At the end of my January article I said I
would be telling the story of a Ladywood family whose County Clare ancestor,
William Mulready, became a respected artist and the creator of the early postal
envelope for Royal Mail. Unfortunately I will have to keep readers waiting a
little longer for that one, as there has been a delay in contacting an elderly
relative of the family who lives in Kent, this gentleman has studied the story
in great depth and I hope to speak to him on the telephone shortly. So please watch
this space for what I am certain will be a fascinating tale.
In the meantime, I must thank a lady who
lives in Wexford named Margaret Gilbert who has sent me a number of fascinating
articles about local history from her local area around Gorey. When Margaret
first contacted me she asked me to either phone her or send her my address as she
stated “I don’t do computers”. When we failed to get through to each other on
the telephone, Margaret subsequently sent me a number of emails many with
attachments and scanned documents. So well done to Margaret for getting to
grips with technology in such a short space of time!
In 1998 Margaret worked with a group of other
local people with an interest in Irish history and folklore who named
themselves the EXPLORE Group. The group published a booklet which contained a
compilation of extracts from the Department of Irish Folklore at University
College Dublin. Included are stories collected at the three National Schools close
to Gorey, namely Craanford, Hollyfort and Monaseed.
The ‘Schools Collection’ was a countrywide
exercise carried out in the 1930s under the direction of the Department of
Education and involved teachers and pupils gathering interesting stories from people
in their communities.
Two of the extracts that Margaret kindly sent
me contain memories of Gorey residents of the 30s, recalling the Land War and
the scene of an attempted eviction:
The Land War
About twenty years ago the farmers were in a
very bad way. They were very poor and the farm produce was very low in price.
They had to pay a very large rent to the landlord, and if they did not pay it
they were evicted, that is they were put out of their house while the landlords
were squandering their money in foreign countries.
A great number of the people went to the
Workhouse where the majority of them ended their lives as paupers. Others obtained
enough money from their friends to go to American and never returned.
At last the state of affairs was so bad that
the people saw that they could stand it no longer and they formed a league
called the Land League. This was to fight the landlords and to have fair rent
fixed. In those times the farmer and his family had to live very poorly.
Writer – Nancy Mulligan
Informant – Mr Fox (Craam, Gorey) aged 53
An Eviction
About fifty years ago, a man named John
Mellon lived in Coolthawn, which was a mile from Monaseed school. His son and
daughter-in-law lived with him also.
He was very poor and he was unable to pay the
rent. The twelve policemen under an Inspector came to evict them. When they
came to the house the door was bolted, the windows were barred and the Mellons
refused to go out. The police then bored a hole with a crowbar in the end wall.
Then the Mellons threw boiling water out through the hole and also an iron bar.
The police once took the bar and the people made them give it back. The priest
got very angry with the police and he advised the Inspector to withdraw his men
lest there should be bloodshed.
So he withdrew his men and the Mellons were
never put out of their house because the Land War ended soon afterwards.
Writer – K McDonald
Informant – Johnny Redmond (Craam, Gorey) aged
56
The second of the two interviews, The
Eviction, perhaps indicates the strength of feeling that must have been
mounting amongst local people around the time of the Land War. Having turned up
in numbers, the police were clearly feeling under pressure when, having successfully
disarmed the Mellon family of their iron bar, the crowd made them give it back
through the hole in the wall. One has the strongest feeling that the priest did
everyone a favour by wading in when he did!
I would like to thank Margaret Gilbert once
again for sharing these original memories from Gorey residents living in the
1930s.
