Margaret Monaghan nee King, Clogherboy

Our House

I remember the house where I was born in Clogherboy. It was a three-roomed house, which would be small, by today’s standards. There were two bedrooms and a kitchen and no bathroom or toilet.

Family

There were six of us in the family, as well as my father and mother and grandparents. The family members were Mary, Ellen, Sadie, Margaret (myself), Paddy, Jackie, and Christy. I remember when  my brother Christy was born. He was the youngest. It was Christmas night and I was about six years old. I remember I did not like the look of the baby.

The woman next door was taking care of us until my aunt Maisie arrived. She chased us all to bed, out of her way. My sisters kept peeping out to see what was going on, but I was afraid as aunt Maisie had a dinner fork in her hand, and she was making swipes at us. I also remember getting the measles, and being put in with the others, who already had them. Everyone did not have their own bed at that time, you slept with a lot more, at  the top or bottom of the bed, and took no notice. It was the same in every house.

FARMING

We were small farmers by today’s standards, but still made a living.  It was mostly two cows, a few cattle, maybe twelve or fourteen sheep, and a few pigs. We had a big flock of hens, some ducks and geese. We had  no turkeys until years later, when every household had some.  We sowed potatoes, oats and turnips. The hay was cut with a scythe, and the thistles had to be picked out before it was saved. The reason for this was that the hay had to be pulled by hand from the big stacks in the haggard, and the thistles would be a nuisance. Oats were also cut with a  scythe. They were then taken out by hand and bundled in sheaves and tied. Then it was stooked and later on taken in to the haggard and  stacked.

I remember it being threshed by hand, by my father and Tom Cait, with two flails, one at each end of the barn, and having every second lash, until it was threshed. Then the straw was taken away and the oats winnowed in a hand winnowing machine to remove the chaff. The winnowing machine was turned by hand, and it was not an easy job. Later on, the threshing machine did all the work, but the seed had to be carried away, and the straw made into a stack. The neighbours helped each other and went around to all the houses. Afterwards everyone got tea and plenty of eggs and bread and butter.

THE NEIGHBOURS

Our nearest neighbours were John Wynne and his wife Maggie.  John was the village blacksmith and his forge was just across the road from us; in fact you could know the kind of work he was doing by the noise the anvil made.

John was a big man and always wore a Bauneen or homemade white flannel jacket’. My mother used to make them for him; they were regular wear for a lot of older men. John’s wife was a small red-haired woman, and  they had no family.  We liked to visit the forge and blow the bellows which were hand  operated. Then there was Pat Coen, who  lived back the road. He was also a big man, and we called him Gulliver. He was a great story teller, in both English and Irish. He had a big family, his wife’s name was Kate.

Further back the road lived Tom Cait; his real name was Tom Mullins, but his mother was called Cait, He was tall and thin with dark skin. Tom did a bit of work here and there,  he would reap oats after a man cutting it with a scythe, or dig potatoes or do some threshing with a flail. He had a goat called Nanny, and he used to milk her in the evenings. Tom was not able to read or write, but had a wonderful memory. Anything he heard once, he could repeat it word for word, which was a great trait.

LUKIE AND MARGARET

Up the boreen from our house lived Lukie and Margaret King. They had a small thatched house,  down in a  hollow. They had no children, but had plenty of the neighbour’s children in and out.  I don’t know how they put up with us, but they did. Margaret was nice; she had long brown hair and used to wear in a big bun, on top of her head. We used to make her take it down, so that we could brush it down her back.  She used to wear a black shawl, for going to Mass, as not many women wore hats then. She used to come with us when we went picking raspberries in Moyne wood, and other times, when we would pick rhododendrons.

There was a big house in Moyne Park, and in my time, it was occupied by a French order of Priests and Monks. They used to have evening devotions and Margaret used to bring us there.  There was a lovely Chapel, and it had seven altars, a big one at the top, and three on either side, on the other walls.  She also used to take us to Abbey Church, in the next parish, to see the crib at  Christmas, as our church did not have any.  She used to sing songs for us and get up and dance a polka or the heel and toe for us, with her clogs on. Lukie, her husband  was very  nice too.

WILLIE AND BREEGE

Across the boreen from Margaret and Lukie, lived Willie Hession and his wife Breege. They had a family of seven, five boys and two girls. Jimmy the youngest was born a month premature and Willie made Breege stay in bed with the baby for a month to keep him warm. It was summer, and us  kids were in and out of the bed as well.  I don’t know how the poor child escaped being smothered.  Breege died when some of the children were still very young, but Willie did his very best for them. They were a happy go lucky family and some went to America and got on well.  Their house was the local visiting house, and used to be packed in winter.

Everyone was welcome, and I never heard any bad language there. I remember Margaret’s ritual for lighting the lamp in the evenings; no electricity at that  time. It was a tin lamp hanging on the wall, and it burned paraffin oil. There was an inch wide wick that went down to the oil. She cleaned the glass globe, and picked the wick straight and lit it and put on the globe. Then she blessed herself and said “the light of heaven to us all and St. Patrick pray for us”.

GOING TO SCHOOL

We had to walk about three miles to the old school in Garra. Part of the way was a bog road, and it could be cold and miserable in winter. The roads were rough, and were not tarred at that time. In winter, we had boots with plenty of studs in the soles and heels. We had black woollen stockings up to our knees, with garters to keep them up. In summer, we went in our bare feet and got plenty of cuts and bruises on the rough roads, but we did not take much notice.

I remember my first day at school, and the teacher asking my name. I got a slate and chalk to write with. Our books were usually passed down, from one to another. Our lunch at that time was very simple, a few slices of homemade bread and butter. Our play area was a small yard, that got very dirty in bad weather. We used a long rope, so that a number of us could skip together. On wet days we were allowed to eat our lunch in the school. There was a fireplace in each room, and every house had to bring a load of turf to provide heat. There was no running water at the time, and water was brought from a local pump, for drinking. The toilets at that were very primitive, and a local man had to take away the waste a couple of times a year.