MEMORIES OF CHURCHTOWN
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John Thompson
The townland of Ballinatrilla lies
over two miles east of Churchtown village. It is really in the
parish of Buttevant. However I went to school in Churchtown, went
to the Creamery and my family went to Churchtown school as well.
I consider myself more a Churchtown person than Buttevant. I can
trace my roots to the townland of Mountbrigid This townland has
a small population but this was not always the case. From the
writings of the late Jim McCarthy there was a huge number of households
living in Ballintrilla in1852. The following is a list of the
names: Edmond Burke, Mary O' Sullivan, David Regan, Margaret Russell,
Mary Galway, Owen Hallinan, William Wright, John Tierney, Timothy
Sheehan, Denis Buckley, George O Mahony, Thomas Ryan, Cornelius
O'Regan, Patrick O'Gorman, Joseph Cussen, Mary Fitzpatrick, Thomas
Hallinan, Johanna Downes , Maurice Sheehan, Patrick McAuliffe,
Stephen Downey, Patrick Barry, David Coughlan, Morgan Madden,
Michael Madden, Tim Dineen, Daniel O'Brien, and Denis Relihan,
assuming there was a wife and family in most houses. The amount
of people living in this townland would be enormous.
There is a storey told of a ghost
between this townland and Walshestown. George O'Mahony was a great
great grandfather of the late Jim McCarthy who worked as a caretaker
in Walshestown house. One night as George was about to retire
to bed he heard a horse trotting down the road. He wondered who
could it be so late and then he went out to the gate. He saw a
man riding on a white horse. He recognized the man as John Wrixon,
the former owner of Walshestown house. John Wrixton had been dead
for more than ten years. George O'Mahony always felt creepy along
this part of the road. This part of the road was known as Wrixons
road. He later leased a little patch of ground and a small thatched
house in Ballinatrilla where he started a little cider making
plant. Nicholas Wrixon, son of John gave him most of the produce
of his orchards in Walshestown house. There were ten acres of
apples adjacent to the house at that time. We had heard that cider
was a drink that was brewed extensively in this parish in the
1800's.
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