Jane, This sure brought back some memories. >Richard Hayward 1949 >(From 'This is Ireland, LEINSTER and the City of Dublin) > >We got into the car again and drove down a charming little road into >Rosenallis...burial ground of the Society of Friends. You can obtain the >key of this graveyard from the occupants of the cottage beside it, The cottage is still there and the gate was open when I visited but it is probably locked at night. At the time I had not made the Quaker connection with my Smith and Haslam family names but there were quite a few buried there and I did manage to photograph most of them. I attracted a lot of attention as I cycled around the countryside in October on a woman's pushbike taking pictures of every church and graveyard I came across. >The whitesmiths of Mountmellick were famous for their >bits and stirrups, and Pims sent the travellers all over England to >sell these much-esteemed products of Irish craftsmanship Are these the same travellers that set up their caravans along the sides of the roads outside of the towns? I often stopped to rest and chat with them as I cycled in and out of Mountmellick. Mountmellick is changing. The road known as Sarsfield/Bridge Street has been paved and there is a big hotel going up (probably open now) near the hospital above Irish town. There were mixed feeling but most seemed to think it was a good thing as they had big weddings and not enough space to put up out of town guests. There is a book 'The Quakers of Mountmellick' for sale at the Mountmellick Development Association/Laois Leader Rural Development Company for 5 punts. I'm not sure what the shipping would be. The four page bibliography is almost worth the price of the book. They do have a web page. If you ever go make sure to stop in for lunch. They provide training for local youth and the meals are large and inexpensive.