Bríd Scathail

 Bríd Scathail

When Dr McHale, archbishop of Tuam came to administer the sacrament of Confirmation at Glann in June 1852 he travelled over the road at Tóinbhuí, which was then only a track. Two missionaries, the parish priest, the curate and local people accompanied him.  As he was passing over the Fairy Bridge a woman emerged from the house carrying a rosary beads and a scapular.  She danced on the beads and the scapular in front of the archbishop. When one of the locals tried to remove her the archbishop remarked, “That time would punish her”.

On the night she died a terrible thunderstorm raged around the house.  The noise was so fierce that the people crawled out of the house in fear.

This lady was known as Bríd Scathail – it could be confused with “scabal” that is the Irish for scapular.  She lived in a little house at the entrance to Melia’s fields.

Dr Mc Hales 2nd Visit

When he was on his way to Glann he was attacked at the Fairy Bridge by Dallas, (a member of the Irish Church Mission) and his followers. The archbishop and his followers over came the first onslaught.  They were attacked again a second time at Teach na Mallacht, near New Village and again they were over come.  When the archbishop arrived at the end of the road he turned back and put a curse on the road saying, “That no one would inhabit either side of the road”.

This particular house known as Teach na Mallacht deserved its name for the woman who lived there was reputed to have had a family of 19 children and they were all dead before her.

Cholera in Claremount

Behind Clareville House on the old Connemara Road a row of thatched houses once stood. All the families were wiped out with the decease of cholera during the famine. Mr Mc Donagh, an ancestor of Josie Mc Donagh, now deceased, was about to leave the district when he met Fr.Kavanagh, the parish priest who enquired of him where he was going.  He told him that he was leaving the area as the decease had claimed the lives of his friends. Fr. Kavanagh made the sign of the cross with pitch on the door and told him to return to his home and assured him that both he and his family would survive the decease and they did. The house is no longer thatched. Martin O Malley lives there to day.

Stories  from Canon Mc Cullagh R.I.P.

Thuas Seal, Thíos Seal

Long ago, a rich man named Séamus Ua Concubhair lived in Tóinbhuí.  He owned a big farm of land with large herds of cattle and flocks of sheep. He used to kill a cow or bullock every month. Often people would ask him why he was so foolish and aimless that he would kill a beast every month. He always gave the same reply; ”Neither God or the devil can break me.  My riches will last forever and ever”.

After some time, however, misfortune befell him. He lost his riches, his animals, his house and his land.  He eventually had to walk from house to house and from town to town begging. He would often say, ”This shows the ups and downs of life – Thuas seal, Thíos seal.”

St Patrick’s Rock Cloosh

On the road to Rusheeney, a large boulder can be seen on top of the hill on the left hand side.  This boulder is known as St. Patrick’s rock.  Folklore tells us that St. Patrick carried it on his back to the top of the hill. Others say that St Patrick flung it from another hill and that it landed there.  The most likely explanation is that it was deposited there in the great ice age when the glaciers were moving towards the sea.