Annie M. Reilly, Prizon North, Balla, Co Mayo

Hidden Treasure

The ruins of an old castle stand yet in Prizon. It is from that castle that Prizon got it's name. Long ago people used to be hanged in the castle. The castle was built in a lonely place with very few houses near it. It had three chimneys on it.

Years ago, a man named Anthony Reilly in the village of Prizon dreamt two nights after each other that there was a treasure of gold hidden beside the middle chimney of the old castle. Next day that man and his brother went to look for the hidden gold. When they had dug a couple of feet they came upon a flag. But they never found the supposed hidden gold.

That same man often saw strange lights around the old castle which he thought were fairies.

About two hundred yards from the castle in a green field stands the place where a man named Tiobóg na Luing used to put children and people to death.

One day he went into a house and the woman of the house told him that she couldn't control her son. Then Tiobóg took the lad and said that he would control him. Next day when the woman went to the castle, she found her son dead and she was very sorry after him.

Tiobóg na Loing had another castle in Ballintubber and he was buried there.

Riddles

1. If a man had eight gallons of stout in an eight-gallon cask and he had an empty five gallon cask and an empty three gallon cask how would he make halves of it?

2. Four S’s, four I’s, two P’s, and a M put that together and spell it for me?

Answers

1. He would fill the three-gallon cask and throw it into the five-gallon cask. Then he would fill the three-gallon cask again and throw it into the five-gallon cask and he would have one gallon left. He would throw the five gallons into the eight-gallon cask and he would throw the one gallon into the five gallon and he would fill the three-gallon cask again and he would have made halves of it.

2. Mississippi

Weather-Lore

If the moon and stars grow dim and a ring encircles the former rain will follow.

If the sun's rays appear like Moses' horns, or goes down into a bank of clouds in the horizon bad weather is to be expected.

If the moon looks pale and dim we expect rain.

If it looks red we expect wind and if her natural colour with the clear sky, fair weather.

When the dog eats grass we expect rain.

When the cat scrapes the trunk of a tree a storm will follow.

If the crows lie on the stone-walls we expect rain.

Hedge-Schools

About ninety years ago there was a hedge school in the village of Booley in the parish of Straide. This hedge school was held in a barn. The master was Gallagher and was a native of Booley and he lived about six yards from the school. The teacher loved Irish. The children spoke all Irish in the hedge school. They used all Irish books. They did their writing on slates with slate pencils. The children were seated on boards.

In those days the children used to pay school fees on every Monday morning and that was about all the salary the master received.

Every Sunday after Mass Mr Gallagher used to offer the rosary in Irish in Balla church.

Candle-Making

Eighty years ago, people used to put eight rushes together and steep them in grease which they got out of fried beef fat. They called the grease tallow. When the tallow dried they had candles made. These were the only kind of candles the people had even on Christmas night.

The people used to make starch out of potatoes. They used to wash and peel the potatoes and scrape them with a scraper. Then they used to squeeze the potatoes into a bowl and leave them over-night. In the morning the starch will be gone to the bottom of the bowl and they let off the top and they have the starch made. We do not make starch at home now.

A Lime-Kiln

About sixty-five years ago my grandfather named Patrick Reilly made a limekiln in his own field. He dug a round hole in the ground about five and a half feet deep. He built round the inside with stones and mortar which he got on his own land. He used to burn the full of the kiln of lime three times each year.

He quarried the limestones in Moate outside the Convent grounds, and he brought them down to Prizon in a horse and cart. He broke the limestones very small at first, then he put the broken stones into the kiln with a scib. He used to put every second layer which they called braths, of limestones and turf.

He used to put a brath of limestones in the bottom and another line of lime-stones on the top.

He left a hole in the bottom when he was making the kiln and when he had it filled with limestones and turf he put a lit block of bog-deal into the hole and the kiln began to burn.

It used to keep burning two days and one night and he used to stay out at it that night and the two days putting in braths and taking out the burned lime after it would cool.

They used to put the lime out for topdressing on the land. They used to white-wash the house with the rest of the lime.

That kiln is yet to be seen in the corner of a field beside the road. We do not burn any lime now, and nettles are growing in the kiln.

Story of the Penal Times

Long ago there was a man in Ballyheane who dreamt on Christmas night that Mass was going to be read the next morning in a field behind Connell’s house in Prizon. He liked to hear Mass on Christmas morning and he left his house very early that morning.

When he came to Prizon the priest was reading the Mass and the people thought he was a stranger. After the Mass the priest asked him why did he come and when the man told him what happened him the priest told him never to do such a thing again.

Local Marriage Customs

Forty or fifty straw boys came, and they went up on top of the house going to knock it if they wouldn't get drink. They got two drinks each and then they danced and sang songs. They went home about 3 o'clock in the morning. My father and mother stayed in Keelogues that night and they came to Prizon next morning.

My mother and father were married on the 1st February 1923 on a Thursday. They were married by the Rev. Father Waldron P.P. Keelogues. They had twelve of the nearest friends with them and they had three motor cars.

After the marriage they drove through Ballyvary Turlough and on to Castlebar. When they were coming home to Keelogues my grandfather Thomas Taylor made a fire out on the hillside because it was an old custom.

That night a wedding took place in Keelogues in my grandfather’s house. They had three half-barrels of stout. About sixty guests were invited to the wedding.

Bird-Lore

The following are the names of the birds most frequently seen around Prizon.

Thrush

Robin

Swallow

Cuckoo

Lark

Black bird

Gold Finch

Corn Crake

Wren

Sally picker

Starling

Snipe

Red shanks

Wild duck

Swan

Water hen

Tom tit

Owl

Jack daw

Willie wagtail

Magpie

Seagull

Curlew

Pheasant

Grouse

The Thrush is the best singer amongst the Irish songbirds. She builds her nest in a white-thorn bush. She builds it with moss and lines it inside with mortar made from mud. The thrush lays about five blue eggs dotted over with brown dots.

The Robin is a nice bird with a red breast. Everybody seems to like him. She sings all the year round. She builds her nest in the side of a mossy bank and she builds it with moss and hair. There she lays five or six eggs and hatches them.

The Swallow is a bird that comes to us in Spring and goes from us in Autumn.

She builds her nest inside the roofs of hay-sheds or in the eaves of houses, always under cover. She builds it with mud or mortar and lines it inside with feathers. There she lays from four to six eggs.

"The Cuckoo builds no nest at-all, but through the wood she strays, until she finds one snug and warm and there one egg she lays."

Local Place Names

The following are names of fields on our farm

Mártin Ruadhs

Cnocán

Cnoc mhór

Seangarra

Sean theach

Tobar Frainc

Tobar na mbhan

Sraith

An buaileamh.

Homemade Toys

In my grand-father's time they used to make wooden spoons for Easter Sunday out of wood. The boys used to make toas out of doab which they got in wet land. It had a brown colour. They used to wet the doab and shape it into toas. Then they used to leave it to dry and it got very hard and they used to play them. We do not make any of these things now.

Rope-Making

With the washing and bleaching the rushes used to turn white. They used to plat six rushes together and keep plating others into those. It used to take about thirty rushes to make a spanshal. They were used as tying for cattle and horses and for lúabachs for bringing in hay and oats when there were no carts. These ropes were commonly used around here as the shop ropes were too dear.

About sixty years ago the men used to make spanshal straw ropes. They pulled thick strong rushes from the root which they usually got in a marshy place. They tied them in bundles and put them in a bog-hole. They used to leave them eight or ten days in the trench and then they used to spread them out to dry.

Linen-Making

My great-grand-mother who lived in Keelogues used to spin linen about seventy years ago. Her husband used to set the flax. He used to pull the flax and bring it to the bog and bog it. When it was bogged he used to spread it out in the bog to bleach. Then he used to bring it home and beat it very hard with a beetle which he made out of a piece of ash.

My great-grand-mother used to spin linen sheets and she had her own spinning wheel and it is yet in Keelogues.

Some of the sheets are yet in my grand-mother's house. She does not spin linen now.

Local Travellers

About ninety years ago the first tinkers came to Prizon. Their names were Reilly and Mahon. None of the people had asses at that time. The Reilly’s brought five or six asses with them up from the north. All the people around Prizon bought some of the asses. At that time the tinkers used not camp on the side of the road like they do now. They used to lodge in a barn which they got from one of the people. They used to stay about a week in every barn they got. They lodged a week in Mr. Murphy's house in the village of Tavanagh in the parish of Straide. All the women of the place brought pots to the tinkers to get them fixed. The tinkers used not make any tin cans that time. It was said that the Reilly’s made gold for the Hughes of Ballyclogher and the Murphy’s of Tavanagh.

Fairy Forts

There is a fort in Mr. Hunt's field in the village of Prizon in the parish of Balla. There were a lot of stones in the bottom of the fort and around the brinks of it.

About forty years ago Paddy Connolly and his brothers took the stones away from the fort and made a ditch of them. When the ditch was made all the men died.

Local Games

Every night we play this game around the fire. We all sit down around the fire and one person takes a stick. We all put out our feet and the person with the stick says the following words,

Bí o néal, néal a brobán, brobán súla, súla seicne, ár lomán, lóman leic, cor na giell isteach go Flaitheas.

They keep saying that rhyme until every-one has his foot pulled in. Then a dallóg is put on the last one that has his foot out and something is put on his back. He has to guess what it is, or they will keep heaping more things over him until he guesses what it is.

At school we play ghosts in the garden. Two or three girls go behind a tree and they are called ghosts. Then some of the other girls go lighting matches to see of any ghosts are in the garden.

When the ghosts see the people looking, they run after them and when they catch them they cut the heads off them.

My Home District

I live in the village of Prizon in the parish of Balla Co. Mayo Barony of Carra. It is situated between Cnoc Spolagadán and Sliabh Cháirn. The village of Prizon got it's name from and old Prizon, the ruins of which stands yet. The late Canon Ready R.I.P. changed the name from Prizon to Gleann an Dúin which means the glen of the fort.

There are ten families in this village, seven Reilly’s and three other families namely Connolly, McDonnell and Ansbro. Forty-nine people altogether dwell in Prizon. There are six people over seventy years of age, three Mr. Reilly’s and one Mrs. Reilly and Mr. McDonnell and Mr. Ansbro. They can speak English but very little Irish. They cannot tell any stories in Irish.

Thatched houses are the most common around here. Six of them are thatched and four are slated. The land around here is very good noted for fattening stock. It has a free-stone nature.

Everyone has thirteen or fourteen acres of land in this village. Every holding of land is separated from the next by a sod fence with bushes growing on the top of it.

There is a bog at the south side of Prizon where all the people get the turf. Brown turf is found in it.

Potato-Crop

When the stalks are about a foot high, they are sprayed. The men put bluestone in water and when it melts they wet lime and then they mix them together and put it into a spraying machine and spray the stalks.

In October the men dig the potatoes. The children pick them. They pick the big ones and they put them in a hole in the ground.

They pick the small ones separately for the hens. They cover the potatoes first with rushes and then they soil them with clay. They leave them in the hole for the winter.

Arran banners and Kerr-pinks are the best that grow but they are not good for eating. King-Edwards are the best for eating.

We make drills also. We rise the drills with a plough. Then we put out yard-manure and we spread it on the dyke that is left between every two drills. Then we shake bag of manure on them. We spread the slits and we set them. After they come up, we mould them with a plough. My grandfather made a plough out of wood and he made the moulding board out of tin. The plough fell asunder from age and damp a few years ago. We used to use it up to that and then we had to get a new plough.

All the people around Prizon set about an acre of potatoes. They make ridges in a lea field. They leave a dyke between every two ridges. Then they slit the potatoes. They must have an eye in every slit or it won't grow. The children spread the slits on the ridges. They leave about a foot between every line of slits. Then the farmer covers the slits with clay out of the dyke. Before the stalks begin to come up the farmers mould them. They dig the mould with a plough, then they put it up on the ridges with a shovel.

Local Sayings

A rolling stone gathers no moss.

Don't count the chickens until they are hatched.

The early bird catches the worm.

He who laughs last laughs best.

A long road without a turn.

Keep the bad dog with you and the good dog won't bite you.

When it rains it pours.

The darkest hour is the hour before the dawn.

Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.

A feast and a famine.

Deep waters run smooth.

The greater the rogue the more genteel.

Let the last day be the worst.

A young heart lives long.

A hen would work as hard to scrape for one chicken as she would for ten.

A stitch in time saves nine.

Earn silk and wear it.

A cat of her age wouldn't play with a wisp.

Better to be born lucky than rich.

Festivals

A week before St. Stephen’s Day all the country boys set to work to make a little box for a Wren. On the night of the 25th December they search all the thatched houses looking for Wrens. On the following day the boys dress themselves in old clothes.

They put dallógs on their faces and they tie straw around themselves. Every two boys go together.

They travel through all the villages and at every house they get a few pence. In the evening they divide the money evenly between them. Each boy buys sweets with the money he has. They get about five shillings sometimes.

On St. Bridget's night all the girls go around through the village honouring St. Bridget. Only some of the girls dress themselves in false clothes. They make a doll and they call it Bridget.

Some of them get money and other eggs. Sometimes boys go out honouring St. Bridget. They do not make any dolls, but they all dress themselves up. They don't get any eggs.

St Patrick's Day

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female 14th June 1938

On St. Patrick’s Day all the girls wear blue ribbons and the boys gather sham-rock for their jackets.

Whit Sunday

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo 14th June 1938

It is supposed that on Whit Sunday the water goes mad three times in the day, in the morning in the middle of the day and again in the evening. It is also said that a quart of water would drown you. No boys ever go fishing on that day.

May Day

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo 14th June 1938

On May morning the people used never throw out ashes. They used to fill it in a bucket and leave it behind the door until the next morning. They used not throw out any water either, but they used to fill it into a big vessel and leave it there until the next day. If they were sending away milk they used to throw a drop of water into it or a grain of salt.

Bonfire Night

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo 20th June 1938

We make a bone-fire on the 24th June. Everyone goes to the bog with an ass and creels for a load of turf. They make a big heap of it at the crossroad. They get a bone for it and they go into the nearest house for a coal to set fire to the turf. All the people of the village gatherer to the fire. The old people say the rosary around the fire and then they go home. The young folk stay there until about twelve o'clock. When they are going home, they bring a coal with them and they throw it into the field of corn.

Sometimes the fire stays lit until the next morning.

Michaelmas Night

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo

On Michaelmas night all the people used to have a great feast in honour of Michaelmas.

St Martin's Day

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo 23rd June 1938

On St. Martin's day we all kill a fowl and sprinkle the blood on the four corners of the house. Long ago a woman had nothing to kill for St. Martin’s night and she was going to kill her only son whose name was Martin.

A neighbour of hers came in and gave her a fowl to kill instead. That is why we always kill something for St. Martin's night.

November's Night

COLLECTOR; Annie M. Reilly; female INFORMANT Patrick Reilly; male, Age; 87, Prison North, Co. Mayo 23rd June 1938

On November's night we all get a couple of stones of apples in Balla. We get a basin of water and we stick a nail in an apple so that it will go to the bottom of the basin. Each person on turn tries to catch the apple with his mouth. If he can catch it he may eat it.

We also tie an apple to a string and we tie the sting to the line, then some-one keeps hitting the string and we must try to catch the apple in our mouths.

My mother makes a nice cake for the supper on that night. The boys go round through the village that night kicking cabbage.

Churning

Our churn is 20 years old. It is two feet high. The circumference at the top is 45 inches and the circumference at the bottom is 63 inches.

There is a lid on it with a hole in the middle of it so that the churn-dash can go through it when we are churning.

My mother gathers the cream in a pan-crock. When it is thick she puts it into the churn. Then she puts the churn-dash into the churn and she put the gogler over the lid and she begins dashing the milk with the dash. She puts a quart of boiling water into the milk, after she begins to churn it.

It takes her about a half-an-hour to churn it. The people of the house help her to churn it because it is hard done. When the butter comes out on the lid she knows that the churning is made.

Then she takes out the butter with a wooden cup with a hole in the bottom of it to let out the buttermilk. She washes it about three times with the coldest spring water she can find and mixes it with butter spades. The she salts it and she washes it again twice. Then she makes a roll of it.

She churns twice a week in summer time and only once a week in winter time because the milk is scarce then.

Farm Animals

All the people around here rear cows and dry stock. We have three cows but we have names only on two of them which are the Horney and the Polly. We leave them out at night in summer time, but in winter time we put them into a barn which we call the cow-house.

They are tied with shop chains and the chains are fastened on to stakes of timber with spanshal straw ropes.

There is a partition between the cows in the barn for fear they would fight or horn each other. If any of them are cross, tying’s are put on their heads and feet which are called crom neaaks.

When my mother is milking them she milks the first few strains of milk on the ground for fear any dirt would be on her teats. She makes the sign of the cross on the cow's hip to bless her.

The Care of Animals

The cows get hay and straw during the winter. If they are giving milk they get a hot mash every night and morning to keep the milk with them. All the cows get turnips and cabbage during the winter.

Young calves must get milk and linseed until they are a couple of months old. When they grow older they get a little bit of hay and a couple of turnips. Calves are tied with spanshals first. They are tied to their feet and then tied to a stake of timber. After a while ropes are tied around their necks.

Every night a horse gets hay and if he is working he gets a sheaf of oats or a grain of meal or oats in a bucket. He is let loose in the stable. His master brings him to the forge very often to get a new set of shoes on him.

The pigs are reared on potatoes, meal and milk. It is all mixed up together and thrown into a trough which they all eat out of. They are kept always in their house, unless they get crippled and if they do they are let run out through the field. When they are about four months old they are sold.

The hens are fed on oats, meal. Milk is given them to drink if it is plentiful. They have to be fed four or five times each day. If they are fed well they will lay a lot of eggs. They have a house to themselves, with perches across for them to sleep on.

Setting Eggs

In spring when the women are putting down settings of eggs they pick the round eggs. They don't have them too big or too small. It is said that thirteen eggs is a very lucky number to set.

In a box or in an old pot the hen is put sitting. She must be lying on the eggs three weeks and then the chickens begin to chip the egg with their beaks. With the heat of the hen the chickens work themselves out of the eggs.

A Shoemaker

About one hundred years ago there lived a shoemaker whose name was Owney Cosgrave. He lived some place on our farm, but my grandfather doesn't know the spot where he lived.

He used to make shoes for all the people around the place. He did not charge much and on that account, he got a lot of work to do. He lived with his wife and children. His house was very bad, many barns were better than it.