Old walls always keep falling, and these around Curraghmore estate, being about 150 yearsold, are most likely to, due to falling trees, storms, etc.
With an expert like Michael Hanrahan on left, this section being re-built should surely last at least 100 years more.
Michael is being ably assisted by James Walsh, on right here, and Freddie Kelly, in the centre, must be overseeing the job?
Now I am well aware of Freddie's capabilities as a comedian and singer, maybe dancer too, but I didn't know he was an expert on wall-building also!
Curraghmore has over twelve miles of boundary walls. It's quite possible they were built during the Great Famine era, like the walls around Kilcooley Estate, on the Tipperary/Kilkenny border near Gortnahoe. The latter, from records kept at Kilcooley House, a Ponsonby residence until recently, were built to provide work during the famine times, the labourers receiving a Penny a day plus a bowl of Porridge.
The Ponsonbys had come up from Piltown and married into the Barker family there in the 1700s.
Read the recently published book - 'Kilcooley Abbey' - by Maura Barrett, which includes 23 of my photographs. This book deals with the history of the abbey only. It can be purchased at Slieveardagh Heritage & Cultural Centre, Killenaule.
The above photo was taken in September 2010.
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