Thurles Information

Gardaí Seek Help Re. Missing Tipperary Man

Clonmel Gardaí are appealing for information in an effort to locate the whereabouts of a man, missing from Tipperary since yesterday.

Mr David Poyntz, aged 30 years, was last seen in the Clonmel area.

Mr Poyntz is described as being 6 ft in height, of slim build with black hair. When last seen he was wearing black jeans, a green t-shirt and grey trainers.

Gardaí inform us that Mr Poyntz is known to frequent the Dundalk and Drogheda areas of Co. Louth.

Persons with any information on his whereabouts are asked to contact Clonmel Garda station on Tel: 052 617 7640; the Garda Confidential Line on Tel: 1800 666 111 or indeed any Garda station.

“Tipperary Scutchers” Where Are They Gone?

Back in the late 18th-century spinning wheels were supplied, by the then Irish Linen Board, to Tipperary individuals, in an ambitious scheme undertaken to encourage the growing/farming of Flax.

Nationally, some 60,000 linen workers, became involved, which in turn assisted the development of a vibrant Irish linen industry. Irish Damask linen, developed in the 18th century, would go on to grace the dining tables of Royalty and the lesser landed gentry across the world, thus providing employment at a local level here in Co. Tipperary and nationally for centuries.

Since ancient times, Flax, also known as Linseed, from which linen is manufactured, had been growing in Ireland. Proof of flax curing has been uncovered in Irish bogs, dating back over two thousand years.

Early Irish Brehon Laws dictated that every farmer had to learn and practice the cultivation of Flax. In Tudor times, between 1485 and 1603, the production of linen was so great in Ireland that a law had to be passed banning the practise of ‘leaching’ and ‘water retting’ in rivers, to protect against the poisoning of fish stocks.

[Leaching and Retting: A process employed to facilitate the controlled rotting of cellular tissues, on Flax, thus separating the fibre from the stem of the plant.]

Labourers offloaded their flax plants into ponds, rivers, or retting dams and let it ‘ret’ for up to two weeks. Those farming then set up what were called flax ‘chapels’, rather like ‘stooked’ grain sheaves; latter supporting each other to be dried by the prevailing wind.

Back in 1796, the Board of Trustees of the Linen and Hempen Manufactures of Ireland (1711-1823) wished to encourage more farmers to grow flax and hemp seed to meet a ready demand. Spinning wheels, and looms, were awarded in proportion to the acreage sown. This incentive, encouraged small farmers to allocate part of their land to flax and hemp crops. County inspectors were appointed to receive claims from the growers and county lists were published as official documents of the Board.

A quarter-acre of flax grown would have qualified for one spinning wheel and for those who grew over five acres, a loom to the value of fifty shillings was granted.

Named Flax Growers of County Tipperary, 1796

NAME	Town/Village	County
Archer William,	Drom,	Co. Tipperary.
Brien Patrick,	Templebredon,	Co. Tipperary.
Brook William,	Caher,	Co. Tipperary.
Burke Patrick,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
Burne Darby,	Emly,	Co. Tipperary.
Conners James,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
Doherty William,	Doon,	Co. Tipperary.
Henecy John,	Cloneen,	Co. Tipperary.
Hurley Timothy,	Drom,	Co. Tipperary.
Keesse David,	Emly,	Co. Tipperary.
Kinkade Richard,	Emly,	Co. Tipperary.
Long Robert,	Knockgraffon,	Co. Tipperary.
M’Donnel Arthur,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
M’Donnell Charles,	Drom,	Co. Tipperary.
Marnane John,	Lattin,	Co. Tipperary.
Marnane Thomas,	Solloghodbeg,	Co. Tipperary.
Meagher Daniel,	Templebredon,	Co. Tipperary.
Murphy Cornelius,	Emly,	Co. Tipperary.
Parker Roger,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
Parker William,	Kilmurry,	Co. Tipperary.
Parkinson William,	Drom,	Co. Tipperary.
Ryan James,	Capagh,	Co. Tipperary.
Ryan Samuel,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
Saunders Adam,	Doon,	Co. Tipperary.
Stokes Mary,	Nenagh,	Co. Tipperary.
White James,	Knockgraffon,	Co. Tipperary.

Small cottage industries thrived across Ireland until large factory-type production began in the 1830s, providing water-powered scutching (beating), washing and beetling mills (beetling the pounding of linen or cotton fabric to give a flat, lustrous sheen was achieved). Irish industrialised linen production occupied both men, women and children, latter who worked to steep, scutch, spin, weave and bleach, latter stage using lime.

In the Census of Ireland in 1911 there where 456 people nationally whose occupations are recorded as ‘Flax Scutchers’.

Are there any persons occupied as ‘Scutchers‘ in Co. Tipperary today?

Third Level Students Forced To Use Hotel Accommodation.

Third-level students attending college in Limerick are being forced to stay in hotels, because they cannot locate suitable rented accommodation within the city.

Those studying in Limerick claim they are forced to pay up to €390.00 weekly for five night’s accommodation in a hotel, as part of a deal struck between the Mary Immaculate College (MIC) students union and three city hotels.

We learn that MIC Students Union has come to a similar accommodation agreement with one hotel here in Thurles; where the college operates a smaller MIC third level institution, based on the former St. Patrick’s College, campus.

However, the latter information is being viewed by Thurles residents as somewhat misleading, possibly in an effort to bolster MIC Students Union claims, affecting the Limerick City problem.

The five-night accommodation shortage, required from Sunday to Thursday, is being caused in Limerick by a number of factors including : –
(1) Remote learning caused due to the coronavirus over the past 18 months, thus resulting in houses that used to be available to students having been taken out of that market and being rented to long-term tenants.
(B) A dramatic fall in the number of people offering traditional “digs” to students.
(C) Numerous reports of anti-social behaviour, leading to extensive property damage; same attributed to alcohol consumption and drugs.

Covid-19 Cases Number 2,771 Today On Irish Mainland.

The Department of Health has confirmed 1,181 new coronavirus cases here in the Republic of Ireland in the past 24 hours.

The number of people being treated for the virus in our hospitals is 309, some 60 of whom are in intensive care units; latter ICU figure an increase of two on yesterday’s reported number.

In Northern Ireland, their Department of Health has reported 1,590 new cases of Covid-19 over the same period, with sadly a further 7 deaths.

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Tony Holohan has stated that he will inform TDs and Senators tomorrow that he cannot fully rule out the future possibility of the reintroduction of restrictions in the future.

He will warn elected representatives that the Delta variant of the virus will probably continue to circulate extensively over the coming months.

Vaccination continues to offer the best protection against the most severe effects of COVID-19, including hospitalisation and death.

Devils Bit Scabious, Bobby Bright Buttons or Pincushion Flower.

Its Irish name is ‘Odhrach bhallach’; its Scientific name is ‘Succisa pratensis’, but you may know it as ‘Devil’s Bit Scabious’;

Devils Bit Scabious is a tall plant with rounded purple-blue flowers that resemble a pincushion. It is a close relative of the Teasel family and like its relative, it is a rich and valuable late source of nectar and pollen for insects.

**Tortoiseshell butterflies feasting on the nectar of the *‘Devil’s Bit Scabious’* plant**.
*Picture: G.Willoughby*

As Tipperary wildflower and insect expert, Mr John Fogarty, explained to me yesterday; all butterflies love it as indeed do all bees, with same a major food-plant for so many insects, both as adults and larvae, attracted to its pincushion-like head. Indeed, this wildflower is the main larval food-plant of the now seriously threatened Marsh Fritillary butterfly, latter said to prefer where the ‘Devil’s-bit scabious’ plant chooses to grow.

**Blue-violet Devil’s Bit Scabious growing on the Double Ditch, Mill Road, Thurles**, **Co. Tipperary**.
*Picture: G. Willoughby*.

Blue-violet in colour, this medium sized perennial with deep green, blotchy, oval shaped leaves can be located in marshes and pastures, brightening up areas where it flowers, (in this case on the Great Famine Double Ditch, Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary) from June to October. Sadly this plant can be scarce presently in areas where intensive farming in being carried out.

Mr Fogarty points out that the plant’s more common name ‘scabious’ comes from the herb’s traditional usage as a folk medicine to treat scabies, latter a rather itchy skin condition caused by a tiny burrowing mite called Sarcoptes scabiei. Legend states that this plant, ‘Devils Bit Scabious’ got its name due to the fact that it has an abruptly truncated, short root which folklore dictates that the Devil bit off in a fit of annoyance, at the medicinal properties of this most attractive plant.

The ‘Devil’s Bit Mountain‘, north of Thurles has no bearing on the plant’s name, but it does confirm that the Devil spent an inordinate amount of time here, over the years, in and around Thurles, with some people claiming that he has actually never vacated the area; and can be seen influencing political outcomes, during years when local and general elections occur.