The 1900s were a great deal better for our community, especially as the decades progressed. The first decade of the new Century saw the introduction of the old age pension into Ireland which at that time was governed from London. It was a Liberal government, with David Lloyd George as chancellor, which introduced the benefit to those people who had reached their 70th year. Another great improvement was the disappearance of the ‘Hiring Fair’ in Cavan town. These were held at the junction of Main St. and Bridge St., at Belford’s Corner, in May and November of each year. Boys and girls were offered for hire as farm labourers and house maids by their parents for a six month period. Their parents would strike a bargain and according to A. F. McEntee’s book ‘Memories’, page 26, prices for the servant boys varied from £35 down to £25 and for servant girls from £16 down to £8 with prices depending on age and perceived ability to work. This practice, happily, was discontinued in the early 1920’s.

The following article from the Anglo Celt on November 3rd 1894 contains a local record of the practice in these days.

Horses have played a huge part in man’s history. For many centuries the working horse and donkey were indispensable to the farmer; every one of whom owned at least one such animal. These animals have high stamina levels and are hardy and strong. They had the ability to operate on farmland, bog land and woodland as well as the public highway. Great care was exercised when purchasing an animal. They were judged by their confirmation (i.e. muscle development, body shape, etc.) their movement, temperament and of course their breeding. Overtime, the farmers’ reliance and dependency on them was reduced with the introduction of the tractor and other farm machinery. Except for train or motor car journeys on special occasions most people did not travel much outside their own locality until the 1960’s.

Some people still used the horse and trap locally as a means of transport especially for going to mass on Sundays. A popular place for stabling horses and traps was Janey’s yard (Public house). This continued up until the mid 1960’s at which time the motor car became popular. The most common cars in use at the time were the Ford Anglia, the Volkswagen, the Morris Minor and the Austin A35. In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s most families owned a car. The bicycle which had been the most common mode of transport since the 1890’s gradually disappeared and since then has been in use mainly for recreational purposes.

In the early 1900s the gate lodge to the Farnham Estate which was situated in Coolboyogue at the road entrance to Derryheen was occupied by a William Mayne and his two sisters Sarah and Margaret. This was the private back entrance to the Farnham Estate. There are references that members of the Mayne family were engaged in the administration of Kilmore Church as Parish Clerks, back as far as the early 1800’s. There were only slight traces present of the big gates (known as “Mayne's gates”) that hung at this entrance up until approximately 80 / 90 years ago. We do not know when exactly they were taken down – but local man Sean Brogan can remember the large concrete 'spud' on the road where the gate pin fitted. Ted Donnelly can remember a post-box in the old entrance wall. Jimmy Halliday recalls that after the Maynes family, the next occupiers were a family called McMichaels who later moved to Derryheen. This family was succeeded in the gate house here by the Leddy family whose daughter Kathleen married Billy Phair. Their daughter Mary Comiskey now occupies the property, which has now recently been fully modernised. In those days all who lived beyond the gates on this private road were tenants of the Farnham Estate.


A good portion of the land attaching to the Mayne's gate lodge was used in the siting for the nearby Coolboyogue rectory where the Church of Ireland rector for Derryheen church lived. This building is now known as “Avalon” and is now used as a family home and guesthouse. It is not known when exactly the rectory was built or by whom. Jimmy Halliday gives an approximate date of 1880 / 1890, as it was built in his father's time. This Coolboyogue Rectory replaced the old rectory in Rahulton where Charlie Kemp now lives.


It was a most difficult economic period, as the main source of income up to the 1960’s/1970’s still remained agriculture. With very few exceptions it was a society where most people fought hard to make a living. Many worked in the business houses of Cavan town whilst others worked in McCormack’s factory in Killeshandra and some in the co-op in the same town. Locally, farmers were sending their milk to the new creamery; with villagers awakened to the clip-clop sound of the trotting horses with their rattling harness as they pulled their carts with milk-cans up the street to the creamery. Cattle, pigs and horses were brought to the fairs at Cavan or Belturbet, the biggest fairs in Cavan Town in the middle of May and in early November, an annual horse fair was held in Cavan Town on Ash Wednesday; farmers drove their animals by the roadway into the town fairs leaving home as early as 5.30a.m. as it was important to be on the fair green early. Oats were brought to Green's Mill in Cavan Town or to McInerney's mill in Aughnadreena, Redhills. The mill at Downes was long shut down and the “Miller O'Hare's” Hackelty Mill was no longer in operation. In the early decades of the 1900’s many local farmers were paid a daily wage of nine shillings for using their horses and carts drawing stones for Cavan County Council road-works schemes.

The article from the Anglo Celt quoted below illustrates a fairly advanced water dranage system in existence in our village in 1898.

This works was done in wintertime mainly. In the mid to late 1930s the Annalee River was dredged and the famous old 'weir wall' was finally removed. This dredging work was needed to relieve flooding especially along the bottoms at Innishbeg and thereabouts. On the advice of Dr John Sullivan from Cavan Town, the village pump, provided for the villagers in the early '30s and which was located beside Farrell’s was closed on public health grounds by Cavan County Council. Drinking water was carried from wells at Paci McDonald’s & Phil McGowan’s on the Belturbet road and from Mick Downe’s in the village. At the time the countryside had many wells. The mains water eventually came to the village in late 1971 early 1972. In the countryside surrounding the village, there was not a full supply until the Butlersbridge Group Water Scheme was founded. (see seperate article). In 1987 the village sewage system was installed with a treatment plant constructed around the river at ‘The Point’. A pipe was attached and still remains fixed to the side of the bridge. Despite gallant efforts by John Clancy and others to remove this eyesore the ‘Save our Bridge’ campaign failed.

Emigration was still a big drain on our community. Many, over the decades went to England and some to the USA. In summer everyone in the parish greeted a visit home by one of these emigrants with great excitement. Air travel was not common at the time at least not until the mid 1960’s. The telephone was a rarity and when it arrived all calls were channeled through the local postmaster – in our case, Seamus Lane – who would connect with Cavan from where the caller was then connected with the wider world beyond. This manual system continued until March 1975 when the telephone system became automatic.

Patsy McConnel Ash Street Cavan tells me that before rural electricity began candles or oil lamps would have been the only form of lighting in most houses at that time.  Some of the bigger houses had other forms of lighting which was provided with what was known then as wind chargers.
These units consisted of a dynamo driven by a propeller or fan mounted on a lattice mast or suitable high tree and driven by the wind.  This dynamo was used to charge a number of batteries.
The voltage supplied was 24volt direct current.  The batteries used were glass units housed in thick glass 3/8inch and would be 2ft deep and the top would be open and was 2ft x 1ft and contained lead plates and sulphuric acid.
Each barrery would have a voltage of 4 volts and six would be connected in series to add up to 24volts to match the dynamo.
Sulphuric acid would be bought then in units called carboys, which were glass container in a metal frame and lined with straw to protect the glass.
Batteries would be kepy in an outside shed for safety, as ventilation was necessary when the unit was charging.  (Patsy McConnell 12-08-09am)

These picture postcards below reflect how many other things have changed in a relatively short space of time.