Turtle and readers, I believe Beat 102-103 may have some funding available to pay for " tidbits" collected from readers on the Carlow IGP website .....they contacted me earlier this year and willingly paid for snippets relating to Carlow, perhaps they might pay via the contribution button on the Carlowigp to assist Michael Brennan in running the site, ?? On 14 Mar 2013, at 11:43, Turtle Bunbury <turtlehistory@gmail.com> wrote: > Hello all, > > I am helping Beat 102-103, a local Waterford radio station, with a project they’ve initiated to try and get more young people interested in history. > > Students were assigned particular towns and asked to find out curious facts about each area. These are to air as one-minute snippets on a daily basis over the next few months. I'll be editing and fact-checking beforehand. > > Beat have given me the go ahead to contact the Carlow listers to see if they have any further fun or interesting trivia they might like to add to the 'discoveries' of the students outlined below. > > The producer writes: ‘Each town is just a minute long so it's just about making what they say more comprehensive and with some added info.’ > > As such, if you’ve any further tidbits to add, do please let us know. > > Cheerio for now, > > Turtle > > > Ballinkillen > Teresa Malone is buried at Ballinkillen Chapel yard. She features in the ballad of Kilcumney and is a heroine of 1978 because she distracted the crown army as they chased after rebels of 1798. She shot a soldier and rode off to the rebels. It is said that Teresa Malone lived until she was 90 and died around the time of the Fenian rising and because of this there was a big media presence at her funeral as they feared there would be trouble. > > > Bilboa > Bilboa is known as the mining village of Carlow. Only the church remains where once there was other buildings revolving around the mining industry. Bilboa is a deserted mining village- it was part of three mining settlements in the Carlow/ Laois area. The others where called Newtown and Moscow. They mined for coal there. There is still a community living in Bilboa but only the church has survived from those times. Ireland has a long tradition of mining dating back to the bronze age. > > Aghade > The Bullaun Stone is in the grounds of the All Saint Church in Aghade and it’s a small and simply stone. Blink and you could miss it as it’s covered in moss. A bullaun comes from the Irish word for bowl and it’s a stone that has a dip in it that water can be filled into. Some people think that water collected in these type of stones has magical and healing powers. Another stone is the holed stone which is also in Aghade. This is quite unusual. It’s quite big and people argue about what it was for. Some think it was for rituals and there is evidence that babies used to be passed through the hole to cure sickness. > > Ballymurphy > > Patrick Breen was from near Ballymurphy. He was born in 1795 and in 1846 to 1847 himself and his family were part of 87 pioneers in America who set off on a wagon train for California and found themselves trapped by snow in Sierra Nevda. They were called the Donner Party volunteers- named after George Donner, their leader. Patrick Breen from Ballymurphy brought his wife and seven children and they all survived. Of the 87 pioneers on this journey, 39 died. Patrick Breen kept a diary of his time. It was reported that some of the people who survived did so by eating the flesh of their dead companions and the indian guides. They were trying to find a faster route across Utah and Nevada. The Breens ended up living in California in a place called San Juan Bautista, California. > > Milford > Milford is about 5 miles from Carlow town and it was the place that first supplied electricity to Carlow in 1891. The public supply of electricity was generated by the Millford Mill. Because of Milford Mill and the electricity it made, Carlow town became the first inland town in Ireland and England to receive electrical power. The Millford Mills was almost destroyed by fires twice in 100 years. The first, in 1862, destroyed metal, machineary and corn. It was thought that the friction of gricing stones caused spakrs and this set a lot of corn on fire. > > Clonegal > Castle is also called Huntington Castle. One of the few left in Ireland owned by the family who built it. Captured by Cromwell when he marched on Kilkenny in 1650 (Some of the students also talk about the movie Barry Lyndon that was filmed there) > > Old Leighlin > John Tyndall is from there. First scientist to discover why the sky is blue. Called the Tyndall effect. Explains how it happens….dust particles. > > Owning > During the Cromwellian invasion the bell in the church in Owning was buried in a bog but they never found it since. It’s rumoured that Hugh O’Neill from the Flight of the Earls is buried in Owning. > > Paulstown > There was a well there called the well of the retching Cure. It was thought it had a cure for an upset stomach. > > Hugginstown > Locals stood up to the local landlord for the unjust system of tight taxes. Called the battle of Carrigshock . Dec 1831. Main tax collector was a man called Butler and his bodyguard was Gibbons who had served in the battle of Waterloo where Napoleon had been defeated.