Mountrath Historical Society

06/12/2021

“Kindred Spirits” - A monument commemorating 'the Choctaw' tribe who donated to the Great Irish Hunger victims In 1847, Two cultures from different parts of the world proved that empathy extends across borders. 💚

Despite undergoing their own hardship, after been dispossessed from their sacred lands and forcibly moved to Oklahoma “Trail of tears “ by the US government, the Choctaw tribe somehow gathered $170 to donate to the victims of the Great Irish Hunger in the 1840s – the equivalent of about €4,000 in today’s money ☘

📌 Midleton, County Cork
📸 🅸🅶 henry_o_brien_
We 💚🤍🧡 Ireland

25/11/2021

For the modern Irish abroad, many of us leave home with a list of qualifications as long as a country mile.

For our Father’s Fathers and Mother’s Mothers, this was not the case. The migration of Irish labourers from Ireland to Britain during the 20th century helped to restore and rebuild post war Britain.

The pay was poor and their treatment even poorer, ask any man who ever worked a day for John Mcalpine. They formed communities all across Britain, from Dagenham to Glasgow, some of which still live on today.

As the famous song goes...

I’ve worked 'till the sweat has had me bet
With Russian, Czech and Pole
On shuddering jams up in the hydro dams
Or underneath the Thames in a hole
I grafted hard and I've got me cards
And many a ganger's fist across me ears
If you pride your life, don't join by Christ
With McAlpine's fusiliers

We salute all those men and women who suffered in the search for a better life abroad.

🇮🇪💚☘️🇮🇪

📸3k1toh3

31/10/2021

An original Jack O'Lantern c.1850 on display at the Museum of Country Life in Mayo.

History of the Jack O'Lantern.

According to Irish folklore, a man called Stingy Jack was sentenced to roam the earth for eternity by the devil. A ghostly figure of the night, Jack walks with a burning coal inside of a carved out turnip to light his way. Irish folklore began to refer to this spooky figure as 'Jack of the Lantern' which then became 'Jack O’Lantern.'

We all know that Halloween started with the Irish festival of Samhain or 'All Hallows Eve', which then became known as Halloween. This was a time of year when the veil between this world and the next was at its weakest and spirits roamed the world. This legend is why people in Ireland began to make their own versions of Jack’s lantern by carving grotesque faces into turnips, potatoes and beets, placing them by their homes to frighten away Stingy Jack and other wandering evil spirits and travelers.

Irish migrants in the 19th century brought this legend across the Atlantic, where they discovered that Pumpkins were easier to carve than Turnips. So, it’s to an Irish character named Stingy Jack that we owe the origins of the modern Jack O'Lanterns.

31/10/2021

I’ve just put on my pot of colcannon and it is the exact same recipe and way of cooking that my mother and grandmother made, every Hallowe’en.

This was made on this night every Hallowe’en for the household and also for anyone calling that night. Our neighbours made it the same way and the addition of parsnip is traditional to Wexford. Some people also used carrot or turnip instead of parsnip, but by and large, parsnip won out.

To make this one pot job, you need 8/9 big spuds, 3/4 head of cabbage, 3 parsnips, 2 onions, butter, milk, salt and white pepper and about 1/2 pint of water. (You can add more or take away parsnip or cabbage if you want)

In the pot you layer the onions, cabbage and parsnip at bottom of pot, add spuds on top. Add water. Cover with outside cabbage leaves and slowly steam.

When spuds are done - mash with salt, white pepper, butter and milk if needed.

Job done. Then in the true traditional way - a ring or a coin was placed in the colcannon, a k**b of butter on top and served to the little ones.

As I said my pot is now on and the smell of the colcannon cooking is one of the true tell tale signs that it’s Hallowe’en night in this part of the country.

Text: Michael Fortune

06/10/2021

05/10/2021

Accounts of "New" Food such as meat, puddings, rashers, sweet cake....

Following the post about stamp/boxty here is a brilliant account from 1937/38 found in the SFC from Phil Condon, a 60 year old man in Kerry who talks about the food he remembers whilst growing up in the late 1800's and the 'new' food people are eating now.

The 'new' food includes sugar, tea and "q***r food now such as meat, puddings, rashers, sweet cake, and many other kinds." I came across a similar account here in Wexford in a different source where tea had become a craze in the late 1800s. The mention of sugar and teeth are interesting too as many of you can still probably relate to parents and grandparents taking 4-5 spoons of sugar in their tay.

While the reference to rashers and puddings is a right one, as many would have us believe 'the Irish breakfast' was a traditional dish of Ireland - maybe for the odd few, but certainly not everyone. I remember my late father saying they'd be lucky to get meat once a week growing up and if they did, it would usually be in the form of a rabbit they snared or a bird they shot.

The photo by the way is my mothers foster brother and father cooking rashers on a pan on the open fire sometime in the late 1960s here in Co. Wexford.

Finally, I love the last line "The food they had long ago was healthier, such as the stampy, the potatoes, and the gruel."

Text: Michael Fortune....................................................................................

"The food they had long ago was different to the food that they have now. They used go out in the morning for an hour before the breakfast and come in then and eat potatoes and drink sour milk, and that would be their food for the day, except that they would have a meal of gruel for the supper.

They would often scrape "stampy", and they might have a sup of tea for Christmas; and what they would have spared they would put it away till the next Christmas. There were no such things as tea used, but it was going all right but the people were not able to buy it, and their teeth were very sound. Many the person long ago carried all his teeth to the grave, because there were no teas, whilst now all their teeth are rotting daily. That is because it is nothing now but tea, and sweets.

The food they were eating long ago was healthier, but there is every class of q***r food now such as meat, puddings, rashers, sweet cake, and many other kinds. The food they had long ago was healthier, such as the stampy, the potatoes, and the gruel.

Phil Condon, aged 60. Glenderry, Co. Kerry
....................................................................................

Credit: SFC: Booleenshare, Co. Kerry

03/10/2021

In 1930, a young man went to watch his beloved Limerick take on Kilkenny in a Hurling league game.
Limerick did not have enough players to field a team on the day so the management turned to the crowd and picked some young fellas to tog out.
One of them was Mick Mackey.
He made such an impression that he went on to win 3 All Ireland medals.

30/09/2021

BREHON LAWS | CHILDREN AND THE STATUS WOMEN IN EARLY IRELAND

Prior to the Anglo-Norman invasions Ireland was home to between 80-140 independent petty kingdoms called túatha. A person’s idea of nationhood was local to their home túath and kin-group (fine). Each túath had its king elected from among its noble grades, each had their own customs and traditions, styles of dress, particular songs and legends making each túath culturally and politically distinct in character from the next. Early Irish history is a logbook of the allegiances, battles, and triumphs of these kingdoms and the families that comprise them.

Read more | https://stairnaheireann.net/?p=63652

14/08/2021

Congratulations Regina Dunne on the launch of your book, delighted with my signed copy ‘Thank you’ looking forward to a good read.

Bloomhq

06/05/2021

This day 96 years ago – 4 May 1925 – Oonagh Keogh, aged 22, became the first woman stockbroker in the world when she was admitted to the Dublin Stock Exchange.

In contrast, the first women were admitted to the New York and London Stock Exchanges in 1967 and 1973, respectively.

(image source: The Irish Times)

18/04/2021

in 1949, The Republic of Ireland Act 1948, introduced by Taoiseach John A. Costello, was enacted and Ireland was officially established as a republic, leaving the commonwealth.