Folklore in north Leitrim is kept alive by the storytelling of Pat McGowan and James Doherty.
Pat 'Phildy' McGowan and James Doherty are storytellers, folklorists, actors, singers, musicians and performers. From Geaglom in County Leitrim the two men for many years have been heavily involved in local drama.
The people of this remote area endured hard times in the past due to the attitude of their landlords. According to a James Doherty the landlord Henry Stewart Montgomery was no exception. Having benefited from a tenant’s hospitality while out hunting, he increased her rent.
He was supposed to be an awful tyrant.
Evictions were also a regular occurrence, but things improved with the arrival of the National Land League of Ireland.
Farmers in Leitrim joined with those around the country in boycotting their neighbours who had taken over farms of families who had been evicted. Pat McGowan recounts how this news was spread,
When you’d be boycotted, you’d hear the horns blowin’.
The macabre tale of one land agent’s debt collection method lives on in local memory. This tall and imposing man struck fear into the hearts of tenant farmers, and was known as, the Walking Gallows.
‘Looking West : North Leitrim Folklore’ was broadcast on 14 November 1980. The presenter is Jim Fahy.
'Looking West' was an RTÉ Radio series presented by Jim Fahy which featured stories from life in rural Ireland during the 19th and 20th centuries.
