On the roadside at Mullaghcreelan opposite the Bushfield Farm entrance gate a mysterious and yet unsolved murder was committed on the night of the 19th December, 1867. William Dunne, a County Laois farmer had attended the Fair at Castledermot where he sold a number of cattle for £40. He was returning home intending to retrace his steps through Kilkea and Athy accompanied by his helper James Coffey when he met his untimely death.
Early on the morning of the 20th of December his body was discovered lying on the grass verge stripped of all clothing. Dunne had been brutally beaten about the head and the murder weapon, a thick stick splattered with blood, was found on the opposite side of the roadway. The victim's companion James Coffey was nowhere to be found and he was immediately suspected of the crime.
A reward was offered by the Dublin Castle authorities for the apprehension of Coffey, a native of Portlaoise, whom it was believed was in hiding in the South Kildare area. Public notices offering a reward of £100 for his arrest and conviction, were posted throughout the district. His cabin in Portlaoise was kept under observation by the Royal Irish Constabulary but Coffey was nowhere to be seen. In time clothes believed to have been worn by Coffey when he left Castledermot Fair with Dunne were found in a sandpit near Mullaghcreelan.
The Coroner's Court was held in due course and a finding of wilful murder against James Coffey was found. The crime captured the imagination of the local and national press and before long a ballad was written "On the death of William Dunne a respectable farmer in the County of Kildare (Sic) who was murdered on the 19th of December near Bushfield." The presumption of innocence until proven guilty did not prevent the balladeer from recounting the events of the 19th of December ending with the positive claim that Coffey was the murderer. The ballad printed by P. Brereton of 1 Lower Exchequer Street, Dublin, included the lines:-
"The 19th of December it's long we will remember,
To Castledermot Fair he went on that day,
James Coffey did attend him but a cursed Judas,
His loving master he basely did betray
Full forty pounds he had in money
Coffey resolved to make his own
The foul deed of murder he has committed
Tho he told all his friends he'd bring him safe home
Early next morning as the day was dawning,
The corpse was found on the ground it lay
And the active police of Castledermot,
They reached the spot without delay."
Local people however believed that the real culprit had escaped justice and the subsequent finding in the area of the skeleton of an adult male confirmed for some their suspicion that both Dunne and Coffey had been murdered on the 19th of December. It was believed that Coffey's body was buried in order to throw suspicion on the unfortunate herdsman for the brutal murder of his master. The local people claimed that a farmer in the Mullaghcreelan area, who was related by marriage to Dunne, had murdered both men and stolen Dunne's money.
The suspected farmer was never arrested or charged and he continued to live in the Mullaghcreelan area dying in old age. If indeed he committed the murders of both Dunne and Coffey he must be acknowledged to have committed the almost perfect crime. He left no witnesses and cleverly had the police searching for a "murderer" who was himself dead and buried before the crime became known.
Friday, March 26, 1993
Friday, March 19, 1993
Model School
As you approach Athy from the Dublin direction a 19th century Tudor gothic building can be seen near to the junction of the Kildare Road and Dublin Road. Known to generations of Athy people as the Model School it is nevertheless a building with a history unknown to many.
The construction of the school commenced in 1850 on the recommendations of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland. It consisted of schools for males and females and an adjoining agricultural school, with a headmasters residence and limited dormitory accommodation for pupil teachers and agricultural students. The purpose of the Model School system was to combine the provision of educational facilities for local children with the preliminary training of potential teachers who were known as pupil teachers.
Each of the four pupil teachers who boarded in the Model School were required to take charge of a class under the supervision of a trained teacher. Pupil teachers spent the first twelve months of their teacher training in the Model School and then served two years in other local schools before completing their training in the National Model School in Dublin.
Officially opened on 12 August 1852 the School's first headmaster was John Walsh with Elizabeth Reilly as headmistress. Of the four pupil teachers enrolled in the first year, three came from Athy and were in training for local schools. Fifteen children enrolled in the Model School on the opening day. Despite objections from the clergy of the Established Church to the Model School system, the School numbers increased rapidly. In 1858 , 582 children were listed as pupils, even though the average daily attendance was only 204 children. This no doubt reflected the fact that school attendance was not then compulsory.
The Established Church's early disapproval of the Model School was in time overcome but by 1860 the Catholic clergy were vehemently opposed to it. In the School Inspector's Report for 1862 it was noted that
"the attendance has fallen off considerably owing to the opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy who introduced the Christian Brothers into the town in 1861 and adopted coercive measures with the Roman Catholic parents to withdraw their children from the Model School.
The disappointment of the Headmaster and Headmistress both of whom were Catholics can be imagined as the student numbers fell year after year. The Model School which had started out by providing non-denominational education for the Athy area now found itself catering almost exclusively for members of the Established Church, Presbyterians and other Dissenters.
In the meantime the Agricultural School which formed part of the school complex ran into difficulty after a promising start. Pupils of that school received training in the latest and most up to date farming methods on the farm attached to the School. The farm which had been extended to 64 acres in 1855 was sold by auction when the Agricultural School closed in September 1880. Apparently the cost of maintaining the Agricultural School was excessive and despite the best efforts of local farming groups to ensure its future, the School closed down.
Two years later the first Headmistress of the Model School Mrs. Elizabeth Reilly retired after 30 years service. On 3rd April, 1886 the local Catholic clergy and upwards of 700 townspeople signed a petition addressed to the Chief Secretary, John Morley, requesting that in any contemplated changes in Athy Model School the needs of the local Convent and Christian Brothers Schools be catered for. It was claimed in the petition that £300,000 had been expended on the Model School with no similar subvention for other local schools. At this time there were 50 pupils attending the Model School. Changes were eventually made in the method of funding local schools and those changes served to copperfasten the denominational system of education in Ireland.
The construction of the school commenced in 1850 on the recommendations of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland. It consisted of schools for males and females and an adjoining agricultural school, with a headmasters residence and limited dormitory accommodation for pupil teachers and agricultural students. The purpose of the Model School system was to combine the provision of educational facilities for local children with the preliminary training of potential teachers who were known as pupil teachers.
Each of the four pupil teachers who boarded in the Model School were required to take charge of a class under the supervision of a trained teacher. Pupil teachers spent the first twelve months of their teacher training in the Model School and then served two years in other local schools before completing their training in the National Model School in Dublin.
Officially opened on 12 August 1852 the School's first headmaster was John Walsh with Elizabeth Reilly as headmistress. Of the four pupil teachers enrolled in the first year, three came from Athy and were in training for local schools. Fifteen children enrolled in the Model School on the opening day. Despite objections from the clergy of the Established Church to the Model School system, the School numbers increased rapidly. In 1858 , 582 children were listed as pupils, even though the average daily attendance was only 204 children. This no doubt reflected the fact that school attendance was not then compulsory.
The Established Church's early disapproval of the Model School was in time overcome but by 1860 the Catholic clergy were vehemently opposed to it. In the School Inspector's Report for 1862 it was noted that
"the attendance has fallen off considerably owing to the opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy who introduced the Christian Brothers into the town in 1861 and adopted coercive measures with the Roman Catholic parents to withdraw their children from the Model School.
The disappointment of the Headmaster and Headmistress both of whom were Catholics can be imagined as the student numbers fell year after year. The Model School which had started out by providing non-denominational education for the Athy area now found itself catering almost exclusively for members of the Established Church, Presbyterians and other Dissenters.
In the meantime the Agricultural School which formed part of the school complex ran into difficulty after a promising start. Pupils of that school received training in the latest and most up to date farming methods on the farm attached to the School. The farm which had been extended to 64 acres in 1855 was sold by auction when the Agricultural School closed in September 1880. Apparently the cost of maintaining the Agricultural School was excessive and despite the best efforts of local farming groups to ensure its future, the School closed down.
Two years later the first Headmistress of the Model School Mrs. Elizabeth Reilly retired after 30 years service. On 3rd April, 1886 the local Catholic clergy and upwards of 700 townspeople signed a petition addressed to the Chief Secretary, John Morley, requesting that in any contemplated changes in Athy Model School the needs of the local Convent and Christian Brothers Schools be catered for. It was claimed in the petition that £300,000 had been expended on the Model School with no similar subvention for other local schools. At this time there were 50 pupils attending the Model School. Changes were eventually made in the method of funding local schools and those changes served to copperfasten the denominational system of education in Ireland.
Model School
As you approach Athy from the Dublin direction a 19th century Tudor gothic building can be seen near to the junction of the Kildare Road and Dublin Road. Known to generations of Athy people as the Model School it is nevertheless a building with a history unknown to many.
The construction of the school commenced in 1850 on the recommendations of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland. It consisted of schools for males and females and an adjoining agricultural school, with a headmasters residence and limited dormitory accommodation for pupil teachers and agricultural students. The purpose of the Model School system was to combine the provision of educational facilities for local children with the preliminary training of potential teachers who were known as pupil teachers.
Each of the four pupil teachers who boarded in the Model School were required to take charge of a class under the supervision of a trained teacher. Pupil teachers spent the first twelve months of their teacher training in the Model School and then served two years in other local schools before completing their training in the National Model School in Dublin.
Officially opened on 12 August 1852 the School's first headmaster was John Walsh with Elizabeth Reilly as headmistress. Of the four pupil teachers enrolled in the first year, three came from Athy and were in training for local schools. Fifteen children enrolled in the Model School on the opening day. Despite objections from the clergy of the Established Church to the Model School system, the School numbers increased rapidly. In 1858 , 582 children were listed as pupils, even though the average daily attendance was only 204 children. This no doubt reflected the fact that school attendance was not then compulsory.
The Established Church's early disapproval of the Model School was in time overcome but by 1860 the Catholic clergy were vehemently opposed to it. In the School Inspector's Report for 1862 it was noted that
"the attendance has fallen off considerably owing to the opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy who introduced the Christian Brothers into the town in 1861 and adopted coercive measures with the Roman Catholic parents to withdraw their children from the Model School.
The disappointment of the Headmaster and Headmistress both of whom were Catholics can be imagined as the student numbers fell year after year. The Model School which had started out by providing non-denominational education for the Athy area now found itself catering almost exclusively for members of the Established Church, Presbyterians and other Dissenters.
In the meantime the Agricultural School which formed part of the school complex ran into difficulty after a promising start. Pupils of that school received training in the latest and most up to date farming methods on the farm attached to the School. The farm which had been extended to 64 acres in 1855 was sold by auction when the Agricultural School closed in September 1880. Apparently the cost of maintaining the Agricultural School was excessive and despite the best efforts of local farming groups to ensure its future, the School closed down.
Two years later the first Headmistress of the Model School Mrs. Elizabeth Reilly retired after 30 years service. On 3rd April, 1886 the local Catholic clergy and upwards of 700 townspeople signed a petition addressed to the Chief Secretary, John Morley, requesting that in any contemplated changes in Athy Model School the needs of the local Convent and Christian Brothers Schools be catered for. It was claimed in the petition that £300,000 had been expended on the Model School with no similar subvention for other local schools. At this time there were 50 pupils attending the Model School. Changes were eventually made in the method of funding local schools and those changes served to copperfasten the denominational system of education in Ireland.
The construction of the school commenced in 1850 on the recommendations of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland. It consisted of schools for males and females and an adjoining agricultural school, with a headmasters residence and limited dormitory accommodation for pupil teachers and agricultural students. The purpose of the Model School system was to combine the provision of educational facilities for local children with the preliminary training of potential teachers who were known as pupil teachers.
Each of the four pupil teachers who boarded in the Model School were required to take charge of a class under the supervision of a trained teacher. Pupil teachers spent the first twelve months of their teacher training in the Model School and then served two years in other local schools before completing their training in the National Model School in Dublin.
Officially opened on 12 August 1852 the School's first headmaster was John Walsh with Elizabeth Reilly as headmistress. Of the four pupil teachers enrolled in the first year, three came from Athy and were in training for local schools. Fifteen children enrolled in the Model School on the opening day. Despite objections from the clergy of the Established Church to the Model School system, the School numbers increased rapidly. In 1858 , 582 children were listed as pupils, even though the average daily attendance was only 204 children. This no doubt reflected the fact that school attendance was not then compulsory.
The Established Church's early disapproval of the Model School was in time overcome but by 1860 the Catholic clergy were vehemently opposed to it. In the School Inspector's Report for 1862 it was noted that
"the attendance has fallen off considerably owing to the opposition of the Roman Catholic clergy who introduced the Christian Brothers into the town in 1861 and adopted coercive measures with the Roman Catholic parents to withdraw their children from the Model School.
The disappointment of the Headmaster and Headmistress both of whom were Catholics can be imagined as the student numbers fell year after year. The Model School which had started out by providing non-denominational education for the Athy area now found itself catering almost exclusively for members of the Established Church, Presbyterians and other Dissenters.
In the meantime the Agricultural School which formed part of the school complex ran into difficulty after a promising start. Pupils of that school received training in the latest and most up to date farming methods on the farm attached to the School. The farm which had been extended to 64 acres in 1855 was sold by auction when the Agricultural School closed in September 1880. Apparently the cost of maintaining the Agricultural School was excessive and despite the best efforts of local farming groups to ensure its future, the School closed down.
Two years later the first Headmistress of the Model School Mrs. Elizabeth Reilly retired after 30 years service. On 3rd April, 1886 the local Catholic clergy and upwards of 700 townspeople signed a petition addressed to the Chief Secretary, John Morley, requesting that in any contemplated changes in Athy Model School the needs of the local Convent and Christian Brothers Schools be catered for. It was claimed in the petition that £300,000 had been expended on the Model School with no similar subvention for other local schools. At this time there were 50 pupils attending the Model School. Changes were eventually made in the method of funding local schools and those changes served to copperfasten the denominational system of education in Ireland.
Friday, March 12, 1993
South Kildare Beekeepers Association
I know a man whose life long interest in bees is such that he places more reliance on bee behaviour as a means of weather forecasting than on the utterances of the weather forecasters on radio and television. If a bee flies back to it's hive on a sunny day this, he says, is a clear signal that rain is about. Thunder and lightning and heavy squalls can be expected if the bees become noisy. Unfortunately not many of us have the facilities for observing the behaviour of bees at close quarters and must rely on other sources for our weather information.
Beekeeping has always been a rural based activity and in South Kildare a Beekeepers Association has been functioning for over 60 years. On the 19th of March 1930 the South Kildare Beekeepers Association was founded. Some of the founding members were Fr. M.J. Kinnane C.C.; Brother P. Dolan Superior C.B.S.; Pat Guilfoyle, Fortbarrington; Charles Chambers, Farmhill; F.B. Youell; Anthony Reeves, Reevesmount; and W.A. Tyndall, Horticultural Instructor in Naas. In May 1930 Fintan Brennan joined and became Secretary of the Association.
Fr. Kinnane was the Associations first Chairman and he organised demonstrations and lectures in beekeeping. South Kildare was the first Beekeepers Association in Ireland to establish standards for bottled honey. The Policy of producing a high grade bottled honey rather than sectioned honey was adopted by the Association. Honey from the local hives was bottled with a label bearing the name of the Association and a map of Ireland with an individual number allocated to each honey producer. Honey from South Kildare was despatched to all parts of Ireland and Jacobs, the biscuit manufacturers and the Monument Creameries, both of Dublin, were buyers of substantial quantities of the product.
The Association Secretary, Fintan Brennan, carried out spot checks on honey supplied by members and honey of poor quality or appearance was required to be replaced. In this way high standards were set and maintained for honey produced in South Kildare.
In 1939 the Association won practically all the awards at the Ballsbridge Show against opposition from all over Ireland. That same year the Athy based group received the unique distinction of being chosen by the Irish Free State Commissioner in London to supply honey for shows in London, Manchester and Liverpool.
In 1936 Fintan Brennan and J.J. Bergin of Maybrook, Athy, gave a talk on Radio Eireann on the production of bottled honey as a cottage industry in Athy and South Kildare. The success of the early years was not maintained and in 1945, largely due to the low prices then prevalent for honey and the high cost of beekeeping equipment, the Kildare Beekeepers Association went into decline.
It was Michael Moore of Athy who was responsible for re-activating the Association following his attendance at week long Beekeepers Courses in Gormanstown in 1962 and 1963. With the encouragement of the Secretary of the Federation of Irish Beekeepers he reformed the Beekeepers Association in South Kildare. In this he received the active co-operation of the former Secretary Fintan Brennan and the Association was re-established with approximately ten members including Tom Maher of Kildangan, Mrs. Leigh, Burtown, her daughter Betty N.T. who was elected Secretary, Tom Donoghue, St. Joseph's Terrace and Paddy Cummins of Luggacurran. Fintan Brennan was elected Chairman.
In 1974 Michael Moore was appointed a National Judge of Honey and in 1979 Librarian to the Federation of Irish Beekeepers of Ireland. A member of their Executive Council for many years he was joined on the Executive Council by Brother C. O'Farrell, C.B.S., Athy, in 1975. It was Brother O'Farrell who in 1971 achieved the highest honour for South Kildare honey when he won the World Cup at the National Honey Show in London.
Prior to 1930 there was no tradition of beekeeping or honey production in South Kildare. In the years since the Association was founded a number of dedicated men and women have made a major contribution to the raising of honey production standards and today bottled honey bearing the South Kildare Association label is guaranteed to contain honey of a high standard and appearance.
Beekeeping has always been a rural based activity and in South Kildare a Beekeepers Association has been functioning for over 60 years. On the 19th of March 1930 the South Kildare Beekeepers Association was founded. Some of the founding members were Fr. M.J. Kinnane C.C.; Brother P. Dolan Superior C.B.S.; Pat Guilfoyle, Fortbarrington; Charles Chambers, Farmhill; F.B. Youell; Anthony Reeves, Reevesmount; and W.A. Tyndall, Horticultural Instructor in Naas. In May 1930 Fintan Brennan joined and became Secretary of the Association.
Fr. Kinnane was the Associations first Chairman and he organised demonstrations and lectures in beekeeping. South Kildare was the first Beekeepers Association in Ireland to establish standards for bottled honey. The Policy of producing a high grade bottled honey rather than sectioned honey was adopted by the Association. Honey from the local hives was bottled with a label bearing the name of the Association and a map of Ireland with an individual number allocated to each honey producer. Honey from South Kildare was despatched to all parts of Ireland and Jacobs, the biscuit manufacturers and the Monument Creameries, both of Dublin, were buyers of substantial quantities of the product.
The Association Secretary, Fintan Brennan, carried out spot checks on honey supplied by members and honey of poor quality or appearance was required to be replaced. In this way high standards were set and maintained for honey produced in South Kildare.
In 1939 the Association won practically all the awards at the Ballsbridge Show against opposition from all over Ireland. That same year the Athy based group received the unique distinction of being chosen by the Irish Free State Commissioner in London to supply honey for shows in London, Manchester and Liverpool.
In 1936 Fintan Brennan and J.J. Bergin of Maybrook, Athy, gave a talk on Radio Eireann on the production of bottled honey as a cottage industry in Athy and South Kildare. The success of the early years was not maintained and in 1945, largely due to the low prices then prevalent for honey and the high cost of beekeeping equipment, the Kildare Beekeepers Association went into decline.
It was Michael Moore of Athy who was responsible for re-activating the Association following his attendance at week long Beekeepers Courses in Gormanstown in 1962 and 1963. With the encouragement of the Secretary of the Federation of Irish Beekeepers he reformed the Beekeepers Association in South Kildare. In this he received the active co-operation of the former Secretary Fintan Brennan and the Association was re-established with approximately ten members including Tom Maher of Kildangan, Mrs. Leigh, Burtown, her daughter Betty N.T. who was elected Secretary, Tom Donoghue, St. Joseph's Terrace and Paddy Cummins of Luggacurran. Fintan Brennan was elected Chairman.
In 1974 Michael Moore was appointed a National Judge of Honey and in 1979 Librarian to the Federation of Irish Beekeepers of Ireland. A member of their Executive Council for many years he was joined on the Executive Council by Brother C. O'Farrell, C.B.S., Athy, in 1975. It was Brother O'Farrell who in 1971 achieved the highest honour for South Kildare honey when he won the World Cup at the National Honey Show in London.
Prior to 1930 there was no tradition of beekeeping or honey production in South Kildare. In the years since the Association was founded a number of dedicated men and women have made a major contribution to the raising of honey production standards and today bottled honey bearing the South Kildare Association label is guaranteed to contain honey of a high standard and appearance.
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