The following extracts from Breifne, Journal of – 1961. ‘Some Aspects of Ireland of 1860’ by Rev. Charles J. Travers, B.C.L, St. Patrick’s College, Cavan provide an insight into the daily lifestyle of our community some years after the famine.
“When the ordinary people of 1860 gathered round their fires of an evening or met at fairs and markets, the dominant theme of their conversation was sure to be connected with the land: leases, gales, gale-days, fines, agents, rents were the key words of their conversation.” (Pages 364-365).
“The standard of living in the countryside was slowly rising since the famine, but it was low by our standards. Meat, butcher’s meat, was practically an unknown luxury, meat in any form did not enter the dietary of the bulk of the population, except on special occasions.” (Pages 368-369).
The following extract from the Cavan petty sessions relates to one of our own villagers and reflects the poor level of income in the early 1860's.
CAVAN PETTY SESSIONS
MONDAY, APRIL 30
(Before William Babington, Esq., J.P.)
(Before William Babington, Esq., J.P.)
WAGES
Mary DOLAN, of Butlersbridge, sued John KENNY, of the same place for 6s wages. The plaintiff proved she was one month in the service of defendant; made no bargain with him, but considered 3d a day a fair charge.
The defendant said she did not come to work till late in the morning, and thought 2d a day enough for her.
The Court considered 3d a day a moderate demand, and granted a decree for the amount due.
“In 1860 the expectancy of life was about 48 years. The death-rate of children especially among the poor and working classes in town and country was appallingly high. It was 60-90 per 1,000 for children under five in the cities but something less in the country. Much of the high rate was due to lack of knowledge in the causes of disease. Infectious diseases like dipththeria and scarletina carried off great numbers. Typhoid and typhus were endemic in many parts of the country…… Consumption or decline as it was popularly called was the greatest single killer in town of country.” (Pages 371-372).
It is against this backdrop of every day life that the hugely important and effective Co-Operative Movement was founded.
Once again I am very grateful to Philip J Smyth, retired principal of Butlersbridge NS for his work on “The Co-operative Movement” which was included in “Butlersbridge GFC and its People”. Editor Paddy Leddy.
“Rising prosperity came to the farming community in Ireland in the 1870s and many of the better off kept a few cows, churned their milk at home and sold their home-made butter in Cavan and Belturbet. The butter was packed into firkins – small wooden barrels which held up to 80lbs. of butter. Most of this butter was exported to a growing market in Britain and the practice of selling home-made butter continued in some areas until recently.
The chief butter buyer in the area was an English company J.& J. Lonsdale & Co. Ltd. In order to get more consistent quality butter, this company began to set up their own creameries and encouraged the local farmers to sell them their fresh milk rather than their butter. At first farmers were suspicious of this development and it took many years to build up confidence and trust in the creameries.
The Butlersbridge Dairy 1889
In May 1889, Messrs. J. & J. Lonsdale & Co. Ltd. opened 'The Butlersbridge Dairy' in Derragarra on the site now occupied by Mr. Fintan Tierney's bungalow. The milk was measured in ten gallon containers and then separated in a recently invented mechanical separator and the skim given back to the farmers. He cream was brought by horse and cart to Cavan Railway Station and then sent by rail to Longford where it was churned in their central creamery. The Butlersbridge creamery stayed open from May to October each year. The first manager was Mr. Condon from Limerick. He stayed in Owen McCabe's of Aughadrumagullion where he paid 50p per week for his lodgings. In the evenings Mr. Condon cycled round the area advising farmers to keep more cows and send their milk to his creamery.
The farmers were paid fortnightly for their milk. A Milk Pass Book belonging to William Halliday, Deggan, shows that he supplied 73.5 gallons of milk to Butlersbridge Dairy between the 7th and 21st August 1900. This was the milk from three cows. His test was 3.6 and he was paid 1.5p approx per gallon for his milk and his cheque for the fortnight was £1.11 with 10p deducted from that amount.
CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Just before the turn of the century the Co-operative movement was started in Ireland by Horace Plunkett and the first co-operative creamery in this part of Ireland was opened in Killeshandra on May 10th, 1897. The farmers of the 'Bridge were very anxious to establish a central co-operative creamery in their own area and to further this aim a preliminary meeting was held in Teevan's of Kilnaglare on 18th November, 1898. Over three hundred farmers attended a meeting in Gilchreest's (Derragarra Inn) on 28th November 1898 and were addressed by Mr. Anderson, Secretary of Co-operative Movement and Mr. Lough from Killeshandra. In February 1899 meetings were held in Cloverhill and in the Courthouse in Cavan and although the 'Bridge farmers tried very hard to have a central creamery in the 'Bridge, they lost the battle for, at a meeting in the Courthouse in Cavan, 21 June 1899, it was decided to locate the central creamery in Ballyhaise. Cavan Creameries Ltd opened for business there in 1901 and established 14 auxiliaries.
Ballyhaise was eventually chosen as the site for the central creamery for the following reasons:
1. The mills were available for rent thus saving the time and expense in building a new plant. It also prevented J. & J. Lonsdale & Co. from taking them over.
2. Water power was available from the river and it was estimated that this power could be used to run the ice-making plant thus reducing costs by over 30%.
3. There was an excellent spring well nearby.
BUTLERSBRIDGE CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY LTD 1903
In 1902 most of Lonsdales creameries were taken over by the new co-operative creameries, Killeshandra and Cavan Creameries at Ballyhaise. However, this takeover did not include Butlersbridge.
It is against this backdrop of every day life that the hugely important and effective Co-Operative Movement was founded.
Once again I am very grateful to Philip J Smyth, retired principal of Butlersbridge NS for his work on “The Co-operative Movement” which was included in “Butlersbridge GFC and its People”. Editor Paddy Leddy.
“Rising prosperity came to the farming community in Ireland in the 1870s and many of the better off kept a few cows, churned their milk at home and sold their home-made butter in Cavan and Belturbet. The butter was packed into firkins – small wooden barrels which held up to 80lbs. of butter. Most of this butter was exported to a growing market in Britain and the practice of selling home-made butter continued in some areas until recently.
The chief butter buyer in the area was an English company J.& J. Lonsdale & Co. Ltd. In order to get more consistent quality butter, this company began to set up their own creameries and encouraged the local farmers to sell them their fresh milk rather than their butter. At first farmers were suspicious of this development and it took many years to build up confidence and trust in the creameries.
The Butlersbridge Dairy 1889
In May 1889, Messrs. J. & J. Lonsdale & Co. Ltd. opened 'The Butlersbridge Dairy' in Derragarra on the site now occupied by Mr. Fintan Tierney's bungalow. The milk was measured in ten gallon containers and then separated in a recently invented mechanical separator and the skim given back to the farmers. He cream was brought by horse and cart to Cavan Railway Station and then sent by rail to Longford where it was churned in their central creamery. The Butlersbridge creamery stayed open from May to October each year. The first manager was Mr. Condon from Limerick. He stayed in Owen McCabe's of Aughadrumagullion where he paid 50p per week for his lodgings. In the evenings Mr. Condon cycled round the area advising farmers to keep more cows and send their milk to his creamery.
The farmers were paid fortnightly for their milk. A Milk Pass Book belonging to William Halliday, Deggan, shows that he supplied 73.5 gallons of milk to Butlersbridge Dairy between the 7th and 21st August 1900. This was the milk from three cows. His test was 3.6 and he was paid 1.5p approx per gallon for his milk and his cheque for the fortnight was £1.11 with 10p deducted from that amount.
CO-OPERATIVE MOVEMENT
Just before the turn of the century the Co-operative movement was started in Ireland by Horace Plunkett and the first co-operative creamery in this part of Ireland was opened in Killeshandra on May 10th, 1897. The farmers of the 'Bridge were very anxious to establish a central co-operative creamery in their own area and to further this aim a preliminary meeting was held in Teevan's of Kilnaglare on 18th November, 1898. Over three hundred farmers attended a meeting in Gilchreest's (Derragarra Inn) on 28th November 1898 and were addressed by Mr. Anderson, Secretary of Co-operative Movement and Mr. Lough from Killeshandra. In February 1899 meetings were held in Cloverhill and in the Courthouse in Cavan and although the 'Bridge farmers tried very hard to have a central creamery in the 'Bridge, they lost the battle for, at a meeting in the Courthouse in Cavan, 21 June 1899, it was decided to locate the central creamery in Ballyhaise. Cavan Creameries Ltd opened for business there in 1901 and established 14 auxiliaries.
Ballyhaise was eventually chosen as the site for the central creamery for the following reasons:
1. The mills were available for rent thus saving the time and expense in building a new plant. It also prevented J. & J. Lonsdale & Co. from taking them over.
2. Water power was available from the river and it was estimated that this power could be used to run the ice-making plant thus reducing costs by over 30%.
3. There was an excellent spring well nearby.
BUTLERSBRIDGE CO-OPERATIVE CREAMERY LTD 1903
In 1902 most of Lonsdales creameries were taken over by the new co-operative creameries, Killeshandra and Cavan Creameries at Ballyhaise. However, this takeover did not include Butlersbridge.
The local farmers bought the old creamery from Lonsdale and formed a local committee to run it and re-opened it under the name Butlersbridge Co-operative Creamery Ltd. The chairman of the committee was Patrick Gilchreest, Derragarra. Patrick Boylan, Derragarra and Owen McCabe, Aughadrumagullion were appointed as Trustees and raised the necessary finance with Bank of Ireland, Cavan.
The creamery opened for business again in the summer of 1903 and the manager appointed was James Donohoe, a nephew of Patrick Gilchreest. The cream was sent by horse and cart to Ballyhaise creamery for churning. The creamery continued working until 1930 when it closed down. It could not compete with the other co-ops as it was too small and its equipment was obsolete. In 1933 Killeshandra were invited to open a branch in Butlersbridge.NAHILLA CREAMERY 1901
This was a concrete and galvanised structure similar to the present creamery in Butlersbridge. The concrete floor and remains of the wall still stand. It was built on Mr. Cole's land in Nahilla along with the bye-road that links the Cavan-Clones road and the Cavan-Belturbet road. It opened in 1901 and its first manager was Thomas Tierney, followed by John McKiernan and Paddy Martin, Drumbawn. Peter Brady, James Fitzpatrick and Charlie Leddy also worked there. There was a local committee in charge of the creamery and they met once a month. The chairman was James McDonald, Keeny, the treasurer was Mr. Jones, Tullyroane, and the secretary was W. H. Hague, Plush. Other members of the committee were Mr. Cole, Nahilla; James Teevan, Kilnaglare; Owen Reilly, Kilnalack, Tom Brady and Phil Brady, Inishbeg; Mr. Good, Plush and Harry Clarke, Cloverhill.
The milk was separated in Nahilla and the cream was churned by Cavan Creameries in Ballyhaise. For six months in 1927 the cream was sent to Killeshandra. Nahilla closed down in 1930 or '31 because of financial difficulties. This was caused mainly by pressure from the stronger creameries. The milk supply was split up and some of the milk from the area was brought by large carts to Milltown while more went to Belturbet and Ballyhaise, so milk wars are nothing new. Feelings ran high and there was general relief when Killeshandra opened a branch in Butlersbridge in 1934
BUTLERSBRIDGE BRANCH 1934
Pat Gaffney was appointed first manager. The fireman was Charlie Leddy, Drumsilla, and he was succeeded by Eddie McPhillips. In 1967, Pat Gaffney retired and was replaced by Jim McCorry.
URNEY CREAMERY 1901
Urney was an auxiliary of Cavan Creameries in Ballyhaise. It opened in 1901. It was a small galvanised building on Seamus Emmo's land, on the banks of the Erne near Urney graveyard. Hardly any trace of it now remains. It was a unique creamery because most of the milk was delivered by boats that plied up and down the Erne. There was a wooden pier beside the creamery where the boats docked. This pier disappeared during drainage work in the 1930s. A big steam boat skippered by Hughie McGahern used to come from Drumard towing a barge with 30 cans of milk and dock at the pier. Other boats came from Rivory and Inishmuck.
The manager of the creamery was Tom Tierney. There was a local committee in charge. Some of the people on that committee were Mrs. Mary Emmo, Urney, Edward Alan Mahood, Hugh Fitzpatrick and John Coleman all from Inishmore. Tom Clarke, Mrs. Emmo's brother was fireman and he also brought the cream to Ballyhaise in 20 gallon tanks on two ass carts, one tied behind the other. The creamery closed down in 1912 because of competition from Milltown and surrounding creameries.
KILLESHANDRA CO-OP – BUTLERSBRIDGE BRANCH 1934
By 1932, Nahilla, Urney and Butlersbridge Co-op were all closed and in1933 Killeshandra Co-op were invited to open a branch in Butlersbridge. A plot of land along the Clones road was purchased from Tom McCarron and the local farmers prepared and levelled the site and the present creamery was opened in 1934. Richard Wilson, Tullylough and Matthew Boylan, Derragarra were appointed to the Board of Killeshandra Co-op to represent the local farmers.
Pat Gaffney was appointed first manager. The fireman was Charlie Leddy, Drumsilla, and he was succeeded by Eddie McPhillips. In 1967, Pat Gaffney retired and was replaced by Jim McCorry. Jim was transferred to the central creamery in 1973 and was succeeded in Butlersbridge by John Young as manager. In 1976, Eddie McPhillips replaced John Young and 1987 Eddie retired after a lifetime of service and was replaced by Michael Morrow, the present manager. In 1934 the milk intake in Butlersbridge was 160,000 gallons. By 1973 it had grown to almost 1.5 million gallons and at present is about the one million gallon mark. For the past few years it no longer separates the milk. This is done in the central creamery in Killeshandra.
This is a brief record of the story of milk in the 'Bridge area for the past hundred years. In this modern age of computers and high technology we may smile at the primitive methods of days gone-by, at the steam boat chugging up the Erne with its load of milk or the donkeys and carts slowly wending their way to Ballyhaise with cream, but these men were using the technology of their day. We salute those men and women who had the courage to go where none had gone before, to try out new and then revolutionary ideas and to work together for the common good.
In the past hundred years the GAA and the Co-op movements were the two organisations that did most to improve the quality of life in rural Ireland, each in its own way. In many cases the same men led both organisations locally for both organisations trained people in leadership and team work. Furthermore, is it not true that Sunday’s local GAA match was replayed on the milk platforms of a thousand creameries on Monday morning as the donkeys and carts waited patiently in the warm sun of a May morning?
The research for this article was done by the senior pupils in Butlersbridge School in 1979. The chief researchers were Gerard Boylan, Derragarra; William Halliday, Deggan; Paul McCorry, Butlersbridge; Sheila Leddy, Drumsilla, Fionola Brady, Kilnaglare; Imelda Lynch, Inishmore and John Emmo, Urney.
Acknowledgments to : Mrs. Margaret Conaty, Aughadrumagullion; Andrew Boylan, T.D., Co. C., Derragarra; Jim McCorry, Butlersbridge; Seamus Emmo, Urney; Hugh Brady, Inishmore; Charles Leddy, Drumsilla; Jim Halliday, Deggan; Hugh P. Reilly, Keeney.”
Pat Gaffney was appointed first manager. The fireman was Charlie Leddy, Drumsilla, and he was succeeded by Eddie McPhillips. In 1967, Pat Gaffney retired and was replaced by Jim McCorry.
URNEY CREAMERY 1901
Urney was an auxiliary of Cavan Creameries in Ballyhaise. It opened in 1901. It was a small galvanised building on Seamus Emmo's land, on the banks of the Erne near Urney graveyard. Hardly any trace of it now remains. It was a unique creamery because most of the milk was delivered by boats that plied up and down the Erne. There was a wooden pier beside the creamery where the boats docked. This pier disappeared during drainage work in the 1930s. A big steam boat skippered by Hughie McGahern used to come from Drumard towing a barge with 30 cans of milk and dock at the pier. Other boats came from Rivory and Inishmuck.
The manager of the creamery was Tom Tierney. There was a local committee in charge. Some of the people on that committee were Mrs. Mary Emmo, Urney, Edward Alan Mahood, Hugh Fitzpatrick and John Coleman all from Inishmore. Tom Clarke, Mrs. Emmo's brother was fireman and he also brought the cream to Ballyhaise in 20 gallon tanks on two ass carts, one tied behind the other. The creamery closed down in 1912 because of competition from Milltown and surrounding creameries.
KILLESHANDRA CO-OP – BUTLERSBRIDGE BRANCH 1934
By 1932, Nahilla, Urney and Butlersbridge Co-op were all closed and in1933 Killeshandra Co-op were invited to open a branch in Butlersbridge. A plot of land along the Clones road was purchased from Tom McCarron and the local farmers prepared and levelled the site and the present creamery was opened in 1934. Richard Wilson, Tullylough and Matthew Boylan, Derragarra were appointed to the Board of Killeshandra Co-op to represent the local farmers.
Pat Gaffney was appointed first manager. The fireman was Charlie Leddy, Drumsilla, and he was succeeded by Eddie McPhillips. In 1967, Pat Gaffney retired and was replaced by Jim McCorry. Jim was transferred to the central creamery in 1973 and was succeeded in Butlersbridge by John Young as manager. In 1976, Eddie McPhillips replaced John Young and 1987 Eddie retired after a lifetime of service and was replaced by Michael Morrow, the present manager. In 1934 the milk intake in Butlersbridge was 160,000 gallons. By 1973 it had grown to almost 1.5 million gallons and at present is about the one million gallon mark. For the past few years it no longer separates the milk. This is done in the central creamery in Killeshandra.
This is a brief record of the story of milk in the 'Bridge area for the past hundred years. In this modern age of computers and high technology we may smile at the primitive methods of days gone-by, at the steam boat chugging up the Erne with its load of milk or the donkeys and carts slowly wending their way to Ballyhaise with cream, but these men were using the technology of their day. We salute those men and women who had the courage to go where none had gone before, to try out new and then revolutionary ideas and to work together for the common good.
In the past hundred years the GAA and the Co-op movements were the two organisations that did most to improve the quality of life in rural Ireland, each in its own way. In many cases the same men led both organisations locally for both organisations trained people in leadership and team work. Furthermore, is it not true that Sunday’s local GAA match was replayed on the milk platforms of a thousand creameries on Monday morning as the donkeys and carts waited patiently in the warm sun of a May morning?
The research for this article was done by the senior pupils in Butlersbridge School in 1979. The chief researchers were Gerard Boylan, Derragarra; William Halliday, Deggan; Paul McCorry, Butlersbridge; Sheila Leddy, Drumsilla, Fionola Brady, Kilnaglare; Imelda Lynch, Inishmore and John Emmo, Urney.
Acknowledgments to : Mrs. Margaret Conaty, Aughadrumagullion; Andrew Boylan, T.D., Co. C., Derragarra; Jim McCorry, Butlersbridge; Seamus Emmo, Urney; Hugh Brady, Inishmore; Charles Leddy, Drumsilla; Jim Halliday, Deggan; Hugh P. Reilly, Keeney.”