Mr Joseph Lynch of Roundwood Co Wicklow is noted for walking. He gives Mrs Kavanagh for giving him his meals and sleeping accomadation. He never walks anywhere around the place but cycles he walks long journeys such as Bray, Wicklow, Dublin. His nickname is "Friar".

About sixty years ago the men used to assemble in the village of Roundwood carrying reaping hooks looking for work in the harvest fields each man used to cut two harvests in addition to his own

Mr. Martin Farrell Castlekevin jumped the ivy wall going up to the graveyard in Glendalough and he was going to Dublin one day and he met a man with two horses and the man said to him although you jumped the wall in Glendalough you will not jump those two horses, the man put the horses together and Mr. Farrell jumped them and won a bet of thirty shillings.
James Fleming Oldtown jumped the county road measuring twenty-one feet from one side to the other.
Andrew Doyle, Ballinacor was a famous runner and he ran by the name of the, "Mountain Hare".
When the reservoir was been made Mr. Matthew Murphy's Roundwood jumped the puddle trench measuring twelve feet(deep and) wide, and thirty feet deep in a standing jump. There were two witnesses named Patrick McCabe and Kevin Hughes, Roundwood.

Mr Murphy said that in the year of 1798 there was a hotel in Roundwood where (Mr Joseph Keenan now resides) it was owned by a very rich man named Fleming.Roundwood Park was then the headquarters of the Yoemen who were trying to take Fleming, and steal his money.They searched Mr Fleming's house different times but could never find him nor his money there as he was always hiding somewhere else. One day he got word that that the yoemen were searching for him.Thinking he would ecape safely without anyone noticing him he brought all his money and valuable objects with him and went into mr Keane's oak wood. But on of the yoemen who saw him loaded his gun, fired on Fleming but only wounded him.Mr Fleming dragged himself down to the bottom of the wood where there is an old stone wall the money is supposed to be hidden there. He was afterwards found

There are not many local heroes in this part of the country. In former times there were even more active and swift men than in the present times.I hear old people tell there are a lot of strong men to be remembered in this district, such as Patrick Fanning who resided in Tomriland but was a native of Barndarrig. I once heard that while he was ploughing in Tomriland some part of the plough broke and he was not able to mend it. So he carried the plough on his shoulder to Darcy's forge in Moneystown 3 miles from Roundwood in County Wicklow and got it mended. He carried it back and continued ploughing as before. I was also told that a woman whose name was Mrs ONeill of Moneystown carried 1 cwt of meal from Wicklow town to her home in Moneystown.Weight throwing was also a great game in the past years. I heard that James Turner threw a 1/2 cwt 23 feet. At that time people had to walk to fairs and markets and other places because they had no other opportunity of getting along. I believe the farmers often drove pigs to the Dublin from Moneystown and Castlekevin. I also believe that Pat Kenny of Annamoe walked to Carlow and back in one day. There were also some swift runners to be mentioned such as John Malone of Roundwood who

There is a big rock hanging out over the road between Ballyduff and Roundwood. It is called the "Hanging Rock." They say that people were hanged there in olden times.

by auction to Mr Levy 31 Graanville Terrace. SCR. According to my informant Mr David Murphy. Roundwood he resold it to the trustees National Musuem Dublin where it is now supposed to be.According to Mr Murphy this church was one of those built by Palladius that there was a sister church at Derrylossary and another at Knockatemple. Rev. Mr. Stokes who was rector of Derrylossary wrote a treatise on those three churches and I understand that the present rector Rev. Mr. Synge has it in his possession. His address is Annamoe RoundwoodThe building was rectangular in shape and enough plan is given below. The alter was apparently in the east end and occupied the width. It was about four feet wide The outer walls were four feet thick and the inner one three feet. The door was on the south side and was two feet three inches wide. The sides of the door place were of large granite boulders chiselled in front and there were two on each side making a height of five feet three inches (Note by writer) [The people must have been very small then] The doorway was probably higher. The walls are still standing from three to four feet in height.In the position where the altar was

The "Ring Field" belongs to Major Hamiliton Roundwood. So called because it has a "fairy ring" at the end of it. A great number of rabbits always in this ring but "no ferret" can be got to go into the burrows to catch them. A great deal of "noise" heard around this fairy ring. At 12 o'c at night "Fairies" may be seen dancing around it. There is a number of trees growing all round it. The Killanure Cricketeers and other teams play many games in this field and it is said if they play ( that is the Killanure team) near this fairy Rath or Ring that they always lose.
Account brought by James Mortimer, son of Mr John Joseph Mortimer pupil
Roundwood,
Mountrath.The "Cot" Glen
In the townslands of Bordwin. So called from a nice little cottage in it which was inhabited by a Bill Gaynor. One night the Fairies paid him a visit. Not knowing who or what they were he cursed them. The next night they returned and "spilt" his cream. From that night "things went against him". His cow went dry, and after spilling

picked on a team to go plough in Co. Cork in mallow where they won second prize, four pounds. There were a bus load of men with them. Here are some of the names :- Norman Fox, Kilmurry. Co. Wicklow. Anthony Mulligan, The Paddock. Co. Wicklow. and some more from Roundwood.
Mr. John Byrne, the Paddock, Kilpedder, Co. Wicklow. was the noted weight thrower in this district.
He could throw a weight 25 yds. He and Father often had a challenge but Mr. Byrne always won. Another great weight thrower is Richard Fleming. The Paddock, Kilpedder, Co. Wicklow, A company of men gather at Ballinastowe cross-roads and Patrick Molloy, Ballyraymond, Co. Wicklow, challenges to see can he beat him.
My Grandfather, Anthony Sutton who is dead was able to lift a barrel of potatoes, and put it on his own back. My Father. John Sutton is able to throw a stone two hundred yds.
Miss Betty Molloy won a race in Roundwood sports on 21st June 1936. She ran a

Catholic church but was converted into a burial-vault in the 18th century by the Sharpes of Roundwood and the Floods of Middlemount. A high stone wall surrounds the cemetery which is some 10 or 12 ft high than the field outside.
St Kavan's Well at which a pattern was held on the 3rd Nov, down to 1830 or so, is situated in a hollow 20 perches north of the graveyard. St Mochoemac founded an Abbey in Annatrim about 550.

about any thing without a moments thought. He composed the song the upper woods "Blackbird" not associated with the Hornpipe. The meaning of Upper Woods is Camross. There was in Coolrain a local poet namely William Clarke." His works are not in print; he was more of a rimer. There was a number of those rimers in this district. We have to day a man namely Mr. William Calcutt who contributes to the local press, and in Major Hamilton's employment Roundwood, there is a Mr. Mortimer who also contributes to the press some very good peoms. Another of our best local poets was "Caoc O'Leary." His sisters names were Eily, Mary and Kate. "The Hare and the Witch" is one of his best peoms. John Keegan was acquainted with his great Clarence Mangan.

Mat Davis taught in a school in Seapbhán
There was another hedge school in Clonsaul where a man named Garry taught and Roundwood's College was the name of the school, Garry was a poet also.

There is a famous lake called the Water-Works near Roundwood which is supplied by the Varthery River which flows by Calary school. It supplies Dublin with Water. There is not much in it now owing to the fine Weather.
"Beware of the Witches you meet in the ditches, between Calary bog and Ballinastowe.

The only man that made up a song He lives in Ballyremand Commons. I dont know his age exactly. He is still living. He is to have composed a song about a "plough". Mr. Duffy, Roundwood is a great poet and he puts in rhymes and verses in the "Wicklow People" paper. He also made up a song about the "Blueshirts". These songs are made all in English. Peter Gratten is a man called "The Roving bard" He goes round everywhere through Ireland. I dont know where he was born he is about fifty years of age. He composed a song about "The Bonnet so Blue". He meet

Hedge schoolsThere was a hedge school in Roundwood, a man named Mr. Leeson taught in it. The subjects he taught were, English, Arithmetic, and History. The hedge school was under a sheltered ditch.

Mass Rocks
In the borders of Ballaim and Roundwood there is a commons. In this common there is a mass rock and it was used in penal days. When the mass was over the "Chalice" and Missal were hiden underground until there were again needed

As far as Mr. Hayde can remember, the only poets he know who lived in Roundwood in recent years was a man Michael Brady.
He composed a song about the waterworks which was carried on in Roundwood in years gone by. Here are a couple of lines,
It being on the 10th of August int ye year of '61
The noble corporation did set fort its ponds
Success to Mr. Never he's a man of noble skill
I hear he has taken the water right down by Gallow Hill.
They worked hard both nigh and day until they hard bottom found
With their chisels and their hammers they made Coolharbour sounds
Malone flew in a passion and this to Martin said
Come show your athority for the holes which you have made
Now, look up there at my barn as firm as a rock

There are many old roads in this district and probably the oldest of them is the Rocky Road to Dublin. This road branches off Augavanagh road at Ballymanus Bridge beyond Aughrim. It crosses the Coolgarrow Mountain and into Greenane and from Greenane by, Ballintombay, Ballydowling, Knockrath, Claramore South and Claramore North, Trooperstown, Moneystown, Tomriland and Roundwood and then to Dublin.
There is an old road from Clash through Greenane More, Ballyteigue and joins the Rocky Road to Dublin at Ballydowling. Another old road starts from Clash through Whaley Abbey, Cloneen, Three Wells

In Killeen a graveyard surrounds the ruins of an old church, old headstones are still to be seen but no names or dates are descernable.
A large square graveyard surrounds the ruined church of Annatrim, it is very old and is still in use, there are many tombs and tombstones mostly horizontel dating back to the 17th and 18th century, many of them are overgrown with grass and weeds..On some of them, figures are roughly carved, also texts of scripture and on more of them the old form of English lettering is used. It is said there are several priests buried in Annatrim, two horizantal slabs bear the manes of Rev'd Wm.Delaney who died 13 Feb,1771 aged 73 years and Rev'd llr Edmund Fitzpatrick P.P of Upperwoods, who died 1st Feb 1776 aged 48. In the old ruins there are five or six monuments and tombs. One to the Sharpes of Roundwood and on to the Demaneys of Ballyfin are inscribed with their crests and coats of arms. An ancient stone roofed chamber stands near the ruins of the church it was probably the sacristy of the old

In our house in Roundwood which is owned by Major Hamilton there lived a family the name of Collins.
They made an ointment which cured scurvy and in fact which was good for all kinds of cuts and burns.
They kept it a secret.
They are now lliving in Dublin and aree said to be still making this ointment. Our house was an RIC Barracks years ago.