Recovery of another Athy Workhouse ledger

When I was asked by the Eastern Health Board almost 30 years ago to research and write a history of St. Vincent’s Hospital and it’s predecessor, the Union Workhouse, I found to my dismay that the Workhouse records had been destroyed some years previously. The loss of that primary material was regrettable and at the subsequent launch of the book in St. Vincent’s Hospital in June 1994 I pointed out the need for a local archive where business and organisational records could be preserved for study by future historians. It was a call which went unheeded, despite the appointment of a county archivist some years later by Kildare County Council in conjunction with Wicklow County Council. Unfortunately that appointment lasted for a few short years and the position of a county archivist for Kildare has remained vacant since then. Some years after the publication of ‘150 Years of Caring – A history of St. Vincent’s Hospital’ I was contacted by a local man who was in the same class as myself during our school days in the local Christian Brothers school. He worked in St. Vincent’s Hospital for many years and one of the duties assigned to him by the then Matron was to incinerate a pile of old ledgers which were haphazardly stored in a room of the original Workhouse building. Many hours were spent in consigning the old ledgers to the hospital furnace and in doing so invaluable records of the Workhouse period were lost forever. Not all however, for as he bundled the ledgers into the furnace, he retained a few as a memento of a dark period in Irish history. The Workhouse wards opened in January 1844 to accommodate 360 adults and 240 children but were unable during the worst months of the Great Famine to accommodate all those who sought refuge from hunger and disease. To alleviate overcrowding two auxiliary Workhouses were opened, one in Barrack Street and the other at Woodstock south. At one period during the Great Famine over 1,500 men, women and children were inmates in the local Workhouses. When my school friend contacted me, it was to tell me of having kept some of the Workhouse records and over time those same priceless records were one by one passed to me. They can now be found in the local history section of the County Library in Newbridge. The pity is that only a few Workhouse ledgers were saved from the hospital furnace, but there is a possibility that further Workhouse ledgers are in private hands in and around Athy today. My reason for expressing that hope is because within the last few weeks another Workhouse ledger, found in the home of a deceased lady unconnected to my former schoolmate (who is also deceased), was recently passed to me. I am currently in the process of examining that ledger and extracting whatever historical detail I can use before I pass the ledger on to the County Library. In the meantime if anyone has any documents of any kind relating to Athy’s Workhouse could I prevail on them to donate them to the County Library in Newbridge. Returning to my efforts to write a history of St. Vincent’s Hospital and the earlier Workhouse I had forgotten that at the launch of the book I made an appeal for the Eastern Health Board to make funds available for the erection of a suitable memorial in St. Mary’s Cemetery so that, as I was reported in the Nationalist on 10th June 1994, ‘those forgotten people who lie there can be shown the respect and dignity which was denied to them while they were alive.’ It’s a call I have repeated recently, this time calling on Kildare County Council to erect a memorial to those unfortunate men, women and children who died in the Workhouse, the later County Home and the nearby Fever Hospital. Included in those to be remembered will be the eight victims of the fire in Athy’s Workhouse on 11th February 1858. The following press report of that incident is a sad reminder of times past. ‘In the early morning of 11th February a fierce and destructive fire broke out at the Athy Union Workhouse, resulting in the loss of eight lives. The fire was discovered in the Matron’s storehouse at 4.00 a.m. and in less than an hour almost the entire right wing of the building was a sheet of flame, engulfing the schoolroom, warehouse, cooks and school master’s apartments and the boys dormitory. The ringing of the alarm bell brought a gathering of towns people to the scene who assisted in subduing the blaze. A fire engine played water on the rear of the building, while copious water was poured from a ladder placed at the front. After the pumps failed from being overworked, water had to be carried from a canal some distance off. Despite these exertions, a loud cry arose that several persons were still in the building. A rush was immediately made round to the place indicated and several men ascended a staircase down which rolled dense volumes of smoke. They brought down one after another eight bodies, all dead – five adults who were suffocated by smoke and three small children charred to cinders. The scene in the yard was heart rending. The shrieks of women tearing their hair in grief, the cries of children, and the general lamentation heard amidst the falling ruins and blazing timbers, constituted a spectacle that few would wish to witness.’

State Minister visits to Athy Museum Society

Last week’s visit by the Minister for State in the Department of Heritage and Local Government to the Shackleton Museum was a welcome acknowledgement of the importance of the museum redevelopment project. Work on redeveloping the museum will begin early next year and on completion will provide a very important addition to the cultural landscape of Athy. The Shackleton Museum, with the Community Library and the Arts Centre in Woodstock Street, comprise a cultural infrastructure for the town of Athy which will hugely contribute to the future growth and development of the South Kildare town. It is a major achievement for the Directors of the Heritage Company that 3.1 million euros has already been committed to the project. Both the Irish government and Kildare County Council have come together to make this finance available and the Heritage Company will shortly announce fundraising initiatives to raise the balance of the money. The Minister for State, Malcolm Noonan, arrived in Athy at 10am and after brief introductory remarks was shown through the Town Hall building by Grainne Keane, Architect and Ronan O’Flaherty of the Museum Design Team to walk through the proposed layout of the Shackleton Museum. Following the building tour, the Minister announced that the government intends to commence discussions on signing the Antarctic Treaty. This was very welcome news as at every Shackleton Autumn School for the last 20 years the question of Ireland’s involvement in the Antarctic Treaty has been raised. Presentations on the issue have in the past been made to government ministers, but unfortunately due to changes in government Ireland has not yet become a signatory to the Treaty. With the Minister’s announcement the long-awaited decision of the Irish government will hopefully see the Antarctic Treaty signed and might we expect the signing to coincide with the centenary commemoration of Ernest Shackleton’s death on 5th January next year? As the Minister for State met locals in the back square last week, crowded around Emily Square, both front and back, were the Tuesday market stalls. The colourful scene was the subject of complementary remarks by the Minister who appreciated the social value of the weekly influx of traders and dealers to our town’s square. Athy’s ancient market rights go back to 1515 when King Henry VIII gave the Town Provost the right to hold a market in a place chosen by the Duke of Leinster. The area subsequently known as Market Square and now Emily Square was chosen as the market site. In later years Athy Town Commissioners and subsequently Athy Urban District Council acquired the market rights as successor to the Town Provost and the Borough Council and by the same succession rights the market rights are now held by Kildare County Council. Despite the Minister’s engaging and welcoming words regarding Tuesday’s market, the market scene presented as an untidy and somewhat shambolic one. I know the former Urban District Council were asked some years ago to consider drafting market bylaws to regulate casual trading in the town. A possible legal obstacle presented itself at that time when a case was taken in the High Court against Kilkenny Borough Council’s attempt to regulate the market in their city. However, that case concluded with a decision favourable to the Borough Council. The High Court decision was subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, but that Court affirmed the earlier decision which would seem to clear the way for local authorities throughout Ireland to implement the terms of the Casual Trading Act of 1995. With plans to redevelop Emily Square now is the time for the Council to consider passing market bylaws which would help improve the appearance of the town’s Tuesday market. Some local authorities in the UK provide stands and canopies which they set out on market days and rent to stall holders. This is something Kildare County Council might consider as a means of improving the town market. I talked to two stallholders last week and both of them expressed support for a similar scheme in Athy. One a trader from the South East explained how a 5am start was necessary to ensure that she gained her usual pitch before locals parked their cars in the square. If as happens in many other towns car parking was prohibited from midnight on market day life would be so much easier for the stall holders and market byelaws would be more acceptable to them. Markets should be colourful, interesting events and Kildare County council could do much to ensure that Athy’s weekly market is a vibrant addition to the commercial life of the town. The reordering of Emily Square which is at the planning stage cannot be regarded as completed unless and until Kildare County Council take steps to regulate and improve the market. The market can be an important part of the regeneration of the town’s centre which hopefully should benefit hugely from the opening of the outer relief road. Incidentally, the Tuesday market is not the only authorised town market. In the latter part of the 19th century Athy Town Commissioners approved the holding of a second weekly market every Saturday in the town square. Some years ago what was called a farmers market was held on Sundays in the square. Regrettably, it ceased after a few years but in outlying towns farmers markets/craft markets have become a familiar feature of Irish provincial town life. I wonder if the local Enterprise Centre or the town’s promoters team would look at the possibility of organising a similar type of market every Saturday in the town centre?

Athy references in 'A timeline of the War of Independence in County Kildare'

Within the past week the Kildare Decade of Commemoration Committee published a 128-page booklet titled ‘A Timeline of the War of Independence in County Kildare 1919-1922’. It details local incidents as well as some national events to help readers understand the history of those turbulent years. 1919 References to Athy and South Kildare commenced with an entry for 5th January which noted that a large Sinn Féin meeting took place in the Market Square. This occurred 16 days before the Soloheadbeg ambush which is generally regarded as the start of the War of Independence. Art O’Connor, who was elected as M.P. for South Kildare in the December 1918 elections, was welcomed to Athy on 6th April following his release from jail. The large crowd in attendance was addressed by Kevin O’Higgins who had been elected in 1918 as M.P. for Queens County. Public support for those who died during the 1916 Rising was the subject of a poster campaign in Athy, Castledermot, Ballitore and Moone. The poster campaign sought to have Easter Monday observed as a national holiday in memory of those who died in 1916. On 12th May Lady Weldon of Kilmoroney House presided at the formation meeting of a branch of ‘Comrades of the Great War’ held in Athy. Local teacher J.J. O’Byrne, Secretary of Athy Sinn Féin Club, was released from jail on 7th June. He had been arrested on 16th August the previous year for reading the Sinn Féin manifesto in the town square. On July 19th Sinn Féin member John Hayden of Offaly Street arrived back home following his release from jail. Met by Sinn Féin supporters who paraded through the town, those supporters clashed with demobbed World War I soldiers, resulting in rioting in the streets of Athy. Days later the ex-soldiers attacked Bapty Maher’s bicycle shop in Duke Street and destroyed a banner hanging across the street from Bridget Darby’s house in Leinster Street. Eamon Malone of Dunbrin was arrested on November 18th. Malone would later be Commander of the Carlow Kildare Brigade and would marry Kathleen Dooley, whose father Michael Dooley of Duke Street was chairman of Athy’s Sinn Féin Club. Malone was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour and would later lead a hunger strike in Mountjoy Jail. 1920 Ballitore R.I.C. Barracks, which had been evacuated in early March, was destroyed by fire on the night of the 3rd of April. Eamon Malone was welcomed back to Athy on 29th April following his release from jail after 12 days on hunger strike. A crowd estimated at 3,000 was in Market Square to greet Malone and were addressed by Art O’Connor, T.D. for South Kildare. The Customs and Excise Office in Athy was raided by the I.R.A. on the night of 19th May and numerous tax documents removed. On 21st June Castledermot R.I.C. Barracks and Courthouse was burned by the I.R.A. during which operation one I.R.A. man was injured. On 25th August the first Sinn Féin court was held in Athy. Around the same time Fintan Brennan, then living in Monasterevin, was arrested, charged and subsequently imprisoned for three years for possession of rifles. Fintan would later come to live in Athy where he was the District Court officer and a local G.A.A. official who became president of the Leinster Council G.A.A. in the 1940s. 1921 In January 25 prisoners were transferred from the Curragh to Ballylinlar internment camp in County Down. Included amongst them was Bapty Maher of Athy. R.I.C. Sergeant Joseph Hughes, a native of Wolfhill, was shot while onn patrol in Maynooth on 21st February. He died the following day and business premises in Athy were closed by the R.I.C. as his funeral passed through the town. Fairs and markets were proclaimed in Castledermot following damage to roads and bridges in the area. Patrick Moran, who had once worked as a barman in Athy was hanged in Mountjoy on 14th March, as was Frank Flood, whose brother Tom would later live in Athy and represent Athy’s Fine Gael party on Athy’s U.D.C. A curfew was ordered from 9pm to 5am in Athy and the Tuesday market was prohibited due to I.R.A. trenching of local roads and damaging of bridges. The R.I.C. raided the offices of Athy U.D.C. and removed Council minute books and other documents. The Barrowhouse ambush of 16th May resulted in the deaths of William Connor and James Lacey. Three days later R.I.C. Constable Edward Doran, a native of Cardenton, Athy, died of his wounds following an ambush in Kinnity, County Offaly on 17th May. The local I.R.A. attacked the R.I.C. Barracks in Athy which was located in the former cavalry barracks at Barrack Lane. On 22nd and 23rd December houses belonging to Mr. Verschoyle in Kilberry were destroyed by fire and a fire on Christmas Eve destroyed the band room of what was described as ‘Athy War Piper’s Band’. On 10th March 1922 the R.I.C. Barracks at Athy was evacuated. Lieutenant General J.J. O’Connell’s Secretary, Hester Dooley, who would later marry Joe May, was the only woman present as the Curragh camp was taken over by the Irish army following the evacuation of British forces. You can collect a free copy of ‘A Timeline of the War of Independence in County Kildare 1919-1922’ in the local library.

Kildare Senior Hurling Final 29 Nov., 1964, Athy and Eir Og

The game of hurling has over the years had a limited degree of success in Athy. The first Senior County Final in which the Athy club played was against Clane in 1909. Athy’s footballing club members had to wait until 1924 to contest their first senior football County Final. The immediate post-Civil War period was a barren period for many clubs as players emigrated in the face of mass unemployment and sometimes blatant discrimination against those who had taken the anti-treaty side. Matters improved insofar as Athy’s hurlers were concerned in the latter years of the 1920s. The 1928 Senior Hurling Final was contested by Johnstown Bridge and Athy and a year later Athy lost by 1 point in the 1929 final against McDonagh. The 1930s was the Athy Gaelic Football Club’s most successful decade with the club winning county football finals in 1933, 1934 and 1937. The Club’s hurlers won the Hurling Senior Final in 1936 defeating Broadford on the score of 6-1 to 3-1. Broadford was to exact revenge when winning against Athy in the 1961 final. Two years previously Athy lost the County Hurling Final to McDonaghs by a losing margin of 2 goals and 5 points, yet were declared the county champions after lodging an objection. Three years after losing the 1961 County Final to Broadford the Athy hurlers played yet again, this time losing to Éire Óg on a score of 5-9 to 2-6. The members of that 1964 team showed how dependent the game of hurling in Athy was on players whose skills were nurtured and developed in the traditional hurling counties. The team’s composition also showed the importance of local industry and commerce in bringing together players whose hurling skills were so important in keeping alive the ancient Irish game in a county not readily regarded as a hurling county. The team which togged out in the County Senior Hurling Final in Newbridge on 29th November 1964 included four native Athy players. In goal was the legendary Dan Foley, while on the half back line was John Dooley, whose father was the principal mover in the revival of hurling in Athy in the 1950s. Ted Wynne, better known as a footballer, lined out on the half forward line and in front of him was Hugh McDonnell. The team substitutes included Jim Malone, Tommy Kirwan and Teddy Kelly who made up the remainder of the Athy/South Kildare natives. The other team members came from as far afield as Cork, Galway, Limerick, Tipperary and nearby Kilkenny and Laois. In the full back line were Tom Heskins from Cork, an employee of Minch Nortons, Willie Coogan from Kilkenny, a barman in Purcells and Liam O’Connor from Limerick. The half back line included, in addition to the earlier mentioned John Dooley, Gus O’Shea from Cork who was a local bank official and Claud Goff from Kilkenny, manager of Bachelor’s pea factory. The mid-field pairing were two Gardai Mick Cullinane from Kilkenny and Padraig Harte from Galway. Ted Wynne in the half forwards was partnered with John Breen, a bank official from Cork and Tipperary man Stephen Nash, a fitter in Bord na Mona. The full forwards were Mick Dempsey of Laois, a barman in Paddy Lambes with Billy Wilkinson of Kilkenny who worked in the sugar company and Athy’s Hugh McDonnell. Apart from the earlier mentioned substitutes there was also Tom Harte from Galway and Thomas O’Connor from Limerick. The team was trained by the team captain Claud Goff, whose brother Oliver won All Ireland medals with both Kilkenny and Wexford. The Athy team were defeated and it was often claimed that this defeat was due to the absence of their best player, Tom O’Donnell, a bank official who normally played centrefield. He failed to turn up for the final without telling his team mates or the team mentors beforehand. It turned out that Tom was that same day playing in the Tipperary County Senior Football final. This was the Athy club’s last appearance in a County Senior Hurling Final, although it won intermediate, minor and junior championship finals in the 1980s and 1990s. Nowadays it appears that the hurling club is separate from the football club which to a neutral observer seems a most extraordinary state of affairs. Now that Athy Gaelic Football Club is about to embark on a major development scheme which would give the club an extra playing pitch and a juvenile pitch, perhaps it is time for the hurlers and the footballers to come together as one Gaelic Athletic Association club for the town of Athy. During the recent football match against Clare I saw several players falling over while trying to pick up a ground ball. I was reminded of that classy footballer Kieran O’Malley who played for Kildare from 1957 to 1962. He was the first player whom I witnessed chipping a ground ball into his hands without stooping over it. It’s a skill that could usefully be learned by today’s players.