Castletown

Grandpa Phelan's grandfather, Daniel Phelan, left his new wife Jane in Ireland and went to Melbourne where he started work immediately as a warden at Melbourne Gaol. Daniel's home town was Castletown in Queens County (now called County Laois and pronounced something like 'lowsh'). Jane came from somewhere in Donegal and joined Daniel nearly two years later.

We drove into the village and the first thing we saw was Phelan's Newsagent! So we went in and bought a local paper. There's very little left of the old village left, but we were surprised to see how wide the main street was - I don't think it was ever a market town requiring the extra width. And we've been through a lot of Irish villages where the narrow main road twists and turns. We've also met a few Phelans around Kilkenny and Waterford - it's a common name around here. And when we booked into a B & B by phone today we didn't even have to spell the name.