John Murphy ag Léamh

John Murphy ag Léamh

John Murphy or Seán Ó Murchú is a native Irish speaker from the parish of Annaghdown. In Addergoole village where he was raised there were many people who spoke mainly Irish, including his mother and uncle, and his father also learned to speak Irish. The Irish on this recording is the version of the language spoken in this area. John’s writing is in the old Irish script, an Cló Gaelach, and his spelling is the pre-standardised form. The notes were written by John in the late 1970s or early 1980s. This video was recorded on 22 July and 8 August 2022. Included below is an account ‘Séasúir na Nodlag le Linn mo Oige-se’ (the Christmas season in my youth), written by John in the old style Cló Gaelach script.

The Sustainability Loan Fund on the Castlehacket Estate

The Sustainability Loan Fund on the Castlehacket Estate

Between 1720 and 1925, many local loan associations operated throughout Ireland, offering small loans to the ‘industrious poor’, for purposes such as buying grain, farm animals, or machinery. A scheme on the Kirwan estate at Castlehacket operated from the 1830s to the 1850s, which resulted in an excellent set of surviving records. A return of the state of the scheme in December 1853 is particularly interesting. It offers an insight into local conditions before and during the Famine, and records several inhabitants of the townlands of Bunatober, Cahermorris, Cluidrevagh, and Biggera, who died or emigrated during this period, as well as recording the progress of each person who took out a loan.

Famine Times in Annaghdown

Famine Times in Annaghdown

The Great Famine of 1845-1850 was a devastating calamity in the history of Ireland. It is believed that approximately a million people died from disease and starvation and another million of our people emigrated. There are several factors which contributed to the Great Famine. Irish living standards on the eve of the famine were very poor. The majority of the people had become tenants on their own lands. At the top of the scale were the estate owners followed by tenants farmers – at the bottom of the scale were the cottiers to whom the poorest parts of the estate were rented. They tried to eke out a living on land that was of poor quality and often had holdings of less than five acres.

Corrandrum Camogie Team

Corrandrum Camogie Team

In the early twenties the playing fields of Galway gradually returned to normality after the inactivity associated with the militant years of the fight for freedom. This period was marked in particular by the resurgence of camogie. At the time the game in Galway had no worthwhile foothold in organised competition. True, it had been played in a haphazard manner in some areas and in some schools. An awareness of the necessity to tackle this situation began to develop in different parts of the county. Supporters were invited to meet and discuss tha position and it was decided to form a County Board. Sen. O’Duffy, the National Organiser, was invited to a meeting in Galway, at which a County Board was formed under the chairmanship of the late Mr. O’Callaghan, Principal of the Technical School Galway. Corrandrum were one of eight teams to affiliate.

Corrandrum National School

Corrandrum National School

Corrandrum, or Cor an Droma in Irish, means ‘the bend of the ridge’, with ‘the stone wall of the ridge’ suggested as an alternative by the Irish Placenames Commission. In 1904, £237 was granted for the building of Corrandrum National School on an expenditure of £355 10s. The schoolhouse was to be built according to Plan No. 2, to accommodate a maximum attendance of 80 pupils. The first day of registration led to bigger numbers than this. The school was originally built on land donated by John Burke and his family, Corrandrum, in the early 1900s, and was opened to pupils in April 1907. It was a new school in the area – previously the children of the area attended Bawnmore, Corrandulla, Lackagh or Corofin schools.

How Far Back Can We Go?

How Far Back Can We Go?

Was Annaghdown parish populated during the time of Brian Boru and if so did the inhabitants ever hear of the great king? Well we know that St Brendan and St Briga with their communities lived in Annaghdown long before the times of Brian the brave. Dare we enquire how far back in time we can go regarding human habitation in this parish? We hit the jackpot way back in 1934 though few people knew about the discovery then, and perhaps not many know about it today. Remain in ignorance no longer for this is how it happened. At that time the local farmers were forced to try a variety of means available to them to eke out a living on their small holdings of land – not only by raising stock but by such enterprises as cultivating sugar beet or by selling turf, cabbages or potatoes. During the month of November 1934 potatoes were selling at 4d. per stone, butter at 1 shilling a lb., eggs at 2s. 6d. a score, hay at 25 shillings a cwt. while two year old heifers and bullocks would realise 46 each.

The Galway Peace Resolution of 1920

The Galway Peace Resolution of 1920

One hundred years ago at the end close of 1920, tensions were high across Ireland. November was a bloody month, with British Crown Forces intensifying their campaign of terror. The murder of Eileen Quinn from Kiltartan near Gort, a pregnant mother of four children, followed by the abduction and murder of Fr. Michael Griffin in Galway shocked the world. This was followed by `Bloody Sunday’ in which twenty individuals identified as British agents by Michael Collins and his comrades were targeted and fifteen killed. In revenge for these deaths, Auxiliaries and Black and Tans killed at least fourteen and injured dozens in and around Croke Park that afternoon. At the same time, two high-ranking IRA officers, Dick McKee and Peadar Clancy, as well as Clareman Conor Clune were being tortured by Auxiliaries in Dublin Castle. They had been picked up the night before having been betrayed by an informer. Their bodies were found the next day battered, bayoneted and shot to death. It was a big blow to the IRA, but morale was boosted a week later when at Kilmichael, Co. Cork, the 3rd West Cork Brigade ambushed an Auxiliary convoy, killing seventeen. On 29 November, possibly the most gruesome act of the conflict occurred with the abductions and brutal murders of the Loughnane brothers of Shanaglish near Gort by the Auxiliary Division of the RIC.

The Franciscan Brothers in Corrandulla

The Franciscan Brothers in Corrandulla

The building was originally known as Annaghdown Monastery in the Post Office district of Drumgriffin. The first group of Brothers to come in 1851 comprised of four members. They were led by Br. Elias Silke, a renowned teacher of Irish and History. Among those he taught at Errew Monastery, Castlebar was Canon Ulick Bourke who later became a leading professor of Irish at Maynooth and who left him a signed copy of his famous “The College Irish Grammar” as a token of appreciation for his former teacher of Irish. Br. Francis Kelly was a native of Kilkerrin, Ballinasloe. Another member of the founding group Br. John Concannon travelled to New York later where he joined the Franciscan Brothers in Brooklyn. Br. Clement Halloran was the fourth member of the original group. On their arrival from Errew Monastery they were granted a three acre site by Francis Blake of Cregg Castle, on which they were directed to erect a monastery and school. According to a written account,the site comprised of nearly three acres of bare, rocky land”. Immediately on their arrival, the Brothers began to teach “in a small thatched house across from the Chapel”. Shortly afterwards they purchased a farm from John Butler, Esq. of Tonagarraun, and built a temporary dwelling house there while they were completing their monastery. This was probably a small building where the local supermarket now stands.

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