Frank Carroll: A Lust for Life Part Two

I’m continuing with the memories of 79-year old Frank Carroll. In his own words…
When winter came with the frost and snow we could make some great slides on the road. You could slide all night without being interrupted by a single car. Indeed, the only interruption would be when you made too much noise and some neighbour would come out to you.

Then there was the railway junction at Cabra with the wagons on the siding. Here was where cowboy films that we had seen in the Plaza, Volta or the Phibsboro picture houses would be re-enacted with us running along the wagons, locking the girls in them and pushing hard against the buffers. Needless to say, the railway was out of bounds, but of course we never informed our parents as to where we were. The Liffy Junction was a mass of railway sidings and was a place where we could really have a good time.

There were other days that we would spend rambling up to Finglas and Blanchardstown by way of Cardiff Bridge and Jerry Moffot’s Hill where there were great orchards and boxing the fox [taking apples] was always on the cards. On the way back, if you had your swimming trunks, you could have a swim in the broken arch, quarry or canal.

At night you played knick-knack, which entailed attaching a black thread to a knocker on a hall door, hiding in the next-door garden and pulling the string. When someone came out to see who was knocking then as soon as they closed the door you would pull again. If they noticed the string you could be sure of a good chase!

After that you went up the passageway that was a part of the estate and had a great time telling jokes or having a good sing-song. After a while a small fire would be lit and then someone would enter a garden and get potatoes. We would put these on the fire to cook and often they would be half raw when you ate them, but it was great fun. Marbles and Jackstones were other activities that could be enjoyed by both boys and girls.

The Silver Spoon on the Ballyboggin Road was another favourite spot for families to go on Sunday for a picnic, because it was safe. It got the name because it was located in a beautiful tree-covered area along the banks of the Tolka River, at the bottom of Broombridge. On the opposite side, which led to Finglas there was a ruin that was believed to be part of the fortification of Seagraves Castle. This was where King James is reported to have stayed when he fled the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. The area was called the “Broken Arch” and wasn’t far from where a tunnel led up the hill, made naturally by trees, bushes and brambles. It made the location an adventure land for children.

Who can forget the lovely row of cottages that was at Cardiff Bridge? Or the walk to the Finglas Road where one could see the huge Merville Dairy, where they processed and distributed its products throughout the city?

There are so many memories that I could recount about the people and the fun that made Cabra such a place to be proud of.

Before Cabra West was built you had nothing but green fields all the way up to the Ratoath Road and when horse dealers brought their horses they would put them up there for days before sending them off to France or Belgium. Many are the nights that we would get some rope to make a bridle and ride the horses. Of course, if we were to be caught by a man named Cole we were in right trouble.

These were big open fields that attracted many gypsies who parked their caravans all over the place, especially up at the top of Bannow Road at Broomsbridge. These caravans were not the beautiful motorised caravans that you see today, but they were clean and some were painted in the most wonderful colours. The gypsies kept the area around them clean and tidy, and it was a huge bonus for them as most of them were horse traders and so had free grazing as well as being near to the horse market at Smithfield.

Then there was Mr. Gaines, on whose field he would allow the local teams to play their football matches. One that stands out for me was the road league, which the adults had organised. I played on the St. Attracta Road team that beat Cuala Road in the final. The reason why it stands out is that we changed in Sweetman’s shed on Attracta Road and that garden backed on to the railway, so we only had to get over a little wall and down the bank on to the railway up at the far side of the field. The ball was lost in the heavy gorse that surrounded the field. Then, as we were on our way back to Sweetman’s shed we heard that they had got the ball back, so we went and continued the match.

When they started building Cabra West they put all the roads in first and then proceeded to put the foundations in for the houses [Wish they had the brains to do that today rather than the other way around—Brady]. A track was then laid along the road where bogies [apparently a kind of level platform that transported equipment and ran on tracks] would deliver the bricks and mortar to the builders and naturally these became another challenge, as someone would distract the watchman while the other would put a bogie on the track and go speeding along. It was fun while it lasted.

I left school at 14 to work in Briody’s Grocery Store on Phibsboro Road for 5 shillings a week. It was great to see all the farmers who brought their hay to Smithfield Market and, on their way home to the Naul in Garristown and Ashbourne, would stop at the shop and fill up with their groceries.

I then went to work in Smith’s Butcher Shop on the Shandon Road. After a few more moves I worked as a butcher’s porter for three years in John Plunket’s butcher shop in Summerhill. Monday was our half-day and Tommy Ward R.I.P. and myself would go to the Capitol Cinema where a stage show and film was the order of the day, with J. Doherty and his band and with Joe Bonny on drums they were great to listen to. On Thursday we would go out to Gleeson Slaughter House in Finglas to kill cattle and sheep for the shop. On leaving Plunkett’s I commenced work in the Electricity Supply Board in 1948.

I’ll continue with Frank’s memories—and what a memory he has!—in the December issue of Irish American News.