The Corran Herald Issue 18, 1990

THE CORRAN HERALDI A Ballymote Heritage Group Production. Issue No. 18 Christmas 1990 Price £1.00 Death of a MRS UNA PRESTON Village by P.J Duffy The recent closing down of Rath- the British postal authorities to mullen P.O has marked the end of speed up the delivery of mail to the an era, not alone for people living remote parts of rural Ireland. Later It is with a sense of deep saan s within the immediate area, but for on when Liberal Prime Minister and profound loss that we record many others residing in adjoining Henry Asquith introduced his the death of Mrs Una Preston, districts. Social Welfare Act, providing Old Carnarea, who passed away unex- This tiny village situated on the Age Pensions for persons over the pectedly but peacefully in her sleep periphery of Keash parish , and age of seventy years, the Post Office in the early hours of Saturday, close to a road junction leading to was the venue where this kind of November 10th. Culfadda, could once proudly boast welfare aid was sorted out, and If one were to single out one of having a thriving National school paid over to qualifying members of person above all others to whom where the vociferous sounds of the public. this paper owed its origin in 1985, children at play could be heard During the early years of the that person would have to be Una daily throughout the annual school- century the Post Office was located Preston. Its continued existence going term. Situated nearby, was at Ardrea, a short distance down since then is something of which the little grocer's shop where they the road from Rathmullen. During she was very proud. Her own pithy bought their knick-knacks, and those years the Postmaster was a and challenging contributions to their parents bought their gro- man named Andrew Curley. its columns were a feature of many ceries. Thomas 0 Dowd was appointed an issue, including this one. Across the road was the forge Postmaster in 1912. Incidentally, at Possessing a highly independent where the sound of the smith's the time he was a member of the and original mind with a great hammer echoed for miles around, Board of Guardians for the Boyle clarity of thought, and with a as it was deflected across the glid- Union, and had sometime previous- strong sense of purpose, Mrs Pre- ing waters of the Owenmore river. ly carried out a successful drainage ston was never one to be content What you found here was a setting scheme on the Owenmore river. with the prevailing accepted wis- which in many ways resembled that Although mostly a self educated dom on most topics. Above all else , in the classical poems of Goldsmith man, he carried out his duties with she prized the traditional Irish val- and Longfelfow, namely, "The Vil- exacting care up until his retirement ues of independence and self suffi- lage Schoolmaster" and the "Village in 1949. During the later years of his ciency and the steady erosion of Blacksmith" life he used to describe how the let- these brought about by today's The coming of the Post Office to ters and packets were once collect- increasing movement towards ever the area, was the result of a plan by ed at a junction on the mail coach Continued Page 2 Continued Page 2 bigger and more centralised con- road and taken to Rathmullen in dent that took place in the post glomerates was a constant source two sacks, tied together and slung office during this time of year in her of annoyance and despair to her. across a donkey's back. This same father's day, when an Inspector Her love of things Irish and method was also adopted by the walked in the doorway and found the Irish language lead to her postmen of the day when deliveries an amorous postman with his arms involvement with Conradh na were heavy especially at Christmas around a young lady, while the Gaeilge in her early years in time, but when conditions were busy postmaster was totting up his Dublin. In later years she was a normal the postman usually did his accounts behind the counter, totally member of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí rounds on foot. You can very well unaware that such an incident was Éireann (Riverstown). Coming to imagine him looking like a figure taking place. Needless to say the live in Carnarea after her mar- from the bible, as he made his jour- red-faced postman got a dressing riage, she devoted herself to the ney up the narrow lanes, with his down and so did the postmaster for rearing of her family and as they donkey and sacks, and every now not having his door bolted during grew up she gradually came to be and then stopping at the tiny sorting out time. involved in local affairs. thatched dwelling-houses which Because of her unshakable dotted the countryside at the time. belief in Community identity and It is indeed a spectacle that would community self-help, she came to contrast sharply with today's be involved in very many activi- speedy methods of delivery. Of ties and organisations, often as a course it is the same onward march founder member. So she was asso- of progress that has swept away ciated with the development of a those little amenities that have Community Centre in the dis- meant so much to country people used Primary School building in and turned their villages into obso- Carnarea, with the Irish Small lete ghosts. Farmers' Association, the Wom- One of the first postmen to take en's Political Association, the deliveries from Rathmullen P. O. Widow's Association and was the late John Kilcawley, a Angling and Tourist Associa- Killavil man, who distributed the tions. She was involved from the mail in his own area, while the late start with the Ballymote and Dis- John Joe Curley and John Davey trict Community Council, and in covered the Keash and Culfadda Mrs Corcoran the early eighties was the prime areas. mover behind the setting up of Thomas 0 Dowd's daughter With the closure of the Post Ballymote's Heritage Group. Annie Josephine (Mrs Corcoran) Office the last remnant of active Within this Group she succeeded took over as postmistress when her community life in this tiny village in realising her ambition for a late father retired in 1949. She car- has now ground to a halt. The old local paper, The Corran Herald. ried out her duties in the same effi- schoolhouse is now alas, nothing Few people are blessed with cient manner as did her father. This more than a windowless spectre her ability to think originally continued on up until the post that constantly shudders in the Winter's gales. The little grocery about everyday things. Few peo- office finally closed on the 19th of store is gone too, and across the ple gave her commitment to get- May 1989. During the course of a conversa- road the crumbling ruin of the old ting up and getting on with tion I recently had with Mrs Corco- forge stands out as a sorrowful things in an effective and deter- ran she talked about the heavy reminder of days when farmers mined way. For these reasons the deliveries of parcels that had to be from the surrounding countryside Ballymote area is all the poorer handled in her father's time and came there to have their animals for her passing and the Heritage how at Christmas time the Post shod and their iron shaped. It was a Group and this paper have lost a Office floor used to be filled with familiar sight on a Summer's great source of encouragement packages that often reached to the evening to see the smith working and of ideas. roof. It consisted mostly of carcasses on a horse outside the door, his tool To her family and relatives we of dead fowl en route to relations kit standing beside him, as he ham- extend sincere sympathy. May abroad in foreign countries. She mered home nail after nail into the she rest in eternal peace. went on to describe a funny inci- hoof of a patient horse or donkey. Continued Page 3 ..................................... Those of us who remember it all Here as I take my solitary rounds might be forgiven for thinking that amid the tangled walks and B allymote Rathmullen today resembles the ruined grounds Una Preston setting in another of Goldsmith's And many a year elapsed, classics: returned to view, A service Centre, supplying the Where once the cottage stood, the needs of the farming areas around, "The Deserted Village" hawthorn grew has managed to retain its identity as Sweet Auburn, parent of the bliss- Remembrance wakes, with all its a neat western town but still needs ful hour busy train much development both on the Thy glades forlorn confess the Swells at my breast and turns the social and commercial side. tyrant's power past to pain If we talk of tourism it is neces- sary to look at what we have to offer tourists and also to consider J. N. nu ORIOE... – - • etthe Dmamr. what sort of tourist we are looking AIM or , r for. Some years ago tourist angling NLt7'Lrrrt.LisePife3, had a spell of success in the area but PpsT è FF1 interest waned, contacts were lost and now it looks as if a new start BUSINESS TRANSACTED AT THIS OFFICE. will have to be made but our rivers and lakes with their angling poten- Sale of Postage Stamps, Ac.; Registration tial can still be used as a tourist Acceptance of Inland, Foreign, A Colonial} Parcels - J attraction.

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