Maura O’Sullivan
Interview by Josephine McEvoy on December 28, 2012
Gender: Female
Birth date: 1930
Area: West Clare - Knockalough
Parish: Kilmihil - Knockalough
Report date: December 9, 2015
| Time | Description |
|---|---|
| File 1 0:00:00 - 0:02:57 | FAMILY PUB - Maura says the pub is there for six or seven generations. There were three generations of the O'Briens. Her grandfather was married to a girl from Tulla. His daughter was Mary Alice O'Brien, (Maura's mother) and she took over the pub from her father. They had five girls and three boys. The three boys died. Her father came home from America and married her mother. He was in gold mines in Denver. They didn't get much from the mines. |
| 0:02:58 - 0:05:29 | SCHOOL - Maura was born in 1930. She describes the school she went to. Every father had to bring a horse load of turf. The children would bring it up from the road. She recalls learning a lot of Irish. The boys and girls were separated in the yard. Once the month of May came they would walk to school barefoot. |
| 0:05:30 - 0:14:17 | PUB/GROCERY SHOP - Maura describes the pub and grocery they had. She worked in the pun and grocery. The post office was next door. She says there was a draper in Kilmihil, Michael Lernihan. She lists some of the things they sold in the grocery shop. She speaks of the rationing during WWII. People would pay monthly after their creamery cheques. In the pub it was all bottled beer and the Guinness was in half barrels and timber firkins. You would have to tap the barrel with a chisel and hammer. It would fall down into an enamel jug and the pints would be filled from that. They would mull the pint by sticking the thongs into it if they had a cold. All the glasses had to be marked imperial pint and half pint. They would wash the glasses in a pan of well water. They would go back to Mac's for spring water to drink-she would carry buckets of water on a bicycle. |
| 0:14:18 - 0:17:41 | CUAIRD/ENTERTAINMENT - Maura says people would come on their cuaird at night and play cards. They would tell ghost stories. She speaks of the tinkers camping locally. They were tinsmiths, making cans and buckets. People would buy cans for separating the butter. The tinkers were good for telling stories. Maura speaks of going out on the wren and the dance after it. Halloran's was a great place for dancing. |
| 0:17:42 - 0:19:41 | FAIRS - Maura speaks of the fairs and the buyers and drovers. November was a great time for buying bulls. They had a fair every month. The summer ones would be quiet. |
| 0:17:42 - 0:25:00 | ELECTRICITY - Maura speaks of electricity coming in and people boring for water and getting water piped into the house. They got electricity in 1955 and the piped water in the 1960s. Before that you would sit around the fire. Her grandfather was in bed for five years until he died in 1957. They had a radio/wireless with a dry and wet battery. They got a television in the 1970s. |
| 0:25:01 - 0:27:43 | TURF/HAY - Maura says that they would cut the turf in May and June and hay cut in July. She speaks of making a reek of hay. They would have meitheal in the bog and for putting in the hay. |
| 0:27:44 - 0:29:20 | EMIGRATION - Maura speaks of people emigrating. She lists some of the families in the area and the fact that no one is living there now. |
| 0:29:21 - 0:19:41 | RELIGION - Maura says they had stations in the house once a year. They would go to Our Lady's Well in Dromelihy. |