The Annals of Arra: a local history book that would make the perfect Christmas present

Plenty of fascinating history from the Portroe, Ballina, Burgess, Birdhill and Newtown areas is documented in the most recent annual publication of the Annals of Arra, now on sale in local shops.

This is the sixth volume of the Annals, published by the Arra Historical & Archaeological Society, and in its 112 pages it uncovers and illustrates in articles and lots of old photographs the rich history and archaeology of Arra locality and its hinterland.

The four editors, Michael Gleeson, Jane Quinlan, Joe Ryan (Stock) and Matt Malone have done a fine job on the publication, which was printed by The Nenagh Guardian and beautifully laid out by its graphic designer, Ruth Durack.

It is fitting that the opening chapter provides a great insight into the life of the former Burgess National School teacher Anne O’ Brien, who died in February of this year.  Her son Eugene tells of how his mother lived the early years of her life growing up in The Bronx in New York in the 1940s before moving back home to family in West Clare, and ultimately taking up a teaching post in Burgess where she married a local farmer, Denis O’ Brien (Fowler).

Sister Cathy Murray writes a very interesting story on the life of Patrick Joseph Murray, who had roots in Youghalarra and Portroe, and who emigrated to the US in 1879. Pa Joe rose up through the ranks of the San Francisco police force, and wrote articles for a local labour newspaper.

Other members of Pa Joe’s family also emigrated from the Portroe area to the USA, and in the family’s heirloom an ancient treasure is uncovered - it’s a hand-drawn map showing where families lived in the Portroe Parish in the 1800s.

What a wonderful keepsake to have stored through generations of this emigrant family, and to see it re-produced in this latest publication is fantastic.

ANGLING

In a chapter titled, The Fly Men, Brendan Ryan takes us back to delightful angling sojourns along the Newtown River in the 1950s and 1960s. On fishing trips, armed with just basic bamboos, a bit of line, a hook, and a worm, Brendan and his brother, Sean, encounter “shoals of trout” in the many pools on the little waterway.

Elsewhere, the life of a girl growing up in Ballina from the mid-1930s is well told by Noreen Ryan (née Tuohy), now in her late 80s, who looks back in an interview conducted by Anna Jennings and Nellie Frawley.

Noreen is a descendant of a long line of Ballina blacksmiths, dating from Michael Tuohy who was a blacksmith in the village at the height of the famine in 1846. Noreen’s recall of the old scenes she witnessed as a girl in Ballina are particularly captivating.

Another superb piece features the story of the discovery of a long-missing ancient slate headstone in Curragh, Portroe, written by Derek Ryan. Skilled stonemasons working in  the quarries in the area made slate gravestones that were actually characterised in design by folklore art that happens to be uniquely distinctive to the Portroe area.  Indeed, some of these old headstones are evident to this day in a number of graveyards in Arra, and even further afield across the Shannon in County Clare.

NEWTOWN POST OFFICE

The long and distinguished history of Newtown Post Office is diligently and entertainingly documented by its Postmaster, Jane Quinlan.

In a thoroughly researched piece, Jane gives an account of the evolution of the postal service down through the ages - from the era when letters were delivered by a man on horseback to the modern day post van.

The chapter contains an incisive and fascinating account of the numerous essential services provided by the post office, which has been in Jane's family for at least four generations, and which will finally close for good on Christmas Eve, marking the demise of another rural institution in our midst.

Joe Ryan (Cooper) treats us to the story of Tom Ryan and his 3,000 mile journey from his home in Indiana, USA, to Kilmastulla in the hope of finding some trace of his long lost paternal grandfather.

Immigrant, John Ryan, vanished without trace from his home and family in Philadelphia in 1943.

His grandson's long search for him brought him on this multiple-thousand-mile journey to Kilmastulla after, amazingly, a DNA test he had taken found a common match with clan in this area.

Eight decades after John's disappearance, Tom discovered that his long-lost grandad emigrated from Kilmastulla to Philadelphia in 1914. Not alone that, but Tom actually got to visit the house, still standing, where his grandad grew up all those decades ago. He also got to meet up with lots of relatives, the Ryan (Andrews) and Ryan (Cooper) clans who reside in this area to this day.

The book contains some hilarious stories, including one titled, ‘The Day We Set Fire to the Blackboard’, as recounted by Michael Gleeson of his days attending the old national school in Portroe.

Another story to make you laugh out loud is the article temptingly titled ‘My Luxury Bath’ by Kathleen Gill of Kylebeg.

OLD TAX

Derek Ryan provides a great insight into an old tax from the 1700s that was introduced on homeowners who had a hearth fire in their property. Through records gleaned from the so-called Hearth Money Rolls of Arra, dated 1665 to 1667, Derek has been able to inform us of the people living in this locality in that ancient era.

Other superb articles are provided by people like Joe Ryan (Stock) who gives a great insight into the life of his ancestor, Michael William O’ Brien from Carrigatoher, the renowned barrister best known for his role in the trial of the Manchester Martyrs.

In a year when Burgess marks the 60th anniversary of the local team's victory in the County Junior Hurling Final, it's nice to see the life of one of its prominent hurlers of that era featured.  Anna Jennings and Nelly Frawley give their highly interesting interview of one member of that victorious team of 1964, John Joe Slattery, of Barbaha, now a resident of Ashlawn Nursing Home, who celebrated his 91st birthday earlier this month.

Fr Tim O' Brien treats us to a delightful story of one of his ancestors, Fr John O' Brien, from Roulagh in Ballina, whose name became synonymous with a miracle cure in the United States in the early part of the last century.

Advertisements published in American media at the time stated that, Fr John's Medicine "goes down kicking and screaming, and takes your cough with it.”

Separately, Joe Ryan Cooper writes about, Mike Moloney, born in Shanbally in 1882, who was reputed to have killed a circus clown with a single punch in Newport or Killaloe over a 120 years ago.

The above are just a few of the great stories that appear in this sixth volume of the Annals of Arra, which is now selling for just €10.

It would make a lovely Christmas present for young or old at home or abroad. The book is available to purchase locally in Gleeson’s Spar, Portroe, Post Office in Newtown, Arrabawn Stores in Ballywilliam, McLoughlin’s Hardware, Banba Square, Eason and the Bookshop Nenagh. It is also be available to purchase online if you log on to the Society’s Facebook page.