DOI: 10.7925/drs1.duchas_4742167
title: Allenwood, Robertstown

description: A collection of folklore and local history stories from Allenwood, Robertstown (school) (Allenwood, Co. Kildare), collected as part of the Schools' Folklore Scheme, 1937-1938 under the supervision of teacher Seán Ó Clúmháin.
description: A battle is said to have been fought in a field in Mr Thomas Dowling's land. -- A churndash dressed up with ribbons was put standing on kitchen floor on 31st of January. -- A banshee follows the family of Ó Braonáin... -- To cure a sty in the eye... -- To cure warts... -- To cure ringworm. -- Ass shoe or horse shoe over the door is good luck. -- Pádraig Mc Cárthaig cures headache by tying cloth around head. -- John Gill of Killlina cures baby's sore mouth by blowing breath and saying prayers. -- Lighted Candle is put on the window on Xmas Eve. -- Finn Mac Cumhaill leaped from Allen Hill to Ballentine. -- The house where muintir Wilkinson live was a hospital in famine times. -- Ballyteague + Littletown used to play gamess at a place called 'the flash'. -- The parish priests of Allen parish as far as living memory goes are... -- Anne Saimers evicted O'Connors from Crosspatrick -- The six oldest tombstones in Crosspatrick graveyard are. -- An old man named Davy Woods used to play the bagpipes here 50 years ago. -- A road made of hazel was found in the bog at Allenwood South. -- There is a castle in Ballyteague... -- There was a well called St Colmans well on Hill of Allen at Carrick. -- A man (a shoemaker) named Stephen Colbert lives at Monasterevan and can play 200 reels and 200 jigs on pipes. -- They used to dress up a hawthorn bush on May 1st and put it before door. -- There was a monastery in Crosspatrick and John Price's house is built on ruins of it. -- 15th October was Bonfire Night. -- There is a well on the Hill of Allen. -- There is a place in Mr Chandler's land. -- There is a stone at Ticknevin Carbury. -- There is a well in Mrs Alicia Blakes land at Allenwood North. -- There is a well, now closed... -- Any woman who is married to a second husband who has the very same name as her first husband can make bread that cures whooping cough. -- To cure warts... -- If you threw salt in the fire you'd have bad luck for seven years. -- If you break a mirror you'll have 7 years bad luck. -- Put horseshoe under hay when a hen is hatching. -- A tree called 'Barbary Bark' cures yellow jaundice. -- Mrs Maggie Dunne of Back Road Allenwood... -- A daughter whose father died before she was born... -- If you burn an alder... -- If A hits B with an elder twig... -- If you walk under a ladder.. -- Tea leaves floating on top of a cup of tea denote visitors. -- A bright spark on candle pointing towards you... -- If you find any iron thing on road... -- The road by Lowtown is haunted. -- A man in Carbury named Keogh. -- When candle is lighting... -- There is a field near Joseph Hebert's in Grangeclare West. -- There's a lone bush in Mr Edward Logan's farm Allenwood. -- A priest saw a ghost in the Back Road. -- Allenwood new school is said to be haunted. -- A dog with no head is seen in Mr W. Wilkinson's yard. -- The dead coach goes over Rathangan bridge every night. -- A car with no driver... -- A man named Jack Sales was coming from Robertstown. -- A little woman is seen at 'the tunnel' in Lowtown. -- Jack Wyse saw the fairies on the Allenwood road... -- People carry the corpse around the graveyard three times. -- A priest was crossing Lullymore in the penal times. -- There is a field in Lowtown called friar's park... -- Story / Cross, Kathleen -- Riddle / Doyle, Mary -- Story / Ennis, Thomas -- Story -- Story / Ennis, Thomas -- Story / Ennis, Tom -- Story / Ennis, Tom -- Story / Ennis, Tom -- There are subterranean passages from the houses in front of the chapel in Rathangan Co. Kildare to the Rath. / Cross, Kathleen -- Before the 1798 rising there was a monastery in Grangeclare... / Ennis, Tom -- The Tinklers from Rathangan and Bill Skally and Bourke from Naas and Jack Young from Naas were Bailiffs. -- The names of some birds are... -- There were churches in Rathernan... -- There was a graveyard in Alenwood North... -- There were two races of people called verbs and proverbs. -- The names of some old pipers I remember are... -- There used to be bonfires everywhere on 29th of June in memory of St. John the Baptist and Herod's Decree. -- 1798 -- When a young couple would get married... / Ennis, Marcella -- One night a man was going home with a horse and car. -- There was a man who had 2 greyhounds and he was very fond of hunting with them. / Dowling, Pat -- People used to make a 'boxty cake'... / Ennis, Tom -- There was a woman who had a child. / Doyle, Mary -- An Irishman couldn't make a living in Ireland so he went to England with about £30. / Dowling, Pat -- Finn McCool threw a stone from the Hill of Allen... -- A woman named Anne James was evicted from a place in Lowtown... -- The wooden mugs long ago were called noggins. -- There is a small stream in Ballyteague... -- The Protestant families were brought to Kilmeague... -- The football long ago used to be made of a plaited straw rope... -- Some friars had a hut in Friar's Park... -- Story -- Poem -- Prayer -- Story -- Story / Dunne, James -- Story / Dowling, Pat -- A man one day was cutting down a lone bush for fencing on his farm in Grangeclare West... / Ennis, Marcella -- Story / Ennis, Marcella -- The parish priest in Allen during the mission in 1886 was Fr. O'Farrell. / Ennis, Marcella -- The bonfire in Ballyteague... / Ennis, Marcella -- A red-haired woman is unlucky... / Ennis, Marcella -- There was a great faction fight in Littletown between Ballyteague and Allenwood. / Ennis, Marcella -- There used to be a fair in Kilmeague. / Ennis, Marcella -- A man named Thomas Farrell kept a hedge-school in Ballyteague. / Ennis, Marcella -- White spots on the nails... / Ennis, Marcella -- There was a man one time. / Connelly, Ellen -- There is a house in Newtown and the people used to the be very fond of playing cards. -- A man named John Moore in Ballyteague... / Connelly, Ellen -- There is a field in Mrs Nolan's lands... -- A woman named Mrs Moran had a school where Kelly's are living now. -- There is a place in Everett's at the Ford Bridge where there was a lot of water... -- A game called 'Beat the Bull' used to be played at wakes. / Connelly, Eileen -- There is a well in Mr Thornton's field... -- A black pig is supposed to have run across the bog before the '98 rising and nobody could catch it. / Connolly, Eileen -- To make blast ointment get some grounsel and marsh mallows and a plant called 'the blast herb'. / Connolly, Ellen -- There used to be a bonfire in Mr Quinn's field on the 29th of July. / Connelly, Ellen -- Story / Dowling, Pat -- There is a well near the Hill of Allen called Father Moore's Well. / Crosse, Kathleen -- The names of the fields in Mr Dowling's Farm are... / Crosse, Kathleen -- Fionn Mac Cumhaill threw a stone from the Hill of Allen and it landed on the Curragh. / Cross, Kathleen -- Some people say it is unlucky to open an umbrella in a house. / Crosse, Kathleen -- Michael Clenton a native of Boston had a sister and she did not like going for the water after working hours. -- Michael Clenton a native of Boston had a sister and she did not like going for water after working hours. / Regan, James O' -- Between Dowling's gate and Bagnell's a dog is seen every night... / Regan, Thomas O -- In one of the chapels in Carbury a priest died and he came back every night. / Regan, Peg O -- In the corner of one of the Dowling's fields there was a graveyard... / Regan, Thomas O' -- In the dún at Logan's there was a well and a fish was put into it... / Regan, Peg O' -- Story / Regan, Peg O' -- One night Phil Doyle went to the bog. / Regan, Thomas O' -- Story / Regan, Peg O' -- One night my uncle, Patrick Regan was coming home from the town of Kildare. / Regan, Thomas O' -- Once upon a time, there was a girl working in Lullymore house. / Regan, Peg O -- In Pluckerstown there was a woman the cloicín dearg. / Regan, Peg O' -- Story -- Story / Regan, Peg O' -- Story / Regan, Peg O' -- One night at late hours a man from Baliteague was walking along the canal bank. / Regan, Peg O' -- A man that was crossing a field at night had to jump a small ditch. / Regan, Peg O' -- A man that was very fond of playing cards used to go a long distance to play cards. / Regan, Peg O' -- Long ago a crowd of old men met together in a public house. / Regan, Peg O' -- In Lowtown there was a house by the name of Dunne's. / Regan, Peg -- Long ago in olden times when people believed in fairies... / Ryan, Peg O' -- One summer a bird of a dark colour and with a cross on his bill... / Connelly, N -- Old Trades -- Old Trades -- Old Trades / Connelly, N. -- There used to be a fair in Kilmeague long ago. / Connelly, E. -- There was a public house in Ballyteague... -- If two people were swopping things and if one of the articles was not as good as the other... -- Whit Monday is a bad day for buying... -- One of the different kinds of bread made long ago was précás. / Connelly, N. -- Story -- A Verse That the Wren Boys Say Is: -- An Old Saying Is: -- To cure warts... -- Churning -- There is a rath in Mr Chandlers field in Grangeclare West. / Connelly, N. -- There is another rath in Mr Price's field near Robertstown. / Connelly, N. -- Story of the Man with Two Humps -- The tailors long ago worked in their own houses... -- There is a large dent in the wall of our house. -- If anyone knits or stitches on Sunday... -- There is a field in Mr Thornton's in Ballyteague called the 'Fuarnán field'. -- The first thing that is cooked in a new saucepan... / Connelly, N. -- There were more people round here before the famine. -- The 15th of August and the 25th of March are both called 'Lady Day'. -- The water in which the feet have been washed is never left in the house in the night-time. -- Before there were any postmen the people would have to go to the post office for their letters. -- 'A game called 'handy cum Bandy which hand is it in?' -- Story / Ennis, Marcella -- Bread long ago was made from wheat, oats and rye. -- To cure warts... -- There were a lot of trades carried on long ago. / Ennis, Marcella -- We have a churn at home. / Ennis, Marcella -- Clothes -- Fairy Forts -- There was a grocers shop long ago in James Brennan's in Grangeclare. -- When potatoes are overcooked... -- A piece of iron is put in the fire while playing cards to bring luck. -- If there is a dead person in the house... -- If a dog comes in with a straw fastened to him... -- Every morning, the custom was... -- Famine -- A game I like is blind man's buff. -- Farm Animals / Ennis, M. -- Boots -- Food / Ennis, Marcella -- Birds / Connelly, N. -- There were many trades round here long ago. A man named Peter Phillips who resided in Robertstown in a house next to the national school was a nailer. -- Buying and Selling -- Bread -- Story -- Fairy Forts -- Fairy Forts -- Clothes -- Famine -- Festivals -- Christmas Day -- Fairs / Connolly, Nellie -- The names of some of the birds that live here are... / Kennedy, Mary -- Long ago the bread was made from oatmeal. / Kennedy, Mary -- Strange Animals / Ennis, Marcella -- Bread -- Old Cures -- Old Trades -- Long ago people around here had to pay tithes to the protestant minister in Kilmeague. -- James Carew was a member of Parliament for North Kildare. -- Churning / Ennis, Marcella -- Buying and Selling / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Old Cures / Kennedy, Mary -- Emblems / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Churning / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Clothes / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Lucky Days and Unlucky Days / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Funny Story / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Festivals / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Farm Animals / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Forge / Kennedy, Mary F. -- Once every month there are fairs held in Naas, Kildare, Newbridge and Edenderry. / Kennedy, M. F. -- Birds / Flynn, Mary -- Bread -- There are a lot of Old Cures and old people think themselves as good as doctors. -- There used to be a market in Robertstown... -- Churning
description: Supported by funding from the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (Ireland), University College Dublin, and the National Folklore Foundation (Fondúireacht Bhéaloideas Éireann), 2014-2016.