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 . . . "



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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)

" Brother Paddy's tractor "



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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)

Pat McDermott with Peter Maguire , a local from Blacklion who
knew Brother Paddy well, and knew of his JCB.

Robbie writes (June 2009) : " We met Paddy by chance whilst speaking to his
daughter who lives on a hill overlooking Loughan House. Peter
was once involved in amateur dramatics and recalled providing
props for various productions by the WF lads.
"

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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)

" The most prominent of over 25 passage tombs, built by
neolithic societies long before Newgrange, on a hilltop
at Loughcrew, County Meath. The site is in the care of these
two members of a team from the Office of Public Works who
kindly unlocked the passage tomb for us. "



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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)



" Pat, in conversation with an English angler at Lough MacNean,
at a viewing spot not far from the old St. Augustine's College . . . .
This is the same swan that greeted John Byrne, Joe McIntyre and  Mike o'Callaghan ! "

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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. "


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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)

" Cross and round tower. "



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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)


" Carved head at St. Mary's Augustinian Priory, Devenish. "


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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)

" The Yeats memorial poem at Drumcliffe Church - under Ben. "

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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)



" Pat indicating another load of prehistoric marvels. This time
at Carrowmore near Sligo, with Benbulben in the background. "

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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)


 " Entering the passage tomb - sans roof. "


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(source & commentary : Robbie Dempsey)


" The druid in his cirlce. "