Uploaded September 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
In this conversation, Eileen Wall looks back on growing up in the Irishtown in New Ross, remembering family life, school, food, work, traditions and the people who shaped her childhood.
Eileen recalls being born in the Irish Town and talks about school, including her time with the Ursuline nuns, whom she remembers with great affection.
She brings childhood vividly to life through memories of simple foods such as tapioca, rice, yellow meal, colcannon and googy eggs, as well as growing vegetables, storing potatoes under straw and the excitement of receiving an orange or apple as a special treat.
Eileen describes a world without running water or television, when children carried buckets from the well and spent long summer evenings outdoors. She remembers playing, climbing trees, collecting tadpoles and watching newts (evvets) on the churchyard headstones.
A particularly moving part of the interview concerns her father who worked at the rubber factory. Eileen describes him as a hardworking and loving father who told stories and recited poetry to his children. She remembers learning poems at bedtime and now passing some of them on to her grandchildren.
The conversation also explores Christmas, Halloween, Wren Boys traditions, May Bushes, religious customs, local beliefs and childhood superstitions.
Above all, this is a conversation about memory, family and community — and about how much has changed. Eileen reflects on missing her parents, neighbours and the old Irish Town, saying simply: “It’s not the same.”
CHAPTERS
00:00 – Introduction: New Ross and the Irish Town
02:21 – Leaving school and the Ursuline convent
03:29 – Family members and migration to England
05:17 – Remembering Mum, Dad and childhood food
07:10 – Googy eggs and homemade meals
08:03 – Growing vegetables and working in the garden
09:21 – The Angelus bells and family routine
09:48 – Storing potatoes and apples for winter
10:12 – Onions, carrots and making food last
11:09 – Treats, oranges and childhood scarcity
13:31 – Buckets, water and life without running water
14:05 – The arrival of television and running water
15:00 – Childhood games, trees and outdoor freedom
15:32 – Cooking and household life
26:31 – Christmas pudding and taking Dad his dinner
29:10 – Christmas memories and Dad’s sense of fun
30:07 – Nickno and Driver Harris
31:01 – Work, the garden and memories of the meadow
32:03 – Tadpoles, newts and childhood stories
33:39 – Christmas presents and stockings
35:36 – Christmas dinner and family traditions
37:04 – Pheasant, rabbits and preparing food
39:44 – Eels, cooking and memories of Dad
41:05 – Dad’s stories, poetry and passing it on
43:03 – Halloween, beliefs, Wren Boys and May Bushes
52:02 – Remembering the old community and what has changed
In this conversation, Eileen Wall looks back on growing up in the Irishtown in New Ross, remembering family life, school, food, work, traditions and the people who shaped her childhood.
Eileen recalls being born in the Irish Town and talks about school, including her time with the Ursuline nuns, whom she remembers with great affection.
She brings childhood vividly to life through memories of simple foods such as tapioca, rice, yellow meal, colcannon and googy eggs, as well as growing vegetables, storing potatoes under straw and the excitement of receiving an orange or apple as a special treat.
Eileen describes a world without running water or television, when children carried buckets from the well and spent long summer evenings outdoors. She remembers playing, climbing trees, collecting tadpoles and watching newts (evvets) on the churchyard headstones.
A particularly moving part of the interview concerns her father who worked at the rubber factory. Eileen describes him as a hardworking and loving father who told stories and recited poetry to his children. She remembers learning poems at bedtime and now passing some of them on to her grandchildren.
The conversation also explores Christmas, Halloween, Wren Boys traditions, May Bushes, religious customs, local beliefs and childhood superstitions.
Above all, this is a conversation about memory, family and community — and about how much has changed. Eileen reflects on missing her parents, neighbours and the old Irish Town, saying simply: “It’s not the same.”
CHAPTERS
00:00 – Introduction: New Ross and the Irish Town
02:21 – Leaving school and the Ursuline convent
03:29 – Family members and migration to England
05:17 – Remembering Mum, Dad and childhood food
07:10 – Googy eggs and homemade meals
08:03 – Growing vegetables and working in the garden
09:21 – The Angelus bells and family routine
09:48 – Storing potatoes and apples for winter
10:12 – Onions, carrots and making food last
11:09 – Treats, oranges and childhood scarcity
13:31 – Buckets, water and life without running water
14:05 – The arrival of television and running water
15:00 – Childhood games, trees and outdoor freedom
15:32 – Cooking and household life
26:31 – Christmas pudding and taking Dad his dinner
29:10 – Christmas memories and Dad’s sense of fun
30:07 – Nickno and Driver Harris
31:01 – Work, the garden and memories of the meadow
32:03 – Tadpoles, newts and childhood stories
33:39 – Christmas presents and stockings
35:36 – Christmas dinner and family traditions
37:04 – Pheasant, rabbits and preparing food
39:44 – Eels, cooking and memories of Dad
41:05 – Dad’s stories, poetry and passing it on
43:03 – Halloween, beliefs, Wren Boys and May Bushes
52:02 – Remembering the old community and what has changed
