Moll Anthony facts for kids

Moll Anthony, also known as Mary Lesson, was a wise woman from Ireland who lived a long time ago, from about 1807 to 1878. She lived near the Hill of the Grange in County Kildare. People called her Moll Anthony because her father's name was Anthony Dunne. She was buried in Milltown, County Kildare, in 1878.

Moll was famous for her amazing ability to heal both people and animals. She made special mixtures, called potions, from different herbs. Each potion came in three bottles. She would give two bottles during the first visit and the third bottle during a second visit. Each bottle cost a "half a crown," which was an old Irish coin.

There were strict rules about how to use these potions. If someone didn't follow the rules, the cure wouldn't work. Also, a cure could only be tried once. People believed the potions were so powerful that sometimes, on the way home, something would try to stop the person carrying the medicine. Even when giving the last dose, a force might try to interfere. But if the doses were given correctly, the cure almost always worked!

Mysterious Stories About Her

Lord Walter Fitzgerald, a writer, shared many interesting stories about Moll Anthony. He wrote that she had a special power to cure serious illnesses like paralysis and fits in both humans and animals. People said she received this gift from the fairies.

Sometimes, Moll would refuse to help someone. This might happen if she believed it was best for the person to pass away, or if they had already asked for her help before. It was also said that she could greet a complete stranger by their name and tell them what sickness they had before they even spoke!

The Story of Mary Leeson

Some people believed that Moll Anthony was a kind of spirit or reincarnation of a young girl who had died. They thought that fairies had left Moll's spirit in the young girl's coffin instead of her body.

Here is one of the stories Lord Fitzgerald shared:

"One day, the two sons of the Widow Anthony, who lived near Mullaghmast, met a funeral party on the road and so they helped to carry the coffin. Later on in the day they found the coffin abandoned on the road and so they brought it home to their mother. She opened it, to discover a young girl in it, warm as if asleep. She recovered and she grew up with the family for the next nine years. Then she married one of the sons; they had 3 children, and they all lived a happy life. Mary, as they called her, asked her husband one day to bring her to the fair in Castledermot and so he agreed. At the fair Mary was recognised by her parents, and it was discovered that the day of her funeral coincided with the day the sons of Widow Anthony found her. That was how Moll Anthony came to Mullaghmast."

Her Family and Legacy

Fitzgerald said that Moll Anthony's real name was Mary Leeson. He also stated that when she died in 1878, her special healing power passed on to her son, James Leeson. James lived in a comfortable house on the Hill of the Grange, right where Moll's old mud-walled house used to be. Local people believed that James truly had the healing gift, and his house still stands on the side of Grange Hill today.

Where She Was Buried

Moll Anthony was buried in the graveyard of Milltown, County Kildare. There are two tombstones next to each other that tell us more about her family.

One tombstone reads:

"Erected by Catherine Leeson of Grange Hill in loving memory of her dearly beloved husband, James Leeson who departed this life 27th April 1894, aged 64 years."

The other tombstone reads:

"Erected by Mary Leeson of Punchesgrange in memory of her mother, Eliza Cronley who departed this life 24th of April 1847 aged 70 years, also her daughter Eliza Leeson who departed this life 11th of December 1851 aged 20 years. Also the above named Mary Leeson who died 28th Nov. 1878 aged 71 years."

See also

• Biddy Early
• Cunning folk in Britain