On the road to Cahirmee

A family in their beautifully decorated caravan en route to the Cahirmee Horse Fair (which we now know is held on 12 July every year) at Buttevant, Co. Cork,

Thanks to Frank Fullard for letting us know that "the fair of Cahirmee (which is now actually held in Buttevant) is still going strong and the members of the travelling community are still as much a part of it as ever." In fact, Frank took some great photos at the Fair in 2011...

The day this photo featured on the front page of the Irish Times (14th Sept 2017) marking the opening of our Photo Detectives Exhibition. A new detective Maeve Burke reports "The woman in the front is my Nanna Elizabeth "Lizzie" Furey Hanafin (niece of the late, great Ted Furey). This was taken when she was 17 and only 2 years before she got married to my Granda who cannot believe how popular this picture has become and how famous his Lizzie is! She passed away 4 years ago but I can tell you she would've loved making the front page of The Irish Times today nevermind being in an exhibition in Dublin! She'd have every copy in the country bought & be up at the exhibition herself! She was a great storyteller, a tough-cookie and well known and respected in Kerry. Her and my Granda bought a chipvan and went all over Ireland to festivals and fairs making friends wherever they went. She told me and my sister lots of stories about when she was travelling with her mother Dolly Furey, who would play the accordion for money and all the hardships they faced, especially during the cold winters in the wagon. We're lucky too that she taught my mother and us the Gammon (which would've been her first language) and passed on many great traveller traditions and crafts like crocheting, sewing, singing, lilting and storytelling. She really was an amazing woman and this is a picture our family will treasure forever. Thank you so much to everyone who commented on this, she would've been over the moon!"

Photographer: Elinor Wiltshire

Collection: Wiltshire Photographic Collection

Date: July 1954

NLI Ref.: WIL m12[54]

You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie

Done