Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Mary Leadbeater and Ballitore
The village of Ballytore, immortalised in print by Mary Leadbeater, is about to embark on a FAS Scheme designed to restore the writer’s house in the centre of the village. Lying vacant and derelict for many years the Leadbeater house at the corner of the village square has been perilously close to demolition on several occasions but now it’s future seems assured.
Mary Leadbeater, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, was born in Ballytore in December 1758. Her father was master of the Quakers school which his own father, Abraham Shackleton had founded. Ballytore, which derives it’s name from Baile, meaning town, and Toghter corrupted to Tore, meaning a bog, was first settled towards the end of the 17th Century by two Quakers, Abel Strettle, a Dublin Merchant and John Barcroft of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. In time it was to become an important centre of Quakerism and Quaker meetings are still regularly held in the restored Quaker Meeting House.
In 1726 a young Yorkshire Quaker, Abraham Shackleton, opened a boarding school in the village. Famous former pupils of the Ballytore School included Edmund Burke, Parliamentarian, who joined the school in 1741, Paul Cullen, the first Irish Cardinal, a pupil for 4 years from 1813 and Napper Tandy, the Irish Revolutionary who attended the school in 1749.
Richard Shackleton’s daughter, Mary, married William Leadbeater in June 1791. Her sister Sarah married Thomas Chandlee, a linen draper in business in Athy. Chandlee was largely responsible for the building of the Quaker meeting house in Meeting Lane, Athy in 1780.
Mary Leadbeater published a number of books during her lifetime, the first in 1794 titled “Extracts and Original Anecdotes for the Improvement of Youth”. This has been described as one of the earlier attempts to provide light and instructive literature for young people. In 1808 “Poems by Mary Leadbeater” was published in Dublin and London. She was more successful with her prose writing than with poetry and within 3 years she had published “Cottage Dialogues”. The characters in this little book are two women, Rose and Nancy, who speak in the idiom of the Irish peasant, one the careless idle person, the other an industrious frugal housewife. It proved extremely popular and ran to several editions and three separate series. In 1813 was published “The Landlord’s Friend”, a sequel to “Cottage Dialogues” before Mary Leadbeater and Elizabeth Carleton co-authored “Tales for Cottagers accommodated to the Present Conditions of The Irish Peasantry” which was published in 1814.
Nothing further was published by Mary Leadbeater until 1822 when “Cottage Biography” and “Memoirs and Letters of R. and E. Shackleton” appeared. R. and E. Shackleton were her parents, Richard who died in 1792 and Elizabeth who passed away in 1804. Elizabeth Shackleton was the daughter of Henry and Deborah Fuller of Fuller’s Court, Ballytore, and grand-daughter of John Barcroft, one of the original proprietor’s of the lands at Ballytore. The last book published in Mary Leadbeater’s lifetime was “Biographical Notice of Members of the Society of Friends who were resident in Ireland” which went on sale in 1823. Within 3 years Mary Leadbeater was dead. She was buried in the Quaker graveyard in Ballytore.
During the greater part of her life Mary Leadbeater kept a diary recording the events and people of her native village. This was published in 1862 as the first Volume of “The Leadbeater’s Papers” and it gives us an important and well written account of life in Ballytore between 1766 and 1818. The diary entries concerning the 1798 Rebellion are especially important being an impartial observer’s account of the events of that time. The Second Volume of the same publication consists of some of the extensive correspondence which Mary Leadbeater conducted with a number of important people. Apart from Edmund Burke’s letters it includes her correspondence with the poet George Crabbe and Melessina Trench, mother of Archbishop Richard Trench of Dublin. Archbishop Trench was a cousin of Rev. Frederick Trench, Rector of St. Michael’s, Athy, the last Sovereign of Athy whose untimely death following an accident in 1860 led to the removal of Preston’s Medieval Gate, then located in Offaly Street. George Crabbe was an English poet whose most famous works, “The Village” and “The Parish Register” are important poetic portraits of late 18th century village life.
The works of Mary Leadbeater, popular at the beginning of the last century, are now almost forgotten and except for the reproduction some years ago of an edited version of Volume One of the Leadbeater papers by the Stephen Scroop Press, her works have not been re-published.
Mary Leadbeater, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton, was born in Ballytore in December 1758. Her father was master of the Quakers school which his own father, Abraham Shackleton had founded. Ballytore, which derives it’s name from Baile, meaning town, and Toghter corrupted to Tore, meaning a bog, was first settled towards the end of the 17th Century by two Quakers, Abel Strettle, a Dublin Merchant and John Barcroft of Mountmellick, Co. Laois. In time it was to become an important centre of Quakerism and Quaker meetings are still regularly held in the restored Quaker Meeting House.
In 1726 a young Yorkshire Quaker, Abraham Shackleton, opened a boarding school in the village. Famous former pupils of the Ballytore School included Edmund Burke, Parliamentarian, who joined the school in 1741, Paul Cullen, the first Irish Cardinal, a pupil for 4 years from 1813 and Napper Tandy, the Irish Revolutionary who attended the school in 1749.
Richard Shackleton’s daughter, Mary, married William Leadbeater in June 1791. Her sister Sarah married Thomas Chandlee, a linen draper in business in Athy. Chandlee was largely responsible for the building of the Quaker meeting house in Meeting Lane, Athy in 1780.
Mary Leadbeater published a number of books during her lifetime, the first in 1794 titled “Extracts and Original Anecdotes for the Improvement of Youth”. This has been described as one of the earlier attempts to provide light and instructive literature for young people. In 1808 “Poems by Mary Leadbeater” was published in Dublin and London. She was more successful with her prose writing than with poetry and within 3 years she had published “Cottage Dialogues”. The characters in this little book are two women, Rose and Nancy, who speak in the idiom of the Irish peasant, one the careless idle person, the other an industrious frugal housewife. It proved extremely popular and ran to several editions and three separate series. In 1813 was published “The Landlord’s Friend”, a sequel to “Cottage Dialogues” before Mary Leadbeater and Elizabeth Carleton co-authored “Tales for Cottagers accommodated to the Present Conditions of The Irish Peasantry” which was published in 1814.
Nothing further was published by Mary Leadbeater until 1822 when “Cottage Biography” and “Memoirs and Letters of R. and E. Shackleton” appeared. R. and E. Shackleton were her parents, Richard who died in 1792 and Elizabeth who passed away in 1804. Elizabeth Shackleton was the daughter of Henry and Deborah Fuller of Fuller’s Court, Ballytore, and grand-daughter of John Barcroft, one of the original proprietor’s of the lands at Ballytore. The last book published in Mary Leadbeater’s lifetime was “Biographical Notice of Members of the Society of Friends who were resident in Ireland” which went on sale in 1823. Within 3 years Mary Leadbeater was dead. She was buried in the Quaker graveyard in Ballytore.
During the greater part of her life Mary Leadbeater kept a diary recording the events and people of her native village. This was published in 1862 as the first Volume of “The Leadbeater’s Papers” and it gives us an important and well written account of life in Ballytore between 1766 and 1818. The diary entries concerning the 1798 Rebellion are especially important being an impartial observer’s account of the events of that time. The Second Volume of the same publication consists of some of the extensive correspondence which Mary Leadbeater conducted with a number of important people. Apart from Edmund Burke’s letters it includes her correspondence with the poet George Crabbe and Melessina Trench, mother of Archbishop Richard Trench of Dublin. Archbishop Trench was a cousin of Rev. Frederick Trench, Rector of St. Michael’s, Athy, the last Sovereign of Athy whose untimely death following an accident in 1860 led to the removal of Preston’s Medieval Gate, then located in Offaly Street. George Crabbe was an English poet whose most famous works, “The Village” and “The Parish Register” are important poetic portraits of late 18th century village life.
The works of Mary Leadbeater, popular at the beginning of the last century, are now almost forgotten and except for the reproduction some years ago of an edited version of Volume One of the Leadbeater papers by the Stephen Scroop Press, her works have not been re-published.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Arctic Exhibition for Athy
Last April the eruptions from the Icelandic 'Eyjafjallajokull' volcano kept European airspaces shut down over a number of weeks affecting travel for millions of people across Europe. It brought a focus on a country which is generally unknown to us. In October the Athy Heritage Centre will host an exhibition of photography by the distinguished Icelandic photographer, Ragnar Axelsson. The exhibition forms part of the events which are being organised for this year’s Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, running from 22nd to 25th October, now in its tenth year. It’s an extraordinary coup for the Shackleton School and the Heritage Centre to host such an exhibition by such a distinguished photographer. Indeed at the same time as the exhibition is being held in Athy a similar exhibition will be held in his home country. It’s a compilation of his work spent over the last 25 years photographing in the Arctic, particularly amongst the hunters of Greenland. For much of the time he has travelled to the small Inuit villages across Greenland’s most remote regions, recording hunting traditions going back many thousands of years. The pictures are draw from his new book 'The Last Days of the Arctic' which deals with the effects of climate change on the Inuit of Greenland and in tandem with his book the BBC are producing a documentary about Axelsson and his work. The book is bound to be very well received as the New York Times described his previous book 'Faces of the North' as 'stunning'. The exhibition it is not to be missed.
The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.
A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.
As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.
The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.
A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.
As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Arctic Exhibition for Athy
Last April the eruptions from the Icelandic 'Eyjafjallajokull' volcano kept European airspaces shut down over a number of weeks affecting travel for millions of people across Europe. It brought a focus on a country which is generally unknown to us. In October the Athy Heritage Centre will host an exhibition of photography by the distinguished Icelandic photographer, Ragnar Axelsson. The exhibition forms part of the events which are being organised for this year’s Ernest Shackleton Autumn School, running from 22nd to 25th October, now in its tenth year. It’s an extraordinary coup for the Shackleton School and the Heritage Centre to host such an exhibition by such a distinguished photographer. Indeed at the same time as the exhibition is being held in Athy a similar exhibition will be held in his home country. It’s a compilation of his work spent over the last 25 years photographing in the Arctic, particularly amongst the hunters of Greenland. For much of the time he has travelled to the small Inuit villages across Greenland’s most remote regions, recording hunting traditions going back many thousands of years. The pictures are draw from his new book 'The Last Days of the Arctic' which deals with the effects of climate change on the Inuit of Greenland and in tandem with his book the BBC are producing a documentary about Axelsson and his work. The book is bound to be very well received as the New York Times described his previous book 'Faces of the North' as 'stunning'. The exhibition it is not to be missed.
The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.
A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.
As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.
The Autumn School events continue to reflect an ever growing international dimension and on the opening night on Friday 22nd October the Shackleton School will host the launch of a book by the American author Chet Ross about the Japanese Antarctic Expedition of 1910 – 1912. This expedition lead by Lieutenant Nobu Shirase is almost unknown on this side of the world, although Shirase is very much a hero in his native Japan. His particular misfortune was to lead his expedition to the Antarctic at the same time that Captain Scott and Roald Amundsen were engaged in their race to the South Pole. Thereafter it was only natural that the press of the day would be consumed with stories of Scott’s heroic death on the march back from the South Pole and Amundsen’s extraordinary achievement in reaching and returning from the South Pole without the loss of any of his men. Chet Ross’s new book deals with the history of the expedition and also some of the publications concerning same. Over the last number of years the Friday night has also hosted the Shackleton memorial lecture which has given an opportunity to hear from someone who has played a prominent role in Irish society.
Over the years we have been treated to lectures from the likes of Senator David Norris, Brian Keenan, Kevin Myers and last year the disability campaigner and young global leader Caroline Casey. This year Fintan O’Toole, the columnist, author and deputy editor of the Irish Times will be delivering the Shackleton memorial lecture and Fintan who is always an engaging and interesting speaker is likely to attract a good crowd.
A feature of previous Shackleton schools has been the diverse nature of the lectures held on the Saturdays and Sundays and both Chet Ross and Ragnar Axelsson will speak about their own work. Further lecturers will include a lecture by Dr. Tim Baughman, the Professor of History at the University of Central Oklahoma who wrote a fine biography of Shackleton. He will speak about Shackleton’s 1914-1916 'Endurance' expedition and his re-telling of Shackleton’s epic quest to save his men after the ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice is bound to go down well. Other lecturers include Meredith Hooper, the award winning Australian author who will speak about lesser known aspect of Scott’s last expedition to the Antarctic in 1910 – 1912 and Mike Tarver from Devon will talk about the polar exploration ships of the heroic age of exploration from 1884 to 1943 focusing on Scott’s iconic ship, the SS Terra Nova. The environmental aspects of the Antarctic will not be neglected and what is bound to be an intriguing talk will be delivered by Professor David Thomas of Bangor University, Wales who is currently working in Helsinki, Finland. He has spent the last 20 years engaged in studies of sea ice and his lecture is titled ‘Life inside drifting Antarctic pack ice'.
As ever the social side of the Shackleton weekend is very important and I know that Athy will give its usual fulsome welcome to those participants and attendees who will be travelling to the event from Iceland, Australia, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Finland and from all over Ireland.
Athy men at Trafalgar
A recent article in the Saturday edition of the Irish Times about Irishmen serving in the British Army sparked a vigorous debate in the following weeks in the letters pages of the paper. The correspondence reflected an ongoing debate in Irish society about our relationship with our nearest neighbour, Britain.
It has led me to consider how emigration to Britain has scattered men from Athy all over the globe and my thoughts were certainly turned in that direction recently when conducting some research in the National Archives in London. I came across references to Athy men who had served in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s. What was of particular interest was that a number of these men had served in Lord Nelson’s fleet which was triumphant at the Battle of Trafalgar against the French in 1805.
In the records I came across the details of two men from Athy who served in Nelson’s Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, one was William Molloy who at the date of the battle was aged 30 and Barney Dempsey who was aged 18. Both of them were serving together on the ship HMS Spartiate. The ship originally called ‘Sparti’ was one of nine ships captured by the Royal Navy from the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In November 1805 under the command of Francis Laforey it was part of Nelson’s Fleet which was chasing across the Atlantic a French Fleet under Admiral Villeneuve. It became involved in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. The ship itself was at the rear of the Fleet and was not involved in the first few hours of the battle, however it eventually entered the battle in the company of HMS Minotaur where they found themselves up against four French and one Spanish ship. The English ships performed very well and apparently the rate of fire of both Spartiate and Minotaur was so strong that the French ships ultimately fled, leaving the Spanish ship Neptuno alone to fight against the two British ships which was soon captured it.
The casualties of HMS Spartiate were very light with three killed and twenty wounded. The ship returned to England for Nelson’s funeral with Captain Laforey being the flag bearer walking behind Nelson’s coffin. Interestingly the ship's flag was discovered in England last year and sold for a substantial sum of money at auction, being the only surviving Union Jack flag from the Battle of Trafalgar.
Dempsey joined HMS Spartiate on 10th July 1804 as a ships boy. The ships boys were usually between 12 and 18 years of age, often from poor families. Some had been convicted of petty crimes and may have found themselves in service in the Royal Navy at the direction of a Judge, though in Dempsey's case he was a volunteer. They were generally engaged in very menial work on ships such as cleaning, assisting the ship's cook and looking after the live animals which were kept on ships to feed the men. At the time of his service on HMS Spartiate Barney was 18 years of age and presumably he was at the end of his career as a boy and thereafter could have expected a promotion to sailor. He had served a number of ships before joining Spartiate including the Salvador and the Neptune.
While Barney Dempsey had clearly served a number of years in the Navy on a number of ships, William Molloy’s naval experience seems to have been limited at the time of his service at the Battle of Trafalgar. Although 30 years of age he was listed as a 'landsman'. A landsman was a person who had not been to sea before and had no experience of the Royal Navy. He may have been, as many men were at the time, a victim of the press gang. Essentially the press gang were a group of men from a ship who would use force to compel men to serve in the Navy. Life in the Royal navy was harsh and the conditions and pay were far better in merchant ships. Generally the Navy sought to impress men between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age with seagoing experience, but many 'landsmen' were impressed and it is quite possible that Barney Dempsey was an unwitting victim of a press gang at a port somewhere in Britain.
Both men survived the battle but their subsequent fate is unknown to us. At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar approximately twenty per cent of Royal Navy men were Irish and in some way it is not surprising that two young men from landlocked Athy found themselves at the centre of the greatest naval battle in history.
It has led me to consider how emigration to Britain has scattered men from Athy all over the globe and my thoughts were certainly turned in that direction recently when conducting some research in the National Archives in London. I came across references to Athy men who had served in the Royal Navy in the early 1800s. What was of particular interest was that a number of these men had served in Lord Nelson’s fleet which was triumphant at the Battle of Trafalgar against the French in 1805.
In the records I came across the details of two men from Athy who served in Nelson’s Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar, one was William Molloy who at the date of the battle was aged 30 and Barney Dempsey who was aged 18. Both of them were serving together on the ship HMS Spartiate. The ship originally called ‘Sparti’ was one of nine ships captured by the Royal Navy from the French at the Battle of the Nile in 1798. In November 1805 under the command of Francis Laforey it was part of Nelson’s Fleet which was chasing across the Atlantic a French Fleet under Admiral Villeneuve. It became involved in the Battle of Trafalgar on 21st October 1805. The ship itself was at the rear of the Fleet and was not involved in the first few hours of the battle, however it eventually entered the battle in the company of HMS Minotaur where they found themselves up against four French and one Spanish ship. The English ships performed very well and apparently the rate of fire of both Spartiate and Minotaur was so strong that the French ships ultimately fled, leaving the Spanish ship Neptuno alone to fight against the two British ships which was soon captured it.
The casualties of HMS Spartiate were very light with three killed and twenty wounded. The ship returned to England for Nelson’s funeral with Captain Laforey being the flag bearer walking behind Nelson’s coffin. Interestingly the ship's flag was discovered in England last year and sold for a substantial sum of money at auction, being the only surviving Union Jack flag from the Battle of Trafalgar.
Dempsey joined HMS Spartiate on 10th July 1804 as a ships boy. The ships boys were usually between 12 and 18 years of age, often from poor families. Some had been convicted of petty crimes and may have found themselves in service in the Royal Navy at the direction of a Judge, though in Dempsey's case he was a volunteer. They were generally engaged in very menial work on ships such as cleaning, assisting the ship's cook and looking after the live animals which were kept on ships to feed the men. At the time of his service on HMS Spartiate Barney was 18 years of age and presumably he was at the end of his career as a boy and thereafter could have expected a promotion to sailor. He had served a number of ships before joining Spartiate including the Salvador and the Neptune.
While Barney Dempsey had clearly served a number of years in the Navy on a number of ships, William Molloy’s naval experience seems to have been limited at the time of his service at the Battle of Trafalgar. Although 30 years of age he was listed as a 'landsman'. A landsman was a person who had not been to sea before and had no experience of the Royal Navy. He may have been, as many men were at the time, a victim of the press gang. Essentially the press gang were a group of men from a ship who would use force to compel men to serve in the Navy. Life in the Royal navy was harsh and the conditions and pay were far better in merchant ships. Generally the Navy sought to impress men between the ages of 18 and 45 years of age with seagoing experience, but many 'landsmen' were impressed and it is quite possible that Barney Dempsey was an unwitting victim of a press gang at a port somewhere in Britain.
Both men survived the battle but their subsequent fate is unknown to us. At the time of the Battle of Trafalgar approximately twenty per cent of Royal Navy men were Irish and in some way it is not surprising that two young men from landlocked Athy found themselves at the centre of the greatest naval battle in history.
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Gems from Census
The recent availability of the 1911 Census of Ireland on the internet has provided an extraordinary wealth of material for anyone interested in family history or local history. When it comes to computers and the internet I am something of a Luddite, never having quite mastered the technical terms or the computer methods which youngsters learn with such ease at primary school level. Despite these disadvantages I recently ventured onto the internet in search of the 1911 census and found myself immersed in the written material which householders 99 years ago compiled so carefully just three years before the outbreak of World War I.
Like most other people my initial searches were for the families on my fathers and mothers side. Amazingly within minutes I turned up family information and details never before known which clearly signalled the importance of the census returns in genealogical research.
I next turned to those families living in Offaly Street in 1911 to see if any of those named were still represented in the street where I lived from 1945. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2nd April 1911 when the head of each household was required to make a return of the family, visitors, boarders and servants who slept in the home that night.
Michael Neill, a 67 year old cattle dealer, lived alone in No. 1 Offaly Street. His next door neighbours were the Bradley family. Gregory Bradley, aged 30 years, a baker, was married to Mary Anne. Their three children were May, aged 3 years, Gregory, aged 11 and Kathleen, just 1 month old. No. 3 Offaly Street housed the Dunne family, headed by Peter aged 47 years who was also a baker. His wife Lizzie was 37 years old and they had 6 children, Michael 17 years, James 15 years, Christopher 11 years, Teresa 15 years, Maria 4 years and Thomas Peter, 1 month old. The Dunne family would lose son James five years later. He was killed in action while a member of the 10th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers fighting in France on 13th November 1916.
In No. 4 Offaly Street lived Annie Prendergast, aged 39 years with her five nephews, James, John, Michael, Thomas and Laurence Connell who ranged in age from 28 down to 12 years. All were unemployed with the exception of school going 12 year old Laurence.
Next door lived William Corcoran, an insurance agent aged, 26 years old with his 27 year old wife Julia and their new born baby Thomas Joseph. I believe Thomas who was born in 1911 was the Thomas Corcoran who later became Town Clerk of Newbridge.
Patrick Dempsey, an O.A.P. of 85 years and a widower, lived alone in No. 6 Offaly Street. Two years earlier the Old Age Pension Act came into force giving five shillings per week pension to persons over 70 years old with incomes less than 31 pounds and ten shillings a year. Dempsey’s next door neighbours were the Hayden family headed by Patrick Hayden, a 50 year old widower who worked as a baker. His sons John and Patrick were just 12 and 11 years and living with them was Patrick’s niece Mary Cobbe, aged 28 years. John Hayden played a very prominent part in the struggle for Irish Independence and served a term of imprisonment in Portlaoise jail before emigrating to America. His younger brother Patrick was also involved in the Republican Movement during the War of Independence and like his father, he too worked as a baker. Paddy, as he was known in later life, lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue after he got married and had a family. Edward Duggan, a boot maker, aged 32 years, lived next door with his wife Lizzie who was 13 years older than her husband. Both were members of the Church of Ireland.
Michael Bradley, the Urban District Council Surveyor, was 50 years of age and lived in No. 9 Offaly Street with his 38 year old wife Margaret. Married for 18 years they had 8 children ranging in age from 16 years down to 1 year. John at 16 years of age was employed as a bookkeeper while Mary Kate, Elizabeth, Julia May, Michael and James were noted as scholars and completing the Bradley family was 1 year old baby Margaret.
Next door was Julia Bradley, aged 80 years and living with her were her daughter Elizabeth, a 46 year old dressmaker and a grandson Thomas Breen, a carpenter of 26 years. Mary Hayden, a 9 year old granddaughter made up the Bradley household. Thomas Breen continued to live in Offaly Street after he married and his daughter Nan and her family are today the only direct family links with those who lived in Offaly Street 99 years ago. No. 11 Offaly Street was home to Honoria Salts, a widow of 58 years and two boarders Margaret Hickey aged 26 years, a nurse and Michael Sweeney, aged 34 years, an upholsterer. Her nephew Joseph Reddy, aged 20 years, a grocers assistant, completed the household.
Joseph and Mary Geoghegan with their two children John, 17 years and Josephine, 15 years, both scholars, lived in Number 12. Joseph Geoghegan was a carpenter.
The house and building returns which accompanied the Census showed that the first three houses in Offaly Street consisted of 2 rooms each, while the following nine houses on the same side of the street all had four rooms. The returns give the Protestant Church as the next building which would indicate that the small house presently at the corner of Janeville and Offaly Street was then part of a dwelling facing onto Janeville.
Like most other people my initial searches were for the families on my fathers and mothers side. Amazingly within minutes I turned up family information and details never before known which clearly signalled the importance of the census returns in genealogical research.
I next turned to those families living in Offaly Street in 1911 to see if any of those named were still represented in the street where I lived from 1945. The census was taken on the night of Sunday 2nd April 1911 when the head of each household was required to make a return of the family, visitors, boarders and servants who slept in the home that night.
Michael Neill, a 67 year old cattle dealer, lived alone in No. 1 Offaly Street. His next door neighbours were the Bradley family. Gregory Bradley, aged 30 years, a baker, was married to Mary Anne. Their three children were May, aged 3 years, Gregory, aged 11 and Kathleen, just 1 month old. No. 3 Offaly Street housed the Dunne family, headed by Peter aged 47 years who was also a baker. His wife Lizzie was 37 years old and they had 6 children, Michael 17 years, James 15 years, Christopher 11 years, Teresa 15 years, Maria 4 years and Thomas Peter, 1 month old. The Dunne family would lose son James five years later. He was killed in action while a member of the 10th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers fighting in France on 13th November 1916.
In No. 4 Offaly Street lived Annie Prendergast, aged 39 years with her five nephews, James, John, Michael, Thomas and Laurence Connell who ranged in age from 28 down to 12 years. All were unemployed with the exception of school going 12 year old Laurence.
Next door lived William Corcoran, an insurance agent aged, 26 years old with his 27 year old wife Julia and their new born baby Thomas Joseph. I believe Thomas who was born in 1911 was the Thomas Corcoran who later became Town Clerk of Newbridge.
Patrick Dempsey, an O.A.P. of 85 years and a widower, lived alone in No. 6 Offaly Street. Two years earlier the Old Age Pension Act came into force giving five shillings per week pension to persons over 70 years old with incomes less than 31 pounds and ten shillings a year. Dempsey’s next door neighbours were the Hayden family headed by Patrick Hayden, a 50 year old widower who worked as a baker. His sons John and Patrick were just 12 and 11 years and living with them was Patrick’s niece Mary Cobbe, aged 28 years. John Hayden played a very prominent part in the struggle for Irish Independence and served a term of imprisonment in Portlaoise jail before emigrating to America. His younger brother Patrick was also involved in the Republican Movement during the War of Independence and like his father, he too worked as a baker. Paddy, as he was known in later life, lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue after he got married and had a family. Edward Duggan, a boot maker, aged 32 years, lived next door with his wife Lizzie who was 13 years older than her husband. Both were members of the Church of Ireland.
Michael Bradley, the Urban District Council Surveyor, was 50 years of age and lived in No. 9 Offaly Street with his 38 year old wife Margaret. Married for 18 years they had 8 children ranging in age from 16 years down to 1 year. John at 16 years of age was employed as a bookkeeper while Mary Kate, Elizabeth, Julia May, Michael and James were noted as scholars and completing the Bradley family was 1 year old baby Margaret.
Next door was Julia Bradley, aged 80 years and living with her were her daughter Elizabeth, a 46 year old dressmaker and a grandson Thomas Breen, a carpenter of 26 years. Mary Hayden, a 9 year old granddaughter made up the Bradley household. Thomas Breen continued to live in Offaly Street after he married and his daughter Nan and her family are today the only direct family links with those who lived in Offaly Street 99 years ago. No. 11 Offaly Street was home to Honoria Salts, a widow of 58 years and two boarders Margaret Hickey aged 26 years, a nurse and Michael Sweeney, aged 34 years, an upholsterer. Her nephew Joseph Reddy, aged 20 years, a grocers assistant, completed the household.
Joseph and Mary Geoghegan with their two children John, 17 years and Josephine, 15 years, both scholars, lived in Number 12. Joseph Geoghegan was a carpenter.
The house and building returns which accompanied the Census showed that the first three houses in Offaly Street consisted of 2 rooms each, while the following nine houses on the same side of the street all had four rooms. The returns give the Protestant Church as the next building which would indicate that the small house presently at the corner of Janeville and Offaly Street was then part of a dwelling facing onto Janeville.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Important to Support our local talent
Two CD’s recently released by local singers have caught my attention. The Sullivan Brothers new release is their second CD following their extended coverage on the TV programme ‘You’re a Star.’ Comprising 12 songs all written and sung by the talented sons of Denis and Ann Sullivan of Avondale Drive, the CD is one which deserves to succeed. However, given the experiences of other Irish artists who find themselves deprived of airtime on our national radio, success, if it comes, may have to rely on local rather than national radio. I have been playing the CD ‘Weary’ in my car for the past three weeks and the more I listen to the Sullivan Brothers songs the more I like them. The backing musicians which include the exceptionally talented whistle player Brian Hughes provide excellent accompaniment to the singing of the Sullivan Brothers.
Two songs from their first album are repeated here ‘Keep holding on’, the signature tune of the album of the same name and ‘A little while’ get a second outing. The latest versions of both songs confirm the musical progress made by the singing brothers since their first release. This is a CD which not only the younger folk but others also might enjoy.
Certainly the second CD by local singer Jacinta O’Donnell will appeal to older listeners. It is a CD of favourite hymns in which Jacinta is joined by Geraldine Flanagan on piano. I have enjoyed Jacinta’s singing in St. Michael’s Parish Church for many years. Her beautiful rendition of church hymns has enriched many an occasion in the church from celebratory devotions of one kind or another to sad funeral services. Her distinctive singing voice so evenly pitched with crystal clear diction is always a joy to hear. It was Charles Acton, late music critic of the Irish Times who once wrote ‘music as an art combines the brain, the mind, the emotions, the heart and the revelations of the spirit of God.’ Jacinta O’Donnell consistently meets Acton’s exacting declaration when she sings in our local parish church and long may she do so.
Her CD ‘Hymns to our Lady’, consists of seven hymns, all well known to those of us who were members of church sodalities which were once a large part of our regulated church lives of younger days. Her singing of the traditional Gaelic hymn, ‘A Mhuire Mháthair’ is my favourite from this CD which I see is labelled Volume I and so holds out the prospect of another volume or volumes at some time in the near future.
Local artists, whether singers, writers, painters or participants in any artistic format, should be able to rely on local support and hopefully both the Sullivan Brothers and Jacinta O’Donnell will get that support in their home town.
The Arts Centre in Woodstock Street will, I understand, host a Sullivan Brothers concert some time in the autumn. The Arts Centre has put on a number of excellent concerts over the last three months, not all of which have attracted the audience numbers one might have expected. The Centre is a wonderful addition to the cultural outlets in Athy and is deserving of every local person’s support. If you would like to be kept informed of forthcoming events in the Arts Centre you should contact the Centre on (085) 2447221 or by email at athyarts@gmail.com and you will be given advance notice by email of whatever is planned for the Woodstock Street venue.
John Joyce, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting but with whom I corresponded some time ago, has recently written an account of the varied heritage of Graiguenamanagh. He devoted a chapter in his excellent book to ‘The Barrow Starch Works’ which he had referred to briefly in his previous book ‘Graiguenamanagh - A Town and its People’ published in 1993. The starch works was opened in 1842 by John Kelly and continued by his son William Patrick Kelly who had served as an officer in the Royal Artillery for a number of years. When he retired from the army Kelly returned to Graiguenamanagh to take charge of the Barrow Starch Works and married a Miss Lawlor from Athy in or around 1880. The business failed in 1890 and the Kellys left for England where the former Miss Lawlor died. William Kelly later remarried and while living in England began a writing career which saw the publication of several historical adventure novels which were very popular in their day. I recently acquired ‘The Cuban Treasure Island’ by William Patrick Kelly which was published in 1903 by George Routledge & Company, London. The author presented a copy of this book to his son which he inscribed ‘To Master W.F. Peer Kelly from his affectionate father the author William P. Kelly September 8th 1904’. That copy of Kelly’s book now sits on my shelves. Kelly died in 1916.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who can give me any information on the Miss Lawlor from Athy who married the former English Army Officer, William Patrick Kelly, who in the latter years of his life achieved a measure of fame and popularity as the author of several adventure novels.
Two songs from their first album are repeated here ‘Keep holding on’, the signature tune of the album of the same name and ‘A little while’ get a second outing. The latest versions of both songs confirm the musical progress made by the singing brothers since their first release. This is a CD which not only the younger folk but others also might enjoy.
Certainly the second CD by local singer Jacinta O’Donnell will appeal to older listeners. It is a CD of favourite hymns in which Jacinta is joined by Geraldine Flanagan on piano. I have enjoyed Jacinta’s singing in St. Michael’s Parish Church for many years. Her beautiful rendition of church hymns has enriched many an occasion in the church from celebratory devotions of one kind or another to sad funeral services. Her distinctive singing voice so evenly pitched with crystal clear diction is always a joy to hear. It was Charles Acton, late music critic of the Irish Times who once wrote ‘music as an art combines the brain, the mind, the emotions, the heart and the revelations of the spirit of God.’ Jacinta O’Donnell consistently meets Acton’s exacting declaration when she sings in our local parish church and long may she do so.
Her CD ‘Hymns to our Lady’, consists of seven hymns, all well known to those of us who were members of church sodalities which were once a large part of our regulated church lives of younger days. Her singing of the traditional Gaelic hymn, ‘A Mhuire Mháthair’ is my favourite from this CD which I see is labelled Volume I and so holds out the prospect of another volume or volumes at some time in the near future.
Local artists, whether singers, writers, painters or participants in any artistic format, should be able to rely on local support and hopefully both the Sullivan Brothers and Jacinta O’Donnell will get that support in their home town.
The Arts Centre in Woodstock Street will, I understand, host a Sullivan Brothers concert some time in the autumn. The Arts Centre has put on a number of excellent concerts over the last three months, not all of which have attracted the audience numbers one might have expected. The Centre is a wonderful addition to the cultural outlets in Athy and is deserving of every local person’s support. If you would like to be kept informed of forthcoming events in the Arts Centre you should contact the Centre on (085) 2447221 or by email at athyarts@gmail.com and you will be given advance notice by email of whatever is planned for the Woodstock Street venue.
John Joyce, whom I never had the pleasure of meeting but with whom I corresponded some time ago, has recently written an account of the varied heritage of Graiguenamanagh. He devoted a chapter in his excellent book to ‘The Barrow Starch Works’ which he had referred to briefly in his previous book ‘Graiguenamanagh - A Town and its People’ published in 1993. The starch works was opened in 1842 by John Kelly and continued by his son William Patrick Kelly who had served as an officer in the Royal Artillery for a number of years. When he retired from the army Kelly returned to Graiguenamanagh to take charge of the Barrow Starch Works and married a Miss Lawlor from Athy in or around 1880. The business failed in 1890 and the Kellys left for England where the former Miss Lawlor died. William Kelly later remarried and while living in England began a writing career which saw the publication of several historical adventure novels which were very popular in their day. I recently acquired ‘The Cuban Treasure Island’ by William Patrick Kelly which was published in 1903 by George Routledge & Company, London. The author presented a copy of this book to his son which he inscribed ‘To Master W.F. Peer Kelly from his affectionate father the author William P. Kelly September 8th 1904’. That copy of Kelly’s book now sits on my shelves. Kelly died in 1916.
I am interested in hearing from anyone who can give me any information on the Miss Lawlor from Athy who married the former English Army Officer, William Patrick Kelly, who in the latter years of his life achieved a measure of fame and popularity as the author of several adventure novels.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Patrick Moran and the Athy Connection
Seven years ago I wrote an eye on Patrick Moran, the County Roscommon man who worked in Athy some nine or ten years before he was hanged in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March 1921. Just a month before his execution John Moran (no relation) but also connected with Athy through his father William who was a native of the town was shot by the Black and Tans in Drogheda. Both men featured in the Eye on the Past No. 541 which appeared in February 2003.
Last week I attended the launch in Kilmainham Jail of May Moran’s book, ‘Executed for Ireland – the Patrick Moran Story’. Published by Mercier Press and written by Patrick Moran’s niece the book tells the story of the young man who took part in the 1916 Rising after which he was imprisoned in Knutsford and Frongoch. He continued his active involvement in the Volunteers after his release.
Born in Crossna near Boyle in County Roscommon in March 1888 Patrick Moran came to Athy in or about September 1910 after serving his time as a grocer’s assistant in Boyle. When he left Boyle he intended to work in Dublin but a job he sought in Doyle’s pub on the North side of Dublin did not materialise. How or why he turned his sights southwards towards Athy 42 miles from Dublin we do not know. Whatever the reason he took up a position as a grocer’s assistant with Stanislaus George Glynn who in 1911 was 52 years old and married to Mary Miriam Glynn from County Armagh. Glynn carried on business as a grocer, wine and spirit merchant and employed a number of people at his premises at No. 42 Duke Street, Athy. Two grocer’s assistants worked on the premises in addition to a porter/messenger who in 1911 was 19 year old Patrick Byrne. In addition there was a domestic servant employed in the house, a position then held by 20 year old Margaret Wall.
Local newspaper reports indicate that while in Athy Patrick Moran played football for the local Geraldine Football Club and as well was a member of the Catholic Young Men’s Society in Stanhope Street. He was also reported as having played an acting part in local amateur dramatics. His fellow worker in Glynns was Carlow man 28 year old Joseph O’Brien who enlisted at the start of the First World War Patrick Moran left Athy in or about July 1912 after he got a job with Doyles of Phibsboro.
May Moran in her excellent book quotes a letter which Stanislaus Glynn wrote in 1915 to Patrick Moran asking him to consider returning to work for him in Athy. In the letter Glynn wrote:-
‘Our Joe of late has a tendency to be careless about the business and I fear the tendency to get tired of constant work may lead him in a wrong direction. I find it hard to keep him from boozers’ company; he is well inclined but very easily led astray so I have decided to make a change in my assistants. We could find no men since O’Brien left for the army, so I tried girls but they are all an utter failure ..... Would you be willing to come to us, your political and other opinions coincide with our own and they will help keep Joe straight ..... The Gaelic League wants a bit of energetic organisation as it is at sixes and sevens and you are just the man to get them together again ..... If you consider this offer let me know your terms, I may say that at present trade being under the average owing to the war I could not afford to pay a big salary .....’
Patrick Moran did not return to Athy but instead stayed in Dublin where soon after joining the Irish Volunteers he was elected adjutant of D. Company Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. D. Company was comprised of men who worked in the bar and grocery trade. He was later a member of the Jacobs factory garrison under the command of Eamon De Valera and following the ceasefire and surrender he was imprisoned, initially in Knutsford and later in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales from where he was released on 27th July 1916. He worked in a number of different bars throughout Dublin before becoming foreman in McGees of Blackrock just a few weeks before his final arrest.
All the time he was actively involved in the Volunteer Movement and took a leading part in the events of Bloody Sunday on 22nd November 1920 when British intelligent officers were executed by raiding parties of the Volunteer Movement. May Moran has done enormous research for her book and has been able to discover Patrick Moran’s leading part in the execution of two British intelligent officers who were living in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
The story of Patrick Moran’s arrest and subsequent execution in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March 1921 is well recorded. What perhaps is not so well known is that Patrick Moran was a man who was familiar with this town and its people in the years prior to the First World War and who played an active part in the social life of Athy while he lived here. During his term of imprisonment in Mountjoy Jail while awaiting execution he associated with another man whose family were subsequently to have and still have links with the South Kildare town. Frank Flood, one of a number of Flood brothers who were actively involved in the Republican Movement in Dublin during the War of Independence, was also hanged in Mountjoy Jail and his brother Tom Flood subsequently came to live in Athy where he operated the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street.
This well written book should be of great interest to Athy people.
Last week I attended the launch in Kilmainham Jail of May Moran’s book, ‘Executed for Ireland – the Patrick Moran Story’. Published by Mercier Press and written by Patrick Moran’s niece the book tells the story of the young man who took part in the 1916 Rising after which he was imprisoned in Knutsford and Frongoch. He continued his active involvement in the Volunteers after his release.
Born in Crossna near Boyle in County Roscommon in March 1888 Patrick Moran came to Athy in or about September 1910 after serving his time as a grocer’s assistant in Boyle. When he left Boyle he intended to work in Dublin but a job he sought in Doyle’s pub on the North side of Dublin did not materialise. How or why he turned his sights southwards towards Athy 42 miles from Dublin we do not know. Whatever the reason he took up a position as a grocer’s assistant with Stanislaus George Glynn who in 1911 was 52 years old and married to Mary Miriam Glynn from County Armagh. Glynn carried on business as a grocer, wine and spirit merchant and employed a number of people at his premises at No. 42 Duke Street, Athy. Two grocer’s assistants worked on the premises in addition to a porter/messenger who in 1911 was 19 year old Patrick Byrne. In addition there was a domestic servant employed in the house, a position then held by 20 year old Margaret Wall.
Local newspaper reports indicate that while in Athy Patrick Moran played football for the local Geraldine Football Club and as well was a member of the Catholic Young Men’s Society in Stanhope Street. He was also reported as having played an acting part in local amateur dramatics. His fellow worker in Glynns was Carlow man 28 year old Joseph O’Brien who enlisted at the start of the First World War Patrick Moran left Athy in or about July 1912 after he got a job with Doyles of Phibsboro.
May Moran in her excellent book quotes a letter which Stanislaus Glynn wrote in 1915 to Patrick Moran asking him to consider returning to work for him in Athy. In the letter Glynn wrote:-
‘Our Joe of late has a tendency to be careless about the business and I fear the tendency to get tired of constant work may lead him in a wrong direction. I find it hard to keep him from boozers’ company; he is well inclined but very easily led astray so I have decided to make a change in my assistants. We could find no men since O’Brien left for the army, so I tried girls but they are all an utter failure ..... Would you be willing to come to us, your political and other opinions coincide with our own and they will help keep Joe straight ..... The Gaelic League wants a bit of energetic organisation as it is at sixes and sevens and you are just the man to get them together again ..... If you consider this offer let me know your terms, I may say that at present trade being under the average owing to the war I could not afford to pay a big salary .....’
Patrick Moran did not return to Athy but instead stayed in Dublin where soon after joining the Irish Volunteers he was elected adjutant of D. Company Second Battalion of the Dublin Brigade. D. Company was comprised of men who worked in the bar and grocery trade. He was later a member of the Jacobs factory garrison under the command of Eamon De Valera and following the ceasefire and surrender he was imprisoned, initially in Knutsford and later in Frongoch internment camp in North Wales from where he was released on 27th July 1916. He worked in a number of different bars throughout Dublin before becoming foreman in McGees of Blackrock just a few weeks before his final arrest.
All the time he was actively involved in the Volunteer Movement and took a leading part in the events of Bloody Sunday on 22nd November 1920 when British intelligent officers were executed by raiding parties of the Volunteer Movement. May Moran has done enormous research for her book and has been able to discover Patrick Moran’s leading part in the execution of two British intelligent officers who were living in the Gresham Hotel in Dublin.
The story of Patrick Moran’s arrest and subsequent execution in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March 1921 is well recorded. What perhaps is not so well known is that Patrick Moran was a man who was familiar with this town and its people in the years prior to the First World War and who played an active part in the social life of Athy while he lived here. During his term of imprisonment in Mountjoy Jail while awaiting execution he associated with another man whose family were subsequently to have and still have links with the South Kildare town. Frank Flood, one of a number of Flood brothers who were actively involved in the Republican Movement in Dublin during the War of Independence, was also hanged in Mountjoy Jail and his brother Tom Flood subsequently came to live in Athy where he operated the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street.
This well written book should be of great interest to Athy people.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Illegal goal in 1939 Leinster semi-final
Last week’s controversial goal in the Leinster final match between Meath and Louth which gave an undeserved victory to the Meath team brought back memories of a match played 71 years ago involving our own county team. The occasion was the Leinster Semi Final of 1939 when the men from Kildare togged out in Drogheda against the county men from Meath in a match which ended in even more controversy than that refereed by Martin Sludden last Sunday. Meath’s ‘victory’ this year came courtesy of an illegal injury time match winning goal from a player who fell into the goal area before throwing the ball over the line.
Roll back to the summer of 1939 and the G.A.A. pitch in Drogheda where Meath and Kildare were pitted against each other in the Leinster Semi Final of that year. Included on the Kildare team that day were Athy club players Johnny McEvoy, John Rochford and Tommy Mulhall. Meath scored their second match winning goal in the last minute of the game, despite claims that the referee had blown his whistle for a foul. The Kildare players on hearing the whistle had stopped defending their goal before the ball was thrown in the Kildare net by a Meath player. Johnny McEvoy, formerly of Woodstock Street, was the Kildare goalkeeper that day and in an interview with me many years ago he gave me his account of what happened.
Kildare player Peter Waters was fouled about 21 yards out from the Kildare goal. John Rochford retaliated and a goalmouth melee involving players from both sides resulted. The referee blew his whistle and Bill Halpin, a Meath player, threw the ball into the net in disgust. Johnny McEvoy picked up the ball and sat on it as supporters swarmed onto the pitch. A Meath supporter waived the umpire’s green flag to signify a goal. The referee placed the ball on the ground and pointed outfield so the Kildare players assumed they had got a free out. The final whistle soon followed and the Kildare players trooped off the pitch thinking they had won the match. Johnny McEvoy returned to the goalmouth area to retrieve a dental plate which he had left on the ground wrapped in a handkerchief and it was then that he discovered that the referee had awarded the goal to Meath. When he returned to the dressing room to tell his mates, in his own words ‘the Kildare team tore out but the referee was nowhere to be seen’.
The Kildare County Board lodged an objection and Athy’s District Court Clerk, Fintan Brennan, who was then Chairman of the Leinster Council, got several of the players, including Athy’s Johnny McEvoy and John Rochford to swear Affidavits which were lodged with the G.A.A. Central Council after the County’s initial objection was rejected by the Leinster Council. It was to no avail. The referee’s decision in 1939 and again in 2010 was final. Tim Clarke, the Kildare County Board Secretary, was reported in the Leinster Leader as saying, ‘We have often got bad treatment on the field from referees but never have we been robbed barefacedly of a match.’ Kildare subsequently withdrew all its teams from G.A.A. competitions for a year.
The Leinster Championship Semi Final in Drogheda on 9th July 1939 deprived Kildare of a possible victory in that year’s All Ireland. Meath went on to win the Leinster Final and only lost to Kerry in the All Ireland Final by the narrow margin of 2 points. The controversial defeat ended Johnny McEvoy’s association with his home county’s Senior Football team as having joined the Garda Siochana he decided to tog out for a Dublin team. Johnny had the distinction of securing a Senior County Dublin Championship medal in 1948 to go with the Kildare Championship medal won with Athy in 1937. He first played for his native county in November 1937 and would also play for the Dublin Senior County team during his Garda Siochana days in the capital city.
The 1939 game against Meath and the controversial goal which deprived the Kildare men of victory was brought to mind on reading in a newspaper headline which followed last week’s game ‘Controversy abounds as Meath claim title in hectic final minute’.
As in 1939 the Royal County of Meath declined to offer a replay to their opponents. I suppose this is not unexpected in a sport, which with soccer, has seen the development of unsporting behaviour by players feigning injury and fouls in order to obtain advantage over opponents. Sportsmanship is not always to be found where expected and officials and team players who rely, when it is to their advantage, on the rules and ignore the spirit of the game are in the end the losers.
Roll back to the summer of 1939 and the G.A.A. pitch in Drogheda where Meath and Kildare were pitted against each other in the Leinster Semi Final of that year. Included on the Kildare team that day were Athy club players Johnny McEvoy, John Rochford and Tommy Mulhall. Meath scored their second match winning goal in the last minute of the game, despite claims that the referee had blown his whistle for a foul. The Kildare players on hearing the whistle had stopped defending their goal before the ball was thrown in the Kildare net by a Meath player. Johnny McEvoy, formerly of Woodstock Street, was the Kildare goalkeeper that day and in an interview with me many years ago he gave me his account of what happened.
Kildare player Peter Waters was fouled about 21 yards out from the Kildare goal. John Rochford retaliated and a goalmouth melee involving players from both sides resulted. The referee blew his whistle and Bill Halpin, a Meath player, threw the ball into the net in disgust. Johnny McEvoy picked up the ball and sat on it as supporters swarmed onto the pitch. A Meath supporter waived the umpire’s green flag to signify a goal. The referee placed the ball on the ground and pointed outfield so the Kildare players assumed they had got a free out. The final whistle soon followed and the Kildare players trooped off the pitch thinking they had won the match. Johnny McEvoy returned to the goalmouth area to retrieve a dental plate which he had left on the ground wrapped in a handkerchief and it was then that he discovered that the referee had awarded the goal to Meath. When he returned to the dressing room to tell his mates, in his own words ‘the Kildare team tore out but the referee was nowhere to be seen’.
The Kildare County Board lodged an objection and Athy’s District Court Clerk, Fintan Brennan, who was then Chairman of the Leinster Council, got several of the players, including Athy’s Johnny McEvoy and John Rochford to swear Affidavits which were lodged with the G.A.A. Central Council after the County’s initial objection was rejected by the Leinster Council. It was to no avail. The referee’s decision in 1939 and again in 2010 was final. Tim Clarke, the Kildare County Board Secretary, was reported in the Leinster Leader as saying, ‘We have often got bad treatment on the field from referees but never have we been robbed barefacedly of a match.’ Kildare subsequently withdrew all its teams from G.A.A. competitions for a year.
The Leinster Championship Semi Final in Drogheda on 9th July 1939 deprived Kildare of a possible victory in that year’s All Ireland. Meath went on to win the Leinster Final and only lost to Kerry in the All Ireland Final by the narrow margin of 2 points. The controversial defeat ended Johnny McEvoy’s association with his home county’s Senior Football team as having joined the Garda Siochana he decided to tog out for a Dublin team. Johnny had the distinction of securing a Senior County Dublin Championship medal in 1948 to go with the Kildare Championship medal won with Athy in 1937. He first played for his native county in November 1937 and would also play for the Dublin Senior County team during his Garda Siochana days in the capital city.
The 1939 game against Meath and the controversial goal which deprived the Kildare men of victory was brought to mind on reading in a newspaper headline which followed last week’s game ‘Controversy abounds as Meath claim title in hectic final minute’.
As in 1939 the Royal County of Meath declined to offer a replay to their opponents. I suppose this is not unexpected in a sport, which with soccer, has seen the development of unsporting behaviour by players feigning injury and fouls in order to obtain advantage over opponents. Sportsmanship is not always to be found where expected and officials and team players who rely, when it is to their advantage, on the rules and ignore the spirit of the game are in the end the losers.
Thursday, July 15, 2010
A history shared
Last Saturday representing Athy I joined representatives of local history societies from around the country in welcoming visitors of the Ulster Federation of History Societies to our county town of Naas. The Ulster Federation is an umbrella organisation of history societies throughout Northern Ireland and in that regard fulfils the same role as does the Federation of Local History Societies in the south. The two federations have enjoyed excellent relationships extending back beyond the dark days of the ‘troubles’ and the visit to Naas by 35 Northern Ireland local historians was part of an Urban Experience Project initiated by the two federations over 20 years ago. The Project involves exchange trips between the two federations and these annual visits, either north or south of the border, help to cement strong bonds of friendship and cultural cooperation between all their members.
Seamus Moore, the newly elected Mayor of Naas, welcomed the visitors and as he did I was mindful that Seamus’ father Michael Moore, a native of Barrowhouse, had made his home in Nás na Rí, the meeting place of the Kings, some years after his involvement in South Kildare as a member of the Carlow/Kildare I.R.A. Brigade in the War of Independence.
While waiting for the Northern Ireland visitors to arrive Seamus showed me a banner made by Watsons of Sackville Street Dublin in 1882, on which was depicted a portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lord Edward was at one time a Member of Parliament for the Borough of Athy and the banner with the words ‘God Save Ireland’ and ‘Eire go Brath’ boldly emblazoned above and below Lord Edward’s portrait was apparently a Land League banner. I understand Naas Town Council has gone to a lot of expense to preserve this important artefact from our past and their decision to do so is highly commendable. I am reminded that I have sought in vain over the years to track down a number of banners which at various times graced parades and public meetings held in Athy and elsewhere in the County of Kildare during the Land League and subsequent Home Rule periods of agitation. The Luggacurran Land League banner was traced to a pub in the Swan, but unfortunately has yet to be seen or recovered.
The fine room at the top of the Town Hall in Naas which was originally built as the town gaol in 1792 is now used at the local Council’s meeting chambers. It is a graceful room, the walls of which are adorned with paintings recording scenes from the history of Naas which was once the second town of the short grass county after Athy.
A quick guided tour of some of the more important buildings in Naas followed, of which St. David’s Church, built on the site of an earlier Celtic church in the centre of Naas, was the highlight.
After lunch more than 75 local historians from north and south of this island visited Palmerstown House, the seat of the Bourkes who were Earls of Mayo. The present house, located just outside Naas, was built in the Queen Ann style, by public subscription as a tribute to the Earl of Mayo after he was assassinated in India. The Earl’s body was returned to Ireland preserved in a barrel of rum, thereby earning him the nickname ‘the pickled earl’. His story, and that of Palmerstown House, was eloquently related to the visitors by Brian McCabe of the local history society.
I was delighted to hear from Brian that the memorial to the old Fenian John Devoy which marked his birthplace in Kill has recently been replaced near to its original site following the works on the motorway. The Devoy family originally came from Athy and Michael Devoy of Kill wrote a short history of Athy which was published in the Irish Magazine of March 1809. Michael, whom I believe may have been John Devoy’s grandfather, also wrote a history of Castledermot which was published in the May 1809 edition of the same magazine.
The visit of the Ulster Federation Members was a very enjoyable occasion and gave the Naas Local History Society members an opportunity to showcase their ancient town. I was particularly impressed by the generosity of Jim Mansfield in allowing access to his fine house at Palmerstown. There were minimum restrictions imposed on the 75 or so interested visitors as they went through almost every part of the building. It was the highlight of the day and congratulations must go to Larry Breen, National President of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland, who is also an active member of Naas Local History Society.
In Eye on the Past No. 541 I wrote of Patrick Moran who worked for some years as a shop assistant in Athy and who was hanged in Kilmainham Jail on 14th March 1921 for his alleged participation in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ 21st November 1920. Kilmainham Jail will be the venue for the launch of ‘Executed for Ireland – The Patrick Moran Story’ on Wednesday, 21st July at 7.00 p.m. The book by May Moran will be of particular interest for Athy folk.
Seamus Moore, the newly elected Mayor of Naas, welcomed the visitors and as he did I was mindful that Seamus’ father Michael Moore, a native of Barrowhouse, had made his home in Nás na Rí, the meeting place of the Kings, some years after his involvement in South Kildare as a member of the Carlow/Kildare I.R.A. Brigade in the War of Independence.
While waiting for the Northern Ireland visitors to arrive Seamus showed me a banner made by Watsons of Sackville Street Dublin in 1882, on which was depicted a portrait of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. Lord Edward was at one time a Member of Parliament for the Borough of Athy and the banner with the words ‘God Save Ireland’ and ‘Eire go Brath’ boldly emblazoned above and below Lord Edward’s portrait was apparently a Land League banner. I understand Naas Town Council has gone to a lot of expense to preserve this important artefact from our past and their decision to do so is highly commendable. I am reminded that I have sought in vain over the years to track down a number of banners which at various times graced parades and public meetings held in Athy and elsewhere in the County of Kildare during the Land League and subsequent Home Rule periods of agitation. The Luggacurran Land League banner was traced to a pub in the Swan, but unfortunately has yet to be seen or recovered.
The fine room at the top of the Town Hall in Naas which was originally built as the town gaol in 1792 is now used at the local Council’s meeting chambers. It is a graceful room, the walls of which are adorned with paintings recording scenes from the history of Naas which was once the second town of the short grass county after Athy.
A quick guided tour of some of the more important buildings in Naas followed, of which St. David’s Church, built on the site of an earlier Celtic church in the centre of Naas, was the highlight.
After lunch more than 75 local historians from north and south of this island visited Palmerstown House, the seat of the Bourkes who were Earls of Mayo. The present house, located just outside Naas, was built in the Queen Ann style, by public subscription as a tribute to the Earl of Mayo after he was assassinated in India. The Earl’s body was returned to Ireland preserved in a barrel of rum, thereby earning him the nickname ‘the pickled earl’. His story, and that of Palmerstown House, was eloquently related to the visitors by Brian McCabe of the local history society.
I was delighted to hear from Brian that the memorial to the old Fenian John Devoy which marked his birthplace in Kill has recently been replaced near to its original site following the works on the motorway. The Devoy family originally came from Athy and Michael Devoy of Kill wrote a short history of Athy which was published in the Irish Magazine of March 1809. Michael, whom I believe may have been John Devoy’s grandfather, also wrote a history of Castledermot which was published in the May 1809 edition of the same magazine.
The visit of the Ulster Federation Members was a very enjoyable occasion and gave the Naas Local History Society members an opportunity to showcase their ancient town. I was particularly impressed by the generosity of Jim Mansfield in allowing access to his fine house at Palmerstown. There were minimum restrictions imposed on the 75 or so interested visitors as they went through almost every part of the building. It was the highlight of the day and congratulations must go to Larry Breen, National President of the Federation of Local History Societies of Ireland, who is also an active member of Naas Local History Society.
In Eye on the Past No. 541 I wrote of Patrick Moran who worked for some years as a shop assistant in Athy and who was hanged in Kilmainham Jail on 14th March 1921 for his alleged participation in the events of ‘Bloody Sunday’ 21st November 1920. Kilmainham Jail will be the venue for the launch of ‘Executed for Ireland – The Patrick Moran Story’ on Wednesday, 21st July at 7.00 p.m. The book by May Moran will be of particular interest for Athy folk.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Proud history of St. Vincents
Sixteen years ago I was approached by Eddie Matthews of the Eastern Health Board and asked if I would write a history of the local hospital, St. Vincent’s. The publication was to be ready for the 150th anniversary of the hospital’s opening as a workhouse which had predated the Great Famine by just over a year. The opening of Athy Workhouse on 9th January 1844 came just in time to relieve some of the harshest effects of the famine in and around the South Kildare area.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Proud History of St. Vincents
Sixteen years ago I was approached by Eddie Matthews of the Eastern Health Board and asked if I would write a history of the local hospital, St. Vincent’s. The publication was to be ready for the 150th anniversary of the hospital’s opening as a workhouse which had predated the Great Famine by just over a year. The opening of Athy Workhouse on 9th January 1844 came just in time to relieve some of the harshest effects of the famine in and around the South Kildare area.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Regrettably when I began my research I was dismayed to find that all of the Workhouse records had been destroyed. The loss of this invaluable original source material was a huge disadvantage and prevented me from giving a detailed account of the institution as I traced its transition from workhouse to County Home to its final transformation as a geriatric hospital.
Kieran Hickey who was a staff officer in Kildare County Council when I was a lowly clerical officer wrote a foreword for the history of the hospital in his capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Eastern Health Board. He mentioned how St. Vincent’s Hospital ‘now provides caring services for all levels of society. It is right and fitting that the hospital and its current staff, lead by Sr. Peig Matron, Dr. Giles O’Neill Medical Officer and Eddie Matthews Hospital Manager should celebrate what has been achieved and look forward with confidence to the next century and a half.’
I was reminded of what Kieran Hickey wrote sixteen years ago when I heard last week of local concerns regarding the possible closure of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Apparently some sections of the hospital have been closed and further admissions have been curtailed. This could be accounted for by seasonal staff shortages, but around the same time Martin Mansergh T.D. and Minister for State issued a statement regretting the partial closure of hospital services throughout the country. While acknowledging such closures as temporary measures he inferred that other closures were inevitable having regard to the difficulty of upgrading old buildings to meet the exacting requirements of 21st century medical standards.
Alarm bells went off when I heard this explanation for it immediately raised an issue which could weigh heavily against St. Vincent’s Hospital if the ‘health and safety’ brigade were required to make decisions about the Athy hospital.
Many of the buildings housing St. Vincent’s Hospital are old, their history going back to famine times. Therein lies a possible problem if the beaucrats are of a mind to close St. Vincent’s. Not being a county town Athy has none of the services or facilities which neighbouring towns such as Naas, Portlaoise and Carlow have come to expect. St. Vincent’s Hospital is the only local facility offering services on a countywide basis. It is an excellent institution which provides caring services as required for all levels of society in the county. That, more than the age of the building should determine St. Vincent’s Hospital’s future.
St. Vincent’s is part of our history, an important link with our past. It’s early years as a workhouse from where young female inmates were sent to Australia under a State sponsored orphan emigration scheme is the less appealing part of that history. The part played by the Sisters of Mercy in the development of nursing services in the workhouse infirmary is the happier side of its history. The Sisters of Mercy began to visit patients in the infirmary every Sunday soon after they arrived in Athy in 1852. When Elizabeth Silke was appointed Matron of the workhouse in 1867 she was responsible for looking after the female inmates without any nursing assistance. Soon afterwards the Board of Guardians asked the Sisters of Mercy to take charge of the workhouse infirmary. This they did on 24th October 1873. In time their influence extended to the workhouse itself and throughout most of the 20th century the Sisters of Mercy provided from amongst their numbers successive matrons for the County Home as the workhouse was called after 1923 and St. Vincent’s Hospital as it became in the 1960s.
One of the many interesting individuals who worked in Athy Workhouse was Robert Walker who was Master of the workhouse in the last 1870s. He was later Private Secretary to T.P. O’Connor M.P., Irish Parliamentarian and author who represented Liverpool in the British House of Commons. Walker was brother of Mrs. Ann Boylan, one time principal of Barrowhouse National School whose son, Monsignor Patrick Boylan was one of Ireland’s greatest scripture scholars. Monsignor Boylan who was Professor of Eastern Languages in Maynooth College died in November 1974 while he was Parish Priest of Dunlaoghaire.
St. Vincent’s Hospital has served Athy and County Kildare well for the last 166 years. We may be called upon sooner than we think to show our appreciation for this local institution by ensuring that it is not consigned to the pages of history.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Emily Square: Central to Athy's history
The announcement of the imminent erection of the ’98 Memorial commissioned over 12 years by Athy Urban District Council, as it was then known, is very welcome news. I gather the Memorial will be erected in Emily Square, that fine public space in the centre of our town which over the years has been the scene of many community events and celebrations. It is appropriate that Emily Square is chosen for the ’98 Memorial because it was in that very same arena that local men suspected of involvement with the United Irishmen were tortured during the early months of 1798. Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine House wrote of the experience of the Athy people at that time: ‘a man of the name of Thomas James Rawson ... had every person tortured and stripped ... he would seat himself in the chair in the centre of a ring formed around the triangles, the miserable victims kneeling under the triangles until they would be spotted over with the blood of the others.’
William Farrell of Carlow corroborated Fitzgerald’s account when he wrote: ‘the triangle was put up in the public street of Athy ... the men were stripped naked, tied to the triangle and their flesh cut without mercy.’
It was also in Emily Square that the Athy Yeomanry Cavalry lead by their Captain, the earlier mentioned Thomas Fitzgerald, were stood down in May 1798 amidst claims that they were disloyal. Colonel Campbell who commanded the 9th Dragoons then stationed in the local military barracks ordered the members of the Cavalry Corps to turn out in Emily Square. There they were ordered to dismount, to lay down their arms and strip their horses of saddles and bridles. This formal disbandment of Athy Cavalry Corps was a humiliating experience for its members who were for the most part local gentleman farmers and their sons. But in those tense days little could be taken for granted, especially when the son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, was himself a leader of the rebellious United Irishmen.
Athy has enjoyed a chequered history since the time the Anglo Normans travelled up the navigable River Barrow to establish a township near the site of the ancient river crossing. Numerous attacks by the Irish on the Anglo Norman settlement from which the town later developed, led to the creation of a fortress town in which a garrison was constantly stationed. Athy would remain a garrison town until the mid 19th century by which time it had survived the Black Death, Plague and the Confederate Wars.
The United Irishmen’s rebellion of 1798 marked a turning point in the political allegiances of many of the local people of Athy. The awakening of the desire for self government first identified with the founding of the United Irishmen would lie dormant for many years after the ’98 Rebellion. However, a seed once sown would never die.
It was the emergence of Sinn Fein under the leadership of its founder Arthur Griffith, a society later infiltrated and controlled by the I.R.B., which saw military action replace parliamentary politics in the push for independence. The South Kildare area figured, although not very prominently, in the events which marked the Irish War of Independence and in so doing the people of this area kept faith with the legacy of the United Irishmen of 1798.
During the 19th century famine would come and go but oppressive poverty would remain a constant companion for a large part of the local people of Athy. Enlistment overseas in the same Army which had brutally defeated their forefathers’ rebellious efforts in ’98 were for many the only means of escaping the tedium and poverty of Irish provincial town life. Those who enlisted during the 1914-18 War have in recent years received their due recognition with the unveiling of a plaque on the front of the Town Hall facing out onto Emily Square. It is only right that the same square which played such a prominent part in the events of ’98 will soon be the site of a memorial to the men and women of the Year of Rebellion.
Mary Jo O’Rourke, formerly of 21 Geraldine Road, has emailed me from the Isle of Man. In 1987 or thereabouts when she was attending Scoil Mhichil Naofa she was part of a group from the school which performed in a concert held in Dreamland which she recalls was advertised as ‘Curtain Call’. Apparently a video was taken of the concert and she is anxious to try and trace a copy of the video to show to her young daughter as one of the songs from that concert is a lullaby which she now sings to her. Can anyone help Mary Jo in her search for the video of that concert?
William Farrell of Carlow corroborated Fitzgerald’s account when he wrote: ‘the triangle was put up in the public street of Athy ... the men were stripped naked, tied to the triangle and their flesh cut without mercy.’
It was also in Emily Square that the Athy Yeomanry Cavalry lead by their Captain, the earlier mentioned Thomas Fitzgerald, were stood down in May 1798 amidst claims that they were disloyal. Colonel Campbell who commanded the 9th Dragoons then stationed in the local military barracks ordered the members of the Cavalry Corps to turn out in Emily Square. There they were ordered to dismount, to lay down their arms and strip their horses of saddles and bridles. This formal disbandment of Athy Cavalry Corps was a humiliating experience for its members who were for the most part local gentleman farmers and their sons. But in those tense days little could be taken for granted, especially when the son of the Duke of Leinster, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, was himself a leader of the rebellious United Irishmen.
Athy has enjoyed a chequered history since the time the Anglo Normans travelled up the navigable River Barrow to establish a township near the site of the ancient river crossing. Numerous attacks by the Irish on the Anglo Norman settlement from which the town later developed, led to the creation of a fortress town in which a garrison was constantly stationed. Athy would remain a garrison town until the mid 19th century by which time it had survived the Black Death, Plague and the Confederate Wars.
The United Irishmen’s rebellion of 1798 marked a turning point in the political allegiances of many of the local people of Athy. The awakening of the desire for self government first identified with the founding of the United Irishmen would lie dormant for many years after the ’98 Rebellion. However, a seed once sown would never die.
It was the emergence of Sinn Fein under the leadership of its founder Arthur Griffith, a society later infiltrated and controlled by the I.R.B., which saw military action replace parliamentary politics in the push for independence. The South Kildare area figured, although not very prominently, in the events which marked the Irish War of Independence and in so doing the people of this area kept faith with the legacy of the United Irishmen of 1798.
During the 19th century famine would come and go but oppressive poverty would remain a constant companion for a large part of the local people of Athy. Enlistment overseas in the same Army which had brutally defeated their forefathers’ rebellious efforts in ’98 were for many the only means of escaping the tedium and poverty of Irish provincial town life. Those who enlisted during the 1914-18 War have in recent years received their due recognition with the unveiling of a plaque on the front of the Town Hall facing out onto Emily Square. It is only right that the same square which played such a prominent part in the events of ’98 will soon be the site of a memorial to the men and women of the Year of Rebellion.
Mary Jo O’Rourke, formerly of 21 Geraldine Road, has emailed me from the Isle of Man. In 1987 or thereabouts when she was attending Scoil Mhichil Naofa she was part of a group from the school which performed in a concert held in Dreamland which she recalls was advertised as ‘Curtain Call’. Apparently a video was taken of the concert and she is anxious to try and trace a copy of the video to show to her young daughter as one of the songs from that concert is a lullaby which she now sings to her. Can anyone help Mary Jo in her search for the video of that concert?
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Unique Irish historical document
I am told it weighs 20 kilogrammes. It is claimed that each and every page of the 5,000 pages of the 10 volume report provide the most detailed insight ever into any military operation in world history. The fact that it was an operation carried out on the streets of an Irish town within living memory and culminated in the death of 14 innocent persons makes the Saville report a unique Irish historical document. My postman may not have realised this as he delivered two extremely heavy parcels containing the Saville report to me this morning.
It was Sunday afternoon the 30th of January 1972 when a citizens protest march against internment without trial organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association set off from Bishops Field in the Creggan Estate, Derry intending to finish at the city's Guild Hall. Just a week earlier I had left Monagan town having spent three years there amongst people whose lives and associations were touched by border activities, both legal and illegal. During my time there, which immediately preceded the start of the “troubles” I often visited Armagh and Belfast city. As the “troubles” developed my visits became less frequent but my familiarity with those cities forged a link with Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland affairs which was never to be broken.
Imagine then my horror on hearing that the Sunday afternoon protest march had resulted in the killing of 13 men on the streets of their home town and the injuring of 15 more, one of whom later died. The tragic events of that day were to find an echo in similar murderous atrocities over the years that followed as Northern Ireland descended deeper and deeper into a frightening and frightful state of war.
“Bloody Sunday” in Irish history described the day on Sunday the 21st of November 1920 when IRA volunteers went to addresses throughout the city of Dublin to shoot, in what can only be described as a cowardly fashion, English officers and men who were believed to be intelligence officers. 14 men were shot dead that day while in bed or in their bedrooms in much the same way as cowardly Irregulars shot the two Connor Scarteen brothers in Kenmare on the 9th of September 1922 during the civil war. However, following the murderous activities of the paratroopers in Derry on the last Sunday of January 1972, that Sabbath day would thereafter be inevitably known as “Bloody Sunday”.
The Derry killings led to a storm of protest and on the following day some public institutions in the North and shops in Derry closed as catholic workers went on strike. Society in Northern Ireland was polarised on religious grounds in 1972 much more so than it is today and here in the South a national day of mourning was called for Wednesday the 2nd of February as the funerals of the 12 of those killed took place in the North.
The sense of outrage felt by so many people found expression in protest marches organised following “Bloody Sunday”. I had just joined AnCo, The Industrial Training Authority and was working in Carrisbrook House in Ballsbridge. On the national day of mourning, Wednesday 2nd February, the entire staff of AnCo led by their Director General, Jack Agnew silently marched from Ballsbridge to the British Embassy in Merrion Square. That same evening the British Embassy was burnt to the ground.
The subsequent Widgery report on the “Bloody Sunday” shootings which comprised 61 pages (compared to 5000 pages of the Saville report) concluded that shots had been fired at the British soldiers before they returned fire. Much of the credit for the reopening of the investigation into “Bloody Sunday” must go to Jane Winter, Director of British and Irish Rights Watch and Belfast solicitor Patricia Coyle whose work on unearthing documents on the events in Derry led to Professor Dermot Walsh's report 13 years ago. “Bloody Sunday Tribunal Enquiry, a resounding defeat for both truth, justice and rule of law” prompted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to press the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair for a new enquiry. To Blair's credit he agreed and the Saville enquiry opened in Derry on the 3rd of April 1998. 12 years later a new British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British nation for the “unjustifiable” killing of 14 civilians in Derry 28 years ago.
Apologies are due by many others from all sides of different conflicts in this island going back as far as the Irish War of Independence and the bitter civil war which followed. Unfortunately for many the opportunity to apologise has long gone. All that is left now is sorrow at the savagery which marked the actions of so many.
It was Sunday afternoon the 30th of January 1972 when a citizens protest march against internment without trial organised by the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association set off from Bishops Field in the Creggan Estate, Derry intending to finish at the city's Guild Hall. Just a week earlier I had left Monagan town having spent three years there amongst people whose lives and associations were touched by border activities, both legal and illegal. During my time there, which immediately preceded the start of the “troubles” I often visited Armagh and Belfast city. As the “troubles” developed my visits became less frequent but my familiarity with those cities forged a link with Northern Ireland and Northern Ireland affairs which was never to be broken.
Imagine then my horror on hearing that the Sunday afternoon protest march had resulted in the killing of 13 men on the streets of their home town and the injuring of 15 more, one of whom later died. The tragic events of that day were to find an echo in similar murderous atrocities over the years that followed as Northern Ireland descended deeper and deeper into a frightening and frightful state of war.
“Bloody Sunday” in Irish history described the day on Sunday the 21st of November 1920 when IRA volunteers went to addresses throughout the city of Dublin to shoot, in what can only be described as a cowardly fashion, English officers and men who were believed to be intelligence officers. 14 men were shot dead that day while in bed or in their bedrooms in much the same way as cowardly Irregulars shot the two Connor Scarteen brothers in Kenmare on the 9th of September 1922 during the civil war. However, following the murderous activities of the paratroopers in Derry on the last Sunday of January 1972, that Sabbath day would thereafter be inevitably known as “Bloody Sunday”.
The Derry killings led to a storm of protest and on the following day some public institutions in the North and shops in Derry closed as catholic workers went on strike. Society in Northern Ireland was polarised on religious grounds in 1972 much more so than it is today and here in the South a national day of mourning was called for Wednesday the 2nd of February as the funerals of the 12 of those killed took place in the North.
The sense of outrage felt by so many people found expression in protest marches organised following “Bloody Sunday”. I had just joined AnCo, The Industrial Training Authority and was working in Carrisbrook House in Ballsbridge. On the national day of mourning, Wednesday 2nd February, the entire staff of AnCo led by their Director General, Jack Agnew silently marched from Ballsbridge to the British Embassy in Merrion Square. That same evening the British Embassy was burnt to the ground.
The subsequent Widgery report on the “Bloody Sunday” shootings which comprised 61 pages (compared to 5000 pages of the Saville report) concluded that shots had been fired at the British soldiers before they returned fire. Much of the credit for the reopening of the investigation into “Bloody Sunday” must go to Jane Winter, Director of British and Irish Rights Watch and Belfast solicitor Patricia Coyle whose work on unearthing documents on the events in Derry led to Professor Dermot Walsh's report 13 years ago. “Bloody Sunday Tribunal Enquiry, a resounding defeat for both truth, justice and rule of law” prompted Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to press the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair for a new enquiry. To Blair's credit he agreed and the Saville enquiry opened in Derry on the 3rd of April 1998. 12 years later a new British Prime Minister David Cameron apologised on behalf of the British nation for the “unjustifiable” killing of 14 civilians in Derry 28 years ago.
Apologies are due by many others from all sides of different conflicts in this island going back as far as the Irish War of Independence and the bitter civil war which followed. Unfortunately for many the opportunity to apologise has long gone. All that is left now is sorrow at the savagery which marked the actions of so many.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Proud history of I.C.A.
The link between Athy I.C.A. and Robert Owen, the father of the co-operative movement, or co-partnership in industry might seem at first to be somewhat tenuous. Owen, who was born in 1771 in the Welsh village of Newtown, became a legend in his own lifetime, combining his success as a businessman with that of rational thinker on education and his pioneering role as social reformer. Owen, who died in 1858, influenced many people including John Vandaleur who having attended a talk given by Owen in Dublin returned home to Limerick and founded the Rahaline Co-operative Association in 1830. Within three years the Workers co-operative centered in the area around Bunratty had failed and the next stage in the development of co-operatives in Ireland would not come for another 56 years.
Horace Plunkett, son of Lord Dunsany, imbued with the ideals of Robert Owen, started the next co-operative in Ireland when he founded the Dunsany Co-operative Society. Plunkett was to devote himself to the development of the co-operative movement in Ireland and assisting him in that task was Robert Anderson whom he had chosen as the first co-operative organiser in 1889. Anderson would become a central figure in the co-operative movement in Ireland as secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society.
It was the work of Horace Plunkett and an address given by the Irish writer George Russell at the A.G.M. of the I.A.O.S. in December 1909 which inspired a number of women attending that meeting to organise an Irish version of the Woman’s Co-operative Guilds which were to be found in Britain.
Mrs. Ellice Pilkington whose brother Sir Thomas Esmond was a member of the I.A.O.S. was appointed the first organiser of the Woman’s Movement which was to be called the Society of the United Irishwomen. The first branch was set up in Bree, Co. Wexford on 15th June 1910 and the national organisation was registered as a co-operative society which in its initial years was helped financially and otherwise by the I.A.O.S. and the organisers of the co-operative movement in Ireland.
The Society of the United Irishwomen changed its name in 1935 to the Irish Countrywomen’s Association. It was, by and large, perceived to be a rural organisation catering for those whose families worked on the land. In the years after the name change, town associations were formed to cater for the needs of women in Irish towns and villages.
Athy I.C.A. was founded in October 1957 when a small group of local women from the town and surrounding countryside came together in the Macra na Feirme rooms in the Town Hall. Those involved and whose names have come down to us were Eileen Condron, Carrie McDonald, Gertie Gray, Mrs. Siobhan Kingston, Mrs. McNamara of Park House and Mrs. Elizabeth Kemp of the Model School. All have now passed on, with Mrs. Siobhan Kingston being the sole survivor when the Guild celebrated its 50th anniversary three years ago. The first President of Athy I.C.A. Guild was Eileen Condron.
As a national organisation the I.C.A. campaigned for rural water schemes, rural electricity schemes and organised summer schools from 1929 onwards at different locations throughout the country. The summer camps offered the first organised adult education courses in Ireland and since 1954 the I.C.A. Adult Education College at An Grianán has provided hundreds of courses for adults. In that year An Grianán at Termonfechin, Co. Louth was given to the I.C.A. by the W.H. Kellogg Foundation of America in trust ‘for the health, recreation and welfare of the people of Ireland.’ The Kellogg Foundation gave a further grant to the I.C.A. in 1967 to help finance the building of a horticultural college for girls in Grianán. That college unfortunately closed in 2003.
It is over 40 years since I was invited to give a talk at An Grianán to a small group of women on the role of local authorities in the annual Tidy Towns Competition. I was then a very young Town Clerk of Kells in Co. Meath which had achieved a small measure of success in that competition. I can still recall that evening as it was my first time to speak at a public gathering and it showed!
Athy’s I.C.A. members now meet in the Dominican Hall and apart from raising monies for charity are actively involved in cookery lessons (Italian and Thai I’m told), line dancing, digital photography, painting and a range of other interesting activities. Commencing on 18th July the local Guild members will be putting on an exhibition in the Heritage Centre. ‘Reeling in the Years’ will be an exhibition jointly organised by Athy and Fontstown Guilds to celebrate the centenary of the I.C.A. and offers an opportunity for the younger generation to see how life was lived in years gone by.
From Robert Owen to Horace Plunkett to Ellice Pilkington to Eileen Condron and the other ladies of Athy of 1957 there is a link which stretches back four if not five generations. The co-operative movement, the seed of which was first sown by Robert Owen and nurtured on Irish soil by Horace Plunkett, blooms today in the work and achievements of the members of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association.
Horace Plunkett, son of Lord Dunsany, imbued with the ideals of Robert Owen, started the next co-operative in Ireland when he founded the Dunsany Co-operative Society. Plunkett was to devote himself to the development of the co-operative movement in Ireland and assisting him in that task was Robert Anderson whom he had chosen as the first co-operative organiser in 1889. Anderson would become a central figure in the co-operative movement in Ireland as secretary of the Irish Agricultural Organisation Society.
It was the work of Horace Plunkett and an address given by the Irish writer George Russell at the A.G.M. of the I.A.O.S. in December 1909 which inspired a number of women attending that meeting to organise an Irish version of the Woman’s Co-operative Guilds which were to be found in Britain.
Mrs. Ellice Pilkington whose brother Sir Thomas Esmond was a member of the I.A.O.S. was appointed the first organiser of the Woman’s Movement which was to be called the Society of the United Irishwomen. The first branch was set up in Bree, Co. Wexford on 15th June 1910 and the national organisation was registered as a co-operative society which in its initial years was helped financially and otherwise by the I.A.O.S. and the organisers of the co-operative movement in Ireland.
The Society of the United Irishwomen changed its name in 1935 to the Irish Countrywomen’s Association. It was, by and large, perceived to be a rural organisation catering for those whose families worked on the land. In the years after the name change, town associations were formed to cater for the needs of women in Irish towns and villages.
Athy I.C.A. was founded in October 1957 when a small group of local women from the town and surrounding countryside came together in the Macra na Feirme rooms in the Town Hall. Those involved and whose names have come down to us were Eileen Condron, Carrie McDonald, Gertie Gray, Mrs. Siobhan Kingston, Mrs. McNamara of Park House and Mrs. Elizabeth Kemp of the Model School. All have now passed on, with Mrs. Siobhan Kingston being the sole survivor when the Guild celebrated its 50th anniversary three years ago. The first President of Athy I.C.A. Guild was Eileen Condron.
As a national organisation the I.C.A. campaigned for rural water schemes, rural electricity schemes and organised summer schools from 1929 onwards at different locations throughout the country. The summer camps offered the first organised adult education courses in Ireland and since 1954 the I.C.A. Adult Education College at An Grianán has provided hundreds of courses for adults. In that year An Grianán at Termonfechin, Co. Louth was given to the I.C.A. by the W.H. Kellogg Foundation of America in trust ‘for the health, recreation and welfare of the people of Ireland.’ The Kellogg Foundation gave a further grant to the I.C.A. in 1967 to help finance the building of a horticultural college for girls in Grianán. That college unfortunately closed in 2003.
It is over 40 years since I was invited to give a talk at An Grianán to a small group of women on the role of local authorities in the annual Tidy Towns Competition. I was then a very young Town Clerk of Kells in Co. Meath which had achieved a small measure of success in that competition. I can still recall that evening as it was my first time to speak at a public gathering and it showed!
Athy’s I.C.A. members now meet in the Dominican Hall and apart from raising monies for charity are actively involved in cookery lessons (Italian and Thai I’m told), line dancing, digital photography, painting and a range of other interesting activities. Commencing on 18th July the local Guild members will be putting on an exhibition in the Heritage Centre. ‘Reeling in the Years’ will be an exhibition jointly organised by Athy and Fontstown Guilds to celebrate the centenary of the I.C.A. and offers an opportunity for the younger generation to see how life was lived in years gone by.
From Robert Owen to Horace Plunkett to Ellice Pilkington to Eileen Condron and the other ladies of Athy of 1957 there is a link which stretches back four if not five generations. The co-operative movement, the seed of which was first sown by Robert Owen and nurtured on Irish soil by Horace Plunkett, blooms today in the work and achievements of the members of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Passing of Kevin Maher
I was in Hay-on-Wye in the upper Wye Valley on the borders of England and Wales when news reached me of the death of Kevin Maher. Kevin was the subject of a previous Eye on the Past (No. 633) when I wrote of his immense contribution to the sporting and social history of Athy over many decades. A son of the legendary ‘Bapty’ Maher, Kevin, the sports man, graced the local golfing scene as the winner of the Captain’s Prize in Athy on two successive years, as well as the winner of numerous competitions over the years. He was a member of the Athy Golf Club Committee since 1947 and in later years was a trustee of the club. His sporting prowess extended to rugby and it was here that he suffered perhaps his greatest sporting disappointment when Athy lost the 1948 Provincial Towns Cup to Dundalk. The only score of that game was a penalty kicked by Frank Johnson for Drogheda, who for many years sat as a District Justice in Naas and Newbridge.
Kevin played a prominent part in the formation of the local Old Folks Committee and was responsible for the Committee’s subsequent acquisition of No. 82 Leinster Street which for many years served as the Old Folks Centre. A veterinary surgeon by profession, Kevin was elected Chairman of the Veterinary Benevolent Fund in 1981, a position which he continued to occupy for the next 23 years.
A gracious man, Kevin was intensely interested in his native town and I can recall many occasions when he wrote to me or contacted me by phone to clarify some matter or other the subject of one of my articles. His passing is a sad blow for his family and our sympathy goes to his wife Molly and to the Maher family.
I have been visiting the attractive market town of Hay-on-Wye, known simply by locals as ‘Hay’, for close on thirty years. My first visit was prompted by a television programme on the town and the role of Richard Booth in creating a book town out of the decaying economy of a Welsh market town. Booth opened his first book shop in Hay in 1961 in what was the old fire station. He was then just 23 years old and his success in acquiring libraries and book collections and selling on the books encouraged other book dealers to join him in Hay. Six or seven years later Booth purchased the town cinema and converted it into what was then and may still be the largest secondhand book shop in Britain. Today Hay-on-Wye boasts no less than 28 secondhand book shops in a town with a population of about 1,750.
The town’s success story, originally founded on book sales, has now been further strengthened with the continuing success of the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts. First started in 1988 the festival which runs from the last week of May to the first week in June attracts an enormous number of world class writers. It was said by Bill Clinton to be ‘the Woodstock of the mind’, a claim which thousands of visitors who attend the festival each year would support. To the extraordinary attraction of the Welsh book town must be added the unique attractiveness of the independently owned local shops which offer a range and diversity of products and goods not likely to be matched by any of the international conglomerates which are to be found today in every shopping centre in Britain and Ireland.
Hay-on-Wye, a onetime fortified town on the Marches of Wales as Athy was on the Marches of Kildare, has become the book capital of Britain. It is twinned with the Belgium book town of Redu which, encouraged by Richard Booth’s success in the 1960s, started up its own secondhand book shop enterprises in 1984. Books have energised Hay’s economy, a fact which I can confirm having witnessed the enormous improvements in the town during my visits over the last thirty years.
When I visit Hay I am always reminded of Herbert Armstrong, the local Solicitor who was hanged for the murder of his domineering wife in 1922. Armstrong, of diminutive stature, a retired Army officer and a member of the local Masonic Lodge, attempted to poison another local solicitor whose offices were directly opposite Armstrongs. The failed attempt prompted police to exhume Mrs. Armstrong’s body and it was found that she had died of arsenic poisoning. Armstrong was tried, convicted and hanged in nearby Gloucester Prison on 31st May 1922. His offices and those of his lucky colleague are still operating in Hay as solicitors’ practices.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Hay-on-Wye seize the chance to enjoy one of the great little towns of either Britain or Ireland, even if arsenic and solicitors do not find favour with you.
Kevin played a prominent part in the formation of the local Old Folks Committee and was responsible for the Committee’s subsequent acquisition of No. 82 Leinster Street which for many years served as the Old Folks Centre. A veterinary surgeon by profession, Kevin was elected Chairman of the Veterinary Benevolent Fund in 1981, a position which he continued to occupy for the next 23 years.
A gracious man, Kevin was intensely interested in his native town and I can recall many occasions when he wrote to me or contacted me by phone to clarify some matter or other the subject of one of my articles. His passing is a sad blow for his family and our sympathy goes to his wife Molly and to the Maher family.
I have been visiting the attractive market town of Hay-on-Wye, known simply by locals as ‘Hay’, for close on thirty years. My first visit was prompted by a television programme on the town and the role of Richard Booth in creating a book town out of the decaying economy of a Welsh market town. Booth opened his first book shop in Hay in 1961 in what was the old fire station. He was then just 23 years old and his success in acquiring libraries and book collections and selling on the books encouraged other book dealers to join him in Hay. Six or seven years later Booth purchased the town cinema and converted it into what was then and may still be the largest secondhand book shop in Britain. Today Hay-on-Wye boasts no less than 28 secondhand book shops in a town with a population of about 1,750.
The town’s success story, originally founded on book sales, has now been further strengthened with the continuing success of the Hay Festival of Literature and the Arts. First started in 1988 the festival which runs from the last week of May to the first week in June attracts an enormous number of world class writers. It was said by Bill Clinton to be ‘the Woodstock of the mind’, a claim which thousands of visitors who attend the festival each year would support. To the extraordinary attraction of the Welsh book town must be added the unique attractiveness of the independently owned local shops which offer a range and diversity of products and goods not likely to be matched by any of the international conglomerates which are to be found today in every shopping centre in Britain and Ireland.
Hay-on-Wye, a onetime fortified town on the Marches of Wales as Athy was on the Marches of Kildare, has become the book capital of Britain. It is twinned with the Belgium book town of Redu which, encouraged by Richard Booth’s success in the 1960s, started up its own secondhand book shop enterprises in 1984. Books have energised Hay’s economy, a fact which I can confirm having witnessed the enormous improvements in the town during my visits over the last thirty years.
When I visit Hay I am always reminded of Herbert Armstrong, the local Solicitor who was hanged for the murder of his domineering wife in 1922. Armstrong, of diminutive stature, a retired Army officer and a member of the local Masonic Lodge, attempted to poison another local solicitor whose offices were directly opposite Armstrongs. The failed attempt prompted police to exhume Mrs. Armstrong’s body and it was found that she had died of arsenic poisoning. Armstrong was tried, convicted and hanged in nearby Gloucester Prison on 31st May 1922. His offices and those of his lucky colleague are still operating in Hay as solicitors’ practices.
If you ever get the opportunity to visit Hay-on-Wye seize the chance to enjoy one of the great little towns of either Britain or Ireland, even if arsenic and solicitors do not find favour with you.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Eye 913
‘And we moor, we don’t park’. The information came as canal boat 4B glided to a halt at the Ardreigh mooring following a short trip up the Canal, as well as the Barrow, to mark the latest fitting out of the 98 year old former by-traders boat.
It was a balmy summer evening when the boat’s current owners, Eunice and Cliff Jeffers with a few friends on board manoeuvred the former turf boat away from Ardreigh in the direction of the Railway Bridge and beyond. For many months past I had been a daily interested onlooker as the boat was revamped and its housing reshaped while it was moored in the Canal cutting just beyond my end garden wall at Ardreigh. The work progressed slowly but steadily as Cliff, oft times alone, but occasionally with help, enthusiastically refitted one of the remaining by-boats on the Irish Canal system.
Canal boat 4B was built in Portadown for Sir John Purser Griffith of the Leinster Carbonised Turf Company in Turraun, Co. Offaly, primarily to draw turf from the midland bog. It was fitted with a 15hp Bollinder engine which powered the 20 ton boat, with a capacity to carry 40 tons of turf. By-traders boats, as they were called, were manned by two crew members and 4B had Joe Daly as its first skipper, with Jim Bracken as his assistant. Turf deliveries to Dublin in the years immediately prior to the 1916 Rebellion and for many years thereafter, was its principal trade. On return journeys Guinness and a host of other goods formed the cargo as the 4B wound its way through the Canal locks which had been operational long before railways and tarmacadam roadways were thought of.
Just as war in Europe erupted in 1939 the boat’s ownership changed and James Doyle of Allenwood, known as ‘Big Jim Doyle’ became its new skipper. He used the 4B during the Second World War to bring turf from the Midlands to Dublin. At the end of the war the boat was acquired by Jack Gill, a canal boatman who already operated another by boat, the 31B. It was in the 1950s when publican Jack O’Neill purchased the 4B that it began to make regular trips on the lower Barrow navigation. It was then used to transport timber and it was maybe at that time that the 4B first was seen in this area.
It continued to be used commercially, even after the closure of the freight carrying business on the Grand Canal in 1959. Purchased by Carroll brothers of Carrick-on-Suir the 4B was used to draw washed sand from the riverbed at Mooncoin. I am told by Eunice Jeffers that the sand was taken from the riverbed at low tide and loaded into the 4B which brought it to Carrick-on-Suir where it was stockpiled for subsequent sale to local builders.
After 58 years of constant use as a cargo boat the 4B was sold and over the next few years was converted for use as a leisure boat. The Bollinder engine was replaced with a Thames Trader lorry engine and the Johnson family brought the now revamped 4B onto the Shannon River where it was used for almost 30 years. In 2001 the boat returned to the Grand Canal and was based at Hazelhatch, Co. Kildare where it was used as a house boat until purchased four years ago by Eunice and Cliff Jeffers.
The 4B travelled the Canal waters last week as far as the dry dock before returning and moving upstream of the Barrow as far as the former Bachelors factory. It was a journey which brought the boat through two Canal locks and under two bridges, built over 200 years ago but which still showcase the skill and ingenuity of 18th century engineers. The lock walls examined up close as the 4B was manoeuvred in place to move up and down the Canal system reminded me of the extraordinary skills of the 18th century stonemasons who cut and shaped the limestone stones which lined those walls. Their size and weight held the carved stones in place without the need for any visible form of mortar, while the sheer scale of the work in digging out the Canal system by hand over two centuries ago left me full of admiration.
Passing under Augustus Bridge I saw for the first time the steel plating, now rusting, which was put in place in the 1890s when the previously humpbacked 18th century bridge was replaced by a more traffic friendly bridge to ease the passage of farmers carts travelling to the towns fairs and markets.
On the River Barrow we passed under the bridge erected two years before the 1798 Rebellion by the ‘Knight of the Trowel James Delahunty’. There is an inscription on the river side of the bridge facing Carlow which I could not read. Is there anyone out there with a good camera who might be able to take for me a photograph of the inscription which unfortunately appears to have weathered very badly?
A wonderful trip on the Athy waterways ended for this land lubber with the quote at the beginning of the article. I remembered both with immense pleasure.
It was a balmy summer evening when the boat’s current owners, Eunice and Cliff Jeffers with a few friends on board manoeuvred the former turf boat away from Ardreigh in the direction of the Railway Bridge and beyond. For many months past I had been a daily interested onlooker as the boat was revamped and its housing reshaped while it was moored in the Canal cutting just beyond my end garden wall at Ardreigh. The work progressed slowly but steadily as Cliff, oft times alone, but occasionally with help, enthusiastically refitted one of the remaining by-boats on the Irish Canal system.
Canal boat 4B was built in Portadown for Sir John Purser Griffith of the Leinster Carbonised Turf Company in Turraun, Co. Offaly, primarily to draw turf from the midland bog. It was fitted with a 15hp Bollinder engine which powered the 20 ton boat, with a capacity to carry 40 tons of turf. By-traders boats, as they were called, were manned by two crew members and 4B had Joe Daly as its first skipper, with Jim Bracken as his assistant. Turf deliveries to Dublin in the years immediately prior to the 1916 Rebellion and for many years thereafter, was its principal trade. On return journeys Guinness and a host of other goods formed the cargo as the 4B wound its way through the Canal locks which had been operational long before railways and tarmacadam roadways were thought of.
Just as war in Europe erupted in 1939 the boat’s ownership changed and James Doyle of Allenwood, known as ‘Big Jim Doyle’ became its new skipper. He used the 4B during the Second World War to bring turf from the Midlands to Dublin. At the end of the war the boat was acquired by Jack Gill, a canal boatman who already operated another by boat, the 31B. It was in the 1950s when publican Jack O’Neill purchased the 4B that it began to make regular trips on the lower Barrow navigation. It was then used to transport timber and it was maybe at that time that the 4B first was seen in this area.
It continued to be used commercially, even after the closure of the freight carrying business on the Grand Canal in 1959. Purchased by Carroll brothers of Carrick-on-Suir the 4B was used to draw washed sand from the riverbed at Mooncoin. I am told by Eunice Jeffers that the sand was taken from the riverbed at low tide and loaded into the 4B which brought it to Carrick-on-Suir where it was stockpiled for subsequent sale to local builders.
After 58 years of constant use as a cargo boat the 4B was sold and over the next few years was converted for use as a leisure boat. The Bollinder engine was replaced with a Thames Trader lorry engine and the Johnson family brought the now revamped 4B onto the Shannon River where it was used for almost 30 years. In 2001 the boat returned to the Grand Canal and was based at Hazelhatch, Co. Kildare where it was used as a house boat until purchased four years ago by Eunice and Cliff Jeffers.
The 4B travelled the Canal waters last week as far as the dry dock before returning and moving upstream of the Barrow as far as the former Bachelors factory. It was a journey which brought the boat through two Canal locks and under two bridges, built over 200 years ago but which still showcase the skill and ingenuity of 18th century engineers. The lock walls examined up close as the 4B was manoeuvred in place to move up and down the Canal system reminded me of the extraordinary skills of the 18th century stonemasons who cut and shaped the limestone stones which lined those walls. Their size and weight held the carved stones in place without the need for any visible form of mortar, while the sheer scale of the work in digging out the Canal system by hand over two centuries ago left me full of admiration.
Passing under Augustus Bridge I saw for the first time the steel plating, now rusting, which was put in place in the 1890s when the previously humpbacked 18th century bridge was replaced by a more traffic friendly bridge to ease the passage of farmers carts travelling to the towns fairs and markets.
On the River Barrow we passed under the bridge erected two years before the 1798 Rebellion by the ‘Knight of the Trowel James Delahunty’. There is an inscription on the river side of the bridge facing Carlow which I could not read. Is there anyone out there with a good camera who might be able to take for me a photograph of the inscription which unfortunately appears to have weathered very badly?
A wonderful trip on the Athy waterways ended for this land lubber with the quote at the beginning of the article. I remembered both with immense pleasure.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Eye 912
Last week our community was attacked in a most mindless and vicious way when attempts were made to burn down St. Michael’s Parish Church. The culprit, and I suspect it was someone acting alone as it was highly unlikely that the criminal stupidity extended to more than one person, failed in his/her attempt to destroy what the people of Athy had worked so hard for over many years. It was Fr. John McLaughlin, the senior curate, who in the early 1950s first announced plans to replace the existing Church building erected almost 150 years previously. That Church which had served generations of Athy folk was built in 1808 on what was described at the time as ‘swampy ground’. It had formed part of the commons of Clonmullin which from medieval times had been the local commonage enjoyed by the people of Athy for grazing animals. The present Church was opened on 19th April 1964.
The first Catholic Church erected in the town following the Reformation was located in Chapel Lane on the left hand side as one approached from Leinster Street. It was built at a time when the main street of Athy was still called High Street, having acquired that name hundreds of years previously. The Duke of Leinster’s family who were the largest property owners in the town would give their names to the streets of our ancient town following the extension of the Grand Canal to Athy in 1791.
I believe the Parish Church in Chapel Lane to have been built about 1720 as the Penal Laws began to be relaxed. The date of its erection is not noted anywhere that I can find and I give the year 1720 as official reports for 1731 noted that two priests had charge of Athy Chapel. The Dominicans, who had been banished from Athy over 30 years previously, would appear to have returned to the town in 1735 when records show that a Prior had been appointed to head up the Athy Friary.
Unlike the Church building programme which followed the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Church buildings of the early 18th century were not ostentatious buildings and were for the most part confined to side streets and out of the way places so as not to draw adverse attention to Catholic worship. Chapel Lane presumably acquired its name from the siting there of the Parish Church and the name remained long after the Church itself was no more.
Athy’s Parish Church in Chapel Lane, unlike many of its counterparts throughout the country, survived the civil unrest of 1798. However, two years later it was torched and burned to the ground in an arson attack on the night of 7th March 1800.
Three local men were arrested and lodged in White’s Castle Gaol on the following 14th April. Their imprisonment was not due to any involvement in the burning of the Church but arose from their alleged attempt to implicate a soldier of the South Cork Militia and two local yeomen in the attack on St. Michael’s Church. Timothy Sullivan, a member of the South Cork Militia which was then stationed in Athy, had sworn information against them. He claimed that he was on security duty ‘at the gate next to Mrs. Dooley’s house on the night the Chapel of Athy was burned.’ Continuing he swore that he was solicited by James Noud and later by Fr. Patrick Kelly and Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine to swear against John McKeon of the Cork Militia and two local men John Drill and John Willock. Sullivan’s sworn Affidavit led to the arrest and imprisonment of Noud and two other local men Patrick Dooley and Joseph Hendrecan. What eventually happened to them I cannot say.
The Parish Priest, Fr. Maurice Keegan, filed a compensation claim and received a payment of £300 from the British government. Collections were taken up for several years in the town of Athy and realised the sum of £7,100 which with the compensation already paid financed the building of a new Church on a swampy site believed to have been donated by the Duke of Leinster. It was built in 1808 and remained in continuous use until 1960.
The events of March 1800 were fortunately not repeated in May 2010 and the second St. Michael’s Parish Church on the same site at the edge of Clonmullin Commons will hopefully continue for quite a long time yet to serve as our Parish Church.
Two weeks ago I posed the question as to the name of the Athy man who held the position of Provost of Trinity College long before the late Bill Watts, formerly of Barrack Yard. The correct answer was Richard Baldwin and it came from a reader in Australia. Mike Robinson, an old school friend of mine, contacted me by email with the answer. I will hopefully write of Provost Baldwin in a future article.
The first Catholic Church erected in the town following the Reformation was located in Chapel Lane on the left hand side as one approached from Leinster Street. It was built at a time when the main street of Athy was still called High Street, having acquired that name hundreds of years previously. The Duke of Leinster’s family who were the largest property owners in the town would give their names to the streets of our ancient town following the extension of the Grand Canal to Athy in 1791.
I believe the Parish Church in Chapel Lane to have been built about 1720 as the Penal Laws began to be relaxed. The date of its erection is not noted anywhere that I can find and I give the year 1720 as official reports for 1731 noted that two priests had charge of Athy Chapel. The Dominicans, who had been banished from Athy over 30 years previously, would appear to have returned to the town in 1735 when records show that a Prior had been appointed to head up the Athy Friary.
Unlike the Church building programme which followed the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Church buildings of the early 18th century were not ostentatious buildings and were for the most part confined to side streets and out of the way places so as not to draw adverse attention to Catholic worship. Chapel Lane presumably acquired its name from the siting there of the Parish Church and the name remained long after the Church itself was no more.
Athy’s Parish Church in Chapel Lane, unlike many of its counterparts throughout the country, survived the civil unrest of 1798. However, two years later it was torched and burned to the ground in an arson attack on the night of 7th March 1800.
Three local men were arrested and lodged in White’s Castle Gaol on the following 14th April. Their imprisonment was not due to any involvement in the burning of the Church but arose from their alleged attempt to implicate a soldier of the South Cork Militia and two local yeomen in the attack on St. Michael’s Church. Timothy Sullivan, a member of the South Cork Militia which was then stationed in Athy, had sworn information against them. He claimed that he was on security duty ‘at the gate next to Mrs. Dooley’s house on the night the Chapel of Athy was burned.’ Continuing he swore that he was solicited by James Noud and later by Fr. Patrick Kelly and Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine to swear against John McKeon of the Cork Militia and two local men John Drill and John Willock. Sullivan’s sworn Affidavit led to the arrest and imprisonment of Noud and two other local men Patrick Dooley and Joseph Hendrecan. What eventually happened to them I cannot say.
The Parish Priest, Fr. Maurice Keegan, filed a compensation claim and received a payment of £300 from the British government. Collections were taken up for several years in the town of Athy and realised the sum of £7,100 which with the compensation already paid financed the building of a new Church on a swampy site believed to have been donated by the Duke of Leinster. It was built in 1808 and remained in continuous use until 1960.
The events of March 1800 were fortunately not repeated in May 2010 and the second St. Michael’s Parish Church on the same site at the edge of Clonmullin Commons will hopefully continue for quite a long time yet to serve as our Parish Church.
Two weeks ago I posed the question as to the name of the Athy man who held the position of Provost of Trinity College long before the late Bill Watts, formerly of Barrack Yard. The correct answer was Richard Baldwin and it came from a reader in Australia. Mike Robinson, an old school friend of mine, contacted me by email with the answer. I will hopefully write of Provost Baldwin in a future article.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Eye 912
Last week our community was attacked in a most mindless and vicious way when attempts were made to burn down St. Michael’s Parish Church. The culprit, and I suspect it was someone acting alone as it was highly unlikely that the criminal stupidity extended to more than one person, failed in his/her attempt to destroy what the people of Athy had worked so hard for over many years. It was Fr. John McLaughlin, the senior curate, who in the early 1950s first announced plans to replace the existing Church building erected almost 150 years previously. That Church which had served generations of Athy folk was built in 1808 on what was described at the time as ‘swampy ground’. It had formed part of the commons of Clonmullin which from medieval times had been the local commonage enjoyed by the people of Athy for grazing animals. The present Church was opened on 19th April 1964.
The first Catholic Church erected in the town following the Reformation was located in Chapel Lane on the left hand side as one approached from Leinster Street. It was built at a time when the main street of Athy was still called High Street, having acquired that name hundreds of years previously. The Duke of Leinster’s family who were the largest property owners in the town would give their names to the streets of our ancient town following the extension of the Grand Canal to Athy in 1791.
I believe the Parish Church in Chapel Lane to have been built about 1720 as the Penal Laws began to be relaxed. The date of its erection is not noted anywhere that I can find and I give the year 1720 as official reports for 1731 noted that two priests had charge of Athy Chapel. The Dominicans, who had been banished from Athy over 30 years previously, would appear to have returned to the town in 1735 when records show that a Prior had been appointed to head up the Athy Friary.
Unlike the Church building programme which followed the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Church buildings of the early 18th century were not ostentatious buildings and were for the most part confined to side streets and out of the way places so as not to draw adverse attention to Catholic worship. Chapel Lane presumably acquired its name from the siting there of the Parish Church and the name remained long after the Church itself was no more.
Athy’s Parish Church in Chapel Lane, unlike many of its counterparts throughout the country, survived the civil unrest of 1798. However, two years later it was torched and burned to the ground in an arson attack on the night of 7th March 1800.
Three local men were arrested and lodged in White’s Castle Gaol on the following 14th April. Their imprisonment was not due to any involvement in the burning of the Church but arose from their alleged attempt to implicate a soldier of the South Cork Militia and two local yeomen in the attack on St. Michael’s Church. Timothy Sullivan, a member of the South Cork Militia which was then stationed in Athy, had sworn information against them. He claimed that he was on security duty ‘at the gate next to Mrs. Dooley’s house on the night the Chapel of Athy was burned.’ Continuing he swore that he was solicited by James Noud and later by Fr. Patrick Kelly and Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine to swear against John McKeon of the Cork Militia and two local men John Drill and John Willock. Sullivan’s sworn Affidavit led to the arrest and imprisonment of Noud and two other local men Patrick Dooley and Joseph Hendrecan. What eventually happened to them I cannot say.
The Parish Priest, Fr. Maurice Keegan, filed a compensation claim and received a payment of £300 from the British government. Collections were taken up for several years in the town of Athy and realised the sum of £7,100 which with the compensation already paid financed the building of a new Church on a swampy site believed to have been donated by the Duke of Leinster. It was built in 1808 and remained in continuous use until 1960.
The events of March 1800 were fortunately not repeated in May 2010 and the second St. Michael’s Parish Church on the same site at the edge of Clonmullin Commons will hopefully continue for quite a long time yet to serve as our Parish Church.
Two weeks ago I posed the question as to the name of the Athy man who held the position of Provost of Trinity College long before the late Bill Watts, formerly of Barrack Yard. The correct answer was Richard Baldwin and it came from a reader in Australia. Mike Robinson, an old school friend of mine, contacted me by email with the answer. I will hopefully write of Provost Baldwin in a future article.
The first Catholic Church erected in the town following the Reformation was located in Chapel Lane on the left hand side as one approached from Leinster Street. It was built at a time when the main street of Athy was still called High Street, having acquired that name hundreds of years previously. The Duke of Leinster’s family who were the largest property owners in the town would give their names to the streets of our ancient town following the extension of the Grand Canal to Athy in 1791.
I believe the Parish Church in Chapel Lane to have been built about 1720 as the Penal Laws began to be relaxed. The date of its erection is not noted anywhere that I can find and I give the year 1720 as official reports for 1731 noted that two priests had charge of Athy Chapel. The Dominicans, who had been banished from Athy over 30 years previously, would appear to have returned to the town in 1735 when records show that a Prior had been appointed to head up the Athy Friary.
Unlike the Church building programme which followed the granting of Catholic Emancipation in 1829, Church buildings of the early 18th century were not ostentatious buildings and were for the most part confined to side streets and out of the way places so as not to draw adverse attention to Catholic worship. Chapel Lane presumably acquired its name from the siting there of the Parish Church and the name remained long after the Church itself was no more.
Athy’s Parish Church in Chapel Lane, unlike many of its counterparts throughout the country, survived the civil unrest of 1798. However, two years later it was torched and burned to the ground in an arson attack on the night of 7th March 1800.
Three local men were arrested and lodged in White’s Castle Gaol on the following 14th April. Their imprisonment was not due to any involvement in the burning of the Church but arose from their alleged attempt to implicate a soldier of the South Cork Militia and two local yeomen in the attack on St. Michael’s Church. Timothy Sullivan, a member of the South Cork Militia which was then stationed in Athy, had sworn information against them. He claimed that he was on security duty ‘at the gate next to Mrs. Dooley’s house on the night the Chapel of Athy was burned.’ Continuing he swore that he was solicited by James Noud and later by Fr. Patrick Kelly and Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine to swear against John McKeon of the Cork Militia and two local men John Drill and John Willock. Sullivan’s sworn Affidavit led to the arrest and imprisonment of Noud and two other local men Patrick Dooley and Joseph Hendrecan. What eventually happened to them I cannot say.
The Parish Priest, Fr. Maurice Keegan, filed a compensation claim and received a payment of £300 from the British government. Collections were taken up for several years in the town of Athy and realised the sum of £7,100 which with the compensation already paid financed the building of a new Church on a swampy site believed to have been donated by the Duke of Leinster. It was built in 1808 and remained in continuous use until 1960.
The events of March 1800 were fortunately not repeated in May 2010 and the second St. Michael’s Parish Church on the same site at the edge of Clonmullin Commons will hopefully continue for quite a long time yet to serve as our Parish Church.
Two weeks ago I posed the question as to the name of the Athy man who held the position of Provost of Trinity College long before the late Bill Watts, formerly of Barrack Yard. The correct answer was Richard Baldwin and it came from a reader in Australia. Mike Robinson, an old school friend of mine, contacted me by email with the answer. I will hopefully write of Provost Baldwin in a future article.
Eye 911
A review of the Development Plan for the town of Athy has commenced and last week a meeting was arranged for the Carlton Abbey Hotel as part of the public consultation process required under Irish planning legislation. Arranged by Athy Town Council with the assistance of planning officials from Kildare County Council it drew a disappointingly small response from the local people who will be directly affected by what’s included in the Development Plan and by the planning decisions which will result. The local attendance just about exceeded the number of Council officials at the meeting, but surprisingly not a single elected member of the Town Council attended.
Planning is a subject which excites, alarms, disturbs and occasionally pleases or satisfies, but not always in equal measure and seldom, if ever, does one find the entire community sharing the same views on any planning issue. It is surprising therefore to see such a lethargic public response to the well publicised notices of the meeting which was organised specifically as an integral part of the consultation process for reviewing the Town Development Plan.
The same week as the planning meeting was held, Kildare County Council erected a modified version of the Dublin ‘spire’ in Emily Square prompting an enormous degree of discussion and dissatisfaction amongst Athy people. Seldom have I met so many who expressed themselves as unhappy with the Athy ‘spire’ and who seemed anxious to know my views on the matter ‘given that Athy is a Heritage town’. My non committal response probably surprised many, for I am quite frankly less than enamoured of the Heritage town label being used as grounds for justifying one’s opposition to any type of development in the town. As for the ‘spire’ itself, like its bigger Dublin brother it is in my view an ugly intrusion into the town centre streetscape.
Given the earlier mentioned public consultation on the revision of the Town Development Plan it was surprising to find that no consultation whatsoever took place with the Town Council before Kildare County Council erected the ‘spire’ in Emily Square. As Athy Town Council and Kildare County Council are two separate and distinct corporate bodies it is reasonable to assume that the permission of the Town Council would be sought before Kildare County Council erected anything on a public open space within the functional area of the other local authority. I believe no such permission was sought or obtained – so much for local democracy.
Returning to the planning consultation meeting the Heritage town issue again raised its head, this time in the context of its possible deterrent effect on the development of the town of Athy. A lazy interpretation I felt of the real causes of the town’s ills.
Athy’s major problem is due solely to the town father’s failure to provide a road infrastructure capable of taking heavy goods vehicles and all the through traffic away from the retailing centre of the town. If the long awaited Southern by-pass was in place the independent retailers on the main street would be encouraged to develop a town shopping experience to rival anything offered by shopping centres in adjoining towns. The Southern Distribution Route would also help create better opportunities for industrial development than is now possible with the current traffic gridlocked streets. Athy needs industry, particularly so having regard to the apparent likelihood of Minch Nortons succumbing to corporate ‘plundermania’, which as in the case of the Irish sugar industry sees more financial advantage in closing factories and importing goods rather than employing local manpower in manufacturing.
The Town Development Plan needs to address not only the traffic issue but also how the planning process for Athy can best serve the local community’s needs for industrial development and improved retailing facilities in the town. The future for retailing in Athy in my view is best served by the development and improvement of independent shops in the town centre rather than on supermarket developments on the outskirts of Athy. There are many other matters affecting the future of Athy which need to be addressed in the new Development Plan, only one of which I will mention. It is the urgent need for a coherent plan for the development of the town’s waterways and trackways to maximise their potential use by locals and visitors alike.
The building of the Southern Distribution Route coupled with a parking policy which encourages shoppers to shop in Athy will provide the impetus for the regrowth of the town retailing centre. The road is vital but even more so is an imaginative approach to encouraging the development of the towns commercial, industrial and cultural needs for the benefit of all, making Athy a better place in which to live and work.
I understand that the Town Council will be accepting submissions on the Town Development Plan up to 27th May.
Planning is a subject which excites, alarms, disturbs and occasionally pleases or satisfies, but not always in equal measure and seldom, if ever, does one find the entire community sharing the same views on any planning issue. It is surprising therefore to see such a lethargic public response to the well publicised notices of the meeting which was organised specifically as an integral part of the consultation process for reviewing the Town Development Plan.
The same week as the planning meeting was held, Kildare County Council erected a modified version of the Dublin ‘spire’ in Emily Square prompting an enormous degree of discussion and dissatisfaction amongst Athy people. Seldom have I met so many who expressed themselves as unhappy with the Athy ‘spire’ and who seemed anxious to know my views on the matter ‘given that Athy is a Heritage town’. My non committal response probably surprised many, for I am quite frankly less than enamoured of the Heritage town label being used as grounds for justifying one’s opposition to any type of development in the town. As for the ‘spire’ itself, like its bigger Dublin brother it is in my view an ugly intrusion into the town centre streetscape.
Given the earlier mentioned public consultation on the revision of the Town Development Plan it was surprising to find that no consultation whatsoever took place with the Town Council before Kildare County Council erected the ‘spire’ in Emily Square. As Athy Town Council and Kildare County Council are two separate and distinct corporate bodies it is reasonable to assume that the permission of the Town Council would be sought before Kildare County Council erected anything on a public open space within the functional area of the other local authority. I believe no such permission was sought or obtained – so much for local democracy.
Returning to the planning consultation meeting the Heritage town issue again raised its head, this time in the context of its possible deterrent effect on the development of the town of Athy. A lazy interpretation I felt of the real causes of the town’s ills.
Athy’s major problem is due solely to the town father’s failure to provide a road infrastructure capable of taking heavy goods vehicles and all the through traffic away from the retailing centre of the town. If the long awaited Southern by-pass was in place the independent retailers on the main street would be encouraged to develop a town shopping experience to rival anything offered by shopping centres in adjoining towns. The Southern Distribution Route would also help create better opportunities for industrial development than is now possible with the current traffic gridlocked streets. Athy needs industry, particularly so having regard to the apparent likelihood of Minch Nortons succumbing to corporate ‘plundermania’, which as in the case of the Irish sugar industry sees more financial advantage in closing factories and importing goods rather than employing local manpower in manufacturing.
The Town Development Plan needs to address not only the traffic issue but also how the planning process for Athy can best serve the local community’s needs for industrial development and improved retailing facilities in the town. The future for retailing in Athy in my view is best served by the development and improvement of independent shops in the town centre rather than on supermarket developments on the outskirts of Athy. There are many other matters affecting the future of Athy which need to be addressed in the new Development Plan, only one of which I will mention. It is the urgent need for a coherent plan for the development of the town’s waterways and trackways to maximise their potential use by locals and visitors alike.
The building of the Southern Distribution Route coupled with a parking policy which encourages shoppers to shop in Athy will provide the impetus for the regrowth of the town retailing centre. The road is vital but even more so is an imaginative approach to encouraging the development of the towns commercial, industrial and cultural needs for the benefit of all, making Athy a better place in which to live and work.
I understand that the Town Council will be accepting submissions on the Town Development Plan up to 27th May.
Eye 910
A ‘Cultural Desert’ is how Athy was once described to me. There may have been an element of truth in that claim at a time when the town, having lost its cinema and its Town Hall ballroom, was also regretting the closure of Dreamland. It was that barn of a building on the Kilkenny Road which brought so much joy into the lives of the younger generation of Athy folk in the 60s and the 70s. A cultural oasis it was not, but somehow the Showband scene in which Athy’s Dreamland played such a prominent part was all we needed in those far off days to live out our dreams and brighten lives which were played out in the relatively unsophisticated Ireland of the 1960s.
Nowadays our lives have changed. Our expectations are much higher than they were 40 or so years ago. We demand a greater variety and a range of leisure activity than ever before and Athy which has always boasted some of the finest field sport facilities in the county of Kildare has of recent times come to life insofar as cultural pursuits are concerned. The ‘cultural desert’ began to retreat when Athy was designated a Heritage Town and obtained Bord Failte finance to develop the ground floor of the old Market House and Town Hall as a heritage centre. This development allowed what was previously an underused building of character and of no little architectural merit located in a prime location in the centres of the town to host lectures, exhibitions and festivals including the Shackleton Autumn School and the annual Medieval Festival.
In recent weeks we have witnessed the opening of the newly formed Athy Film Club based in the fine 60 seater auditorium in the newly built Athy College and the opening of the Community Arts Centre in Woodstock Street. The ‘cultural desert’ has finally disappeared and Athy can now boast a range of activities to meet the most exacting of local demands. As I write a piano recital by concert pianist Seiko Tsukomoto is scheduled for Friday night in the Arts Centre and over the next few weeks the Centre will host a series of concerts, performances and recitals, all of which are deserving of support.
On May Day the Community Arts Centre hosted an afternoon series of lectures on the development of Trade Unionism amongst the agricultural workers of South Kildare which was followed by an evening of songs and story by an American Professor of Literature who is based in England. Will Kaufman gave a wonderful rendition of some of Woody Guthrie’s songs interlaced with an invigorating and instructive commentary on American history of the 1930s and ‘40s. It proved to be one of the best performances I have enjoyed this or last year.
The Athy Heritage Centre is moving towards achieving museum status and when this happens the Centre will hopefully be able to display material, particularly artefacts found over the years in the South Kildare area, which are presently in storage in the National Museum in Dublin. If and when Museum status is granted it will represent a major advancement for the town of Athy.
The Heritage Centre, the Arts Centre and the Cinema Club could not and cannot survive without your support so this gentle reminder to all readers to make use of these great cultural local outlets whenever you can.
I learned of the recent death of Bill Watts, former Provost of Trinity College, whose early days were spent in Athy where he attended the Model School. I first met Bill some years ago, following which I wrote an Eye on the Past on the Athy man, whom I then believed, had been the only man from the South Kildare town to head up Ireland’s oldest and most famous university. In his autobiography published about a year and a half ago Bill devoted a chapter to his youthful life in Athy and it was at the launch of the book in the Long Library of Trinity College that I last met him. His passing is much regretted.
Incidentally I have recently come across another Athy man who also held the position of Provost of Trinity College. A copy of Volume III of Eye on Athy’s Past book to the first reader who can give me that man’s name.
The local Lions Club opened its Saturday bookshop at Leinster Street on Saturday. It will be open for the sale of second hand books each Saturday from 12 – 5pm for the foreseeable future. Used books can also be donated for re-sale, with all proceeds going to local charities.
Nowadays our lives have changed. Our expectations are much higher than they were 40 or so years ago. We demand a greater variety and a range of leisure activity than ever before and Athy which has always boasted some of the finest field sport facilities in the county of Kildare has of recent times come to life insofar as cultural pursuits are concerned. The ‘cultural desert’ began to retreat when Athy was designated a Heritage Town and obtained Bord Failte finance to develop the ground floor of the old Market House and Town Hall as a heritage centre. This development allowed what was previously an underused building of character and of no little architectural merit located in a prime location in the centres of the town to host lectures, exhibitions and festivals including the Shackleton Autumn School and the annual Medieval Festival.
In recent weeks we have witnessed the opening of the newly formed Athy Film Club based in the fine 60 seater auditorium in the newly built Athy College and the opening of the Community Arts Centre in Woodstock Street. The ‘cultural desert’ has finally disappeared and Athy can now boast a range of activities to meet the most exacting of local demands. As I write a piano recital by concert pianist Seiko Tsukomoto is scheduled for Friday night in the Arts Centre and over the next few weeks the Centre will host a series of concerts, performances and recitals, all of which are deserving of support.
On May Day the Community Arts Centre hosted an afternoon series of lectures on the development of Trade Unionism amongst the agricultural workers of South Kildare which was followed by an evening of songs and story by an American Professor of Literature who is based in England. Will Kaufman gave a wonderful rendition of some of Woody Guthrie’s songs interlaced with an invigorating and instructive commentary on American history of the 1930s and ‘40s. It proved to be one of the best performances I have enjoyed this or last year.
The Athy Heritage Centre is moving towards achieving museum status and when this happens the Centre will hopefully be able to display material, particularly artefacts found over the years in the South Kildare area, which are presently in storage in the National Museum in Dublin. If and when Museum status is granted it will represent a major advancement for the town of Athy.
The Heritage Centre, the Arts Centre and the Cinema Club could not and cannot survive without your support so this gentle reminder to all readers to make use of these great cultural local outlets whenever you can.
I learned of the recent death of Bill Watts, former Provost of Trinity College, whose early days were spent in Athy where he attended the Model School. I first met Bill some years ago, following which I wrote an Eye on the Past on the Athy man, whom I then believed, had been the only man from the South Kildare town to head up Ireland’s oldest and most famous university. In his autobiography published about a year and a half ago Bill devoted a chapter to his youthful life in Athy and it was at the launch of the book in the Long Library of Trinity College that I last met him. His passing is much regretted.
Incidentally I have recently come across another Athy man who also held the position of Provost of Trinity College. A copy of Volume III of Eye on Athy’s Past book to the first reader who can give me that man’s name.
The local Lions Club opened its Saturday bookshop at Leinster Street on Saturday. It will be open for the sale of second hand books each Saturday from 12 – 5pm for the foreseeable future. Used books can also be donated for re-sale, with all proceeds going to local charities.
Eye 909
In the Dorset town of Tolpuddle there is celebrated each year a festival to commemorate the sacrifices made by 6 farm labourers whose courageous stand against their bosses is often credited with the birth of the English trade union movement. Their stories are similar in many ways to that of their Irish counterparts although a few decades would pass before the Irish farm labourers would feel confident and strong enough to take on the landlord class.
In 1831/32 there was a general call amongst the English working classes for an increase in wages and the labouring men of Tolpuddle successfully negotiated, or so they had believed, a wage of 10 shillings per week. The agreement came to nought when the farmers reduced the wages, initially to 9 shillings, then 8 shillings and finally 7 shillings, threatening to reduce it even lower to 6 shillings per week. The men agreed to form what they called an Agricultural Labourers Friendly Society but was in affect a trade union in which each member took an oath. It was the taking of the oath which led to their downfall, oath taking being a crime punishable by transportation. Six Tolpuddle villagers were arrested and tried at nearby Dorchester Crown Court on the charge of administering and being bound by secret and unlawful oaths under an act passed in 1797. This act had been passed to deal specifically with the naval mutiny of that year but it was now used by the landlords of Dorset to entrap and punish their farm labourers.
It is interesting to note that 5 of the 6 charged were practising Methodist, 3 of them being lay Methodist preachers. Their leader was George Loveless, a well known local preacher aged 37 years, a married man with 3 small children. His brother James was 25 years old, had a wife and 2 children who was also a lay Methodist preacher. Thomas Standfield another local preacher was aged 44 years and the oldest of those charged. He was married to a sister of the Loveless brothers and had 6 children. Another man charged was John Standfield aged 21 years while James Brine, the youngest at 20 years was the only non-Methodist in the group. James Hammett another lay preacher aged 22 and married with one child was the sixth member.
Packed juries so familiar in the Irish legal system of the 19th century were also a common enough feature of English law enforcement and before a packed jury and a hostile Judge the inevitable verdict was obtained. All were found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation and within a month or so they were on convict ships sailing from Portsmouth destined for New South Wales and Van Diemens land. No doubt their fellow passengers included many Irish men and women who for a wide ranging series of petty offences suffered the same faith as the Tolpuddle men – 7 years transportation. Their conviction caused protests throughout England and the Government were forced to give the Tolpuddle farm labourers, by now in Australia and Van Diemens land, a free pardon after a period of two years.
They were allowed to return to England where they remained for some time before 5 of them emigrated to Canada. James Hammett alone remained on in Tolpuddle where he died in the local workhouse in 1891.
The men from Tolpuddle have been honoured as martyrs for trade unionism because their trial and punishment, no different than that suffered by many others, came at a time when trade unionism was finally emerging as a powerful antidote to the influence of the landlord and ruling classes. The cause of the Tolpuddle martyrs was seen as a defence of the right of the working man to freely and legally combine and form trade unions. The Tolpuddle martyrs were then and remain today symbols of a struggle which was to be played out through the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales and would somewhat belatedly cross the Irish sea to empower their Irish counterparts in their uneven struggle against poverty and deprivation.
In 1831/32 there was a general call amongst the English working classes for an increase in wages and the labouring men of Tolpuddle successfully negotiated, or so they had believed, a wage of 10 shillings per week. The agreement came to nought when the farmers reduced the wages, initially to 9 shillings, then 8 shillings and finally 7 shillings, threatening to reduce it even lower to 6 shillings per week. The men agreed to form what they called an Agricultural Labourers Friendly Society but was in affect a trade union in which each member took an oath. It was the taking of the oath which led to their downfall, oath taking being a crime punishable by transportation. Six Tolpuddle villagers were arrested and tried at nearby Dorchester Crown Court on the charge of administering and being bound by secret and unlawful oaths under an act passed in 1797. This act had been passed to deal specifically with the naval mutiny of that year but it was now used by the landlords of Dorset to entrap and punish their farm labourers.
It is interesting to note that 5 of the 6 charged were practising Methodist, 3 of them being lay Methodist preachers. Their leader was George Loveless, a well known local preacher aged 37 years, a married man with 3 small children. His brother James was 25 years old, had a wife and 2 children who was also a lay Methodist preacher. Thomas Standfield another local preacher was aged 44 years and the oldest of those charged. He was married to a sister of the Loveless brothers and had 6 children. Another man charged was John Standfield aged 21 years while James Brine, the youngest at 20 years was the only non-Methodist in the group. James Hammett another lay preacher aged 22 and married with one child was the sixth member.
Packed juries so familiar in the Irish legal system of the 19th century were also a common enough feature of English law enforcement and before a packed jury and a hostile Judge the inevitable verdict was obtained. All were found guilty and sentenced to 7 years transportation and within a month or so they were on convict ships sailing from Portsmouth destined for New South Wales and Van Diemens land. No doubt their fellow passengers included many Irish men and women who for a wide ranging series of petty offences suffered the same faith as the Tolpuddle men – 7 years transportation. Their conviction caused protests throughout England and the Government were forced to give the Tolpuddle farm labourers, by now in Australia and Van Diemens land, a free pardon after a period of two years.
They were allowed to return to England where they remained for some time before 5 of them emigrated to Canada. James Hammett alone remained on in Tolpuddle where he died in the local workhouse in 1891.
The men from Tolpuddle have been honoured as martyrs for trade unionism because their trial and punishment, no different than that suffered by many others, came at a time when trade unionism was finally emerging as a powerful antidote to the influence of the landlord and ruling classes. The cause of the Tolpuddle martyrs was seen as a defence of the right of the working man to freely and legally combine and form trade unions. The Tolpuddle martyrs were then and remain today symbols of a struggle which was to be played out through the length and breadth of England, Scotland and Wales and would somewhat belatedly cross the Irish sea to empower their Irish counterparts in their uneven struggle against poverty and deprivation.
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