the devil that he won't pull it. This statement somehow made the old women confess the truth in spite of themselves "Yes" said they, i"t is the devil that's in the firkin surely, so we must take it down."

He impounded numerous cattle and people were continually moving their stock to outwit him. A certain James Slattery - mounted on a gray horse gave word of his coming always. Lyod had a fine lot of "land grabbers" & "emergency men". People going to Bulgaden Mass on New Years Day saw an evicted family sheltering from fierce snow under a bed. Clifford Lyod arrested the following noted Landleaguers :- Fr. Sheehy 1st priest arrested in the Land Wars, Henry Gilberton P.D. Clery, James Joyce, Mike Mc. Carty etc. Lyod went to the fair of Bruff in a carriage surrounded by police and military once, and arrested 43 men. One of the arrested men was placed on the dicky between two soldiers. Going through Bruff he threw one of the soldiers down on crown of his head and injured him. Clifford Lyod was small in stature and had a lame step.

About a mile outside Kilmallock on the Bulgaden road there is a certain part of the road called the black dog. The old people used to say that if you pass that part of the road at a certain hour of the night you will meet a big black dog and you would be pulled off your cart or bicycle and beaten by some unseen person. It happened some years ago to a man going to the fair of Charleville. Later on another man when travelling the same part of the road on meeting the big the black dog had to turn back again. It is still called the black dog.

At the time of the Penal Laws a man named Ryan followed a hunt with the landlords and tyrants of East Limerick. Ryan was a poor Catholic and the poor people were delighted whenever he outwitted the tyrants. One day Ryan was hunting when the fox went into a landlord's estate near Bulgaden. The huntsmen went in at the big entrance gate but when Ryan went to go in he was told that no papist would be admitted, so wheeled his horse around and turned for home. A few hundred yards away he met an old man with a load of stones in a car. "Stand your car there " says Ryan. The old man did so and Ryan leaped his horse up on the car and right in over the demesne wall. He pressed forward and succeeed in getting the foxe's tail. Another say Ryan was in a hunt and the fox crossed a small bog alongside a lake. The landlords pulled up but Ryan pressed on and swum his his horse across the lake. He

directed a powerful stroke in his direction. It struck the bully fair on the chest and levelled him. Immediately a great cheer went up because Fitzgerald's crowd had won. The fairies vanished leaving Fitz alone with the man who stopped him. He was shown out and the stranger then said "I'm the son of a poor woman living in your district and a tailor by trade. Well if you come here on a a few nights time with my lap-board and thimble I'll be free from the fairies who now have me in their power." Finishing up the tailor said "my mother Mrs.? will show you the house where these implements are." The man reached his own house which was situated between Bulgaden and Kilmallock. He told the mother all about it and managed to procure the lap board and thimble. On the night fixed Fitz went to meet the tailor - somewhere west of Mitchelstown the field was situated. When he reached the spot the tailor whistled from inside the ditch and said "Give me

Our Lady's Well in the townland of Fanstown is about one field in from the road. It was formerly a place of pilgrimage and on the 15th August the 'pattern' was kept. The well is on a little hill and a stream flows nearby. It was much frequented in days gone by, but has ceased to be a place of devotion since Nov. 1819 for on that month the Parish Priest of Bulgaden and Ballinvana (of which parish Fanstown is a townland) was shot off his horse and a tree which grew beside the well split in two as if nature was revolting at the awful deed.Fr. Mulqueen was the murdered priest, and his successor forbade at that time any further 'patterns' at that well, because the split tree would recall the death of his predecessor and the culprits were locals. It spoken now in hushed tones. The last pattern was held in August 1819 (Lady Day)

With the forming of the Fenian movement the young men of Ballylanders and Anglesborough threw themselves into the movement heart and soul. The Rising came and they prepared to strike a blow for their freedom if possible. Kilmallock was their objective. There was a wedding in Ballylanders that day. Billy Walsh's sister was married to one Moloney. During the night the boys stole the horses from the wedding house to take them to Kilmallock. When they reached Ballylanders only Wm O Neill a Painter, Will Lahive a tailor, and Ml Dalton a School Teacher, volunteered to go with them. They persuaded Dalton to stay at home owing to his position. Billy Lundon a personal friend & cousin of Dalton's acted a brave man in Kilmallock that day. He brought away the dead or dying Mr Cleary of Bulgaden who was shot beside him.
During the next few decades we had the Coercion Act, the Land War, No Rent Manifesto. There is a large, tall, slated house adjacent to O Liver's Mill at Kilfinane. In this house Townsend, Lord Massey's Agent, lived surrounded by police and military.
Evictions were the order of the day at

St. Patrick's Well is situated quite near the school at the rear of Bulgaden Hall. It is supposed to have changed its site long ago on account of some person washing in the water of the well.It was always frequented by people suffering from colds, coughs or chills.The person affected should come, on three successive mornings and drink of the water and pray at his own discretion. On the third morning he was cured.It is lined with bricks supposed to be made from local clay. It was profaned on one occasion and this is how the story is told.-One Miss Devane, a Protestant, used to 'patronise' this school and take the teachers and children for an annual picnic. Once they went to the wood where the blessed well is, and every time Miss Devane partook of its waters, she threw in a florin to the bottom of the well. No one knew what she meant by this, but probably it was to pay for the drink and fearing her drinking the water would be looked on as an act of devotion.Later on, a man who lived near and who was very fond of drink, [?] the well to get the money. He said he found none, but that very evening he died suddenly coming out of a local publichouse where he had been drinking: His death was attributed locally to his profane action.

The following is told by Mick Fogarty - 70 yrs old storyteller.
1. An old woman named Biddy Connors (who went about nursing people) lived in a field known as the seven acres. One night a man called to her house and asked her to go to Balgaden with him and that he had a horse and saddle at the door. She went and later found herself at Bulgaden Moat. He told her not to look at anybody going in. After attending a woman who needed her, inside the moat, the woman told her not to wipe her eyes on her way out.
Biddy disobeyed and on wiping her eyes she recognised a great many people in the hall. She was brought home as she went, on horseback. When she got off the horse at her own door, the man told her to go in home and not to look after him. Biddy gave a quick look when going in her own door and saw the man throwing a plough into a neighbour's garden. It was on the neighbour's plough she had been riding.
(Every child in the Senior Division knows this story.)
2. Old Michael OConnell of Gormanstown was coming home from hospital very late one night. At the Morning Star bridge four men were standing upright bearing a coffin on their shoulders. He bade them 'good-night' but got no answer. (Told by grandchild).

CROCHa field in Tom Kelly's farm in Ballgibba (?)MÉADA - a field in P. Coll's of Maidstown
GORTPISÉAN - is situated in Moloneys farm in Clogher
SCEACH-an-TÚRportion of Dineen's farm, South Clogher, where flax was bleached formerly
CARTHÚIN - portion of Troy's farm in BallmuddaughLISÍNÍ - also in Troys
LONG MAN'S GRAVEis the name of a field near Bulgaden
CLUANLÓis a field near KnocksounaCLÚAN LÍNis a field in Joe Lynches farm Tankardstown