Many tributes have been paid following the dying of the well-known writer, historian, retired farmer and former journalist Nicholas Furlong of Drinagh who wrote 19 books together with the memorable sequence County Wexford within the Uncommon Oul Occasions, which continues to be a prized publication a long time after it was first produced.
icky, who was predeceased in 2015 by his beloved spouse , the vintage supplier and artwork historian Mairéad (nee Breslin), died in Knockeen Nursing Dwelling on Monday, on the age of 93 years.
His funeral Mass will happen in Piercestown Church on Friday, March 25 at 11 am. adopted by burial in Piercestown Cemetery, the place Mairead was laid to relaxation.
Nicky’s dying, following a brief sickness, is extensively mourned by his household and lots of associates and colleagues in Wexford and all through the nation.
So influential was the legendary Wexfordman’s popularity that he didn’t have to attend till he died for complimentary tributes to be paid – in 2007, he was the topic of “Essays in Honour of Nicholas Furlong”, edited by the native historian Bernard Browne, in recognition of his excellent contribution to the county.
An solely son, Nicky grew up on his household’s farm at Mulgannon and Kellystown, Drinagh, along with his father additionally proudly owning a pub on Wexford’s Most important Road, the place the tales he heard and the many characters he met throughout the Nineteen Fifties, 60s and 70s, impressed a lot of his later writings as a newspaper columnist, writer of many books, and playwright and scriptwriter for radio and tv.
He attended the Presentation convent and Christian Brothers main colleges, St Peter’s School and the Salesian Agricultural School in Warrenstown, County Meath and later obtained an honours Further-Mural Diploma in Social Financial Research from UCD whereas attending Scoil na gCeard in Wexford.
He joined agricultural equipment makers Pierces of Wexford and later turned an inspector and a “beet agent” for the Irish Sugar Firm which gave him an incredible perception into the lifetime of farm households all through County Wexford.
His writing profession began as a contract journalist within the late Nineteen Fifties. He turned a columnist with the Folks Newspaper Group underneath the pen identify “Pat O’Leary”, a weekly column that was vastly widespread. Later, in 1995, he turned a weekly contributor to the previous Echo Newspaper Group, writing the Furlong at Giant column.
His prolonged profession as an writer and journalist spanned 4 a long time throughout which he was a columnist with The Irish Press and Irish Farmers Journal and a contributor to Biatas, the Journal of Irish Sugar Firm; in addition to Celtic Connection, Vancouver, Canada; Hibernian Month-to-month Evaluation, and varied publications produced by Tara Publishing, Dublin. He wrote farming and agri-business articles for the Irish Unbiased and the Irish Press
He was the writer of tons of of papers on historic topics in addition to three performs on the Irish revolution, which have been directed by the nice Tomás Mac Anna of the Abbey Theatre within the Sixties.
He contributed to the Oxford Dictionary of Nationwide Biography, and the Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Irish Nationwide Biography and to many nationwide magazines together with Eire of the Welcomes and Historical past Eire.
He was a scriptwriter for the satirical Corridor’s Pictorial Weekly programme on RTE nationwide tv within the Sixties and ‘70s and gained the Hibernia Media Award for funniest characteristic author.
Nicky’s curiosity in historical past developed along with his membership of the Wexford Historic Society. He was elected President of the Society and was additionally elected a Life Fellow and Vice-President (Leinster) of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Eire. He was a Council member of the Uí Chennselaig Society.
He was a former Press Officer for Wexford Pageant Opera and was elected to the Council of the Pageant within the late Sixties. He was additionally administrator for a few years of the widespread historic excursions held throughout the Opera Pageant.
He wrote 4 volumes of County Wexford within the Uncommon Oul’ Occasions, a novel and more and more useful guide containing the earliest black and white pictures of his native county from the 1800s as much as the mid-Nineteen Eighties. His different best-selling works embody Diarmait King of Leinster, A Hurling Decade, and The Girls of 1798.
Final Christmas, Three Sisters Press in Rosslare revealed an up to date model of his acclaimed guide of 30 years earlier, “The Rebels’ Priest”, on his life-long hero Fr John Murphy who led the 1798 Rebel.
Nicky devoted nearly 10 years to researching the lifetime of the Boolavogue priest along with his travels taking him to England, France and Spain.
His historical past writings led to invites to America by the Irish American Cultural Institute on prestigious lecture excursions from Phoenix, Arizona to Fordham College in New York. A fluent Irish and German speaker, he additionally participated in lots of radio and tv documentaries on Irish, UK and German stations.
His comedian novel Younger Farmer Seeks Spouse, revealed a few years in the past by Merlin Press, loved a brand new on-line world viewers after it was republished as an E-book in 2019. It was loosely based mostly on Nicky’s personal experiences as a younger man.
As the one son of a farming household, he was anticipated to marry “a very good wise lady who may carry a tonne of hay on her again” , as he put it in an interview on the time.
However as a substitute, he fell in “irredeemable and heroic love” with Mairéad Breslin, a younger lady from Merrion Sq. in Dublin who knew nothing about farming however left the glamour of Shannon Airport the place she labored as a supervisor and “landed within the cowshite in Mulgannon” the place his mother and father’ 130-acre farm was situated.
As the one male inheritor to all of the land owned by his father, uncle and aunts (his solely sister Ina emigrated to Vancouver) Nicky had no alternative however to turn out to be a farmer. However deep inside he was a author, and his new spouse inspired his ardour.
“I used to be actually a author and so they steered me into farming. Psychologically, it had a horrible impact on me. I started to get very depressed as a result of I used to be within the unsuitable job. I did not know this till my younger spouse instructed me”, Nicky stated within the interview.
“This lady knew nothing about farming earlier than she met me, however after we obtained married she instantly put her head down and charged,” he stated.
“She was great, she was sensible. She was an incredible enterprise lady. She did all the pieces other than ploughing and milking. We labored collectively on the farm.”
When his uncle John died, leaving a 200-acre farm in Drinagh, Nicky had two farms to run. He stated: “Finally I could not cope so I bought the house farm and focused on the one right here, however I additionally had a second profession, because it was now found I used to be a author.”
Nicky’s buddy, Michael Freeman of Three Sisters Press stated his dying has left an enormous vacuum within the lives of those that knew him, beloved him and went to him for steering.
“Nicky was a uncommon genius in his discipline as author and writer, orator and actor. He knew his city and his County Wexford. He knew each village and each character of consequence in it.
“He wrote severely researched and fearless columns on the peculiarities of agricultural, rural, social and financial change, conveying his view with affect. Like one other of his heroes, Myles na gCopaleen, he laced lots of his sentences with biting satire or sarcasm, which the atypical reader may solely guess at, however which Nicky’s targets positively understood.”
“Alongside the 1000’s of true tales that he delivered to audiences with aplomb, panache and effectiveness have been the various unfaithful tales that he instructed po-faced on nationwide radio and tv such because the one in regards to the barking rabbits of Crossabeg that happened due to a buck rabbit crossed with a terrier.”
Michael stated Nicky Furlong’s 19 books are his legacy with no less than 5 unpublished performs saved amongst his many different works within the County Council archives – a portrait portray of Mairead Furlong, who was instrumental within the institution of the County Wexford Artwork Assortment, hangs within the County Corridor.
One other buddy, the retired Wexford librarian, Celestine Murphy, who supplied help on the second version of his Fr Murphy guide, final visited Nicky in Knockeen a few week earlier than he died.
“He was certainly one of a sort. He was exceptionally sort to me. I may all the time get away with saying issues to him that others couldn’t and he would chuckle. I’ve pretty images of him taken on the day we introduced him copies of the re-published guide”, she stated, including that Mairéad’s passing was an enormous loss for Nicky.
Former county hurling supervisor Liam Griffin stated he was very saddened to listen to of Nicky’s passing and revealed that his guide “A Hurling Decade” tremendously impressed him in powerful instances. “His like shall not be seen once more”, he added.
Bernard Browne, who edited the guide of essays honouring Nicky described him as “actually distinctive, each in character and as an interpreter of his neighborhood – with a razor-sharp wit and the power to give you great glowing turns of phrase.
“ At all times engaged and interesting, he was a nice Wexford historian, novelist and playwright with an incredible data of County Wexford historical past, folks and assets.”
Nicky is survived by his sister Ina in Vancouver; his nieces Martina, Castleknock, County Dublin and Paula, Wisconsin, USA and his nephew Justin, Galway; Mairéad’s sister-in-law Dr Ann Breslin, Dundrum, Dublin and his prolonged household and lots of associates.