Máire na Searraigh

Máire na Searraigh

My uncle,Martin Holleran,known as Matie (1915-2001) told me numerous stories of the "goings-on" around Clonbur,Co.Galway in the good old days .Things he had seen and things he had heard casually from the old people in the area.
He told me about an amazing woman who lived in Dooroy,Clonbur.He called her Máire Sheáin ,but said she was known far and wide as Máire na Searraigh.Searrach,as is well known,is the Irish word for a young horse or foal.

I checked her out and ,sure enough,there she was on the 1901 Census of Ireland.Mary Varley aged 38 which means, if she gave truthful information,that she was born in 1863.She was a single lady and on the night of the Census she lived in house number 19 in Dooroy with her servant,John Duffy,aged 16. John Duffy was probably related to her.

In the 1911 Census she gave her age as 40 (birth 1871) so take your pick.


She was nicknamed Máire na Searraigh because she was a noted "ceannaidhe" of horses and cattle She had a great eye for stock.

She travelled to fairs all over Connamara and way down Mayo dealing in horses and cattle.She'd buy lean beasts,fatten them up for a spell on Good Dooroy grass and then sell them on for a nice profit.

She could do the deals but she needed drovers to move her large herds.One of her drovers was my grandfather,Liam Holleran,of Carrowkeel,Clonbur.It was through Liam's chats that Matie heard of the Amazonian Máire na Searraigh.

The Drovers worked mainly at night so as to reach the fair venue at crack of dawn.Liam told of a cattle drive to the fair of Balla,Co Mayo.They were on the road all night.Máire would sell her prime stock and then send the drovers around the fair to mingle with the crowd and evesdrop on any bargains that were in progress.When she had all her information collected she would use her knowledge well and buy a new bunch of beasts at fairly "Knock-down" prices.

I assume she became rich but do not know who inherited her vast fortune and estate.Maybe there are sovereigns buried in Dooroy so keep an eye on the end of the rainbow agus go n-eirí leat.