Interviews with Mrs Hannon of Bodyke
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Mrs Moira Hannon has lived in the village of Bodyke in East Clare since she married Christy Hannon more the forty years ago. She came here from Tubber, about twenty miles away. Mrs Hannon has been a regular visitor to Bodyke national school for many, many years. She comes to the school to talk to the children. She tells us of happenings long ago in Bodyke. She tells us of the prayers and sayings of the old people. She can recite all the poems she learned in national school. Bíonn sí ag labhairt linn as Gaeilge. She tells us of the cures that were used, and the ways weather was predicted. She tells of her own life and the places of pilgrimage she has visited and the trips she has taken.
Mrs Hannon acts as sacristan in the church. She brings flowers from her garden to decorate the altar. She keeps the altar and the sacristy in order. She organises regular trips to Knock. When the diocesan advisor on his yearly visit to the school asked the children who in the parish is dedicated in a special way to God, the answer was, of course, “Mrs Hannon!”
How Mrs. Hannon met her husband
Mrs Hannon met her husband in Cahercalla Hospital , where she was working as a nurse. He came in to visit his cousin who was a patient there. Mrs Hannon came in to ask what the patients would like for their tea. Christy Hannon said he would have a mixed grill.
“Well, you won't get that here,” Nurse Moira told him.
The two of them went to Paradise in Kiladysart that night.
Christy asked Moira to marry him after two dates.
They could see each other twice a week. At the weekends he would take his aunt and uncle to Mass.
May Eve and other old customs
Mrs Hannon's son Michael went round the farm on May Eve this year with holy water like his father used to. Some people would carry eggs in their pocket and bury them secretly on your land on May Eve. They would thus take some of the produce of the land. When Mrs Mullen was young, she found some rotten eggs in the turf. They had a lot of trouble that year.
Whenever you visit a family in a newly-built house, you bring eggs, bread and turf. That means they will never be cold or hungry and they will have a healthy family. Mrs Hannon's son was brought these presents recently, so the custom still lives.
The Bodyke Penal chalice
The Hamiltons were builders. One of that family's sons was working in Moloney's house, which is known as Fr Brendan Moloney's. He was putting in a range. He found the Famine chalice under the hob, under the ash-pit. This chalice is now in Bodyke Church . The chalice has a cover or a small paten. It was a good house to hide it in, in off the road and with a quiet family living there. It is on the back road in Clonmoher. At one stage the back road was the main road to Ennis.
Fr Brendan has told Mrs Hannon that another Famine found in Kilanena.
Gifts from Austria
Princess Eugenia of Austria gave the small wooden cross and the IHS pieces for the altar candlesticks. Fr Hogan was chaplain to the princess, and that is how these things came to be given to this parish. Fr Hogan's family lived where Philip Gurnett now lives, in Coolreagh which is on the other side to Caherhurley of the Tuamgraney road.
The Church
You would not build a T-shaped house, that was left for God. You built an L-shaped house instead.
Canon O'Brien told me that the front of the altar in Tuamgraney Church was carved by the father of Pádraig Pearse.
In the church grounds there is a shed. That was an old school. The old church was where the graveyard is now.
When Mrs Hannon came first there were big trees beside the graveyard where there is only grass now. Some people were glad when the crows went, but others missed them. It is lucky to be followed by crows.
The Mass Rock
There is a Mass Rock near Halloran's Fort on Gerard Tuohy's farm. There are stepping stones through a small field over to the Mass Rock. It is opposite Teresa's house, beside Murphy's. People would throw a blanket across an ass ar a pony. They would go in at Mike Slattery's gate and cut across. A lot of people lived in the area around Slattery's at that time. People went to a lot of trouble to attend Mass.
There was another Mass Rock near Caherhurley School .
Grass never grew around it. Walshes live there now.
The Cobbler's Rock
John Kelly said he would give £5 for the best drawing of the Cobbler's Rock. Not one of the children in the school knew what the Cobbler's Rock was. The only ones who knew were a family in Scariff who had moved there from Bodyke.
Josie Gleeson in the house next to the church remembers going up past her house to the cobbler's house with a shoe for repair. The cobbler was a tiny man. He used to work on a rock outside his house. There was a small space on the rock for him to sit on, with other little spaces for all his tools. The rock is up on O'Halloran's land.
Holy Wells
Coolaun's well is besides Dr Conrad's house. There is another well in Gleeson's place which is all overgrown now. It had a cure for eyes. St Brigid's well is in Liscannor. An eel lives in it. If you see the eel, you will get your request. People go there for cures for leg ulcers. There are two days to go, the 15 th of August and St Brigid's Day. There is well at home in Ranahan, and you do the round any Tuesday or Thursday.
Fairy Forts
Lios Cock-a-bó is the name of the fort behind father's house. It may come from Lios Chnoc na Bó. There was a road from it to another lios in Stewart's place in Caherhurley, by Gurnett's. A lios was a place where people kept their animals and their valuables. There were roads between the lioses. People would not damage a lios or the trees on a lios, and would not build on the roads between the lioses.
When the priest moved out of the big house, the priest's house was built where it is now. People say the house was built in the path between Cock-a bó lios and the other lios further down.
Flax-growing in East Clare
Flax was grown all around Lisboreen. It needs to grow in wet places. It grew very well around the Tulla area.
There was a mill in Sixmilebridge which wove the flax into linen. The linen was coarse. Mrs Hannon has two sheets made of linen from flax that was grown around here. When Christy's brother, the Monseigneur, used to visit, the good linen sheets would be got out for his bed. They were a bit coarse for him. One morning he said, “It's like climbing in between two flags of limestone.”
The flax required a lot of fertiliser to grow well. This is what made Tubber a wealthy parish. The well-fertilised land supported much more cattle per acre than before.
Compulsory Tillage
There was compulsory tillage all over during the Emergency. At least one third of land had to be under tillage. When the weather was bad, soldiers would be sent out to help save the crop. There were two families in Gort, the Coens and the Keanes, who used to be able to get flour, and they used to sell it for £10 a bag.
The Famine
People who went out and fished during the Famine survived. They caught and brought home all sorts of fish which they salted. The salt melted the bones of the fish. This way they could eat eels and pike.The pike was called the scavanger of the lake.
If a family caught a pike, they had dinner for a week. The fish were cooked with turnip and cabbage, and potatoes if available. Those who ate like this had protein, the others didn't and their stomachs were distended from the lack of protein. At that time the landlords had possession of the lakes and the fishing had to be done at night. Cabbage and turnips were the staple vegetables at the time. Mrs Hannon's mother would sometimes chew on a piece of raw turnip on her way to school.
The Bodyke Evictions
Mrs Hannon helped us with our project on the Bodyke Evictions. She came to the school to tell us about what happened at that time, and wrote the story of the Evictions down for us.
All children should know about the Bodyke Evictions, because these events were history in the making and had an effect on the lives of farmers and their families all over Ireland .
After the Famine, when Ireland had lost many of her people, the people were poorer than even the poorest farms today. Mr LP Curtis said in 1880: The condition of Ireland defies description. There were ruined harvests, land outrages, pauperism and evictions.
Michael Davitt founded the Land League in Mayo in 1879. John Dillon of Roscommon became an agitator in the Land League. He defended the tenants of Bodyke in Parliament in Westminster , giving prominence to the happenings in East Clare and helping the introduction of the new Land Acts.
One of the first evictions was of the Moloneys. Most of you know Marty Moloney who lives nearby. Mrs McNamara was eighty years old when she was evicted. A great barrier was put up at her house. The crowbar brigade broke a hole in the back wall of the house. Then they proceeded to O'Halloran's Fort. It was the only time blood was spilled.
Father Murphy and Father Hannon will always be remembered for their leadership during the evictions and the unity they inspired among the tenants of Bodyke.
A family connection with the Bodyke Evictions
Christy Hannon's uncle, Micheal Murphy, told Mrs Hannon many years ago that he remembered the old people around Bodyke speaking Irish.
Michael Murphy's mother belonged to one of the evicted families. Her mother was expecting a baby at the time. One of the eviction party pushed her and she fell over something. She said to the man: May you never have a family! He never had children, and she went on to have thirteen children.
The Brian Boru Oak
The Brian Boru oak tree in Tuamgraney is the oldest oak in Ireland . It was planted around the time Tuamgraney Church was built, in 901. In 1021 Brian Boru gave money to complete and decorate Tuamgraney Church . Brian Boru's brother was abbot of Holy Island . Tuamgraney also had a monastery. There is one in Quin and one in Kilkishen. A man walking from Feakle founded Bodyke parish. Brian Boru was instrumental in building Killaloe Cathedral, Holy Island and the Bell Tower . The doorway in Tuamgraney Church is the same for over 1000 years. Brian was made king of Munster in 926 and he resided in Killaloe. A few years later he was High King of Ireland.
Brian Boru was born in 941 in Killaloe and died in 1014 in Clontarf.
Charles Stewart Parnell
A couple of years ago Mrs Hannon visited Avondale, the home of Parnell. Parnell was there when the Bodyke Evictions took place. He had three children with Mrs O'Shea and he died at the age of 45. He was one of the most famous Irishmen as all his work went to help the poorer classes. Avondale was sold when Parnell died to pay off debts and is now owned by the Irish state.
Hurling
Some form of hurling was played 2000 years ago, when the Fir Bolg and Tuath Dé Danann lived. They played with a stick and some form of ball.
Dán a d'fhoghlaim Mrs. Hannon
One day Mrs Hannon came to the school.
I learned this poem when I was in second class,
agus is cuimhin liom fós é.
Sé dúirt damhán alla le míoltóg lá,
Ó tar liom abhaile, a chréatúirin bhreá,
Tá grian gheal an tsamhraidh ag damhsa ar do theach,
Tá ithe agus ól ann, nach dtiocfá isteach?
Dúirt an créatúr míchéillí ag féachaint isteach,
Is tú croi na féile, is breá liom do theach,
Ach deirtear go mbíonn tú ag ithe agus ag ól
Míoltóigíní mar mise idir fuil agus feoil.
Dúirt an damhán alla, is é a bhí glic,
Is bréag mhór, dar m'anam, an scéal sin a mhic,
Tá caoreoil, tá mairteoil, tá bainne anseo,
Is an té a bheadh marbh dhéanfaidís beo.
Bhí an créatúirín meallta le comhrá mar sin,
Dúirt sé, tá mé sásta mar tá tú chomh binn,
Ach ní fhanfaidh mé fada. Chuaigh sé isteach,
Ach níor chuala mé fós gur tháinig amach.
Dúglás de hÍde a scríobh an dán seo. Bhí sé ina chéad Uachtarán ar Eirinn.
A Poem from Primary School
This poem on the months was in my primary school book:
January brings the snow,
Makes our feet and fingers glow.
February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lakes again.
March brings breezes loud and shrill,
Stirs the dancing daffodils.
April brings the primrose sweet,
Scatters daisies at our feet.
May brings the flocks of pretty lambs,
Skipping by their fleecy dams.
June brings tulips, lilies, roses,
Fills two children's hands with posies.
Hot July brings cooling showers,
Strawberries and lily flowers.
August brings the sheaves of corn,
Then the harvest home is borne.
September brings the fruit,
Branches then begin to droop.
Fresh October brings the pheasant,
Then to gather nuts is pleasant.
Dull November brings the blast,
Then the leaves are whirling past.
Chill November brings the sleet,
Blazing fires and Christmas trees.
Predicting the Weather
Mrs Hannon told us these ways to predict the weather:
Wherever the December moon leaves the November wind, the wind will blow from that point for the next six months and will govern the rest of the year's weather.
The two most feared moons were March and October. Old people said there was the danger of depression at that time.
An old lady once told me that if February were wet, August would be dry.
If a cold August follows a hot July
It foretells a winter hard and dry.
If the last week in August is unusually warm, the coming winter will be snowy and long.
For every fog in August there will be a snowfall in winter.
A wet and windy Candlemas denotes a very fine spring and summer.
When you see the frog dark green or black, wet weather ahead.
Rejoice when you see him a gold colour, it's a sign of fine weather.
A very large amount of white blossoms on the whitethorn denotes a fine year. Everyone has noticed the amount of blossom on the whitethorn this year.
A red sun over Galway Bay is the sign of good weather, and you know you can cut the silage tomorrow when you see this.
Old Cures
One large teaspoon of tea in a pint of boiling water and put in a bowl is marvellous to revive tired feet.
Methylated spirit dabbed on a cold sore is a cure.
Turnip and cabbage water is good to clear the skin and to bring down blood pressure.
Soften Sunlight or any washing soap, add a little brown sugar and use as a dressing for a boil. Cover it for two days and all should be well.
Parrifin oil poured over a cut will stop bleeding.
A cure for warts is to rub the milky juice from the dandelion stem over the wart.
A Shopping List
A man used to have a little shop in Bodyke. He had a van and used to call around to the housed to sell groceries.
One woman asked him for this list of messages:
“Soap, soda, starch and blue,
Wax, hairpins, laces too.”
This would help them to remember the list. Most people at that time could not write.
Nesting Birds
Tom tits have from 4 to 16 eggs. The female makes the nest. They keep turning the eggs to keep them warm. Mrs Hannon remembers the hens and turkeys at home doing the same.
For chicks that are a bit bigger, the mother bird has been seen stripping a peanut, dividing it into 16 pieces and giving it to the young. The young take the piece in their turn
Mrs. Hannon's Birthday
Mrs Hannon is 75 today, 8 th May 2006. Her health was not good when she was young. Her mother used to be worried about her. Thank God she has lived so long.
Bodyke Social Club
The Apostolic Society was set up five years ago. Before that there was the Social Club. Mrs Hannon was the secretary of the Social Club for years. They would have someone in to give a talk on some subject – from how to colour your hair, to how the first people came and cut the woods and lived in Lios Cock-a bó and went to the Burren for the winter. All the oak wood that was around here was cut down. There are four oak trees planted in Mrs Hannon's garden which are getting big.
Garden Flowers
Mrs Hannon brought daffodils with her from her home when she came here forty years ago. They still grow in her garden and many people admire them. They are double daffodils.
Trip to Fatima
A group of eight of us, with our organiser Fr Brendan Quinlivan, were picked up at my gate by the minibus and headed to Shannon airport. We went by Spanish plane and we arrived very tired.
We went to the Cova, to the spot where Our Lady appeared to the children. We walked up a winding road to where the angel gave Holy Communion to the three shepherd children. What faith would you imagine Francesco must have had. He never heard a word from Our Lady yet he prayed till he was on his deathbed for poor sinners.
We had a drink from the well and we met Sr Lucia's sister-in-law. We saw the church the children went to, and their homes. You could not but marvel at the small size of Jacinta and Francesco's house – eleven children were born there. And to see the very same little fireplaces where the cooking was done.
I have brought back relics of the three children. Bless yourselves with them. I also have a book which will tell you the full story of the three children of Fatima .
Trip to Kilkee
One year there was a trip to Kilkee with the Social Services on the bus. Next year it will be to Salthill.
One year Mrs Hannon was sitting on the bus beside a man with one eye.
“Timmy,” said Mrs Hannon, “did you enjoy the trip?”
“Oh, Mrs Hannon, I never knew Ireland was so big!”