A nod to Limerick's past at first St Patrick’s parade in Hospital

THERE was a trip down memory lane at this year’s first ever St Patrick’s Day parade in Hospital.

One of the village’s best known business families gave those in attendance a glimpse at how funerals took place in years gone by.

Michael O’Leary, representing the current generation of O’Leary’s undertakers retraced the steps of a bygone era when he led their horse-drawn hearse - last used for funerals in 1957 - through the village.

“We were applauded all the way up the town. The people were five deep along the path,” Michael recalled.

“One man who I’d play golf with met with me in the street. He came out to me and said he remembers it (the horse and cart) passing his door. This man is 74 or 75 years of age. So he was only a child of five when it was last used,” the funeral director said.

It took staff from O’Leary’s Funerals two weeks to prepare the unique entry to the inaugural parade.

Michael paid tribute to Jimmy and Jake Leddin, along with Michael (Doll) Real.

Between them, they provided the horse to draw the hearse and help get the show on the road.

The O’Leary's horse-drawn hearse also paraded along Hospital’s Main Street in 1984 as part of the Country Fair.

Back then, Duddy O’Leary was all dressed up with his top hat on.

His son-in-law Liam O’Mahony sat beside him 41 years ago.

While it was a truly nostalgic moment to see the horse-drawn hearse as part of the modern parade, when O’Leary’s Undertakers was founded, at the start of the 20th century, they were commonly used for funerals.

National records note the importance of horse-drawn transport to the economy of many rural towns and villages.

Streets were filled with saddlers, harness makers, farriers, blacksmiths, cart and coach makers and wheelwrights. Hospital was no different, with the mode of transport being integral to the village and its surrounds.

Throughout the 1900s Michael O’Leary (1879 -1957), together with his son Denis (Duddy) (1911-2006) supported local farmers in ploughing, harrowing and tilling their land.

This exchange of labour, of lending and borrowing horses and machinery, was a national rural movement known as 'comhar' with these long-term friendships at its centre.

From the turn of the century, before the advent of public transport, Michael O' Leary also provided a horse-drawn coach service to Limerick and surrounding areas.

The horse-drawn hearse used in the parade was last used for local funerals in 1957.

Thousands from across Limerick celebrated the national day across the city and the county last week.

A crowd of up to 70,000 witnessed the city’s parade, which saw Paralympian Róisín Ní Ríain star as grand marshal.