School: Loughill, Longford

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1. Local Fairs

   

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   The fairs were held in Longford, Mostrim, Ballymahon and Ardagh. Sometimes they are held in Villages. Long ago the buyers would go out to the country and buy cattle and sell them over again and make money on them. Long ago there was a fair held in Ardagh and then it was stopped and now it is revived again. This is how the fair of Ardagh was stopped. A man and his sister came on horseback to the fair. When they were coming home the man was taken off the horse and killed and there was never a fair in Ardagh since. I never heard of a fair being held on a hill or forth or near a grave-yard. In Longford the fairs are held on the Market Square. The fairs of (Longford) Mostrim are held on the green. The fairs of Ballymahon are held on the street. Custom is paid at sixpence a head for small cattle and a shilling a head for big cattle. You give ten shilling for a luck-penny for a horse and two for a bullock. The man who is selling the cattle hits the hand of the other man and then they part. They are marked with a scissors or with raddle. When you are selling a horse, you give the halter with him for luck. The fairs of Longford fall on the first Monday of the Month for cattle and the third Tuesday for pigs. The second Monday of the Month is the cattle fair fair of Ballymahon and the second Friday is the pig fair. The third Monday of the Month is the fair of Mostrim for cattle and the third Friday for pigs. These are four fairs in Ardagh

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Topics

   1. activities
      1. economic activities
         1. trade
            1. buying and selling (~3,622)

   Language

   English

   Collector

   William Halligan

   Gender

   Male