Medieval Athy

In last week’s Eye on the Past when referring to Woodstock Castle, I mentioned the relocation to the east side of the river Barrow of the Anglo-Norman village of Athy which was first established on the west bank. This followed a prolonged period during which the Irish chiefs, particularly the O’Mores of Laois, attacked the village which had grown up around Woodstock Castle. Sir John Talbot brought the war into the heartlands of the Irish beyond the River Barrow and having defeated them sought to protect the village from further attacks. We are told that Talbot repaired and mended the bridge of Athy and erected a new tower on the bridge to house a garrison. This tower is generally believed to have referred to White’s Castle and its from the date of the castle’s erection that the gradual evacuation of the medieval village on the west bank is believed to have commenced. Woodstock Castle was by then a Fitzgerald holding and with the adjoining prior of the Canon Regulars of the Holy Cross, commonly referred to as St. John’s Monastery, continued to be the nucleus of the medieval settlement which did extend across the river to where the Dominican Friary was located. In 1434 the citizens of Athy were given the right by virtue of a murage grant to levy customs on persons selling goods in the village to finance the construction of defensive walls. This is the first reference found to murage grants for Athy and it might tend to suggest that the settlement had begun to take shape in its new location on the east bank of the river. Henry VIII in 1515 granted a charter ‘for the greater safety and security of the town of Athy’ which the charter described as lying ‘on the frontiers of the March of our Irish enemies.’ It was not only the Irish who continued to cause problems for the settlers in Athy, for the Silken Thomas Rebellion in 1534 saw the Earl of Ossory attacking Athy and Rheban, destroying both. A little more than 60 years later another Anglo Norman, James FitzPiers rebelled, resulting in further plunder and mayhem in south Kildare. The rebel James was the son of Sir Piers FitzJames of Ardreigh Castle which was burned and destroyed by Feach McHugh’s followers in 1593, resulting in the massacre of FitzJames’ family and servants. The Battle of Kinsale in 1601 resulted in the defeat of the Irish and brought a fragile peace to the settlers’ town of Athy. In 1611 James I granted a new charter to Athy, which despite the earlier charters referenced to ‘the town of Athy’ was now called ‘the village of Athy.’ The new charter created the Borough of Athy which extended one half a mile in ‘a direct line from every side of the Castle commonly called the White Castle in the village.’ This would suggest that a settlement was now firmly relocated in the more easily defended east side of the river Barrow. However, the countryside was to witness the outbreak of war in 1641. The Confederate War which ended after eight years, saw considerable action in and around Athy, with the legendary Owen Roe O’Neill at one time in charge of the White and Woodstock castles. Following the Confederate War which saw Woodstock and the White Castle severely damaged, as was the Dominican Friary, Woodstock was left damaged and vacant. It would remain in splendid isolation on the west bank of the river Barrow until the building of Council houses in its vicinity in the 1930s and later. When the Kildare Archaeological Society members visited Athy recently to view Athy’s medieval buildings I mentioned the society’s visit to Woodstock in September 1892when the local curate, Fr. Carroll, spoke of a Woodstock Castle’s ‘outer court having a fine arch gateway to the north’ which he indicated ‘still remains as does part of the outer enclosure walls.’ Sadly neither features were to be seen during this year’s visit by the Kildare Archaeological Society members. Woodstock Castle with St. Michael’s Medieval Church are Athy’s most important medieval structures which deserve to be protected and preserved. Would Kildare County Council on behalf of the people of Athy consider seeking funding to protect and restore both buildings and at the same time taking all appropriate action to save the White’s Castle. Aughaboura bridge, erected during the Great Famine, was removed last week as part of the Outer Relief Road Project. The dressed stones of the bridge were put in place by a skilled stone mason, assisted by local labourers who found work during the construction of the railway line to Carlow which helped to keep their families out of the Workhouse during the Great Famine. It would be a very fitting tribute to the dead of the Great Famine for these dressed stones to be used for constructing a memorial to Athy’s famine dead who now lie in unmarked graves in St. Mary’s cemetery? FRANK TAAFFE