Map will keep memories of historic village alive
A MAP detailing the 38 houses and their occupants who lived in Killamonagh village in Caherlistrane 100 years ago was unveiled this month.
The historical map has been installed on a wall at a junction in Killamonagh, not far from Donaghpatrick National School, and the event to mark its unveiling drew a crowd of more than 70 people.
The initiative is the brainchild of Michael Nally and John Joe Higgins, two men who were born in Killamonagh. Bridie McCabe and Paddy O’Neill, two local residents, carried out the unveiling alongside Michael Nally.
“It’s about remembering Killamonagh in Caherlistrane as it was 100 years ago in 1926. The village was also once known as Bellanagurraun,” said Michael Nally.
“The Land Commission came into the village and started gradually taking people out from about 1930 to 1963. In 1963, my family was moved out, and that year was the last of people being moved out.
“It’s appropriate that this map has been done today 63 years later, to remember the people that have lived here.”
Information Collating
Michael Nally and John Joe Higgins started collating information a few years ago on the families who lived in Killamonagh in the 1920s.
They enlisted the help of local people in Caherlistrane to get the historical map of the village completed, which has a QR code on it that allows people to access an online version of the map.
“John Joe Higgins and I would like to thank the people of our village from whom the information was collected,” said Michael Nally.
“We would like to thank Michelle Nally of Michelle Nally Interior Design for putting the map together; John Joe Creaven for making the steel frame; Padraic Reilly for installing the frame; and Tom Reilly for the stonework. They are all people from the local area.
“We really appreciate the help that JJ Higgins in the Caherlistrane Kilcoona Community Council has given with organising the event.
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THE map details the 38 households that were in Killamonagh village 100 years ago. RAY RYANImage 2 of 7
PEOPLE of all ages attended the unveiling of the historical map in Killamonagh. RAY RYANImage 3 of 7
BROTHERS Martin and Michael Nally. Michael put the historical Killamonagh village map together alongside John Joe Higgins. RAY RYANImage 4 of 7
MARIAN Reilly, Ellison Reilly, Nathan Bane, John Joe Reilly, Fiona Reilly, Sophie Bane and Lorraine Reilly. RAY RYANImage 5 of 7
JOHN Joe Higgin gave a detailed description of the houses and the families that lived in them in Killamonagh 100 years ago. RAY RYANImage 6 of 7
LOCAL residents Paddy O’Neill and Bridie McCabe unveiled the map along with Michael Nally. RAY RYANImage 7 of 7
THE crowd gathered at a junction in Killamonagh, Caherlistrane. RAY RYAN“On the map on the wall, there is a QR code with a link to the online map, and here people can view the map where their ancestral homes stood from anywhere in the world. People can upload personal information or family photographs from the village over the last 100 years.”
Killamonagh Families
John Joe Higgins gave a detailed list of the families who lived in the houses in Killamonagh a years ago, pointing to different junctions as he stood beside the map at the junction.
Included in the list of family names mentioned were Corrigan, Walsh, Jennings, Fahy, O’Neill, Nally, McDermott, Gilmore, and the old Hughes Shop building.
“Michael Nally deserves great credit for putting this together,” said John Joe Higgins, whose family came from the house adjacent to where the map has been installed.
“This is a very famous piece of ground. So many people were conceived here, born here, lived here, died here, and some emigrated to America and New Zealand with some unfortunately never returning.
“I was born here in 1951. A lot of people moved to the New Line and other places in the early 1960s when the Land Commission came in, and a lot had already moved to Castlehackett, Bohercuil and other places.
“It was a very happy place to come up. Everyone supported each other. We were all equals. People talk about the cost of living now, but in the 1930s, ‘40s and ‘50s, some people only had a few acres of land. They had to live off what they produced themselves.
“It’s awful important for young people and kids to know where they come from and be proud of that. No matter where you go in life, you should be proud of where you come from.”
Historical Map highly complimented
John McGrath, the Chair of Caherlistrane Kilcoona Community Council, complimented the work done on the historical map by Michael Nally and John Joe Higgins at the event, and said the map would preserve the memory of people who lived in Killamonagh for “the people who come 100 years after us.”
Fr Dixy Faber, Parish Priest for Caherlistrane and Kilcoona, said a prayer for all of the people who had lived in the village who had passed away over the years.
The Census of 1841 recorded 467 people living in 80 houses in the village, and by the next Census of 1851, the Great Famine (An Gorta Mór) had reduced those numbers to 205 people in 39 houses.
The 1911 Census had 190 people living in 42 houses in the village, before the arrival of the Land Commission. There were 74 people living in Killamonagh according to the 1986 Census.