Hi Hilary,
Thanks for your e-mail. Gleeson is quite a common name in Loughmore. There are several families still there. Byrne, however would be an unusual name traditionally in that area. It is more associated with the Dublin/Wicklow region. However, Byrnes can pop up all over Ireland.
If you contact the Tipperary Family History Research centre in Tipperary town they should be able to help you with the details about the parents. They are at
www.tfhr.org. They hold all the records for the Catholic Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly to which Loughmore belongs. They charge a fee. Or you could contact the Parish Priest at the Parochial House, Loughmore, Templemore, Co.Tipperary and he might look up the records for you.
Here comes the poem. I don't know who wrote it. My mother used to recite it.
It's a Tipperary village and it nestles on a hill,
In a land bereft of tillage lacking food to feed the mill,
And the waters of the river through the rocks and pebbles roar
As they circumvent and quiver in their travels by Loughmore.
There's a castle standing stately, telling tales of days gone by,
But to ruin it has gone greatly, nature tells the reason why.
It's a building grey and lonesome from the tower to the floor,
But it once was gay and handsome, ornamenting fair Loughmore.
The barrack walls are tumbed down, now changed the scene of old.
Where England's crown was to be found, now floats green,white and gold.
And here's a health to those who fought and drove them from our shores,
And to every gallant Irishman from Blarney to Loughmore.
The village decks the hillside with a restingplace close by,
The home of age and pride and youth who thought it well to die,
To leave this world of grief and woe for that eternal shore
Which may be up or down below but far from fair Loughmore.
I don't know why the author said 'bereft of tillage' as Loughmore is a very fertile place. I have one other verse from another poem where Loughmore is mentioned.
The sweet silvery Suir with its current so pure,
Laughing and sparkling by storied Loughmore,
And on through the valley,twixt beech tree and salley,
To join its fair sister the beautiful Nore.
There is a Loughmore website with some pictures of the Purcell castle. Someone in Australia has transcribed the inscriptions from the headstones in the churchyard and they are online. Try typing in Parish of Loughmore and Castleiney Graveyard and it should come up.
Good luck,
Bijou.
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