Ireland's oldest woman Sarah Coyle dies at the age of 108
Sarah Coyle, a native of Knockatomcoyle, Co Wicklow, had been living with her daughter Marian Galligan in Castleknock, Dublin.
She passed away peacefully on Monday, surrounded by her family.
Mrs Coyle, who was born in the year of the Easter Rising, is understood to have been the oldest person in the country.
Sarah, whose maiden name was Byrne, was born on July 24, 1916, and grew up in Coolkenno before moving to Dublin as a teenager.
In an interview with The Irish Times in April, her daughter Marian said her mother had a strong memory of the Black and Tans, the British forces who operated in Ireland during the War of Independence from 1919 to 1921.
'When she was very young, the Black and Tans came around and brought her grandfather James out. They were going to shoot him at the gable end [of the house] – for no reason, they were just going around doing purges,' Ms Galligan said.
"He blessed himself and he said, 'Blessed be the will of God'. At this point, the leader of the group told his men, 'Put down your guns. They left him there; they didn't shoot him. It wasn't the will of God,' Ms Galligan said.
Mrs Coyle came from a family of ten. Many of her siblings also lived long lives. Her sister Lily Kelly, who resides in Solihull, UK, turned 103 earlier this year, while her brother Andy Byrne lived to 100.
As a young woman, Sarah worked as a housekeeper in Foxrock, Dublin, and met her husband Tom Coyle at a dance. He was a native of Cavan and died in the mid-1980s. He had worked as a postman until ill health set in during his late fifties.
The couple lived in Drumcondra and had four children, two of whom died as newborns.
The grandmother and great-grandmother lost her sight in her early thirties. Sarah rarely drank, other than an occasional sherry 'to be sociable.'
She attributed her long life to her mother's tradition of adding the first nettles of spring to cabbage 'to purify the blood.'
Mrs Coyle became the oldest person in Ireland following the death of Ruby Druce on March 20 in Letterkenny, Co. Donegal.
Ms Druce was 109 years and 79 days old at the time of her passing and had lived independently until the age of 98.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Post
25 minutes ago
- Irish Post
A phrasebook of Irishness abroad
WHAT time is it there? That was the first one that seemed to confuse them. This was around the time that I'd first moved away from home and was, again for the first time, mixing with English people. I remember it distinctly. I was sitting in the living room which led on to the kitchen and simply asked, there being a clock in the kitchen, what time is it there? The time here, came the reply? The time here? Well, the time here is exactly the same as it is there. I honestly didn't get what the joke was. Now, I have a Birmingham accent, even after more than twenty-five years back here in Ireland. Accents form early and even though they change over the years it seems as if the basic architecture is built wherever you spend your formative years. What I did have though, I suppose, was certain Irish phrases or certain Irish ways of saying things that I wasn't even aware of. Who's yer man, was probably the next one. That seemed to cause some confusion too as I remember. Yer one I don't remember saying but I can only imagine the guffaws that would have been met with. Ah, sure. What's that yoke? Suddenly I was in a new world of being conscious of things I said. Irish words with a Brummie accent. To be fair it must have been confusing for them. I do remember one time saying where's me geansaí but by that time I'm fairly sure I'd become so self conscious that I might have been putting it on. My speech pattern was fairly banjaxed by then, you see. Wisht, I said once calling for silence, something my Granny Murphy never stopped saying, and just got funny looks. Of course, there was the craic. I think the English have taken this one up now, even though they still don't know what it really means, but back then, I'm talking about the 1980s, early 90s here, it was still just ours. I remember distinctly not even telling them about the craic but showing them it instead. I took a few English people at different times to Irish social clubs and pubs in Birmingham and always said I'm guaranteeing that you have never seen anything like this. What that actually was it was harder to define but I'd learnt enough to know one thing without doubt. An Irish social club in inner city England, bursting at the seams, the music and the drink and the talk and the smoke and I knew these English people had never seen anything like it. And they hadn't. As for what the craic is or was I couldn't say even now. I just knew that we had it and they didn't. If I had to choose a favourite though it would always be one that still makes me smile now whenever I hear it. 'I will, yeh' must be one of the greatest and most underrated Irish phrases ever. It has that soft sarcasm that seems uniquely Irish. I've always loved the idea of explaining it to an English person and I remember using it and getting very quizzical looks. I remember using it once with an English person and when it caused confusion revelling in explaining that, when I say 'I will, yeh' in what sounds like a very affirmative way what I actually mean is completely the opposite. I mean, in fact, that I will not under any circumstances, ever. Apologies, I thought that was clear. Grand, good luck said on departure, sound. All these I think might have been co-opted by the English now and have lost their distinctively Irish flavour and that's okay because that's how language works. We steal from here and there and they steal from there and here. I'm not saying any of these phrases either with any sense of superiority, all the places I lived in in England, had their own sayings and phrases too, I'm just doing it out of a memory of distinctiveness. I'm sure, you see, that the sayings and phrases I grew up with will eventually fade away. After all, I'm struck that one of the Birmingham phrases I picked up along the way was what we called the many wastelands we played on as children. We called them bomb pecks, which only much later I realised, probably meant that they were left over bomb sites from the Second World War. Only an Irish person, though, or even more specifically a Cork person would realise how I never stopped smiling back then whenever I heard the name of the German golfer, Bernhard Langer. Joe Horgan posts on X at @JoeHorganwriter
Agriland
7 hours ago
- Agriland
'Spoken in Fibre' exhibition envisages Co. Cavan poet's work in wool
'Spoken in Fibre', a new exhibition of wool art by inspired by the poems of Charles J. Coote, will open at Cavan County Museum, Ballyjamesduff, on Thursday, July 31 at 7:30p.m. Created by Sandra Coote, a traditional artist originally from Co. Longford, who found a unique way to honour her heritage -illustrating the poetry of her husband Alan's great-grandfather, Charles J Coote, using the wool from her own flock of sheep. Reared on a farm, Sandra's deep connection to the land has always been a source of inspiration. She lives and works alongside Alan on the predominantly beef family farm, with a small flock of native breed and BFL sheep in Virginia. Sandra also runs her own venture, Crafts of Ireland, where she draws on generations of rural life to create deeply personal artwork that bridges the past and the present. 'Spoken in Fibre' combines Charles J. Coote's evocative poems – rich with reflection on his life and the countryside – with handcrafted illustrations made from wool from the sheep that graze the very land that Charles once walked. One of the 'Spoken in Fibre' artworks Sandra said: "Charles was born in 1840, the son of a tenant farmer on the Headford estate. "He received a higher level of education than most of his generation. There appears to have been an emphasis on education in the family." The artist said Coote attended a local national school in Ryefield, Virginia, and then "may have received further education at the Gilson Endowed School in Oldcastle, which was built in 1826". "We do know that his brother James attended here and later became the first teacher in a new school in Corlespratten in Co. Cavan at the age of 17," she said. "The farm had earlier been split between his father and his uncle. However, his uncle, James Coote, emigrated to New Zealand in 1862 and he took over this tenancy and the farm once again became a single tenancy." One of the 'Spoken in Fibre' artworks Sandra said Charles Coote purchased the freehold on the farm in 1903, following the Land Acts. Sandra's husband, Alan, is at least the sixth generation of the family to farm the land. "Charles continued to write poems up until his death at the age of 90, with the last poem found in his pocket when he passed away," Sandra said. "This poem was printed posthumously in the weekly Irish Times. "We know that he was writing poems from 1905, following extensive searches of newspaper archives and currently have 20 pieces that he wrote. We hope that more searches might result in us finding more of his work." Sandra's artistry weaves together memory, legacy, and landscape, offering a heartfelt tribute to Irish rural traditions and the enduring stories they inspire. 'Spoken in Fibre' will run until Saturday, August 23.
Irish Daily Mirror
9 hours ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
You may have been using your oven wrong all this time, expert explains
Irish people do a lot of cooking and while air fryers continue to soar in popularity, many people still turn to the ol' reliable oven when preparing meals. But it turns out we may not be using them properly and it could be affecting our food. Which, the consumer advisory company, has shared a clip on how many of us might be misusing our ovens by failing to understand the basics of the daily appliance, The Mirror reports. A video shared on TikTok explains the correct way to use the oven by learning what the symbols on the appliance actually mean, when many home cooks don't have a clue about what they represent. It's advised to brush up on the meaning of such symbols in order to make sure that your food is cooked safely and to ensure that it as tasty as it can be. In the video, viewers are talked through the meaning of the various symbols. The presenter explains: "Are you using your oven wrong? You probably know the classic fan oven symbol. Good for most types of cooking, especially when you use more than one shelf." While discussing the symbol on the oven with a simple line at the bottom, she explained that: "In this case, heat only comes from the bottom. Good for gently cooking stews and casseroles and crisping up the base of a pizza or pastry." But conversely, when there is a thin line at the top and bottom of a symbol, this represents heat coming from both sections, which is aimed at single-shelf cooking of food items such as pastries, scones or large cakes. It is also good for roasting meat. The grill symbol, which some people struggle with, was also explained, with the presenter saying: "This is the grill. Some should be used with the door open, others closed, so always check your oven's manual. Place your food close to the grill, but with a little space in between, so it's not touching. "The grill is great for anything that sizzles, like sausages and bacon. [It's] also handy for browning off meat or the top of a lasagne. You can also grill with the fan on, which spreads the grill's heat - good for cooking through thicker pieces of meat or fish without heating the whole oven or burning the top." Another symbol is a grill sign that shows a line at the bottom and that represents a grill with a lower heating element and this is aimed at the cooking of pies, tarts or pizzas - essentially foods that require a crispy base and a brown top. Another easily-confused symbol that is showed in the video is the half-grill setting which, when turned on, means that only one part of the grill gets hot so you will have to put food near that area of the grill to make sure it cooks properly and doesn't come out raw. This video has been viewed almost 10,000 times since it was first shared and the comments underneath the post suggest that many followers were not aware of what the different symbols means. Person setting oven One commented: "I'm watching this in the knowledge that I only ever use one setting and I will never change." Another added: "My dad's oven broke and he called an electrician around. Turns out he's only used his grill and never used his oven function. How he's survived this long is beyond me." A third replied: "We just turn on the oven, press the go button and hope for the best." Meanwhile, a fourth also commented: "Thank you so much for this." Someone else also chimed in with: "Handy and informative. I use three of the settings mentioned. There are others. I'll have to experiment." Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
