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Ballysaggart GAA Flag

View of Ballysaggart village

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There was a School in Ballysaggart from Circa 1864~5 with a student population of 34 Males and 40 Females, (attendance was rated at 21.4% Males and 25.2% Females) under the supervision of Julia Prendergast, Seamstress. Ballysaggart Church, St Mary's chapel of ease, was built in 1913~14, a solid structure designed to withstand the weather on it's exposed site. At least twenty Ballysaggart people entered Religous orders and served all over the world, some like Sr Cyril, Lil Daly emigrated to Tacoma Washington USA and never returned home again. Most families had people who emigrated to the UK, Birmingham was a popular destination, just recently, I met Phil and Bridie O'Reilly, (Cavan & Mayo respectively) now in, Tulsk, Co, Roscommon, who could name all the Ryan's Linehan's Daly's Nugent's Etc... from Ballysaggart who stayed with them in Birmingham. Modern Ballysaggart has been integrated with Lismore to a greater degree, it's students now attend the Blackwater Community School which boasts the very latest in technology and teaching aids. Pupils from Ballysaggart now emigrate, if they chose to do so, with Degrees, Masters, and Phd's in their back pocket.

Memories of Ballysaggart

The local GAA club produced a historical record of that venerable place to mark the Centenary of the club. [out of print] It was here that Mochuda chose as his retreat, on the banks of the Araglen river. Suimochuda or resting place of Mochuda. Place names such as Logleagh, the scrolm, the moon, the heap of stones should conjure up a vision of a decent, honest, rural community closely tied to their surrounding mountainside.

Their Chapel, Saint Mary's, was built in 1913-14, Cannon Power say's it was dedicated to  Our Lady of Immaculate Conception, I have always known it as St Mary's, Whatever, the erection of this Chapel of ease, so called because it saved the locals the trip to Lismore, for some that was up to six miles. At that time Communion meant that you had to fast from the night before, no food not even water.  Places like Tom and Bridie Savages provided tea and sustenance to the people before they trekked back to Ballysaggart on an empty stomach. Bridie was one of their own - Nee Daly. Strangely enough the bell, which in most cases is over the entrance, is over the Altar.

this area was in population decline, it is good to see the new homes, no matter that those of us of an age, would look back wistfully to the typical scene of just 50 years ago, thatched houses, work horses, crowds of men chatting after mass in Saint Mary's, the smell of turf fires. Ballysaggart is alive and well, and will always be "Home" to me, the land of my fathers since the 1700's, over 300 hundred years. My Father Jack - His Father Auld Pad/Margaret Daly Margaret was a Sister of Sr Cyril, Lil Daly, Tacoma, Washington - His Father Paddy/Catherine Veale - His Father Richard/Eleanor Brown. Ere that they came from near Barty Drislanes in Barnahown & Flemingstown, Araglen. My Grandmother's house, home of my Uncle, Padin (Young Pad) [RIP] and Kitty [Troy] Geoghegan in St Mary's, Knockaniska was where myself and my sister Eileen spent a lot of our summer holidays, glorious days helping, or hindering the men at the hay, chasing Winds of hay blown along by the Sheegaoithe or the fairy wind. Lying on the Scrolm or the Foildearg, under a furze bush listening to the "Cracking" of the bushes and trying to spot the Skylark that sang someplace up in the sky. My job, I made it that, was to help "Mr. Roche" with the separator when he was milking in the evening. Man I must have separated tons of cream and made a mountain of butter, Yellow salty butter, washed and patted into all fancy shapes, it was delicious. Pa Geoghegan, had a lovely butter churn on a stand with paddles inside. Going to the well in Morrissey's field or visiting Momma Daly for bread and jam. Going out the hill for sheep with my father, across the bridge on the Araglen river to Johanna Moore's [Willy Geoghegans] and Nails [ Neal's ] out to the heap of stones and down by the Prisun. The Prisun [Prison] is a large U shape, with sheer sides and open to the front, sheep would be put in there and bushes put at the opening to keep them there - hence, Prisun. Roundabout here is the three duns, covered with forestry now I think, and then the "Sea". Willy Geoghegans and Neal's were a "typical" clachan, the two farmhouses were within one enclosure, isolated and remote from   shops church school Etc... at their front door the Araglen river and behind them the sloping mountainside. On a flat piece of ground upstream from the houses was the main sheep pen, still there, Pa Geoghegan, Suimochuda, and his family still have sheep out here. And across the river used to be a timber bridge, which would bring you down Knockaniska, by Bennett's, Rourkes and Roche's farms to Roche's shop and the Chapel. Just a bit further downstream, they put in a concrete ford, Dan Lenihan brought a Combine across here at one time, to this day I can't make out why, because the fields out here are so small that it wouldn't have warranted a combine, Dan went to school, and shared the same desk and pencil with my father. My boyhood memories of seeing this bridge and the river and the houses nestling into the protection of the mountain will remain as fresh as the day I first saw it. A wonderful place - a wonderful scene. Today only bits of the houses remain standing, Neal's put on a concrete extension to their house and that stands, on a windowsill is a statue of Our Lady, each time I see it, it has melted just a little bit more. Walking into Johanna's kitchen after a day on the hill and hearing the normal greetings at that time "God bless all here - Your welcome Jack" somehow, everyone was familiar and I got an instant feeling of belonging to this particular group of people and everyone else I met in Baile na Saggart. Eileen, my Sister, felt the same bond with the locals and I know she has fond memories of our time out there, to this day.

BALLYSAGGART GAA are currently working on a GAA website, it will have the History of the Club to the present day. Work is well advanced and I understand that the site will not fall into the trap of appearing and then become dormant through lack of regular updates. Good on ye !. James Bennet is the man to contact if you have any ideas or suggestions. GAA websites abound, most simply mirror content from the main GAA site and lack basic information, like Contact information Etc...  I look forward to reading articles on the site. Did you know, Ballysaggart won the first Senior County Football title beating Kinsalebeg / Monatrea, in a replay of their drawn game held in Camphire, by a goal in Dungarvan. Each side fielded 21 Men [Ref: Michael Noonan, Camphire].

Ballysaggart is five miles North of Lismore, County Waterford, in the foothills of the Knockmealdown Mountains. A small rural community, it's place in Antiquity rivals anyplace on the island. Long before the Village of Ballysaggart, it was a place of religious retreat by the holy men and women of nearby Lismore. In Christian times the Patron saint of Lismore, St Mochuda (Carthage) made it his place of contemplation, a fact reflected in the placenames, like Sui-Mochuda [ Sui - to sit or rest Pron "See" ] The discovery of Ogham stones on the bank of the Araglen river is evidence of the high status of this spot in antiquity. There is some debate about the age of Ogam as a means of writing. Carney, (1975, 57), and quoted by M.J. O'Kelly - Early Ireland, (1993, 25), puts it at 100BC ~ 300AD, this puts Ballysaggart and Suimochuda into a two thousand year old time frame. The Stones are on display in the Stone Gallery UCC.

Ballysaggart, in common with most small rural communities, display's a solid sense of belonging and community spirit. Ballysaggart GAA has been in existence for more than 120 years, it's influence on local social life cannot be measured in words. The GAA has been a uniting force in the community, whether we agree or disagree, Ballysaggart GAA is the rallying point for everyone. Ballysaggart Ladies Club present a very full programme of events during the year with everything from Cooking to Acupuncture, usually in the Community Centre. Not forgetting the "Cards" that bring people from Lismore Tallow Cappoquin. Set and Stepdancing with Cheoltas Cheolteori Eireann.... and loads more activities. Ballysaggart once a remote isolated village in the mountains, is very much part of mainstream culture and society in the 21st Century.

A rural transport scheme ensures those without transport have access to Lismore Dungarvan and Youghal. Population generally is on the rise, new houses and families are in evidence on every road. Nostalgia is all very well, Thatched houses, Horses, Turf Cutting Etc... but they are now just fond memories, for those of us old enough to remember them - Ballysaggart Abú, it has survived 2,000 years and there is a bright future for the next 2,000. Ballysaggart is ideally situated as a base for discovering the western range of the Knockmealdown Mountains, from Araglen to Bay Lough.

Ballysaggart is home to West Waterford Auto Grass racing,

You can find  list of dates and venues at Racedates.net

Ballysaggart like every other part of this Island has moved with the times, there are few if any thatched houses the "Vernacular" houses have slate roofs. very few locals cut turf. The tide is turning for the good though, new houses and new families are springing up all over the place.

Aptly named marker on the hillside, the heap of stones, hundreds of tons of stone piled up in a horseshoe shape, the photo is looking South to North. Most of the stone is banked higher on the North side with a lower bank of stone to the South. Why anyone or perhaps hundreds of people would go to the trouble of building this heap is beyond me ! one or two suggestions have been made - they were collected so that a fire could be lit to welcome some British monarch - Very unlikely. Firewood is non existent up here. The other more plausible one is that they were used as signal fires, lighting fires on hilltops is well documented in relation to the druids and earlier. Remember St Patrick and the fire on the hill of Tara, or in the words of the song "Boolavogue" A rebel hand set the heather blazing and brought the neighbours from far and near, [1798 rebellion led by Fr Murphy]. There are little cells built into the stone, this heap would have provided some protection from the weather and would be manned permanently or nearly so. For us it was a goal or target on Knockshanahullion.