The pound, an enclosure used to impound straying or seized (confiscated) animals, was once a common feature of the towns and villages of Ireland.[1] The practice of impounding animals dates back to at least the fourteenth century.[2] Inevitably, many streets took their name from the structure, and Pound Lanes and Pound Roads became part…… Continue Reading
Ballyhennessy Sandhills: Portrait of a North Kerry Wonder Dog
It is doubtful if any other dog has received such whole-hearted cheers in the history of the track – Wimbledon, August 1937 Ballyhennessy Sandhills was born in June 1935 and reared on a farm in County Kerry with ‘a wheelbarrow in a barn for a bed and two goats for company.’[1] He was a greyhound,…… Continue Reading
A Thousand Words: Castleisland’s Tribute to the ‘Special Artist’
Many of the artists of nineteenth century journalism remained anonymous, dubbed, nonchalantly, ‘special artist.’[1] Yet without the work of those nameless artists, a spectacular gap would be left in the record of people and events which left their mark on history. The work of the special artist helped to alleviate the challenge faced by…… Continue Reading
Castleisland: The Early Roman Catholic Church
Ecce Nunc In Pulvere Dormiam / Behold now I sleep in dust – Job ch7 v21 In medieval times, there were several small churches in the Castleisland area. In Castleisland itself, there was St Nicholas Church. With the fall of the last Earl of Desmond in the sixteenth century, the church was confiscated and eventually…… Continue Reading
Céad Míle Fáilte Penang: A 1970s Cultural Exchange
In one of his collections of essays and poetry, Rays of Cheer (1978), Castleisland’s M J Reidy – otherwise Moss Tommy – gave space to an essay by one of his supporters and admirers, educationalist and music composer, Puan Katijah Tan Guat Bee, of Penang, an island off the coast of Malaysia. Katijah’s essay,…… Continue Reading
Dicksgrove: Notes on the Families of Meredith and Coltsmann
Dicksgrove, near Castleisland, was long synonymous with the family of Meredith, landlords there since the early eighteenth century.[1] Indeed, Richard Meredith (1739-1821), who planted, built upon, and improved the estate, is said to have named Dicksgrove after himself.[2] Meredith’s improvements were said to have been made on the site of ‘the Bailleagh forfeiture.’[3] This…… Continue Reading
The Trial of John Twiss: Notes on Jury Packing
Resolved – That the arbitrary exclusion from the jury box of any of Her Majesty’s subjects by the agents of the Crown on the grounds of creed not only destroys all confidence in the jury selected and deprives their verdict of all moral weight, but also inflicts an insult on the entire class to which…… Continue Reading
Monumental: Honouring Kerry’s Regional Poets
In the cemetery of Kilmakilloge, Tuosist, stands a handsome monument inscribed as follows: Leac é seo a tógadh i mí Iúil, 1930, Diarmuid Ó Seaghdha (na bolgaighe) agus an Mortaí Ó Súilleabháin (Learai), beirt Filí Thuaith Ó Siosta atá curtha sa Reilig seo. “A Thighearna ghléigil soar leo comacta suin/Iosa agus Aoin-Mic eist le…… Continue Reading
John Twiss: Blood of Gentlemen
In the wake of the hanging of John Twiss on 9 February 1895, the county of Kerry was described as in ‘a frenzy of rage.’ The comment came from the president of Sinn Féin, John Joseph O’Kelly, better known as Sceilg, as he recalled a football tournament played in Killarney which he…… Continue Reading
The Poff Family of County Kerry
Sylvester Poff of Mountnicholas was hanged in Tralee prison, alongside his cousin, James Barrett of Dromultan, on 23 January 1883. They had been convicted of the murder of Thomas Browne of Dromultan. James Barrett was unmarried. Sylvester Poff had been married for eight years to Anne Sugrue, and was a father to Mary, Hannah,…… Continue Reading