John Minogue
Interview by Tomás Mac Conmara on May 6, 2011
Gender: Male
Birth date: 1924
Area: East Clare - Glendree
Parish: Feakle
Report date: September 20, 2015
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| File 1 0:00:00 - 0:03:14 | EARLY LIFE - John speaks about his early life in Kealderra, Scariff. Speaks about going to Scariff creamery at the age of eight years. He used to bring milk for other people. His family had twenty acres of a farm. John speaks about Master Jones, the principal in Cooleen Bridge National School. He speaks of master Jones and his brother who refused to play hurling for Scariff after the club didn't put a game back after their mother's died. He states that all the Minogues came from Capparoe (Ger Minogues). John explains the background to their arrival into Kealderra. |
| 0:03:15 - 0:08:43 | TRADITIONS AND BELIEFS - He speaks about Jim Griffey and his wife (Williams) who lived in a thatched house in Kealderra. He recalls a story relating to Mrs. Griffey. John's mother claimed to have seen Mrs. Griffey around the field when she was sick in bed. He also mentions that you were not supposed to build to the west end of your house. They knocked a previous house at Griffey's because it was built in this way and they wouldn't live near it. He explains that a tradition existed that you put down four stakes for the foundation of a house and placed red ribbons on each. The ribbons were left for a week and if they were disturbed, the house couldn't be built. He speaks about an incident in Tipperary when a hare was bitten but it seemed that the hare had been a woman as the dogs had bitten the hare an old woman was found with a similar wound. John speaks about May Eve in his locality. He states that the May bush was put down on May Eve. It was called quick balm but was Mountain ash (with red berries). |
| 0:08:44 - 0:13:02 | CALENDAR CUSTOMS - John speaks about St. Martin's Eve. There was no machinery used on St. Martin's Eve. He recalls trashing with Tom Minogue (Poulagower). John speaks about lighting the Christmas candle. He claimed that the youngest person in the house lit the candle. |
| 0:13:03 - 0:15:26 | THE IRISH LANGUAGE - John recalls older people speaking Irish. He states that his grandparent's generation could speak Irish among themselves if they didn't want the children to know what they were saying. He speaks about Cooleen Bridge National School. He states that Mrs Cooneen (Margaret Hoey's sister) went to Connemara to learn Irish. He speaks about the Minogues of Poulagower. |
| 0:15:27 - 0:17:20 | FAMILY AND FARMING - John speaks about his family and early life farming. He recalls seeing corn cut with a reaping hook and that everything was tilled with the spade. He carried seed (corn) to Richardson in Killaloe. File ends with phone ringing |
| File 2 0:00:00 - 0:02:23 | THE BODYKE EVICTIONS - John speaks about the Bodyke Evictions. He recalls what his father told him about the battering ram. He mentions Husseys using the vitriol and gruel. His father told him that they had to go down to support the tenants or if you didn't your land would be damaged. He recalls an emergency man who rolled around in a sink hole after vitriol and gruel being thrown on him. |
| 0:02:24 - 0:04:20 | WAR OF INDEPENDENCE - John speaks about his father's memories of the War of Independence. He refers to Derek Griffin, who was supportive of the IRA. A number of IRA men stayed at his house while on the run and ate two of his pigs. He mentions a dug out overhead Dalton's in Croaghrum where the local IRA used to sleep. He refers to Master Jones (Cooleen Bridge) being taken out to help fill in bridges. The Black and Tans did not raid his father's house. The lights were supposed to be quenched every night. |
| 0:04:19 - 0:05:34 | THE SCARIFF MARTYRS - John states that his father never spoke much about the Scariff Martyrs (Four men murdered by British Forces on November 16, 1920. He states that Master Jones told them about the Scariff Martyrs at Cooleen Bridge school. |
| 0:05:35 - 0:09:50 | POEMS HE LEARNT IN SCHOOL - John recalls some of the poems he learnt in school. He recites Brian Boru's address to his army and Sarsfield's Midnight Ride. |
| 0:08:51 - 0:15:28 | THE IRISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE - John states that there wasn't much talk about the period in Kealderra. He states that Carthy's house was burnt because a relation of theirs was in the IRA in Knappogue. He names Willie Flannery and Jack Minogue (who was living in Tulla) as two local IRA men. John speaks about the three British soldiers who were executed outside Scariff. He states that the court-martial was held in Nugent's (Seán's) house in Clonusker. He also states that a man named Lillis had the deciding vote. John recalls that Michael Egan tried to wake the Scariff Martyrs on the morning they were captured but they wouldn't get up for him. |