The Creamery    'Before the Creamery' !

The first creamery in Kilbehenny was owned by the Newmarket Dairy Company and was situated in what is now Carey's farmyard on the Mitchelstown side of the bridge.   The shed which can be seen from the road, was the actual creamery building.   The Newmarket Dairy Co. was taken over by London Butter Factors, Lovell and Christmas.   This was a private company whose main aim was to make as much profit as possible and the easiest way to achieve this was to pay the lowest possible price for milk.

Mitchelstown Co-Operative Agricultural Society had been founded in 1919 and was gradually getting on its feet.  In 1925 it was decided to establish a co-operative creamery so that farmers would get a realistic price for their milk.

Going to The Creamery in Kilbehenny 1928 - 1982

One man who worked as the 'Boiler Man' was known as Paddy O'Mahony.   He started work each morning at 5am and his job was to get the engine going for the day's events.  People arrived with their churns from 7am onwards on pony, donkey or jennet and carts. Pad Ahearn and Jimmy Murphy, later succeeded by Mickey Slattery and Tommy Mullins, took in the churns. 

The milk was weighed and sampled and then put through the separator.   Farmers then went to the rear of the building to get their skimmed milk from Mick Jones.   This was used to feed pigs and calves.   The cream was piped into churns to be taken to Mitchelstown Creamery for butter and cheese making.  Each farmer had his own Pass Book and his daily delivery was recorded in it and also in the creamery ledger by the creamery manager.  In the 1950's Pat Quish was one such manager and he was followed by Tom Clancy and Bat Begley, who was the last manger from the 70's until the closure in 1982.

It was at the creamery that people learned of births, marriages, deaths and all sorts of events. If one had grazing to let, cabbage plants or a pony for sale, a notice was put up at the creamery.   At harvest time, anyone who was threshing on a particular day let it be known to all and sundry at the creamery that he was having the machine that day.   All the local gossip was reported at the creamery and the common reply to a query regarding the origin of any news item was invariably 'I heard it at the Creamery'.  

There were four public houses in the village, Mick Mullins, Dan Casey, The 3 Counties, and O'Farrells.   The Forge beside the creamery was operated by Blacksmith Johnny Guiry and later on by Johnny Connolly.   Their job was shoeing animals, welding etc.  There were 3 shops  (1) O'Sullivans/ Post office, tended by Ned, (2) Carey's on the site of the old R.I.C. barracks tended by James and Hannie (3) Mai Mahony on the Cahir end of the village.   Everything could be purchased in these premises -from pigs heads to  needle and threads. 

The local cobbler was Jim McKenna and the tailor was Bill Ahearn.   4  bread vans visited the village daily: Finns, Houihans, Cliffords and Mitchelstown Co-op.  There was a Holy Well at the rear of the quarry, visited annually on 15th August.

Monday was egg day.    Rabbits were also bought at the creamery, and the proceeds from the eggs and rabbits was known as 'pin money'.   

The demise of the creamery in 1982 left a huge void for the local shops and the people generally.  So much was lost by the arrival of the bulk tank, which was free of charge initially, to encourage its usage.   People began to shop in Mitchelstown, and by degrees, business deteriorated in the village of Kilbehenny.  Progress may have been made, but at what price?   Will anyone be able to tell the story of life like Donie Casey in the future- and will there be any story to tell?

The Old Protestant Church and The Old Graveyard 

The old Protestant church was built by Robert Earl of Kingston in 1844 and its ruins were  located where the Community Centre now stands.  The Rector's residence was located further down the field where the hall extension is now being built. (2012). Nothing remains of that residence today, except a few boulders.   During dry periods in Summer, one can make out the markings of the old roadway leading to it by discolouration of grass growth.   Local historian, Donie Casey tells the story that one of the rectors was known as Mr. Bird. On one occasion, having cycled to Mitchelstown, Mr. Bird got knocked off his bicycle at Sutton's Corner by a man carrying a bag of coal. The offender dismissed the incident saying 'Sure it didn't knock a feather off you, Mr. Bird' !! 

The church in The Old Graveyard goes back to pre-reformation times.   It was a Franciscan Church under the control of the Franciscan Abbey in Adare, Co. Limerick.   The chalice used had the words 'Franciscan Abbey Adare' engraved on it.  This chalice had been buried during Penal Times and was later recovered and refurbished at a cost of eighty pounds.   It was removed from the church and taken to Thurles.  Despite repeated attempts, it was was never returned to Kilbehenny.   Beside the church ruins  lies the Old Graveyard where many graves date back over 300 years.  As can be seen from the photographs below, the engravings are especially detailed, and much of the work was carried out with a simple hammer and chisel.

The Protestant report of 1731 states that there was a Mass House in Kilbehenny in 1727.  This building was situated in Knockrour.   This chapel  was replaced in the 1820’s by a new and more elaborate church built down by the roadside by a Fr. Kirby who was parish priest at the time.  This building served as a church for fifty years and then as the school until 1941.  It was used as a hall until 1974 when it was demolished and three houses were built on the site.

Amongst some of those interred there is the patron of Mitchelstown, John Mandeville who was involved in the Land League.  See below

 John Mandeville    1849 - 1888

John Mandeville was born in Carrick-on-Suir on the 24th June 1849. A robust imposing individual, Mandeville was a freeholder, farming approximately 100 Irish acres at Clonkilla about a mile outside Mitchelstown Co. Cork.

His nationalist credentials were impeccable. He was the nephew of John O' Mahoney, the noted Fenian leader. He was also a good friend of William O'Brien, the then sitting nationalist Member of Parliament for North-East Cork.  John Mandeville  was chairman of the Mitchelstown Light Railway Company. He was moreover, the leader of the campaign on the Countess of Kingston's heavily mortgaged 25,000 acre estate.

John became a very strong supporter of the Irish political situation, and was arrested and sent to Tullamore jail in Co-Offaly where he  spent two months.  It is alleged  that he  was punished on a daily basis. After his release he returned to Clonkilla outside Mitchelstown. By this time John's health had totally deteriorated and it was evident that his death was close at hand.                                     

John Mandeville departed this life on the 8th July 1888 at his home in Mitchelstown. His remains were laid to rest in the Old Graveyard, Kilbehenny.    His wife Mary is also interred there. On the 9th September 1906 the unveiling of the Mandeville Memorial took place. This was a great and proud day for Mitchelstown.

Monument to Kilbehenny Soldier Lost in Action

15th September 1961

50 years after his death, 15th September 2011, a monument to Kilbehenny solider, Trooper Pat Mullins, was unveiled outside the church in his home village.  Trooper Mullins, then aged 18 and his friend and comrade, Corporal Michael Nolan from Fermoy, were both killed when their armoured car was ambushed in Katango during the Congo campaign in 1961.    Trooper Mullins courageously tried to defend his badly wounded colleague, Corporal Nolan.  Sadly his body was never recovered.   The Irish Defence Forces and the Irish United Nations Veterans Association commissioned a limestone monument to his memory.  This was erected beside Kilbehenny Church in Trooper Mullins' native South Limerick village to mark the exact day, fifty years ago, when the young soldier was killed.   His sisters and brothers attended the moving ceremony.  Also in attendance were Alan Shatter, Minister for Justice and Defence, Bishop Dermot Clifford, and many other dignitaries, and his surviving comrades from the UN Peacekeepers of that time.

Blacksmiths in Kilbehenny

 

In olden days there was a Forge in Kilbehenny.   It was located just below Mullin's pub on the West Gable side of the public house, which is in the centre of the village. This Blacksmith's shop was first set up in 1940 by a man named John Geary.  John carried out all kinds of Blacksmith's work. Eventually John Geary retired to Mitchelstown in 1959.  After 4-5 years being unoccupied, a man by the name of John Connolly took over the Blacksmith's shop.  John Connolly came from Kildrum, and continued the work of horse shoeing, gate making etc. As there was no electric welders in those days the holding of metals together was done with rivets. John Connolly's specialty was Wheel Wrighting.   For this work a 'Spindle' was used which was turned by a pony until the band was red and then it was placed over the timber wheel. John continued this work from about 1964 until the late seventies.  The shop was then closed down mainly because modern day machinery took over. Being a Blacksmith was a lot of hard work and a very skilled profession.

Shepherds House in the Galtee Mountains

In the Galtee mountains beside a stream, there are two well known locations, Pigeon Rock and Black Rock.   A stone wall, which is approximately nine to ten miles long, was built by by The Buckleys who were part of the Kingston Estate. 

                                      Wall leading to Shepherd's House

The work was carried out around the middle of 1800's during Famine Times. It was primarily built to separate the good land from the rugged mountain terrain.  A hand barrow was used which consisted of a timber box with two handles at each end.  It was not possible to use a wheel on the barrow as the ground was too rugged for mobility.  The local labourers used the barrow to bring the stones to the stone masons and were paid very little.   About two miles further up from the wall, a shepherd's house was built, and to the side of this house there were stone corrals which were used to hold sheep near lambing-time.

Sheep Corral

At night the well-trained sheep dog would keep guard at the entrance to the corral.  The shepherds occupied the house until 1930. It was then sold to Pad King who married Mary Murphy from the Black Road Skeheenarinky.   However Pad died in 1949 and Mary stayed on at the house until around 1970. It is currently owned by Pat Flynn from Kilworth who has maintained the house in an excellent condition.

An excerpt from the book 'Gold Under Furze' in honour of Limerick man Kevin Danaher and edited by Alan Gailey and Daithi O'hÓgáin, further explains Corrals or 'Stells'.

     Quote "I've built quite a lot o' 'stells'.  That's out in the hills for shelter for sheep in stormy weather.  That's what they call a stell.   It can be either by round or square or like a cross on the hill.   It doesn't matter which way the storm comes, the stock has always got shelter somewhere on one side.   You'll get quite a lot o' stells built round, with a wing running out either way, and this gives them shelter the way the storm comes, and in the centre of the roundel you'll always, not so much now, but long ago, the shepherd mostly cut maybe two ton, or three ton o'hay and built it into a rickle in the centre o' the stell.   This fed the sheep in the time o'stormy weather."  End of quote.