Shibboleth
Turning into
Bessbrook Mill
Peter Bradley writes of Bessbrook long ago. ‘I was born in Newry in 1917 but when I was very young the family moved to
Lassara and the minstrel
Most of our more prominent ancient monuments have a folk story or two attached to them, and none more poignant than that associated with
Charles McCann drowns at sea
Mr. Charles McCann, a well-known and respected Newry seaman, was one of eleven men drowned when a ship floundered after striking rocks. The crew numbered forty-nine and eleven men are still missing. The crew took to the boats and twenty-seven succeeded in getting to land.
Related Tales
Lieutenant Commander Butch O’Hare was a fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier
One day his entire squadron was sent on a mission.
Insurance Claim
The following are – allegedly – the actual words from an ‘accident insurance form’. The assessors had been unhappy with the original application and requested more details.
‘In your form, I put down the cause of my accident as ‘poor planning’.
They rule the world
A talented panel of expert doctors and consultants met at
The debate that followed was heated.
An exile in Canada
I recently came upon this memoir of an Irish exile from Moortown, Tyrone settled in
If not I shall desist after this entry: if so, you can have much more!
Our Mother of Mercy Home
The former house of Mr Needham Thompson, purchased by Thomas Fegan for the Mercy Nuns, had to be altered and renovated to suit its intended purpose as a home for poor and distressed women and orphans.
Thomas Fegan
It was to minister to the sick, the poor and the needy that the Sisters of Mercy came to Newry in 1855. Many charitable people shared their concern. Foremost among them was the unassuming Thomas Fegan.
Gap of the North 1599-1601
Many of you attended John McCavitt’s ‘Flight of the Earls’ CD launch in the Arts Centre’s auditorium last evening for there was a packed house and indeed, extra temporary seating had to be installed. You were well entertained and informed and many availed of the opportunity to purchase the historical/musical CD. It will shortly be available in the shops but meanwhile it can be purchased from John through his great website (http://www.theflightoftheearls.net/) where too the following article (reproduced here by permission) can be browsed.
Hills Street?
Why
Hilltown, past and present
The nineteenth century Parliamentary Gazetter – looking back on the previous century – recorded that in 1766 the first significant building in Hilltown – the Episcopalian Church – was erected near Eight Mile Bridge ‘at the joint expense of Wills, Earl of Hillsborough, and the late Board of First Fruits’.