More gems from 'Mines bygone days

Twelfth edition of ‘Mining the Past’ out now

Silvermines Historical Society continues to unearth gems of bygone days with the recent publication of yet another volume in their ‘Mining the Past’ series.

The 12th edition opens with verses penned by the late Gerry Slevin, Editor of the Nenagh Guardian, who composed a poem to celebrate Silvermines’ North Tipperary senior hurling championship triumph of 1974. Gerry’s poem is reproduced to mark the 50th anniversary of the ‘Mines first and only senior title.

With such dwindling numbers of religious vocations nowadays, it is hard to believe that just few a generations ago it was not uncommon to have a priest or nun, or both, in the average Irish family. Mary Kennedy had a sister a nun and a brother a priest in her family, and she shares their stories.

The origin of local field names has made an intriguing feature of previous ‘Mining the Past’ volumes and so that tradition continues with Willie Hickey’s study of the field names of Curryquin.

In ‘From Toor to Tooreen’, Eamon Ryan tells of his family’s move to a new farmstead home in the 1950s. Next up, Michael Ryan traces the origins of ‘It’s a Long Way to Tipperary’, famous marching song of soldiers - possibly German soldiers too - in the First World War.

CHILDHOOD MEMORIES

Patsy Feehily’s evocative picture of 1950s life in Dolla in the 2014 edition of ‘Mining the Past’ inspired Francis Prittie to do likewise in this volume. His account focuses on his old home of Kilboy, an “Alladin’s Cave” for the author to grow up in after moving to there from England in 1952.

Further childhood memories abound in ‘You Can Take the Man from the Bog’, where Paddy Ryan (S) writes of walking the land up to Ormonde Stile with his father and the many people and places of note along the way. His account draws interesting parallels with the Spanish Alhambra and salt flats near Portoroz in Slovenia, which he would come to see many years later.

Fiona Fitzpatrick has an article about Mary Delaney, who died last year. Born at Ballinaclough in 1941, Mary joined the Sisters of Mercy at the age of 18 and four years later was part of a group that left Ireland for Mississippi, though she made numerous return visits home.

Next up is an article by Londoner Alan Grainger about how he literally bumped into Dolla model Maureen Hodgins in Dublin Airport - and ended up marrying her. The couple were wedded at Ballinaclough Church of Ireland in 1959, one of only 17 weddings there in the whole century.

A regular contributor to Mining the Past over the years, Cáit Logue returns in the 12th volume with a chapter about the death and funeral in 1854 of Henry Sadleir Prittie, Second Baron Dunalley, a leading member of the North Tipperary aristocracy, and widely revered for his benevolence during the famine years.

TRIBUTES TO THE DEPARTED

Michael O'Brien profiles Crannahurt centenarian Nancy Ryan (née Gleeson), who celebrated her 100th birthday last April and died in June. Another well known local personality, Paddy Ryan (Coole), who died last year, is profiled by Mai Ryan.

Returning to the religious theme, Michael O'Brien has submitted two chapters of his documenting of the parish priests of Silvermines, from 1704 to 1900 and then to the present.

There then follows another chapter from the pen of Cáit Logue titled ‘The Final Journey - Aspects of Death and Burial in Days Gone By’. She looks at the some of the first references to the deaths of “humble folk” in the Nenagh Guardian and elsewhere in the mid nineteenth century, a time when generally only the deaths of “prominent people” were recorded.

Fast forward a hundred years and Ollie Egan shares reminisces of growing up in Silvermines village in the 1950s, an innocent time that moved at a leisurely place.

There is in these pages also an article by Denis Gleeson on Silvermines Historical Society's visit last December to Ballinaclough graveyard and its people and features of note.

The next chapter is another personality profile, this one by Siobhán O'Brien on Mary Slattery of Gortnalara, Templederry, who began working as a priest's housekeeper in 1961 and worked in five parishes between three counties, settling in Silvermines.

Guest speaker at the recent launch of this year's ‘Mining the Past’ in Dolla, Paddy Ryan (S) of Malahide complements the volume with a look at that not-so-distant past when many of the pubs in Dublin were owned by Tipperary men - including his own ancestors.

Further intrigue awaits in Michael Ryan's account of the thriving butter industry of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Having previously treated of the Kilcommon Butter Markets, this chapter looks at the Butter Roads of old as well as folklore surrounding butter-making.

Patricia Mulqueen and Maureen Steed have an article about the shooting of freedom fighter Denis Hayes (22), Ballywilliam, following a barn dance at Casey's Cross in 1924.

MUSICAL MEMORIES

The late Shane MacGowan features next, as Joan Kennedy recalls how he recorded Eamonn Butler's Tipp hurling song ‘The Sons of Knocknagow’ with local group Na Comharsana at the time of the 9/11 attacks in the US.

Music continues into the next chapter as Bridget O'Flaherty recounts ‘A Fiddle Full of Memories’ that began when she aqcuired a Stradivarius fiddle - dating from around 1890-1900 - in 1957.

Now to Shallee, and series co-editor Betty Gleeson seeks to honour the memory of her friend the late Nenagh historian Nancy Murphy by continuing her research into three generations of the Gleeson family of Shallee House.

Returning to Ballinaclough graveyard, Rev Keith Barry contributes an engaging explanation of how an old grave therein explains how he became Rector of the Nenagh Union of Parishes.

The death during 2024 of Miceál Ó Muircheartaigh inspired Denis Quirke of Capparoe to write something he had been intending to for some time, childhood memories of playing in Shanahan's Field in the 1960s. Those memories will resonate with many a local reader, as indeed will John Kennedy's epic account of a local eight-a-side hurling competition in 1936.

Ó Muirheartaigh - in his interview with Gay Byrne on ‘The Meaning of Life’ - somewhat inspired also Siobhán Harrington to write about the nuns and priests of Bolingbroke.

Staying with that theme, in ‘A Profile of Courage’, Eamonn Butler documents missionary Fr Jeremiah Kennedy of Glastrigan, Templederry, who became a vital member of the pastoral team in Jefferson City, Missouri, only to be killed in a car crash in 1967 at the age of just 29.

When Jim and Una Egan asked Sarah Quinn to talk about her life, ‘what possible interest could there be in reading about me?’ was the answer they received. Nothing could be further from the truth, as she imparted social history gold of working in Nenagh Creamery - making butter - in the 1960s; of dances, Lisshenhall Players productions, and much more.

In keeping with Christmas, there is a contribution from Jimmy Quirke about hunting the wren, followed by ‘Song of Silvermines’, which Jimmy often sung.

DEATH IN A MINE SHAFT

No ‘Mining the Past’ volume would be complete without reference to the mine site heritage. In this one, John O'Brien tells of how hillside farmer Jim Ryan disappeared down a flooded mine shaft on a dark and stormy night in 1958. His remains were recovered 10 years later on a ledge 100 feet down the shaft. Siobhán Harrington returns with a tribute to another person who sadly died during the year, Denise Matthews, a member of Silvermines Historical Society since 2014.

In ‘Nolans, Cliffords and the Lady from America’, Jan Green relates how she came to be in Silvermines this year researching her forebears, who emigrated to the US more than century ago.

The penultimate chapter is a sonnet, ‘The Parting Kiss’, one of a number that William Rowan Hamilton wrote wrote from Dublin to Helen Bayly at Bayly Farm between November 1832 and their marriage the following April in Ballinaclough Church of Ireland Church. It was submitted to ‘Mining the Past’ by Donal A Murphy.

The book concludes with ‘A View from an Outsider’, Betty's brother Hugh McKearney, who mentions the success of the Keeper walk event that she and her husband Denis organised in 2024, one that raised some €10,700 for the Dublin Neurological Institute for Deep Brain Stimulation in the treatment of those suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Betty, Denis and all involved in ‘Mining the Past’ would like to sincerely thank David Ryan and Ruth Durack, Guardian Print & Design, for their work in the latest volume. Also featuring a wonderful array of photographs of people and places past - many of them in colour - the 12th volume of ‘Mining the Past’ is available now in local shops, priced at €10.