The Irish Folklore Commission
was established in 1935 to collect and preserve folklore traditions from all
over the 26 counties. As part of its
work the Commission collected folklore from National school children during
1937/1939 and the material collected was gathered in manuscript volumes which
are today held in the Department of Folklore, University College Dublin. Last week the Minister for State at the
Department of Arts and Heritage announced that the National School folklore material
from County Kildare was being made available online.
The entire National School
folklore collection consists of over half a million pages of material recorded
by young pupils throughout the 26 counties.
Folklore material forming part of that collection was first put online
two years ago covering counties Dublin, Mayo, Donegal, Waterford, Galway and
Leitrim and more counties will be added to the list before the end of next
year.
About 60 National schools in
County Kildare took part in the folklore scheme 76 years ago and these included
schools in Athy, Skerries and Kilberry.
Laurence Blanchfield, a young pupil from Youngstown under the guidance
of his teacher Eugene Tansey, wrote of the turf wall in Skerries school.
‘In 1930 alterations were made in Skerries N.S. Athy. There was a wall removed. When the men were taking it down they found
it was a turf wall. There were timber uprights
and timber cross bars. The men thought
the wall was made of plaster and laths, but there were no laths. The turf held on the plaster. The school was built in 1871 and from that
time until 1930 there was a turf wall in Skerries School. The master got up a card game to pay the men
for knocking down the wall.’
On the other side of Athy, 14
year old William Pender of Derryoughter, a pupil of Kilberry National School,
where his teacher was Sara Rowan, contributed a story which he heard from his
father Edward Pender five years previously.
His story titled ‘Hidden Treasure’
was dated 20th October 1937 and read:-
‘Three men named William Lalor, James Lalor and Thomas Kelly
dreamt there was treasure in a certain ditch near the Bishop’s Island.
They were to go together at midnight to get the gold. They were to plait three sally rods together
to place under the iron box in which they would find the gold. They were told in the dream to carry out
these instructions or if not they would not get the treasure.
Instead of the three sally rods they brought three cartropes. They lost the treasure and went home
broken-hearted.
Bishop’s Island is situated in the middle of the River
Barrow about five miles South of Monasterevan.
To approach the island a boat must be procured as the water is fairly
deep at this particular spot. A boat is
usually left at the east bank of the river for this purpose. The island has no grass or bushes growing on
it. It is devoid of any growth save
three old sally trees.
Probably the men were to have made the three gads from the
three sally trees perhaps a gad from each tree.
The spot on the bank where the boat lies is approached by a
path a quarter of a mile or so in length.
This path leads from a lane way which is a continuation of a road that
branches westwards from the main road from Athy to Monasterevan and about five
miles from the latter town.’
William Pender, a bachelor, died
approximately 15 years ago. His father
Edward had served in World War I during the course of which he suffered a
shoulder injury and the loss of a thumb following a bomb explosion on 17th
February 1917. William’s brother Joe
Pender, now aged 85 years, lives in Greenhills.
Like his brother, Joe was a pupil in Kilberry National School during the
Folklore Survey of 1937/39 but would have been too young to have made a contribution.
A total of 43 young boys and girls
from National schools in Athy, Churchtown, Kilberry, Levitstown and Skerries
took part in the folklore project with Skerries National School having no less
than 15 participating pupils. Little did
they realise that their stories would prove so important three quarters of a
century later to students of traditional life of previous generations.
Mary Orford from Kilcullen in
conjunction with Kildare Library Services held a series of lectures last year
to publicise the Folklore Commission’s work with Kildare’s National schools. Her contribution led to a wider understanding
and appreciation of the folklore tradition in the county and in turn prompted
the Department of Arts and Culture to prioritise the digitisation of the County
Kildare school children’s contribution.
Their work can be accessed on the website www.duchas.ie.
On Tuesday, 5th May
at 7.30 p.m. in the Heritage Centre Athy Seamus Cullen, author of ‘The Emmet Rising in Kildare’ and the
noted North Kildare historian, will give a talk on ‘Easter Week in County Kildare – The Participation of a Quiet County in
the 1916 Rising’. Admission is free.
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