0.00.31 - 0.07.12 |
Early life. Born on Bandon Road. Roche’s Cross. Moving to Ballypheane. Death of mother. Move to Ballypheane. Aunts and fathers house. Greenmount School. Glasheen Secondary School. How he has bad memories of school in Glasheen, how you’d be terrified of school then. Playing with the Barrs. Walking up the Lee Fields. Bowling, playing football and how they would be out all the time. The Three Fields. The Well Field. Playing hurling when they got to age twelve or thirteen. Going out the road bowling. Going for a spin in the car with his uncle on a Sunday to Kinsale and Garrettstown. Going bowling up Pouldaduff Road by Celia’s Pub. The river by Celia’s Pub. How there was just one child ever collected in primary school. How there was just one car on their road. Mick Barry the bowler. Other greats of bowling Dennis Scully and Mick Sexton. How he disliked primary school but like secondary school. Going on to CIT and doing a marine related course. Studying morse code. Going on to work in Fords. Working there from 1979 to 1984. How they knew Fords would be closing in 84 in connection with the Common Market. How it was worse for married men being laid off. How Fords were great employers and would pay for employee’s children to go through college. Fords West Cork connections. How it was a big blow when it closed. The Lough. Tom starts off by saying he was born on Bandon Road, and then moved to Roche’s Cross. His mother died in 1964 and they moved to Ballypheane then. He says he was born in 1958. They moved here in he was about six. The house where the interview is taking place and where he lived was his aunt’s house. His father’s house was number 223. He went to Greenmount School and then Glasheen Secondary School. He says his memories of Greenmount School are bad memories. He says you’d be terrified of school then and that you’re a product of your times. He says he played hurling with the Barrs up to the age of nineteen. Himself and his friends would go up the Lee Fields walking. They would go out the road bowling and out walking and across the road playing football. He adds that this is basically all they did, there were no computers then so you would be out all the time. He says they would be out the Three Fields and the Well Field. They would be just running around the Three Fields when asked what games would they play. He says when they got to twelve or thirteen they would start playing hurling and football for the Barrs. They would go for a spin every Sunday with his uncle, there was a fellow they knew had a car. They would go for a spin to Kinsale and Garrettstown. They would go bowling up Pouladuff Road by Celia’s Pub. He says they would have played in the river by Celia’s pub as well in answer to a question from Jamie. He says that when he was in primary school there was only one child in the school ever collected by car. He says there was only one car on their road from the traffic lights closest to where the interview is taking place and the lights down by the Lough. He says he remembers Mick Barry the bowler playing. He says he died in the same home in Ballincollig where Bobby did. (Bobby Moore, his cousin Eleanor’s father). He says he was a great bowler, adding that he and his siblings when Mick Barry was bowling. He lists him off with the other great bowlers Dennis Scully and Mick Sexton. He says you were out all the time as you had no computer or no car. He returns to the subject of school saying he disliked primary school but like secondary school. He says you were a grownup when you go to secondary school by means of explaining this. He says he loved French and Latin. He went on to do a marine course in CIT. He says he studied morse code which you had to do if you were going to be working on ships. He says you would be fixing equipment too but he didn’t finish that part of the course. He says he then went on to work in Fords. He started in 1979 and finished in 1984. He adds he then went on to Western Digital and then Apple. Returning to the subject of Fords he says they always knew it would close in 84 and this had something to do with the Common Market. He mentions that Dunlops closed in 83 and they were the year after. He says he was so young he probably didn’t care but for married men it was worse. He adds that Fords would give them a great severance pay and would pay to put their children through college. He says they were great employers. He adds that Ford himself was West Cork, Ballinascarty. He says there 800 there at that time and they thought that was a huge amount though nowadays there would be thousands in Apple. When it closed it was a big blow he says especially for families. He says things were very bad that time for jobs. He says there was no one on the Road working. He goes into a general discussion about how Ballypheane picked up and the economy in general. He says the houses locally are there years. The Lough is there hundreds of years. |
0.07.14 - 0.09.26 |
Ballypheane developments when he was young. How the houses down Pouladuff Road hadn’t yet been built when he was young. The dump on the site of Pearse Square. “The Dumpa”. How much of Ballypheane goes back seventy five years. How the houses on the road where he lives were among the last to be built. How Pearse Road stretches to Musgrave Park and beyond. Kent Road, Connolly Road. How the corporation built the houses by direct labour. His father in the mill, his uncle in Fords. The Falvey builders were are no relation. Michael Moores work for the Project on masons. Jim Fahey’s work on masons. Stone Mason Dinny Murphy who would go to work in a shirt and tie. How the old tradesmen were very proud of their work. The masons language barlog. The local church. Ballypheane Credit Union. When asked was there still development going on in Ballypheane when he was young Tom says the houses down Pouladuff Road weren’t there then. He says there was a dump where Pearse Square is now. He says they would call it the Dumpa. He says that would be going back about fifty years. Outside of that the main part of Ballypheane is seventy five years old. He says the houses where he is living were among the last to be built. He says the houses started way down beyond the church (Ballypheane Church). He says Pearse Road goes down to Musgrave Park and beyond it. James adds that Kent Road was the first to be built then parts of Connolly Road and Pearse Road were added. He says it was built by direct labour as it was called where the corporation would have their own plasterers etc. He says they don’t build anything now. He says he doesn’t think any of his relatives were involved in the building of Ballypheane. His father used to work down the mill and his uncle was in Fords and another uncle in Texaco. He says there were Falvey builders but they weren’t related. This leads into a discussion about Michael Moores work for the Cork Folklore Project interviewing masons. Jim Faheys work in this area is also discussed. Tom talks about a stone mason he knew who is now dead called Dinny Murphy. Tom says he would go to work in a shirt and tie. He adds that Dinny Murphy had fierce pride and that was the way with the old tradesmen. The mason’s language barlog is mentioned. James mentions that the local church was built by local tradesmen. Tom says the credit union ion Ballypheane was built around 1959. Tom doesn’t remember the credit union being in the church. |
0.09.28 - 0.13.42 |
How they would never venture further up Ballypheane beyond the traffic lights. How his grand uncle Tom Harris was at the first Barrs meeting. Book on the Barrs. His Harris grandmother. The old Harris House on the corner of the Lough. The Harris market gardens. Tom Harris’s horse. The old Garda Station by the Ardmanning. The big old house that was still there when Tom was in his twenties and is long gone. Tom says the Harris Market garden was still there when he was young. How there were other market gardens still in Friars Walk owned by the Scanlon’s, a relative of theirs Mick Carroll still lives on the corner up a bit from Tom. How they had a lot of property that was bought by compulsory order. Tom’s grandaunt Madgie Harris who lived on Pouladuff Road. How when you’re young you don’t take much notice of things. How he hated primary school. How you would be afraid of the priests. Walking to school in Greenmount. Jumping on the bus. Playing hurling on the street. Having a tennis ball in place of a sliothar. Going to school with a plastic bag for gear. Having one toothbrush at home and no toothpaste. When his older brother Jerry came back from England with deodorant and aftershave and Tom didn’t know what it was. He says they never went beyond the traffic lights further out Pearse Road. He says they wouldn’t have gone to Tory TopPark. He says they would stay between the traffic lights and they could name everyone in that area. He says they would go to the Lee Fields, or play with the Barrs or go for a spin on Sunday but they would never go further up to Ballypheane beyond the traffic lights. He says his grand uncle was at the first Barrs meeting which he thinks was around 1884. His name was Tom Harris and Tom says his name is in a book about the Barrs. Toms own grandmother was a Harris. He lived in the corner house which is still standing at the corner of the Lough and Pearse Road. Tom says they all had market gardens running back from the house. He says there’s still a bit of land there. Tom says up by the Ardmanning Bar there was a big old house which was the old Garda Station. He says it was a big old house that was still there when Tom was in his twenties but it’s gone now. Tom says the Harris Market garden was still there when he was young. He says a family called the Scanlon’s also had market gardens in Friars Walk, he says a relative of theirs, Mick Carroll still lives up on the corner from Tom. He says they had a lot of property which was all bought by compulsory order. Tom speaks of his grandaunt Madgie Harris who lived on Pouladuff Road. They had a bungalow but it’s long gone. He says those people from when he was a child are all long gone. He says when you’re young you don’t take much notice of things. Some people get older and you’d wonder are they making things up he says. He talks more on how he hated secondary school. He says you’d be afraid of the priests. You’d be afraid going to school he says. Secondary school was different. He says he’d walk out to Greenmount when he was going to school there. He says you’d walk everywhere. He says he’d walk there with his brothers or maybe a fellow he’d know from across the road. He says lads would be acting the fool and jumping on the bus, these were normal things he says. He says there was more freedom then. He says they would play hurley on the street. They would have a hurling stick but no sliothar, they would have a tennis ball instead. They had no helmet. Tom remembers going to school with a plastic bag, thee would have been no gear bags. He says at home they had one toothbrush and no toothpaste. He adds you’re a product of your environment. He talks about when his brother Jerry who spent years in England came home with deodorant and aftershave and Tom didn’t know what it was. Tom was about twelve at the time and Jerry was seven years older. He asks could young people today relate to that. |
0.13.52 - 0.17.30 |
When Tom went to Southampton in England to work. Coming back after ten months. Western Digital, Apple. Working in Odlum’s Mill for ten years. Cork Milling Company. Grants Mill. Fords, Dunlop’s and Gouldings. Why he played for the Barrs but not for Ballypheane. The Lough Parish. How they were all Barrs. “The Battle Of Ballypheane”. The row between the local soccer and GAA team in Tory Top Park. Father Fitzgerald. Fr Ormond who died in the Tuskar Rock plane crash in 1968. Theory that the plane was hit by a missile. How this was a very bad local tragedy and many from Ballypheane were on it. Other local tragedies and accidents. Tom speaks about when he went to Southampton in England to work. He only stayed there for ten months. He went over there after Fords. He said he wasn’t out of work for thirty years once he came back. He new a man called Tommy Welsh who worked in the mills over there so Tom went over to join him at that. Once he came back he worked in Western Digital and Apple. He worked in Odlums Mill for about ten years. He said it was dusty and he worked in the storeroom. It was a bit primitive. He says the front of it is preserved which was built in the 1930s and the main building was knocked. That was the National Flower Mill. Grants mill was the Cork Milling company. That was the big silo mill situated by where Goldberg’s pub is now. He says hundreds were employed there. Further down you had Fords, Dunlop’s and Gouldings. He says there’s nothing now, in terms of employment. The discussion moves to a brewery that is operating there now where Fords was (the Franciscan Well Brewery). Discussion moves back to his time playing hurling and Jamie notes he played with the Barrs but he didn’t play for Ballypheane. Tom says they were all Barrs. He says from the top traffic lights above them down to the Lough is all the Lough Parish but the reason he played with the Barrs was that his granduncle and uncle all played Barrs. James asks Tom if he heard of the Battle Of Ballypheane to which Tom says he heard something about it. Tom says he wasn’t there but he read about it. James goes into the story of how the soccer and GAA teams arrived at the pitch on Tory Top Park on the same day to play their finals. The soccer side put up their goalposts on the Connolly Road side and the GAA on Friars Walk end. Father Fitzgerald had to be called to sort things out to which Tom says in those days priests could sort things. If you saw the priest you’d nearly get a heart attack. Tom says he does not remember Fr Fitzgerald but he remembers Fr Ormond who died in the Tuskar rock disaster when the plane he was on crashed in 1968. He speaks about the theory that it was hit by a British missile. He says it was a big disaster for Ballypheane with many local dead and that the flight had been going to Lourdes. (Note: the parish priest of Ballypheane who was killed in Tuskar Rock was Fr Edward Hegarty) He speaks about other tragedies such as a girl who was involved with soccer who was killed. He speaks about a local girl June Atkins who was killed by a car. |
0.17.40 - 0.21.07 |
Glasshouses in Hartland’s Avenue. Nursery and cricket club on Hartland’s Avenue. How you could walk through where the cricket club was on the way to Glasheen but it is private now. Tomatoes being grown in the glasshouses. Cortex. Musgrave’s. CMP Dairies. Hickeys. How people didn’t have the money then. The Credit Union in Ballypheane. Building society. How the Credit Union got people out of poverty. The contrast with Gurranabraher which didn’t have a credit union at the time. Credit Unions run by the banks now. Tom says he remembers glasshouses in Hartland’s Avenue but these are gone years. Tom says if you go past the Hawthorne Bar up to the top of the road on the right was all glass houses and a nursery. He says there was a cricket club there too. He says they were there up to thirty five years but in later years they were nearly all broken. There’s all houses there now he says. The cricket club was there too. It is private now. He doesn’t know what the cricket club was called but at one point you could walk through it on the way to Glasheen but it was blocked off then. He says the glasshouses were still being used when he was young, he says you could see tomatoes being grown. In terms of local industries Cortex and Musgrave’s are mentioned. CMP Dairies also which he says are long gone. Hickeys also. Tom says people didn’t have the money then. A discussion about debit cards follows. The Credit Union in Ballypheane is discussed. He says his father used to have money in a building society when they were young. The contrast with Gurranabraher is discussed and how it didn’t have a credit union at the time. Tom says the credit unions are run by the banks now. People in the past would be ducking and avoiding paying them but they can’t do that now. |
0.21.08 - 0.26.24 |
Local character Elle Spillane. Charlie The Bogman. How he lived under a bridge and would be swimming in the water. How he used to swim naked. The murder of a girl in Black Ash. Going to see Bob Marley in concert in Dalymount Park Dublin in 1979. The Rolling Stones. Seeing the Pope in Limerick in 1979. How there was a traffic jam from Cork to Limerick and it took seven hours. The racetrack in Limerick. How the pope was waving. The upcoming papal visit. How the pope got a million visitors in 1979 but is just getting half a million now. How his father would and aunts would go to mass every morning. An uncle who would not go to mass. How religion used to give comfort. Memories of the moving statue of Ballinspittle. Going down to see it but not seeing it moving. How people came from all round to see it. How if you looked at it long enough it with the lights you would think it was moving. On being asked does he remember local Lough character Elle Spillane he says he heard of her but he doesn’t remember her. He speaks about a character called Charlie The Bogman who used to live under a bridge. Charley Coleman was his real name. He used to be swimming in the water by the bridge. He used to be naked going into the water. He had a house but lived under the bridge towards the Bell Field, it might have been the Snotty Bridge. Tom says he was harmless. He likens him to a new age traveller. He was around for a long time and lived to a good age. He says he had a beard and it was hard to put an age on him. He says you would be half afraid of him as a child. Tom talks about the case of a girl who was murdered out in Black Ash. He knew the girls father, he worked in Hickeys. He says that was the only murder he remembers locally. Tom talks about when he went to see Bob Marley in concert in Dalymount Park Dublin in 1979.He says he had a programme but gave it to someone. He went with his friend John Mahoney. He says it wasn’t too long before Bob Marley died. He mentions in passing that he also saw the Rolling Stones in concert. He said it was brilliant to see him. He said the atmosphere was brilliant. He says he used to have all his tapes in the car. It was the best concert he was ever at. He doesn’t recall anything Bob Marley said but he said he would have been half stoned anyway. He doesn’t remember who was supporting. He adds that Dalymount Park is gone too. He speaks of when he went to see the Pope when he visited Ireland in 1979. He travelled up to Limerick to see him. The journey took seven hours. He says there was a traffic jam the whole way from Cork To Limerick. It was in the racetrack in Limerick which is now gone. He says he passed and he thinks he waved at him. He talks about the upcoming visit of the current pope and compares it with how the last papal visit got a million visitors but just half a million are expected this time. He says that the pope has lost his appeal a bit. The older people loved him he says. His own father used to be going to mass every morning. He says Eleanor (Moore)’s mother would go to mass every morning. His other aunt Bridie would go every morning. He says one uncle wouldn’t go to mass, he jokes that he was a bit of a pagan. He says the religion use to give comfort. He talks about memories of the moving statue of Ballinspittle in the 1980’s. He says it was a big thing then. He went down there himself to have a look but didn’t see anything. He says if you looked at it long enough in the light it was supposed to move. He says people would be doing experiments. It died off then he says. |
0.26.26 - 0.29.46 |
The Fastnet Tragedy. The Buttevant train crash. When himself and some friends went to France. How they wouldn’t have known what sunscreen was. Staying in a tent. Visiting Paris and Nice. How France is very expensive. Visiting Tallin in Estonia. Starting working in Apple in 1990. Starting off in the line on quality. Making the boards on PCB. How that closed and was moved abroad. How most of the people he worked with there are now gone from there. How it was all Cork people working there at that time, how it is the opposite now. How they would send a taxi out to collect you for work. Tom mentions the Fastnet tragedy of 1979. He says he was down by Sherkin Island when that happened. He says everything happened in 79. He also talks about the Buttevant train crash. He says he was in France that year. He says himself and three of his friends went to France. He says you’d have no sunscreen that time, you wouldn’t know what it was. He says they went over in jeans and the sweat was pouring off them. They went camping in a tent and visited Paris and Nice. He says in more recent years he visited Tallin in Estonia, about fifteen years. He says he reckons people don’t have much there. Tom says he started working in Apple in 1990. He says they’re there since 1980. He started off on the line, he was on quality then. He was then making the boards on PCB but that closed. That was moved somewhere else. Most of his friends he worked with are gone from there and it’s a different kettle of fish up there now, it is now mostly call centre work. He says when he was there it was all Cork people. He says they would send out a cab to pick you up for going to work and you would make your own way home then. He says they wouldn’t do that now and they’re worth a trillion dollars. He says one of his friends is on the production line about ten years. A discussion on contracts and working conditions follows. |
0.29.52 - 0.35.10 |
Tramore Road. How it was called Hang Dog Road. Stories about how it got that name. A tannery that used to be out there and how stray dogs were made into buoys. Musgrave’s getting the name of the road changed. His brother John involved in greyhounds. Hunting with the Southern Hunt Club when they were younger. Going out hunting towards Kinsale, Belgooly. How it’s dying out now as farmers don’t want people on their land due to insurance claims. How they would hardly ever manage to catch anything. How they would be hours trying to find the dogs. Drag Hunting by the airport. How it would end in Billy Halloran’s pub, now known as Bull McCabe’s. Halloran’s orchard. What Halloran’s pub was like back then. Dogs in the pub. Harrier dogs. Celia’s pub. The outdoor toilet. How the bowling started then. Celia and Jack Neville. How the pub was falling down and many pubs of the time were like then. The route they took for the bowling, starting by Neville’s. Lamdmarks along the way. The pink wall. The bridge. The pump. The Three Sticks. Tiger Aherne’s. Tiger Aherne the bowler. Finishing by Corcoran’s Bridge. How it was all uphill and all downhill. James asks Tom about Tramore Road and if they knew it under a different name. Tom says they did but he struggles to remember what it was called. Jamie suggests Hang Dog Road and Tom say’s this was what it was called. He asks why it was called that and James goes through a story of how there was a tannery and they would bring stray dogs out there to make buoys for fishermen so they would hang the dogs there. James’s says Musgrave’s got the name changed. Tom says his brother John is involved with greyhounds. His brother Dennis was involved with them as well. Tom goes on to say when they were younger himself and his siblings were involved with the Southern Hunt Club who were based on Bandon Road. He says they would go out hunting anywhere, Kinsale, Belgooly but its dying out now as farmers won’t allow access to their land. He says if a fellow broke his leg on their land he would make a claim. He says its not very fashionable now but anytime they went hunting they’d catch almost nothing, anything they’d find would be half dead from disease. They’d be hours trying to find the dogs then. It was good in the Winter he says. He says they would have drag hunting then up by the airport and it would finish Billy Hallorans pub which is now Bull McCabe’s. Billy Halloran owned Halloran’s Orchard and when he sold that he opened the pub. Tom knew Billy well and he had the pub for years. He adds its still there though now more like a restaurant. He says the pub was very old fashioned back then , there would be dogs in the pub. He says its different back then. People would keep harrier dogs in the home. People wouldn’t have a harrier in the house now. Tom speaks about Celia’s pub. He says it was falling apart. The toilet was on the outside he says. The bowling would start there. He mentions Celia Neville and Jack Neville who ran it. He says it was “falling down” but that’s how pubs were like then, rough and ready and dark. He speaks about the freezing cold of the outdoor toilet. He says you can still see the wall of the old pub down where it used to be. Tom talks about the route of the bowling. You’d start by Neville’s and he talks about landmarks along the way such as the pink wall which belonged to Barrett’s. The bridge. Maddens corner. The pump. Up Matthew Hill and the Three Sticks, up to Tiger Aherne’s, Tom adds he was a bowler. They would finish by Corcoran’s Bridge, it was all uphill and all downhill. He talks about the traffic nopw and how there are hundreds of houses up Pouladuff and there were harldly any cars back then. He says people haven’t time for things like bowling as time is at a premium. |
0.35.22 - 0.41.25 |
Playing Rings and darts. Ma Dullea’s pub. How these pastimes are not as popular these days. Playing cards. The decline in the number of card playing teams. How in the past you could drive after a few pints. Discussion of recent road crash in Donegal. Man who he knew who lived in Donegal and who described it as a kip. Socialising in Barrack St when younger. De Lacey House on Oliver Plunket St. The Gilt Edge pub on Washington St. The Grand Parade Hotel. How then you would walk everywhere and people didn’t do cabs. Fordes pub. Bradley’s pub. Current pubs on Barrack St. Comparisons with Barrack St and Shandon St. Eugenes pub on Shandon St which was owned by Theo Cahill of the Dixies. Anthony “the Bishop” Coughlan. The Chimes bar. More discussion of Cork pubs. How he likes to support the small pubs and shops. Pat Buckley’s bar by the North Infirmary. Dennehy’s pub on the Coal Quay. The Harp bar. Tom says he plays rings and darts, his local team would be in Ma Dullea’s pub. He would be playing all over the Southside but this has also declined in popularity. He says playing cards has gone the same way. There were once sixty four cards teams but there’s only eighteen now. He says before you could just drive away in the morning after a few pints but you can’t now. There follows a discussion about a recent fatal crash in Donegal. Tom says they are mad for rallying up there. He says he knew he knew a man who lived in Donegal and who said it was a kip. Tom says when he was younger he would socialise mainly on Barrack St. He says he would also go to De Lacey House on Oliver Plunket St which was great for ballads. He also mentions the Gilt Edge pub which is now Preachers. The Grand Parade Hotel. He says you walked everywhere and that time people didn’t really do cabs. Everyone gets cabs now and he quips people have got lazy. He says he never goes into town by night now socialising. Tom says he goes these days to Fordes pub on the bottom of Barrack St. There follows a discussion about Bradleys pub on Barrack St and a barmaid called Lavinia and a discussion on who owns it. A discussion on Barrack St and its pubs follows such as the Pigalle, Tom Barry’s, the Brown Derby and Barbarella’s. Comparisons are made with Shandon St and improvements made to Barrack St. He says Shandon St has gone “cat”. A discussion on Shandon St follows and the Old Reliable and Eugene’s which Tom says was owned by Theo Cahill of the Dixies. A further discussion on Eugenes follows in which Tom speaks of a regular Anthony Coughlan known as “the Bishop”. Tom says the Chimes pub is now gone which was Dinny Donovans place. The Shandon Arms is discussed. The Wolfe Tone is mentioned as closed. Tom says the Gerard Griffin pub is open again. The Tower pub is mentioned as closed. Tom says he likes to support small pubs like small shops, you would like to see them kept open. Tom expresses surprise when James says that Pat Buckley’s pub by the North Infirmary has closed recently. Tom asks is Dennehy’s on the Coal Quay still open to which James says it is. Tom speaks more of Forde’s pub. He speaks about the Harp bar near where he lives. |
0.41.28 - 0.48.05 |
How their aunts Kitty and Bridey would do the shopping when he was young. A small shop down Pouladuff Road. Hegarty’s Shop. How there were no supermarkets then. Corner shops that would have a book marking what you owed and you pay at the end of the month. The gasman calling around. The gas meter. Going off on a holiday once a year with the aunts. Staying in a caravan in Garretstown. One of the Harris’s whose job it was to light the public gas lamps. Toms father who used to drive the horse and cart for the Harris’s to the Coal Quay. Memories of seeing horses and carts around. A man who kept pigs and who would come around on a horse and cart collecting slops. Murphy’s bacon factory. Lunham’s bacon factory on Tramore Road. Bonfire Night. It being held just across from where they lived. How when they were young they would be singing around the fire. How in later years it got messier. Weeks of preparation collecting material, tyres and wooden pallets etc. How it was the highlight of the year along with Halloween. Young and old alike participating. Playing the squeezebox. How you could leave your door open that time with the key in the door. How people could walk in and ask if they had sugar or some milk. Leaving the key in the door up to twenty years ago. How if a neighbour wanted a hand with something you would help them out. Community spirit in Ballypheane. Tom says he knew nothing about shopping growing up as their aunts Kitty and Bridey would do all the shopping as they reared them. He mentions a small shop down Pouladuff Road, Hegartys Shop that is long gone. He says there were no supermarkets then, there were small corner shops and he says they were robbing people. They would have a book in the shop marking down what you owed and you pay at the end of the month. The gasman would come then and he might give something back, he adds there was a meter for the gas and points where it was in his house though it is now blocked off. He says they would go off once a year for a holiday with the aunts and they would be bored and wanting to come back after a day. They would go to Garretstown or somewhere like that staying in a caravan. Their uncle or someone that they knew would drop them down. Tom mentions a relative, one of the Harris’s who worked in the gasworks and whose job it was to light the public gas lamps. This was going back many years he says. He says his father told him he used to drive a horse and cart for the Harris’s down to the Coal Quay. Tom says he remembers horses and carts around himself. He remembers a man who kept pigs and who used to come around in a horse and cart and collect slops. Tom speaks about Murphy’s bacon factory and Lunham’s which was up Tramore Road. He says a lot of the big supermarkets got rid of a lot of these places. Tom speaks about Bonfire Night. He says there would be across from where they grew up. He say when they were young they would be singing around the bonfire but in later years it got very messy. He says you would be involved in collecting the material, timber pallets and tyres but mostly timber. He says it be prepared weeks in advance. He says the corporation would sometimes take away the pile of material. He says it was one of the highlights of the year along with Halloween. He says young and old would be out and people would be playing the squeezebox and the banjo. He says you could leave your door open that time. People could walk in and ask if they had some sugar or a drop of milk. He says that’s how it was then. He says they would leave the key in their front door up to twenty years ago. If people wanted a hand with something you would give them a hand. A general discussion of community and Ballypheane follows. He speaks about community spirit in Ballypheane. He talks about community spirit in rural places such as Skibbereen which he would visit. He speaks about how neighbours helped out when he had to look after his uncle. He mentions how he has the key for his neighbours for helping out. He speaks about a woman whose neighbour helps out with giving her eye drops. |
0.48.09 - 0.51.55 |
Playing in the Lough Leagues. Danny Coughlan. Playing with the Barrs through Greenmount School. Cork players Gerald Mack and Peter Doolan how they started off with the Barrs. How the Barrs would come to the school to ask them to play with the team. When the Barrs were based on Bandon Road and then moved to Togher. When you had to pay to go to Barrs matches. How to an older generation they would be a Bandon Road team. The Ballypheane team considered junior. Gerald Mack. The pressures of running a team. Having to turn up Saturday. How he used to run a team but wouldn’t do it again. How he has great time for the GAA. How people who criticise it are those who wouldn’t give the time for it. How people in Ballypheane didn’t have much to do with soccer or rugby. He mentions Sundays Well and Dolphins rugby teams. He says of Dolphins that not many people in Ballypheane had anything g to do with them and they all came from other pats of the city. He says the only local of note to play with them was Phil O Callaghan. Tom says he played in the Lough Leagues hurling. He says that was with Danny Coughlan. He says the Lough Leagues have been brought back recently. He says Greenmount School was also the Barrs. He says famous Cork players Gerald Mack and Peter Doolan started off with the Barrs from when the Barrs would call out to the school. He says in later years he was involved in street leagues for about eight years with Out The Barrs. He says the Barrs were originally based on Bandon Road and then moved out to Togher. He says they never really interacted with the local community in Togher but they had to go somewhere. He says out the Barrs you had to pay to get into matches when he was young. He says nowadays they are seen as a Togher team but to the older generation they would be Bandon Road. He says they had a pitch in Togher years ago but they were considered Bandon Road. He says the Ballypheane team were only considered junior. He says Ballypheane had some good players like Gerald Mack whose father played with the Lough. You can’t get people to run a team now he says, he did it for a while but he wouldn’t do it again. He says you have to turn up Saturday and Sunday mornings. He says then a mother might be an hour late and you’d have to wait around minding their child, he jokes that it was like a babysitting service. He thinks the GAA are a brilliant organisation. He says they had nothing to do with Casement soccer team, it was all GAA. He says it was the same with rugby. He says of Dolphins Rugby Team that not many people in Ballypheane had anything to do with them and they all came from other pats of the city. He says the only local of note to play with them was Phil O Callaghan who played with Ireland and the Lions. He says rugby was a different kind of middle class game. |
052.00 - 0.57.45 |
Stories told heard about the War Of Independence period. Connie Neenan whom Neenan Park is named after. A story heard about a girl who was shot dead on Washington St. Storys read about atrocities. How parts of Cork City were very republician. Story about how Connie Neenan was supposed to have stolen a load of money. Family links with the sculptor Edward Ambrose. How he was sent to Rome by the people of the Lough Parish. Tom’s brother going in to see his work in the Crawford. The Crawford Schools new premises on Grand Parade. How this used to be a gentlemen’s club. Work social clubs. Dunlop’s club. How Fords didn’t have a club. Odlum’s Mill club. Apple club. Joe Murphy Road. Joe Murphy who died on hunger strike. A story heard that his aunts friend Peggy Murphy’s father was the man the British had been looking for. Joe Murphy’s nephews the Delaney’s. How the council were prevented from knocking the Joe Murphy house. Tom says you would hear the odd thing about the War Of Independence period. He says when they were out the Barrs Neenan Park they would play Neenan Park which was named after Connie Neenan. They would hear a story about a girl on Washington St and a bullet hit the ground and killed her. He says you’d hear that and wouldn’t know if it was true or not. He said you might read books and read about how Connie Neenan was supposed to have shot young lads. He says parts of Cork City were very republician. He says people say about Connie Noonan that he stole a load of money. Connie Neenan is long dead he says. Tom speaks of the famous sculptor Edward Ambrose who was a relative of his grandmother. He went to Rome and was sent there by the people of the Lough Parish. Tom says he lived past the lights on Pearse Road. Tom say his elder brother went down to the Crawford to see his work and said shure he’s dead years. Tom did some research on him and he has some work in the Crawford School. Talk then turns to the Crawfords new premises on Grand Parade which used to be a gentlemen’s club. He says CIT bought that. Talk moves to social clubs in the places he worked in. Dunlop’s had a social club and Fords had none. The mill had a sort of a club. He says Apple had a brilliant social club and he says he had brilliant nights out with them. He says they’re planning on having a 30th anniversary reunion for the Apple staff. He says Apple was the only job he was in where you could sit down and work, every other club you were standing. He says he was never at the Grocers Club which James says is one of the last clubs of its type in town and across from the Ivory Tower. James asks if Tom has any stories about Joe Murphy whom Joe Murphy Road is named after. Tom says Joe Murphy lived down Pouladuff Road and he was the Granduncle of one of Tom’s friends. Joe Murphy died on hungerstrike during the War Of Independence. Tom says one of his aunts friends Peggy Murphy it was supposed to be her father they were looking for but he’s not sure if this is true or not. A discussion of Joe Murphy’s hungerstrike in Cork Prison follows. He says he knows Joe Murphy’s nephews the Delaney’s who lived in his old house and it has a plaque on the wall. He says that the council were trying to knock Joe Murphy’s house one time but they were stopped from knocking them. |
0.57.48 - 1.02.00 |
The significance of place names in Ballypheane named after Republican martyrs. Wondering why they were named after them and not out in Bishopstown or Douglas. Being proud of the street being named after Padraig Pearse. Willy Pearse, Padraig Pearses brother and how he was also executed. The school the Pearse brothers ran. How some people locally are named Pearse after Padraig Pearse. People ringing about broadband and spelling it incorrectly. The 1966 50’th anniversary commemorations of 1916. The attempt to blow up De Valera at the Republican Plot at St Finbarr’s Cemetery. Jerry Madden who survived the explosion and lost an eye and a leg. How the bomb went off too soon killing one of the plotters. Tom Barry. How he would see Tom Barry Around town drinking. How Tom Barry’s sister used to be in the Red Cross with Tom’s sister Helen. How Tom Barry was private and would not talk about the Flying Column days. How he would see him and people would say that’s Tom Barry. About the terrain down in West Cork and its suitability for fighting an enemy. James asks did it mean anything to him growing up with all the place names after republican martyrs such as Pearse Road, Kent Road etc. Tom says he used to wonder why they were named after them and not out in Bishopstown or Douglas. He says they were proud of being named after Pearse. He talks about the Plaque to Pearse down the road and mentions that Pearse brother Willy was executed as well. A discussion about the Pearse brothers and the school they ran follows. Her talks about the way some people in the area are called Pearse after Padraig Pearse and spell it the same way.. He says people would ring about broadband or whatever and would be spelling it Pierce. Tom speaks of memories of the 1966 50’th anniversary of the 1916 Rising. James asks him about the bomb plot to blow up De Valera at the Republican Plot. Tom says he knew one of those involved who survived, another plotter was killed he says. Tom explains that De Valera was coming down. He doesn’t know whether the plotters were trying to kill De Valera or not. James goes on to say that De Valera was set to be there at three O Clock and they set the bomb for the wrong three O Clock and the bomb went off prematurely. He speaks of Jerry Madden who came from a Republican family and who lost an eye and a leg who died up to a few years ago. He speaks about how you would see Tom Barry, the Old IRA commander around. He sassy if Tom Barry around you wouldn’t say anything to him. Tom says he would see him around town drinking. He says Tom Barry’s wife used to be in the Red Cross with Helen, Toms sister. He says he doesn’t think Tom Barry wouldn’t discuss anything about the War Of Independence or anything like that, he thinks he would be private. Tom never spoke to him himself but he remembers seeing him around and fellows saying that’s Tom Barry. He says he works for the Vincent De Paul and he goes down to West Cork a lot and he says you can see how its great terrain for mounting an ambush. A discussion follows where James says he’s from East Cork, Youghal. |
1.02.05 - 1.13.40 |
Wren Boys on St Stephens Day. His cousins the Colemans in Halfway. Martin Coleman Cork hurler. The Coleman’s petrol station and post office in Halfway. How rural areas are in decline. The Wren Boys outfits, how they hardly ever came around in the city. Trick Or Treating on Halloween. How they never went beyond the traffic lights when they were young. The dump. “The Dumpa”. How they used to play in this. How recycling has taken over. The old city dump. How travellers used to be there collecting stuff. The travellers in Black Ash. Old barrel top caravans. A place in Blarney that would hire them out to tourists. A traveller man who would come and fix his grandmothers pots. How industrial farming and the Traveller Act brought in by Charley Haughey. Toms Grandfather Jerimiah Falvey who worked down the docks and died in 1946. Tom’s uncle Derry. How Toms family lived for a while on Grand Parade and his older brother was born there. How two uncles and two aunts lived locally. His aunt Kitty Falvey getting married. How people would stick to their own place then. Tom going up the Northside to play hurling against the under age Na Piarsaigh. He also mentions Brian Dillon’s up the Tank Field. Playing against the Glen. How there was a big rivalry between the Barr’s and Blackrock and the Glen. How one they would be all fighting and it’s more refined now. How you need rivalry in sport. Cork versus Kilkenny 1972 his first All Ireland. Cork winning the football in 73. Pairc Ui Caoimh. The old Athletics Ground. Croagh Pairc. Thoughts on the upcoming Liam Miller testimonial match. The GAA ban on foreign sports. Story from James about how he played both rugby and GAA and the GAA changed the days of the training. Tom on how the Barr’s would have an awkward relationship with the soccer club Greenwood. Christy Cooney GAA president. Declan Dalton. Joe Deane. Tom says there would have been Wren Boys around on St Stephens Day. He says he never did it himself but they would have called locally. He speaks of cousins in Halfway who were very into it. Tom’s family would visit them and they would come up once a year. He mentions Martin Coleman who played in goal for Cork hurling. His mother and his mother were sisters. They were very big into the Wren Boys in the country now. He says they would call once a year. They had a petrol station and a post office down there but there’s nothing there now he says. He speaks about how rural areas are being devastated. He says the Wren Boys would be wearing all kinds of things on their head and you’d be half afraid of them. He says they hardly ever came around in the city just a few young lads messing. He says they would trick or treat on Halloween. He says they wouldn’t have a bonfire locally on Halloween but some other places would. He says as young lads they wouldn’t be fighting with youths from other areas, he jokes they weren’t worth it. He says they never strayed beyond the traffic lights. He says they would be called in around nine O clock when they were around fifteen. He talks about The dump or “The Dumpa” as it was known locally. He says it would be all rats but nothing like the dumps now. He remembers the old city dump. He says now it’s all recycling. He says then there would be all beds and clothes thrown around and the travellers would be there loading their vans with stuff. He speaks of the travellers who would camp in Black Ash. He says he found them all right, they would be doing their own thing. He never went down to have a ride of the horses as he’d be afraid of a horse. He supposes some fellas would. He says there would be caravans parked down there. He recalls seeing the old barrel top caravans. He says there was a place in Blarney that would hire out these and they were very popular with tourists at one point but he supposes they wouldn’t be able to travel on the roads these days. He remembers a traveller coming around fixing his grandmothers pots and his grandmother would give him some money. A discussion follows on how they draw social welfare these days and how industrial farming has affected their lifestyle and also the Traveller Act brought in by Charley Haughey. He say when he was young they were fine. He says his grandmother is dead since 1966 so it was before that. He says his Grandfather Jerimiah died in 1946 when he was 63 and he worked down the docks. He had a bad heart. He had a son called Derry, Tom’s uncle. Tom says they lived in Pouladuff at first before moving to Ballypheane. Tom can’t remember any of his own time living in Bandon Road when he was young. He says his family lived prior to that on the Grand Parade where his older brother Jerry was born. He says his father lived in another house when they got that house when Tom’s mother died, the house he lives in now was his aunts house. He says his family lived at 220 and 223. He says there were two uncles and two aunts living locally then one Aunt Kitty got married, she is the mother of his cousin Eleanor Moore. He says then you kept to your own place. Tom says that he himself would go up the Northside playing hurling against Na Piarsaigh underage and Brian Dillon’s up the Tank Field. He says other than that some people wouldn’t go outside their own road. He says he didn’t care about the fact that he was going up the Northside. It was like an outing going to play. They would be going playing against Na Piarsaigh, Mayfield, Brian Dillon’s plus the Glen and Blackrock and also Douglas. He says there was big rivalry between the Barr’s and the Glen and Blackrock. In the past they would be fighting and “having murder” but it’s more refined now. He says you have to have rivalry and it can’t be a gentleman’s game. Tom says the first ALL-Ireland was in 1972 which was Cork and Kilkenny in hurling. He says Kilkenny won that. He says he went to see Cork win the football the following year. He went to loads of All Irelands after. He has been to the new Croagh Pairc as well as Pairc Ui Caoimh. He speaks about the old Athletic Park that was there before Pairc Ui Caoimh. He speaks about the newly built Pairc Ui Caoimh and compares it with Croaic Pairc. He speaks about the upcoming Liam Miller testimonial match which he thinks will be brilliant. He speaks about the foreign rules ban and about how they allowed Michael Jackson and American football. He says that when you see in a village the GAA pitch and the soccer pitch is better then you know they’re not cooperating. James tells a story of how he used to play rubgy and also GAA and that when the GAA found out they changed the day of training to coincide with it so he had to make a choice and choose rugby. Tom says the Barr’s would be like that with the soccer club Greenwood. He says Greenwood would be trying to help with the Barr’s would be awkward. He says the Barr’s haven’t won anything in years. James says since Christy Cooney took over as GAA president the money has been flying into the clubs. A discussion about Youghal follows and players such as Declan Dalton and Joe Deane are discussed. Tom says Joe Deane is a small man but tough. |
1.13.50 - 1.18.33 |
More on Ballypheane. Pat Allen “Pat The Picket”. How he was a great character and was well loved by all. How he would dress up in outfits including as Santa. How he died of cancer. How he would have placards for every occasion. Another character called Donny Sutton from Tory Top Road. How Pat The Picket would be wearing a black bin. How he started protesting when he was young. Pat The Picket. Going to the Republican Plot in St Finbarr’s. A man who is involved in the volunteer pipe band. How in days gone by the priest or doctor would have done house calls but that’s no more. James asks Tom about legendary stories about Ballypheane. Tom says that they never had much to do with Ballypheane. He does speak about the well known character. Pat Allen who was better known as Pat The Picket. He says he knew him well. He was a great character and people used to love him. If you had a grievance he was the man to go to. He would dress as Santa and all kinds of outfits. He says he was great for the community. Tom says he died of cancer and wouldn’t have been much older than himself. He thinks he had a brother who died as well. He would have a placard for every occasion. He speaks about another character called Donny Sutton from Tory Top Road. James talks about him that he’d be wearing all kinds of outfits like Sergeant Pepper and A Roman Centurion. Tom goes on to say that Pat The Pickett would be sometimes dressed in a black bin. Tom say Pat was always doing the picketing and protesting since his teens. Tom says he would be brought to court and the judge would say to fine him a pound. He would always be out the Republican Plot. He says they would never go to St Josephs Cemetery, always the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs and they would hear the marching band coming and they would go out with them, people would bring their children. He says not people go out now. He speaks about a man who is the volunteer pipe band, his name is Donie, he doesn’t know his surname. He says there wouldn’t have been stations in the house, that would have been a country thing. He says in days gone by the priest or doctor would have called out to the grandmother but that sort of thing is gone by the board now, he says there’s no house call’s now. The interview is brought to an end and Tom jokes that we’ll have to come back in ten years. 1.18.33.5 end of interview. |
0.00.00 - 0.00.00 |
0.00.35 - 0.02.25 |
House of Birth. She was born in 88 Wolfe Tone Street, maiden name Cambridge. Her father was Denis and her mother was Margaret O’Connor. She speaks of her family being twelve in total, six boys and six girls. She talks about growing up in Wolfe Tone Street. She lived in a tenement of about five or six floors with the ground floor occupied by the ‘caretaker’, a couple. Each floor cleaned their own and she remarks that she had a very good life even in the tenement. |
0.02.26 - 0.04.26 |
Schooling. She went to St. Vincent’s Convent School, and remained there until second class. She recounts an event in school when a lay teacher made a public display of her for failing to answer a question in class and that sense of humiliation experienced never left her memory. After that event she switched to North Presentation school, she was around 8 years old at the time, and finished her schooling there. She left the North Pres before she was fourteen and went to work. |
0.04.26- 0.07.27 |
First Job in Shoe Factory. She talks of her one and only job in Cork she had that of a Shoe Factory on Hanover Street where the present Labour Exchange is situated, owned by Dwyers. She found working there to be ‘okay’. She makes a general observation that in her life she never met ‘horrible people’, yet brings up that incident with the teacher again. She stayed in Dwyer’s until she was twenty one or two until after meeting her husband when they decided to go to England. Her mother was angry at her for giving up a ‘good job’ with pay at three pounds seven and six pence a week. She found the Dwyer’s to be good people to work for. They also had Lee Boot on Washington Street where Square Deal is now. There was no doctor on site as at the Sunbeam but there was a doctor on the South Mall that you could visit. She remembers the doctors rooms opposite the Victoria Hotel. |
0.07.28 - 0.11.56 |
Time in England and marriage. She speaks of her time in England. She got married there. She worked in factory jobs, one of which did remote controls on the floor where she worked. She went to Birmingham first and then up to London. She got married in 1952. Never experienced anti-Irish prejudice while there. Her husband’s name was James but they called him ‘Jimmy’. He was a crane driver when she was over there with him. He was working in the railway as a fireman when he went to England first, before Elizabeth met him. She met him in Cork after he returned briefly. Only stayed in England for a few years and decided to come back after Elizabeth became pregnant. They almost went to Australia after a scheme came out trying to entice people to live there. The scheme assisted you in the fare out there, ten pounds. They had all the forms signed to go out after getting each round of papers signed by a priest or a Guard, which cost one shilling. Just at the final stage of going when she became pregnant and she had morning sickness and that ended that endeavour. |
0.11.57 - 0.14.07 |
Return to Cork and finding her home. She talks of returning to Cork to live with Jimmy’s parents at 53 Kent Road, Ballyphehane. She says then that she lived first with Jimmy’s grandmother in an old run down cottage house in a laneway off where the Bridewell Garda Station is. There was about eight houses there but she felt a bit frightened there by its darkness and isolation. They were condemned and people living there expected to get Corporation Houses soon. But Jimmy’s parents knew a man on Pearce Road who had a good job in the Corporation and he put a good word for them and they got the house at 60 Kent Road after it became vacant. |
0.14.08 - 0.16.24 |
Ballyphehane before and during development. She talks of Ballyphehane before it was built up fully. She wouldn’t have visited Ballyphehane when she was younger. Only the little houses in O’Growney Crescent were there, maybe not all of them, when she was growing up. Part of Pearce Road and part of Connolly Road was also there. The place along Connolly Road at the crossroads by the Park was all earth the way down. She doesn’t remember any market gardens around here but recalls a family a few doors up, the Varians, who came from the market gardens. She remembers construction up by Sonny Fords, the shop, and she was asked to call Georgie who was working on the flats for the Corporation after a woman across the way had died. |
0.16.27 - 0.19.44 |
Ballyphehane Church and Credit Union. They were there before the Church. They started the Church when Elizabeth came to Ballyphehane. She remembers a man who used to visit each house with his book collecting subscriptions for the Church, a shilling a week. The man who did the collection was a mason, the Hurley’s and he went to America afterwards and is still there. She talks of the Credit Union but you had to pay half a crown to join and you would get a little pink book. At that time it was over at the sacristy at the Church and you joined over there because they were building the new Credit Union. You had to have thirty euros [pounds? Shillings?] saved before you could borrow ten. Great service – and she remembers that it was a priest who first set it up after he went to America and brought the idea back here. He organised meetings for the local people in relation to the idea. She thinks O’Flynn was his name…died in the plane. It was all run by volunteers. She remembers David McAuiliffe, known locally as ‘Uncle Dave’ in relation to it. Elizabeth worked with him. |
0.19.45 - 0.25.27 |
Buying household goods and groceries. She talks of her husband getting seven or eight pounds as wages for the week when she got married first. You would buy something with the two week holiday money he would receive. She bought her first fridge out in Togher for thirty five pounds. That would mean there would be no holiday but instead you have a washing machine and fridge. She talks about shopping for groceries and the Spar coming. First was the ‘Bally’, the ‘Ballyphehane Stores’ down the road where the AIB is now. When you got a bit more money you go to the supermarket, to Dunnes Stores. She talks of Luke Burke’s having a shop in Patrick Street and when he closed down Ben Dunne bought that. She recalls seeing a man in a café in town with her daughter Mary (who worked in Dunnes Stores) who ran the original Dunnes Stores back then and who featured in a documentary recently. Jackie talks about what shopping was like in there and mentions the people working in there some of whom were local and mentions a Mona O’Donovan. |
0.25.30 - 0.31.09 |
Living in Gurranabraher with her family. Elizabeth speaks briefly on living in Gurranabraher and then recounts playing with her brother Paddy and him falling after she used to pretend he was a horse and she the driver on their way down to her grandparents who lived in the laneway off Wolfe Tone Street. She talks about her grandparents and their house which was a two roomed house which formed most of it and how they used to pawn items when they were on ‘the binge’ and how her mother would try to avoid them in street by going different route to town when they were in that state. There was eight [children?] in her grandmother’s house. Her mother married young. Two girls died of TB as it was rampant at the time. Her mother’s maiden name was Margaret Babbington. She doesn’t know much about the Babbingtons. She couldn’t remember her grandfather working. |
0.31.18 - 0.38.12 |
Her father and WW1. James, Elizabeth’s grandson, mentions that her father (his great-grandfather) fought in World War One and Elizabeth urges him to speak on it as he knows more than her. James then recounts a story that he was told that the grandfather was fighting with the British Army and during this particular military engagement the healthiest and fittest were out in front and those that were injured were left behind and the priest, or ‘padre’ as they were called asked for volunteers to remain behind with the wounded which would have put their lives in danger. His great-grandfather volunteered and helped the priest by getting stretchers up to the wounded. His bravery was rewarded by a special medal and they have a very good photo of him in uniform. Elizabeth then remembers when she was younger and the medals being in the chest of drawers upstairs in the main bedroom, one of three. She remembers the medals being in there but she doesn’t know where they went subsequently. Her sister’s grandson did the research on the subject and unearthed the story of the bravery medal and James himself is involved in Camden Fort and the World War One room there and hope to do something on Denis Cambridge there for that. He then says that his grandfather became very good friends with the war chaplain, who was Archdeacon Duggan. Elizabeth then speaks about him and the easy way of him as he visited them in their house in Gurranabraher. She also relates a story of how she met him once and he said to her that her father was such a good man he went straight to heaven and brave as well. Elizabeth adds that her father was a very, very quite man, nice man. He never seemed to be affected by the war and he never talked about it. He died young of cancer at the age of fifty-six. Her grand-nephew and grandson have replica medals. She doesn’t remember any negative reaction to him being in the British Army after he came back. He worked as a labourer in timber yard. |
0.38.13 - 0.42.29 |
TB and Cork. Elizabeth talks about TB not affecting her family as they had cleared it in Cork but it did kill her two aunts on her mother side. They were young women. She relates that she know a number of people, male and female, who worked in the shoe factory in Hanover Street that died of TB. They used to say it was due to the river by the factory. They were young people. They used to go down to Sarsfield Court and Mount Desert. She believes most people died from it because they had no drugs. Discussion about conditions for TB and Elizabeth recounts her tenement house on Wolfe Tone Street having only one toilet with children on every floor but it was kept spotless due to the caretaker couple who made sure everyone cleaned their own part. Jimmy’s parents used to live in a tenement on Peter Street where they had only one toilet as well but no running water. You would have to go out on the street to a water pump and fill your container and bring it back up to the top floor where they lived. |
0.42.30 - 0.46.11 |
Arrival of Electricity and the near death of her brothers. She talks about the change-over to new energy sources from gas to electricity. There was only gas in the house in Gurranabraher but then they put in electricity and light would come on with a switch. She recalls how her two brothers were nearly killed by a leakage from the gas piping after they removed the gas fittings in the house as they slept in their bedroom. They were saved by their aunt who lived with them as well as she heard them groaning. She couldn’t get help as they taught it was a hoax when she rang for help as that night was a bad night weather wise and a lot of hoaxes were being rang in. Her aunt ran in her bare feet to the Garda Station at the end of Rock Steps on the North Mall just beyond O’Connor’s funeral home to get help. They both survived. |
0.46.12 - 0.48.54 |
Arrival in new home. She talks about moving into her new house in Kent Road. She was delighted to have her own house, her own front door and key. She had one child, Stephen, when she moved in. Denis was born in the house. She had six children in total and then mentions that she had seven as one child died. She then talks about the family company she has in the house and how she liked that after her husband died. She loves her house. |
0.48.55 - 0.54.43 |
Family outings around Ballyphehane. She says that she doesn’t miss anything from the old times in Ballyphehane but then recounts how she used to take the children out the Tramore Road, out to Celia’s pub was and there was a stream there and you think you were in Youghal by the stream. Her husband would go in for a pint and if he had the money he would get a bottle of lemonade for the children. The children would paddle in the stream and it was very pleasant. Jackie then adds that she remembers walking down Tramore Road on a Sunday with her father in front on them carrying a stick going onto Hangdog Road, where Kelleher’s Electrical is and there was a farm there. They would stop by the gate to look at the chickens and hens but as you were walking down the road the rats would run across. That is why her father had the stick. Elizabeth says that where Musgraves is now was also a farm. It was country. Jackie talks about going for a walk up Airport Hill into the Airport bar. Also going over St. Finbarr’s Club house. Her aunt and her family socialised with them a lot as her husband died young. Elizabeth loved the walk going down to Blackrock. There was no bus or car and they would walk down the marina. Her husband never had a car so the family used to walk everywhere. She couldn’t afford the bus for all the children and the buses weren’t plentiful. |
0.54.43 - 0.56. 27 |
The Bandon Train. She recalls the train that you could see on top of the hill running along. She believes it only went once a day. She remembers being asked to meet her brother’s girlfriend from Dunmanway who arrived by train at the station for Bandon. Discussion arises over where was the Bandon line ran through close to the home. |
0.56.28 - 0.59.13 |
Activities and social events like Bonfire Night. Jackie recalls the boys used to go out to Lane’s Wood, at the back of Vermont. Jackie then mentions bonfire night and they having it at the green close to the home and a lady who used to set up a table for refreshments for the children for free. Elizabeth recalls a man who played the melodeon. He was called Mr Mac, for McCarthy. He would play when the Tory Top was closed or the ‘Little Man’s’ and there would a great sing song with a sofa still there and that would be the last into the fire. There would be dancing as well. The Little Man was the Horseshoe Inn. Very little entertainment around here. Bonfire night was a big night and John Millis used to collect a pennies from children and he would get the diluted orange and he would give them a few sweets. |
0.59.13 – 1.05.04 |
Her Social life and Dancing. She didn’t socialise much. She didn’t drink or smoke. She loved to dance though. She went to the Arcadia and City Hall before she got married. She thought the Arcadia brilliant. She went to any big dance that came which could cost as much as five shillings. It would be on from nine to two every Saturday night for a half a crown but if a big band came it would be five shillings. She met her husband Jimmy in the City Hall at a dance. She relates how the ‘boys’ would be on one side and the ‘girls’ would be on the other and the male would come across to ask for a dance. She didn’t have much preparation for the dances – the clothes weren’t as glamourous as today or as much make-up. She said she wasn’t into make-up generally. Her husband however liked to look good – always careful to mind his clothes. |
1.05.05 – 1.09.26 |
Sense of community and helping in Ballyphehane. She experienced a great sense of community in Ballyphehane. She is over sixty years here and hasn’t a bad word for the place. Her son Denis was born upstairs, the first after she moved to Kent Road. He was helped in delivery by Mrs. Willis next door. She was a great neighbour as you could call her. Her husband loved sweet things and she remembers when he was sick he had a ‘catch’ of sweets down the wardrobe and his bottle as well. She thinks that he used to get up to get a sweet but there would be a little bit of alcohol with it. She was the opposite and always hated alcohol. If she needed help when he was ill she would rap on the wall and the neighbour would call in, but mostly Linda who developed a good relationship with him during his ill times. Recounts a story about Linda getting hit accidently. |
1.09.27 – 1.14.14 |
Ballyphehane as child friendly and welcoming. It was a great place to bring up children. She experienced no problem. Jackie speaks about how everybody hadn’t much so there wasn’t much competition and they all played together. Elizabeth then relates how a new neighbour moved in close by and her advice to her about renovating her house with the start point being the bedroom and then the kitchen and you have the rest of your life to do the rest. Nowadays, she thinks, young ones want it done straight away. Both Elizabeth and Jackie talk about how over the years new families have moved in and integrated very well. Jackie remembers how they used to play soccer using a neighbours gate and their own gate as goalposts. Never any trouble with the neighbours. Elizabeth speaks about a new neighbour who is ‘dark skinned’ and says she doesn’t bother anyone but doesn’t get involved either. They are very quite. |
1.14.15 – 1.23.11 |
Musgrave Park and its impact on their life. Elizabeth talks about the rugby pitch which is next to her house and remembers the local opposition to the flood lights and people coming to her door to sign a petition against them, fearing they would be doing concerts. There was also a collection for to employ a solicitor but when the lights were installed, she states, they interfered with nobody. Jackie urges Lizzie to talk about the time the All Blacks came and the place being full of camper vans but Lizzie talks about another time a visiting couple asked her could they leave their bags there with her for them to go for a walk and they went for a walk around the lough. She fed them when they came back. They intended to ‘thump’ back to Limerick after the match. Lizzie wouldn’t allow them to do that as it would be dark after the match and she persuaded to stay the night and go in the morning. Jackie again goes back to the All Black match and the visitors had camper vans and all the gear for making their own food but still the front door was left open and they used to come in to use the bathroom. The only problem she mentions would be traffic sometimes but the Guards are very good. James talks about the concerts there and one in particular, El Divo, and how Uncle Arthur expected to arrive in the house and be able to hear the concert but that turned out to be not the case. General talk amongst those present of how nice it is to live in Ballyphehane. Jamie Fury then reads the legal document regarding the recording of Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ O’Sullivan. INTERVIEW ENDS |
0.00.00 - 0.07.30 |
Early Life: Evergreen Street. 3 brother and 3 sisters. Father worked in England. Mother was an invalid. The house had 1 little room. Bad conditions, no work in Cork. Would only see father once a year or once every second year. Telegram boy would come with wages every now and then. Eldest sister looked after them. No room for 2 eldest siblings in the house. Mattress on the floor. Remembers the talk of his eldest siblings and cousin from Turners cross deciding to emigrate to England. The travelled on the InnisFallon. They were 17 or 18, embarrassed to bring friends back to the house. Arthur thinks that this may have been the deciding factor to leave. The Grandmother lived next door, she knitted down quilts from peoples woollen jumpers and sold them to her neighbours. She also sold apples from a barrel from her front window to the school children for a penny. The apples came from an orchard on the end of Friars Walk were Ballyphehane church is now. It was Arthur’s job on the weekend to go and collect the apples. He often cried, had a boxcar with 2 pram wheels, he would go all the way to the orchard, half way down Friars walk where the Marian Pharmacy is now was a was 4 cottages and a water pump with a cup attached where Arthur used to stop to get refreshed. Where the orchard was there was also a farm house belong to Paddy Halloran with a big country yard with a lot of fowl. Get the bag of apples from him, wouldn’t get back home till 8 in the evening. He used to give Arthur an apple on the sly. The corporation decided to build up Ballyphehane, so he had to sell his land to the corporation, and opened the Bull McCabe pub on the Kinsale Road, his son had it after him. The collecting of the apples was Arthur’s first experience of Ballyphehane. |
0.07.31 - 0.09.01 |
The building of Ballyphehane: there was no building work at the time, so those who had been moved out here were given work on the church, all local direct labour. The church used to be packed with parishioners. 2 priests were assigned to the area, they were firstly given corporation houses on the corner of Joe Murphy road and Friars walk, eventually they built four house at the rear of the church. The parish ended up with 5 priests, ‘all good men’. After that thing were picking up with the building of the roads in Ballyphehane. |
0.09.02 - 0.14.40 |
The Credit Union: was the greatest thing that happened. Ballyphehane was the first Credit union in Cork, could have been the first in the country (First outside Dublin). Meeting called in the school hall about setting it up. Bishop Lucey had been in America and had met people there that told him about the credit union movement which had begun in Germany. The New Cannon in the church, Cannon Henchy was told by Bishop that it would be a good idea to set up a credit union in the area to bring people together. Great interest from the beginning, a few men volunteered to take it on, and it grew. Due to the speed at which Ballyphehane was built, the houses got dishevelled quite quickly, with doors off hinges etc. The Corporation had a repair unit on Friars walk in a tin shed, that is still there (the pipe band is there now) and can’t be moved with out permission, it was originally a part of a market garden. The corporation weren’t very reliable when it came to repairs. The credit union filled this void and enabled the locals to afford to maintain their house. At first the credit union was based out of the church. Arthur volunteered on Saturday with the Children’s bank. It picked up with everybody saving locally. To buy a mattress or anything one would have to go to Sean Jennings on grand parade where the park is now, you would be paying off for one item but when that was nearly paid off they would get you to buy something else and people would get further into debt. The credit union made these purchases easier and more affordable. In Arthur’s case, he was able to get a loan to build some garden walls at the back of his house, eventually he was able to buy a car for £80, which was an awful lot of money, couldn’t have afforded it without the assistance of the credit union. |
0.14.40 - 0.17.07 |
The Car: in question was a Morris Minor which had to fit a family of seven and whoever else was tagging along. The car opened up things to the family, they would go to red strand or Youghal every Sunday. One Sunday a friend of his daughter Pat’s was with them on a trip, he was teaching Pat to drive, got to Bandon and she wouldn’t drive through the town, so they swapped seats Arthur drove through the town and swapped back again after the town, on the way home same thing happened again but this time there was a hitchhiker on the road, while they were swapping seats the hitchhiker thought they had stopped for them and sat in the seat ‘Jesus, you’ve a big crowd in here’ he said, Arthur had to explain what was going on and the hitchhiker didn’t take to kindly to being removed from the car. |
0.17.08 - 0.18.53 |
The Credit union Cont.: progress was made through the credit union, the council was always putting you on the longer finger, so you’d go to the credit union for money and get a local to the job in the house. Back door, windows, today he says he wouldn’t have anything if it weren’t for the credit union. The council owe them a big honour, the beauty of Ballyphehane house and upkeep of gardens is due to the CU, and the CU gets little recognition for this. Footballers and hurlers and anyone gets honoured by the council but not the CU. |
0.18.54 - 0.21.20 |
FR Matthew, the Graveyard and the GAA: They started a hurling club called the Fr Matthews due to him being buried in St Joseph’s cemetery. His grave was a famous site where people would go for cure, they would do rounds of his grave in hope to cure cancer. The comedian Ignatius Commerford lived across the road from Arthur and he used to do rounds of the grave every morning after he had a stroke, trying to get his speech back. Back to the GAA club, the locals weren’t happy with name, so called a meeting in turners cross school and had a vote, which passed the name Ballyphehane Hurling and Football club. They set up street leagues for the young fellas under 12, each street had its own teams which competed against each other. They played first at Tory Top park. Casement Soccer club then set up street leagues too |
0.21.20 - 0.23.11 |
The Battle of Ballyphehane: One Sunday the GAA club and the Soccer team’s finals clashed. Both were to be played at Tory Top park. It was known as the battle of Ballyphehane. The men on Connolly Road were setting up soccer goal post and men on the other side were putting up the Hurling goal post, there was children and the Sinn Féin pipe band waiting to play, the nest thing they men started arguing ‘ye can play after’ and Paddy Mahoney took off his coat and shirt, they had to call the priest to settle the matter, Fr Fitzgerald came up told one group to play next week and the other to play the following week and the final should be played on these days for every year. |
0.23.11 - 0.25.12 |
Neville’s Lane at the side of the Marian Pharmacy, the side gate to the park used to be a massive house belonging to the Neville family. They gave the pitch to the children. We used to take a picnic to the cemetery on Sundays and look at the grave, nothing else to do, no TV or radio, you’d have go through that lane way, no Derrynane road at the time no Doyle’s road to Connolly road. Connolly road was just stones and earth. |
0.25.13 - 0.33.08 |
Getting the house in Ballyphehane: you needed a contact to get a house in the area, ‘you’d have to know the Lord Mayor’, ‘some councillor had pull’ Dino was a fierce man in those days’. Arthur had to go to the tinny shed with the form and house would be given out the following week. Was told to pick a house on Joe Murphy Road and come back and tell them. Picked No. 52 because the sun was shining in the back garden. Got the key the following Monday. The road was not yet finished, no fences and earth and rubble everywhere. There a lot of families worse off, Arthur by then had a job in Murphy’s Bacon Factory on evergreen road (a job he kept for 33years). The Walkers were the first to move in the road, in 1957. He had been living in a flat in Washington street, above the Washington inn looking over the roof of the court house. MacDonald’s from Bishopstown owned the pub. After he got married he had nowhere to go, a fella told him to go to Oliver Plunket street and see John Mcasey (pub by the market) he gave him a small flat as a stopgap. They were in a 1 room attic sweatbox, 4-5 flights of stairs. His sister was home, her brother -in-law was a housing officer in the city hall. They were out for a drink and a chatted about family and Arthurs situation came up, the brother in law came to assess the flat, he discovered that the Jim Barry’s (boxer and cork hurling coach) tailor was on a lower floor and had four men working and one toilet which Arthur had to share with them. He said that’s illegal, later got the call from the council and got the bungalow on Joe murphy road. Very happy on Joe Murphy road. ‘I’d go back there today’ lived there for nearly 10 years. |
0.33.09 - 0.36.03 |
Collecting the church dues: Fr Fitzgerald called to the houses chatting to people and tell of the churches debt. He appointed Arthur and his neighbour Timmy Cooney to call to the house on their road very Sunday to collect a shilling from each and mark it in a jotter, and return the money to the sacristy. Some would pay, others would skip it. Cooney used say ‘don’t go in there now, the young fella will come out and he’ll say ‘me mam said she’s gone out’’ did that for years. Was then roped in to the credit union, for the children’s bank on Saturday mornings from 10 to 12. |
0.36.04 - 0.42.46 |
The move to Nuns Walk: He was told that his family was too big for the house on Joe Murphy road and that he would have to move to Togher. He had 5 kids at this stage. They were all upset. No reasonable time to leave. Told a chap in the credit union and he said ‘I’ll be leaving my house on nuns walk shortly, I’ll have a word with the Fr Fitzgerald’ (he had great pull, he was known as Lord Fitzgerald, he inherited Fitzgerald Park and the Cork cricket grounds and Fitzgerald’s place by the south infirmary.) Fr Fitzgerald got on to Jimmy Dineen the housing officer who was also a founding member of the credit union and he helped out again and got Arthur and his family into the house on Nuns walk. Got the house but was to tell no one because there was loads of interest in houses at the time, but he got it through his volunteering with the church and the credit union. The previous owner used to do shoe repairs in the house. He had worked for Hanover Shoe company where the dole office is now on Clarkes bridge, that closed down and himself and a fella named Jack Dwyer (the sunbeam dywers) decided to rent the store on Pouladuff road (ucc use it now). He was exporting boxes of shoes to Italy, in the end he wasn’t getting anything back, found out that they were going to a false address, and he lost all the whole business. He then started a repair shop here in the house. So there was smell of leather in the house from him. His wife used to give out about it, so he rent a shop on Peasre square, later he packed it in, the wife said he was over worked. He moved from here to where SuperValu is on the Togher Road. Only Fr Fitzgerald, jimmy Dineen and Arthur knew of the move. |
0.42.46 - 0.47.50 |
The buses in Ballyphehane 1960s: they came up as far as the church, turned up friars walk and turned by the tinny shed and go around the corner, that house had massive trees. Arthur describes trees of Ballyphehane which re-date the suburb being built. The Carroll’s had a house over by where the harp bar is and got to pick a house wherever they wanted in the area and moved to Connolly road. The big weeping willows on Derrynane road (recently cut down), the bus would turn there, the conductor would sit on the wall and have a smoke or go to the toilet, and the driver and the school kids would be waiting for the conductor, the young fellas would hit the bell and the driver would head off without the conductor, and more fella would get on and hit the bell again, the conductor would be running after and the driver would have to turn back to get the conductor. The trees at lynches (Katheleen Lynch the TD, her family fierce Sinn Féin man and a Bowl player, Dinny) house were older than Ballyphehane. |
0.47.51 - 0.49.30 |
The first shop in Ballyphehane: was down Kilreendowney avenue was owned by the Carrol family. Used stay open late, people used to get milk and cigarettes. A work colleague of Arthur’s, Sammy Forde married one of the Carroll’s daughters, and the family gave her a gift of what is now Fordes shop on Pearse road. |
0.49.31 - 0.53.42 |
The Club House? Tory Top park The Club house? Could be Neville’s house in the park, people did have meetings there, but it got vandalised. Or it could be the Club house on the corner of ST Patrick’s road, Deer park, across the road from the shop, was Nemo Rangers first club house. There was a public toilet in Ballyphehane park. In the side gate off Neville’s lane, behind where the goals would be there was a square red bricked house and it was a gent’s toilet. ? Arthur Jnr has no recollection of these, must be early 1960s. 2 characters used to work with Arthur, Connie Bennett (Joe Murphy Road) and Tommy Kelleher (pauladuff Road) fierce for the drink, they could end up anywhere. They were coming home late one night from Mountain bar on Evergreen Road, everyone used the park as shortcut, the lads were going through the park and Tommy was bursting for the toilet, rushed over to the gents and tommy went in and ran out quickly shouting with his pants down round his knees, he had walked in on a young couple embracing. Connie told all of Cork about it. The Bandstand used to have a band every second Sunday, great place for the kids. |
0.53.43 - 1.01.23 |
The Explosion at the republican plot in St Finbarr’s Cemetery: The monument. Timmy Cooney said that they should go out to the cemetery on Glasheen road to see de Valera unveil a plaque to the old IRA, there will be a band at 3pm. The night before there was an explosion out there. You could hear it all around. Some Sinn Féin guy’s had set a bomb at the monument to get de Valera. They had been at a dance in the Tomas Ashe hall (Sinn Féin hall) on Fr Matthew quay. Mick Collins from Evergreen Road, Madden from Upper Fr Matthew Road, and a young fella Swanton, from Blackrock. Arthur knew them, had worked in some capacity with Swanton and was quite friendly with him. They decide to have a smoke before they left the plot. Whatever happened, the bomb went off, three of them went up, one of Madden’s arms was found a distance away, he is still alive on turners Cross. Collins ran off to England. Swanton died in the blast. Timer on the bomb set wrong. This had a fructuous effect on the IRA in the city and led to factions being set up. Sinn Féin members who attended the funeral was expelled from the party. Arthur attended the Funeral. Swanton worked for Sisk and used to do lot of jobs in the Bacon Factory. Mr Mulcahy: form Nuns walk, took park in the boarder Campaign in the late 1950s early 1960s in the North. He was arrested in an ambush where Séan South killed. (He roped Barry Doyle into Sinn Fein). He was arrested and jailed for 12 years, wouldn’t sign out or let the family visit. Fr Fitzgerald visited him. He died and they buried in St Finbarr’s, Guards and army presence to stop the gun salute from happening. But later in the school playing field in Ballyphehane they did the gun salute, even though unmarked cars were monitoring the area. |
1.01.24 - 1.05.57 |
What Ballyphehane means to Arthur: The greatest thing ever. It gave him a place to live and to enjoy. Never met so many great people anywhere. Wouldn’t live anywhere else, the most pleasant place. It used to all bog land, used to pick blackberries, there used to be a train line, he was on the last train to Courtmacsherry 1963. Used to pick birds nest. Would walk out to the viaduct, he was there for the lofting of the bowl by the German on the ramp. It was done it with a 16 inch bowl, the normal weight is 28. The German did it with the 16inch while Mick Barry did it with the 28. They had a ramp to help get extra height. Murphy’s brewery gave him £1000 pounds to do it. The bishop said that Barry’s bowl only actually went through a gap and didn’t really scale it. INTERVIEW ENDS |
Speaks of the poverty in the Middle Parish which necessitated buying goods on credit and selling clothes and jewellery to pawnshops. Mentions pawn locations. Mentions bringing empty bottles to shops to fill them with milk.
Discusses the conditions of the tenement houses in the Middle Parish including the sanitation arrangements such as outdoor toilets and the use of newspaper as toilet paper, he also mentions heating issues including timber, turf and coal which was available via a voucher scheme. Further discusses cooking, washing in the tenements including the introduction of gas and electricity. Also mentions medicines for lice and worms administered at home.
Says that boys and girls played different games separately when he was growing up. Mentions some of these games in more detail.
Discusses foods (including tripe and drisheen, pig’s tongue, Connie Dodgers) meal routines and the shops where food was purchased. Liam and his mother brought lunch to his father where he worked on the docks.
Returns to the topic of corner shops and shopping and the types of food available there, further comparing this to supermarkets today.
Speaks of the death of his mother and the change in living circumstances that this entailed.
Describes getting a vaccination in the dispensary, what it was like inside and who worked there.
Mentions fights outside bars at night time.
Talks about air raid shelters built in Cork city during the Second World War, what they looked like and where they were located.
]]>Liam Ó hUigín: Grattan Street, Healthcare, The Marsh
Liam grew up on Henry Street in The Marsh and recalls playing football on Grattan Street which was busy and full of activity with businesses, pubs, shops a fire station, barber shops and tenements. He discusses some shops and games in more detail.
Speaks of the poverty in the Middle Parish which necessitated buying goods on credit and selling clothes and jewellery to pawnshops. Mentions pawn locations. Mentions bringing empty bottles to shops to fill them with milk.
Discusses the conditions of the tenement houses in the Middle Parish including the sanitation arrangements such as outdoor toilets and the use of newspaper as toilet paper, he also mentions heating issues including timber, turf and coal which was available via a voucher scheme. Further discusses cooking, washing in the tenements including the introduction of gas and electricity. Also mentions medicines for lice and worms administered at home.
Says that boys and girls played different games separately when he was growing up. Mentions some of these games in more detail.
Discusses foods (including tripe and drisheen, pig’s tongue, Connie Dodgers) meal routines and the shops where food was purchased. Liam and his mother brought lunch to his father where he worked on the docks.
Returns to the topic of corner shops and shopping and the types of food available there, further comparing this to supermarkets today.
Speaks of the death of his mother and the change in living circumstances that this entailed.
Describes getting a vaccination in the dispensary, what it was like inside and who worked there.
Mentions fights outside bars at night time.
Talks about air raid shelters built in Cork city during the Second World War, what they looked like and where they were located.
0.00.00 - 0.00.31 |
intro |
0.00.31 - 0.02.55 |
Memories of Grattan Street and surrounding area Shops and Buildings Grattan Street was a busy street with many businesses. Most important was the fire brigade. When the new St Francis Church was being built (Broad Lane church as it was called by people in the Middle Parish) the fire brigade amalgamated with Sullivan’s Quay and the priest of Old Broad Lane church moved into the old fire brigade building while new church was being built. Children missed the excitement of the fire brigade. Very vibrant street. 6 pubs: Kellehers, Crosses, Landers, Carrols (later called the Tostal Inn), Ramble Inn (owned by Mrs Brick) two Murphys public houses near Broad Lane which runs from Grattan Street to North Main Street. Shops and sweet Shops: The Rodisses, The People’s Dairy, The M Laundries, 2 Gents Hairdressing Saloons (called barber shops): Leahy’s and Keanes. Where the Community Centre is now was called Mechanics Hall, because the mechanics had a union and meetings there. Later it was known as Matt Talbot Hall. There were lots of tenement houses in the area. [Liam’s phone rings.] |
0.03.06 - 0.05:04 |
Tenement Houses, Lanes, playing in Graveyard Where Patrick Hanely Buildings are now there were tenement houses. Liam only barely remembers them as they were being demolished in the late 1940s and early 1950s. They were derelict sites for a while, which was his playground. St Peter’s Cemetery down Peter Church Lane, playing among the headstones, and hiding or planking cigarettes. Shops: Manning’s Shops at corner of Henry Street and Grattan Street, Mrs Mullins at corner of Coleman’s Lane. From Coleman’s Lane to Adelaide Street there were 4 or 5 houses there with 4 or 5 families in each house. Remembers Shinkwin? Family, the Dineens. When they moved out they went to Gurranabraher, Ballyphehane and the suburbs in Ballincollig. |
0.05:04 - 0.06.56 |
Childhood Games and Activities Very little Traffic on the roads at the time. Liam was living in Henry Street round the corner from Grattan Street. Recalls soccer matches from one end of the street to the other and wouldn’t see a car. Friends who came from Blarney Street or Barrack Street couldn’t understand why the streets were so wide and loved it for a game of football. If a woman with a pram approached while they were playing football they would pick up the ball or if they played near the Mercy Hospital they knew that they should keep quiet without anyone telling them and Liam thinks that has changed today. Many of his friends live in Grattan Street and everyone was a happy family until there was a row and they had a battering match with “stones down the quarry”. They used to swim by the Mercy Hospital by the ladder. And then on to ‘the pipe’ up the Lee Fields and then the weir and every second day they had the Lee Baths one day for boys one for girls. Today it’s mixed. |
0.06.56 - 0.11.32 |
Poverty-Buying on Credit and using Pawn Shops Could get messages or shopping on tick or on credit. Milk, bread, quarter (pound) of cheese. There was no bottle of milk you had to bring in your own jug. If you ran out of money the shopkeeper would write it into a book and at the end of the week you could pay it off. A few people could afford not to be ‘on tick’. There were a few pawn shops on the North Main Street one near north Gate Bridge Jones, another across from Coleman’s Lane called Twomeys. There may have been more. There was one at the bottom of Shandon street owned by Jones as well. There were 18 or 19 pawn shops around the city one at bottom of Patrick’s Hill, one by fire brigade station on Sullivan’s Quay, two on Barrack Street. People would pawn clothes. Tradesmen would pawn trowels on Monday morning. Often for drink/ alcohol. Wives would pawn husband’s suit and take it back the following Saturday for going to mass. Nearly everyone used the pawn it was the forerunner to the Credit Union. If you pawned a pair of shoes for 10 shillings, you got a docket and you had to pay 11 shillings to get it back. Wives would be stressed making sure they could get the husband’s suit back in time for mass. It was a thriving business. If you didn’t claim your pawned items after a certain period it was put for sale in the window. Some people would pawn things openly. Other people would hide it under a shawl, or pretend to be pawning something for someone else. People felt ashamed. Almost everyone was scraping a living. Even some shopkeepers looked after people who may not have had enough to pay at the end of the week. At Christmas the shopkeeper would give you a present of a Christmas Cake or Christmas Candle depending on what type of customer you were. |
0.11.32 - 0.13.02 |
Work, Pawns, Showing off Wealth Liam doesn’t remember what or whether his family pawned. Liam’s dad was a docker which was paid on a daily basis and his mother was shrewd enough to put away some money every day. He knew that relations of his pawned things though. Bracelets, wedding ring, engagement ring, rarely a watch very few people had watches. Liam knew someone who went to work in Dagenham and he came back a Dagenham Yank with a different accent “a twang” and a watch. He walked into centre of Henry Street, pulled up his sleeve and pretended to be winging his watch while looking at Shandon clock tower just to show off his watch. |
0.13.02 - 0.13.46 |
Telephone Phones were also very scarce. One shop in Henry Street had a phone and there was a queue there for people wanting to use it. There was another phone booth by Vincent’s Bridge coming down Sunday’s Well. Liam remembers playing there and being afraid to go in to answer the phone. |
0.13.46 - 0.18.37 |
Tenement conditions, Emigrants, Social Comparison, Fuel Poverty Laneways around there: Philip’s Lane from Grattan Street to North Main Street. Skiddy’s Castle from Grattan Street to North Main Street. Coleman’s Lane, Peter Church Lane (now Avenue), Broad Lane (at the back of the church), all on to North Main Street from Grattan Street. Conditions were basic looking back with an outdoor toilet. One family on Henry Street had ten families with one cold tap in back yard and one toilet between them. They had to clean out every morning and bring an enamel bucket upstairs every morning. Had an inferiority complex about relations coming home from England. The relatives would be dressed up in finery but later Liam discovered they were also badly off but made the effort when coming home. The story of someone’s uncle who came back from America after 40 years and the family had moved out to the suburbs and they had a barbeque. And the uncle used the toilet inside the house. He said he used to eat inside and the toilet was outside and now it is reversed! They used newspaper instead of toilet paper. Turf and timber blocks for fuel for heating which father got going out the Straight Road. Some people got a voucher for a peck of coal which might only be a large shovel full. Some families got vouchers for free shoes like in the shop Furlongs in South Main Street (owner may have been lord mayor later) Liam wasn’t sure where the vouchers came from- maybe the Health Board. Doesn’t think there was any child benefit. Maybe the Sick Poor would provide the vouchers. They would visit people and the people would try to hide that they were calling. |
0.18.37 - 0.22.42 |
Cooking, Bathing, Hygiene and Medicines No cooking facilities only the fire. Mother would cook pot of potatoes on the fire and then transfer to the hob. 1948 no electricity in Henry Street at the time. When they got gas in mother told him not to leave kitchen door open to hide it from Liam’s grandmother who lived upstairs and was the real tenant. It wasn’t an oven it was a thing on a stand with two rings on it. Older people were afraid of being gassed. Saturday night the galvanised bath was put in front of fire with hot water and washed, and if you were the last person in the bath the water would be dirty. And then the children were lined up against the wall to get a weekly does of cod liver oil, or Brutlax, California syrup of figs, Senna? All because of worms. Some newspaper put on the table and hair combed with fine tooth comb to get rid of lice- it was an ordeal. Brutlax was like chocolate but a laxative. Milk of magnesia used as well. Given those every Saturday night to prevent you getting sick. Some of them had a terrible taste. If someone got sick taken to the dispensary. |
0.22.42 - 0.24.12 |
Children’s Games Different for boys and girls Spent much time in the derelict site where Patrick Hanley Buildings are now, used to connect to Cove street. They had battering matches with stones and they were going to the Mercy Hospital 4 or 5 times a week. They used to play chasing hiding from the nuns around the Mercy Hospital. Could bring a spinning top and hit is with a whip up and down the road without fear of traffic. Girls would tie a rope to a pole and swing around it and skipping as well. |
0.24.12 - 0.31.57 |
Food, traditions, routines. Lunch at Work Porridge for breakfast which you eat if you were given. His grandchildren now have a choice of 5 cereals. Goodie- bread and milk mixed maybe with sugar sprinkled on it. Some shops on North Main Street like Simcox or Currans Bakery you could get bread wrapped in soft tissue paper which was kept in a drawer at home for when visitors came to use for the toilet because it was better than newspaper. Potatoes and cabbage. Father loved pigs meat: pig’s heat, backbone, pig’s tail, crubeens. Liam still loves a crubeen except for the trouble of cooking of it, and it’s messy to eat. Mother was reared around Vicar Street. Barrack Street, Blarney Street, Shandon Street: that’s the way people lived because there was little Gurranabraher built and Ballyphehane wasn’t built yet. Tripe and drisheen is still a favourite, can get from Reilly’s in the market. Tripe cut into little pieces, with cornflower, onions, “white sauce”, drisheen put in later. Tripe and drisheen would be weekly. Liam loved the pig’s tongue because it was lean. Set day for each food. Liam’s dad was a docker and he would cut the ear off the pig’s head, put it in a sandwich with bread and butter, wrap in newspaper and that was his lunch. He wasn’t the only one. Thinks tripe is from sheep’s stomach. Blood in the drisheen. Connie Dodgers for Lent allowed one meal and two collations. Con Lucey said you could have a biscuit with a cup of tea as a collation. Liam thinks it was Larry McCarthy’s bakery that made a biscuit twice as big as the normal one. For Lent had to fast every Friday and couldn’t eat meat, except for people of a certain age. Religion was a big thing for people at the time. Lent didn’t bother Liam’s dad. Dockers worked hard. Where Elysian Tower is now, where the Eglinton Baths were Liam went with his mother and a bowl of soup and bread and butter and a tea towel over it. The dockers sat on the kerb eating their soup and sandwiches and they were all black with dirt no washing of hands. All the work was shovelling coal, Liam worked there for 2 days and had enough of it- nearly wanted a small shovel to fill the shovel he had. His dad was small but very wiry and strong. “They were marvellous people” |
0.31.57- 0.37.05 |
Pastimes, Shops and Opening Hours Dad spent time in the pub maybe too much. People listened to the radio or sat in front of the fire reading the newspaper. Some people with go hunting or play football or hurling. Liam plays golf now but at the time it was only for the elite doctors and solicitors. Liam’s dad never stood inside a golf club. Liam was 10 when his mother died she would offer him tripe and drisheen or a creamy cake for dinner and he would choose the cake. The corner shops are gone now because of the supermarkets. Corner shops on Henry Street were: Bode’s?, Mannings, Horrigan’s, Dermot’s on Adelaide Street. Dermot’s was first all-night shop in the city- wouldn’t be there during the day. Open from 8pm to 8am. A salesman in coca cola told Liam that Dermot lived on Pope’s Quay and owned a Morris Minor car and he drove it to Adelaide Street 7 days a week and the car was ten years old and there wasn’t 5,000 miles on it because that was all the driving he did. In Ballypheane Liam sees people carrying lots of bags after shopping in Aldi on Tory Top Road. Liam remembers going to Dermot’s for quarter pound of cheese (3 or 4 slices), half pound of tea, 2 eggs, there were no fridges so you bought and you ate them there was little storage. Dermot would put greaseproof paper over the blade and cut perfectly a few slices of cheese which had come from a timber box. Girls were interested in the box for making cots for dolls. There was no variety of cheese available just the one block. Sugar was available in quarter pounds rather than big bags. Men coming home from the pub would be sent back out to get a box of cocoa or milk from Dermot’s. There was no one on the street after 12 o’clock unlike today when there’s lots of people around after nightclubs. |
0.37.05 - 0.39.00 |
Death of Mother and Family Living Arrangements When Liam’s mom died his aunt who had 6 children moved upstairs from Liam. She has 5 daughters and 1 son and the son died of meningitis at 4 years old. Liam’s grandfather was dead. Aunt moved to grandmother in Vicar Street to look after her. Liam was going to school in Mardyke, father’s place during the day, went to grandmother’s in Vicar Street for food and washing and then back to the Marsh to sleep. He skipped school for almost 3 months (‘on the lang’) until the school wrote to his dad, who gave him a lecture. He was nearly 14 then and on the verge of leaving school anyway. |
0.39.00 - 0.44.13 |
The Dispensary now Grattan Street Health Centre, Tinsmith and Nurse Lots of cases of meningitis. Everyone in Cork used to go to the Dispensary. Everyone now in their 70s seems to remember Dr Cagney. He would give a bottle of coloured water. If you forgot your bottle you had to go to Mr Gamble the tinsmith in Grattan Street. He made ponnies, gallons, billycans. But when plastic came in there was no need for tinsmiths. Remembers getting injection or vaccination from Dr Cagney, thinks it may have been for smallpox but is not sure. He dreaded the needles for the syringes which were “like six-inch nails”. You went through a gate, into a yard and there were steps leading up to the entrance. A grey-haired woman maybe called Mrs O’Keefe. There were benches like in a church. There were hatches. You queued up for the doctor. And the hatches gave you the medicine. Other place for illness was Mercy Hospital. Recalls a midwife Nurse Anthony who called to people’s houses. Liam thought when younger than it was the midwife who brought babies on her bicycle. Aunt lived on Thomas Street (a continuation of Peter’s Street) to the back entrance of the Mercy Hospital where the “dead house” was where Liam’s mother was laid out. Remembers the Quirkes and the Horgans, Glandons?, McCarthys living there too and they all moved out when Mercy took over the whole block. Liam doesn’t remember playing around inside the Dispensary. |
0.44.13 - 0.45.35 |
Making vs Buying Lunch People who worked in Dispensary didn’t live in area. Doesn’t think people make lunches for work anymore. In modern day people go to shops like Spar for sandwiches and rolls. Wives/mothers used to make “lunches for them in the morning” for children who were working and there was a can with milk, tea and sugar. |
0.45.35 - 0.46.14 |
Families Living in Dispensary Grattan Street Thinks Mrs O’Keefe was only working there, possibly the cleaner. Mrs O’Keefe may not have been her name. Liam doesn’t think they were charging people in the dispensary. |
0.46.14 - 0.50.55 |
Attitude to health, Pubs, Fights, Market Gardens, Childhood Mischief There was no such thing as being left on a trolley. The Mercy hospital was the only hospital Liam knew, and every child in the Marsh went there at least once after a fall, hit with a stone on the head, a few stitches. Although, Liam’s aunt lost a son to meningitis. Didn’t have the medicines we have today. They were simple times but he doesn’t remember going hungry ever. Lots of pubs on Grattan Street and people were spending lots of time and money which put a burden on the family. Saturday night on Grattan Street there would usually be a fight, stripped to the waist. Bonfire night used to be a great night but no longer. No awareness of mental health. Called the Lee Road the Madhouse Road. First coloured person Liam ever saw was on Sheares Street and when they saw him they called him “Johnny the Black” and they got a chase. A chase was very important for children at the time. Fisherman on Wise’s Quay near Vincent’s Bridge the children used to throw stones in to frighten the fish away and the fisherman would chase them. Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday the market gardeners would bring their produce on horse and carts to the Coal Quay and the shopkeepers would come to buy vegetables off them. Liam and the children would steal (“knock off”) some cabbage and carrots. “Oliver Twist was only trotting after us”. |
0.50.55 - 0.51.15
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Sweets You’d get a few sweets in Woolworths from the girls who worked there, to prevent them trying to steal them! |
0.51.15 - 0.55.10
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WW2 Air Raid Shelters in Cork Three air raid shelters on Sheare’s Street, 2 in Henry Street and maybe a few in Grattan Street, at least one. O’Connell on Sheares Street was in charge of air raid shelter no 3. Fear of being bombed by German’s during World War 2 mass concrete buildings rather than underground. Liam has photograph of an air raid shelter on Patrick Street outside the Victoria Hotel and a photograph of it being knocked down. The son of the man who had the key to air raid shelter no 3 would rent out the space to old children if it was raining and they wanted to use it to play cards. In the 1940s. he lived at corner of Moore Street and Sheares Street. They were being demolished in 1948 or 1949. Air raid shelter remains inside the door of Elizabeth Fort and there are 2 on the grounds of the South Infirmary (Victoria Hospital), they’ve now been converted to stores. If you stand at bottom of South Terrace and you look up at “Rock Savage” on top of the hill at the back of the South Infirmary you can see it protruding out. Liam remembers the LDF became the FCA and that their “top coats” were good as blankets during the winter as you could put your hands into the pockets. Nearly every house had an army coat on the bed. Everyone was issued with a gas mask, Liam has one from a friend of his. Everyone had to be measured for their gas mask at the city hall or in schools. Liam’s dad wasn’t not in the LDF but his uncle was and it was his coat that was on the bed. |
0.55.10 - 0.59.24 |
Grattan Street, Dispensary, surrounding lanes, Terence MacSwiney connection Grattan Street was busy, vibrant street, always something happening there. Can’t believe seeing the traffic there now. Liam took a photograph of Prince Charles stopped in traffic outside the plaque to Patrick Hanely Buildings. The Dispensary was a historical place, there was a time when Grattan Street was a river and Meeting House Lane from North Main Street (at the side of Bradleys) was the entrance to any of the buildings on Grattan Street. Henry Street was known as Penrose Quay. On Adelaide Street at the back of where Curran’s Restaurant was there was a square called Penrose Square- after the Penrose Family that lived in Tivoli. If you come down Coleman’s Lane from Grattan Street and enter North Main Street up on the wall there are four plaques for the building where Terence MacSwiney was born. People think he was born in Blackpool because they confuse him with Tomas MacCurtain. Terence married one of the Murphy brewers. Liam is very interested in Terence MacSwiney and loves talking about him, maybe because he comes from the same area in Cork. |
0.59.24 - 0.59.41
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Outro. Interview Ends. |