Robbie Dempsey's trip with Pat McDermott
to Sligo, Fermanagh, Leitrim, Belcooetc .
Robbie writes (June 2009) : " Pat MacDermott, originally of Cavan but longtime inhabitant of Enfield,
North London, made a swift pilgrimage to some of Ireland's megalithic sites,
including the remnants of St Augustine's College at Blacklion. "
. . . . Pat MacDermott and I called in to
see Olivia, Mairead, and their brother Charlie, at Belcoo.
I could NOT have gone via there without calling in to meet her. "
(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) Robbie Dempsey (left) and Pat McDermott (June 2009) Robbie Dempsey met up with Pat in June 2009 and dropped in to see Olivia O'Dolan at Belcoo, before travelling on to Denvish Island on Lough Erne. He later wrote the following to Pat McHale and others : " . . . . One very odd episode last week saw us - completely out of the blue - on the trail of Brother Paddy's tractor. We followed a local up and down lanes to a backyard. And there it was. Paddy had bought a JCB over in Louth and then modified it to be a sort of digging tractor. It bunged up the St. Augustine's carpark for some time. However, my memory of it is very vague. " To which Maurice Billingsley replied : " I remember Bro Paddy with a RED tractor at St Augustine's; my recollection is that the JCB was one of those co-operative ventures of his. He had heard of one going cheap, and persuaded the local farmers' co-op to buy it; it was a massive sum to any one of them at the time, and he struggled to secure their agreement. Then, of course, they had the only JCB for miles; Paddy had in mind field drainage—remember all those rushes, a sure sign of poor drainage. But then came a couple of contracts, for the foundations for the customs post and for the village sewerage system, which went a long way to paying for it. But that may have been a different digger . . . " Return to Top |
Robbie writes (June 2009) : " We met Paddy by chance whilst speaking to his
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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) " Across Lower Lough Erne from Enniskillen, en route to Devenish Island with remains of 'The Priory' built 1449. " Return to Top |
(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) " Carved head at St. Mary's Augustinian Priory, Devenish. " Return to Top |
(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) " The Yeats memorial poem at Drumcliffe Church - under Ben. " Return to Top |
(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) " Pat indicating another load of prehistoric marvels. This time
at Carrowmore near Sligo, with Benbulben in the background. " Return to Top |
(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey) " The druid in his cirlce. "
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