School: St Columba's, Cloonagh, Granard (roll number 12813)
- Location:
- Cloonagh, Co. Longford
- Teacher: Peter O'Reilly
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0762, Page 424
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“In the townland of Cloonagh there lived many and many a year ago a quaint old woman called Peggy Hessin.”
(continued from previous page)Although money was scarce and hard to get in those times still it was surprising the number of tin boxes that Peggy could fill in a week, and to her credit it was always said that from she supplied the needs of her customers after mass on Sunday she never sold a drop for the rest of the day until after sunset. Some well disposed people said it was on account of her reverence for the Lord's day but those who wanted a drink were inclined to believe that she spent the day alone regulating her money and putting it in a safe hiding place but it was never known that ever a raid was made on her shop or that any money was ever stolen from her.
One shilling and even sixpence was considered a quite a princely sum for a boy to get for pocket money but one shilling brought a lot because porter was only two pence a pint and indeed Peggy was not too hard for she would often fill the porringer for three halfpence especially if she was in good humour and mind you Peggy had her good days and bad ones. They used to say that when a customer asked for a "Kerry" that meant half a pint for a penny she would always put in an extra sup as she used to say that she would never have her soal burning(continues on next page)