Going to the Well for Water: The Seamus Ennis Field Diary 1942-1946

18 Donegal – Toraigh, May 1946

18 Donegal – Toraigh, May 1946 16 May to 7 June 19461 Thursday 16.5.46 I left Dublin this morning. I had my own car for the first time setting off, a Ford ABF2 I have owned for the last six weeks or so. My mother was travelling with me, as I was headed for Donegal. She was visiting Rathmelton to spend a fortnight with friends there. We had a pleasant journey through Mullingar and Longford and when we came to Dromod my mother wanted to go to Corrycramp, a few miles to the east, to visit. This is how she came to know the area. Her brother [Frank McCabe] was active in the Rising3 and when they were on the run he was hiding in Corrycramp. My mother came to visit him at the Easter weekend and she got to know the people in the neighbourhood with whom he was friendly. In the end, my mother’s brother, Frank McCabe, married a local girl,4 which means that I have connections there. I saw a fiddle hanging on the kitchen wall in a few houses there and they reminded me that there is music in that locality. I know Tom Mulligan, a fiddle player from the area, who lives in Dublin and has several old tunes he learned at home. I spent a while with friends, Willie MacNamara and his wife in Boyle, County Roscommon. We arrived in Sligo shortly after ten at night and stayed in the Grand Hotel.5 Friday 17.5.46 We spent some of the morning around Sligo and I saw friends there – the Leonards. We set off towards the north and had lunch in Bundoran. When we reached Donegal town I had to go in search of Seán Ó hEochaidh. He was to meet me there today to accompany me to Gort an Choirce in the car. There was no sign of him, but, as a train from Na 329 Cealla Beaga was due at five o’clock, I decided to wait and see if Seán was on it. He was not. Jack Doyle was on the train but that was poor compensation. (Seán told me he did not receive the telegram I had sent on Wednesday because of some delay in the post office in Carrick. It was his fault. He told me that one evening a young girl was dispatched in bad weather with the telegram to Cruachlann (four miles of lonely, deserted hilly road). It was not urgent. He told the postmaster not to bother sending any other one that was not urgent. He set off early on Thursday morning and the telegram was waiting for him as he passed the post office.) So, we continued through Bearnas Mór to Ballybofey out through Letterkenny to Rathmelton, where we stayed with our friends the McDaids. Nothing unusual to report there. Saturday 18.5.46 After dinner, I said goodbye to my mother and the others. I set off to Gort an Choirce where Seán [Ó hEochaidh] was waiting for me. We had tea in the hotel6 and I met all my friends there, just as they had been. I met Dinny Boyle (O.S.) and Master [Paddy] Bonar later and we chatted for a while, had a drink and went home. I drove Seán to the Mac Gabhanns’ house in An Caiseal and I continued on to Dinny’s house. We spent a long time by the fire talking and went to bed at eleven o’clock. I was very tired, travelling as I had done through so many counties and meeting so many people, and had left home not having slept a great deal. Sunday 19.5.46 We attended the first Mass. I brought Dinny [Ó Baoill] and his daughter, Bríd Bheag, in the car to Leitir Catha and we spent the day there, apart from a lift I gave Róise and Lizzie [Ní Bhaoill] to An Clochán Liath and back. I tried to see Niallaí Ó Baoill, the fiddle player, but failed to find him. He was not at home and there was no sight of him on the road nor in any of the houses that he visits. Dinny Boyle with Séamus Ennis (Courtesy Tomás Ó Baoill) 330 Going to the Well for Water Dinny and I went home to bed after seeing a dance in full...