Exploring the Heritage of Johnnie Mack's Mud House in Tullaroe

The home of the late Johnnie McNamara, a bachelor farmer, in Tullaroe, near Querrin, is a three-roomed, single-storey, mud, stone and concrete built house, which was thatched and has fallen into ruin since Johnnie's death in 1981 at the age of 95. This is a vernacular house which was built by the residents at the time using local materials and traditional techniques, reflecting the specific cultural and environmental context of the area.
Historian Paddy Waldron explains that a house is shown on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of c.1840 at what has since become known as Johnnie Mack's Cross, but was then Behan's Cross, and previously Eyres' Cross. Paddy has traced the inhabitants of the house and surrounding farm back to 1827, when the occupier was Thomas Eyres. The farm descended in the female line through these three surnames, while others born here emigrated to various parts of the USA, where many of their descendants live today. In 1901, eleven people lived in the three rooms, including: McNamara parents; seven children; and two of the wife’s siblings, John and Eliza Behan, who ran a shop across the road. Johnnie McNamara was the last occupant of the house and is remembered in the living history of the area today.
Paddy Waldron will give an overview of the family history of the people who lived in the house, followed by a general discussion about the neighbourhood, traditions and customs of the time.