Irish Ancestry – Listowel and Ballyheige
Both Moya and Kevin have ancestral roots in Ireland. Moya at least knows where hers are!! So we have taken time to visit two towns which have particular relevance to Moya and were around the Tralee area. The first is Listowel a pretty little town in Northern Kerry. Here on 4th November 1876 Edward Walsh married Honora Barry, Moya’s great grandparents on Moya’s mother’s side. They both died in New Plymouth, NZ. We took photos of the area and believe the present Art Centre is in fact the church in which they were married. We also took other photos of older buildings and wondered whether they were around in their day. We finished by having a drink in the oldest looking pub and toasted them.
The next day we travelled out of Tralee northwest to Ballyheige. This is a seaside village in Ballyheige Bay. There is also a castle there which is now the clubrooms of the local golf course. This town is more renowned for the marriage of Michael Walsh and Mary McCarthy who were wed on 14 February 1846, Moya’s great, great grandparents. Prior to that Edward Walsh married a Miss Galvin the great, great, great grandparents, but that was in County Clare. We eventually found the Church but it had been renovated so many times it was difficult to know what part was what, but we believe the front and the tower were probably around at the time of their wedding. The cemetery did not throw up any clues at it was quite modern even though the grave stones looked old.
These two visits were quite emotional really as the connection to these places is real even for our own children.
It was at Ballyheige that we saw the amazing shrine to Our Lady. There it was in the village, a grotto with all the paraphernalia of rosary etc. Apparently you are expected to bless yourself with water taken from the foot of the grotto, and touch the feet of Mary before walking around saying the Rosary, as we saw a couple of locals doing. Bizarre to us but it shows the Irish traditions that were bought to New Zealand by the Irish priests.