Memories of Togher - 1940s ~ 1970s - Part 03/04 - Togher Road

The third of a 4-Part article ( read Part 01 here and Part 02 here ) looking back at Togher from the 1940s to the 1970s from the perspective of the Hegarty family , as told by Anne O'Driscoll ( nee Hegarty ). This third short installment begins at the brow of Ardmanning Hill and proceeds down both sides of Togher Road right up to Togher Cross and a little beyond. * Items marked in RED are gone!

 

1 - Longs Farm 

Paddy Long operated a farm between O'Driscolls house and Ardmanning Cottages up to the early 1960s. This farm was bought out by compulsory Purchase Order where the Corporation intiiated a new scheme of houses for sale on a short mortage lease where potential buyers could involve themselves in the design process. Paddy's story is told here.

Ardmanning Hill 1961
Longs Farm ( L ) & Bannons House ( R )

* It must be remarked that one of the newly constructed ( 1962 ) bungalows on Ardmanning Hill is the only structure in Togher to bear the name " Togher Road "!

Bothar an Tochar - Togher Road

 

* The journey now moves to the opposite side of Togher Road.

2 - Bannons House ( see photos above )

Anne jokingly recalled how she had a crush on one of the boys who lived there. It is thought the family moved to Ballincollig after a compulsory purchase order was placed on the land. Noel Bannons father ( one of the siblings who dwelt in the house ) moved to Greenmount while his Brother moved to Greenwood Estate and worked for Irish Steel. The 2 Brothers also had a sister who once lived in the old house.


3 - Unknown ( Crowleys? )

Anne recalls an old lady who lived here always dressed in black and wore a bonnet.

4 - Hosfords Farm

Anne recalls how the family kept to themselves. This family moved to Ovens , Ballincollig in 1967 after compulsory purchase order of their land.


** Please note that not all old cottages and houses were mentioned in interviewing Anne O'Driscoll. They include Ardmanning Cottages , Bunny and Pata Cronins house , Carmelville , Murphys , McCarthys , Leaca Ban and a slew of others which the blog has covered in other articles.

5 - O'Donnells

A tall Garda named O'Donnell ( after which the lane was named ) lived in a big yellow house ( Deanrock House )

6 - Sean O'Briens 

Anne remembers Seanie O'Brien who operated a market garden ( where Market Gardens estate is today ). His sister married a next door neighbour , Frank Moran.

7 - Mannings

The Mannings owned the big house ( where the Barrs clubhouse is now ) and most of the land thereabouts. They had 2 sons who tragically died young. However John Joe Hegarty of The Laurels on Pouladuff Road was great friends of one of the boys and was unofficially " adopted " by the family. This would prove fruitful in later years. There were also 3 Daughters ; Dolly , Greta and Breda. Greta , known as Auntie Greta to the Hegarty siblings , worked for one of the top men in Guinness and even traveled with him to New Zealand for 3 years. However Cor kwas her first love and she eventually returned home. Breda was married to the owner of Follains bookshop in Cork City. Both Greta and Dolly would often jokingly profess their loved for John Joe Hegarty. In the early 1960s ,  Con Neenan who had served with John Joe during the War of Independence was looking for a new home for the Barrs. He had become a wealthy businessman in America and had the finances to fund such a place. However John Joe had the connections with the Mannings ( Anne : " Whatever John Joe wants , John gets! " ). So it was that the Barrs pitch became a reality and many years later their own club house built on the site of the old Manning house.

8 - Kearneys

This was a small cottage angled to the corner of Togher Road and Mannings Lane. 

9 - Roches

Owned all the land where the old Post Office was and now the Dental clinic.

10 - The Forge

Anne remembers a man who wore plastic glasses and used to break rocks with a big hammer.

* Anne went on to recall how she and her sisters would travel up to the Merries known as Gurdys ( a German traveling company ) in Doughcloyne and would also play down by the stream. They would also go up Mathew Hill to Lehenagh House and steal apples known as " blood reds ". They would then move onto Barretts farm to the Green Patch and have a picnic and watch the Bandon train as it travelled through Togher. They would often place half pennies on the tracks to make them flatten so as to look like real pennies as the train passed over. One pennie would get you 12 Caramels! One of these doctored pennies even found its way back to The Laurels shop!

11 - Lehenaghmore House

Anne went out with Thomas Ryan of Lehenaghmore House when she was 15 back in 1955. She loved going up there as she could smell Mrs. Ryan's brown bread and cakes from the gates. Anne : " If you had  loaves of bread , you definitely gave half a loaf to somebody else. It was after the war and everybody minded each other.
We were lucky , we had the shop ; and an aunt had another shop on Shandon Street. She used to get big crates of tea and sugar which were put into little bags for sale. "

Lehenaghmore House 1950s

She remembers her Aunt Maud turning the bags with two knots at the side. Her  Uncle John ( Fennell ) owned a shop and petrol pump in Belgooly and used to visit The Laurels in his motor car which excited the Hegarty children so much they would literally lift him out of the car. He would present them with a half crown and a penny for their troubles. Even though the half crown was worth more , Jack insisted on getting the hen penny while insisting that Pauline got the half crown or the " horse " which was worth five shillings.
Pauline and Anne would save their money under a board in their wardrobe and would later spend it in Woolworths where they would buy little figurines of perfume.

Glasheen River ~ A Brief History of Drainage Schemes in Togher

While the Glasheen River has been in the news due to localized flooding over the last number of years , it may surprise some to know that it had been the focus and attention of Landlords in the 19th Century desperate to reclaim their land from the scourge of flooding. What may surprise some even more is that there are still remnants of the scheme they enacted! This article looks over the history of a bog which impacted on 4 of Togher's townlands and which still presents problems right up to modern times.

 

1655 Down Survey map of South Liberties
Showing Bogland surrounded by townlands ( see text below )

To fully understand the overall historical context of the subject under discussion , it is necessary to go back many centuries. After the last Ice Age ended circa 10,000 years ago , the resulting outwash from the melting of the glaciers brought to life myriad streams and lakes which in turn created a vast wetland or marsh especially as the climate warmed. However , even though our ancestors thrived in them , later invaders looked on them with disdain. Even the Down Survey of 1655 which mapped Ireland for the first time simply referred to the region north of Garrane Darragh , Doughcloyne , Deanrock & Clashduff ( southern portion ) as Bogg or Bogland ( denoted by " (b) " shown in map above ). Of course their only interest was in good quality agricultural land which could turn a profit. However the map is a priceless relic of an area which would cause so many headaches for future developers right up to the modern era!

1830s map showing Garrane Darragh & Doughcloyne
Note : No culverts or railway line

In the early part of the 19th Century the landlords of Garrane Darragh and Doughcloyne decided to take action and attempt to drain the northern portions of their lands. A plan was enacted to cut out 7 parallel channels ( see below ) with some adjacent feeder channels and divert any runoff from the marshland into the local Glasheen River. * It must be stated that this would have been done by a workforce using picks and shovels! They also diverted a local spring which emanated from Togher Cross to act as a conduit to help wick moisture away from the bog. To prevent the Glasheen River from taking water back or flooding they shored up the banks with roughly shaped slabs of stone which gave it a castellated appearance earning itself the nickname " The Ramparts ". 

Late 19th Century map showing Cork Macroom line
Note mini culverts and how close to Glasheen River the line runs

The age of railways encroached upon Togher in the 19th Century with the Cork Bandon line cutting through Garrane Darragh and Doughcloyne. However the later Cork Macroom line decided to traverse the 2 townlands boggy terrain directly. To enable the workers to lay down tracks , trees were first laid down and covered by stone to prevent the line from sinking. To overcome the obstacle of the various channels linked to the Glasheen River , 6 mini stone arched culverts ( see map above ) had to be built to carry the railway line across.

Example of typical stone arched mini culvert

As time wore on a new form of transport entered the arena and spelled the death of the Cork Macroom Direct Railway. C.I.E. , which was formed in 1945 introduced Togher to its first bus service in 1946. Less than 10 years later they were tearing up the Cork Macroom railway tracks circa 1953 with its close neighbour the Cork Bandon line being removed in 1961. It left a ghostly permanent way in its wake which quickly became the playground for countless children in the vicinity who reveled in the excitement and danger of the area. Numerous bog holes , streamlets and the Glasheen River itself were places of adventure where locals hunted for frogs and constructed small rafts on which to navigate the wetlands.

1990s constructed riverbed channel
Note : No mature treeline on embankment

However time waits for no man or boy and nothing stays the same forever. An idea first mooted in the 1950s was about to become a reality. A new National Road was to be laid down in lieu of the old Railway line. So it was that the Cork South Ring Road began construction in the early 1990s. The builders wisely chose to follow the old route of the Cork Macroom railway line. But to achieve this , first work had to commence on clearing the channels which had been cut out in the 19th Century. This also meant removing all the old stone culverts ( see above ). 

Newspaper account of objection to diverting of Glasheen River
Note : Photo shows original course of Glasheen River 
with its original mature treeline in background

Only 1 channel was allowed to remain based on the fact that it had a source back near Togher Cross which ran into the Glasheen River and can still be seen today. Perhaps the most incredible part of all the work of creating the Cork South Ring Road was the decision to move a portion of the Glasheen River further north to facilitate road widening. This met with much opposition from the residents north of the Glasheen River in Donscourt in the townland of Farrandahadore More. A new riverbed and embankment was dug out by heavy machinery to form a straighter course and a portion of the original route of the Glasheen River along with its original mature treeline was gone forever. This new portion is very much evident by the lack of mature trees on its banks when compared to the original sections it joins. The photo above shows that original section of the Glasheen River which is now gone forever.

Course of spring near Spur Hill to channel
adjacent to The Headlands

Course of spring alongside Sarsfield Lane

Treeline at top shows course of spring from Spur Hill
Treeline running at right angles shows channel 
which meets up with Glasheen River at bottom

Of course other natural features and man made solutions to the never ending problem of drainage enter the narrative as well. Firstly , a drainage pit was created during the construction of Garrane Darra housing complex. It is thought this was piped through to a natural stream which emanated from the bogland just south of the N40. In turn this stream was diverted back into the Glasheen River north of the N40 and under the Sarsfield Road Flyover. And just east of that is a natural boghole north of The Headlands. Added to all of this is the mysterious culvert which runs along the entrance to Elm Park. It consists of 2 entrance bridges. It is not known to date if this was again a modern drainage scheme.

Water Drainage pit installed during construction 
of Eagle Valley 1990s

Drainage pit near  The Headlands and Eagle Valley
Now heavily overgrown

Fenced off Boghole between Sarsfield Road Flyover 
and The Headlands

Channel under Sarsfield Flyover
diverting stream from nearby marsh

Culvert flowing into Glasheen River

Culvert alongside Elm Park

Elm Park channel