one of the Bathcock family would die. That continued year after year until the whole family was wiped out.
There is another field near the Guilligán field and it is called the Guilligán Court field. In the middle of this field stands a large wood. There is the foundation of an old Court in this wood. This old court was once the residence of one of the Kings of Munster. After the battle of the Boyne when the British forces were marching to Limerick they passed by this old Court and one of their generals ordered its destruction. Nothing now remains only a round mound which is about one hundred feet in circumference. Within a hundred yards of this mound there is a beautiful little graveyard called the Coill graveyard. A good many of my neighbours are buried in this graveyard.
There is another field near Birdhill and it is called the Bang Up field. It is presently owned by Mr. Gleeson of Birdhill. Its original owner was the late Captain Twiss of Birdhill. The history attached to this field is worth relating. Captain Twiss was in poor circumstances at this time.
He asked a man named Murnane to lend three hundred pounds for a certain time day and hour. He gave the field to Murnane as a garrantee that he give back the money on a certain day. At length the day came and Captain Twiss came

The heaviest snowfall of recent years occured in the year, 1890. In some places the snow was up to 30 feet in dept. No train could travel for a week as all the telegraph wires were broken down. Thousands of cattle and sheep were lost and one man named Michael Cordue was lost in a place called Killestry outside Killaloe. Following the thaw of the snow a severe frost came. Birds died in thousands and any birds that survived there was nothing on them only the bare skin and bone and an odd feather. The wild birds were so tame that you could walk out and catch them with your hands.
The above was told to me by my father Michael Teefey Coosáne Birdhill Co. Limerick. Thomas Teefey Coosáne Birdhill Limerick. 4th February 1938.

were so great the people in Newport could see them.
This was told to me by Mr. John Coffey 60 yrs Farmer
Annaholty Birdhill Limerick. 8/2/38
John Darcy Annaholty Birdhill Limerick

A family by the name of Gleesons lived in Murroe in the County Limerick, about two hundred years ago. They were big farmers at one time but they got broken. Mr Gleeson had four daughters and he put one of the daughters out working. She was working with a man named Mr Coffey and he had two sons priests. The mans two sons were on the run for it was in the Penal Days. Now this girl knew where the two priests were. She met the soldiers one day on the road and they asked her did she know where they priests were. She said she did; that they were in a certain house about five miles away but they would be coming to a house in the neighbourhood the next day. The soldiers waited until the next day and they caught one of the priests and hanged him outside his own door. But the other priest escaped.
The above was told to me by Mr Martin Unthank, 64 yrs Labourer, Cregough, Birdhill, Limerick. Tessie Bourke, Cregough, Birdhill, Limerick. 13/3/38

down to tender the money to Murnane. He was two hours late and on account of that Murnane refused to accept the money. Captain Twiss took the case to Dublin with the result that he lost the Bang Up field and had to give back the three hundred pounds to Murnane. The cost of the court amounted to three hundred pounds more.
On the road between Birdhill and O'Briens Bridge there lived twenty families. All the houses were within forty yards of each other and the landlord decided to evict them all between Saturday night and Sunday morning. He arrived in Birdhill at mid night. He was accompanied by a grow bar brigade and was assisted by the local peelers. He commenced his operations and met feeble resistance from the first few families until he arrived at the house of Henlys. This man Henly had a son a British soldier who fought in the Battle of Inkerman. When the battle was over young Henly came home and be brought home a rifle and couple of hundred bullets. When the grow bar brigade arrived at his fathers house the landlord called on him to surrender. The young man stepped out, put the rifle to his shoulder and said "You cowardly thraitor". He then put the rifle to his shoulder and shot the landlord dead.

There are two forges in this locality. One in the townsland of Cragg and the other in the townsland of Birdhill. The one in the townsland of Cragg belongs to Mr. Ahern of Cragg. The one in the townsland of Birdhill belongs to my father. The implements my father uses when is shoeing a horse are a rasp for pairing the horses hoofs, a pinsers for bringing off the old shoes, a knife for cutting his hoofs to make them short, and a hammer for driving on the nails. The bellows are at the back of the fire. There is a long pole coming from the bellows out over the fire place. There is an iorn handle on this pole and this handle my father catches every time when he wants to blow the bellows. The bellows are made of timber and leather. There is a tub in the forge and it is full of sand, the anvil is laid down on the top of this. My father repairs ploughs harrows hoes and he makes bands for wheels. He puts the bands on the wheels in the forge-yard. There are two windows

In 1890, two years after he was appointed Parish Priest, he undertook the work of further enlarging the Church at Newport. The end of the long aisle was pulled down, the Church extended about tweny feet and the belfy erected. Hitherto the bell had hung on a temporary structure in the church yard. At the same time he took the contract of improving the approach to the church and had Chapel Lane resurfaced and a flagged side-walk put down.
The old school at Birdhill, the gable of whcih still stands, half a mile on the same road below the present one, was totally inadequate and with the hel of the parishioners he got erected, the present fine school, together with the teacher's residence. He would have wished to build nearer to the village of Birdhill, but Mr. Going of Cragg kindly gave the present site free, and he availed of the offer. He also, about the same time, got erected the present nice little school and residence at Toor, and thus the out districts of the Parish were now well equipped with churches and schools.
Rev Thomas Meaher succeeded Father Bourke

About a half a mile south-east of the village of Birdhill, is a small fort, which is circular in shape, and is surrounded by trees.
About ninety years ago, a man named John Gleeson, of Birdhill was passing this field at the hous of midnight, and he saw a man wearing a red suit of clothes approaching him with a light in his hand.
He (John Gleeson) stood for a few minutes, and looked in the direction of the approaching figure. As he did so, the mysterious man disappeared and John continued his journey.
He had only gone about a hundred

About seventy years ago a man named Connors lived in Newport. He was employed by a man named Mr Waller of Cully. Waller did not like Connors for his strength. One day Waller sent Connors sinking a pump. Near the well there was a stone ten hundredweight. When Connors was down about twenty feet in the well the big stone fell in. When Connors saw the stone he ducked his head and caught it in his hands and flung it up again.
A man named John Madden of Birdhill was working with Mr Twiss the Land-Lord of Birdhill. One day a telegram came to Mr Twiss but it happened that Mr Twiss was in Limerick. Miss Twiss send John Madden to Limerick with the telegram. The mail coaches used to travel the main-road that time and Madden followed the coach and the coach men hit him in the face with the whip and cut him. He passed out the coach going up a hill. When he reached Limerick Mr Twiss asked him what happened and when he told him he went down to the coach office and got the two men sacked.
A mane name John Ryan of Coosane was a great walker. He often walked from his own house to Miltown-malbay a journey of fifty miles in one day. When he came back he went to the fair of Nenagh a distance of fourteen miles.

A few years ago an old woman Mrs Taylor was going from Castleconnel to her home on a dark wintery night and she had two grand-children with her. They had to cross a ferry at the time one of the children fell in. As the grand-mother was saving the child, her coat got caught in a branch, and she too fell in and got drowned but the child was saved.
A boy named Michael Ahern sold a public house in the year 1937 and bought a farm in Borman's hill. He took his furniture to the house the day previous to Xmas Eve and when he went to live in the house Xmas Eve the house was burned furniture and all.
A family named Ryan's lived in Lisnagry all of whom was laid up with the flu in the year 1919. Two boys died on one day, one aged eight and the other aged sixteen and three more of the family died three weeks later.
The above was told to me by James Ryan 70 yrs Farmer Annaholty, Birdhill, Limerick. Mary Coffey, Annaholty, Birdhill, Limerick. 21/2/38.

The rods he would stick down in the ground would be about ten feet long. The mouth of the hamper would be about two and a half feet by two feet in breadth. This he would taper up to the bottom so as to be about one foot two inches wide. When the bottom was finished he would turn up the parts stuck in the ground. Then he would turn them over and bind them tight by split scallops and he would put two long rods into it to form handles.
The baskets were simple to make. A long stick of blackthorn would do for the bough which was constructed for that purpose. It consisted of six long split sally rods tied temporary at each end with a piece of twine until the rods were woven in and out through the ribs. The projecting ends would form a strong bough. Alas, that fine art has long past away in Ireland. Only Galway and Mayo make them now. The hamper is for carrying turf and the basket is for picking potatoes.
The above was told to me by father, Michael Teefey, Coosáne, Birdhill, Limerick. Thomas Teefey, Coosáne, Birdhill, Limerick. 22nd February 1938.
54 yrs Railwayman

North of Birdhill there is a townsland called Lackinavea this means the hill side of the deer. About a mile from Newport there is a townland called Killeen this means the little church. Alongside Killeen there is a townland called Barna which means the gap. About a mile from Barna there is a place called Riascwaile it means the marshy place where the village was.

There is an old graveyard near where I live midway between our house and the Catholic Church of Birdhill. It is situated in the centre of Patrick Coffey's farm. It is about two hundred yards in circumference. It is surrounded by a round wall. It was built in the year 1861 by a man named Mr. O'Farrell who originally lived where Patrick Coffey now resides. The only people interred there are two

to work he gave her money to pay for a house. They had to go away and leave all their crops and their land after them and the Landlord divided the land between his own people. Colonel Twiss was a Landlord in Birdhill who also evicted many people and he gathered them together and made them save the hay for him and he brought soldiers out from Limerick to watch them.

Not long ago a man named Larry Doolen lived in Boher. He was a cattle-dealer. On night when he was passing a ruin of a house which was owned by Healy from Kilmastulla, he went to sleep behind a screen which was on a window of the house. After a while a crowd of fairies came into the house and the Queen stood up and said,
"Ghosts and fairies quit your fooling,
For in this room lies Larry Doolen,
You'll find him there behind the screen,
And bring him there before your Queen."
The fairies brought out Larry and asked him to come for a drive with them, but he said he had no horse. Then the Queen changed a beam of a plough into a horse and then Larry went off for a drive. When he was jumping a lake he shouted, "Success my old beam of a plough." At that moment the horse changed into a plough and Larry got drowned in the lake and was never seen afterwards. The ruin of the house in which this happened is situated opposite the church in Kilmastulla. The old ruin is haunted since then and animals are to be seen there every night.
The above was told to me by my father, Martin Gleeson, Lackin, Birdhill, Limerick. Neddy Gleeson (Lacking, Birdhill, Limerick) 60 years, Farmer. 15th June 1938.

always on the road at that time and many times he attacked people. One night the animal disappeared from the castle and was then seen sitting on a bridge in Garden-Hill. The next night a man was coming from Birdhill with potatoes. As he neared the bridge two hounds leaped out over the ditch, one going at each side of the car. They kept the animal at bay while the man was crossing the bridge. The hounds then followed the man to his home. The man had just gone inside when he heard the scraping at the door. He opened it and allowed the dogs to come in. After feeding the dogs he let them out but while the door was open the animal he had seen on the bridge got in and the man had to leave him in the

of Cragg and the other was owned by Mr Thorne of Cragg. Those lime-kilns were not working for the last forty years.
The above was told to me by my father Martin Gleeson Lackin Birdhill Limerick.

This district is very much frequented by birds. Birdhill means the Hill of the Kite. It is said that in olden times a bird called the Kite used to frequent it. There is another place called Ballyhane this means the way of the birds. There Wild Geese and Wild Duck and many other wild birds pass the big bog named Annaholty. When the wild Geese go to the bog it is a sign of wet weather. The blackbird, the thrush, and many other birds make their nests in ditches, hedges and on trees and on the ground. Wild ducks make their nests on the ground in bogs or in some far away unfrequented place. Plover are of two specied, the golden ploveer and the grey plover. The snope and curlew and other birds all build their nests on the ground and take a month or so to hatch out the eggs.

but the local people mark their purchase with a piece of puddle. When the buyers have sufficient cattle bought they commence to pay. Then the luck money forms a drama. The buyer demands a certain amount and the seller will only give a certain amount. They they make the bargain and the buyer agrees to it. The cattle are driven on to the custom gap where the buyer's pay the toll and then they hire a drover to drive them on to Birdhill Railway station where they are railed to their destination.