In this episode, I travel back to a period in Ireland when there were no lights TV videos, around the Great Irish Famine or Holocaust 1846 and Black 1847, This history relates to a time when the landscape and its people were laid waste by the local landlords along with the Irish Language and all artistic heritage which was lost.

Many stories conjure up the mythological side of our Great Irish culture one of which to this period are the Fear Ghota or The Hungry Grass and the Fear Ghorta and the fear ghorta The Man of Hunger both connected and interwoven into a tapestry that is interwoven into the history of many county in Ireland.

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In this episode Danny Houlihan highlights an aspect of our ancient culture Goldsmitting in the area of North Kerry and a taste of areas beyond the County of Kerry.

On the 28 day of May 2023 I visited the old Killury Cemetery near the lovely village of Causeway County Kerry Ireland which is a mine of information and the Ring fort in the Village which is in great condition and well worth a mention and indeed a visit when you are here in Ireland on holiday or have an interest in our past.

This is a fine example of a univaette fort which is under the protection of the National Monuments Act.

Its only fitting that the old town land and civil parish of Killury be mentioned and the famous Ballinclemesig where buried deep within a reclaimed bog of Balinclemisig in the old parish of Killury near Causeway County Kerry in the year 1975 Sean Egan of Ballyheigue uncoverd after days tilling the land by a plough a unique artefact of the late Bronze Age The Gold Box of Ballinclemisig or the Causeway Gold Box.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of my late Uncle Gerard Houlihan who sadly passed away last month.

During the Penal times primitive churches were erected in secluded places such as glens, valleys and shorelines out of the eyeshot of the English Soldiers. Built sometimes of available material such as mud and in cases roofs of sod or straw or willow woven depending on the area and the material around the area that would have been suitable for use.

Priests were being hunted down and hung the practice during the Penal Laws with lookouts being posted along ditches, hillsides and pathways to spot the approaching English Redcoats approaching with their horses.

Danny Houlihan in this episode examines the small but important history of the area of North Kerry once more which was forgotten where a number of such mass houses were located and the brief history involved in their story.

Mass was said in the shade of a ditch near Dillanes land not far away from the famous seaside resort of Ballybunion and the other site Gleann Na Dtalamh The Glen of The High land where a mass house was erected with a free flowing stream near it which meandered its way to the high cliffs facing the Shannon Estuary North Kerry Ireland.

One of these site priests were buried there a Father O Keeffe from County Cork and a Fr O Connor the names lost in time.

Using the the poem in Irish by the late Sean Mac Fheorais teacher and Irish Poet born in the year of 1915-1984 this poem Anseo I Lar An Gleanna paints a poetic picture of the serious time of the Penal Times in Ireland.

Danny once again using old sourced information and history backed up with his music reinforces the picture and the poem of the period.Thanks to the County Kildare Library Service, and all who supplied information for this episode. This episode like others will be updated as more information arrives.

Note the translation in this episode is like others in our national language is open to Interpretation.

The Landlord & The Fishermen of Ballyeigh Ballybunion. In 1880 there was a demonstration to highlight the attempt to embank or close of a section of the Ballyeagh Strand by the local landlord of Ennismore Lixnaw North Kerry. A huge demonstration took place on the famous mound on the Castle Green today where the band stand is located with thousands of people attending brass bands and speakers added to the occasion with the seaside town of Ballybunion exceeding numbers stated of 12,000.

Danny Houlihan again trawls the old faded newspapers for details to throw a light once more on the event and the people of the area during the period and the implications to the natural areas of the Cashen and up river.

If the landlord had succeeded the area would have been ruined for centuries and the precious wildlife wiped out and indeed the people of the area.

Welcome once more to Saint Patricks Day and to all our Irish people living abroad in the USA, Australia, Canada, England,Italy, France, Liam in Germany, and here in Ireland and to all my supporters of Danny Houlihan's Irish Experience and my members of the podcast series Have a Great Day and enjoy the parades and the music and culture that represents us here in Ireland.

Danny will be out this year on the famous pipes in Causeway North Kerry another historical place which he will cover during the year.

This episode looks back at our marine series with two famous ship wrecks the Sea Lark and The City of Limerick which had a cargo of whiskey this set the scene to lift a glass on St Patricks Day also music on the pipes for the day that's in it.

Danny Houlihan St Patricks Day 2024

By for now Slan.

In this episode entitled An Mhaighean Mhara,The Sea Maiden Danny Houlihan travels back to the 1800s to an account of a Mermaid sighting on the Lady's Strand Ballybunion North Kerry Ireland.

Michael Bo Bhuide a local is the man who witness the sighting while out one early morning near the old quarry near the Blackrocks, another sighting many years later off the coast of Kilconly.

Danny explores a brief history of the Sea Maiden and the Irish verses An Mhaighean Mhara in his native tongue a first in the series not the last.

What lies beneath the waves is beyond our realm a place hidden with history lore and if history leads us to believe Mermaids a Place on The Wild Atlantic Way. Danny Houlihan on the Low Whistle playing The Sea Maiden An Mhaigdean Mhara reinforces the story.

In this episode I travel inland from the Wild Atlantic Way Route to Lisselton to the town land of Loughanes in North Kerry and Kilmore Ballyduff Tralee County Kerry. These special places on the North Kerry Landscape I wanted to visit on my travels out on the Wild Atlantic Way its inner rote and its Inner Journey.

This journey brings my show to a place which are many on the landscape of Ireland some are well known than and others some forgotten in time and practices by our people and that were put on people and our culture as a nation, a time when if a child was born during the years from the late 1500 onwards according to archaeologists and scholars and later in the developing church infants not baptised into the Catholic Church were buried without a proper burial without their mother present in unconsecrated burial grounds old ring forts and old ruins called limbo. These places called Cillini and Limbo today we can identify named on maps as Cillin or Cillini and also Celurach.

I visited two places in North Kerry Ireland as a start of my exploration into the history of these special places there is way more to come this is a short visit but an important one on The Wild Atlantic Way places to visit here in Ireland.

Welcome to Danny Houlihan's Irish Experience Show New Years Episode, as a Wild Atlantic Way Champion I have kept the best episode to open the 2024 Season so sit back and enjoy the story the hidden history the Whiskey, the landlords, Old Dexter and his Coastguards, Holy Men, Sean Peadar O Chonochubhair and the events of the area and a bit of my Irish music combined that makes up Whiskey Galore Ballybunion 1833/1834.

In 1833 A violent storm erupted from the West as the SS City of Limerick under the command Captain Cooper and his brave crew made their way beyond the safe Shannon Estuary and the famous loop head they say 20 miles on its outward bound voyage from County Limerick Ireland, so strong was the storm that Captain Cooper and his men fought the gales and high rolling seas but due to the severe tempest took action and turned the massive SS City of Limerick back towards the Shannon Estuary and away from danger as they thought.

In the hold of the ship was bacon, meat, butter, and hundreds of barrels of Whiskey yes Whiskey.

In the hours to follow the story of the il fated ship and its cargo the landed gentry and locals and indeed the military or lack of it would go down into history in the area of Ballybunion but was forgotten by many.

I have gone through and un earthed old faded newspapers of the period and the oral history to bring to you all this unique episode and story in a local seaside resorts history, a snap shot of the area its people and the stories and history fact and fiction interwoven that makes up Whiskey Galore Ballybunion 1833.

Special thanks to all my listeners who have tuned in over the last few years more is on the way.

This is Truly A Wild Atlantic Way Story.