The Stories I was Told

This is a fascinating book, that has been compiled with approximately 35 separate local stories that all relate to the town of Abbeyleix in one way or another. The author has detailed historical accounts about the people and places that were part of the town and parish of Abbeyleix going right back to the 1400's and continued right up to the present day in 2022. It details the lives of some of the people that lived here during the occupation of a foreign force and shows the efforts that some of them made in an effort to gain freedom that the town and our country that had not been experienced in over 700 years of our history. It also describes how the people that lived in Abbeyleix during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries lived their lives, and how they entertained themselves, without the luxury of new technology like, television, wi-fi, computers, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or snap-chat, that we enjoy today.

Noel Burke has a keen interest in local history and dedicates a lot of his time to research. Now that he has reached his pension aged years, he spends a lot of his time in the archival research library. He loves spending time with his grandchildren and living here in his native Heritage Town of Abbeyleix along with his wife Patricia.