02/06/2022
The Dog in the Bog.
Up in the bogs to the north of Cliffoney with Prince, a refugee from North Tipperary who has moved in with us. It was great to come across some traditional hand-cut turf up there. The spectacular view is looking into the Gleniff Horseshoe valley between Benwisken, right and Tievebawn.
Father Michael O'Flanagan fought for the rights of the people of Cliffoney to cut their own turf in a bog a mile from here in 1915: For anyone unfamiliar with this story, here is an extract from his autobiography from 1920. You can read the full account at the link below.
========== To cap the climax, another Dublin Castle body sent around circulars advising the people to cut more turf owing to the coming scarcity and costlinesss of coal. When the Board had supplied all its own tenants, within fifteen miles of the place, there was still left an area of sixty acres. I asked them to divide this among the bogless people of Cliffoney. They refused. I asked them again stating my reasons along the lines indicated. There was no satisfactory answer. In June I wrote them an ultimatum giving them a few days notice, telling them to send down a man who would divide the bog among the people, and if not, I would feel compelled to try my hand at dividing it. There was no reply.
On the 29th of June, I collected the people after Mass and invited them to proceed with me to the bog on the following day in a body. Next day was a big day in Cliffoney. The bulk of the grown up men and women, and many of the younger people of the parish, marched in a body from the crossroads of Cliffoney to the bog. They were well supplied with spades, shovels and slanes. We marked out three long drains at equal distances apart across the sixty acres and cut a large amount of turf out of them, and spread them along the bog.
That evening we all returned home rejoicing, with the feeling that we had done one days good work. On the following Sunday we appointed a committee and selected men to go in their turns, two each day, to the bog to attend to the turf while it was drying. When the peelers came up and told them to leave, they merely asked if they thought the day was going to be wet, because they said, if it turned out wet they would have to go home. The summer passed and the turf became dry. =============
http://www.carrowkeel.com/frof/cliffoney2crosna.html
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