Sheep dip from Louth now on display in National Museum of Ireland

Irish Independent

24-04-2025

The story behind the sheep dip is told in Happy Days and Hard Times, a collection of memories, stories and images, compiled by the National Museum of Ireland, which has just been reprinted for a third time due to its ongoing success.
The book came about through a reminiscence project, which encouraged visitors to the National Museum at Turlough Park in Co. Mayo, to submit their memories, inspired by the folklife objects on display in the museum galleries.
The Louth contribution is by a Castlebar-based woman called Ann Marie Dowling whose mother was from Co Louth.
'My mother was born in 1930 – one of ten children on a farm in Cortial, Kilcurly, Co. Louth. The pink sheep dip on Level C was owned by her family and was used to dip the sheep,' she wrote.
"Over 30 years ago, a photo was taken of my uncle, my mother and I standing by this dip in the barn at Cortial. We still have this photo though my sister and I are in our late 40s now. Sadly, my uncle died in the early 1990s and my mother passed away in 2011, aged 80 years. I will always remember the stories she recounted of a very happy childhood on the farm in Co. Louth.
'Perhaps it is these that have influenced me to make my home in the more rural environment of Co. Mayo, having been raised in Dublin. I find it a pleasure to visit the museum here in Turlough. My mother is never far from my mind on these visits.'
The book was compiled by the Museum's documentation officer, Joanne Hamilton, who first started collecting visitor memories in 2013.
'It is wonderful to see Happy Days and Hard Times reprinted for a third time,' she said. 'The thought-provoking stories resonate with so many; those visits to the bog with the flask of tea or cycling the countryside. It brings people back to a simpler past, a past filled with colour and conversation, a past where children ran through fields till dusk and neighbours sat for hours whiling away time.
'Of course, as the book title suggests, not all of the rich memories of country living are surrounded with a nostalgic glow; these were hard times as well, and this comes through as people recount their stories.'
Visitors from all over Ireland and many people living abroad contributed to the book. The book even features a contribution from the famous musician Christy Moore who recalls listening to Michael O'Hehir on the wireless and hearing day-old chicks chirp underneath the settle bed.
Members of the public can still contribute memories and stories of country life to the project either via the memory sheets available in the reminiscence corner at the National Museum in Turlough Park or by downloading a memory sheet from www.museum.ie.
Copies of the book are available now at any of the book shops at the three National Museum of Ireland locations – Turlough Park, Castlebar; Kildare Street, Dublin 2 or Collins Barracks, Dublin 7.