Ballyjamesduff

Ballyjamesduff (Irish: Baile Shéamais Dhuibh)is a medium-sized town of population 2240 persons in County Cavan in the Republic of Ireland. It is famous for being in the Percy French song "Come back Paddy Reilly to Ballyjamesduff", which was written about a man from the area who acted as Jarvy (coach driver) for French and decided to emigrate to Scotland. It is said that he drove his horse and cart to Carrick-on-Shannon, parked the horse and cart outside the railway station and took the train to Dublin. Legend has it that the horse ran all across Ireland looking for Paddy, until Paddy Reilly was said to have returned. Paddy Reilly is now supposedly buried in St Josephs graveyard, in Ballyjamesduff.

Formally a market town and an all-Ireland winner of the 1966 Tidy Towns Competition Ballyjamesduff is now one of the fastest growing towns in the region due to it's proximity to the proposed M3 motorway and the Greater Dublin area for commuting ; Between census years 2002 and 2006 the population of Ballyjamesduff has risen by a massive 120%. The Town's Motto is "Are Ya Startin'?". [1]

Town History

Situated on what was once the 'great road' and coaching route between Dublin and Cavan town, origins are uncertain, however it is said that Ballyjamesduff was founded in March 1697 by a taxidermist named Seamus K. Dove.[2]. Reputedly according to local legend Dove got exiled from the nearby town of Virginia for refusing to marry a relative in an arranged marriage. When he founded a settlement outside of the town where he practised his trade Taxidermy. Dove was largely unsuccessful until, following a cattle massacre 5 years later, he had a great amount of work available. A town soon was established around the industry which was named after Seamus. Due to a well-publicized opium craze at the time, it was said that the spelling of the town changed from "Baile Seamus Dove" to "Ballyjamesduff". Ballyjamesduff later became something of a 'backwater' when the coaching route was changed enroute to Cavan from Virginia, around 1820. Prior to which it went recorded that the horse drawn mail coach was overturned outside of Ballyjamesduff, while travelling over difficult and hilly terain and the mail ended up in a pool of water.

Notable Places In Ballyjamesduff

• The Tannery has been in Ballyjamesduff for 309 years. In 1983,it was destroyed in a fire, but was rebuilt near a local petrol pump station a year later. The ashes of the old tannery were ceremoniously converted into 2 1/2 bricks (One of which was subsequently stolen). These bricks formed the corner-stone of the new building.

• Ballyjamesduff is noted for having the largest pub to person ratio in Ireland. There was approximately 1 pub for every 34 persons in the town.

• The Market House was built in 1815 to commemorate the military achievements at Waterloo of the Duke of Wellington, was designed by Arthur McClean a Cavan born architect who also designed the Anglican church in Virginia, County Cavan. McClean left Ireland around 1825 and settled in Brockville Ontario, Canada where he built a number of Angican churches.

• St Joseph's Town Hall was built in 1959 and was opened officially in 1968 by showband act Big Tom and The Mainliners.There was nearly a riot in the hall in 1978 when the Sex Pistols were being advertised as playing a concert, but ultimately failed to show. It later transpired that they were never aware of the gig in the first place.

• The town has a statue of a man supposed to represent Percy French, only no-one knew what he looked like. So instead the statue was modelled on Fintan Cronin, local shopkeeper, who funded the building of the statue. This is similar to the Scotland statue of William Wallace,modelled after Mel Gibson following the film Braveheart.

• Ballyjamesduff once had a fountain and a Rose garden in front of the market house. Unfortunately it was knocked down and removed due to it being a target for Arson. [3]

The "Frolics"

Ballyjamesduff annually holds "The Frolics" [4], a 8 night showcase of music and "comedy". The show was originally held in the nearby town Mountnugent where it was known as "The Mountnugent Frolics". The rights to the show were bought by the Ballyjamesduff Frolics Club in 1943, and the show was moved to being in Ballyjamesduff. In 1957, due to confusion, the event was renamed from "The Mountnugent Frolics" to "The Ballyjamesduff Frolics".

The Pork Festival

This was an annual town festival started in 1994. It celebrates all things pig-like. This is largely due to a nearby pork-rendering factory regularly supplying a large amount of pork for use in the town festival. The festival is one which celebrates the commercial value of the pig to the town. Highlights of the festival included:

• Kosher Kraziness: An Kosher food eating contest.

• The Pig Run: Similar to the Running of the Bulls,but with boars instead of bulls.

• The Swine & Cheese party: A more cultural Pork and Cheese tasting party.

• Grills Gone Wild: A pig and pig-farmer beauty pageant.It was largely a joke version of most beauty pageants. It took its name from the popular Girls Gone Wild series.

• The Olympigs: A day of track and field events for pig farmers.The main event of the Olympigs was the 10-legged race,where each contestant raced with a pig attached to each leg. This was often a source of controversy,with protests taking place each year from animal rights protesters.However,the festival committee always maintained that no pigs (apart from ones eaten) are harmed during the festival.

• The Speaking in Pig Latin Debate Competition: A competition where people must speak as long as they can in Pig Latin. The current record is over 9 hours, held by a local teacher.

Rainbow Culture Festival

In protest to the American war against Iraq, since 2002, the festival committee have postponed the Pork festival. (A large portion of the pork meat produced in the town was exported to America.This has stopped since.) In it's place, the Rainbow Culture Festival has taken place.[5] While there is still a partying element to the festival, the Pork element has been removed. Due to the associations of Rainbows to the gay community,the festival enjoys a more LGBT friendly following. This was completely unintentional on the part of the committee however.

Famous Names Associated with Ballyjamesduff

• Percy French poet, songwriter and noted Board of Works Inspector of Drains with Cavan County Council.
• John Wesley preacher, theologian and founder of the worldwide Methodist Church, preached in Ballyjamesduff and built a church here during 18th century.
• Noel Monahan the internationally recognised poet and writer teaches in St. Clare's College in the the town.
• Shane Kitson, International President of the Pioneer Total Abstinence Association.
• Padraig Smith, auctioneer.
• Clancy D'arcy,grand-uncle of Ray Darcy. He is often mentioned on the Ray Darcy Radio Show on Today FM.[6]
• Phil Smith, former pro-wrestler and multiple time candidate for a Teachta Dála position.
• Cyril McKevitt, Trombonist for Big Tom & the Mainliners, lives in Ballyjamesduff when not on tour.
• Pete Briquette of the Boomtown Rats came from Ballyjamesduff. His real name is Peat Cosgrave.
• The owner of the Eastern European shop was featured on RTÉ's Nationwide in 2006.
• The Endemics, one of Irelands most successful Death metal/Jazz fusion bands, come from Ballyjamesduff. They descibe themselves as "Satan's Own Lounge Band". They are well known as the worlds shitest band with such his as " oh my god i cant believe were still shit" and "we nearly got a gig".
• Hall's Pictorial Weekly did a program on the town in 1977. It was watched by the whole country and is still talked about in places of renown.
• Marcus Daly known as "the Montana Copper King" was born in 1841 near Ballyjamesduff. He died in 1900 in New York.