Sligo Folk Tales by Joe McGowan

Author:Joe McGowan [McGowan, Joe]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780750965552
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2015-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Originally, harvest celebrations were held here to celebrate the pagan goddess Áine; they have continued to recent times as a Christian festival. Here then we have this most remarkable well, a well that has been regarded as sacred for more than 2,000 years, that saw the seamless changeover from worship of the gods of the pagan world to those of the new Christian religion

11

A NOBLE HORSE

A horse interred in consecrated ground? In a Catholic cemetery? Surely not, I hear you say! But go visit Ballyara graveyard in Tubbercurry today and there you will find proof of this remarkable occurrence.

The Mullarkey family held lands – around 800 acres – in the barony of Leyny, County Sligo in the 1870s. At the time of Griffith’s Valuation, Patrick Mullarkey was leasing over 130 acres from the Ffolliott estate at Ballyara, and almost 300 acres from the Phibbs estate, both in the parish of Achonry. In 1870, Michael and Margaret Mullarkey offered for sale lands in the parishes of Achonry and Ballisodare in the Landed Estates Court, and over 280 acres of lands at Drumartin, barony of Leyny, in the Land Judges’ Court in June 1885. The sale notice indicates that the property at Drumartin was originally held on lease between Eliza Cooper and Patrick Mullarkey, dated March 1790. The family are also associated with a famous racehorse, called Pride of Ballyara. He won them substantial monies in the mid-nineteenth century and is buried on the perimeter of the graveyard in Ballyara. Here the family owned land which is now the site of St Attractas Community School. Some claim the horse is buried in the family plot but the evidence for this is inconclusive.

Pride of Ballyara was retired to Ballyara in 1845, after his racing career was over. Shortage of food was severe in Ireland over those years as the potato blight killed the staple crop of most of the native farmers and incredibly much food was exported out of the country. The Mullarkey family purchased large quantities of oats, maize and corn in England and had several shiploads transported to Ballina port for distribution to the needy throughout South Sligo. Horse and cart was the only means of transport then, and a severe shortage of horses meant that Pride of Ballyara had to go into action, pulling cartloads of grain over a 50-mile return journey. The respect the Mullarkey family – and the people of Tubbercurry – had for this great horse caused him to be buried in Ballyara Graveyard. A large memorial stone erected in his honour, reads:

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