The Gallaghers of Ballinrobe

Uncle Owen and his nephew Owen stroll along the grounds of Ashford Castle. Uncle Owen said he and his
brother Tom were chased away from the castle when they rode there once on their bicycles.
Lynn out to Ashford Castle in Cong, Uncle Owen
remembered how he and Uncle Tom had once bicycled to
the estate, only to be chased away by guards. The boys
from Cornaroya apparently were not welcome at the castle.
Uncle Owen commented on how nice it was that while the
rich have such a wonderful castle, the ordinary people still
have the trees and birds to admire. Now a five-star hotel
with beautiful gardens, Ashford has been home over the
centuries to the infamous (Sir Richard Bingham, the feared
lord president of Connaught), the wealthy (the Guinness
family) and the famous (Director John Ford and his crew
during the filming of “The Quiet Man”). On the drive to
Ashford, the travelers had passed Mellett’s Restaurant in
the Neale, where Uncle Owen said the man who was a
double for John Wayne in “The Quiet Man” still lived.
Back in Ballinrobe, Owen and Lynn spent a
morning with Uncle Owen walking the grounds of the
Convent of Mercy and an evening with him visiting the
home of Eugene, Ann and their family down the boreen. On
the convent steps, one of the sisters snapped a picture that
Patsy DeAscanis had written to Uncle Owen hoping to see
arranged. It had Lynn in the middle, with an Owen on
either side holding her hands. It was later learned that the
nun who took the picture had poor eyesight, but the photo
still turned out fine.
At Eugene’s, the family sat talking for hours in the
living room in front of a turf fire sipping whiskey (maybe
some poteen) and eating piles of sandwiches and rhubarb
pie. Two of Eugene and Ann’s children were there: Patrick,
about 15 years old, and Louise, who was about 12. At one
point, Louise came into the room with amused alarm and
whispered to her parents that two of their cows were loose.
Eugene went to the rescue. Throughout the evening, Uncle
Owen was vibrant and chatty. But the mood changed when
the conversation turned to the deaths of Uncle Owen’s
father and his brothers John and Michael. Uncle Owen
remembered that when his father was dying (in 1942), he
and his brother Jimmy sat up with him for three straight
weeks. He said it was a very hard time, but they helped
keep each other from falling asleep. Uncle Owen slowly
shook his head at the memories of his lost family members
and remarked there are certain things, such as John’s death,
that you can’t come back from. He said he believed John’s
death deeply affected Uncle Jim, whom he believed “took it
with him to the grave.”
Saying goodbye to Uncle Owen the next day was
not easy. Owen and Lynn parked their rental car next to the
remains of the old family cottage. They took a stone to
bring home to Pat from one of the three crumbling walls –
all that remained of the former home. Uncle Owen greeted
230