A Story of Glory in Gorey

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.