Castleisland District Heritage puts its track record on air this New Year’s Eve on Radio Kerry’s Saturday Supplement programme with Frank Lewis.
The programme, which will be broadcast from 9am to 11am will present a rich slice of the eight-year-old archive’s varied workload which was put under the spotlight last month at a number of locations in Kerry and Limerick.
Recording began in Abbeyfeale with the achievements of famed parish priest, Rev William Casey, who worked hand-in-hand with Castleisland’s Fr Arthur Murphy.
For the Good of History
The recently published A Sketch of Rev. William Casey and Bob Finn Captain Moonlight were the fruits of this Kerry-Limerick venture where both counties worked together for the good of history.
Recording continued at the grave of Bob Finn, Captain Moonlight, whose headstone at Old Kilbanivane stands almost in isolation, an uncanny reflection of the secrecy and silence demanded of his courageous life during agrarian hardships.
At the magnificent and spectacular ruin of Kilmurry Castle, local stories spilled such as the cattle rustler Philib Céad Bó / Philip of the Hundred Cows and the peculiar will of Mary Frances White.
Dramatic Lives and Times
The recording party moved on to the highly significant and historic tomb of the Earls of Desmond. The dramatic lives and times of the earls is the stuff of Hollywood, their history climaxing in the 16th century with the headless body of Gerald the Rebel Earl being buried at Kilnananima – the whereabouts of his head the subject of scholarly debate.
It is now the first anniversary of the granting of a Posthumous Presidential Pardon for John Twiss of Cordal.
Castleisland District Heritage has also submitted applications for the Pardons of Sylvester Poff and James Barrett a year ago, and the tragic lives of the condemned men unfolded in word and song at the Dromultan Monument.
Presentation Order in Castleisland
The considerable history of the Presentation Order in Castleisland was the focus of recording in the Presentation Convent in Castleisland where memories of the good work of the sisters in education and community life were exchanged.
Many of the above events formed subjects in the writing of Castleisland’s historian, T M Donovan, whose publications are a rare and highly valuable source of local history.
His life was recalled near his grave – which doesn’t bear his name – in St Stephen’s Churchyard.
The recordings drew to a close in the town’s Crown Hotel, its famous balcony was the platform for so many social and political debates in times past.
Over a Quiet Pint
It was a fitting venue to warm up with a hot drink, and remember the life of the late Michael O’Donohoe who, over a quiet pint with pen and paper to hand, would set to work on his notes on local history.
The work of Castleisland District Heritage could not have happened without Michael O’Donohoe. His painstaking and meticulous research papers are the root from which the archive has grown and flourished and long may it last.
For those who miss the Radio Kerry broadcast, a podcast will be available on: www.radiokerry.ie
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