V9 Voices of the Valley - Closed Captioning 1

'Before cars,

before tractors,

before electricity made its way
to the Irish countryside

life was very different

This time

is still in living memory

for the people who grew up here

and who life here now.

In the Mealagh Valley,

hidden in the hills of County Cork

in the West of Ireland

We find the extordinary

in their ordinary

Their memories paint a picture

of real, lived experience

and prevent their
widsom & knowledge

from becoming lost

in the ever quickening currents
of change.'

- Trying to hand it down to

the next generation or the
second next generation.

As I said to you before

my father drilled it into me

but we didn't listen.

We listened alright but
we didnt write it down.

In places like the Mealagh Valley

- You could say really from

the 1930s until the EU money
started coming in

that life didn't really change

in hidden valleys like
the Mealagh Valley

- Born on the 21st of the 3rd, 1947.

I understand that was here in this house.

This is the house that I've always lived in.

- I was born in the Mealagh Valley

not everybody can say that.

My mother told me I think

I was born on the way up the stairs
in Ards

- I was reared up where Pat is now like

reared there and...

My father was buried in 1974.

I was only just turning 18.

- You were young

- Yeah, yeah,

My mother had poor health

she had very bad eyesight

poor eyesight

like it was definitely different times

to now a days

- A lot of responsibility?

- A lot of responsibility,
a lot of responsibility.

- Now, that was survival

we were never hungry but

I always say we were reared

in a cashless society.

Very well self-sufficient

and in those days

one of the things that is very important

for me to point out

that the women worked

probably harder

than the men.

- There was a lot, it was a lot

of hard work.

My God, compared to today now like

Everything was done by hand

- The way life has changed
so much

My father used to always say to me like

No matter now long you live

you'd never see as much change as he did

in his lifetime

but by God,

I have a lot of them seen.

Definitely a lot of them seen. [laughter]

- Oh God, the farming long ago

Everybody helped eachother

there was nobody looking for money

you go to anybody to help them for a day

and they come to you like

and that's the way it was.

- It was good times

but we know nothing else like.

We had no radio, papers,

or anything ever

- There was very little distraction?

- Very little, very little.

- Blueberries used to grow
in a ditch

We had one ditch

and all the blueberries used to grow on it

in the summer time

Well anytime our mother would want us

she'd have to go out the side of the house

and call us

We'd be about as from here now

to the bushes outside the house

and she'd call us

and we'd come home

for dinner or for tea,
back out to the berries...

- Blackberries were the main thing

But there was one

crab tree

in the summertime we'd have great fun
with that

picking them

they were wild, obviously

you'd have wild strawberries

and furze

that was about it like

- Oh any blackberries and things like that

of course, they'd be...

We know the season of them alright

and sometimes they were eaten when they

were rather green I'd say

yeah [laughter]

We... if they were anywhere near
ripe at all

- You had jam when you had
blackberries

People didn't

just go out willy nilly
and buy jam

Most of the jam was made

and like

I have to keep repeating saying that

my parents carbon footprint
was very light

When I think about what rubbish

we take to the recycling centre now...

There was no rubbish!

Everything was reused.

There was no food waste,

because you had animals to eat it.

Zero food waste.

There was no plastic.

We're back to the year of paper.

Ok, and when you were finished with paper

it went in the fire

to light the fire.

You know?

- There was no bin collection? There was no...

- Bin my HAT!!

- When we started going to school

then it got a bit tougher alright.

You'd have to walk to school
two miles

and walk home again
in the evening

- They're better times now

They're much better times
than when I grew up

We had to walk to school

We had a mile, well, a little over a mile

to walk to Coomleigh School

So um,
Rain, hail, or snow,

we'd have to still go to school

- Walk it with our two legs! [laughing]

- We had to walk from here everyday

so we didn't enjoy that

- How many miles is it from here?

- I think tis over three anyway

- Tell me, was the road tarred
at the time?

- No, no

- And you had runners, I suppose?

You had shoes?

- The road wasn't tarred
til the 1960s

We had no shoes

and fine stones on the road

broken stones

- A lot of them from the end of the road, .

they would go barefoot

even in the middle of the winter

Barefoot to school in the WINTER

cold, fresh from the road

They must have had soles

in their feet like steel

We had three schools

in the valley at one time

We had the one at Inchiclough

the one in Gortnacowley

and the one at Dromclough

- I think there might be a fella

in the back row there that you

- That's me isn't it?

- That's you

- English and Irish

and arithmetic

they were really the main ones

I suppose for a long time

And then I suppose...

history and geography then as well

-The writing was done,
-with a quill?

the ink quill, with the ink

-The Irish i liked irish

-There would be fire

The neighbors would bring turf
for the winter time

and it would be still cold like

You know in a big room like
a little fire there

what good would be down here?

-They had for the play ground, they
had the girls on one side playing

and the boys on the other side

but inside in the classrooms there was

-together?
-yeah

-And he was good that way,
teaching gardening and things like that

and you know, vegetables
-lovely idea really, to be honest

-Twas, yeah!
But i know that it used to be on a Friday,

from twelve till three, was all gardening

-There was no lunch boxes or anything,
you know

no no yeah, been a long time now

-So what did you wrap it in?
-I wrap it in a bit of paper,

Get a bit of news paper and
a bottle of milk and away you go

-In 1968 the school was closed and
we were given

free transport and we were taken
to Dromclough

-I went to Dromclough school, obviously

and there was a small little black board
on the wall, just inside of the door

coming into the big room as I used to
call it

and the attendance was marked on that
little black board, every day

how many were in 1st class

up to 6th class

and I can remember 112

total in Dromclough School

112, yeah

And whether they were all there that day

or not, I'm not too sure

but I can remember distinctly 112

being on that little black board

Where we all fitted....

I do know

that there were 3 sitting

at desks that were just built for 2

- When we'd come home then

in the evening

We'd have our dinner

when we'd come home

We'd have to go out and

do the jobs outside then

to help my father and my mother

Here in the evening

when you'd come home like

if it was summer time

you'd be out in the fields

with your pikes turning hay

If it was the bog,

you'd be at the turf.

And you know, if it was

in the winter time you'd have

like bedding to put in under the cattle

in the stalls

clean out the stalls

You wouldn't be idle at all like!

Well I had to cut...

it was called rathanóg

between furze and grass

- But by God, there would be

plenty of work

when you come home in the evening

You'd go out and bring in

the cows for milking

in the evening

and so on and so forth

help feed the calves

and of course,

before the creamery was built

we used to separate the milk

at home

and make the

homemade butter

and so forth before the creamery came

- You'd watch your father doing it

and see him doing it

and that was it.

Milking cows,

milk a couple of cows maybe

a cow or two before

you go to school in the morning

- You'd hand milk?

- Oh, hand milk, yeah.

- The separator at that time was...

to separate the milk, the cream

You'd make the butter

sell the butter

and a lorry, a truck,

a little green truck would come

once a week,

I think once a week

every Thursday they used to come from

Lyons's in Bantry, it's where

Keefe's took it over where

Supervalu is now

Lyons's

His name was Denis O'Reegan

and he used to come around

the valley once a week

They'd sell the butter to him,

he'd take the butter,

butter and eggs were the big thing like

- And would you sell the milk as well?

- No, that was later then

when we started going

to the Creamery like,

but before in my very young days

there was the separator

for separating the milk and the cream

for making the butter

- So the butter was the value?

- Butter was the value

yeah, butter was the value

- They'd be talking about

hygiene and the rest of it...

in the scorching summer heat

he'd come around

I don't know how they'd take the butter... barrells...

- They must have had

some bit of ice in the barrel?

- There was no ice at that time

A lot of salt like

- It was just the salt?

No refrigeration...

- You'd seperate the milk

then you'd make cream off it

then you'd make butter

and sell that to the man

up above at the cross

If you had a good few cows like,

you could have maybe

20 pounds of butter...

it was only a half crown at that time

half crown you'd get

for a pound of butter at that time

Half a crown, was like like

12 and half pence at that time, Eleanor

But that's the way it was girl

The Mealagh Creamery

was a godsend, you know

- It was very important?

- And of course the shop then

you see

made all the difference

Because you were able

to get what you needed in the shop

and then, you see

you bought the stuff on tick

and it was taken off with a cheque

you got the cheque after
everything was paid for

that's how it worked

- A couple of nights a week anyway

you'd have scoraíochters.

The neighbours, they'd have no where

no where to entertain themselves

so they'd go to each others houses.

They'd have the

news of the day like

- The scoraíochting was

very, very important

because that was the

social get together for people

in the evening.

And basically, whoever could

tell the best story

got the audience.

And I'd sometimes say,

whoever could tell the best lies.

- Men used to go around

scoraíochting, as we used to call it

and that word came natural

we always heard it like.

The man I remember mostly

coming here, he was

Jack O'Shea from Goulanes

Mikey Cronin

he used to come down

one night a week

There was a labouring man above

he'd maybe call twice a week.

Yeah 2-3 nights a week

you'd have someone in like

- And at that time

if some neighbour came

scoraíochting

and you were in the middle

of the rosary

They'd always kneel down then

They'd kneel down

until the rosary would be finished

there would be no words

spoken til the rosary was finished then

we'd have do go to bed then

and the neighbours would have

their own chat then

- Twas more male orientated

- There used to be piseógs like,

piseógs

they'd be telling stories...

People used to say that

like they'd be trying to frighten people

they'd say they'd see something

somebody that was dead

they'd see them walking the road,

crossing the road...

We were always told

they're only piseógs

don't listen to that

- There would be

the odd fairy story alright,

there would.

Whether the fairies were there

or not

I don't know [laughter]

- There was a fella coming home

one night anyway.

He thought there were fairies

after him and

it was a goat.

[laughter]

And when stories were told

in the scoraíochting house

they were like the snowball

going down the hill,

they never got smaller.

There used to be a light showing off

at the top of the road.

They would see lights and things

here and there.

But when we were widening the road

putting in a piece of the bridge or something

I cut the tree

and sure there was a nice flat piece

up on top of it

to set a candle or a lamp or something

that was the light

You know, it was put there like

- That was the fairy.

- That was the fairy!

- I noticed that if children were around

they wouldn't talk about the troubled times

and the Black & Tans

and what they did

and the civil war

and the rest of it...

Television started to

get rid of the scoraíochting

because you went in

to somebody's house

and there was something on...

"Shhhhh"

- And he'd come early in the evening

and we'd be playing cards all night

and when it would be time

to go home

we'd light the lantern for him

and give it to him

and away he go

- There was always a lot of singing

in the Mealagh Valley

There was always a lot of music.

- The shop,

there were three rooms downstairs

they used to be playing cards in one room

they'd be dancing then in the kitchen

and they'd be selling millers

and things there in the shop side of it

There'd be plenty of music

and dancing

There'd be around 3 hours

every Sunday evening

or Sunday night

- You had the threshing

the threshing ball.

You had the wren balls

and then

we used to have

the stations.

And you know,

there was always, usually,

a bit of a sing song, dance

after the stations

So you know,

there were plenty of reasons

to sing

and opportunities to sing

- I remember one night,

I was going to a dance

I don't know where

to be honest with you

but my father was inside

and he wouldn't let me go

so what I done

I went upstairs

there was a little window

and a ditch on the other side

so I caught my shoes

and my clothes

and threw them out the window

and reach over the hedge

So then I went around

and said I was only going out

a small bit

so I went around

picked them up

and off I went

[laughter]

Vincie Crowley he was the most popular

a lovely singer as well

And there was a lot of the

young people now

like the Briens

at the end of the road

Pat Brien and Timothy Brien

they learned the accordion

they were lovely players

and Denis

Denis Brien was a lovely player as well

There was a crowd that

would go out on the wren

they'd collect so much money

and they'd buy so much drink then

[laughter]

Light was an oil lamp

single wick

a candle

and for outside it would have been

the storm lamp or storm lantern

which again was single burner

but had a special globe around it

that the wind would stop it a quenching

And those lanterns

they burned a lot of places

because people were careless with them

And later on down

the tilley lamp came in

that was a godsend

and the tilley lamp, of course, then

it burned the tractor vapourising oil

and when it was reasonably hot

you pumped it up

and turned it on

and the mantle lit up

and that was marvelous!

After so much time,

it would gradually go down then like

after say maybe an hour or two

you'd have to give it

another couple of pumps

and it would brighten it up again

- Twas Molly & Mikey's shop

as we used to call it

I'd say it would be down

a good half mile from here

down at the bottom of the slope of the road

down at the corner

they used to always have the oil and the mantles

and they had a lot of groceries in there too

which was so important

for the locality like

- We didn't buy much in the shop

to be quite honest with you.

The few things you bought

like sugar

salt

bread soda

flour

tea

you know

and you wouldn't be seen

buying veg, oh no.

You wouldn't be seen buying veg

and if you were seen buying potatoes... [scoff]

- Like the only thing you'd need would be

paraffin oil for the oil lamp

There was no such thing as

that fella [motion up at light]

paraffin oil

and that was your light

and you'd get salt and sugar

and nothing else

nothing in the line of food like

because you had it all at home

self... from the farm like

- In the north side

in Dromsullivan

you had William Carney's

little shop

and then

the next shop over then

you had was by the school

which was known as Mrs. Patty's

her husband was a shoemaker, I think

- They were self sufficient, almost

with their own animals and fowl

and eggs of course

there were always hens

- I learned how to cycle

when I suppose I was about

10 years of age

and do you know what it is

if it was seen today

I remember I had the frame

of a bicycle

and a wheel

and I had a piece of a stick

put through the wheel

and the frame fitted down on the wheel

it was only two wheels

and an old frame that I found in the shed

And I made my bicycle out of it

We had run to the the house from a hill

like from the road

we had a bit of a slope out from the house

and I'd go to the top of the slope

don't say this, they'll say were were mad

and I'd slide down the hill with the bicycle

- No brakes?

- No there was no brake in it.

If I fell I fell

and if I didn't

I stayed up on it.

- That's how you learned?

- That was how I learned to cycle, yeah

- We hadn't much to play with

you'd get toys at Christmas.

I can never remember

getting toys

just for getting them...

You kind of played

with anything you found

you know?

No, very simple.

Very simple.

I suppose the summer time

you'd remember more than the winter

because the days would be longer

but the summer holidays

or the summer weekends or evenings

probably

we'd kick ball a bit around

outside in the fields a bit

You could spend half a day

down in the river like

just making your own game

or whatever

- We hardly ever see a frog now like

you know

because in Ards

we lived by the river

you'd have otters

badgers

rabbits were just 10 a penny

- I was below one day crossing

the next thing there was a splash

in the river

a wild pig!

- Oh my god!

- Wild pig.

- Eels were there

you'd have very small trout

the biggest I ever saw

was about 3 inches

When you go down then

to the main river

and it was packed with them at that time

fish

packed

and none now

And I had a relation from Waterford

he was down in Lismore

that's a big country for fishing

and he taught me how to fish.

I came out one evening

started fishing

and I caught 64 trout

and they were trout about [this big]

in one evening

I was around the valley

giving every household fish

But then, silage came in...

Things change

for the worse.

We had no trout.

I don't think we ever bought

much fertiliser.

It was always

the dung from the cattle

you'd store that over the winter

but then as

we 'progressed' as we say

everything was flowing

into the river.

That's my opinion.

When I was going to school like,

and I had two brothers

and we used to go to school together

and we used to stop in this

little old lady's house

on the way home from school

and she had a garden

in front of the house.

She had gooseberries

blackberries, black currants, and all

growing in it

and she used to say to us

go outside and play outside for awhile

and sure we had a little shop

outside in the garden

and do you know,

come 4 o'clock or half past 4

we'd decide to go home

and we'd go home

and sure my mother would be home

and she'd give us the dinner.

Do you know, I often think

if that was today,

the mothers and fathers

would be gone mad

they'd think something had happend

to their children.

they never worried about us

good or bad

when we were small growing up like

thanks be to god

it was great!

- ah...

freedom

I was above in the garage....

working in the ESB at the time

in the National School

you come out from the school

and I was working with ESB

but I couldn't get over

6 year olds

with mobile phones

I was dumbfounded

We had nothing

but we were happy.

aw look...

- Electricity came...

I was the last up

this side of the valley

My father was buried in 1974

and we had no ESB

we got it in 75

'75 I'd say...

We thought

we were

in the bees knees

we'd never see a poor day

when that came in 1975

- Born in 1957,

I was 13 when we got electricity

- I'd say I must be

well into my teens a bit

maybe

probably 15 or I don't know

what year it came in

but I remember it coming in anyway

- 10 to 12

- And it made a huge difference?

- Oh stop,

it changed everything

- I suppose the biggest difference

was the fridge.

That was the most

important thing

to keep the food

from going off

- To have an electric kettle

was [amazed sound]

- Light, light

- There were a lot of

people at that time

that were afraid of the light

yeah

like, you'd hear the stories

they'd put on the switch

and they'd be afraid to turn it off

but we took it anyway

when it came around first

Aw sure,

it changed everything.

You got a radio then

that followed

- Now the electricity came

to the Mealagh Valley

prior to when we got it

but quite a lot of people

didn't take it the first time

because they were afraid

they couldn't pay the bill.

- And I remember men...

it would be 6 feet deep

I remember the holes

that they'd dig for the poles

the poles had to go down 6 feet

and then they'd have to dig a good size

because they'd have to stand into it

to work and use the shovels to draw it out

but I remember that very well

seeing

a lot of local men got work

at that time in the ESB

because there was a lot

of man work needed for it, like

- I had applied for a job

in the ESB because

the GAA lads told me

there was one coming up.

I think the most exciting one was

Dursey Island.

We did Cape Clear.

Sherkin Island,

we did them all, like.

- Oh there were phone boxes

there was a phone box

at the end of the road then

there by Connie O'Briens

there at Goulanes Bridge

there was a phone box there

and there was another one of them

just beyond Dromclough School

there was another one of them there

- Up to I moving in here

I had no phone, ok

But people could contact ya

- They'd find a way

- Do you know what I mean, like?

That people found a way.

- They were used for

people used to go and make phone calls

in it there

yeah

they didn't have phones like

but then, it went all automatic then like so

I went to the post office then

as a telephonist

Oh, that was way different

than today

Twas a switchboard

Twas a switchboard with a load of cords

two rows of them

and a light, a bulb,

that would shine up like

and that was somebody ringing in

looking for...

and you'd pick up the call

and you'd go in and say

"Number please?' to them

and you'd take down their details

At that time then the phones

were in the houses

around here

they'd pick up the phone

and twould call down in Kealkill post office

Kealkill post office would

plug in

on the switchboard

plug in

and that would call inside

in Bantry.

They were only just coming in like

back then

very few had them

You'd pick up the handle

you'd pick up the phone

you'd wind the handle on top of it

and pick up the phone then

and they'd answer in the post office

- Twas a big change for the country

you had a lot of electrical implements

that would help

apart from the dwelling house

the farm as well then

for milking the cows and everything

it was an engine

we had an engine before

electricity came for milking the cows

twas a petrol engine

that you'd turn the handle

it'd start to light

that was used earlier

but then it was the

electric motor of course

for the milking machine

- I think it was either 1969 or 1970

we got electricity in Ards

and

one of my neighbours up the road

Connie Sullivan

we'd know him better as

Connie Killarney

and he had a milking machine

at the time and it was powered

by a little petrol Lister engine

and I always remember the hum

of that engine

Because, bear in mind

in those days

when you lived out in the country

and if you'd see a car passing

you stopped and had a good look at it

because it was a pretty rarity.

People were lucky

to have a bicycle.

- There was one car in the valley

maybe there was two

but when we lived down there

there was an old lady living beside us

She was Katie Hurley, Katie Champion

and she'd come always visiting into our house

you see

and I'd be listening to their stories

herself and my mother

and we'd have news about...

some fella dying

and they'd say...

'Aw sure, he was 40.'

So 40 and 50

at that time

seemed like old

[laughter]

'Aw sure he was 50'

you know that kind of way like?

[laughter]

- I suppose the other joke I make

is that in my childhood we had a car

but it was pulled by a horse

[laughter]

People find it difficult to get their

head around it at this stage

My father bought his first car

a Morris Minor in 1974

- A Morris Minor

actually twas my brother's car.

He went away to England working

and he left the car

I picked it up driving

- It was a Morris Minor Z RAF 762

- There was just the two cars

on the road at that time...

They got him anyway to take us

into Bantry

my mother, that woman, like, and myself

But like, until the day I die

I'll never forget

twas my first day in Bantry

and I just couldn't for the life of me

understand going down Glengarriff Road

why the houses were tied to each other

I could not get that out of my head

even since

that the houses were glued

onto each other

that'll live in my memory

while I'm alive

And another thing

it was the same day they

bought me a ball

a small little balleen

bought a ball

and a pair of Wellingtons

and when I came home in the evening

I suppose I had a bite to eat

a crust of bread or something

We didn't have a lot to eat

but it kept us going

but I remember going

straight down to the bog

where the turf,

the ole rough ground

with the ball

Every hole of water I'd find

I'd jump into it

with the Wellingtons

and so

I lost the ball anyway

I spent weeks looking for it after

weeks

and never found it after

- The one thing you'd remember

about the bog

is the midgies.

They'd absolutely eatcha.

- That was cut back

and the man's name

he was Jack Shea in Goulanes

Twould be about

2 and half miles away

Sleán

twould be a timber handle on it

and twas like a right angle

twould be edgy like

twould slice down

and it would cut a long sqare sod

- Maybe you'd take in

Things were so bad,

you might take in

a cart of turf,

you know the turf from the bog,

you might get a pound

for a horse load of it like

you might get a few messages for that

well thats the way things were

things were pretty bad.

No no no

we used just cut our own turf

for our own use like

for our own use

so like there was a lot of hard work

in that as well

because you'd have to make it up

and turn it

then draw it home

- How'd you get it home?

- Oh, horse and cart

horse and cart

- That was a big event too

cutting the turf

everyone contributed

When she'd bring out the tea then

during the day it was lovely

having it outdoor

- When we were called for dinner

if we were in the bog,

she'd put out a white cloth

on a pike below the house

you'd know it would be

about 1pm, half past 1pm then

or if my father was helping

some of the neighbours with a cow

or if we had a cow calving

he'd be on the watch out for it

she'd put out a white cloth

where he could see

- He'd have three sods

going at the time

out the sleán

he'd have one

touching the ground

one in the air

and on in the sleán

- Fast

- Yeah

- I suppose around the 1st

early May

it would depend on the weather

if you got say 3 fine weeks

it would be dry

but then more times

you might get 3 weeks of rain maybe

and there'd be snow

it'd take a good while

to dry then

There was only one year

I can remember

that we didn't get it

back I think in 1958, or 1956...

- That the summer was continuous rain?

- Continuous rain, yeah yeah

- The turf would be cut

and spread out on the bank

and we'd have to go and turn it then

and when it was suitable dry then

build it up in cocks

dry it further

yeah

- Was there a body found

here in the bog?

- There was,

beyond Sullivan's

when they were cutting

the turf

they found the clothes

- and they ran into his clothes

and some human remains

thats all i know

think he was supposed to be

an English spy

thats what they said anyway

- It made grand fire like

twas the old timber trees

out of the bog

that was rotted into the bog

for years

And when you'd be cutting the turf

then you see

you might come across

a big block

you'd have to kind of

dig around and break it

to get it out

when it would dry up then like

it would make lovely firing

my father used to give maybe 3-4 weeks...

breaking the fir, breaking the fír,

and twas lovely firing

lovely

- Twas the open fire

twas turf and timber

used to be burned there

timber in them years used to

be cut with a...

the chainsaws weren't there then

it was always this cross cut

with a long saw

with a man on each end of it

and a hatchet was the thing

for splitting the blocks

and

yes twas turf and timber

were the main...

I hardly ever saw coal

I'd say when I was young

twas always the turf and the timber

- When I was young sure

to boil the kettle like was

in the fire

fire to bake the cakes

my father, my father & my mother

my father was a grand baker

like he was...

he was married twice

I'm going back now again

but he was married twice like

his first...

he had 5 children

the first - 3 sons and 2 daughters

and she was buried

she died a young woman

and he was left with 5 children

so like he said himself

he learned to bake fast

he was a grand baker actually

lovely baker

- We did have an open fire, yeah

it was a bloody beautiful fire

it was grand because

you could sit down to it at night

and you'd be grand and warm

I know a lot of it used to

go up the chimney

but still like

- There was a big open fire there anyway

when I was growing up

and a big chimney

you could

when the fire wasn't there

you could stand in where the fire

would be and you could

look up

You'd put down your head a bit

of course

because there'd be

a mantlepiece over the fireplace there too

I remember it being called a clebbie.

at that time

- No, an open fire

and an old small Primus on top of the...

- The crane

there was a crane

in this old fireplace

that's where you'd hang

the pots and things on

- We did...

and the kettle hanging on the crane

and you'd hang the bastible on it

for the cakes to bake

and all that like

There was a seat on each side

of the fire place

You could roast your two legs

in it at times

and if you sat too near

the fire you'd have

what they used to call

ABCs in your leg

do you know? From the fire...

Did you ever get ABCs in your legs?

- We had 3 bachelor neighbours

that lived next door to us

They were O'Driscoll's

and where my mother would have baked

the bread in the oven

they used to bake it in the bastible

and we used to love to go there

because it was such a different bread

- She used to do it in the open fire first

but then we got a range

We got the range then like

The range was like a cooker then like

- There was a Stanley Number 8

in the house at home

Twas put in before I was born

because the chimney was a bad drafter

But when I think about what work

my mother did with the Stanley 8

so it heated the house

it heated all the hot water
that was used in the house

don't mention a boiler...

the boiler was

to the slightly cooler side of the stove

there would have been a large pot

that was always heated

the water was constantly heating

on the surplus part of the range

So it heated the house

it heated the water

it made all the meals, ok?

it baked the bread

and aired the clothes

- Twas, if you like it was nearly
all body washing

You couldn't put the whole lot of yourself

into a bathtub

You'd have to boil the hot water

to wash your face

put some cold water into it then

get the soap and away we go then!

Water came from the well
not from a tap

Twas a simple life

there was no electricity

we had a well

way down the land

that would be one of the jobs

you'd get in the evening as
you come home from school

Go down, get a bucket of water

- Yeah, there was like an outhouse yeah

there'd be no bathrooms in the houses like

no running water so you couldn't...

there was a thing outside you could use
alright like

a toilet outside you'd use

- You had a...

no, there was no pumps

no electricity or anything

you would have a

a saucepan below all the time

you'd fill up your bucket

and away you'd come

- The water out of the well was special

that was for drinking and anything

that was cooked or anything

but we had a stream down there

on the bottom, it passes down

that's where you'd get the water

for washing buckets and things like that

Oh, it was so cold like

it was lovely

you'd always remember it

- Neil has a very unique gift

in that Neil can water divine

- Well, I'd feel that most people

could do it. Well, how I kind of

learned it at all, to think about doing it even

We were bringing water from the well here

when I was young but I remember

our friend, John MacSweeny,

back the road to Cahernacrin

He used to do it, like

and he came out to find

where we could dig a hole

that we'd get water down from

the higher ground above us

and so we saw him and he got this, this..

twas a sailí (willow)

gabhlóg as I'd call it

He'd cut a nice handy one of them

not too heavy either

we saw him using it

and he'd walk over the ground

it was Y-shaped with kind of

a long leg out of it, a small bit longer...

and you'd have kind of a pointer

out of it then

from the gabhlóg

a small bit of the main stick underneath it

a small bit of that, but like

if you walk over ground

and you'd find that when you'd get over

a spring underneath

it would start pulling down

yeah, you know if you kept walking past

it would ease off then again

and if you came on another one of them

you'd kind of check around

so when i used to be going up

for the mare then in the mornings

I'd catch it and be fooling away with it

and I'd be kind of half laughing

at the idea of it at the start

I thought, ya know... and then

all of a sudden, i could find that

it would start pulling in me

I'd keep going again and next maybe after

a little while you'd come across

another spring underneath

water, vein of water

and that's how I kind of...

because i thought at first like

you know, that it didn't make sense maybe

but it actually works

it actually works

that you could find, you could trace then

whether the spring was coming or going

if you went away from it, it would ease off

and if you came back over it

and you'd kind of follow it you know

you'd check it out that way

so I'd use it a good bit then myself

because that's when I used to have diggers

and people would need wells

'twould be small, very tidy diameter

a little rod, any thickness would do

once it would be flexible as well like

and to hold it with your hands

you'd catch it, i used to always catch it

between your thumb and your first finger

on both sides like

and you'd have to use your hands then

that would start going down

I often, as you held it as hard as I could now

twould start twist itself

twould start to crack itself

like in your hands

oh, it would yeah

if you were on a good spring

if the pull was that hard

it would actually be trying to crack itself

twould twist itself

twould go down anyway like

if you were strong enough to hold it

people that studied it more...

but I wouldn''t have followed it that much

and it worked like

but some people, they used to reckon

they couldn't nearly tell from once they

first feel it starting like

and you'd be walking, and we'll just say

if there was a spring there

where you are now

you'd check how far, what distance it was

when you first felt it like

when you had the deepest of it

and then you'd start going from that again then

you'd find it getting weaker, you see

you'd put a marker then where it was most

and you dig the well there

- This field here now

this was called the Field of the Shed

and the one next to it then

that was called Páirc Ríocht

and the one next to that then

that was the Field of the Bridge

the meadow then

outside the house

that was the Field of the Well

and the field farther down then

there were steps,

people used to cross there at one time

that was the Field of the Steps

and the western one was Páirc Ceadadh

and the one outside the gate there

when you go up from there

That was Páirc na Habhaínn

farther up there,

you go up towards the cross now

Páirc na Másh

and then the three fields

above the road there

they were called the Trí Páirc na Tsagaírt

and the one on the other side of the bridge

that was called

The Field of the Bridge as well

and there was two more then

I think there were

known as the two lochás

two kind of high fields

They all had their own name

-Twas amazing that they were

given Irish names, wasn't it, Jerry?

-Twas

- But sure my grandfather now

it was nearly all Irish he was talking

- Is that right?

- Yeah

- I suppose the one thing we would have

noticed would be the birds

and we were always looking

for birds nests

- Three families of us

used to walk, like I said, up the little path

coming or going or coming now

You'd have...

who would have the most nests

during the summer

So we'd be scouring the ditches

twas good fun

- Well I wouldn't harm them or anything

you'd be looking in there

was small birdeens or whatever

- When I was growing up like

we had a wall up from the house like

and there'd be rakes of little birds

you'd see the little bird going in

you'd go up then and after a little while

you'd see the little birds inside

and the small one would come out

and you'd go up them then and go

[mama bird sounds]

like the mother used to do!

and they'd all open their mouths

they'd think you had something for them

do you remember that?

- Tis made of moss

and tis coated then

on the inside with feathers

to see the way tis built

tis unreal for the size of the little thing

- We used to love finding the wren's nest

we'd find robins' nests

and blackbirds' nests and so forth

- What birds can do

the pigeon is the worst

it's just a heap of sticks

if you got kindling

and turned it upside down

- and the small little girl is 10

and the little small on is 3, sorry 5

and I've been always saying I'd love

to find a bird's nest to show them

what a bird's nest was

I can't find a bird's nest..

and when i was growing up.

- They've changed only that

they've leveled all the ditches (stone fences)

there's no ditches left

- They have girl, they have

because like you could be looking

at the valley across there at that time

and you might see a stretch of land

where there might be

maybe 5 fields, but now

there might only one field

and then another thing now

is that there's bunches of forestry
here and there

you wouldn't see them in the
early days like

no such thing as big forestry
growing up

not at all like

- We had a lot of elderly, unmarried

men and women

and I often said at the time looking back

like 1979, that's 46 years ago, looking back then

and for some time afterwards

it looked very much like that a lot of the

Mealagh Valley would not be inhabited

Planting was... the money coming in for
planting at the time was tempting

There was grants given out

some people were kind gone out of the area then

and sold their place and

twas foresty bought it and planted it

- The country scene was slowly changing

you see, we had a lot of emmigration

out of here as well

and most of my generation

emmigrated

that's why i said earlier about that i was

in 1978 going to join my 2 brothers
in Germany

because there was nothing here

- I can remember

I suppose people going away

rather than people coming back

like I'd say by the time we came here now

say around 1952

things are bad in Ireland

I can see why they went

the family over there now, next door

three of the girls went to America like

I can remember them going

they didn't come back like

we used to go over there in the summer

and do the hay for them, turn the hay

three lovely girls...

you could say someone from nearly

most houses went like

- Getting older

I see it as a privilege

that I was lucky enough to be

able to stay here

and raise a family

and make a living in this area

we mightn't have a quantity here

but we have a quality

you know, and that quality is very special

it's very precious

- There was a lot of fences at that time

in the fields for a start

every field was a couple of acres maybe

and you know there'd be fences then

but as time went on anyway

machinery got bigger

i got a digger maybe around 20

of course, we started knocking them

and making fields...

an odd fence was knocked

and then as time went on

we knocked more of them

and did a lot of draining as well

a lot of the land around here was heavy

I did a lot of draining on the land as well

before my time they did it by hand like

and because I came across a lot

of good, old drains

all piped with stones, of course, and flags

they had the field drains

and the gully drains

there was a stone each side

and a flag on top on top of them

for the bigger volume of water

the majority of them were done like with a V

stones stood each side against each other

there'd be backers to stop them

from collapsing

and that was all very important

because if that wasn't done,

one of them would slip

twould block again so

they knew what they were doing, alright,

in the olden days

- Rain on the way...

If you see the cattle lying down

for a good long length of time

'Twas a sign of rain

Or if you see the swallows flying low

that was a sign of rain as well

I suppose there was more signs too

but I can't think of them

- The cows, if a cow was sick

ivy, give them ivy

oh yeah, oh the ivy

or after calving now

if a cow was sick after calving

they'd give them ivy

or there was such a thing called bran then

bran, you mix it with water

and they'd give them that for so many days

- So would there have been remedies..?

- Oh Christ, she was great

God Almighty, I can remember I jumped off

there was an old fence over there now

where that tree is there

going across there

I remember I jumped off it one day

and what did I come down on?

A bit of a pike

it went up through my leg here

it went out the top

and there was no going to the doctor,

only go up to Katie

Do you know what the cure was,

at that time, for that kind of stuff?

Paraffin oil

Paraffin oil to throw at it

And by cripes,

I never had to go to a doctor

not for my leg anyway

straight through and out above

try to pull out that... oh god

But another day,

there was a man over here

the road and he used to suffer

from sore legs and things

he used to be always rubbing

methylated spirits onto his legs to 'em soft

and of course, my dad was going to town this day

any fella that would be going to town
with a horse and cart

anybody that would want anything,
if they'd see some fella coming

they'd stop him and bring so many messages

you see, that was the way it was

because nobody had transport

and of course he said to him, my father,

'Tim', he said. "Could you bring me home a
bottle of methylated spirits?"

he'd rub that to his feet

and anyway

the father brought it home to him anyway
and God Almighty,

next thing he rubbed on so much when I was over there

I used to be milking the cows for him at that time.

I was only about 10 years old

Trying to milk.. he'd have about 12 cows and I tell ya

some of them were fairly cranky

lashing and kicking like, you know

He'd rubbed all the stuff onto his leg and he
had his legs up on top of the range

Lord God, after a bit...
the two legs went on fire

God Almighty... roaring!!

Do you know how he cured his legs?

Tis hard to believe it...

cow shit

cow manure

filled up a big,
big wooden tray that height

for feeding the cows

and every time he'd see the cow
having a kind of diarrhoea

the cow had a kind diarrhoea stuff
- A good run of it!

- Lord god yes, the scour we used to call it...

fill it up and he'd bathe his legs inside of it

and by the Lord of God
he cured his legs

- I remember my own son there, Timothy,
he's the eldest lad

sure he's above there now

they had little planes or something
made with paper

himself and Alison, or they had something
like that done around the place

this day, twas in the wintertime,
and my mother, Bernie, the critter

she was a mighty woman for the fire

she's always have a mighty fire there

and it was cold this time anyway

and twas blazing

and of course Alison threw
the thing at something

and of course, Timothy went for it

and fell in the fire

at that time it was a big open fire

Lord God, his hands

and his legs

I thought about the cow shit

she said to me it would poison
the young fella

so off to Dr. Dekker, what was his name,

in Drimoleague at the time

he said you'd poison the child

God Almighty, would you believe

there wasn't one mark on that young fella

after the cow shit

Yeah, it was a big cure like

- People were good at it like

going to a doctor was kind of a last resort

you wouldn't have the money

- One time, they'd be swarms of bees

they'd pitch in a house

they'd come in

they pitched inside in the
chimney one time

I haven't seen them now
for an awful long time

honey bees

wild ones, oh very wild, yeah

there would be a nice bit of honey
inside in the chimney

but the soot, ha, twas no use
with the soot

[laughter]

- Oh, I'd have got the wild swarms

I can't remember exactly where I got my first swarm

but as far as I can remember it was a swarm that came

I've got a swarm every year

except this year,
I didn't get a swarm this year

but I've got swarms every year

Father Courley use to keep bees

they used to have hives there
for a long time

as you go up to the bungalow

they'd call them the swarming bees

in the summer sometimes there'd be

2 or 3 swarms that'd come

it'd depend on where they'd land

they could land anywhere, they could

I'd say that's how old Father Courly
got the bees

Oh they come to me

you use an old bee box

and a few old frames

and if you leave the frames, the old frames in the box

the bees will smell the honey

and that's what attracts them

Well, I think they're fascinating

and of course, the fact that they're so important for

pollinating my apple trees and

every solitary thing i plant

is depending on the bee for pollination

I'm very conscious of that

and that is part of the reason

one of the main reasons why I keep bees

so that we'd have pollinators

- I'd say, I'd say definitely

I'd say there definitely is, yeah

there's more of everything now, like

there's more rain, more heat, more cold

more snow, more frost

everything is getting more and more

that's what it seems like anyway

- My job? My job the most of it

I tell ya the truth, girl, was out
helping neighbours who had no families

and we'd be sent to help the neighbours

and you might get two shillings

and you'd come home and you'd give it to your parents

that's the way it was, Eleanor

- You'd hand it back up?

- That was the way it was

- And did you enjoy going out and
and working for neighbours?

- God knows I did because they'd have more food

probably that than we had

people would have more food on the table like

all we had ever was bread & butter

that was a lot of it

a bit of meat maybe once or twice a week

that'd be it

- So you wouldn't have had
meat every day?

- Oh no, girl. Meat was an awful novelty at that time.
Ya know?

You'd have plenty butter all the time

that was the only thing you had

plenty butter and plenty spuds and eggs

there'd be hens and things there
all the time...

- Charity was a local thing

but you see the other thing you have to remember is

we were all poor and we didn't know it

because everybody was poor

if that makes any sense to ya

and ya see

charity as you see it today

it had a very different ethos then

charity could be helping a neighbour
that was in trouble

it wasn't about money, because you didn't
have money to give

whereas I see the whole thing now has gone full circle

The first hat I've been wearing for the

last 25 years is the Bantry Life Boat

that's the first hat I wear

and I'm seeing with a number of years

people would much prefer now

to give money than time

People are very time poor

worse than ever

and when you think back at the way

my parents worked

but they still weren't time poor

- They kinda helped each other out

say about hay, or anything,
or corn, the threshing...

if there was a meithal they'd come

and then they'd go to the next house for the threshing
and yeah...

- People helped each other

there was no money

you came to me today

and I went to you tomorrow

and someone else the day after,
whatever right

you know, we always went around to neighbours

and we'd be helping 'em with hay and things

but I suppose the threshing

you had to have a lot of people at that anyway

because there was a lot of work in corn

at the thresher trying to pike the shaves
up to the thresher

then twould be, when it was threshed

when it was threshed, straw rakes had to be made

and the grain had to be drawn to the lofts

and they were all up steps

with bags of grain

you'd want a good strong legs & back

for the men you'd leave to do the haulage

they were usually well-built for it like

- The women worked

harder than the men

but they were silent partners

because if they didn't

somebody wen't hungry

that's reality, like

there was no difference really

everyone kind of...

there was no difference like

you'd have to have a big crowd
to do the threshing all the time

because there was a lot of different
things to do

you'd always have all the neighbours around

sure they'd help eachother when they'd
come to their place like

there'd be at least 10 needed for the threshing, like

and they'd have

plenty of porter, of course!

lots of porter [giggle]

- The Whelans had a threshing machine

Tim Whelan

and the Donoghues from Borlin were there

they...

there were several different...

Pat Sweeney

They'd be two on the reek,

they're be 2 piking up, that'd be 4...

there'd be about two more to do the
bags for the corn

and there'd be then... 3 or 4 more drawing,

they'd draw 'em to the loft then

- Around here anyway

they'd put out a big sheet

up in a tree or bush

rather than go around and tell ya

"I'm threshing tomorrow"

they had those ways of signaling

it was nice

- The man that did the threshing

was MIkey Carney

- And the neighbours came into help
did they, for the threshing?

- They did. You'd have a bit of a meitheal
that day, alright, you would

- Your mother had to do a lot of
cooking that day so?

- There'd be extra cooking that day, alright.
[laughs]

Well, there'd be a bit of help.

You know, the neighbours would
help each other, alright

- Late in the year then, when the threshing was
finished in West Cork

around Caheragh, Drimoleague

in the earlier years that they used to go down
to Waterford

and these machines, that time, in the earlier years

they'd only iron wheels

so they used to have to put tyres, or some kind
of rubber

cut rubber over the wheels, the iron wheels

for the journeys

and I remember he used to say that it took

2 nights and a day to get down to where

they'd be starting threshing again

and they'd try and be back then by Christmas

they'd try and they'd finish for Christmas

because there used to be a lot of corn down there

there were more steam engines down there

and there was so much more corn there to thresh

than in West Cork like

- No choice but to work together

and help each other, yeah

and of course there was the bottles of porter then

going with the thresher too

and that was [laugh]

they used to enjoy their porter

by the way, I never drank

I joined the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association

when I was 12 years of age

after being confirmed

and I never, ever drank

and I don't miss it or didn't miss it

- There used to be a ball after the threshing

John Leary used to sing a few songs

[laughter]

- Porter, Guinness used to do well at
the threshing time anyway

and there was a trade, like everything else

there was a speciality in it, like everything

but it was neighbours, a couple of neighbours

I remember Michael Crowley of Glenbanoo

he was one of the main men for tapping the keg

and he'd have other helpers with him

and plenty afterwards. [laughter]

- They'd bring 'em out anyway, tap 'em then

if they were short, very short then

someone might go back into town again for another one

[laughter]

- There was a man I was very fond of anyway

his name was Jackie Maloney

but I... be had one funny sang anyway

i remember he having two drinks,

on more than one occasion, like

at a wedding or something now

and he'd say...

"Jesus Christ, glory be to Meetza

I'm like a lamb with two mothers!"

[laughter]

- We had 7 breweries

sorry, I shouldn't call them breweries

7 distilleries in the Mealagh Valley at one stage

and there's no need for me to explain

what they were making

but you see in those days

a bottle of moonshine i think would have been like 2 shillings and half a crown

and because there was no money in circulation

the people that made moonshine

twas like a side income

for us as teenagers

it would have been the rabbits

and my late brother, Frank,

he would have been absolutely a dinger

and all the traps and snares had to be

checked every morning before he went to school

that was more important than going to school

- You'd snare them, as the sang goes

Do you know the wire chain for catching them?

tis an art in itself

because they hop and you must have it set

where he lands likes

like going out a gap now is a great place to catch 'em

- And then myself and Liam Cotter

we used to dazzle them as well in the night time

- We'd have so many flashlight batteries tied together

we'd have the head of a dynamo

the torch of a dynamo

and we'd shine and the rabbit would get dazzled

if twas a frosty night

they'd run

but if was a dark, misty night now

they'd lie down

and the dog would catch them easier for us then

because we'd be selling the rabbits, you see

there were loads of them at that time...

they used to be sold for meat, yeah

stewed rabbit was often used

i'd often eat it when I was young

- I reckon they were a very intelligent animal

they mightn't be

but I thought they were when I was growing up

it was a case of

I against him, like [laughter]

- God, but they were fine big ridges of carrots

and we had dogs and we tied a dog
in each end of the ridge

the place where rabbits would becoming in

and we used to have to go through the trouble of going up

and feeding the dog in the morning

and giving them a bowl of water

and feeding them at night

we wound up

believe it or not

with 1 carrot in each ridge

that the rabbit couldn't reach with the dog

1 carrot in each ridge!

[laughter]

I can remember that now
as if it was yesterday

- There was a man that worked for

I think it was John Lane in Dunmanway

and his name was Denis or Denny Reegan

and he would do a run around the valley once a week

I think twas Wednesday

and he would deliver coal

and he would have basic groceries like

bread,

and sugar, salt, tobacco,

sure people didn't buy much more

so he used to buy the rabbits then from us

so the rabbits would be gutted

which my brother, Frank, was a topper at

and he could have 30 or 50 rabbits

for this guy Denny Reegan

- But do you know

rabbits are very scarce

you wouldn't hardly see a rabbit today

- Yeah, but I suppose

they got myxamatosis at some stage, you see

and that kind of put people off them

but they used to be used a lot in the countrysides
at one time

- That myxamatosis, or whatever it was like

we stopped snaring them then

they wouldn't buy them anyway like

you wouldn't sell them with that

their heads used to swell

whatever they gave them...
it was desperate like

Twas a cruelty to animals if anything like

- Roll on, myxamatosis came along

and that put a big dent in
our pocket money

we said, if we got the guy
that invented myxamatosis

we'd kill him

because... I have to insist that

there was no money exchanging hands

like my parents achieved something

and the older i get the more I realize it

they reared 4 of us on 20 acres

there were no subsidies

and my father never worked

outside the house

as in, he never worked for anybody else

so like, if they weren't as thrifty as they were

we'd go hungry

but we never went hungry

- Thanks be to God,
we always had enough like

you might hear them talking about it
or something like

you know, we had plenty of good food like

bread, made in the house, and

spuds, swedes, cabbage, whatever

and plenty eggs, plenty of hens

- Like just going back to big events

the stations would have been a big event

and you'd sort of have to explain to people these days

what are stations...

they're basically where the priest would
come around and say mass

for not parishes...

for a number of townlands

and then the dues would have been
collected by the priest

after the mass

and I would have served mass
on some of those stations

and sometimes if you were lucky

you might get a shilling or 2 shillings of a tip

which was... nice money

- On the cloth.. they'd be painting the ceiling over the alter

white cloth...

would be painted,

the ceiling over the alter and the alter...

later down they left the table as it was

but in my younger days

the table would be rose up
off of the ground a bit

back then the alter
was higher at that time

- That would come around

there was a rota

where you'd have stations in your house

every 5 to 6 years

and of course

twas a great way of, you know,

keeping the houses in fairly good condition

because you had everything white washed

for the stations & the rest of it

and houses looked quite well

you'd have your house looking the best
for the stations

but you see if you didn't have the stations

like everything, things would just

drift away, you know?

- Yeah, you'd get a feed

and you could get a bottle of lemonade

which was a big treat

- And then, and then when
the priest was gone

and then the porter and the poitín
and stuff, would be brought out

- To mass? I used to often go there
with my mother

walk across

I suppose we were probably doing that

before my first time to town
to see the houses tied to each other

Couldn't believe that like [laugh]

but yeah we used to go down

across the land and walk to Kealkill

Yeah, down across our land like

and then we'd cross over into the next land

because twas in the next land
the bridge was

- Whose land is that on?

- At the time it was Murphy's

Bishop's now, yeah

so we'd cross over the fence somewhere

go over the bridge there

up over through the land

get out onto the road

and the road

gone down into Kealkill then like so

would be about 4 miles straight across
that way like, of a walk

- Remember, they did that fasting

this is what people forget

because if they wanted to receive
at first mass

they wouldn't have been allowed
to consume anything in their stomach

after 12 o'clock the night before

Again, you see...

thanks to the power of the church

you had big numbers in every house

- Oh every house would nearly have a pig

because all the houses at that time had lots of kids...

and everyone had to have...

- One of the more interesting things that
I have to add to this is...

having the sow, having the banbhs

in the kitchen

- Especially winter time or night time

they'd be brought into the kitchen

- Oh, they always reared banbhs
inside in the house

- This is something now

that people think is 3rd world, ok

but I was having a chat with a guy
in a pub one night...

and I say, never deny where you come from

because if you do, life is over

so, that's alright he said

but I remember having two sows
in the kitchen

- In the very olden days

they'd be brought into the kitchen

for the heat and the protection

to keep the banbhs warm

and obviously keep the sow warm

and there'd be a straw bed made

for the sow

in the kitchen

- And they'd be running around

when I was younger

I'd get out of bed in the morning

come down

we'd see the little banbhs

you know, and they'd be running around and

the sow would be nursing them and everything

you'd see her every so often, yeah

- And then, you'd have the occasion then

where the sow would get up

and she'd want to scratch herself

and she'd scratch herself off
the leg of the table

[laughter]

- Oh they'd have extremely sharp teeth

they'd be no sooner born when their teeth...

would be

within 12 hours their teeth
would be snapped off

because they'd bite the sow's tits

so that she'd jump up and

she could get cross with them and everything so

my mother was great at that

she was better than any dentist

- And this was before the advent

of a thing called the farrowing pen

and the danger was

that the sow, which is the mother,

would lie on the babies

and losing an animal was crucial

- Twas no notice at all to...

if you had a sow having banbhs
in an outhouse

you made a bed in the outhouse

and slept beside the sow

to make sure that when she got up

she wouldn't lie on the banbhs

because, you see, what the sow would do

she'd get up and she'd go fixing the bed

and she'd mix the banbhs in with the straw
and the rest of it

and she'd come and lie down on them then, see

and smother them

so you had to be there
to protect the banbhs

and I can remember

I can remember, I can remember...

sleeping in the pig's house with the sows

and in the middle of the night

you could wake up

and you know the banbhs would

find the heat

and you'd have all the banbhs
lying around ya

inside in the bed

[laughter]

- So part of what I jotted down

in memories of the Mealagh Valley

is one I distinctly remember from
being very young

as I did say, my parents were self-sufficient

killing the pig.

Now, this was a horrendous ordeal

- It was a big job?

- Horrendous.

- While we were killing a pig at home once

and myself and my sister, God rest her

we had to go upstairs

and put our heads under the mattress

we didn't want to hear the pig screech

- Because the pig wasn't sedated
in any fashion

the pig was basically bled to death

so 4-5 men would get together,
hold the pig down

but there would be one specific person

that would be allotted to sticking the pig because

if the pig was stuck wrong

the pig couldn't bleed properly

so basically,

you bled the poor animal to death

and you could hear that pig roaring

2, 3 parishes away

wouldn't you too, if you were trying
to fight for your life?

So, twas a huge ordeal like

that was a big event in the calendar

because the woman of the house
would spend the day

boiling water

Remember now,
there was no electricity in these days

So, water would be
continuously boiled all day

you'd fill up a big barrel of water

- You'd need about about 20 gallons
of boiling water

and the pig would be dipped into that then

and have to be turned and the other side

and dipped in then

and you needed help for that

- You needed strong men

- Strong men, yes

there were no pullies or anything like that
in those days

no block & tackle

only brute force and ignorance

[laughter]

- And then you shaved the pig

with the cut throat razer

that's reality, like

later then, people went on to

using the blow lamp

to take off the hair, off the skin

- Up on the table

into a barrel of boiling water

over a top the table again

and start shaving him

- Some of the fellas were
a little bit careless

about the shaving off the hair

you had the... [laughter]

[laughter]...

you had the hairy bacon then afterwards

[laughter]

- Basically, the payment then

for the people helping for the day

is they'd have a piece of pig going home

- You'd get a barrel of salt

cut up pieces of the pig

and put them in there

put salt all around

shove it out, and into the barrel

- Very little refrigeration?

- Cripes, there was nothing, girl

nothing at all, girl, yeah

nothing, girl

twas everything twas... ya know

- Preserving food.. what would ye
have done to keep?

- They'd have salt.

Salted barrells of pig inside

salted meat, like,

that's what you were always eating

is salt

the pig or the other animals, it'd be all salted like

there'd be salt, there'd be so much
of it inside

oh god, we'd be all day drinking water

- The last batch of pigs that I produced

I had 10 shillings a pig profit

and that wasn't counting my labour at all

so it didn't make any sense to

to continue with pigs after that

- Well, I suppose like every farm

at that time

everyone had a bit of everything,
ya know so

twas all a part of the farm

all do do with survival, and ya know

there'd be always of course hens

they'd be number one anyway

to keep eggs for the house

- Oh yeah, Fair Day,

there used to be Fair Day in Bantry then

once a month I think twas

twould be Friday Fair Day
it was known as

and they'd walk the cattle then to the fair

the biggest problem was like

to try and keep them from going off the road

into the first road they'd meet

when we were young, we'd be...

oh, and by the way

the school would be closed every Friday

first Friday of every month

the school was closed so the pupils would

help with taking the cattle to the fair

and we'd be sent a long ahead

and stand at a roadway going in to a house

to stop the cattle going in there

- We set off here at 2 o'clock in the night

to walk to Bantry

no bother

I walked to Dunmanway as well

- The day took as long as it took

as a buyer to buy them

if they weren't sold, they'd have to be

walked home again

- So Mick Lucey had a cow for sale

and he went to the Fair with the cow

so your man was curious to know

what price did he make of the cow

so he said, when he met your man,

he said "How did you fair out of the cow?"

"Oh," said Mick Lucey

"I wasn't inside in the cow at all"

[laughter]

- You'd have to take them down
to the station

they'd be taken away then by train

you'd have to take them down then

you could be delayed there then as well

they'd be slow enough to load them

- Is that now where the new Supervalu is?

- Yeah, down there, yeah yeah

you see the carriages were high

and it was hard to get the cattle
into the carriages

but I suppose there were no lorries

or anything at that time like

- We had our own

all our own veg like

- We'd plant it with the
horse and side plough

we used to grow swedes

and cabbage and all that...

- We used to cut rushes then

and then they'd make a heap

like heap up the potatoes

for the frosts and anything then

- And you put carrots into sand

and you would preserve them in the sand
as well

- We used to have the potatoes
in the gallán field

we used to call it the gallán field,

there was a stone in the centre of the field

all the potatoes would be picked then

well that was a day

we'd be left off from school that day
to pick the potatoes

- Funny enough

the ground that hadn't been tilled

was the best place you could plant them

they'd call it a bán field

bán field, a field that hasn't been
worked previously

- You'd have a potato

and you could make 4 out of it

she always was good at that

- Scilleáns

they'd cut 'em up you see

you could make 4 out of 1

but there'd have to be an eye
in every one of 'em

- They used to plough

in what they called

a November Dark

October, November

and they'd plough the green field

the bán, we used to call it the bán ground

they'd plough the green field

in the fall of the year

they used to say

we plough in November Dark

and the reason for that was

that you'd have the turned sod

and the ravages of the winter

would breakup,
would break up the ground

and it would be very easy

to till in the spring of the year

- Flax, flaxseed

the seed was put in the ground

flax grew up

twould be just the very same as barley

but instead of having a head like barley

it had a head of blue flowers

twas absolutely beautiful now

really lovely blue flowers

yeah, but then that had to be pulled

and it had to be taken to a pond

it'd be at least 2 weeks, 3 weeks

it had to rot anyway
that's all i know about it

and there was a stink from it

twas even worse than slurry
[laughter]

ah the whole thing

that was spread out in the field

spread out paper thin

no, my father used to take it to

Connonagh, there was a mill in Connonagh

that's near Leap

they use for linen anyway

well we had oats & barley too

we had flax only once or twice

twas very troublesome work

it was troublesome
no mistake about it like

- They used to actually set fields

furze in a field at that time

they were setted like

for the horse

- My father actually sat a gorse,

we call it furze, you call it gorse

he sat a small field with furze in it

- So he planted..?

- He planted furze facing north

they reckoned were the best furze
you could grow

and that furze would be cut

with a hook & gabhlóg

and brought in

and chopped for the horse

and that was actually very health feeding for the horse

- My father always has a horse, like

oh cut the furze

we used to often turn the handle

for the furze machine

he'd feed it to the furze machine

and turn the handle

the furze were the feeding for the horse

you cut into it with the hook and gabhlóg

- The gabhlóg was something like a Y

and you'd put the gabhlóg in

near the furzey bush

at the top of the bush where the furze was

you'd put in the gabhlóg

and with the hook

you'd hit it off

and you'd have a nice little bunch of furze

and you'd bring the furze home in a basket

and put it through a furze machine

to chop it for the horses

- My father used to say that
in every townland

somebody was missing a piece
of a finger

because of this furze machine

because the cogs

weren't covered

so I think...

about 1959 or 1960

Frank had the top of his finger chopped off

and even in later years

you see, the nail didn't grow across the top

and when I remember, even in the hospital,

and I used to tell people that

that finger, he wasn't born with that

the top of that got chopped off
in a furze machine

and there was no hospital in Bantry
at that time

so must have been soon after the time
I was born

- So what was done with him?

- They had to go to Cork on the train

that was a horrendous journey, like

but those animals had
very little health problems

because what they
were eating was organic

twas extremely healthy

- And would there have been feed
bought in for the horses?

- As little as possible

that's being quite honest with you

The more the tractor came in,

the horse was disappearing

and plus the fact that all these

pursuits were very time-consuming

and when the tractor was finished
in the evening

you didn't have to feed it

you parked it til the following morning

you put diesel in it, if it needed it

but you didn't have to feed it
and it didn't have to rest

- Times were a lot more difficult

farming was slower because

everything was done by horses

you know, when I took over here

there were 4 horses here on this farm

4 working horses

so I couldn't wait to get rid of them

and buy a tractor

- Tis all machinery now practically anyway

hay is nearly, not as much anymore

tis silage that's taken over that

but at that time, it was all hay

and a lot of it was hand work

with the pikes and turning it

cocking it, and all this

- The grass wasn't as heavy then
as tis now like

bags of manure, there were no bags
of manure at that time

none whatsoever, no

'twould be light

and you see, if was in anyway heavy

the little finger bar
wouldn't be able to cut it

and you see now tis heavy

but sure with the big machines
and tractors now

they do as much in in a half an hour

as they'd be doing in a week
at that time

you know, with a pike
and fiddling around

they do it in half an hour, like

- A time then for each crop

twas always very important that

the oat crop was planted

before Patrick's Day

and if you didn't have your oats planted

by Patrick's Day

they'd call it cuckoo oats

twas important that you had your

oats growing before the cuckoo arrived

yeah and if you planted around
the time the cuckoo arrived

twas called cuckoo oats

and there was cuckooo oats

and corn crake barley

you wouldn't hear the corncrake
til out in the year too you see

and if you were planting barley

around the time the corn crake was craking

that'd be corn crake barley
[laughter]

- The lark would be rising

out of the ground you'd hear them

they'd be singing, they'd be rising away

it was beautiful

you had the cuckoos then

at the start of the summer time

we'd be hearing them cuckooing around

and of course the corn crake then...

- The corn crake? Oh, he'd be

a lovely, lovely voice out of him, like

lovely squeak

- It'd be kind of screechy

screechy voice, like

- And at night he'd come and he'd say

I heard the corn crake
and the corn crake would say

- He said, ""Late! I'm very late!"

- "Late! Late! I'm very late!"
[laughter]

- We used to love the sound
of the corn crake

as you know, the corn crake
had a very distinctive sound

- There'd be 2 or 3 of them
in different meadows

and you'd hear them,
they'd be craking away

- Oh they'd be around the fields
there now

they wouldn't be that far away
at all

- Oh God, this was a great field
here for it

myself and my father would come down

we'd stand at the gate below

and he'd be about...

he or she would be about 20 yards

that was a meadow

when I was growing up

but to hear her!

the craking!

twas lovely

we'd stand there for maybe an hour

half an hour, anyway like

and the piercing noise
going through your ear

not any more

- There's no more of that now, like

no, no, no...

- Oh my God, tis years and years

- I suppose back in the 1960s

back in the 1960s...

when the thrasher and blade came

it destroyed the corn crake, you see

- Twas the modern machinery finished 'em

- But you see once it progressed
into the tractor machines

they were going around so quick...

they kind of done away with them

or they frighten them out of it, anyway

- And of course, the hay would be cut

later than the silage

so since the silage came in...

there's more manure used as well

and the fields are mowed...

a lot of those birds, I'd say got lost then

because the eggs would be

hatched in the fields

- My father was cutting

one evening he was cutting

a field of hay with a scythe

and

he was just going near... when she flew out

- Narrow escape

- And of course, when we were young

when the field would be mowed

they used to be mowed
by horses, of course,

horses and the horse mowing machine

and of course, the mowing machine
would upset the corn crake's nest

and when we were young

we used to be gathering up the little chicks

and taking them to the field next door

so that they'd be safe

we'd go hide then

and watch until the mother comes back

and gathers her chicks

I can remember that quite well

You know, we were always conscious of wild life

and I think country people would be very conscious

and very protective of wild life

- There's farmers up the country

getting money to try and...

Ah, she was a lovely sound

lovely sound

[corn crake craking sound]

Oh soft are the breezes

that blow in the spring

and sweet is the music

the song thrushes bring

but I sigh for a scene

that I seldom see now

a man in a field

with his horses and plough

Farewell to the days

of my youth long ago

when I harnessed by team

by the Bann down below

then away to the highlands

beside Curragow

to turn a neat farrow

with horses and plough

invoking a blessing

at the start of the day

Bail O Dhia or an obair

is what I would say

hoping for guidance

to keep the know how

to plough a straight farrow

with horses and plough

And up at the headland

every once in a while

I rested my body

all aching with toil

with the sleeve of my shirt

wipe the sweat from my brow

as I gazed on the work

of my horses and plough

with whistling and lilting

and the verse of a song

they lightened my labour

all the day long

with the seagulls around me

and the crows on the bow

all seeking the bounty

of horses and plough

and in the evenings

when the sun it sank low

with my honey and ball

to the sports field

would go

to win an All-Ireland

we'd all make a vow

as we sought recreation

from horses and plough

but the clatter of tractors

pollution and all

have crippled the ceapall

and sad was the fall

while faraway OPEC

we richly endow

forgetting the value

of horses and plough

and when I'll be leaving

this valley of woe

to the fair fields of heaven

I hope I will go

one request to St. Peter

I hope he'll allow

eternal employment

for horses and plough.