Batt Shea

(Bartholomew O’Shea)

1874 - 1966

Batt Shea’s Family Home

Batt Shea was a renowned storyteller from Scart near Castlecove. He was an influence on many storytellers over the years but perhaps non more so than the famous professional seanachaí from Gneeveguilla Eamon Kelly. Eamon became aware of Batt when he was based in Waterville as a wood work instructor. He already had an interest in storytelling and used to visit the Feis Uibhraigh in Ballinskelligs where the best Irish speaking story-tellers from all the Gaeltacht would come to compete against each other, yarn for yarn. But it was from Batt Shea that Eamon learned the art of story-telling he became famous for.

"Batt was the most famous story-teller in the county," says Eamon. "He had a great selection, full of twists and turns and very complicated. And he had a great way of telling them with his own particular accent and manner. They were full of leg-pulling and roguery - and this made him very popular."

Indeed, it was from Batt Shea that Eamonn picked up:his own famous story opener "In my fathers time here."

Local Storyteller Matt Joe O’Neill (Deelis) recounts hearing some of Batt’s stories in the audio file below

There is a commonality of theme in the stories told locally and it is evident that much sharing and adaptation of repertoires occurred. The collection of stories of Matt Joe O’Neill (Deelis), Batt Burns (Sneem), Mikeen McCarthy (Cahersiveen) are testament to this.

Tadhg Ó Murchú visited Batt Shea and collected stories from him as part of his work for the National Folklore Collection. These stories are housed in the Main Manuscript Collection. The collection is in the process of being digitised and will be available in time.