Previous to the housing developments of the 1960s , a whole chapter of local Togher history was in evidence. Sadly following compulsory purchase order of the land and its old houses , many were displaced and their stories and lives lost to time. Gladly , the Blog can lift the veil on one family who lived on Togher Road at that time - the Plaice Family. The Blog would like to thank Michael Plaice for sharing his memories.
Michael Plaice
Michael Plaice : " My
parents were Paddy and Margaret a.k.a Peggy (nee Walsh) , siblings Angela , Patricia,
Mary , Michael and twins Margaret & Dermot. My father was a gardener , when I was growing
up he worked in Fitzgerald’s Park in the nursery area there. I
was only about 9 when we left Togher , but my memory of it is , we had a
small two or possibly three roomed cottage. I think there was a kitchen
and two bedrooms. It had an outside toilet which wasn’t plumbed. It had
a yard and there was a high wall (or I was very small ) and a gate out
to the road. So it didn’t have a garden in front , the side wall of the
house was on the road with a window. The yard wall might have been a
part of the walls of the O’Donnell estate. I think the cottage next door
was derelict and the next after that was the entrance to the avenue up
to O’Donnells. Behind the house were fields I think and the soccer pitch was very near
too. There was a big stand of trees about a hundred yards or so behind
us and a small rise up to them. "
Patricia Ronayne ( nee Plaice ) : " An old couple called Travers lived next door, and Finnegans in the other cottage. "
Plaice house , Togher Road
( near turn into O'Donnell's Lane )
" We moved to Gregg Road in Gillabbey near St. Finbarrs Cathedral.
I don’t think any other neighbours moved at the time. I don’t remember
any other houses between our one and Deanrock Terrace , which were a bit
further out beyond the soccer pitch and next to a caravan park. I was
born in 1959, so we’d have moved about 1968 I’d say. I think they were
going to start building the NBA houses soon after that. There was
nothing only fields all the way back to Wilton then, up to the African
Missions house. "
Angela & Patricia Evening Echo 1955
( Kindly supplied by Bill Bailey )
Togher Boys National School 1966
" There
were big changes alright after we left but I did keep going to Togher
school. The number 14 bus from Lough Road or walking sometimes. Almost
completely rural when we left , Clashduv Road wasn’t there at all , no
houses really all the way to Wilton. The church was built after the
school I think , so that wasn’t there when I finished in Togher school
either. The Barrs was there , but smaller , Sarsfield Road wasn’t there
either , so there was no connection to what became Wilton. The road went
up at Togher Cross and the other way went under a bridge that was called
the Snotty Bridge , I think because it had a lot of green moss on it all
the time! I have only the vaguest memories of the neighbours. There were Murphys almost
directly across from us , I think they had a market garden behind their
house. There was another market gardener just beyond them too on that
side of the road about half way between us and Tramore Road. I think
they were Morans
maybe. The daughters had a flower shop later at the Grand Parade end of
Oliver Plunkett Street. My sister Patricia would be good on the
neighbours. I went to Togher School in the old building until the last
year when we moved to the new one. 1970 I’d say. "
