Anger of the Water Carriers
“I grew up when we had to carry water. We know the value of water” ~ Longford Fine Gael activist Before school …
Longford during the “Emergency”
Im of Longford extraction and am a Longford man to be when my cottage in Ballinamuck is restored and I move up …
Gurteen Lake and the Curse of the McCarthys
Verse from another legend from Longford recorded by the Irish Folklore Commission From Clonbroney the priest was travelling Was making his weary …
Abduction at Legan Bridge
Bride abduction is thankfully very rare in Western Europe now, apart from Albania and Montenegro, and most commonly heard of from Kyrgistan …
On The Border Run
The line that Craig the clever chap Carving Ulster in three, drew on a map The maximum area the minority could hold …
Aughnacliffe Dolmen for the Lovers for One Night is Their Bed
A bed hard of stone neath the sky starry above Is good enough, soft enough, for a couple in love He who …
War with the Whin
“Whin” is the word for furze in Hiberno English and Ulster Scots in the northern half of Ireland (North Leinster and Connacht, …
No Dancing Sun This Easter Morning
No dancing sun the Easter morning As the birds sing in the sky I sleepy look out at the dawn As the …
All Is Fair in the War of an Election
Background – James Bannon of Fine Gael in Longford got questioned today by Garda (police) about removing voting leaflets belonging to Sinn …
Lady Fortune Smiles And Frowns on the Jessops of Moydow
The Jessops later married into the Bomfords, who themselves were married through the Dopping – Hempestal family. Descendants in both the Church …
Rattling Buckets Cant Be Seen
A boy, an errand, and a bucket of beer … A drain, a death, and now a ghost does appear … A …
Good Boys and other Blaggards
Bucks and nyeucks read books in nooks Of history, language and culture told Lewd jokes, vetted new comrades in diviment For adventures …
Saintjohnstown – So Beautiful A Name
My mother grew up outside the Longford village of Ballinalee. She always said she preferred the English name on it, St. Johnstown… …
Burning Zeal Rekindles the Flame of Faith
Every so often as a writer I get asked to write a tribute piece for someone about someone who is important to them. …
Wake at Ballinalee
My mother told of attending a wake when a child in her native village Ballinalee, where the pipes that were smoked cermonially …
Torn Down, Rebuilt, As All Must Be
Longford’s St. Mel’s Cathedral burned down one Christmas morning. The rebuild, the challenge to attempt it, has many correlations to real life, …
Out Dogs and More Along With You
In our home in Aughagreagh we used to have our share of the local sessions, where neighbours met up to party, tonight …
Fairy Fort at Lough Gowna
Did they look as I walked Where tradition states one never should, Inside the round ditches of the fort, Perched above Loch …
From Corn Hill His Spirit Watches
The latest of the restored poems to the website, from a couple of years back Upon that hilltop he does sleep His …
Engaging with Art in Longford Providers
Art and Longford are not two words often seen together, but as with empty venues across the country, the old Providers Hardware …