Mrs. Crowe – Sharing Memories

How far back can you remember in Killaloe/Ballina?

I was born in 1916. I can kind of remember the British Army, they were not the army really, whatever they were, Black and Tans or Auxiliary. I remember the shootings, I could hear shots being fired. I remember my sister and I being made stand out in the middle of the bedroom, I don’t know the time, night maybe, while they searched for guns and things like that, I always remember that! I must have been very young at that time as that finished in 1921. I was very young but I can still remember it, as if it was only yesterday, I must have got a right fright.

They came in to your house?

They came and took over where the Chip Shop (Megabites) is now in Ballina, that was a Hardware, they took that over, we owned that, they took over that and they also took over the School in Ballina. We had two lots of them, and then they were also at this side of the Bridge.

Where were they on this side of the bridge? (Killaloe)

They had the house where we lived up the town on Main Street, where Woods’ are now.

Was that was all part of Kathleen Nash’s?

Yes that was all the one and I think the house next door could possibly have been.
It Sergeant General Nihill owned that place, that’s where Kelly’s are now – he may have owned that, I am not too sure of that but he owned where Byrne’s are now, the big house there, and the little one next to it, he owned quite alot of the town here.

What did he do?

He was in the British Army in India.

How long was he here?

They were here for years, long before that time, I could not go back that far, I can’t even remember him. I believe he used to go round in a carriage, and he would have his face covered, to keep out microbes and all the rest, a bit of an eccentric, absolutely.

Would there have been any hostility towards him during the troubles?

I think he could have been away in India during the troubles, but part of his family would have been living there at that time, but I never heard of any trouble there.
At that time the army had taken over the house anyway, just moved in. I suppose they had moved them to another house maybe!

Can you remember your grand-parents?

I can’t remember my grand-parents. All my grand-parents were dead.
My grandfather Rohan was from Ogonnolloe, my grandmother Mackey was from Castleconnelland her brother, he would be my grand-uncle, Anthony, he owned the Eel Weirs from Castleconnell to Athlone, right up the Shannon. That could be why they called it Mackey’s Lock, he owned all the eelweirs up along and he had all the rights up along!

So you owned two Drapery shops then?

Yes eventually when my husband bought this place. There would have been a good few employed, I would say, we had about ten or more.

Were you born in Ballina/Killaloe?

I was actually born in Dublin. My mam went there for the confinement. We came back then to Ballina – we lived in Mc Keogh’s house overhead the shop, upstairs was private, there was a side entrance not attached to the shop, it was quite big actually.

When I got married I came to live in Killaloe. We owned the whole village actually in Ballina, how that came to be I don’t know? I think that Henry’s owned all that, and they owned land practically going back in to Nenagh, they had a very big estate there, a huge estate, so what happened I don’t know, whether they went broke or not, they could have owed money. There was an awful lot of that in those days, like Crotty’s now below, Mrs. Scanlon got Abbey House I think through it and where Carmel Ryan is, she got through a debt too, then she sold that and Carmel’s people bought it.

Did ye own even private houses in Ballina?

Yes, all along the street in Ballina, there were an awful lot of little houses.

Where McKeogh’s Supermarket is – what was there then?

The shop was there in the position it’s in now, but different, and the private house was over-head with the entrance to the side.

And what did they sell?

Groceries, provisions, bakery, hardware, all in one at both sides. Where the Chip Shop is now, that was the hardware.
There was a Mill for grinding, for farmers bringing in wheat and stuff like that. The Co-op we called it.
We had horses, my father used to breed horses, it was quite a big establishment, he often had up to one hundred working there, but alot of them would be workers, he hated to see anyone having to beg for something, you know, that they would not have the money to buy something, so he would make a job for them, so to make them feel that they had earned the money, rather than giving them something. He was very good, very kind.
My sister and I used to often laugh about it, and say he must have had the biggest family in Ireland.

Was there just the two of you in the family?

No, there was five of us, three brothers and two sisters.

Was you mother involved in the business?

My mother was involved in the business, she used to go around and meet people, that sort of thing, they had a big staff, she never actually worked in the shop.

Did you ever work in the shop?

No, I never worked in the shop, I used to go in and get in the way, I was usually run out of it.

Where did your parent’s go to school?

My mother went to school in Scariff, my grand-mother died very young, she was only twenty-seven, she had a younger sister, and her father, she was very fond of her father, and she wouldn’t go away to school. All the rest were educated on the Continent, but she wouldn’t go, she stayed in Scarrif and was educated there, and came down here then.
My father was in Mount Mellary School, his parents died young too, and he more or less reared all the rest of the family too, gave them a good education and set them up for life, he was very good because he really was young, you know.

Did any of your brothers go into the business with your father?

Yes, my brother Paddy took over the business here in Ballina, and his twin brother, Michael, then bought a Bakery business in Mullingar – Martin – they are both dead now,and Jim. All the boys are dead.

Where did you do to school?

I went to Laurel Hill and Amelia also went to Laurel Hill; up to third year, Amelia would have been further on, maybe sixth year. I went to the Convent School here first.

Who was teaching there then?

The only one I can remember teaching there was Sister Lelia. There was also Sister Michael. I can remember her because one day she gave me a slap. She got annoyed because I wouldn’t cry, so she slapped me and put me in the corner, she told me she would make me cry and she did. I never forgot her needless to mention.That was the old Convent as you go up the hill, beside where the nuns live.

Was there many going there?

There was quite a big crowd going to the Convent then, and by jove they had none of the niceties of today – coming down from the hills there in bad weather, God love them, there might be one sod of turf in the fire, we would bring our sods of turf to keep the fire going, they were good days.

When you finished school, what did you do?

I stayed at home with Mummy, Amelia went to Paris, she was there for about five years. She went over as an au-pair and liked it, she had friends and relations there before she went, so she stayed there for a long time.

Then after the place was burned in 1956 we had quite a bit of trouble trying to get some place to live, we eventually got the place out in, beyond Derrycastle, we lived there for quite a while, I loved it, I loved the country always.
Then I got married, in 1940. Amelia joined the British Army, and Michael went to Mullingar, and Paddy got married shortly afterwards, and then there was only mother and Jim left. My father had died in 1938.

When you got married, where did you live?

I came to Killaloe, to the big house.

What did your husband do?

He was in the Drapery business and he was the Managing Director of Limerick Shoes for years, so when they gave up inside there, he built the Weaving Factory, up where Killine is. He did not start there immediately, he started here, out next door, where the other flat is, he met this other chap I can’t remember his name now – he had been in for T.B. and he had learned to weave while he was recuperating and Jack asked him would he be interested in starting a little place, it was supposed to start as a hobby, one loom, they got on quite well, doing bits and pieces and then they got another loom, and another one. Eventually they had to move out of here, they went down to where Harry Brann is, they were there for a long time. They tried to get the Government to give them some help because they were giving all this help to foreign companies, but there was no help if you were Irish, and it is still a bit like that, that’s for sure.
They eventually then, I don’t know who was in power – I’ve an idea it was Fine Gael, they gave them some money to build the factory.

How many would they have employed?

I can’t remember how many were employed, Mary Ryan might tell you that, she was working there a fair few years.

What did they do with the products?

They used to sell it, they did quite well, they had a very good market for it.

How many years did it last?

Oh God, I wouldn’t be sure exactly how long.

Was it all ladies they had working there?

No,it was mixed – they had boys and girls working there.
Yes, they did very well in it but unfortunately the recession came in 1974, and we were not big enough to survive, money wasn’t there to fight that.

When did ye stop trading up on the Main Street?

1974, well maybe 1973 it started going. We were caught on the wrong foot at the time, there was alot of material made up, the recession came, and they had a lot of material printed that was taking off quite well, slowly but moving up. Then the recession came then and we didn’t stand a chance.
But, my husband was very lucky, I can’t remember the name of the people in Dublin, we went in in opposition to them. Our cloth was as fine as theirs but closer woven, but they bought us out. I don’t know if they are still operating.

Somebody told me about them, somebody I interviewed that had worked in your factory and told me that company were still in business…..

Well you see that got rid of us and gave them the field to themselves.
So, we were very lucky.

And what about the business here on the corner where the Amusement Arcade is now?

That closed sometime before my husband died, he had got on in years, into his 70’s and none of the family were interested in it. Michael was working in it all right, but he hadn’t the interest in staying in Killaloe, he had nothing to do here. When you finished work, you had nothing to do here, nowhere to go, it’s the very same now. He always liked Ennis, he always liked cooking, so he started a Take-away and Hector had the amusements up where Kathleen is now and he asked Michael would he go in with him down here, so Michael said he would and they started the two things together, Hector ran the machines and Michael done the cooking. So then he moved out and we closed that down completely, he went to Ennis.

Did you move aswell?

Oh no I didn’t move. My husband and I stayed here. I have always lived here.
My daughters are both in Meath, one is living in Oldcastle and the other in Kells.

Thinking back to your younger life, do you remember the Shannon Scheme?

I vaguely remember them blasting the water and the water going up in the air, that used to fascinate me, around about 1932 I think.

Do you remember the barges?

I do. I can just vaguely remember a barge going down the lower canal and a horse pulling it along by the side – just the vagueist recollection of it!

Do you remember the steam barges?

I do, my own children christened them the “Ducka Ducka’s”. Actually it was a good name in a way, because you’d be up the garden and you would hear them coming and that was what they sounded like.

People have told me that they used to keep them awake when they were coming in at night!

Is that so? We didn’t mind them but then of course, we were well in from the lake. But I suppose the people on the Canal Bank would have been different, they would have been bang on top of them ‘cause it was in there that they used to go!

So what would have come off the barges would have been delivered to the shops around….

Ya, delivered to the shops by horse and carts in those days.

Who would do that job do you know?

One of them I think was Grimes.

The place must have been a hive of activity then……

Oh it was. And then you had the trains as well, the trains were great on Sundays, because there was always an excursion from Limerick, and a band would come out with it, and they used to play in the space there in front of the Hardware, it was lovely, they’d come over and play around the town of course too. There’d be a great crowd around of course.

And then you had the Regatta’s…..

There was a Regatta on, on August Monday, that was wonderful. You had the “Slippery Pole”, and rowing races, and all sort of amusements. They were really terrific – it was an awful pity they died out, it was good fun.

Did your family ever have a boat?

We had, my brothers had a speed boat, which we had great fun in.
There weren’t many boats on the lake then.

Did your husband ever have a boat?

We just had an ordinary row boat, with an engine, he used to do quite a bit of fishing. trout and pike fishing, just for pleasure. There was plenty of fish in the lake, there was, fine big ones.

What else do you remember now, thinking back to you parent’s time?

I remember we had no lights of course that time, we had no electricity when we were growing up, just lamps and candles, and the fun we had playing around in the dark. I often think of children today – what would they do if suddenly there was no electricity? They’d panic.
We really enjoyed it, going out at night playing hide and go seek, it was really good fun. People went in and out of each other’s houses, you didn’t have to worry about locking your door, everything was so free and easy and friendly, it was like one big family in Ballina in those days, people would wander in to see how you were, it didn’t matter who you were.

So, do you think that the place has changed an awful lot?

Oh I would say so, yes!

For the better?

I don’t know. Because I think in those days, there may not have been the same amount of money or anything, but people were much happier, I think.
There wasn’t the same rush for life, they didn’t want that much amusement or anything else. Take the children today – they don’t even know how to play.
We were satisfied with very little.

Santa Claus was the most marvellous thing in the world, you would wake up Christmas morning and toys of some description would be there, you never saw them in the shops, you didn’t see any of those things, they just appeared.

Did you not sell them in the shop?

No, no, they weren’t sold in small towns.
We didn’t go to Limerick when we were small – presumably they were sold there.

People have told me that they always shopped in Killaloe….

They may have over here in Killaloe, I don’t know. Of course, with the Military around that time, we didn’t even come across the bridge, except when I was going to school, and that wasn’t very pleasant even then. They would be coming across the bridge in cars and lorries and we would have to make a dash for those little inlets in the bridge, because they would be coming straight for you. Well of course to them it was amusement, but to us it was terrifying.

They would do that to children?

Yes, they would, oh they were a desperate crowd. They wouldn’t probably intend to kill you or anything, just to frighten you, but it was rather terrifying.

Did people mostly travel by bicycle that time?

Oh they had bicycles alright and plenty of horses and carts. Horse and carts were great, we had plenty of fun with the horse and carts and the bicycles. If it was today, I’m sure we’d all be in jail – when the farmers would come in shopping and they would come out to go home, we’d be gone off with the horse and cart or the bicycle, as the case may be (laughing).

Did they mind?

They never minded, not at all. Their time was their own. We never went far so we’d arrive back sometime.

Do you remember the names of any of the people in the main street in Ballina and Killaloe that are not there now, or even the business people?

Ballina has changed hands – Mc Keogh’s now would be the only one of the shops that are left. The whole lot of them have changed hands.
Murphy’s has changed hands, that is now “Goosers”, that was a pub always, in my memory anyway. I don’t know where they were from.

Do you ever remember another church in Ballina?

I don’t, even though, unfortunately, we were going to Roscrea to an auction – there were two books going up for auction, but something happened that day we were to go, and I couldn’t go and I believe they sold for £10. I just looked through them and it was all about North Tipperary and maybe some of this side of Clare, I don’t know.
I think there was a mention of churches and schools, it was in the plural. I was dying to get a hold of the book to read it to see what was in it.

It might be in the Heritage Centre in Roscrea now?

It possibly would have been but it was a chap who worked in Mears, that was where the auction was on, he bought it, it wasn’t for him, he bought it for someone else. I’d love to have got them cause they seemed so interesting.

So, coming on down the street then, what about Liam Ryan’s?

Liam’s parents, Manley’s were there in my time.
I can’t remember who owned the North Riding.

Was it Hugh O’ Brien?

No, Hugh worked with us in the office for a long time, he was from Monaghan.
It was Buckley’s owned the North Riding – they had a bar, I think that was all they had was a bar, I don’t think they had a shop.
There was another little shop then next door, it would have been a Drapery, it would have been O’ Brien, he bought Crowe’s as it happens. When Hugh O’Brien bought his place, he must have bought Crowe’s as well, as they were elderly. They were no relation of my husband’s – my husband was from South Tipperary. That was incorporated into what is now the North Riding bar. Mrs. Seymour’s belonged to Guerin’s, they had a Drapery too.

There was a lot of competition….

Yes, there were two drapery houses there.

And then below that was Darcy’s pub, where Mills is now, and then there was a blank space there and then Mc Keogh’s, the shop went right along as it is today, and then there was Keogh’s there below that, different Keogh’s to the shop, and beside that was a small house with a little shop, Courtney’s,

There was quite a few shops for the size of the place, and then you went up along and we had a garden where Tina Griffin’s sister is living now. My brother Paddy or the present family sold the lower plot where the garden was to Nora Griffin, I don’t know what her married name is, then there was Ahearne’s where Helen Duggan is living, and Casey’s then were next and after that there was a Forge, Maher owned it, Willie I think was his name.
Actually, it belonged to my father but he gave it to him to start a forge there.
We had horses, but there was no forge there, so we had to have a forge – he was from Derrycastle actually, he ran the forge from there and lived in Derrycastle.

Where did ye keep your horses?

At the back of the yard up the hill to the upper yard and at the back of that was part of the farm.

Do you ever remember horse racing here?

Once I remember horse racing down between the two waters, down there, yes, just a hazy recollection again. It wasn’t Point-to-point, Flapper meetings, no rules or anything.

Did you or your family take part?

I never took part, I don’t know if the family took part, Paddy may have had.
I doubt it though. They always had horses and ponies.

Who lived where Mr. Lefroy lives?

I can’t remember who lived in Lefroy’s house, there is a monument in Ballina Church yard to the family to the left, that family died out, I remember the last of the family asked daddy to take the house, he could have got it for nothing, but he said no, it was damp and built down in a hole. It would have been an ideal beautiful garden but he said no. I suppose he was happy where he was.

Where Irish Molly’s is now, what was there when you were young?

That was Bambury’s in my time. It wasn’t a hotel but I think they may have kept guests. May, she would have been the last of the family, she kept a few people alright, but prior to that I doubt if they did somehow, because there was May there, and the mother and the aunt, and it was not as big then. May built a bit herself.

Do you remember the Creamery?

The Creamery was there too.

Was that called the Cheese House?

No, I don’t ever remember that – it could have been now, but I never remember hearing it called that.
The milk from there always went to the branch at Annacotty.

From the Killaloe side, who do you remember? Any of the shops?

Not really, we used to just go to school and back. Except my aunt owned the Shannon View Hotel, we used to go in there. They were Helen Duggan’s people.

So you would go in and out of there – what was it like?

I did, it was lovely, it was three stories high, it was lovely. They used to have fishermen coming over from England.
They used to close off the sluice gates on the Shannon when the salmon season was in, the water went very low, and you could walk across and fish in the pools, it was really lovely then, the sound of the water going through the sluice gates, you would imagine you were at sea.
I remember a friend of mine from Limerick, Doctor Roberts, he used to come out nearly every Thursday, go upstairs to the drawing room, he would open the window, get the arm-chair, sit down and listen to the water, he was a sea-man himself, and the sound of the water brought him back, and he would imagine he was on board ship again, he was a doctor on board ship during some war, World War One, maybe.

Where the swimming pool is now – what was there when you were growing up?

There was nothing really, we used go down and swim where they keep the boats now, we called it the Tip Head, I don’t know how it got its name, it was an outlet for the water and it was nice and sandy little beach, but not very safe for swimming, you couldn’t go unless you were able to swim. Friar’s Island was there at that time too.

Do you remember the Oratory there?

I just remember them moving the Oratory, but I didn’t take much notice of it. It is a pity we didn’t. It’s an awful pity that we don’t take more notice or ask more questions about our family but I think going away to school does that to you, you lose contact, you really do, such a pity, you are going one direction, and the people you went to school locally with are going another direction, you lose track of everything.

I don’t think your generation when they were growing up asked the questions like children do nowadays….

We didn’t no! Some of the children nowadays are very advanced, they have no childhood at all.

It was a pity this (interviewing) was not done while Jackie Corbett was alive, Lord have Mercy on him, he was a fund of information, he was absolutely marvellous. He was 90 something when he died.
There was another man on the Ballina side, Jim Larkin, he is dead now too, he was 90 something when he died too. I think he was an old I.R.A. man.

My mother was in Cumman Na mBan, she was Vice-president at one time, things got so bad over it at one period that they had to move us out, we went up the Boher Road, to “Knocknagrus”, the house belonged to O’Brien’s, and they sent us up there with a maid and a nurse, for safety, you see what was happening was, you had the British Military coming in the front and the lads coming in the back, so they had to do something, you never knew when they were going to come from, or what was going to happen.

It must have been a terrible time to live through?

It must have been. I only have the vaguest recollection but still I have that recollection And I must have been very young.

Countess Markievicz, she was to speak in the square in Scariff one day and it poured rain, so Mammy brought her into the house to speak from the window, people said to her goodness sake Miss Rohan, don’t do that, you will be shot, but in spite of them she brought her in and let her speak from there so people could hear her.

Are you any relation to the present-day Rohan’s in Ballina?

Anthony Rohan in Ballina would be a relation, but I think it is from my father’s side, my grand-father Rohan came from Ogonnelloe.

There was a Golf Club in Ballina for a couple of years, and there was one further out in Ryninch, I don’t remember that one.

Do you remember Derrycastle?

No, only the name – the Spaight’s. I think it was burned down during the Troubles so I don’t remember it.

You told me before the interview started about the Bakery burning down.

The Bakery in Ballina – I think it was an electrical fault, nothing to do with the Troubles, there was nobody at home. I was in Nenagh, Michael was in Nenagh also, playing golf, Paddy was down in County Kilkenny at a Point-to-point meeting, Jim was out fishing, Mammy just happened to come out to the kitchen and saw smoke coming out the windows of the Bakery, Daddy was in the Chapel saying his prayers.

Was it destroyed?

The whole thing was burned to the ground, so they rebuilt it.

How many people did they employ in the Bakery?

There was a good few employed in the Bakery at that time, it was all hand work in those days, I am sure they had twenty there, they had a very, very good business, they used to send deliveries all over and they used to send goods off on the train.