If Walls Could Talk: Beautiful Ballinacurra has such a unique history

SITUATED south of the city centre, Ballinacurra Creek is an important ecological habitat at the edge of Limerick. Over the centuries, the creek has witnessed many events including tragic incidents and, as such, the area was widely recorded in contemporary newspapers.

According to Logainm.ie, Ballinacurra takes its name from Béal Átha na Cora meaning the fordmouth of the weir.
Once familiar placenames often featured in newspaper reports such as Monsell’s Creek, opposite Tervoe, where in June 1832, an open sailboat ran into difficulty and three people perished close to Ballinacurra Creek. The victims included the son of George Parris, veterinary surgeon, a servant boy [unnamed] and a lad named Harrison. Parris’ surgery was located on Thomas Street. A few years later in May 1834, the Limerick Chronicle reported that ‘a man of elderly appearance, of rather humble rank in life, named Daniel McNamara was found drowned by two fishermen at Ballinacurra Creek.’ He was thought to have been accidentally drowned as there were ‘no appearance of violence marks on the body.’

In the early 1850s, James Halpin of Mungret was declared a hero when he saved the lives of two young boys who were in danger of drowning in the creek.
In June 1854, the Limerick Chronicle carried a story entitled ‘Audacious Highway Robbery’ describing how a discharged convict robbed a pensioner from the 61st Regt. at gunpoint while he was walking near Ballinacurra Creek. The victim, James Sheehy parted with two shillings and the robber ran away with his booty. Sheehy alerted two nearby policemen who gave chase and apprehended the thief.

It was discovered that he was James Molony, a returned convict recently discharged from Spike Island off Cork. In 1847, he was sentenced to ten years’ transportation for the robbery of a large sum of money from an old man – McNamara, near Kilrush in Co. Clare. His crime was particularly barbaric in that he ‘forced the old man’s wife onto the fire in order to compel her to reveal where their money was hidden.’ Molony was convicted and transported to the notorious Bermuda Convict Settlement before being sent back to Spike Island in 1853. It appears that Molony’s sojourn overseas did little to deter him away from a life of crime and he was committed to full trial for robbing James Sheehy.
Not all stories associated with the Creek are violent in nature. The Tipperary Vindicator reported that at a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce in August 1859, a novel project was discussed by the board. The purpose of the meeting was to devise a plan for the embankment of the tidal slob from the west wall of the New Dock and Ballinacurra Creek be converted into a People’s Park. Ultimately, the plan did not come to fruition; the site was deemed not to be suitable.
In January 1882, a large quantity of dynamite was stolen from Evans & Co.’s magazine depot in Ballykeeffe. The incident was reported in multiple Irish and British newspapers including the Brief (London) which stated that ‘Mr Thomas Hogan of Ballinacurra near Limerick discovered that the door of the depot had been broken open.’ It was erected on his farm and is clearly marked on contemporary OS maps.

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In the present day, the site is approximately occupied by the housing development known as Russell Court. The newspaper report continued ‘600 pounds of dynamite was stolen, and the robbery has created considerable alarm in the vicinity. Mr Hogan is the Limerick agent appointed under the Explosives Act. He is paid £15 renumeration annually. The house where the dynamite was stored is adjacent to Ballinacurra Barracks.’ The site where the barracks was located now forms part of the grounds of the popular Unicorn Bar and Restaurant. Despite extensive searches of the area, the police did not discover the whereabouts of the stolen dynamite but concluded that it was hidden in Ballinacurra Creek. They noted that ‘the people in the locality declined affording them any information.’
Nearly 50 years later in 1931, a youth while fishing near the metal bridge that spans the Dock Road at Ballinacurra Creek, came across a metal box. It aroused his suspicions enough for the guards to be called. On further inspection, it was discovered that the box contained five live Mills bombs. They were made safe by army engineers.
Perhaps one of the most intriguing stories related to Ballinacurra Creek concerns a long-forgotten private golf links with its own club house. The course was mentioned in several news reports from the end of the nineteenth century, for example, while conducting an enquiry in 1898, Coroner Cleary gave his address as the ‘golf club, Ballinacurra. We are presented with another clue from 1901, a guest staying at Cruise’s Hotel was informed that a ‘private golf links was to be found in Ballinacurra.’ The precise location of the golf links remains elusive to this day.

Dr Paul O’Brien lectures at Mary Immaculate College.