Postcards of Athy - Photographs

The first postcards of Athy were produced over 100 years ago.  Using the Lawrence photographs taken in the last decade of the 19^th century these early postcards showed the town unchanged as it was for many years past.  Of course, what has now become the iconic image of Athy, Whites Castle and the adjoining Crom a Boo Bridge has proved to be the most popular postcard image of the town.  This was also the case when the Valentine and the Eason postcard collection featuring Athy were subsequently issued.

Over the years several local shopkeepers contracted to produce postcards of Athy including James’s of Duke Street and Ernest O’Rourke Glynn who had his premises at the corner of Woodstock Street and Duke Street.

Bernadette Gibbs who moved to Athy some few years ago and who is a prominent member of the Athy Photographic Group has recently produced a number of postcard images of Athy which are currently on sale.  Her stunning photographs are a visual reminder of the important, if somewhat limited building heritage we have here in Athy.  The Gibbs postcards will no doubt, in time to come, be an important part of the photographic record of the town or the ‘Marches of Kildare County’.