Although he died on 30 May 1942, aged 56 years the name of Jim Kennedy has not been forgotten in the hills between Ballingarry and Glengoole. Known affectionately as ‘the Master’, Jim Kennedy attended Marlborough Training College in Dublin for two years. He came out on probation in 1907 and, according to Michael Ivers of Earlshill, he worked in a school in Templetuohy before being appointed to Lisnamrock school on 1 November 1910.

He moved from the family home to a house and fourteen acres of land which he purchased from a man named Curran. This house is now removed but stood in what is now Barry’s land opposite Michael Ivers (the old yard) and close to the steeple and engine pit one of the many pits which dotted the area. The house became a meeting place where local lore was discussed and the late Dick Maher remembered older men such as Dick and Sean Kerwick, Mr. McEvoy, coming there at night. Jim Kennedy seems to have been active in the promotion of the Irish language and it seems that he spent some time at Ring College in Waterford. Although my mother and all her family went to Lisnamrock school they were never conscious of the ‘master’ leaving any ‘writing’ behind.

Some years ago in the course of research work in the archives of the Irish Folklore Department in U.C.D. I got out manuscript 562 which I thought may have something on the Warhouse in Farrenrory. These documents are part of what is known as the Schools Manuscript Collection of the Irish Folklore Commission and they are collected in the 1930’s from schools around the country. Usually the teacher would ask his pupils to get any stories, legends, local lore from the older people and this would be copied and sent to Dublin in special copybooks. Anyway I opened up M562 and to my great delight written on the inside cover was:

Barony: Slieveatdgh, Parish: Baile An Gharrdha.
School: Lios na mBroc, Oide: Seamus 0 Cinneide.

It was a goldmine and all of the material was written in the master’s elegant hand. Here rescued from the old people was the history of the hills, its people, their doings and their sayings. It was full of life, like the Cashel sets they had danced on the flag floors. One hundred and eight pages which revealed all our pasts. It was an endless procession of stories: the great bull which travelled each night from Knockadive (the Black Hill) to topple the work of the masons on the Rock of Cashel: the names and locations of every Ring Fort, Pit; the Fraction Fights, the Mines, the Reapers, the Hurlers and the Weight Throwers. Every field was given its Irish name and he included a collection of the common Irish words in the English of the area. Not only that but he illustrated and described in detail all kinds of implements usually made from local material.

Here, I thought, was a man making his mark, leaving his signature. I looked at the meticulous writing, the neatness and the detail and tried to picture a man in his fifties writing by an oil lamp in the house under the trees ond over the pits. He may have been in ill health when he wrote his great legacy but he obviously enjoyed being given a chance to exercise his talents. It was a strange coincidence indeed that someone who was reared a few fields away and whose maternal relations all went to his school in Lisnamrock, should stumble across such a masterpiece.

Hopefully it will all be published sometime soon but it seems appropriate that some few examples of Jim Kennedy, the ‘Master’ should appear on this occasion. I would appeal to any of the readers of this publication who have memories of the Master to jot them down so as the details of his life will be clearer. For help in compiling this short note I would like to thank, Denis and John Barry, Josie Troy, Peggy Dalton, Bridget Glasheen, Mrs Nolan, Tom Nolan, Michael Ivers, Jimmy Kiely and my late uncle Dick Maher of Earlshill. Permission to quote from the Schools’ Manuscript Collection was kindly given by the Professor of Irish Folklore, U.C.D.

THE FENIANS

The Fenian Brotherhood spread rapidly in the district and quite a large number of young men were enrolled as oath bound members.

The arms were procured through the agency of the late Thomas Dunning, Killenaule. The rifle parts, revolvers and ammunitions were concealed in tea chests consigned to Mr. Dunning who dealt in that commodity. They were then taken in charge by James Quinn of Killenaule father of the present William Quinn, popular dog owner and trainer.He kept them concealed in the trunk of a tree from which the core had been removed. When they were placed in this the bore was closed by the insertion of a piece of wood. In due course they were forwarded to the various members.
The local centre was one of the O’Flannagans of Kilbrenal Ho., Ballynonty. It is now occupied by Mr. Joyce farmer and racehorse owner. In mining coal in this district ‘inclines’ at an angle of 30% were tunnelled in the earth. Two of these inclines existed in Lickfinn and Knockanure. At the bottom of the incline a tunnel six feet high was cut at right angles each way. These were perfectly straight and extended a distance of three or four hundred yards. Into these at night time crept the Fenians and placing a lighted candle in the centre of the road or tunnel they practiced ball firing in the bowels of the earth in comparative safety.

The late Edmund Nolan, Glengoole S., the late Edmund O’Shea, Ballinastick and the later Michael Connors of Earlshill were members.

One member still survives in the person of John Kerwick, Glengoole South who despite his ninety years is still hale and hearty. He still possesses the bulldog revolver ( a servicecable weapon) with which he was supplied in New York, when with three others he was selected to accompany O’Donovan Rossa on a proposed visit to Ireland with instructions to shoot before being captured.
When the Fenians decided to give support to the late Charles Stewart Parnell in his constitutional fight for freedom, an order was made for the collection and storage of arms. John Kerwick, James Morris of Mellison and Michael Connors collected the arms from their company, placed them in a barrel and had it built over in a fence on Kerwick’s land.

In 1920 some young boys observed some bees passing in a continous stream into the wall. They proceeded to knock the fence and after a short time discovered the barrel with the spaces therein almost filled with honey. The arms were in a perfect state of preservation. John Kerwick on receiving intelligence of the discovery proceeded to the spot, collected the arms and cast them into a disused coal shaft seventy yard deep in Ballinastick. This was done only after consultation with local leaders of the

I.R.A. who after examining the rifles which were ofthe Schneider type, declared them obsolete and that as no suitable ammunition could be procured for them they were useless to the members of that body.

FACTION FIGHTS

The Prish of Ballingarry was long noted for the violence of its faction fights. The two factions were the “Caravats” and “Shanavests”.

The Shanavest war cry was “Stokes, Croke and Corcoran”. These were the leaders of that party. The Shanavests invariably called their forces together with the cry of “Pollard, St. John and Rochfort”. These were the leading familes of the Shanavest party. It will be noted that only one of them bears an Irish clan name “Corcoran”.

In Earlshill and Ballyphillip the leading Shanavests were St. Johns and one of these owing to his great prowess in battle was known as “Sean a Cogadh”. The “Gooseberry” fair in Ballingarry on the 23rd July was always chosen for the trial of strength between the two parties. Crowds flowed into the “Fair Green” on that day whose sole business was fighting.

There were at this time about two hundred men employed in the mines at Earlshill and all these took a holiday on that day in order to take part in the fighting. Some of them did not even trouble themselves to wash the coal dust from their faces. One morning as Sean A Cogadh was setting out for the fair with an unwashed face somebody said to him “Sean you should wash your face”, “Ah”, said Sean “Whoever will have the head let him wash it”. The Mahers of Ballyphillip and Earlshill were the leading caravats in these townlands and many bloody encounter took place between themselves and the St. Johns.

For a week before the fair of Ballingarry on the 23rd July the different factions would not alone work in the greatest harmony but would tell each other of reinforcements that were to turn up on that day. Scarcely anybody in the parish was neutral. The wonder is how any neutral person managed to live during that period.

The fight on the Fair Green usually opened with the shouting of the faction cries. Sticks and stones were freely used and broken skulls, ugly bruises and deep cuts the results of the battle.
Frequently people were killed. Those suffering from cuts and bruises were treated successfully by “Shaneen” Brien of Knockalonga whose grandson Patrick O’Brien lives there today. To Doctor Going of Ballyphillip House all those with broken skulls went for treatment. As that gentlemen was an army doctor and present at the battle ofWaterloo he was pretty skillful in inserting silver plates in the craniums of the victims of Ballingarry Fair.

The Ryans of Clashduff, the Rourkes of Lisnamrock, the Pollards and families of Shangarry named Fox were the leading Shanavests. The Hayes family of the Commons and Ballinastick, the Beatles and Boneys of Lickfin and Glengoole South were also leading Caravats.
Inter marriage between the two factions was forbidden and the “Shanavest” girl who married a “Caravat” was ostracised by her people and party and vice versa. About this time parties of bometime. Now unlike the present time, liquor was not paid for when served, boys and girls used to go into a public house and remain there drinking for sout was paid for when the party had sufficient taken and was about to go home. The publican then came into the room and collected the “Reckoning” that is he intimated to them the full amount due. As the ladies were free the male members paid, each one paying an equal sum.

At this time the Fair Green and the “Pound” in Ballingarry belonged to a Caravat named Sexton. This man had a daughter who fell in love with a Shanavest and married him. The Shanavests were evidently satisfied because the event was commemorated in the following verse (parody of the Boys of Wexford):

“In comes the Sexton’s daughter And sits upon my knee and says me loyal Shanvest are you going to marry me, The “Pound” will be your portion because the “Green” you’ll see
And I’ll dress myself in man’s attire and shout the ould waistcoat free”.
I must not forget to mention another leading Shanavest, Sean Ruadh Hickey of Earlshill. This man was of giant proportions. Continuing to fight one day at Knockalonga near the King’s river, after the desertion of his followers, he received a bad beating.Many thought he was dead. His people finding him in the evening asked him how he felt. “Give me abit of calico”, said Sean. On this being pronounced he placed it in his mouth and chewed it. “Oh”, said he “I’m alright, my skull is not broken. I am able to chew the calico”.A son of his lives at the present day in Earlshill. Though not quite so big as his father hs is a fine specimen of humanity and bears his father’s nickname, Sean Ruadh.

(Adapted from "The ACRES" revisited, 1992.)