The Maid of the Melvin Shore and other True Stories

“The Maid of the Melvin Shore” and other True Stories

The Maid of the Melvin Side was a local love song, once well known along the Moy which is a flat plain leading from Ballyshannon and Bundoran towards the Leitrim Mountains. Indeed the name Moy is retained in the parish name Mágh Éne which is the parish of Bundoran and some parts of Ballyshannon on the south side of the river Erne. Lough Melvin is in County Leitrim and is a famous fishing lake particularly for the ‘Gilaroo’ trout.

There once resided on the Moy a well-to-do farmer who gave an annual big night for all those who assisted in bringing in the harvest. There was only one stipulation that every guest had to sing a Fenian song and there were to be no love songs. This rule was kept until one year a singer started to sing “The Maid of the Melvin Side” to the consternation of the host. “Damn you and your love songs” he cried, and he reached for his fowling-piece on the wall. The singer made a hasty exit from the house followed by a gun-shot which took away part of the lintel above the door. Needless to say there were no more love songs featured at this harvest gathering from then onwards. (Anyone today got the words of “The Maid of the Melvin Shore”?)

The Runaway Fair was at one time the name given to the fair in Kinlough on the 6^th of January. The January fair in Kinlough was considered a good time for romance because of the number of young people who took advantage of the fair to elope. Kinlough is in County Leitrim at the head of Lough Melvin.

Taken by the Fairies: One night long ago a man called Gallagher was out walking accompanied by another man when suddenly they came across a fort. On entering it Gallagher noticed a little fairy standing at the side of it. He went to tell the other man, when suddenly he was brought away wandering through the countryside and did not return home until the next morning. The man is said to have walked on a stray sod and everybody who does so, is set astray by the fairies. Stray sods are said to exist still in Ireland in certain parts of the country. This story was recorded about 80 years ago in Ardfarna near Bundoran. Taken by the fairies is a very, very common tale recorded in our folklore.

Even the local poet William Allingham in his famous poem called “The Fairies” tells of a little girl taken by the fairies.

They stole little Bridget

For seven years long;

When she came down again

Her friends were all gone.

They took her lightly back,

Between the night and morrow

They thought that she was fast asleep,

But she was dead with sorrow.

They have kept her ever since

Deep within the lake,

On a bed of  flag-leaves,

Watching till she wake.

Ring forts are still common today throughout our countryside and were originally peoples’ dwellings. Indeed the townland of Rathmore (the big rath or ring fort) is located close to the town and has a fine rath or ring fort which gives its name to the townland. Even in our modern 21^st century people are very reluctant to interfere with these forts. So who doesn’t believe in fairies?

Two Fishermen Jailed for Fishing: In 1892 two local men, John Gillespie, painter and decorator, College Street and Michael Gallagher, tailor, served a term of imprisonment in Sligo gaol for fishing for trout in the Erne without a permit. They considered that they had a right to fish, declined to ask for a permit, were prosecuted, declined to pay a fine, and went to gaol as a protest. Michael Gallagher later emigrated to the United States of America.

In  2013 we recall the fight by the Kildoney Fishermen, eighty years ago, to reclaim the Erne Fishery for the people which was successful in the courts in 1933. A weekend to their memory and the unveiling of a memorial is planned as part of “The Gathering” on the August Bank Holiday weekend this year. Men like John Gillespie and Michael Gallagher also showed the depth of feeling on this issue back in the 1890s when they were prepared to go to jail for their convictions.

New Local History Book: “Ballyshannon Genealogy and History” by Anthony Begley details new history of the Ballyshannon area in the 19^th and 20th centuries including fishing,

sport, tourism, social history, flora and fauna, The Independence struggle, The Emergency, buildings, townland history and lots of reminiscences. 

None of the material used in the blogs is taken from this book. The book covers an area roughly from Ballyshannon:

·        To Rossnowlagh, to Belleek, to Finner/ Bundoran to the Loughside and towards Ballintra. Includes all the parish of Kilbarron and the local parts of Mágh Ene parish.

·        Contains 500 pages with much material on how to trace your roots. All the gravestone inscriptions in the 3 local cemeteries are recorded and indexed, with aerial photographs for ease of location.

·        The book includes many rare images and modern colour aerial photographs of the area.

Available from The Novel Idea Ballyshannon/The Four Masters Bookshop Donegal Town or can be ordered on line from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com Price €25 softback plus postage if required. A limited number of hardbacks also available. Enquiries welcome.

Ballyshannon Musings:  Please let people with an interest in Ballyshannon and surrounding areas know about this site, particularly people who are not living locally and those who are abroad. The site is called "Ballyshannon Musings" and there are a number of back issues available; Google:  ballyshannonmusings.blogspot.com

They can access the site on the internet (or by connecting to my Facebook page).

The Gathering in Ballyshannon New items will be posted every week or two on Ballyshannon Musings during 2013; the year of “The Gathering”. Keep in touch. Google “The Gathering in Ballyshannon” for more details of events you might like to attend later in the year.

Next  Blog will be posted on Monday 11th February and is called “The Worst Fire Ever in Ballyshannon” which describes how upwards of twenty properties on the Back Street down to the present Sean Ógs were burned or damaged over 150 years ago.

Ballyshannon Musings Update

Ballyshannon Musings

Update

·        Forthcoming Blogs

28^th January 2013: The Maid of the Melvin Shore and other True Stories

11^th February 2013: The Worst Fire Ever in Ballyshannon 150 Years Ago

25^th February 2013: Early drama groups and Ballyshannon playwrights

11^th March 2013: Local links to two unusual Olympic Games

Short local history stories from the Ballyshannon area have been posted on the internet in recent times. The free site will continue to publish local history during 2013 the year of “The Gathering” and has already built up a good following at home and abroad. Please spread the word to reach a wider audience of people with an interest in the Ballyshannon area.

·        “Ballyshannon Musings” can be found by googling:  

ballyshannon musings .blogspot.com

The following blogs can be read on the site:

Ballyshannon Fisherman’s Curious Discovery/40 Shades of Ballyshannon /Lots of Local History at Allingham Festival/Centenary of De La Salle 1912-2012/Ballyshannon Workhouse Closes 90 Years Ago/The Garden Fete and Fancy Dress Parade1945/Christmas Shopping in Ballyshannon in 1889/19^th Century Ballyshannon- A Commercial Centre/Dancing and “Sitting Out” in Cars in 1935/Ten Rarely Asked Questions on the Ballyshannon Area/“Let me sing of what I know(1)” /“Let me sing of what  I know” (2)/Farewell to Ballyshannon

Regards

Anthony Begley

The blogs are available on the internet but can also be found on my facebook page for anyone who wants a regular link. Spread the word.

Next Blog  on Monday next,  28^th January 2013. The Maid of the Melvin Shore and other True Stories

Farewell to Ballyshannon

Farewell to Ballyshannon

 “Farewell to Ballyshannon” is a story which tells of a young local boy called Johnny being accompanied to the Great Northern Railway station in Ballyshannon, by his mother and his sister Susy, on the first stage of his emigration to America. The following is an extract from the story which reveals a continuous process of emigration from the Ballyshannon area and the sadness of those leaving and those left behind. The narrator and a friend were also on the cart to the railway station.

Johnny’s mother accompanied her twelve year old son on the horse and cart from the Main Street to the railway station on Station Road:

“He’s but a little chap to take the green fields to Amerikay alone. Ay surely!” said our carman, musingly. By this time we were rattling down the street, and over the bridge, from which we could see the silver spray of the falls below and hear the dull thunder. The other car was close behind, all the ragged retainers trotting cheerfully in its wake. “Is there much emigration from here?” one of us asked. “Ay surely”, said the man, “what else is there for them? Sure there isn’t enough to keep the life in the old bodies, unless the young goes away to Amerikay, and sends home the money. Och, sure, it’s the sorrowful place. If you was here last Wednesday you’d have seen a trainful starting for Derry. An’ the same every Wednesday since March. I don’t like to be about the station myself them times. It’s terrible hard for them to go.

We asked one or two sympathetic questions. He answered us flicking his whip. “There’s some,” he said, “tht’ll hold up strong and silent; and there’s others again, keenin’ worse than the old women at the wakes. There’s a girl now,” he broke off, pointing at a straight, handsome creature, who was just stepping across the street. “There’s a girl started for Amerikay, an’ kem home the next day. Ay, faith, it was the shortest voyage yet known in the town. She turned back from Derry. She said she didn’t give a thraneen for the passage money. She’d work her fingers to the bone to earn enough to keep the oul’ woman out of the workhouse, without lavin’ her childless. “ He said it with a certain admiration and added immediately afterwards, “ There’s not a handsomer nor cleverer girl than Nancy Goligher in the three baronies.”

Then he planted his feet firmly, as if he had talked enough, and began to sing in a deep baritone:

Farewell to Ballyshanny! where I was bred and born;

Go where I may, I’ll think of you, as sure as night or morn.

The kindly spot, the friendly town, where every one is known,

And not a face in all the place but partly seems my own;

There’s not a house or window, there’s not a field or hill,

But, east or west, in foreign lands, I’ll recollect them still.

I’ll leave my warm heart with you, Tho my back I’m forced to turn-

So adieu to Ballyashanny, and the winding banks of Erne!

It was the song of a townsman who had won the delightful immortality of being the ballad maker to his birthplace. Under the circumstances the song sounded curiously mournful. William Allingham’s ballad “Adieu To Ballyshanny” must rank as one of the finest and saddest emigration songs of all times.

On arrival at the railway station some of Johnny’s friends came to see him off. The mother explained that he was setting out for Florida to join his father who had been there eleven years. He had been unable to secure work in Ballyshannon. Each year one of the children emigrated to join him in America. Only her self and Susy remained and they would follow on next year, when they could get the fare together. The story concluded with the train ready to pull out and the strains of Allingham’s famous emigrant ballad, “Adieu to Ballyshanny”, are whistled by the young boy who was joining the many people from the locality forced to emigrate by economic necessity.

In 1894 Katherine Tynan, well known novelist and poet, wrote the original story, “Farewell to Ballyshannon” about this young boy’s departure from Ballyshannon.

Next Blog will be posted  on Monday 28th January 2013: “The Maid of the Melvin Shore and other True Stories”.

New Local History Book: “Ballyshannon Genealogy and History” by Anthony Begley details the history of the Ballyshannon area in the 19^th and 20th centuries including fishing,

sport, tourism, social history, flora and fauna, The Independence struggle, The Emergency, buildings, townland history and lots of reminiscences. 

None of the material used in the blogs is taken from this book. The book covers an area roughly from Ballyshannon:

·        To Rossnowlagh, to Belleek, to Finner/ Bundoran to the Loughside, to Corlea, to Cashelard and towards Ballintra. Includes all the parish of Kilbarron and the local parts of Mágh Ene parish. Contains

·        500 pages with much material on how to trace your roots. All the gravestone inscriptions in the 3 local cemeteries are recorded and indexed for ease of location.

·        Includes many rare images and modern colour aerial photographs of the area.

Available from The Novel Idea Ballyshannon/The Four Masters Bookshop Donegal Town or can be ordered on line from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com Price €25 softback plus postage if required. A limited number of hardbacks also available. Enquiries welcome.

Ballyshannon Musings: Please let people with connections to Ballyshannon and surrounding areas know about this site, particularly people who are not living locally and those who are abroad. The site is called "Ballyshannon Musings" and there are a number of back issues available; google:  ballyshannonmusings.blogspot.com They can access the site on the internet (or by connecting to my Facebook page). New items will be posted every week or two on Ballyshannon Musings during 2013; the year of “The Gathering”. Keep in touch. Google “The Gathering in Ballyshannon” for more details of events you might like to attend.

Who is Reading the Blog?

The top 3 audiences for the blog at present are in:

1.Ireland

2. USA

3 Great Britain

Very good interest in the blog but you can help spread the word, by copying the paragraph above this called “Ballyshannon Musings” and sending it to a friend or two.

Let Me Sing of What I Know (2)

Let Me Sing of What I Know (2)

Last week’s blog looked at the lives of two newspaper editors who contributed much to the local history of the area and this week concludes with a look at the lives of two other newspaper editors of the past. Our local newspapers are in many cases the only written record of events which were important to our ancestors. They are in a sense a witness to events which would otherwise be forgotten.

Cecil King (1908-2000) was born in Ballymote Co. Sligo in 1908 and  purchased The Donegal Democrat in 1948. He had been chief reporter in The Derry Journal and, with the help of a few friends, purchased the Donegal Democrat from the Downey family. While working in The Derry Journal Cecil had a world scoop as he was the first reporter on the scene when Amelia Earhart landed near the city, on her first solo flight from America. His arrival in Ballyshannon coincided with the Erne Hydro-Electric scheme when the town doubled in population, work was plentiful and it was said that in boarding houses the beds never cooled, as men worked around the clock for Cementation, Harvey and McLaughlin and the other contractors. He was joined by his brother Gervase King who had been working with the Ulster Herald Group in Omagh. Commercial enterprises in Ballyshannon thrived during the Erne-Scheme and this additional prosperity helped the local newspaper. Nevertheless Cecil also saw the downside of the major reconstruction of the town, as the Assaroe Waterfall and the picturesque bridge of 14 arches were demolished and the successful salmon fishery declined.

Cecil King had a great insight into local and national history and was for many years Treasurer of County Donegal Historical Society and President of the Society from 1984-1986. His index to The Donegal Annual showed great foresight as in pre-computer days it allowed local historians and the public an easy access into the contents of the annuals. The Donegal Democrat kept the history of County Donegal to the forefront by frequently publishing articles reflecting our rich history. In 1989 Cecil King published his reminiscences entitled Memorabilia. He recalled in a forthright manner the challenges in modernising the newspaper, the evolution of the local economy, politics and personalities in the county from the 1920s. His son also called Cecil continued the newspaper business on his retirement. Cecil King (senior) died on the 9^th February 2000 and is buried in the Abbey graveyard Ballyshannon.

John Ward (1927-2009) was a journalist and newspaper editor who bridged the gap between the printing press and the internet. He was a grandson of John McAdam, founder of The Donegal Vindicator, and John Ward was the last editor of the newspaper which closed on East Port Ballyshannon in 1956. He moved to Dublin where he became an official reporter in Dáil Éireann. From there he emigrated to Canada where he recorded the debates in Hansard for the Canadian parliament.

The valuable experiences of this reporter and researcher led to his development of an internet website which happily, thanks to his family, can still be located on the internet at www. vindicator.ca. This website records much local history which has not been recorded elsewhere and is regularly read by people living in the town and worldwide who enjoy reading memories of their native area. He had a keen memory with great attention to detail as he recalled what life was like growing up in Ballyshannon from the 1930s. All the local characters and sporting and social events are recorded in a very clear and easy manner which owes much to his newspaper training. He has a compendium of stories recounting the history of the falls of Assaroe which he had ambitions of restoring, and his website has influenced the thoughts of many natives at home and abroad.

New Local History Book: “Ballyshannon Genealogy and History” by Anthony Begley details the history of the Ballyshannon area in the 19^th and 20th centuries including fishing,

sport, tourism, social history, flora and fauna, The Independence struggle, The Emergency, buildings, townland history and lots of reminiscences. 

None of the material used in the blogs is taken from this book. The book covers an area roughly from Ballyshannon:

·        To Rossnowlagh, to Belleek, to Finner/ Bundoran to the Loughside, to Corlea, to Cashelard and towards Ballintra. Includes all the parish of Kilbarron and the local parts of Mágh Ene parish. Contains

·        500 pages with much material on how to trace your roots. All the gravestone inscriptions in the 3 local cemeteries are recorded and indexed for ease of location.

·        Includes many rare images and modern colour aerial photographs of the area.

Available from The Novel Idea Ballyshannon/The Four Masters Bookshop Donegal Town or can be ordered on line from anthonyrbegley@hotmail.com Price €25 softback plus postage if required. A limited number of hardbacks also available. Enquiries welcome.

Ballyshannon Musings: Please let people with connections to Ballyshannon and surrounding areas know about this site, particularly people who are not living locally and those who are abroad. The site is called "Ballyshannon Musings" and there are a number of back issues available at ballyshannonmusings.blogspot.com

New items will be posted every week or so on Ballyshannon Musings during 2013; the year of “The Gathering”. Keep in touch. Google “The Gathering in Ballyshannon” for more details of events you might like to attend.

Next Week’s Blog is called “Farewell to Ballyshannon” and records the emigrant tale of a twelve year old boy leaving Ballyshannon for America over a century ago.