Athy Board of Guardians (3)

As the construction work on Athy Workhouse neared completion the Board of Guardians advertised for the supply of Whitehaven coal, oatmeal, best cup potatoes ‘free from clay or hazards’, buttermilk, straw, beef and mutton.  What I wonder was meant by the description ‘potatoes free from hazards’?  Three months before the Workhouse opened the clerk announced his intention to resign.  At a subsequent meeting Jeremiah Dunne was appointed clerk, defeating Mr. Goodwin for the position by one vote.  The suppliers to the Workhouse appointed in November 1843 included family names well known in the business life of Athy up to recent years.  Mr. Cross supplied Whitehaven coal at nineteen shillings a ton, Mr. Dillon beef at 3¾ pence a pound and Mr. Keating straw at one pound five shillings a ton.  In November the medical officer was instructed to fit up the Workhouse surgery and to procure the necessary appliances and drugs at a cost not to exceed £25.

In December 1843 work on the Workhouse was completed.  The Board approved payments to the following craftsmen and traders.  Samuel Sherlock, painter - three pounds.  Thomas Blanc, carpenter - twenty pounds (I assume his full name was Blanchfield).  Patrick O’Neill, basket maker - six pound two shillings.  James Doyle, shoemaker - fifteen pounds.  John Ryan, furniture maker - thirty pounds, with small amounts paid to Daniel Twomey, slater and Patrick English, smith worker.  It was decided to open the Workhouse ‘for the reception of paupers’ on 20^th December 1843, with posters advertising this fact to be got at the Leinster Express office.  At the same time the Rev. J. Lawler was authorised ‘to provide requisites for celebration of Roman Catholic worship at an expense not exceeding ten pounds.’  At its meeting of 19^th December the Board of Guardians postponed the planned opening of the Workhouse because the small amount of lodgements made by poor rate collectors left the Guardians without adequate funds. 

On 9^th January 1844 the Board agreed on the diet for the Workhouse inmates.  For adults of both sexes above 15 years of age breakfast would consist of 7 oz. of oatmeal made into stirabout and one pint of mixed milk.  Dinner would consist of 3½ lbs. of potatoes and one pint of buttermilk.

Young persons from 3 to 15 years of age were to be provided with a breakfast of 4 oz. of oatmeal made into stirabout and half a pint of sweet milk.  Dinner would consist of 2 lbs. of potatoes with half a pint of buttermilk. For supper they received a quarter of a pound of bread and a half pint of buttermilk.

Infants from 1 – 3 years of age received 4 ozs. of oatmeal made into stirabout at breakfast together with half a pound of bread and one pint of sweet milk.  Women nursing infants were to receive one pint of sweet milk every night in addition to their ordinary diet.  Infants having no mothers in the Workhouse were to receive half a pound of bread and one quarter of sweet milk until they were one year old. 

Adults were to have their breakfast at half past nine and dinner at four o’clock.  Children got their breakfast at 9 o’clock, dinner at 2 o’clock and supper at 7 o’clock.  The final decision of the Board of Guardians before the Workhouse was opened that day was to appoint Thomas Prendergast as contractor to build the boundary wall and gate piers in front of the Workhouse. 

On the first day of admission five men, four women, ten boys, five girls and one infant were formally categorised as paupers on their admission to the newly opened Workhouse.  A week later a further six men, fifteen women, thirteen boys, five girls and two infants were admitted to the Workhouse.

Just six years previously a letter in the Athy Literary Magazine of March 1838 referred to Athy as ‘completely neglected’.  The unidentified letter writer notes how ‘during the late and present inclement weather ….. sickness and starvation visited alike the able bodied and the aged poor’ of the South Kildare town.  No surprise therefore to find that within ten months of its opening the Workhouse was home to 297 paupers.  The failure of the potato crop first noticed in the Athy area in October 1845 was to lead to widespread hardship in the local area.  The construction of the railway line from Dublin to Carlow provided much needed employment for local men ‘who had never (previously) handled a pike or a shovel, never wheeled a barrow and never made a nearer approach to work than to turn over a potato field with a clumsy hoe’.  That work ceased when the Dublin Carlow railway line opened on 4^th August 1846 and many local families had no option but to enter the Workhouse.  At one time towards the end of the famine period the Athy Workhouse system was home to 1528 starving family members, who were accommodated in the original Workhouse and two auxiliary Workhouses in the town. 

The Great Famine witnessed the death of 1205 inmates of Athy’s Workhouse.  They lie buried in unmarked graves in the cemetery where in recent years on National Famine Commemoration Day, services are held to honour the memory of those unfortunate men, women and children, all of whom were neighbours in Athy town and the wider Poor Law Union Area of Athy.

Athy Board of Guardians (2)

The story of Athy’s Workhouse is revealed in the minutiae of administrative details written into the minute books of the Board of Guardians, which I had the opportunity of studying before their recent transfer to the County Library in Newbridge.  In the months preceding the opening of the Workhouse the Board of Guardians were engaged in making arrangements for furnishing the building and entering into contracts for the supply of provisions.  The clerk was directed to advertise ‘for the different articles of clothing used by Gorey Workhouse paupers’ patterns for which had earlier been received and examined by the Athy Guardians.  The members of the Board, while dissatisfied with the quality of the clothing, were nevertheless impressed with the clothing design or what the minute books describes as the ‘kind of clothing’.

Tenders for bed clothing for the Workhouse comprising blankets, sheets, coverlets, bolsters and bed ticks were approved by the Board and contracts awarded to Miss Kenny Scott, Mr. Potter and a Mr. Patrick Cosgrove.  Kenny Scott was also the successful tender for 75 frieze jackets for men in three sizes at an average cost of 9 shillings and 11 pence each.  Local shopkeeper, Mr. Duncan, successfully contracted for the supply of 50 suits in three sizes for boys at an average cost of 3 shillings and 6 pence.  Shirts, petticoats, bed gowns, frocks, men’s caps and men’s and women’s shoes were just a few of the assortment of wearing apparel purchased by the Board of Guardians.   For local shopkeepers, the opening of the Workhouse in Athy must have provided business opportunities never before experienced. 

The list of utensils acquired for the Workhouse makes interesting reading.  Heading that list were 100 chamber utensils for which the Board of Guardians paid 3 shillings and 6 pence per dozen.  12 lamps and burners, 4 one quart ladles for stirabout, with two larger ladles with one pint capacity were also required.  A stirabout scraper was purchased for 5 shillings and for 2½ pence each 100 quart tins were purchased with a similar number of pint tins for which 2¼  pence each was paid.  Indicative of the work which the male inmates were expected to face was the purchase of 24 stone hammers. 

At its meeting on 2^nd May 1843 in anticipation of what the minute book noted as a ‘collision between the ratepayers and the collectors’ it was resolved that the landlords should be made primarily responsible for the Workhouse rates, while giving them power to recover from the occupiers, their proportion of the rates, as was the case with the rent charge.  Later in the month of May the Board directed the newly appointed master and porter to take up residence in the Workhouse, although the workhouse mistress was not yet required to do so.

On 4^th June the Board of Guardians accepted tenders for furniture for their boardroom.  John Ryan of Carlow supplied the boardroom table with 36 chairs, one armchair ‘with brackets’ and a metal fender and fire irons.  At the same time furniture was required for the clerk’s room, the master’s apartment, the porter’s room and the hall.  The earlier mentioned John Ryan was also commissioned to build an altar for the Workhouse.  Interestingly the clerk and the porter got deal furniture for their rooms, while the master of the Workhouse got American birch chairs for his apartment, as well as a mahogany table and other pieces of furniture. 

On 12^th September Miss Goold’s tender to supply ‘sweet milk at the rate of 7 pence per gallon’ was accepted.  Miss Goold later emerged as one of the principal organisers of the movement to bring the Sisters of Mercy to Athy.  The Mercy Sisters came to the town 8 years after her opening of the local Workhouse.  She was also a generous benefactor to the Parish of St. Michaels, leaving some property to the parish on her death.

The eight ex officio members of the Board of Guardians were elected annually by local magistrates.  On 29^th September 1843 with Captain Lefroy in the chair, local magistrates Lord Downes, Sir Anthony Weldon and W.D. Frazier elected the ex officio Poor Law Guardians.  Not surprisingly those elected included the aforementioned gentlemen in addition to John Butler, Edward Bagot, B.A. Yates and E.H. Cole.  The remaining 24 guardians were elected each year by the ratepayers of the union area.

The appointment of a rate collector for the various districts in the Poor Law Union of Athy occupied almost every meeting of the Board of Guardians.  Reasons were seldom given for the frequent changes in the rate collectors, although it might well have been prompted by the reluctance of the rate payers to pay for the operation of the Workhouse which in 1843 was still in the course of construction.  The contract price for the building of the Workhouse was exceeded during the year, resulting in the assistant Poor Law Commissioner laying before the Board the accounts of the building contractor which indicated that a further £150 was required to defray extra costs incurred and an additional £150 to build boundary fences around the Workhouse.  ……………….TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..

The early history of Athy's Workhouse (2)

The first meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Athy Union was held in the Courthouse, Athy on Thursday, 29^th April 1841 (the Court room at that time was located in the Town Hall).  Present at that meeting were Lord Downes of Bert House, Sir E.H. Walsh of Ballykilcavan, Sir Anthony Weldon of Rahinderry, W.H. Cole of Moore Abbey, Monasterevin, Benjamin Lefroy of Cardenton and Edward Bagot of Kildoon.  They were ex officio members of the Board, as was B.A. Yates of Moone Abbey and George Evans of Farmhill who were not present at that meeting. 

Those attending also included the following guardians who had been elected to the position.  Patrick Cummins, Athy; Gerald Dunne, Snugboro; P.C. Doran, Castlemitchell; John Butler, Athy; Thomas Fitzgerald, Kilberry; Robert Cassidy, Monasterevin; Edward Conlan, Monasterevin; John Hyland, Ballitore; Patrick Maher, Kilrush; William Pelan, Ballindrum; James Caulfield, Pilsworth, Castledermot; Joseph Lyons, Moyanna, Stradbally; Thomas Budd, Timogue, Stradbally; Michael Dowling, Inch, Stradbally; Francis Roberts, Stradbally; Thomas Kilbride, Luggacurran; John Hovenden, Modubeagh and John Kehoe of Ballylinan.  Elected guardians who were absent included Daniel Browne, Ashgrove, Monasterevin; John Dowling, Kildangan; Andrew Dunne, Dollardstown; William Caulfield, Levitstown; Major E.H. Pope, Carlow and William Tarleton, Stradbally [the last two representing Ballyadams].

At that first meeting of the Board George Evans was elected Chairman, William Caulfield Vice Chairman while Patrick Dunne was elected Clerk to the Board at a salary of €40 per year.  Arrangements were made for the Union area to be surveyed and valued for the purpose of fixing rates to finance the running of the Workhouse which would open in Athy in January 1844. 

At its next meeting on 27^th May it was agreed to admit the press to board meetings and to divide the union area into eight vaccination districts, with vaccination stations located at Athy, Castledermot, Monasterevin, Stradbally, Luggacurran, Nurney, Ballylinan and Moone. 

On 20^th July 1841 the Board received an order from the Poor Law Commissioners directing it to raise or borrow the sum of £6,700 for the building and fitting out of a workhouse in Athy. 

On 10^th March 1842 the Board met to decide applications from persons claiming the right to vote at the annual election for members of Athy Board of Guardians scheduled for 26^th March.  The only change following that election was the replacement of John Butler by John Peppard.  The outgoing chairman, George Evans, retained his position following the first meeting of the newly elected Board when defeating Sir Anthony Weldon by one vote.  However, his name is absent from the record of all subsequent meetings and on 11^th October 1842 the Board unanimously agreed to elect Sir Anthony Weldon as Chairman of the Board of Guardians on the proposal of Lord Downes, seconded by Captain Lefroy. 

In July 1842 the salaries for the various officers of the workhouse were fixed by the Board.  The Workhouse Master was to be paid £40 per year with furnished apartments, fuel and candles and a limited quantity of house provisions.  The Matron was to receive £20 a year, with similar allowances, while the workhouse porter was granted £10 a year and allowances.  The workhouse schoolmaster and mistress were to be paid £20 and £15 respectively in addition to the earlier mentioned allowances.  Their duties were to include ‘assisting the master in the management of the workhouse.’  The medical attendant’s salary was fixed at £50 a year and his duties included the ‘compounding of all necessary medicines.’  A ‘nurse teacher’ was to receive £10 a year with the agreed allowances.  However, the Poor Law Commissioners took issue with the Board of Guardians decisions and directed that the fixing of salaries was premature and consequently refused to sanction any appointments. 

The dispute between the Board and the Commissioners was eventually resolved and on 7^th February 1843 the Board proceeded with appointments of various officials to Athy Workhouse.  William Bryan was appointed Workhouse master, with Elizabeth Quinn as Workhouse mistress and James Butler as the porter.  The appointment of the Workhouse medical attendant appears to have been the only appointment which necessitated a vote, even though there were several applicants for each position.  Dr. Ferris, Dr. Kynsey and Dr. Clayton submitted their applications and the position went to Dr. Kynsey who received 16 votes to 13 votes cast for Dr. Clayton.  The hapless Dr. Ferris received no votes. 

A rate of five pence in the pound was levied on all rateable properties in the Athy Poor Law Union area to fund the operation of the local Workhouse and John Mulhall was appointed to collect the poor rate in the Athy and Kilberry districts.  Collectors were also appointed to the other areas of the union.    As the opening of the Workhouse in January 1844 approached the preceding months were taken up with arrangements to purchase equipment, clothing and food products for which local businesses were asked to tender. 

……………………………………….TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..

The early history of Athy's Workhouse (1)

Whenever I travel abroad I am invariably attracted to local markets. They are generally of interest to visitors as well as being part of the long established local commercial activity of their areas.

Here in Athy we have a market every Tuesday which is held in the town centre square.  It’s a market with a lot of history extending back to the time of Henry VIII.  The authority for holding the market is contained in the charter granted to the town of Athy by King Henry in 1515.  The charter written in Latin specified that the market was to be held on a Tuesday each week in a place chosen by Gerald, Earl of Kildare at whose request the charter was granted. 

The primary purpose of the charter was to fund the erection of walls around the town and so provide greater safety and security for the people of the town which the charter stated ‘lies on the frontiers of our Irish enemy.’  The year was 1515 and the settlers’ town had been subject to attack on many occasions by the ‘wild Irish’ living on the western side of the river Barrow.  The building of town walls was hugely expensive and so the Provost of the newly incorporated Borough Council of Athy was granted the right to impose and collect customs or tolls on goods and animals sold in the market of Athy.  The money so raised was to be used not only for the building and repair of the town walls, but also to pave the streets of Athy.

A question arose many years ago as to whether the Town Commissioners, who replaced the Borough Councillors soon after the Great Famine, were entitled to collect and utilise the market fees.  As regulation of the market under the charter was granted to the town Provost (the equivalent of the modern-day town mayor) the Town Commissioners and now Kildare County Council, as successors in title to the Provost and the Borough Councillors, were deemed entitled to exercise all the rights previously held by the Provost.

It was the sole decision of the Earl of Kildare to decide where the market was held and consequently the local authority, now Kildare County Council, would not appear to have the discretionary right which in 1515 was granted solely to Gerald, Earl of Kildare.

That issue was of importance some years ago when the then Urban District Council considered regulating the market.  It was an issue which was not then resolved.  However, now that we are at the start of implementing a regeneration plan for the town it is perhaps opportune for the question of regulating the market to be considered again. 

Town markets on the Continent and on the British mainland are all well-regulated.  They generally present an attractive appearance for locals and visitors alike and help to bring activity and vibrancy to a town centre.  Our town market is an unattractive shambles. 

Recently I was in Shoreham-by-Sea in Sussex on a day when the local market was taking place.  On making some enquiries I discovered that the market stands and canopies were owned by the local Council which set them out on market day and rented them out to the various stallholders.  They presented a colourful sight and the attractiveness of the market was added to by an interesting variety of second hand goods, food and crafts offered for sale.

With the planned reordering of Emily Square surely it is time for Kildare County Council to look again at the need to regulate the Tuesday market and by doing so help to make it an attractive element in the commercial regeneration of the town.

Last week saw the passing of a number of local people.  Nicola Keogh Kenny was a legal secretary in the offices of a local colleague and her sudden unexpected passing was a great shock to all of us.  Another young person to leave us in sad circumstances after a long illness was Brian Barr.  Kate Mitchell who was a near neighbour of mine in Coneyboro died and was buried a few days before Pat O’Gorman of Gallowshill, formerly of Prospect House on the Carlow Road.  Leslie Anderson died at an advanced age and his passing, like those of Nicola, Brian, Kate and Pat brought sadness to the people of Athy and south Kildare. 

Our sympathies are extended to their families, friends and relatives.

The early history of Athy's Workhouse

The first meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Athy Union was held in the Courthouse, Athy on Thursday, 29^th April 1841 (the Court room at that time was located in the Town Hall).  Present at that meeting were Lord Downes of Bert House, Sir E.H. Walsh of Ballykilcavan, Sir Anthony Weldon of Rahinderry, W.H. Cole of Moore Abbey, Monasterevin, Benjamin Lefroy of Cardenton and Edward Bagot of Kildoon.  They were ex officio members of the Board, as was B.A. Yates of Moone Abbey and George Evans of Farmhill who were not present at that meeting. 

Those attending also included the following guardians who had been elected to the position.  Patrick Cummins, Athy; Gerald Dunne, Snugboro; P.C. Doran, Castlemitchell; John Butler, Athy; Thomas Fitzgerald, Kilberry; Robert Cassidy, Monasterevin; Edward Conlan, Monasterevin; John Hyland, Ballitore; Patrick Maher, Kilrush; William Pelan, Ballindrum; James Caulfield, Pilsworth, Castledermot; Joseph Lyons, Moyanna, Stradbally; Thomas Budd, Timogue, Stradbally; Michael Dowling, Inch, Stradbally; Francis Roberts, Stradbally; Thomas Kilbride, Luggacurran; John Hovenden, Modubeagh and John Kehoe of Ballylinan.  Elected guardians who were absent included Daniel Browne, Ashgrove, Monasterevin; John Dowling, Kildangan; Andrew Dunne, Dollardstown; William Caulfield, Levitstown; Major E.H. Pope, Carlow and William Tarleton, Stradbally [the last two representing Ballyadams].

At that first meeting of the Board George Evans was elected Chairman, William Caulfield Vice Chairman while Patrick Dunne was elected Clerk to the Board at a salary of €40 per year.  Arrangements were made for the Union area to be surveyed and valued for the purpose of fixing rates to finance the running of the Workhouse which would open in Athy in January 1844. 

At its next meeting on 27^th May it was agreed to admit the press to board meetings and to divide the union area into eight vaccination districts, with vaccination stations located at Athy, Castledermot, Monasterevin, Stradbally, Luggacurran, Nurney, Ballylinan and Moone. 

On 20^th July 1841 the Board received an order from the Poor Law Commissioners directing it to raise or borrow the sum of £6,700 for the building and fitting out of a workhouse in Athy. 

On 10^th March 1842 the Board met to decide applications from persons claiming the right to vote at the annual election for members of Athy Board of Guardians scheduled for 26^th March.  The only change following that election was the replacement of John Butler by John Peppard.  The outgoing chairman, George Evans, retained his position following the first meeting of the newly elected Board when defeating Sir Anthony Weldon by one vote.  However, his name is absent from the record of all subsequent meetings and on 11^th October 1842 the Board unanimously agreed to elect Sir Anthony Weldon as Chairman of the Board of Guardians on the proposal of Lord Downes, seconded by Captain Lefroy. 

In July 1842 the salaries for the various officers of the workhouse were fixed by the Board.  The Workhouse Master was to be paid £40 per year with furnished apartments, fuel and candles and a limited quantity of house provisions.  The Matron was to receive £20 a year, with similar allowances, while the workhouse porter was granted £10 a year and allowances.  The workhouse schoolmaster and mistress were to be paid £20 and £15 respectively in addition to the earlier mentioned allowances.  Their duties were to include ‘assisting the master in the management of the workhouse.’  The medical attendant’s salary was fixed at £50 a year and his duties included the ‘compounding of all necessary medicines.’  A ‘nurse teacher’ was to receive £10 a year with the agreed allowances.  However, the Poor Law Commissioners took issue with the Board of Guardians decisions and directed that the fixing of salaries was premature and consequently refused to sanction any appointments. 

The dispute between the Board and the Commissioners was eventually resolved and on 7^th February 1843 the Board proceeded with appointments of various officials to Athy Workhouse.  William Bryan was appointed Workhouse master, with Elizabeth Quinn as Workhouse mistress and James Butler as the porter.  The appointment of the Workhouse medical attendant appears to have been the only appointment which necessitated a vote, even though there were several applicants for each position.  Dr. Ferris, Dr. Kynsey and Dr. Clayton submitted their applications and the position went to Dr. Kynsey who received 16 votes to 13 votes cast for Dr. Clayton.  The hapless Dr. Ferris received no votes. 

A rate of five pence in the pound was levied on all rateable properties in the Athy Poor Law Union area to fund the operation of the local Workhouse and John Mulhall was appointed to collect the poor rate in the Athy and Kilberry districts.  Collectors were also appointed to the other areas of the union.    As the opening of the Workhouse in January 1844 approached the preceding months were taken up with arrangements to purchase equipment, clothing and food products for which local businesses were asked to tender. 

……………………………………….TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..

Athy's Association Football Club

‘Athy town lifted the League Shield for the first time in the club’s history with a 5-1 victory over Coill Dubh’.  Under the banner headline ‘Five Star Athy lift League Shield’ last week’s Nationalist brought us the story of Athy A.F.C.’s latest success on the field of play. 

The club’s website gives details of eight underage teams catering for under 8s up to under 16 year olds.  Would that, I wonder, make it the sporting club catering for the largest number of young players in and around Athy and south Kildare?  Athy A.F.C. has over the years had several reincarnations with a history stretching back almost 90 years to the mid-1920s.  It was then that a Mr. Sanford who was employed in the Athy headquarters of the Barrow Drainage Company set up the town’s first soccer club.  Calling themselves ‘the Barrow Rovers’ the team included such locals as Chevit and John Doyle, Ned Ward, Jim Eaton and Cuddy Chanders.  The club seemed to have disbanded soon after completion of the Barrow Drainage Scheme.

During the 1930s the popular sports in Athy included Gaelic football, rugby and hockey.  Soccer had apparently lost its appeal with the demise of the Barrow Rovers, while the once popular sport of cricket was but a fading memory.  The local hockey club had its hockey pitch in the agricultural show grounds alongside the G.A.A. pitch and the rugby pitch.  Matt Tynan, who was manager of the local L. & N. shop at the corner of Leinster Street and Emily Square (now the Vodafone shop) was involved with the hockey club.  When that club ceased to exist Matt Tynan with Jimmy O’Donnell, Harry Prole and others called a public meeting in 1948 with a view to restarting a soccer club in the town.  They were fortunate in that the new club got the right to use the vacant hockey pitch and subsequently got a lease of the grounds which is still in use as Athy A.F.C. home grounds.  Several Athy men, who in the absence of a local soccer club had played with Carlow, transferred to the new Athy club.  These included Jerry Sullivan, ‘Oney’ Walsh and Tom Kealy.

In the summer of 1952 Matt Tynan presented a cup to the club for a street soccer league in an early attempt to encourage youthful participation in the game of soccer.  Youth teams from Barrack Street, Pairc Bhride, Offaly Street/Leinster Street and St. Joseph’s Terrace were some of the teams which competed for the Tynan Cup.  Despite some initial success the club lost some momentum during the 1959/’60 season which coincided with the departure of Matt Tynan from Athy.  A few barren years prompted some of the older club members to call a meeting in December 1964 with a view to reinvigorating the club.  The local press reported that the attendance at the meeting included ‘members of both the old Barrow Rovers team of the 1920s and the later club which flourished from 1948/’49 to 1959/’60.’  Lead by former players Brendan O’Flaherty, Denis Smyth and Mick McEvoy the club entered on its second revival.

The following season the club registered with the Leinster Junior League Dublin Division.  Very soon the club had three teams, one playing in the Dublin League, the other two in the Carlow League.  With Denis Smyth as secretary Athy A.F.C. again promoted a soccer street league for underage players.  It proved very successful and lay the foundation for the club’s success in the years which followed. 

In addition to numerous underage teams Athy A.F.C. now also has three adult teams.  The first team won the Lumsden Cup last week with what the local papers described as a ‘good team performance with a man of the match display by Ricky Moriarty.’  One of the club’s adult teams is for over 35s, a category which is also being catered for by another local soccer club ‘Bridge United’. 

The continuing growth and development of association football in Athy is to be seen in the soccer clubs which have been formed in recent years.  In addition to Athy A.F.C. and the earlier mentioned ‘Bridge United’ there are soccer clubs in Clonmullin and Woodstock.  Soccer pitches are now to be found in Clonmullin, Woodstock and the Showgrounds where the latter includes an extensive indoor practice area opened in recent years by the General Secretary of the F.A.I. 

Local involvement in sport is on the increase and is a measure of the healthy attitude of a community which is looking to the future regeneration of the social and economic life of the town with confidence.

Joey Carbery Irish Rugby International

Irish rugby has a new sporting hero.  Joey Carbery made his international debut on the Irish rugby team last week during Ireland’s first win over New Zealand.  The Soldier’s Field in Chicago was the scene of Joey’s entry to the ranks of an Irish international player. 

The New Zealand fifteen whom the one time Athy club player lined out against shared with Joey a country of birth.  A New Zealander by birth Joey has however lived a large part of his young life in the South Kildare town where the Carbery family links stretch back to the dark oppressive years of the Luggacurran evictions.

It was his great great grandfather Dan Carbery, who evicted from his small holding in Luggacurran in June 1889 by agents of Lord Lansdowne set up home in Athy.  It was here that Dan Carbery established the business which on his death in 1896 was continued and expanded by his 31-year-old son, also named Dan.  The Carbery building legacy is to be found in several local schools, numerous housing estates in and around the town of Athy and in the more recent refurbishment by the Carlow branch of the firm of the local Courthouse.

The name Joe Carbery has passed down through several generations of the Carbery family, the last four generations of which have been actively involved with Athy rugby football club.  Joe Carbery, great grandfather of the current rugby star, was a playing member of the club in the 1920s, as was his cousin Donal.  Joe continued to play through the 1930s and was club captain in 1933/’34 and played on the provincial club team of 1938.  Twenty years after his club captaincy he was elected president of Athy Rugby Club for 1953/’54.

The next generation Joe was also a stalwart of Athy rugby club.  A veterinary surgeon by profession he played, as did his brother Jerry, for the Athy club in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Joe Carbery and his clubmate Jack Ryan were members of the Leinster Junior squad in 1961/’62.  Joe Carbery emigrated to New Zealand for a period and on returning to Ireland played for Naas rugby club and in 1981/’82 trained what is now regarded as one of Athy club’s most successful teams.  It was the third team which hold the unique distinction of not having lost a match while Joe Carbery was their trainer. 

The name Joe and the involvement in rugby passed on to the next Carbery generation.  This was Joey’s father who was born in Athy.  As a young child, he moved to New Zealand with his parents, but now lives in the south Kildare town where he is employed by the Irish Rugby Football Union as a youth coach.  He is also coach to the Athy senior rugby team.  His son Joe, known to the media and public alike as Joey, is the fourth generation of the Carbery family to have had an association with Athy rugby club.  Educated in Athy and Blackrock College he played underage rugby for Athy and later with Blackrock College and with the Clontarf senior team. 

We have to look back many decades to find another Athy player who reached the high status of Irish international senior team player.  The only one I have located is John B. Minch, son of Matthew and Elizabeth Minch of Rockfield House who was born in 1880.  John’s father Matt Minch was elected a Member of Parliament for South Kildare in 1882 and remained an M.P. for the following 21 years.  John B. Minch, like Joey Carbery, also attended and played for Blackrock College.  He won the first of his five international caps playing for Ireland against South Africa at Lansdowne Road on 30^th November 1912.  The following year he was capped twice, playing against England at Lansdowne Road on 8^th February 1913 and against Scotland in Edinburgh on 22^nd February.  His final two caps were earned in internationals against England at Twickenham on 14^th February 1914 and against Scotland at Lansdowne Road two weeks later.

Joey Carbery, Irish rugby international, follows in the proud footsteps of a father, grandfather and great grandfather, all bearing the name Joe and all associated players with Athy’s rugby football club.  The Carbery family association with Athy R.F.C. is one which was mirrored by the family’s active involvement with Athy Golf Club.  That association started with Dan Carbery, eldest son of the Carbery father who was evicted from Luggacurran.  Dan was captain of Athy Golf Club on six occasions between 1915 and 1932 and was followed in that position by three other Carbery family members including Joe Carbery, great grandfather of the rugby international.  Both the aforesaid Dan and his son Joe also held the position of Golf Club President each on three occasions.

The people of Athy and district rejoice in having a rugby player of the calibre of Joey Carbery whom they can say is one of their own, as is that other international sportsman, boxer Eric Donovan who won his second professional fight on the same night as Joey Carbery earned his first international cap.

Athy's Association Football Club

‘Athy town lifted the League Shield for the first time in the club’s history with a 5-1 victory over Coill Dubh’.  Under the banner headline ‘Five Star Athy lift League Shield’ last week’s Nationalist brought us the story of Athy A.F.C.’s latest success on the field of play. 

The club’s website gives details of eight underage teams catering for under 8s up to under 16 year olds.  Would that, I wonder, make it the sporting club catering for the largest number of young players in and around Athy and south Kildare?  Athy A.F.C. has over the years had several reincarnations with a history stretching back almost 90 years to the mid-1920s.  It was then that a Mr. Sanford who was employed in the Athy headquarters of the Barrow Drainage Company set up the town’s first soccer club.  Calling themselves ‘the Barrow Rovers’ the team included such locals as Chevit and John Doyle, Ned Ward, Jim Eaton and Cuddy Chanders.  The club seemed to have disbanded soon after completion of the Barrow Drainage Scheme.

During the 1930s the popular sports in Athy included Gaelic football, rugby and hockey.  Soccer had apparently lost its appeal with the demise of the Barrow Rovers, while the once popular sport of cricket was but a fading memory.  The local hockey club had its hockey pitch in the agricultural show grounds alongside the G.A.A. pitch and the rugby pitch.  Matt Tynan, who was manager of the local L. & N. shop at the corner of Leinster Street and Emily Square (now the Vodafone shop) was involved with the hockey club.  When that club ceased to exist Matt Tynan with Jimmy O’Donnell, Harry Prole and others called a public meeting in 1948 with a view to restarting a soccer club in the town.  They were fortunate in that the new club got the right to use the vacant hockey pitch and subsequently got a lease of the grounds which is still in use as Athy A.F.C. home grounds.  Several Athy men, who in the absence of a local soccer club had played with Carlow, transferred to the new Athy club.  These included Jerry Sullivan, ‘Oney’ Walsh and Tom Kealy.

In the summer of 1952 Matt Tynan presented a cup to the club for a street soccer league in an early attempt to encourage youthful participation in the game of soccer.  Youth teams from Barrack Street, Pairc Bhride, Offaly Street/Leinster Street and St. Joseph’s Terrace were some of the teams which competed for the Tynan Cup.  Despite some initial success the club lost some momentum during the 1959/’60 season which coincided with the departure of Matt Tynan from Athy.  A few barren years prompted some of the older club members to call a meeting in December 1964 with a view to reinvigorating the club.  The local press reported that the attendance at the meeting included ‘members of both the old Barrow Rovers team of the 1920s and the later club which flourished from 1948/’49 to 1959/’60.’  Lead by former players Brendan O’Flaherty, Denis Smyth and Mick McEvoy the club entered on its second revival.

The following season the club registered with the Leinster Junior League Dublin Division.  Very soon the club had three teams, one playing in the Dublin League, the other two in the Carlow League.  With Denis Smyth as secretary Athy A.F.C. again promoted a soccer street league for underage players.  It proved very successful and lay the foundation for the club’s success in the years which followed. 

In addition to numerous underage teams Athy A.F.C. now also has three adult teams.  The first team won the Lumsden Cup last week with what the local papers described as a ‘good team performance with a man of the match display by Ricky Moriarty.’  One of the club’s adult teams is for over 35s, a category which is also being catered for by another local soccer club ‘Bridge United’. 

The continuing growth and development of association football in Athy is to be seen in the soccer clubs which have been formed in recent years.  In addition to Athy A.F.C. and the earlier mentioned ‘Bridge United’ there are soccer clubs in Clonmullin and Woodstock.  Soccer pitches are now to be found in Clonmullin, Woodstock and the Showgrounds where the latter includes an extensive indoor practice area opened in recent years by the General Secretary of the F.A.I. 

Local involvement in sport is on the increase and is a measure of the healthy attitude of a community which is looking to the future regeneration of the social and economic life of the town with confidence.

Stafford Brothers and World War I

Within two months of the start of World War I Edward Stafford, formerly of Butler’s Row, Athy was killed.  He was just 27 years of age when he died on Thursday 24^th September 1914.  He was survived by his widow Margaret of Churchtown, a young daughter Mary Bridget and two sons, Thomas and George.  Two years later his younger brother Thomas was killed.  Thomas was 24 years of age when he joined his brother in death on 6^th September 1916 during the battle of the Somme.  Thomas’s remains were never recovered and he is commemorated on the Thiepval memorial, while his brother Edward is buried in the National Cemetery in the French village of Crouy. 

Until recently my knowledge of the Stafford brothers largely consisted of information available in the Commonwealth War Graves Commission files.  You can imagine my surprise on learning recently from my secretary of almost 40 years ago that she was a niece of Frank Stafford, an Athy man who fought in World War I.  Pat Walsh is a native of Donard, Co. Wicklow and her aunt, Mary Ann Heaney, her mother’s older sister, married Frank Stafford in 1921.  Frank’s father Thomas was a Wicklow man and I learned that Frank was the brother of Edward and Thomas Stafford and like them had also joined the Dublin Fusiliers at the start of the war.

It was Pat’s brother, Fr. Willie Walsh, a priest ministering in Kenya for over 40 years, who told the story of the Stafford brothers in an article in the magazine, ‘Africa’.   Pat sent the article to me and only then did I become aware of her connection with the Stafford brothers and particularly Frank Stafford who was not previously known to me.  Further research has unearthed more details in relation to another family member who also enlisted.

In the Stafford family in Butler’s Row were six sons and two daughters.  I have discovered that in addition to his three brothers Peter Stafford who was born in 1899 had enlisted on 27^th October, 1915.  He claimed to the recruiting officer that he was 18 years of age but when his true age became known in March 1916 he was discharged for ‘misstatement of his age.’  The remaining boys in the Stafford family were Anthony born 1902 and John born 1904, while the girls were Elizabeth and Judy.

When I was Chairman of Athy Urban District Council in 1997 I was asked to send greetings to a former Athy resident who was about to celebrate her 90^th birthday at her home in America.  I subsequently got a letter of thanks from Mae Vagts who turned out to be the daughter of Edward Stafford.  She wrote of her father ‘I do remember his goodbyes to myself, 7 years, and my two brothers, 3 years and 1 year old.  My mother went to the train station with him.  I also remember the notice of his death, it came by the postman that my father Edward Stafford was killed at the battle of the Aisne in France.  My mother was in shock as my father was only 27 years old.  We were all very sad.’

Growing up in Athy in the 1950s I remember John J. Stafford of Duke Street, the youngest member of the Stafford family, his sister Judy who married Andy Cleary and who lived in Janeville.  I knew nothing then of Edward or Thomas Stafford who died during the war or of their two brothers who also enlisted but survived.  Indeed like so many others in Athy I had no knowledge of the suffering and sacrifices of family who lost loved ones in the war of 1914-18. 

Two years ago Edward Stafford’s grandson, who was then living in Nenagh, Co. Tipperary, arranged a remembrance mass for his grandfather and his granduncle Thomas Stafford.  This was held in St. Michael’s Parish Church, Athy on 24^th September, the 100^th anniversary of the death of Edward Stafford.  So far as I can recall this was the first church service held locally in recent years in memory of victims of World War I.

Next Sunday, November 13^th, is Remembrance Sunday and a Remembrance Day ceremony will be held at St. Michael’s Old Cemetery at 3.00 p.m. to honour the men from Athy and district who died in the Great War.  Fr. Willie Walsh, at present home on holidays with his 95 year old mother in Donard, will join us that day to remember amongst the dead of the Great War his uncles Edward and Thomas Stafford.

Clem Roche, genealogist and World War I historian, has written a book on the men from Athy and district who died during World War I.  His book ‘Athy and District WW1 Role of Honour 1914-1918’ will be launched in the Heritage Centre in Athy on Friday 11^th November at 7.30 p.m.  An open invitation is extended to everyone to attend the book launch.  It would be particularly appropriate for family members of those who died in the war to come along to the book launch and to the ceremony in St. Michael’s Cemetery on Sunday and by your attendance honour the lost generation of 100 years ago. 

Joey Carbery Irish Rugby International

Irish rugby has a new sporting hero.  Joey Carbery made his international debut on the Irish rugby team last week during Ireland’s first win over New Zealand.  The Soldier’s Field in Chicago was the scene of Joey’s entry to the ranks of an Irish international player. 

The New Zealand fifteen whom the one time Athy club player lined out against shared with Joey a country of birth.  A New Zealander by birth Joey has however lived a large part of his young life in the South Kildare town where the Carbery family links stretch back to the dark oppressive years of the Luggacurran evictions.

It was his great great grandfather Dan Carbery, who evicted from his small holding in Luggacurran in June 1889 by agents of Lord Lansdowne set up home in Athy.  It was here that Dan Carbery established the business which on his death in 1896 was continued and expanded by his 31-year-old son, also named Dan.  The Carbery building legacy is to be found in several local schools, numerous housing estates in and around the town of Athy and in the more recent refurbishment by the Carlow branch of the firm of the local Courthouse.

The name Joe Carbery has passed down through several generations of the Carbery family, the last four generations of which have been actively involved with Athy rugby football club.  Joe Carbery, great grandfather of the current rugby star, was a playing member of the club in the 1920s, as was his cousin Donal.  Joe continued to play through the 1930s and was club captain in 1933/’34 and played on the provincial club team of 1938.  Twenty years after his club captaincy he was elected president of Athy Rugby Club for 1953/’54.

The next generation Joe was also a stalwart of Athy rugby club.  A veterinary surgeon by profession he played, as did his brother Jerry, for the Athy club in the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Joe Carbery and his clubmate Jack Ryan were members of the Leinster Junior squad in 1961/’62.  Joe Carbery emigrated to New Zealand for a period and on returning to Ireland played for Naas rugby club and in 1981/’82 trained what is now regarded as one of Athy club’s most successful teams.  It was the third team which hold the unique distinction of not having lost a match while Joe Carbery was their trainer. 

The name Joe and the involvement in rugby passed on to the next Carbery generation.  This was Joey’s father who was born in Athy.  As a young child, he moved to New Zealand with his parents, but now lives in the south Kildare town where he is employed by the Irish Rugby Football Union as a youth coach.  He is also coach to the Athy senior rugby team.  His son Joe, known to the media and public alike as Joey, is the fourth generation of the Carbery family to have had an association with Athy rugby club.  Educated in Athy and Blackrock College he played underage rugby for Athy and later with Blackrock College and with the Clontarf senior team. 

We have to look back many decades to find another Athy player who reached the high status of Irish international senior team player.  The only one I have located is John B. Minch, son of Matthew and Elizabeth Minch of Rockfield House who was born in 1880.  John’s father Matt Minch was elected a Member of Parliament for South Kildare in 1882 and remained an M.P. for the following 21 years.  John B. Minch, like Joey Carbery, also attended and played for Blackrock College.  He won the first of his five international caps playing for Ireland against South Africa at Lansdowne Road on 30^th November 1912.  The following year he was capped twice, playing against England at Lansdowne Road on 8^th February 1913 and against Scotland in Edinburgh on 22^nd February.  His final two caps were earned in internationals against England at Twickenham on 14^th February 1914 and against Scotland at Lansdowne Road two weeks later.

Joey Carbery, Irish rugby international, follows in the proud footsteps of a father, grandfather and great grandfather, all bearing the name Joe and all associated players with Athy’s rugby football club.  The Carbery family association with Athy R.F.C. is one which was mirrored by the family’s active involvement with Athy Golf Club.  That association started with Dan Carbery, eldest son of the Carbery father who was evicted from Luggacurran.  Dan was captain of Athy Golf Club on six occasions between 1915 and 1932 and was followed in that position by three other Carbery family members including Joe Carbery, great grandfather of the rugby international.  Both the aforesaid Dan and his son Joe also held the position of Golf Club President each on three occasions.

The people of Athy and district rejoice in having a rugby player of the calibre of Joey Carbery whom they can say is one of their own, as is that other international sportsman, boxer Eric Donovan who won his second professional fight on the same night as Joey Carbery earned his first international cap.

Jimmy Robinson and Athy's C.Y.M.S.

In February 2007 some minute books and other books relating to the Catholic Young Mens Society in Athy were given to me by Jimmy Robinson.  Jimmy was the last Honorary Secretary of the C.Y.M.S., a local institution with a history extending back over 150 years but which had ceased to exist in 2004. 

The first branch of the society was founded in Limerick in 1849 after a young priest who had attended Knockbeg College Carlow brought together a number of labourers.  Fr. Richard Baptist O’Brien, who had been ordained in Maynooth ten years previously, spent the first five years of his priesthood in Canada.  On returning to Limerick during the dreadful famine year of 1847 Fr. O’Brien felt the need for young men who survived the famine to come together in friendship and cooperation to better their lives.  Approximately 13 years after the foundation of the society a C.Y.M.S. branch was started in Athy.  Unfortunately the minute books dealing with the early years of the branch have not been found.  The earliest minute books to survive starts with entries for 1958, while an earlier cash book opened in June 1926 lists  initially on a daily basis and later weekly and then twice monthly monies received and monies paid up to 1949.  To my great regret the minute book or books for the period 1964 to 1971 are missing as my late brother Seamus took over as secretary from Jim McEvoy a short time before his untimely death in a road traffic accident.

That these records have survived is a tribute to Jimmy Robinson’s attention to detail and the care which marked his voluntary work as honorary secretary of the C.Y.M.S. over many years.  The last entry in the C.Y.M.S. minute book is of a committee meeting held on 21^st October 1994.  The meeting was presided over by another great stalwart of Athy, P.J. Hyland.  Jimmy who died last week joins P.J. in our memories. 

Memories not only of the C.Y.M.S. but also of the wonderful characters who were members of the local branch when it occupied premises at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place.  Where the C.Y.M.S. branch was originally located following its foundation in 1862 I cannot say.  The members took over the building at the corner of Stanhope Place from the Sisters of Mercy in 1892.  Forty eight years later they acquired use of the adjoining building immediately adjacent to the side entrance gate to the Parish Church.  It lay directly opposite the Parish Priest’s house and had been home to the technical school since the setting up of technical education at the start of the century.  The building became vacant when a new technical school was opened on the Carlow Road in 1940.  The then Parish Priest Canon McDonnell (after whom McDonnell Drive is named) gave the C.Y.M.S. permission to use the old technical school room which in my young days was called the card room.  It was the ‘holy of holies’ for the senior members such as Tom Moore, Ned Cranny, Christy Dunne, ‘Sooty’ Hayden, Willie Bracken and many others for whom card playing was a favourite pastime. 

The late Jimmy Robinson and P.J. Hyland with other committee members witnessed the gradual falloff of membership in the C.Y.M.S. during the 1990s.  The original objective of the society ‘to foster mutual union and cooperation and by priestly guidance, the spiritual intellectual, social and physical welfare of its members’ may not have seemed relevant in the world of the Celtic Tiger.  During the 1950s there was more than 100 C.Y.M.S. branches in Ireland.  In 1994 there were just 17 branches left throughout the country and it is likely that the Athy branch was not the only one to close its doors in recent years. 

Jimmy Robinson came from an old Athy family, as did Jimmy Bolger and John Joe Owens, both of whom passed away recently.  I was privileged to write of Jimmy Bolger in a previous Eye on the Past.  John Joe Owens was a man who like myself was not afraid of expressing his views in a forthright manner.  I have huge admiration for men such as the two Jimmys and John Joe who in their own individual way contributed to what I have often described as the rich tapestry of life in our south Kildare town of Athy. 

Other deaths noted during the recent past were that of Claus Schmidt and Mary Leech, both of whom were well known in the town.  As I am writing this piece I have learned of the death of an old school colleague of mine from our days in the local Christian Brothers secondary school.  John Joe Brennan died while I was abroad and regrettably I was unaware of his passing until now.  I have fond memories of John Joe who with a few others joined the Christian Brothers secondary school from outlying rural primary schools in the 1950s. 

Their passing brings sadness not only to family and friends but also to a community which remembers times past and experiences shared.