2005 | Page 3 of 43 | Newry Journal

Bridge Street Memories

June 8, 2020December 8, 2005 by John McCullagh

My late friend Donal Monaghan, who sadly departed this life last week used to reminisce with us on what life was like in the Bridge Street area in the 1940s-1950s where he grew up. Though our photo below is of the age before, Bridge Street changed little until much later.

Merciless Palmerston

June 8, 2020December 6, 2005 by John McCullagh

Browsing through a library book on Grosse Isle recently, I unearthed a number of disturbing facts. The reader will by now know that this was the port of entry for immigrants from Ireland to Quebec, Canada in the nineteenth century. And that the British encouraged migration there to build up a work force, as well as to ‘clear’ congested districts in Ireland.

Oasis of Ballinlare Gardens

June 8, 2020December 3, 2005 by John McCullagh

Let us start with the big fact that will stir the emotions of a few.

Ballinlare Gardens (plus a little bit, a very tiny bit of Killeavey Road) was ( is ) in the grand county of Armagh.

History Tomorrow

June 8, 2020December 3, 2005 by John McCullagh

You sang along

To a song on the radio –

it was old, vintage stuff

nineteen sixties, I presume

the melody lingered in my head

as I ploughed through

City Hall records

pruning branches on my family tree.

Emigration to American Isles

June 8, 2020December 3, 2005 by John McCullagh

We have written before of the great Ulster Presbyterian migrations from here to America during the eighteenth century. Few Catholics crossed the Atlantic then. Even if they possessed the inclination and the ingenuity to get to America, few Catholic Irish had the means. Indeed, before the American Revolution (until about 1780) Catholic immigration was officially forbidden in the Americas.

Warrenpoint Ferry Boat

June 8, 2020December 2, 2005 by John McCullagh

For very good reasons, your editor associates the shore and the public baths of Warrenpoint with his childhood friend Vincent McAllister, with whom he often ‘hitched’ a lift there in the bygone days of yore!

The Micks

June 8, 2020November 30, 2005 by John McCullagh

Have you ever met ‘the Micks’, me lads, when wandering round the town,
They are the crowd of Irishmen, whose fame is all renown.
There’s Alexander, Mungo Park and Michael Vernon too,
But these names I state to you, me lads, are merely just a few.

HCE and how to recognise it!

June 8, 2020November 24, 2005 by John McCullagh

A number of my friends of long-standing on this site – Carmel, Sally, Jenny, Olwen, Irene, Jim, to name but a few – being aware of my recent bout of ill-health, have offered various prognoses and thankfully, a few tips, as well as copious words of support.

Keystone Ambulance Men

June 8, 2020November 20, 2005 by John McCullagh

When it was first told to me, I believed the story of the man who guiltily buried the savaged body of his neighbour’s cat – on the assumption that the foul deed was done by his own dog, sworn enemy of that same pussy – only to find that Towser unearthed the corpse and delivered the muddy remains to the other’s doorstep. In similar fashion (am I just gullible?) I also believed the man who recounted the following story, alleging it had happened to him.