Voices from The Plots
Voices from the Plots: Joe Egan
Anna sits down with Joe Egan, Acting Chairperson of Ballaghaderreen Town Team, for a cup of tea and conversation.
They chat about the past, present and future of The Plots.
Joe recalls how the space was once connected to The Secret Village, a mystical, eclectic music festival. He also touches on its links to traditional cures, herbal knowledge and local folklore, and considers how these threads might inform a future biodiversity project.
Click below to listen to our conversation.
The Secret Village – video by Green Hinge Video Productions.
VOICES FROM THE PLOTS: Paul Murphy
As children we took the plots for granted. But they provided a safe, imaginative space for play where the only parental instruction was; 'Be home in time for your tea'.
In those days, the plots provided us Ballagh' kids with an unofficial playground, especially those of us who lived close by. While a small number of industrious neighbours used their plot as a vegetable garden, their success was very dependant on the precise location: Plots around the periphery were easier to fortify while the more central plots were so exposed that securing and cultivating them was a futile exercise. So the great majority remained untended and therefore accessible to us children.
I grew up on what is now officially Pound Street, though in my time that street was divided between Pound Street and Church Street, the accepted boundary being a laneway across from what is now the Cathedral car-park; with the portion closest to The Square being called Church Street.
The plot which belonged to my family was very central, and although my mother would have loved to make use of it, this simply wasn't practical.
Our plot did however include the most climbed tree! This tree had two substantial branches which were easy to access.
Paul Murphy’s Tree. The Plots
The terrain meant that ball games were difficult, so our play consisted mainly of chasing games, and occasionally 'cowboys and indians'. Toy guns were a popular Christmas or birthday present and these guns used a roll of percussive 'caps' to produce a bang and puff of smoke.
Our grasp of American Wild-West history was very limited, and one-sided, derived as it was from TV films of the time. The cowboys, or our particular favourites the U.S. cavalry, were always the 'goodies', while native Americans were relegated to the role of 'baddies'. It would be many years before we learned of an impressive humanitarian gesture by the Choctaw nation to send money for famine relief to Ireland.
A later bonfire at The Plots. 2018
Patsy McGarry has written humourously of the conflicts between various street gangs in the run-up to Bonfire Night, where rival groups tried to produce the most impressive bonfire. Used car tyres were coveted because they produced such a dense (toxic?) plume of smoke. On Bonfire Night the results could be seen rising from a few traditional locations around town; the open space at the well in the plots was the site of one such bonfire.
Closely related to the plots was the old branch railway line which ran to Kilfree Junction.
The line passed by on an embankment several meters south of the well: The ground immediately between the well and this embankment was so marshy as to make it difficult to cross. A large metal sewage pipe which ran beneath the plots appeared partially above ground at this point before disappearing into the side of the embankment.
Although its surface was slippy, we were able to skip across it to gain access to the railway. That line was closed in February 1963 while I was still five-years old, but I remember going with my father to place two halfpennies on the line to see them flattened by the train.
I still have those flattened coins and they prompted song.
Paul Murphy
(Dublin, but originally Church Street from 1957 to 1978).
If you have photographs or stories about The Plots, please email Anna: anna7king@gmail.com
By bringing together sculpture, storytelling and community engagement, The Well Gathering complements the wider Plots Town Park development, funded through the Rural Regeneration and Development Fund in partnership with Roscommon County Council and Creative Places Ballaghaderreen. The project sits within the broader initiative ‘Enabling the Potential of the Ballaghaderreen Plots’, which is transforming this historic backland into a living community resource.
