Charlie Fealey

The Fealey family lived for three generations on The Hill, on the outskirts of Abbeyfeale. Charlie was reared in the 1930s and 1940s in the ancestral thatched cottage which he restored and extended in the 1950s, and he later built a new dwelling nearby. He recalls his father ploughing with horses during the Emergency Period and he provides anecdotes about attending cattle and pig fairs around the country. He worked for Limerick Co. Council for 36 years on repairing Council cottages and constructing new dwellings. His fee was one pound a day at the early stage of his employment. Other topics discussed were rural electrification, matchmaking and carriage building.