Youghal

→ Loreto Convent, Youghal. What year do you think this was? 👉 Do you recognise anyone? Tag them below 👇 Photo: © Bob Rock ... See MoreSee Less

NOT SO FABULOUS

Famous actress and billionaire frustrate entry to car park -absolutely!

By Christy Parker

A west Waterford woman has had a brief but intriguing encounter with multi-billionaire James Dyson and famous actress, Joanna Lumley but found the experience at a riverside heritage site somewhat more “irritating” than fixating.

Retired GP Melanie Kelly, from Shanacoole had driven, with her friend Penelope, to Templemichael one recent morning.

The idyllic, serene location lies within a seagull scream of Ballynatray House and is part of the 850-acre Ballynatray estate that Mr Dyson purchased for reportedly over €30m in 2024.

On arriving at the site, Melanie and her companion, who was on crutches, found the car park, narrow and sharply to the right of the rudimentary entrance, obstructed by a vacated, black Land Rover Defender.

A white Volkswagen, equally unable to access the car park, was tucked in patiently behind it. The Volkswagen driver transpired to be a young man from Tallow.

It’s unclear how long the Volkswagen driver had been waiting for the Defender crew to return but perhaps fearful of gathering cobwebs, he set off to find them. Penelope, supported by her crutches, soon followed.

Melanie meanwhile tried to turn her Kia Ceed around but eventually settled for sliding her vehicle in behind the white car and “just about off the road.”

Within a few minutes the Tallow man returned, with two elderly ladies strolling in his wake, keeping pace with the growth of the grass. They were sorry about the blocked car park and assured that the rest of their group would shortly return.

Whatshername....

Sure enough, “two tall men and one small woman”, as Melanie described, soon came walking up the leafy pathway to the cars. Neither gathering addressed the other, perhaps surprisingly and certainly disappointingly, but Mr Dyson “looked at us with slightly raised eyebrows and a half smile”, Melanie recalls.

While Melanie instantly identified the gaffer himself, she only recognised the small woman as “a famous actress” whose name she couldn’t quite place. Happily her passenger, who had been gone but not forgotten, also returned and had recognised Ms Lumley.

For those who survived without a television set in the 1990’s, or who have maintained their tortured souls on a strict diet of RTE only, may appreciate that Ms Lumley was and probably still is, a supremely talented actress with very many diverse roles to her name across stage, screen and studio.

However, she has to live with being arguably best remembered for her 1990’s role as the chain smoking, amoral Patsy Stone in the Absolutely Fabulous television sitcom.

For no other reason than it sounds appropriate in the circumstances to mention it, the 80 year-old, double BAFTA and OBE recipient is also quoted as once saying, “I've been to very poor countries and I'm convinced that happiness is not connected with wealth."

Ironically, back in Templemichael, with everyone returning to their cars, nobody could go anywhere until Melanie backed onto the roadway to create space. This she gingerly did, being conscious, no doubt, that she didn’t own the place!

“I found the whole thing a bit irritating to be honest, but then it only lasted less than 15 minutes, so maybe it wasn’t too bad”, she reflects with a smile. “It was just one of those strange experiences”.

Would kind of make you think about getting a helicopter pad all the same...

Courtesy of the Dungarvan Observer ... See MoreSee Less

A step back into Youghal’s Main Street, around the late 1960s

A wonderful old view of Youghal, capturing the old Wimpy Bar sign, with Tom Green’s Pub, and the L&N supermarket across the road.

Who remembers Tom Green’s Pub, the L&N supermarket or the Wimpy Bar? ... See MoreSee Less

End of an Era at JDs Pub, Youghal ❤️

At the end of June 2026, JDs Pub will close its doors for the final time as Colin and Marion Doyle begin their well-earned retirement.

Their own message says JDs was “more than a pub”, and the response from the community shows just how true that is.

People have been sharing memories of great nights, live music, bands, first jobs, darts, golf society trips, fancy dress nights, World Cup mornings, family gatherings, staff, regulars, and friendships formed over the counter.

One person described JDs as “the life and soul and heart of Youghal.” Another remembered it as a safe and friendly place where people were made to feel like family.

That is the mark of a true local.

There is sadness in seeing another familiar Youghal pub close its doors, but there is also huge gratitude for everything Colin and Marion have given to the town over more than thirty years.

The people of Youghal wish Colin and Marion every happiness in retirement.

Thank you for the music, the memories, the welcome, and the years of service to Youghal.

And as Marion herself said: “You can check out, but you can never leave.”
__________________________________________________

Original message from Colin & Marion Doyle | JD's Pub, Youghal

It’s official... after our many wonderful years here in JDs pub serving our local and wider community it is time for us to eventually retire. We will be closing our doors for the final time at the end of June 2026.

It is difficult to capture our thirty plus years in a short synopsis but what an experience it has been. JDs has been more than a pub for us. We have watched our own family grow up during this time, we have formed countless friendships over the bar and our JDs family has grown with our fantastic staff both past and present. There are far too many to mention individually, but please know we will be forever grateful to you all. We remember you all for your hard work and patience, your endless working hours but especially the fantastic support and memories you have given us. As Marion always says, “you can check out, but you can never leave”. We have been privileged to host so many incredible musicians and bands over the years, both local and from further afield. Thank you all for entertaining us all. A very special mention must go to our resident musician Martin P. You have been an integral part of JDs and despite being a proud Déise man you will always be considered part of our JDs family!!

For anyone who has run their own business, you will understand the challenges and pressures that come with it today. We are very fortunate that through hard work, passion and more importantly the support of all our customers and staff that JDs continued to thrive over the years. This has made our decision to retire all the more difficult. We sincerely hope the pub trade in Youghal continues and we look forward to sitting on the other side of the counter in time. Who knows what the future holds, but we hope that the taps will flow again one day and that JDs will again be a place that welcomes everyone with open arms and familiar warmth.

Finally, from the bottom of our hearts, thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years. It has truly been an honour and a privilege to serve you all.

With love and gratitude, Colin & Marion Doyle JDs Pub,Youghal

__________________________________________________

Article by: Kieran McCarthy | Youghal Online

Please leave your memories, stories, and good wishes below. 👇 ... See MoreSee Less

Presentation Convent Primary School, Youghal · Sr. Coleman's First Holy Communion Class (circa 70s) · What year do you think this was? 👉 Do you recognise anyone? Tag them below 👇 ... See MoreSee Less

→ NEW PHOTO No.8 “The Debs” Youghal. If you were there, you’ll remember it well. What year do you think this was? 👉 Do you recognise anyone? Tag them below 👇 Photo: © Bob Rock ... See MoreSee Less

Crossroads Dancers in 100-Year-Old Photo Identified | by Christy Parker

This remarkable photograph of crossroads dancers has been reproduced across Ireland for decades, but its local story is even more fascinating.

The article traces the image to Knockmonlea, between Youghal and Killeagh, and identifies many of the people pictured, including members of the Foley family. Their story connects a rural crossroads gathering with the Horgan brothers of Youghal, the 1916 Rising, Cumann na mBan, early camogie, and a lost world of local Sunday dancing.

__________________________

The names and lives of a group of dancers featured in an iconic photograph taken at a Knockmonlea crossroads over 100 years ago have been revealed by a 91-year-old man shortly before his death.

The identities reveal a background of staunch republicanism and bravery, including active participation in Dublin’s Easter Rising, along with remarkable political and literary achievements. Two of those pictured also played in the first official camogie match in Ireland.

Regularly seen in living rooms, bars and restaurants throughout Ireland, the scene depicts two groups about to perform a set. It has been reprinted numerous times and has become symbolic of early 20th-century rural Ireland.

The location has, at various times, been claimed by several counties, including Galway, Clare and Kerry, while very little has been documented about the people in the photograph.

Earlier this year, Manus O’Brien, a retired CIE worker from Cork, spoke about the photograph to his relations Jim O’Malley and Richard Pardi, both retired schoolteachers from Youghal. The image includes Manus’s mother, Abina Foley, later O’Brien, as a young girl.

Manus identified up to a dozen of the dancers and confirmed that the location was his birthplace, midway between Youghal and Killeagh. His testimony, along with further help from Knockmonlea resident Billy McCarthy, enabled Jim and Richard to trace the social and political lives of many of those pictured.

The Horgan Brothers

The photograph was taken by the legendary Horgan brothers of Youghal, circa 1910.

Jim, Thomas and Phil Horgan ran a shoe shop at the time, but were also pioneering filmmakers and photographers. Jim O’Malley explains:

“They frequently photographed or filmed local scenes which they would then exhibit by way of drawing custom to the shoe shop.”

Peg Barry, née Foley, a sprightly Knockmonlea nonagenarian, recalls how the district bustled with activity during her youth. She remembers small family businesses, including a forge, serving a population that travelled mainly by foot, by bicycle, and occasionally on horseback. Slowly, the arrival of the motor car and other changes helped to quieten that way of life.

Peg also remembers that dancing took place on Sunday afternoons at crossroads, with some participants travelling up to 20 miles to enjoy the revelry.

Although Manus did not say so directly, Jim believes the photograph may not show a real dance in progress, but rather a scene posed for the camera.

“Dances generally took place on wooden boards, not least to preserve footwear, but there are none in the picture,” he notes. “So I’d be quite surprised if it was a real dance.”

The scene does, however, suggest a May or June date, as the hawthorn is in bloom. The lengthening shadows, leaning east towards Knockmonlea high road and Ballyhubbard low road, indicate a late afternoon gathering.

Looking closely at the photograph, Jim also notes that a mound of rubble beside the higher road seems to support local speculation that stones were being dug from the adjoining field and dumped there. The field was owned by the O’Brien family, into which Abina later married.

The Foley Family

The scene is dominated by the Foley family, of whom Manus identified eight members.

There had been 12 surviving Foley children, seven girls and five boys, born to Margaret “Peg” Foley, née Long, and her husband Richard Foley. Richard had died in March 1910, aged 80.

The family were deeply resentful of British occupation and may have been one of several families evicted from the Ponsonby Estate in 1889 during the Land War. They were active in the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the Irish Volunteers, and organisations such as Cumann na mBan.

The Foleys ran the Foley Typewriting Trading Company in Dublin, with offices at 11 O’Connell Street, then known as Sackville Street. Several members of the family were involved in the management and administration of the business.

Micheál Foley was probably the manager, while the family’s oldest sibling, Risteard, who is believed not to be in the photograph, held a number of senior roles. The company’s offices were used as a pre-Rising meeting place by the rebels.

Risteard was well known in Irish literary and political circles. He was, at different times, a teacher, journalist, and manager with the Underwood Typewriting Company. He later founded the Dublin Institute of Shorthand Writers and also worked as an editor with Browne and Nolan.

He was a translator at the first sitting of Dáil Éireann in January 1919, wrote around a dozen books, translated Chekhov and Tolstoy into Irish, and was appointed Place Names Commissioner by Éamon de Valera in 1946. Many Irish place names owe their official form to his work. He died in 1957.

Another member of the family, Seán Foley, was an inspector in an ammunitions factory in Birmingham at the time of the Rising and smuggled arms to the rebels.

Those Identified in the Photograph

1. Micheál Foley
A founder member of the Manchester branch, Oisín, of Conradh na Gaeilge. He was stationed in Church Street during the 1916 Rising. He was held at gunpoint by a British colonel, but his life was saved when Capuchin priest Fr Aloysius persuaded Volunteers to honour a ceasefire. Micheál later went on the run and was jailed in England for a short time. He also introduced British double agent Ned Broy to Michael Collins.

2. Bríd, or Brighid, Foley
She married a Mr Martin around 1917 and remained deeply involved in Cumann na mBan throughout her life. Bríd spoke of carrying rifles from house to house before and after the Rising. Along with her siblings Cáit, Nora and Micheál, she dodged bullets while running between houses as a Volunteer courier and while helping the injured during Easter Week. Bríd also brought the countermanding order from Seán McDermott to Tomás MacCurtain. She was arrested at home days after the Rising and slept on the concrete floor of Kilmainham Gaol for 11 nights, followed by six weeks in Mountjoy.

Bríd and her sister Maggie played in the first official camogie match in Navan on 17 July 1904. The match was between Craobh an Chéitinnigh, Keating’s Branch of the Gaelic League in Dublin, founded by their brother Risteard in 1901, and Cúchulainns, also from Dublin.

3. Cáit, or Kate, Foley
She later married Pad Murphy, whose hand she is holding in the photograph. Their daughters, It and An, still live in the area.

4. Pad Murphy
He worked with the Board of Works.

5. Willie Foley
He lived all his life in Knockmonlea, where he managed the farm. He is buried in nearby Ardagh.

6. Maggie Foley
One of the Foley family members pictured.

7. Margaret “Peg” Foley
Mother of the Foley family.

8. Jerry Curtin
A shoemaker who allegedly worked from his bedroom and was also known to enjoy knitting.

9. Maggie Mountaine
A neighbour who moved in “temporarily” with the Foleys after her family home was burned down, but stayed there for the rest of her life. Her brother Ned fled to America for a time as an IRA fugitive to escape the British forces.

10. Timothy, or Tadhg, Foley
Understood to have been a salesman of brass fittings.

11. Abina, or Gobnait, Foley, later O’Brien
Manus O’Brien’s mother. She married John O’Brien, a CIE worker from Gortroe. Their son, Seán O’Brien, played hurling with Glen Rovers and won three All-Ireland titles with Cork between 1952 and 1954, captaining the team in 1952.

12. Maurice Hennessy
A carpenter who owned a workshop at the bottom left-hand corner of the photograph. He is probably sitting on a chair he made himself.

13. Unidentified man on the hill
This man is assumed to be coming down the hill but remains unidentified. He was probably a member of the Brennan or Linehan families, who lived in an adjacent house. A widower named Brennan had married a widow Linehan, and the man may be Ned Brennan.

14. Jack Smith
A thatcher from Burgess.

15. Ellie Long
A cousin of Peg Foley. She married Ned Loughlin.

16. John Foley, possibly
Identified as possibly John Foley.

First published in the Irish Examiner in 2016 ... See MoreSee Less