James Deeny’s farm on the ‘upper side of road’ from the Ballyrory Clachan, included a plot within the Clachan.
This property was passed down from James to his son Philip and eventually to Biddy Jane (Mullan) his niece in 1955 through her grandfather’s estate. Biddy Jane’s Grandfather James Deeny died in 1932 at the age of 106. Biddy Jane lived with her Uncle Philip, managing the family farm and caring for her uncle near the end of his life.
Every day, the story goes, Biddy Jane walked her cow across Learmount Road and down the lane until she reached the old Clachan houses. She’d chain her cow in the byre, feed, and milk it, and attend to the cow when calving. It’s said that Biddy Jane repeated the process for all the years she was able.
This ritual became so well known that the site became known as Biddy Jane’s Byre. Almost 200 years after it was built, the wallstead of the byre (in the site of the old Clachan) still stands today.