A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE with OLIVER & VERA HYNES

If ever a discussion is being had about old times in the area, whether it be a person, a place or an event, it won’t be long before you hear the phrase “ask Oliver”. This is because Oliver, along with his wife Vera, are among the most well respected and knowledgeable people on Mount Temple and its hinterland. Oliver’s earliest memories go all the way back to a time when the area in which he lives, known as Carn Park today, was owned by one family, by the name of Gray. They lived in a country house within Carn Woods, which has since fallen into total ruin. According to Oliver, they were generous folk and never let those who worked for them ever go home without pay.

Oliver remembers a time when there was a great mound in the middle of the village, as he referred to it as the “corner at Hanevy’s’’. He remembers looking up at sheep on top of the mound! The Council would eventually blast the site, on which a new house has just been built. Oliver also recalls the first cars in the village. One belonged to Frank Fitzgerald and the other to Mike Mahon.

One of the most recognisable places in the community is Kieran’s Shop. Oliver remembers a time when Mrs McCormack used to run the shop, and before her time the Griffin family ran that shop. Mrs McCormack was also the local dressmaker. Oliver and Vera also remember the old Creamery in the village. This was located at the crossroads passed the church, and the building is still there and being lived in to this day! Oliver remembered his brother Paddy bringing up the milk on a Monday morning, and how he would always come home with more milk than he brought up! Both Vera and Oliver said the Creamery was a great asset to the village, however over time, larger milk lorries from Longford and Mullingar replaced the horse and cart used by many locals. There is an old pump situated across from the community hall in Mount Temple, however this steel pump is not the original pump, as Oliver remembers a time when there was an old wooden pump there, referred to as the “School Pump”. This is because the community hall as we know today was once the local national school, and was only closed as a school in 1964 when An Grianán National School was opened.

One interesting tale Oliver told was of the old stone in the Holy Trinity Graveyard. Nestled within one of the walls surrounding the church itself is a stone with old Irish inscriptions on it, which spell out Maol Muire. Oliver can remember when a priest at the time, Fr Carney, along with Jimmy “Jim Jim” Oughten and Willie Haughton brought this stone from a Mass Rock in Shurock, a townland outside the village. The stone is still visible today, and when the sun shines directly on it you can clearly see the ancient inscription. Oliver and Vera can also recount the time in the late 1960s when a campaign was launched to change the name of the village of Mount Temple back to its original name, Ballyloughloe. Oliver recounted one Paddy Malone remarking at the time; “Sure you’d want an envelope the size of a cement pipe to write Ballyloughloe, Moate, County Westmeath on it!” The petition to change the name came from Canon McGivney, the PP in Moate at the time, but when he left the petition was never heard of again.

Oliver and Vera remember one of the biggest changes that came to the area in the rural electrification scheme. One yarn Oliver remembers about the introduction of electricity was that some people would still buy boxes of matches even though they now had electricity. When asked why they were still buying the boxes of matches, the retort would simply be “to find the switch!”