Poverty in 19th century Athy and later

When I wrote some years ago of the influenza epidemic of 1918-19 and its deadly impact on the people of Athy and district, I had little thought that the world was soon to face into another pandemic. COVID-19 has already brought so many changes in society – and not only a huge loss of lives but also, sadly, loss of employment that has led to family deprivation on a scale never before experienced by the current generations. Reading the minute books of Athy Town Commissioners of the 19th century, and press reports from that time, confirms that poverty and social deprivation were once all too common features of life in Athy. Three years before the start of the Great Famine, Athy’s Town Commissioners wrote to a Mr Bunbury seeking to have the brickyards continue working throughout the year “to assist in employing the poor” (the name “Bunbury” is currently in use with reference to Bunbury Bridge – what, I wonder, is the connection?). In December 1848 the Town Commissioners considered using (not employing ) “paupers from the workhouse to sweep the street.” It was a suggestion which would repeatedly arise at future meetings of the Town Commissioners, and it had little to do with offering help to the poor. It was, rather, an attempt by the Commissioners to save public funds. The Board of Guardians of the local workhouse were not willing to cooperate and so the Commissioners in 1849 appointed two local men, supplied with wheelbarrows, to clean the streets. The men were appointed as “scavengers”, a rather impolite term which would not be acceptable to use nowadays. Three years after the Great Famine saw the first mention in the official records of flooding at Rathstewart. This was a perennial problem which was always described as causing “distress for the poor people”. Poverty was widespread in the town of Athy in the 19th century, and the Athy Loan Fund gave what was described as a “liberal donation” of £30 for the “labouring poor of Athy” in 1856. The Town Commissioners gave a less liberal donation of £1 to purchase seeds for distribution amongst the poor. Poverty, coupled with the constant presence of soldiers in the local cavalry barracks and the nearby Curragh camp, gave rise to what the Town Commissioners described as “the scandal of public prostitution in Athy.” The Town Clerk, Henry Sheil, was required in 1858 to publish the following public notice in the town: “Caution to persons keeping any place of public resort within the town for the sale of refreshments of any kind who knowingly supplies any common prostitute or resorting therein to assemble and continue in his premises after this notice will be prosecuted according to the law.” The notice did not have the desired effect, so the following year Thomas Roberts was appointed for the purpose of prosecuting public prostitutes and street beggars for which he was paid a salary of 4 shillings per week, and two shillings and sixpence for each conviction of a prostitute. Another indication of the widespread poverty in Irish society of the 1850s was the Athy Town Commissioners’ request to the local magistrates “to try and sentence vagrant beggars to fines or imprisonment who shall be found standing at doors or loitering about.” Ten years later the Town Commissioners were still concerned by the presence of vagrants and prostitutes in the town, and decided to appoint a man “to take care that all vagrants and beggars shall be kept out of Athy and all prostitutes shall be brought before a magistrate.” The parsimonious Commissioners next wrote to the Board of Guardians in charge of the local workhouse seeking recoupment of this man’s wages “as his work greatly lessened the cost of nightly paupers in the workhouse.” The final years of the 19th century were marked by several outbreaks of typhoid fever in Athy town, leading to many deaths. The outbreaks were caused by contaminated drinking water in the town’s public water pumps. For several years the medical officer of health, Dr Kilbride, had complained of the dangers presented to the poor people of the town who relied on the public water pumps for drinking water. The Ratepayers’ Association, whose members no doubt had their own private wells, resisted the attempt to provide the town with a piped water supply. It eventually arrived in 1906, but not before many of those living in the unsanitary hovels of the laneways and courtyards of Athy had lost their lives. Nearer to our time was the report in January 1915 that “there are about 60 children attending national school in Athy who are unable by reason of lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided.” About 36 of these children were provided with breakfast by the Sisters of Mercy. The Urban District Council, as successors to the Town Commissioners, provided a grant of £18 in 1923 to fund a midday meal for 96 children in the convent school. The early years of the Irish Free State were very difficult, with little employment and disastrous harvests in 1923 and 1924. By 1926 the local convent school provided meals for poor children consisting of bread and syrup, leading the Urban Council to provide extra funds so that a more substantial meal could be served. Today COVID-19 has brought huge social challenges, one of which is the plight of families left without an income. Athy Lions’ Club has agreed to organise a fundraising event over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend to help the local St Vincent de Paul Society to assist local families in need. More about this at a later date.

Mother and Baby Homes Commission references to Athy's County Home

The recently-published Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation Report has been the subject of much comment and criticism. Running to 2865 pages, the report tells the story of Mother and Baby Homes between 1922 and 1998, in accordance with its terms of reference. The Commission, chaired by Judge Yvonne Murphy, acknowledges that the experiences of women and children in the 1920s were vastly different from the experiences of the 1990s, and that the institutions under investigation were very different in 1998 than they were in 1922. The Commission recognised that Ireland was a harsh environment for many during the early decades of the newly established Irish Free State, and women in particular suffered serious discrimination. Women who gave birth outside marriage were subjected to particularly harsh treatment. The report makes the important and clearly correct claim that “responsibility for that harsh treatment rests mainly with the fathers of their children and their own immediate families,” while “it was supported or contributed to and condoned by the institutions of the State and the Churches.” The institutions investigated include a variety of Mother and Child Homes as well as County Homes in Cork, Stranolar and Thomastown. The Commission found that County Homes offered worse physical conditions than the majority of the Mother and Baby Homes and that in addition mothers in County Homes had to carry out “onerous and unpleasant work for which they were not paid.” County Homes were successors to the workhouses and provided accommodation for the poor and the elderly, as well as single mothers and their children. The County Home in Athy, although not fully investigated by the Commission, is referenced several times in the report. It quotes a report of 1927 which claimed that the majority of the County Homes were in poor condition, reflecting the lack of investment prior to 1920. In Athy’s County Home, for instance, the bedside lockers provided “were simply tables made in the Home, each with a small drawer closed by a wooden catch sufficient to hold small personal items.” Unmarried mothers in the Home were noted as having “no privacy or personal space.” As early as 1927 the Commissioners for the Relief of the Sick and Destitute Poor recommended that the County Homes be reserved for the aged and the chronic sick and that unmarried mothers and their children should be removed to special homes. This recommendation was followed up by the Department of Local Government and Public Health, but without success. In 1926 772 unmarried mothers lived in Ireland’s County Homes. Their numbers were reduced to 582 by 1942. The newly established Department of Health returned to this issue in the 1950s when it made a sustained effort to have unmarried mothers and children removed from County Homes. However, the County Boards of Health, administered by the County Councils, failed to respond and would continue to use the County Homes not only to accommodate the aged and infirm but also to provide emergency accommodation for families and unmarried mothers from poor backgrounds. A 1953 report concerning Athy’s County Home reported that it had “a fleeting population of families admitted because of eviction, unemployment, illness of one or both parents or some other causes of break in family life.” County Managers exercised executive control of the County Homes, and they decided whether expectant mothers were sent to County Homes or to Mother and Baby Homes. Apparently a woman’s family background was considered by the Boards of Health and the County Managers when deciding whether to send a woman to a Mother and Baby Home or to a County Home. Until the maternity unit attached to St Vincent’s Hospital was closed in 1986, unmarried mothers continued to give birth in what was Athy’s former County Home. However, unlike the County Home days, neither mother nor baby remained in the hospital after birth. The situation was different in the years after Irish independence. Unmarried mothers, generally from poor backgrounds, were confined in the County Home and on many occasions their babies remained in the County Home when the mothers left. The children abandoned in Athy’s County Home were of sufficient numbers to require a school to be maintained on the premises until the 1940s. Thereafter, the schoolgoing children from the County Home attended local national schools, marching each morning to school wearing their distinctive County Home clothing. The Commission reports how the Athy County Home had a separate nursery in 1952, but that two years later it was gone. That year, the County Home housed 24 children, from infants to early teens, who slept in the adult dormitories. The sleeping arrangements were adversely commented on by the Department of Health’s inspector, who expressed concern about young boys sleeping in dormitories “with some kindly old men” but where it might be expected there were also “degenerates and the subnormal.” Strangely, there was no concern expressed for the young girls’ sleeping arrangements. The 1952 report on Athy’s County Home noted that “mothers do the household work. There appears to be three or four women, all unmarried mothers, working daily in the laundry… none are paid… the washing for the whole institution is done here… other mothers work as ward attendants, nursery attendants, and one looks after the nurses. There are in the Home women admitted as unmarried mothers whose children have been boarded out. They are employed according to their capacity but not paid.” While the inspector’s report did not criticise the facilities in the County Home, it was critical of the conditions in which the unmarried mothers lived, with particular reference to long hours worked and unpaid labour. The most damning evidence of the draconian work required in Athy’s County Home in 1952 was given in the inspector’s observation of one nine-week-old baby which “appeared healthy, clean and well catered for. She was however lying in her cradle with a half-emptied bottle of milk beside her. I suggested that she should be lap fed – the excuse offered was that the child’s mother would never get her work done if she had to spend so much time feeding her baby.” The practice of requiring unmarried mothers, or indeed anyone in receipt of public assistance, to do unpaid work ended with the passing of the Health Act of 1953. The first paid attendant was employed in Athy’s County Home in 1952 a few years after it was recorded that the County Home’s staff consisted of three nurses and three members of the Sisters of Mercy. Children abandoned in the County Homes were sometimes boarded out once they reached nine months of age, while their mothers were expected to remain in the County Homes carrying out unpaid work for two years after giving birth. It is uncertain if any infants were boarded out from Athy’s County Home, but several young boys were boarded out at nine years of age or older. Regrettably, the practice of boarding out children left some of those children abused and isolated. The passing of the Adoption Act 1953 and the Unmarried Mothers’ Allowance paid from 1973 brought an end to the abandonment of infants in County Homes. Children at risk are now boarded out or fostered under arrangements made by TUSLA. Their arrangements are better financed and monitored than the unacceptable practices which saw young boys and girls from Ireland’s County Homes boarded out, many to be ill-treated and used as slave labour. The rebuilding of Athy’s County Home commenced in 1966, long after the practice of admitting and retaining children of unmarried mothers in that institution had ended. The building work took three years to complete and on 3rd April 1969 the newly-named St Vincent’s Hospital was opened. Workhouse, County Home, St Vincent’s Hospital - each marked a step away from the misery and hunger of the Famine years, but that slow improvement was almost crippled by the shameful, harsh discrimination suffered by women in the first half of the last century. The journey continues into the 21st century, but with vast improvements in both institutional care and society’s attitudes to the most vulnerable. The Commission’s report on Mother and Baby Homes is a hugely comprehensive account of a shameful period in our nation’s history, and its findings have been unfairly criticised. Its finding that blame rests with absent fathers, unsympathetic families and Irish society generally, as well as Church and State, must leave us all ashamed of our country’s grim, joyless history.

Athy's protected structures

The public advertisement in the local newspapers last week of the proposed development of a Food, Drinks & Skills Innovation Hub at the former Model School on the Dublin Road is very welcome news for Athy. Coming so soon after confirmation that work on the Outer Relief Road is on schedule to begin towards the end of this year, it represents a huge vote of confidence in the future of the town. The Model School building was built in 1851-2 to house both a Model School and an agricultural school. Built on a site provided by the Duke of Leinster, the school was opened in August 1852. It served the dual purpose of providing schooling for local children on a non-denominational basis while also providing preliminary training for candidate teachers who had been selected by the Commissioners of National Education and who attended the school as boarders for six months. The Model School complex also included an agricultural training college to which was attached a substantial farm. The college closed within a few years and the farmlands were subsequently auctioned. The non-denominational aspect of the early school was undermined by the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy in the town in 1852, followed by the opening of the Christian Brothers schools in 1861. The building, constructed in the Tudor style, was destroyed by fire some years ago and was subsequently acquired by Kildare County Council. The building was designed by Frederick Darley, an Irish-based architect with an international reputation who is also believed to have been the architect of the local courthouse; the Presbyterian church and former manse on the Dublin Road; and the Methodist church on Woodstock Street. Darley, who came to Ireland from Yorkshire, designed the King’s Inns buildings at Henrietta Street, Dublin, as well as the Royal Dublin Society’s headquarters in Ballsbridge. His work in Athy stemmed from the patronage of the Duke of Leinster, who engaged Darley to remodel his residence at Kilkea Castle. The number of buildings in Athy linked with Darley is quite remarkable and represents a unique architectural legacy for an Irish provincial town. The County Council advertisement was required under planning legislation as the Model School is included in the Council’s Record of Protected Structures. Buildings recorded as protected structures are so listed because the county councillors, advised by experts, have identified those buildings as having special architectural, historical, archaeological, artistic, cultural, scientific, social or technical merit. Owners of such properties must protect them, for if the County Council feels that a protected structure is endangered, the Council can serve a notice on the owner requiring remedial work to be carried out to protect the building. Failure to comply with such a request allows the County Council to carry out any necessary work to save the building and to subsequently recover the cost of such work from the owner. In addition to these maintenance requirements, planning permission is required for any work to be carried out on a protected structure which might materially affect its character. The responsibility imposed on property owners whose buildings are declared to be protected structures are onerous, and there are few private owners who would willingly take on the responsibility of owning a protected structure. However owners have little choice in the matter when the County Council declares a building to be a protected structure. The Athy Town Development Plan which is currently up for review has a large list of local protected structures. These range from a mid-nineteenth century coach house on Church Road to an early nineteenth century two-storey house on the same road. Pubs on the main streets make up many of the listed protected structures in Athy representing, as many of them do, structures dating back to 1800 or thereabouts. Several buildings are included on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage as well as being on the County Council record of protected structures. That inventory aims to promote an appreciation of architectural heritage by systematically recording the built heritage on a nationwide basis. These include Cromaboo Bridge, St Vincent’s Hospital and the gazebo at the rear of the Allied Irish Bank. Another building listed as a protected structure is White’s Castle, which is included in the Record of Monuments and Places - a list of historical sites first compiled under the National Monuments Acts and maintained by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Regrettably, the opportunity to declare the castle a national monument – one which was presented to our late TD Joe Bermingham when he was Minister of State at the Office of Public Works in the 1970s - was not availed of by the Castlemitchell man. If the Minister of State had made the decision to declare White’s Castle a national monument, the future of the most important building in Athy would have been assured. Kildare County Council is seeking submissions or observations on the proposed Food Hub development in the former Model School and is complying with the law relating to protected structures under the planning and development Acts. The proposed development should be welcomed by everyone in this area and hopefully the project will progress without undue delay. With daffodils appearing in my garden I’m reminded that the Daffodil Day annual collection taken up on behalf of the Irish Cancer Society has had to be cancelled yet again. However, anyone wishing to donate to this worthy cause can send their donations to Rainsford Hendy at Woodlawn, Timolin, Ballytore. Rainsford has organised the Daffodil Day collection in Athy for the last 34 years.

Athy Farmers Club

Athy, with its rich agricultural hinterland, has on many occasions been at the forefront of efforts to further the interest of local farmers and the agricultural industry. Many of us are familiar with the part played by Stephen Cullinan, a teacher in Athy’s Vocational School, who helped found Macra na Feirme in 1944. That organisation was established following the development of Young Farmers’ Clubs in Athy, Kilmallock and Mooncoin. Macra na Feirme’s first summer gathering was held in Athy in July 1946. The following year, Macra’s headquarters was opened in the Town Hall, Athy by the then president of Ireland, Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh. Athy would remain the headquarters of the association for the next twelve years. Stephen Cullinan also started The Irish Farmers’ Journal in 1948 with the financial assistance of, amongst others, two South Kildare farmers, John Greene and Paddy Keough. Macra na Feirme led the discussions which resulted in the founding of the National Farmers’ Association in 1955, whose first president was the South Kildare farmer Dr Juan Greene. An even earlier farming organisation with associations with Athy was the National Ploughing Association founded by J.J. Bergin of Maybrook in 1931. J.J. Bergin and Stephen Cullinan were following a lead first set by farmers from the South Kildare area who had founded the Athy Farmers’ Club in December 1865. In February of that year the Town Commissioners had thanked the Duke of Leinster for his offer to make “an assembly room of the old record court.” The founding meeting of the Farmers’ Club is likely to have been held in that Town Hall first floor room, and in the same building where the Macra na Feirme headquarters would be located. The objects of the Farmers’ Club were “the bringing of farmers of the neighbourhood into more general communication and obtaining the best information in matters of interest to the agriculturalist by newspapers, agricultural publications, reports of markets and lectures.” The club members included Robert Anderson of Castlemitchell, John McCullock and William McCullock, both of Sawyer’s Wood, members of two of the seventeen families who had arrived in Athy from Perthshire, Scotland in and around 1852 to take up the Duke of Leinster’s offers of farms in South Kildare. President of the club in its first year was the Marquis of Kildare who was succeeded in that position the following year by his father the Duke of Leinster. The vice-presidents were W.D. Webber of Kellyville and W.R. Bulwer of Barrowford. The energetic committee which arranged a number of lectures during 1886 included Matthew Minch, Athy; Thomas Robertson of Oakfield, Narraghmore; John Greene of Millbrook and James Alexander of Spring Lodge. The club operated a Reading Room which was opened to members every Tuesday and Saturday and on fair days from 8am to 8pm, “when fire and lights will be provided,” and on other days (except Sunday) from 10am to 5pm. The Reading Room was located on the premises of Michael Carey of Barrow Quay, proprietor of a printing works which printed the first annual report of the Athy Farmers’ Club for 1866. Michael Carey’s premises are now occupied by the Emigrant Restaurant. The lectures were printed initially by Hodges Smith and Co., Dublin, but thereafter by the Irish Farmers’ Gazette Office in Bachelors Walk, Dublin. The Gazette’s proprietor was Edward Purden, who generously undertook to print free of charge 250 copies of every lecture for distribution to the club members. During its first year of operation the club arranged nine lectures dealing with a range of agricultural topics including “the cattle plaque,” “banking accommodation to farmers” and “railway management in Ireland with respect to the agricultural interests of Ireland.” At the club’s first AGM held in the clubrooms at Barrow Quay on Tuesday 18th December 1886, the chairman Sir Anthony Weldon stated that “the Athy Farmers’ Club has set a good example to all the farming communities in Ireland and which we are glad to say is being followed by several districts in the country.” Tributes were paid at the AGM to the club’s Secretary, Rev. R.W. Bagot of Fontstown Glebe, who by his work earned for himself “the lasting gratitude of the farmers not only of Athy but of the entire country of Kildare.” At the conclusion of the AGM approximately fifty members of the club adjourned to Kavanagh’s hotel for the club’s first annual dinner. The printed report of the AGM and the subsequent dinner records “the Rev. Mr Bagot having said Grace, the good things provided were amply done justice to and the cloth having been removed, decanters and glasses were placed.” What followed was a plethora of toasts starting with “the Queen”, which toast was “drank enthusiastically,” following which “a worthy magistrate in a splendid tenor voice sang the national anthem, the entire company joining in the choruses.” Toast upon toast followed, all of which were drunk with enthusiasm. “The Prince and Princess of Wales and all the Royal Family” was followed by “the Lord Lieutenant and prosperity to Ireland,” while “the Army and Navy” came before “the agricultural societies of Ireland,” soon followed by a toast to “Athy Farmers’ Club.” Rev Bagot, in responding to the latter toast, expressed satisfaction that neither religion nor political differences had arisen in the club. In fact, the club rules expressly noted “all religious and political questions shall be strictly avoided at all meetings of the club.” The toasts continued with a tribute to the gentlemen who read papers at club meetings, while a toast to the “Kildare and Queen’s County Hunt’ was received with rapture. Another two toasts, by which time the diners were no doubt enjoying themselves, were to “the trade and commerce of Athy” and to “the press,” which in terms of the local press had only one member, namely The Leinster Express. The evening ended with a toast to the chairman, Sir Anthony Weldon and to “the ladies.” No doubt there were many such nights, and that camaraderie - along with the lectures and advice and support to farming neighbours – helped ensure the long success of farmers’ clubs. The farmers who first organised at local level in 1856 - and at national level in later generations – helped build confident and effective farming communities throughout Ireland.

Fundraising for new Convent of Mercy in the 1840s

The Museum Standards Programme for Ireland was established by the Heritage Council some years ago to promote professional standards in the care of collections in Irish museums and galleries. Last week this national organisation announced the names of museums throughout Ireland which had achieved full or partial accreditation, and in the case of four museums, which had maintained their full museum accreditation first achieved some years ago. Amongst these four museums was Athy Shackleton Museum, which shared equal billing with Fota House Museum, Cork; the Hunt Museum, Limerick; and the Medieval Museum in Waterford. Our local museum’s achievement is enormous given the rank and status of the other three museums and the financial resources available to each of them. In terms of available finance, the Shackleton Museum cannot compete with Fota House, the Hunt Museum or the Medieval Museum. However, in terms of the commitment and dedication exhibited by the museum’s staff, volunteers and Board of Directors, the wealth of the Athy museum cannot be overstated. The museum’s manager is Margaret Walshe, assisted by Sinead Cullen and museum volunteer Clem Roche, who have done a wonderful job of helping visitors to enjoy the Shackleton Museum. The museum, which started in a small way in 1983, has helped to create a sense of place for Athy folk and has given us a greater understanding and appreciation of our town’s past. Well done to Margaret Walshe and her team for maintaining such high standards to have merited full museum accreditation for Athy Shackleton Museum. If the museum is an important part of our town’s cultural heritage, so too are the buildings and monuments - some old, many more recent - which form a backdrop to Athy’s townscape. One such monument was removed during the replacement of the 150-year-old Catholic church of St Michael’s in the last months of 1960. The fine Celtic cross which had stood for almost ninety years in front of the main entrance to St Michael’s church was erected in 1873. It was the gift of the people of Athy and neighbourhood in honour of Fr Thomas Greene, a former curate in the parish of St. Michael’s. Fr Greene arrived in Athy on 12 May 1843, just nine days afar his ordination in Maynooth. He would spent the next eighteen years of his priesthood serving the people of Athy before moving in 1862 to become parish priest of Skerries. It was in Skerries that he died in 1871, aged fifty-two years. I have in the past credited Fr Greene as the leader in the movement which led to the arrival of the Sisters of Mercy to open a school in Athy in 1852. From Fr Greene’s own account, as included in the Convent of Mercy annals, the idea of opening a convent in Athy originated with a Miss Goold of Leinster Street. This was some time prior to the Great Famine, and Miss Goold was supported by a Mrs Fitzgerald and her daughter Ann of Geraldine Lodge. Clerical support was afforded by Rev Patrick Byrne, who I understand was a curate in Athy, but unfortunately I have been unable to positively identify him. Fr Byrne’s sudden death, followed soon thereafter by the death of Ann Fitzgerald, interrupted Miss Goold’s plans. However, in her will Ann Fitzgerald left the sum of £100 for the founding of a convent in Athy, in addition to which her father, Colonel Fitzgerald offered £50, as did her sister Elizabeth Fitzgerald. Patrick Maher of Kilrush, who would prove to be the most generous benefactor of the Sisters of Mercy in Athy also pledged a sum of £50. As a result, the local people met in the parish church in the spring of 1843, following which it was agreed to take up weekly collections in the town to finance the building of a convent for the Sisters of Mercy. The general management of what was called ‘the convent collection’ was entrusted to Fr John Gaffney just a few months before he left Athy to join the Jesuit order. With Fr Greene’s arrival in the parish, responsibility for managing the convent collection fell to him. The weekly collection continued during the first two years of the Great Famine but was stopped as the worst effects of Black 47 began to be felt. Collecting resumed in 1848, but the hardships suffered by the local people during the Great Famine were such that Fr Greene and his fellow curate Fr John Harold were obliged to take up collections every Saturday in Leinster Street and Duke Street. The local fundraising proved insufficient, and eventually Archbishop Cullen and the Superioress of the Mercy Convent in Baggot Street, Dublin were obliged to provide funds to allow the convent building to be completed. Fr Greene’s involvement in St Michael’s parish during his eighteen years as a curate was clearing cherished by the local parishioners, for when he died in 1871 the people of Athy and neighbourhood collected funds to erect a Celtic cross in his memory. He was the only curate, or indeed parish priest, of St Michael’s who was honoured in this way. The cross was erected in 1873 and two further priests of the parish were subsequently honoured by having their names inscribed on the base of the Celtic cross. The first was Fr James Doyle, who served as a curate in Athy between 1862 and 1879, and as the parish priest for the following thirteen years. He died aged fifty-eight years in 1892. He was replaced as parish priest by Fr James Germaine, later Canon and Archdeacon, who served as parish priest of St Michael’s for thirteen years, dying in 1905. His name was also inscribed on the base of the Celtic cross. The cross was removed in 1960 and brought to a quarry in Co. Wicklow, where it has been stored ever since. I understand plans are afoot to have the damaged Celtic cross repaired and restored in a prominent position in front of St Michael’s parish church. Its restoration will be a fitting reminder of the huge contribution made not only by Fr Thomas Greene, but by all the other priests who have served in the parish of St Michael’s over the years.

Turf Development Board/Bord na Mona

The recent announcement of the cessation of peat extraction by Bord na Mona highlights the important part ancient boglands have played in creating jobs in south Kildare. As early as the final year of the Great Famine the bog at Kilberry was the location of a manufacturing process which produced chemicals from peat. Kilberry was also associated with briquette making as early as 1855 when an English entrepreneur opened a briquette factory there. However, the process of using air-dried peat for compression by machinery proved unsuccessful and the factory soon closed. A Bog Commission established by the House of Commons considered between 1804 and 1813 the developmenet potential of bogs in Ireland and “the practicability of draining and cultivating them, and the best means of effecting the same.” The Commission was set up as it was believed that upwards of one-seventh of Irish land which was bogland might usefully be brought into use for agricultural purposes. Glassealy resident Thomas Rawson had made this case in his book “The Satistical Survey of County Kildare”. Amongst the Commissioners appointed was Henry Hamilton, an agent for the Duke of Leinster, who owned the largest land holding in the County of Kildare. The Bog Commission submitted four reports to Parliament, but because of private property rights these reports made little difference to the development of Irish bogs. However, the surveys carried out on behalf of the Commission and the maps prepared by their various surveyors were to prove of use to the Turf Development Board when it was established in 1934. In south Kildare in the early part of the 19th century one local initiative saw the growing of flax in boglands supported by grants from the Irish Linen Board. Place names in Athy which reflect that early 19th century flax industry are “Bleach Yard” and ‘The Bleach.” Rev. Thomas Kelly, the Ballintubbert native and founder of the religious group “the Kellyites”, was involved in setting up a weaving shed in Athy which he referenced in his published pamphlet “Some account of James Byrne of Kilberry addressed principally to the Roman Catholic Inhabitants of Athy and its Neighbourhood.” Following the setting up of the Turf Development Board, the first bog considered for development for machine-produced turf was the Kilberry bog. The bog, which was in private ownership between the Earl of Drogheda, the Irish Land commission and some private owners, was acquired by the Turf Board in 1936. However, following its acqusition it was decided that Kilberry bog would be used for the production of peat moss rather than machinery turf. The production of peat moss in Kilberry was to start in 1939 but the Turf Board reversed its decision a year later and decided to concentrate its peat moss operation in Turraun, Co. Offaly. Hand-won turf continued to be harvested in Kilberry but this work was discontinued after a few years as the local peat moss provided poor fuel material. In the final year of World War II, Todd Andrews of the Turf Development Board travelled to Sweden following a Board decision approved by the wartime Department of Supplies to use Kilberry for the production of peat moss. It was there that Andrews met Konrad Peterson, a Latvian who took part in the 1905 revolution against Russia and who had been a student in Dublin during the 1916 Rising. Peterson was invited to manage the new Kilberry factory, which he did on taking up employment in 1946. Work on building the factory commenced in the latter part of that year. Peterson remained in charge of the Kilberry plant until 1958, when he transferred to the experimental station in Newbridge. He died in 1981 and is buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery, where I attended a ceremony a few years ago organised by the Latvian Ambassador to Ireland to honour a man who is highly regarded in his native country as a Latvian patriot. The Turf Development Board became Bord na Mona in 1946 and the following year peat moss production started in Kilberry. Wihin a few years the Kilberry factory was supplying markets in America, Britain and the Channel Islands. In the mid 1960s Bord na Mona began to market peat moss for horticultural purposes and that marketing campaign was enhanced by the Board’s decision some years earlier to market peat moss under the brand name ‘Shamrock.” In 1964 another peat moss factory was opeened in Cuil na Mona near Portlaoise, where Athy man Jimmy Dooley was manager for a number of years before retiring as Chief Executive of Bord na Mona’s Horticultural Product Division in 2004. In August 1974 the Kilberry factory was destroyed by fire and had to be rebuilt. Twenty years later a new bark processiong plant was installed in Kilberry. This followed a campaign by conservationists to reduce the use of peat and instead use alternative material. In time the Kilberry works was used to store and compost grain and green waste for use in producing horticultural growth material. Many local men and women have worked for Bord na Mona over the years. For Leaving Certificate students of the 1940s and 1950s, Bord na Mona, with the ESB and county councils offered the most sought-after opportunities for employment not otherwise available in rural areas. Today, Kilberry is the centre of a vibrant rural community whose work life is inextricably linked to the past, and hopefully continuing, success of the Kilberry peat factory.