My name is John McAtasney. I was born in 55, Sloan Street, Lurgan, Co Armagh on Wednesday 11 April 1934, the second eldest of a family of eight children, six boys and two girls.
History
Prison Notes
Newry Journal was delighted recently to have been offered a few reminiscences of veteran Republican Dan Moore from his early days of resistance to British Rule.
Second Russell ‘Sister’
The Russells of Dominic Street in the nineteenth century had a privileged childhood. Although well-off they were still unpampered and unspoilt. Of the five surviving children, all three girls became Sisters of Mercy one of the two boys became a Jesuit priest and the other, Charles a famous lawyer and eventually Lord Chief Justice of
Newry Canal Opens
Contrary to frequently expressed sentiment, Newry Canal was not the first in these Islands, but the first summit-level canal; the first, that is, to be fed from a lake at higher level, in our case Acton Lake, some half-way along its length.
1848 Corgary/Ballylough
Householder Lists, South Down 1848 : compiled by Father Ryan (Administrator, Donaghmore 1848) Corgary: Ballylough …
Further Dates in Down’s History
1552 Downpatrick plundered and destroyed by Con O’Neill
1552 Downpatrick re-visited by Con’s son Shane who went on to destroy its gates and ramparts
Eliza Goddard, Russell’s love
Shortly we will feature a review of Francis Gallagher’s short biography of Thomas Russell. First a note on how Newry featured in his life.
Originally from Cork (son of a Church of Ireland decorated British army officer and a Catholic mother from Tipperary) Russell, who served with distinction himself in the Army before taking up a career as a librarian, was a phenomenon in many ways.
’48: the aftermath
If that had been the end of the historical contribution of Young Irelanders, then they would have been, as a body, assigned to a mere footnote in the annals of Irish history …
19th century reflections
Mary Feeney, one of eleven children born in Newry to Sarah and James Feeney, recounts anecdotes told to her by her mother about life in Newry close to the end of the nineteenth century.
‘My granny and grandfather moved to Newry from Belfast, where they lived above Hennessey’s Butchers in Bridge End Street. They had three children there and six more were born in Newry. My grandfather got a job in Newry Mineral Water Co which is what brought them all to Newry.
The family settled in Monaghan Street. My mother remembered Parnell coming to town. Her father played in the brass band that turned out to welcome the great leader of the Irish Party.
During the winter when fuel was hard to come by, they used to erect an Aunt Sally in their back garden. The GNR railway men when their train was passing by used to sling coal lumps at it to try and knock her over. All us children would gather up the coals after they left. Free coal!! Mum said the slogan then was, “Home Rule and Free Coal”.
She remembered the mummers (Wren Boys, she called them) coming round at Christmas.
“Hell’s Row, Bell’s Row, Riddell’s Row
The Devil’s Row
Three Straws across the well
Monaghan Row beats Hell”.
It went something like that! The people she remembered and spoke about included McCrinks, Willis’ Bakery, the first Milestone John Quinn, Flunkey Fegan and the O’Hare’s – that is probably the Commission Agent, Betting Shop family.
She used to go into the bakery and ask for a halfpenny bun. When the man behind the counter was not looking, she would turn on the treacle on top of the bun, and then run like hell’s blazes. Her mother sent her one night to the chemist’s for flea powder. The shop was closed so she shouted through the letterbox at the owner, telling him what she wanted. He shouted back at her, “Go home and let them bite you tonight, and come back tomorrow when we are open!”
She remembers going to Dempster’s Field to hear the British Army Band playing. Newry was a British Army garrison town in those days. History is repeating itself, says you!
She and her brother James went on a railway bogie to the scene of the Tynan Railway Disaster, when an excursion train full of children crashed and rolled down an embankment. Many lives were lost. She saw the bodies of little children being laid out on the side of the track.
Her brother James was educated at the Newry CBS and I have his Leaving Certificate dated 1894. it was signed by Brothers Brady and Nalet. He should have received a Royal Humane Certificate if they were being issued at that time for, according to my mother, he jumped from the viaduct to save the life of a young boy, and for his reward, he got sixpence. He fought in Mons in the Great War and came through unscathed but he died in Havana in 1927 after a dockside accident. He is buried in a Convent graveyard in Havana.
My mother died in 1968 aged 86 years. Her stories could fill a book.”