School: Baile Dubh (C.) (roll number 2493)

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1. Ballyduff Fair

   

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   About fifty years ago there used to be two fairs held in Ballyduff, one on the first of June and the other on the twenty-first of December. The fair was held on the street from Jim Houlihan's of Benmore to Leaca Cross. Cattle buyers would attend from the surrounding counties - from Clare, Limerick and Cork, and they would also come from Tralee, Killarney and Listowel, as there were very heavy fairs in those days. They would also be a pig fair previous to the cattle fair and the pigs would be driven to Tralee, and any one that would not be able to travel would be thrown into cars along the road. Those cars were provided by the jobbers. A toll was collected by the Nolans of Ballyduff. There would be tents arranged along the street, and the children saved their pennies for weeks previous to the fair. The schools were closed those days for fear of accidents. The June fair was supposed to be the best fair in Munster for sheep and lambs. The people of today may wonder where all those sheep came from, but in those days there was no farm without a dozen or two of sheep. What changes in those fifty years! Let us hope they are for to best, but the fairs of

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Mary Sheehy

   Gender

   Female

   Age

   12

   Address

   Ballyduff, Co. Kerry

   Informant

   Patrick Sheehy

   Relation

   Parent

   Gender

   Male

   Age

   60

   Address

   Ballyduff, Co. Kerry