Shackleton Autumn School 2023 (Part 2)

The Shackleton Autumn School is just two days away as I began to write this week’s Eye on the Past. It has been a particularly busy week, with a huge amount of work finalising arrangements for the arrival of lecturers and visitors from overseas. This year the Autumn School celebrates 23 years in existence, during which time it has grown from strength to strength. The first Autumn School was planned and arranged with the help of Bob Headland who was then working in the Scots Polar Institute in Cambridge. The Polar Institute, based in the university city of Cambridge, was established to further understanding of the polar regions through research and publications and Bob was the Curator of the Institute when I contacted him in 1999. He generously guided my first faltering steps in organising the first Autumn School, named after the Kilkea-born explorer, Ernest Shackleton. Bob has attended every one of the Autumn Schools since then, apart from the Covid period schools which were held on Zoom. Alexandra Shackleton, granddaughter of Ernest Shackleton, attended the second Autumn School in 2001 and has been present every year since then. The success of the Shackleton Autumn School at international level is something that is perhaps not readily appreciated. In truth, the provincial town in the south of the county of Kildare has been established as the location of one of the most popular annual polar events held anywhere in the world. The continued success of the Autumn School which operates as an ‘offspring’ of the Shackleton Museum, is due to the work of a small committee comprising Kevin Kenny of Naas, Mark McClean of Wexford and Seamus Taaffe of Athy. They took on the task of organising the annual school some years ago and with the assistance of the museum staff have improved on the original Autumn School model, making it one of the great events in the Kildare County tourism calendar. At the opening of the Autumn School on the Friday evening of 20th October I will have the great honour of announcing that funding for the redevelopment of the Shackleton Museum is in place and that work on the redevelopment of the museum will commence shortly. That work will on completion give the town a first-class museum designed to attract a lot of visitors from overseas. It is a major coup for Athy and one which I could not have envisaged when founding the Athy Museum Society in 1983. The purpose of the society was to open a local museum highlighting the town’s story, its people and its history. My discovery of Shackleton’s birthplace in nearby Kilkea prompted the telling of his story with a panel or two in that local museum devoted to Shackleton. The Autumn School followed much later and the success of the school prompted the thought of a museum dedicated to the polar explorer given the tourism possibilities that could create. Kildare County Council through it’s then executive Peter Carey, recognising the cultural and tourism opportunities involved, played a major part in securing the Shackleton statue and the cabin in which the polar explorer died. The drive for a dedicated Shackleton Museum would not have been possible without the County Council’s backing and Kildare County Council has now agreed to take over the financing and management of the Shackleton Museum when it reopens. This will ensure the financial stability which the museum will require for the future. The volunteers who have been part of the museum project stretching back over forty years have helped to create a wonderful cultural asset, with the possibility of adding to the commercial well-being of the town through tourism and visitors generally. Shortly the present Board of Directors of the Shackleton Museum will gather for the last time and resign as directors in order to allow Kildare County Council to appoint a new Board. I will be vacating my position as chairman of the Board, happy in the belief and knowledge that the dream I had forty years ago of a museum in Athy will be in good hands when Kildare County Council take over. If I had dreams in the past, I also had nightmares and that of the loss of Whites Castle is my recurring nightmare. The development of Whites Castle as a town/Fitzgerald Museum is my next dream. What better way to make Athy a tourist destination rather than a stopover on the way to Kilkenny or elsewhere than having two museums of different interests, one telling the Shackleton story, the other outlining the story of a historic town with a rich past. I am afraid I don’t have forty years left in me to fulfil that dream. It must however come for Whites Castle can never be allowed to fall into dereliction. The Castle and Crom a Boo bridge are the acknowledged symbols of Athy and must be protected, preserved and eventually used for the benefit of the people of Athy.

Shackleton Autumn School 2023 (Part 1)

As summer greens turn to winter browns it is only natural that our thoughts turn to the festive season in December. However, there has been one fixture on the town’s calendar for the last twenty-three years and that is the Shackleton Autumn School which returns on the weekend of the 20th – 22nd October. With the Museum at the Town Hall closed for renovations for the next 18 months the Autumn School has found itself a new home in the Abbey, formerly the Convent of Mercy, Athy. It’s an exciting departure for the Shackleton Autum School as it has a greater range of facilities and spaces available to the attendees and lecturers than in the old Town Hall. After piloting the Autumn School through two years of online events during Covid the Autumn School returned with its best ever attendance last year and the committee hopes that the attendance at this year’s Autumn School will surpass those record numbers in 2022. The committee have worked hard to put in place a programme for the local primary and secondary schools and students will participate in a number of workshops on Friday, 20th October involving the sculptor Mark Richards who created the superb Shackleton statue in the back square. Mike Robinson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society will lead a workshop on climate change. Primary school students will be immersed in the polar world with presentations and workshops involving representatives of the U.K Antarctic Heritage Trust who will share with the students a virtual reality experience giving the students the opportunity to experience an Antarctic base 80 years ago. Donald Lamont of the Falklands Maritime Heritage Trust will address the students on the recent discovery of Shackleton’s ship ‘Endurance’. Finally Hugh Turner, the grand-nephew of the explorer Apsley Cherry Garrard, author of the polar classic – The Worst Journey in the World - will speak to students about what it is like to be a polar explorer. The Autumn school itself will be launched at 7.30p.m. in The Abbey on Friday, 20th October and all our welcome to attend. As ever we can expect attendees from all over the world including the United States, Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Australia and even Singapore. Attendees will be treated to a variety of lectures which include the Scottish pilot Doug Cochrane who will speak about his time flying in the Antarctic followed by the Norwegian archaeologist Synnove Strosvag who will talk about explorers and how they break down barriers in life. The distinguished Antarctic historian Dr. Michael Rosove who will speak of the hundred years that have passed since the first biography of Shackleton was published. Nick Cox, a 30 year veteran of both the Arctic and the Antarctic, will talk about the development of polar clothing and equipment, while the Autum School is delighted to welcome back Mensun Bound, one of the discoverers of The Endurance who will talk about the history of Shackleton’s most famous ship. Other lectures will include Caitlin Brandon on Dr Alexander Macklin who as well as participating on two of Shackleton’s expeditions attended upon Shackleton on his death bed. There are a number of side events which the committee have been able to develop this year given the additional space available in the Abbey including a polar market hall which will host a variety of sellers of polar books, arts and crafts. Everyone is welcome to attend the polar market hall to see the interesting items for sale. The most important part of the weekend for many of the participants and local people is the social side of the Autumn School and as ever O’Brien’s pub in Emily Square will be an important focal point for those attending. The Autumn School is pleased to be associated with the Athy Lions Club hosting of ‘South, Always South’ in St. Michael’s Parish Church Athy at 7.30pm on Sunday 22nd October. This is the story in music, words and pictures of Ernest Shackleton’s life, his Endurance expedition and his extraordinary legacy. It is composed and performed by Brian Hughes (Uilleann piper and whistle) with the County Kildare Orchestra, scripted and narrated by John MacKenna and conducted by Lorcan Daly. All proceeds of the performance will be going to Athy Lions Club and it will be a wonderful opportunity to enjoy local artists in a local setting and tickets can be brought from Winkles newsagents or any Lions Club member or from the offices of Taaffe & Co. Solicitors.

Closure of business premises in Offaly Street, Sylvesters, Kitty Websters, Kehoe's pub and Moore's

Treasured memories of the past were recalled as I drove down Offaly Street on the way to my office early last week. As I passed what in my young days was John W. Kehoe’s pub I saw across the entrance to Butler’s Row workers had started to remove the shop windows of Kitty Websters. Kitty’s was the local sweet and ice cream shop for the youngsters who, like myself, lived in Offaly Street over seventy years ago. It was the place where I can vividly remember spending my one penny pocket money in return for a toffee slab. Kitty with her sister Patty operated the shop, but it was called Kitty Websters, and it was Kitty who as we grew into our early teens was more than willing to break open a packet of Woodbine cigarettes to sell one cigarette to any of the local youngsters. I don’t know what age I was when I first ventured to smoke a cigarette in the People’s Park, far from the prying eyes of parents and other adults. We youngsters knew it simply as the Park, and it was there that the young fellows from Offaly Street spent many hours of the day, especially during school holiday periods. Smoking a cigarette was the sign of an independent minded youngster, aping the habits of an adult. So it was that Kitty’s was my Woodbine supplier until the day, I can still recall, when too much pulling on the noxious weed made me very sick. That was my last ever cigarette. Kitty Websters and Kitty herself were an important part of my youthful background. I can’t remember when Kitty’s closed but my own young children were still crossing the road from their grandmother’s house in Offaly Street in the late seventies to purchase sweets and other delights from Kitty’s. The removal of the windows to be replaced by small windows signalled the change from sweet shop to dwelling house or apartment status. It was as if history had moved in the same way, that many years previously when the communal oven in Kitty’s back yard available for local women to bake bread fell out of use. The once bustling public house owned by the G.A.A. stalworth, John W. Kehoe, just across the laneway from Kitty’s has been shuttered and closed for a number of years. Mona Sylvester’s shop next door to what was Moore’s grocery shop at the corner of the back square has also been converted for use as an apartment. Moore’s grocery shop, presided over by the brothers Michael and Eddie Moore, is now a travel agency. Moore’s honey, harvested by Michael Moore, was one of the many delightful items available in that corner shop. The present owners have had the plaster removed from the exterior walls to reveal the cut stone and window surrounds of brick. It presents a very attractive appearance displaying the workmanship of masons of an earlier age. It was at the one end of a street enlivened by young families who lived there, while the other end near to St. Michael’s Church of Ireland was the Savoy cinema managed by Bob Webster. That cinema in Offaly Street was once a hive of activity every night of the week. The once lively street awaits a regeneration but when it comes Kitty’s of fond memory will have passed into history. Writing of history I’m reminded of a number of queries which have been received during the past week. Can anyone help me to trace Patrick Moore who in 1977 lived in Geraldine when his mother Mary died. His father was Francis Moore who fought in World War I as a Dublin Fusilier and won a D.C.M. military honour, second only to the Victoria Cross. If you can help please contact me. Another query relates to the Miss Mylods who had a boarding house in the old Fever Hospital in the 1960s. Sisters Sarah and Bridget, I believe, came from Shercock, Co. Cavan. Can anyone give me any information as to their background and time in Athy. Athy Lions Club will be promoting a concert in St. Michael’s Parish Church on Sunday 22nd October featuring the Kildare Orchestra with Brian Hughes and John MacKenna in a musical work composed by Brian and scripted by John. Tickets at €25 each can be bought from any Lions Club member, Winkles shop and Eventbrite. Tickets can also be purchased in my office. All proceeds of the concert will go to the Lions Club local charities. It is a good cause and promises to be a great event which incidentally has been arranged as part of this year’s Shackleton Autumn School. The photo exhibition, Identifying the Past’, continues in Athy’s Art Centre in Woodstock Street from 2-5 each day but must finish on Friday, 13th October. It’s a unique exhibition of photos of Athy people taken in the town’s street taken over 70 years ago. Do visit the exhibition to see if you can identify the men, women and children who were part of the local community so many years ago. A final question – can anyone tell me where was Couse Hill, said in 1752 to have been about 1½ miles from Athy? Nearby was, I understand, a mill and the house of a John La Couse, a French Huguenot who fought on the side of King William at the battle of the Boyne.

Culture Night in Athy 2023

Culture Night has come and gone. There were twelve events held in Athy giving us all the opportunity to learn how a diverse range of cultural activities can expand our understanding and appreciation of the arts. Last year I questioned why all the events local, regional and national had to occur on the one night rather than being spread over an entire week. It was again very difficult to attend all the local events and impossible to reach on events held outside the town. A culture week would make more sense and encourage greater public involvement in the various arts. I was sorry to miss local artist Cathy Callan’s painting event in the Irish Wheelchair Association premises at St. Vincent’s Hospital. Cathy is a very talented artist whose work I have admired for some time. My first visit on Culture Night was to Clancy’s bar in Leinster Street to view John Coffey’s photographs of renowned Irish folk musicians. It was wonderful to see that he had captured on film a fine portrait of the late Liam O’Flynn, Ireland’s greatest uilleann piper. It was significant that both of Athy’s current master pipers, Brian Hughes and Joe Byrne, also featured amongst the renowned Irish folk musicians of today. Memories were stirred as I looked at the photograph of the late Anthony O’Byrne, the Donegal man who was one of the founders of the weekly Clancy traditional music sessions and after whom the Tony O’Byrne GAA Park in Ballyadams is named. The town library was the venue for the unique, “The Prado on the Barrow” exhibition featuring the work of some members of Athy’s photographic club. The club borrowed an idea from the main Spanish National Art Museum in Madrid which during the covid lockdown encouraged Spanish families to recreate in real life some of the classic paintings in their collection and to share photographs of their recreations on the internet. The Athy club members were asked to repeat that exercise and twelve of their photographs were chosen for the exhibition. The paintings recreated included works by El Greco, William Leech, Leonardo de Vinci, Van Gogh and several other great masters. “The Prado on the Barrow” was a fascinating exhibition combining fine photography, exceptional costume arrangement and design. Unfortunately, it was limited in terms of exhibition time as it was followed at 6 o’clock by the celebration in song and story of the Johnny Cash visit to Athy sixty years ago. The Arts Centre which has taken on an exciting life post covid was my next port of call. Two events were based in the Arts Centre, the earliest being the exhibition of Athy photographs by the travelling photographer Frank Goggin. He captured on film over 800 local persons on the streets of Athy in 1948 and 1949. The photographs are of a time and a people long past but present family members of those photographed can revisit long forgotten memories as they view friends, family and relations whose images were captured over 70 years ago. The exhibition had been opened in the town Library on the day before Culture Night and transferred to the Arts Centre where it will remain open each day except Sunday from 2.00 – 5.00pm for two weeks. The Arts Centre was also the venue for a production centred on the songs of Burt Bacharach. “Anyone who had a Heart” was a joyful musical tribute to the legendary American songwriter who gave us such timeless songs as “What the World needs now” and “Raindrops keeping falling on my head” amongst many many more. The Arts Centre in Woodstock Street is an excellent music venue and Athy Musical and Dramatic Society with David Walsh as Director and Carmel Day as Musical Director gave the audience on Culture Night, and three other nights as well, a first class show. I could not get around to the six other events but the large number of cultural events on the one night in Athy was a wonderful indication of a culture awareness which augurs well for the future. As Horace the Roman poet once wrote “no one is so far unreclaimed that he cannot become civilised, if only he will lend a patient ear to culture”.

Barbara Sheridan, Retired Editor of Kildare Nationalist

Barbara Sheridan, the Editor of the Kildare Nationalist when that paper first appeared following the separation of the Nationalist and Leinster Times into Carlow, Laois and Kildare editions, retired last week. I first became aware of Barbara, then a young local journalist when I returned to Athy 41 years ago. I wrote a few historical articles which made their appearance in both the Leinster Leader and the Nationalist and Leinster Times. With my election to Athy Urban District Council in 1985 my appearances in the local press became much more frequent. These appearances owed nothing to my penmanship but to Barbara’s acute reporting on Council meetings in the local Council chamber. At those meetings I always sat in the same seat facing the press reporters who overlooked the sunken chamber where the elected representatives and Council officials sat. My choice of seating was determined not by any anxiety on my part to help the press catch my every word but rather by my decision to sit directly opposite Council Paddy Wright. The Sinn Fein Councillor’s words and actions were always likely to create controversy in the Council chamber. I must admit I often ignited the flames of controversy while persistently attacking some might say goading the Sinn Feinner. Reporting on the monthly rows between Paddy and myself gave Barbara the reporter many a good headline. “Orgies held at derelict Athy site said Councillor” was one of many claims made by Paddy who said that the building was owned by the Council chairman, Frank Taaffe. The building according to Paddy was used for “cider parties, orgies and everything”. The pity was I never got invited and never found out what “everything” was. The Council years reported by Barbara Sheridan gave the Nationalist and Leinster Times readers front page headlines such as “Athy UDC row erupts in violence” and “Athy UDC clash ends in walkout”. The offending parties came back for more every month and surprising despite all the rows much good was done during our time on the Council. I stepped down from the Council in 1999 to lead the opposition to the inner relief road and to fight for the outer relief road. The Kildare Nationalist had emerged in 1992 and shortly afterwards Barbara approached me about the possibility of writing a weekly article for the new paper. My first article appeared in September 1992 and that short piece ended with the line “Eye on the past will each week deal with a topic of interest from the history of South Kildare when we will delve into the rich vein of local history which remains to be discovered and related in future articles”. Barbara who started me on the columnist’s journey, which still continues, did me the honour of launching Eye on Athy’s Past Volume III in 2007. She wrote in the foreword of that book how she invited me to contribute a regular column to the Nationalist. The brief she claimed was broad – it was to be something on local history – nothing too serious – and it had to be readable. I thank you Barbara for the opportunity you gave me to tell the story of a town steeped in history and of a people rightly proud of the place we call our own. I call myself a Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare despite having spent the vast majority of my years in the shortgrass county. My early working life was in Naas where I knew Barbara’s father, Brinsley Sheridan as one of the stalwarts of the Moat Club. My first and only appearance on stage was in a play put on by a newly formed county council drama group. The play was performed in Naas and Caragh sometime in the early 1960’s and Brinsley Sheridan was the stage manager and set designer for that play. His daughter, Barbara continues the family connection with the Moat Club in Naas this time as a director. Congratulations and best wishes to Barbara on her retirement. This auld fella will continue on the road Barbara opened up for him for another while.

The Campaign for the Outer Relief Road

The outer relief road, or bypass road, is nearing completion. When opened it should make a huge difference in relieving town centre traffic congestion. Almost half a century has passed since the then Athy Urban District Council considered proposals to lessen anticipated traffic congestion in the town. Traffic was anticipated to increase over the following years and quite rightly the local authority officials in the mid-1970s set about planning for the future. Looking back to a time when the value of the built heritage of our town was largely unappreciated and ignored, it was no surprise that the Council’s consulting engineers engaged to plan for the town’s traffic future proposed an inner relief road as an immediate relief measure. An outer relief road was also recommended as a long-term solution. The inner relief road was planned to run parallel to Leinster Street on the south side, exiting at Meeting Lane and across the back square, bypassing the rear of the Courthouse. The road which was planned to have six-foot-high walls on either side would also require an elevated road from the square to the new bridge a short distance south of Crom a Boo bridge. That inner relief road as planned was the desired development favoured by the County Council officials and it gained the unanimous support of the elected members of Athy Urban District Council in the mid-1970s. It is difficult to imagine nowadays how anyone could have approved the traffic plan, the effect of which was the partial destruction of the finest public space in the county of Kildare. It was the election of a new Council in the mid-1980s which prompted a close look at the inner relief road proposal adopted by a previous Council. It is hard to believe that any town planner or engineer would suggest the construction of a new road just a few yards from the town centre, with walls on both side of the new road. It was that part of the extraordinary incompetent road plan which was first dropped. As a sweetener for the supporters of the inner relief road the Council’s consultants indicated that shopping development along the length of the new roadway would be encouraged, but not so as to infringe on the existing businesses on Duke Street and Leinster Street. How this was to be developed was never explained. Indeed as I look today at the number of vacant shop premises on the town’s main streets I dread to think what might have happened if an inner relief road gave rise to the emergence of further business premises. The inner relief road was opposed by what I believe was the majority of the local townspeople, but despite this the local Councillors by a slim majority supported the County Council officials in their drive for that road. It was not to be as the Planning Appeal Board for the very first time in its history refused permission for a local authority road plan. The Board’s notice of refusal cited the more appropriate development as the outer relief road which is what we are to get later this year or early next year. The townspeople of Athy who campaigned for the outer relief road and opposed the inner relief road got it right. The County Council officials and the public representatives who chose the inner relief road got it wrong. It is well to note that none of the present-day Council officials or public representatives were involved in the outer relief road versus the inner relief road struggle. It was a struggle which went on for several years and involved the call for a plebiscite which was rejected, the holding of public meetings in Emily Square and a door to door canvas for support for the outer relief road. The campaign ended with the six-day public hearing held in the Stand House Hotel on the Curragh, which months later gave the result which the local people had championed. What the campaign taught the local people is that public officials, while claiming to listen to the voice of the people, for the most part ignored the people they serve. Official opinions, I acknowledge, are more often than not in line with those of the general public, but too often we come across instances where the differences between the general public and the officials cannot be merged. The anti-inner relief road campaign is a case in point where the Council officials by various devious means over a long period of time sought to thwart the will of the people. Most notable was the persistent failure of the Council officials to acknowledge the correct count of HGV vehicles passing through the town centre. The true figure which was much larger than that previously stated on numerous occasions by the officials was only finally revealed at the public enquiry. The campaign for the outer relief road and rejection of the inner relief road uncovered institutional arrogance which should have had no part in 20th century local government. Institutional arrogance was the hallmark of the landlord dominated local authorities of the 19th century. The passing of the Local Government Act in 1898 extended the right to vote in local elections and put local government on a truly representative basis which led to the virtual disappearance of the landlord class from local administration. Subsequent changes in local government law saw the emergence of the county manager with executive powers, while the elected members of the councils exercised reserve functions. The initial unhappiness of elected members with the new managerial system led to some changes in the managerial role, but were never completely resolved. However, the lack of autonomy and the weakened power of county councils resulting from departmental control is a continuing issue which makes local government less local than it should be. Despite these shortcomings our long-awaited outer relief road is nearing completion, despite decades of frustration on the part of the local people and many examples of institutional arrogance by former Kildare County Council executives.

A journey to Monaghan and Kells while visiting Derry / Remembering Eileen Tuohy

I was on a journey of remembrance last week as I travelled to and from Derry where I spent a few days within the walls of that ancient city. On the way northwards I stopped over in Monaghan town where I spent a few happy years more than fifty years ago. I went to Monaghan in November 1967 as the new Town Clerk on promotion from a similar position in Kells, Co. Meath. I was newly married and lived in a second storey flat overlooking the Diamond in Monaghan town. My two sons were born in the Beech Hill Nursing Home which has since closed and is now the site of a secondary school. It was in Monaghan that, with the help of a County Council loan, I bought my first house for the princely sum of £750. A three bedroomed end of terrace house, number 4 Dr. MacKenna Terrace was the Taaffe home for two years or more. Great memories were recalled as Breege and myself revisited sites and scenes of young lives spent amongst the wonderfully friendly Monaghan people. The town’s streetscape has not changed much even if new business names showed how the passage of time reveals the almost inevitable generational changes we have come to expect. Monaghan has a strong commercial heart evidenced by the lack of too many charity shops. It’s success is re-enforced when you find Dunnes Stores and an Easons book shop in the town. These two businesses follow success and help to ensure its continuity. The commercial strength of Monaghan town owes much to the local authority’s decision to provide parking throughout the town at very reasonable rates. Monaghan’s car parking rates of one euro for two hours is an encouragement to local shoppers and visitors alike to do business in the town centre. Other towns I have visited recently in County Cork allowed parking for two hours free of charge which is a parking regime first successfully trialled in Steyning West Sussex many years ago. The Monaghan parking rates I found were similarly imposed in Omagh and Strabane and confirmed the savvy northerners acceptance of the wisdom of not discouraging town centre shopping by imposing revenue gathering charges. The local council here in Athy informed us when parking charges were first introduced that they were intended to better regulate parking in the town and were not intended as a revenue collection exercise. Soon after they were implemented, the fee paying parking areas were extended widely throughout the town. This has damaged Athy’s commercial life. Monaghan has several easily accessible car parks in and around the centre of the town including all day parking for one euro in designated areas. Clearly, the town fathers recognised that encouraging footfall in the town’s centre was far more important than creating an income generating scheme to bolster local rates. As I travelled northwards from Monaghan, I found the rural villages of Bready, Magheramason and New Buildings all within a short distance of each other and near to Derry City flying Union Jacks and Ulster flags on every available electricity pole. The message was clear and for a visitor from the South somewhat discomforting. Derry itself was flag free insofar as I could see and the people there were very friendly and reassuring. I spent a few hours on a guided tour of the Bogside led by Paul Doherty whose father Pat was one of the thirteen men shot dead by members of the Parachute Regiment on Bloody Sunday, 3rd January 1972. The Bogside is festooned with murals which remind us of the difficulties faced by the locals during the Troubles. Listening to the guide, it was clear that decades of discrimination and gerrymandering which effectively disenfranchised the majority still shapes the minds and hearts of the local people. The following day I visited the much publicised Derry Girls Exhibition in the Tower Museum as my son Francis, one of the Monaghan youngster’s, was the Art Director on the T.V. series. In the same building was an extensive exhibition telling the story of Derry City. It was one of the best Exhibitions of its kind I have ever seen and is well worth a visit if you are ever in Derry. On our return journey we called to Kells, where in May 1967 I took up duty as a Town Clerk and where after marrying we lived for two months at the end of a one and a half year term in the job. The Town Hall where I had my office is now an Auctioneers but otherwise like Monaghan the streetscape shows few changes. Kells held many memories for me. It was there that a small group of us living in digs played football almost every evening in St. Colmcille’s Park. Amongst those were the legendary footballers Des Ferguson and Greg Hughes who were living in Kells at that time. They appeared once or twice a week while the rest of us haunted the playing pitch every evening. I recalled those whose company I enjoyed while working in Kells and also in Monaghan and as I walked the once familiar streets of both towns, the fading memories of 50 years or more ago returned. The friends and acquaintances have in many cases passed on but they are still remembered with fondness. During the week, a one time resident of Offaly Street passed away. Eileen Tuohy lived in No. 22 Offaly Street with her parents Michael and Annie and with her older brother Tommy and younger sister Mary. Michael was an old IRA man from East Clare who served as a Garda in Athy for many years. He died in 1972 and his wife Annie whom he married while he was stationed in Tullow, died four years later. Mary, the youngest of the family died in London in 2015 and six years later. her brother Tommy, a Marist priest, died. Eileen who was born in 1936 was the last of the Tuohy family which formed part of the strong family based community which existed in Offaly Street in the 1940’s and beyond. The street is no longer home to any of the families who lived there during my young days. Sadly, the local shops Kitty Websters and Sylvesters as well as Moore’s on Emily Square corner are no more while even the local pub and Bobs Cinema are long closed. Friendships and acquaintances forged in younger days are constantly being lost as old age gathers more and more of us in its grip. My journey of remembrance which started in Monaghan followed by a visit to Kells ended this week with a funeral to St. Michael’s cemetery to bid farewell to an old neighbour.

Duthie's Jewellers Athy

After 105 years the name W.T. Duthie may soon disappear from the local streetscape as the sale of the jeweller shop has been completed and new owners take possession. The Duthie family, like so many others, in decades past, lived over the shop in Athy’s Main Street. Were they I wonder the last family to do so? I called to 30 Leinster Street a few days ago after Heather Duthie phoned me to say that with her brother Alistair, she was clearing the premises of Duthie family items and shop records and equipment. I was interested in preserving as much as possible the artefacts identifiable with the Duthie family business which was first established by Willoughby O’Connor sometime in the 19th Century. Albert Duthie’s father William Thomas Duthie worked for O’Connor in the Leinster Street business and succeeded him when he died in 1903. The name W.T. Duthie was retained as the business name even after W.T. died in 1949 to be succeeded by his son Albert who had joined his father a few years previously after a five year apprenticeship in Dublin. I have previously written of Albert Duthie who passed away at a young age in 1979, describing him as a passionate promoter of Athy Town. I first got to know him well when I was living in Dublin in the 1970’s. I called on Albert on a few occasions while visiting Athy seeking help with various Athy related questions. He was always very helpful and extremely knowledgeable in relation to local matters. I know he promoted the town as much as he possibly could and to this end he had the Athy crest embossed on cups and other items sold in his shop. Older generations will remember with fondness the Santa Claus which appeared in the Duthie Shop window in the weeks before Christmas. The nodding Santa Claus was the acknowledged forerunner of the festive season and was cherished by the youngsters in the town. Following Albert’s death, his wife Anna, a native of Ballybay in County Monaghan continued in the business until finally the shop closed for the last time on the 31st July 2013. Heather Duthie and her brother Alistair have kindly donated many items from the iconic jewellers shop to the local Heritage Centre. Included amongst those items were account books kept by Albert in which he recorded watch and jewellery items left in for repair. Looking through some of those earlier books, I came across names once very familiar in Athy. Names such as Miss Dallon and Mr. Hickey of Emily Square, Miss Breen of Offaly Street and Miss Stynes of Leinster Street prompted reminders of persons we knew over half a century ago. Another interesting item donated was a watch rack hanging with watches which had been left in for repairs over the years but never collected. An unusual item I received on behalf of the Heritage Centre was a trout caught by Albert in the River Barrow which he had preserved and mounted for display in the shop. That fish was recognised by the Irish Specimen Fish Committee as a specimen river trout having weighed 5lbs ½ oz and was recorded in the Associations returns for 1963 as having been caught by A. A. Duthie on the 27th May 1963. An interesting note which Albert prepared as a member of Athy’s Angling Club during 1964 gave the following details of fish caught by club members. Tommy Gray of Kilmoroney caught a Pike weighing 10lbs while Patrick Brennan of Belview captured a Bream weighing 3lbs, 7oz. A trout of 3lbs, 1oz was caught by Patrick Conway of Ballyroe and George Chatfield of St. Joseph’s Terrace caught the largest perch weighed 1lb, 7oz. The final entry referred to the 1lb rudd which was caught by Nicholas Cahill of Pairc Bhride. Albert Duthie was a dedicated member of the Angling Club and acted as Secretary of the Club for many years. In one of the watch repair books, I found a postcard advertising “St. John’s Reliance Lever Watch” printed on behalf of C.H. St. John of 3 Duke Street who was described as a Watchmaker, Jeweller and Optician. The 1913 Irish Directory lists the local watchmakers and jewellers as W.T. Duthie, W.P. St. John and E. Higginson, the last two located in Duke Street. As Charles Henry St. John of Duke Street died in 1947 aged 73 years, I wonder if the Directory reference to Higginson is correct. The items generously donated by the Duthie family to the Heritage Centre will be retained for future use/display while the business records will be forwarded to the Kildare County Archives. The photograph shows W.T. Duthie, Albert’s father who put his name over the shop door after he took over from W. O’Connor in 1905.

South Kildare Agricultural Progress 1861 / Patrick McCaffrey, Athy man executed 1861

I am an inveterate reader of our daily national papers. I have put this lifelong habit to good effect when mining the archives of newspapers for those historical titbits which often slip through the cracks of our town’s history. Lately I have been delving into the online digital archives of The Times newspaper of London. In The Times issue of 3rd September 1861 it’s special correspondent was reporting from Athy that August under the title ‘Ireland’s Agricultural Progress’. The anonymous writer gave a detailed account of farming activity in south Kildare and particularly agricultural activity around Athy. He paid particular attention to the lands owned by the Duke of Leinster who he described as having somewhere in and around seventy thousand acres in his ownership. Describing Athy as the ‘corn market and livestock mart of southern Kildare’ he noted it held an agricultural fair almost every six weeks, with a showing of between two thousand and three thousand head of cattle and many sheep. He noted the impact of the Scottish farming settlers brought over by the Duke of Leinster and their effect on the farming practices in the area. He wrote: ‘When Mr. Alexander, the Duke’s steward came, seventeen years ago, not a single cow or bullock was stall fed in winter in this district; now, the Irish farmers, like the settlers, universally practice turnip growing and stall feeding, even the man with only two milch cows being sure to tie one up and fatten her when milked dry.’ As to agricultural labourers in the area he found wages as being very low where men were paid three shillings a day for mowing and up to four to five shillings for urgent work, while women were paid one shilling and six pence for tying corn. The hours of labour were from six o’clock in the morning to six o’clock in the evening, with an hours rest at breakfast and another at dinner time. The chief diet, of the agricultural peasantry, was coarse wheaten bread and potatoes. It is clear that only a few short years after the famine had devastated the county, that life as an agricultural labourer was still tough and a driving force in seeing so many emigrate to both Britain and America. One such emigrant was Patrick McCaffery, and his short and sad life was the subject of a detailed report in the issue of The Times of 13th January 1862. He was born in Athy but his life story prior to his appearance in The Times is not entirely clear, but no doubt he and his family, like many others, were drawn to the industrial heartlands of Britain. Before enlisting in the Army he spent 18 months working in the cotton mills of Manchester or ‘Cottonopolis’. By 1861 McCaffery was a private soldier in the 32nd Regiment of Foot, stationed in Fulwood Barracks just outside Preston, Lancashire, thirty miles from Manchester. McCaffery’s notoriety arose from an incident on Saturday 14th September 1861 in the barracks. McCaffery shot and killed Colonel Hugh Denis Crofton and also Captain John Hanham. The incident appeared to have arisen from a dispute that McCaffery had with his captain whom he clearly intended to hurt or kill, while at the same time accidentally killing the colonel. His trial received significant coverage in both British and Irish papers of the time. McCaffery was represented by the barrister Charles Russell, later Baron Russell of Killowen, a native Irishman who would later distinguish himself in the Home Rule movement as a Member of Parliament in Westminster. Russell later represented Charles Stewart Parnell at the Parnell Commission hearings in 1888-1889. His participation in the tribunal, including an eight-day speech in defence of Parnell was crucial to exposing the forgeries of the fraudster Richard Pigot. But the outcome of the trial was never in dispute and McCaffery was hung at Kirkdale Gaol, Preston in front of a reported crowd of 30,000 people. While McCaffery’s life was short and his ending brutal, the story inspired a folk song which in it’s various iterations has been recorded by a succession of folk singers including Ewan McColl and the Dubliners. It clearly had a resonance down through the centuries and was often sung to the air of ‘The Croppy Boy’. It is a lament for a short life ending in violence replete with regret: ‘At Liverpool Assizes my trial I stood And I held my courage as best I could Then the old judge said, Now, McCaffery Go prepare your soul for eternity I had no father to take my part No loving mother to break her heart I had one friend and a girl was she Who'd lay down her life for McCaffery So come all you officers take advice from me And go treat your men with some decency For it's only lies and a tyranny That have made a murderer of McCaffery’

Athy's Building Heritage

Athy is home to many fine buildings, some more important than others because of their history and their links with the town’s story, stretching back in some cases for centuries. Understandably, we can all take pride in the best laid out square or plaza in the County of Kildare with the backdrop of the early 18th century Town Hall. That fine building has survived despite an attempt by some members of the local Urban Council in the 1970s to have it demolished in order to provide additional parking facilities in the town centre. Other buildings which once were important in the context of a developing medieval village are Woodstock Castle and the church built outside the town walls which we now know as the ‘Crickeen’. Both buildings have suffered from the ravages of time, with the castle at Woodstock mercifully fenced off in recent years to protect what remains of an important part of our medieval built heritage. The ‘Crickeen’, through the good offices of Kildare County Council using taxpayers money and business rates, was the subject of recent conservation work which will ensure the preservation of Athy’s first secular church for the immediate future. Woodstock Castle needs similar attention and hopefully the Heritage Office of Kildare Co. Co. in conjunction with the National Monuments Committee of that Council will give the conservation of Woodstock Castle some priority. The Town Hall, Woodstock Castle and the ‘Crickeen’ are important buildings in terms of Athy’s historical past, but none of them can equal the importance of Athy’s most iconic building – Whites Castle or the White Castle, depending on which authority you rely. The town’s trademark is the castle and the bridge, one standing on the east bank of the river Barrow, the other the only access way to the ‘wild Irish’ on the Laois side of the county. The bridge, built in 1796 by the master mason James Delehunt and his team of helpers, figured prominently, as did Whites Castle, during the 1798 rebellion. Seven young men who were jailed in Whites Castle at the start of the rebellion were marched over the newly built bridge and hanged at the basin of the Grand Canal. Two of them were beheaded and their heads put on the top of Whites Castle. The local militia during the summer of ’98 apparently amused themselves by firing at the two heads from the middle of the bridge. As you pass Whites Castle today take a look at the Earl of Kildare’s coat of arms carved on a large stone slab and placed there when the bridge was opened. The militia in 1798 smashed the flagstone bearing the coat of arms and the damage is still visible today. Five years later at the start of the Robert Emmet rebellion, Nicholas Grey, a Wexford man who was then living in nearby Rockfield House, was arrested and lodged in Whites Castle jail. He had been appointed by Robert Emmet to lead the County Kildare men to Dublin, but was arrested before he could do so. Whites Castle has been involved in so many other important events in Irish history. The Confederate War saw the Royalists, the Confederates and the Parliamentarians vying for control of Athy and the castle protecting the bridge over the river Barrow. This meant that Whites Castle and Woodstock Castle were under constant attack. That the castle survived is in itself a miracle, although Woodstock Castle was effectively abandoned following the Confederate War. Whites Castle was repaired after it was badly damaged during the same war and in or about 1800 was extended to provide additional accommodation including prison cells. Our castle on the bridge has stood for over 600 years, but sadly it is today looking neglected. It looks unsafe with early 19th century chimney stacks looking positively unstable. The building remains closed having been purchased in recent years. I was contacted by the purchaser soon after she bought the castle and given her previous involvement in the restoration of another important building in the south of the country, I was hopeful that the same would happen here. I have been disappointed on so many occasions when it comes to Whites Castle. I had hoped that when the castle first came on the market that the then Urban District Council would acquire it. The Council members publicly expressed interest, but regrettably the matter was not pursued. The castle came on the market again a few years later and despite a huge reduction in the asking price the Town Council again failed to act to ensure public ownership of Athy’s most important building. It was resold for the third time in recent years, with again no attempt this time by Kildare County Council to acquire Whites Castle. It is rather shameful that none of the local authorities acted on any of the three occasions to acquire Whites Castle and allow it to be developed as a local museum, cum Fitzgerald Museum. This iconic building must not be allowed to become a ruin. It lies idle while the possible development of the town centre castle as another element of the town’s tourist development remains unfulfilled.

Paddy Doyle

Paddy Doyle was in the audience for the O.N.E. concert in the Arts Centre on Monday night, 17th July. There was a capacity attendance that night to hear local musicians and singers give proof, if such was needed, that the musical tradition in Athy is very strong. By the following morning Paddy had passed away just short of his 90th birthday. It was, in a way, a happy coincidence that Paddy, a talented singer and a long time member of the Parish choir, should enjoy his last evening in his beloved town of Athy in the company of fellow singers. I had known Paddy for many years, initially during his time with Minch Nortons and in more recent years as an experienced and helpful electrician. Paddy was the quintessential Athy man whose love for Athy knew no bounds. His father served in, and survived, the First World War. However, it was not without some consequences for as Paddy told me when I interviewed him several years ago, his father, known to all as “Barracks” Doyle, throughout his post war life suffered from the consequences of seeing the bodies of his fellow soldiers mangled and torn in the French trenches. Paddy was one of the most kind hearted persons one could hope to meet. He was generous with his time, generous with his good humour and generous with his wonderful singing voice which saw him as a member of the Parish choir for many decades. He was a person who epitomised all that was good in the best of us. I never saw Paddy without a smile, a good word or a laugh. He was an ever cheerful person whose very presence was guaranteed to lift the mood of the most dour amongst us. It was therefore pleasing to see that Paddy’s funeral Mass was a celebration of a wonderful life lived simply but with great affection for his neighbours and his wider community. It was a celebration marked by what I feel was the most exquisite singing I had ever heard in St. Michael’s Parish Church. Paddy’s companions in the Parish choir performed wonderfully in bidding their final farewell to a well loved friend, but the singing of Paddy’s son Dermot was absolutely wonderful. I have never been so moved by a singer or a song as I was at Paddy’s funeral Mass as I listened to the wonderful voice of his son Dermot. It was for me so unexpected and a real joy to hear such a masterful performance in the church. Paddy would have been very proud of his son Dermot as he filled the church with a beautiful rendition of ‘The Lark in the Clear Air’, accompanied on the viola by Noelle Robinson. The ceremony ended with Dermot singing ‘Annies Song’, this time accompanied by Justin Kelly on the flute. Dermot’s contribution to the celebration of his father’s life was extraordinarily powerful. Paddy’s second son Ciaran continued the celebration of a well lived life with a charming eulogy which included what would have been his father’s own account of growing up in Athy. Paddy had recounted how it was beside the Moneen River that his father James and his mother Elizabeth made their family home after they married. Paddy was the eldest of five children and the Doyle family lived in a two roomed mudwalled cottage with a thatched roof and clay floors. This was the lot of so many families in Athy and elsewhere in the country in the years before the Slum Clearance Programme initiated by De Valera’s government in the early 1930s. Until he was 13 years of age Paddy assisted his mother by bringing home two buckets of water every day from a well over a mile away from the Doyle cottage. In 1953 the Doyle family moved to a newly built house at Coneyboro. Paddy married Patricia Donegan from Carlow in 1969 and having lived in Avondale Drive for a few years moved to their new home on the Castledermot Road six years later. It was there that Paddy and Patricia reared their three children, Ciaran, Dermot and Kathryn. At the Mass special mention was made of their mother Patricia described with fondness “as a beautiful caring mother of principle and truth”. It was a great privilege to be part of the congregation which gathered in St. Michael’s Church to say goodbye to a good man. That same venue where I saw Paddy on his last night will on Monday, 14th August host a photographic and video exhibition of the canal boatmen and their boats who once plied their trade on the Barrow line and the Grand Canal. Lots of Athy folk will feature. The exhibition will be open until the 25th August from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. each day excluding Sundays.

Athy's Library in the 1950s

When I was a young pupil attending the Christian Brother’s secondary school in St. John’s Lane a welcome evening break in the ever constant routine of studying and working on school homework was a weekly visit to the local library. It was an evening visit as the library in the 1950’s was not opened during the day. The Librarian at that time was the well known and well liked Kevin Meaney who lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue. Kevin’s day job was clerk to the town engineer, Mossie Sullivan but it is as the town librarian that he is best remembered after the passage of so many years. The library was located in the Town Hall in a small room next to the Ballroom and when I measured it last week, I found it to be seventeen feet by twenty feet. It was accessed by a stairs with a doorway onto the street directly opposite Mrs. Gibbon’s house. The fact that library users had to exit from that doorway directly onto the street gives some inkling of the scarcity of vehicular traffic in those days. Kevin Meaney and his brothers Danny and Dermot all of whom lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue had a great affection for Athy. Danny who worked in a local factory was a keen photographer and he amassed during his lifetime an important archive of photographs and videos of Athy town and its people. I can recall attending a showing of videos by Danny in Mulhall’s public house next to White’s Castle a short while after I returned to Athy in 1982. Danny’s photographic record of Athy’s past was and hopefully remains a rich vein of Athy’s cultural history and a wonderful insight into the lives of the local people, many of whom have passed from memory. Danny’s brother Kevin was a local historian in the sense that he knew of the towns past and shared his knowledge with others. Unfortunately, like so many others he did not commit his recollections to paper. My weekly visit to the library was in search of Zane Grey novels but somewhere in between, for whatever reason I cannot now remember, Kevin once spoke to me of Patrick O’Kelly’s book on the 1798 Rebellion. O’Kelly, was a local young man who in the revolutionary years was one of the leaders of the United Irishmen in this area. His accounts of events in Athy and the surrounding area during the 1798 Rebellion and the Emmet Rebellion five years later was first published in 1842. The book was never available in the library but Kevin having alerted me to its very existence prompted a successful search for a copy many years later. I have often wondered was it that contact with Kevin Meaney, the librarian, all those years ago which would later put me on the history trail. The importance of local libraries cannot be over emphasised for it is there that young people start on a life’s journey through the written world. That small library of the 1950’s was a pre-cursor to the magnificent local library which is today housed in the former Dominican Church which was constructed in the early years of the 1960’s. Athy in the past was a town with a literary background which recalls a time when it was home to printing works operated by a John Richardson and later in the 1830’s a printing and publishing concern owned by W.H. Talbot. Successful members of the Talbot family were involved in printing and publishing in Athy over subsequent years. Indeed, Thomas French published the Athy Literary Magazine, a weekly magazine which ended with its 25th edition in February 1838. As the effects of the Great Famine eased in 1849, Athy boasted of two rival local newspapers, The Kildare and the Wicklow Chronicle and the Irish Eastern County Herald. Sadly the press war between the two newspapers only lasted a few weeks as the Kildare and Wicklow Chronicle ceased publication after four or five issues. The first library in Athy opened in the Town Hall in 1927 in the same room where I found it thirty years later. In those days reading material was heavily censored not only by the Ireland’s state censor but also by a library committee comprising the Parish Priest, three Catholic Curates, the Church of Ireland Rector and the Presbyterian Minister as well as five members of the Urban District Council. The first librarian was Mr. B. Bramley of Emily Square who opened the library one evening a week from 7.00pm – 9.00pm but soon thereafter, the opening times were increased to two days a week. I have written in the past of how a library is a cultural investment for the future and how our highly praised local library in providing a variety of community activities, as well as book lending is serving us well.

Kilkea Castle and the Earls of Kildare

Kilkea Castle, much altered over the centuries, is believed to be Ireland’s oldest habitable castle. Built in the latter end of the 12th century by the Anglo Norman Hugh de Lacy in what was later described as the Marches of Kildare, it formed part of the fortresses which provided protection for that part of the countryside centred around Dublin which was controlled by the early Anglo-Norman settlers. The Castle is within 4 miles of the village of Castledermot where the first gathering in Irish history to be called a Parliament was held in 1264. Twenty-six knights came together for that first parliamentary session and ten more Irish parliaments would be held in the rural village of Castledermot between 1269 and 1404. That first Irish parliament was held just 27 years after King Henry III’s Great Council met in the Great Chamber of the medieval palace of Westminster. That is generally accepted as the first gathering in English history to be called a Parliament. The Castle of Kilkea was once one of the homes of the most powerful family in Ireland, the Fitzgeralds, later Earls of Kildare and from the latter part of the 18th Century Dukes of Leinster. Several Earls of Kildare served as Lord Deputy of Ireland, a role which involved placating the rebellious Irish tribes who did not accept the King’s rule in Ireland. Gearoid Mór, the 8th Earl of Kildare and Governor of Ireland for over 30 years was wounded while leading his men against the Irish Tribe of the O’Mores at Leap Castle and he succumbed to his wounds in the town of Athy. His son, Gearoid Óg the 9th Earl of Kildare, succeeded as Lord Deputy, but Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII chief advisor and Chancellor of the Exchequer concerned by the usurpation of Royal power by the Irish Lords had the Earl called to London for alleged treason. He would die in the Tower of London while his son Thomas, known in Irish history as Silken Thomas, rebelled and marched on Dublin. He too ended up in the Tower of London with five of his uncles where they were all beheaded. This so called Kildare Rebellion prompted the Crown to take the governorship of Ireland out of the hands of the Earls of Kildare to be replaced by direct rule by an English governor. The title Earl of Kildare was forfeited and the family’s estates including Kilkea Castle confiscated, but were restored 15 years later when Silken Thomas’s half-brother, also called Thomas, a self-proclaimed loyal subject of the King was recognised as Earl of Kildare. He made his principle residence in Kilkea Castle. However, following the Desmond rebellion of 1569 which involved a related Fitzgerald family in the south of the country, Thomas, the 11th Earl, was arrested and brought to London. This time unlike his predecessors, he was not confined to the Tower of London, but spent long periods in the 1570s and 1580s under house arrest. He died in London in 1585. Subsequent Earls of Kildare continued to live in Kilkea Castle and were resident here during the Civil War which broke out in 1641 between the native Irish and Catholic gentry on the one side and Puritans on the other. Later it became a three sided conflict between the native Irish, the Catholic Royalists and the Puritans. The Catholic Confederate leaders Owen Roe O’Neill and Thomas Preston stayed in Kilkea Castle for a time, as did the Papal Nuncio Scarampo during the Civil War, commonly referred to as the Confederate War. Apart from playing hosts for a short while to some of the Catholic leaders involved in the war, Kilkea Castle did not figure hugely in the terrible events of the Confederate Wars or Cromwell’s reign of terror. If the 16th century Earls of Kildare were regarded as unfaithful to the English Crown, a very real rebel was found in Lord Edward Fitzgerald, one time Member of Parliament for Athy and brother of the first Duke of Leinster. He led the United Irishmen in his native county of Kildare in preparation for the 1798 rebellion. Lord Edward had served in the British forces in America during the American Revolution and was later an admirer of the French Revolution and an associate of Thomas Paine. He joined the United Irishmen on returning from America but was captured before the rebellion started and died as a result of a stab wound inflicted while being arrested. He is still remembered today as one of the most passionate Irish Revolutionaries of the 18th Century. Lord Edward and his wife Pamela had three children and their daughter Pamela married Sir Guy Campbell, a distinguished Scottish soldier who had played an active part in suppressing the Irish rebels during the 1798 Rebellion and who was later Lieutenant Governor of Gibraltar during the critical years of the Peninsular War. Their daughter Madeline married Percy Wyndham, son of the Earl of Egremont and their son, the great grandson of the Irish rebel, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, would become the Secretary of State for Ireland under Arthur Balfour’s premiership. George Wyndham was described as a hardened Tory and an indefatigable defender of the Union. He is remembered for the Wyndham Land Act of 1903 which effectively brought an end to the Irish Land War campaigns of the 1880s while his great grandfather Lord Edward, the most famous son of Kilkea Castle, is remembered as one of the most admired Irish radical revolutionaries of the past.

Memories of attending C.B.S. Athy in the 1950s

My class passed from the 6th class in primary school following our primary certificate examination into the C.B.S. secondary school in 1955. The primary school and the secondary school in St. John’s Lane shared the same yard with the secondary school occupying three classrooms over part of the primary school accessed by an outside iron stairway. The shortage of classroom space may have accounted for several pupils, including myself, skipping first year and beginning our secondary education in the second-year classroom. The entire secondary school teaching staff at that time consisted of two members of the Christian Brothers and two lay teachers. Around the time we started in secondary school, or perhaps just before that, the leaving certificate class consisted of only one student. By the time my class sat the Leaving Certificate examination in 1960 the class of eleven students had become the largest leaving certificate class in the school’s history. The 1950’s was a period when unemployment was rife, wages were low and free secondary education was unknown. The Christian Brothers had arrived in Athy in 1861 and in keeping with their mission opened schools for the young boys of the town. Education, both primary and secondary, was available to all who wanted it, but the Christian Brothers did seek a small payment from parents who could afford to contribute to school expenses. We attended school five and a half days a week, finishing our school week on Saturday midday. Wednesday afternoons were devoted to Gaelic football practice in Geraldine Park. No other sport was played, and the school’s only competitive team was the Gaelic football team which unfortunately had no success whatsoever during the 1950s. Our teachers were Brother J.D. Brett who arrived in 1955, the year I joined the secondary school. With him was Brother Sylvanus Keogh who had arrived in 1952. He was known to his many pupils as ‘Johnny Borris’. How or why no one appears to have known. Liam Ryan and Paddy Riordan were the lay teachers. Liam came to Athy from County Tipperary sometime in the 1930s and was a well-loved teacher who encouraged and inspired his pupils. As the class of 1955 progressed, many of my schoolmates left school. Some left at 14 years of age to take up jobs around Athy. I still remember how I envied a classmate who left school to become a telegram boy attached to Naas Post Office. Our collective ambitions were limited but were occasionally sharply focused when the Christian Brothers recruiting for the Order attended the school once a year. Many of us indicated a willingness to join the Christian Brothers, but either parents or common sense intervened in many cases to save us for the outside world. A yearly written religious examination was another feature of secondary school life in the 1950’s. It was, I believe, organised by the Diocesan authorities, and was regarded by us youngsters as a day off from the rigours of everyday school. We sat the Intermediate Certificate examination in 3rd year and some, like myself, repeated in 4th year. The 1960 Leaving Certificate examination was the first year of the oral Irish examination. Irish was my worst subject and following the inspector’s oral examination of the leaving certificate class students which took place in the nearby Christian Brothers monastery, Brother Keogh announced to us afterwards; ‘All of you but one did well’ – as he looked directly at me with a resigned look. None of us who sat the Leaving Certificate in 1960 had any thought of going to university. It was never mentioned as a possibility, but some of us did subsequently attend university and obtain degrees after attending night classes. My classmates of the 1950’s endured, rather than enjoyed, school. It was not unpleasant, but youthful enjoyment was measured by post school activities. However, sometimes school time and afterschool life combined to leave us with wonderful memories. One such was the intermediate class meeting addressed by fellow pupil Michael O’Neill, a Kerry lad, which lead to the founding of CARA, later renamed Aontas Ogra. This Irish language club brought together local boys and girls in a range of pleasant activities which we remember as part of our enjoyable school years. I and my classmates left school in 1960 to join the working world where so many of those who had started junior school with us approximately 14 years earlier were already committed to a working life. The Christian Brothers secondary school of the 1950’s is a distant early memory likely to be crowded out by the gathered memories of a long life. However, those school memories will always remain part of my treasured past.

Community Activism / Kevin Feeley, Athy and Kildare County Footballer

I noticed her as I parked my car in the car park opposite Athy’s railway station. She was walking through the car park holding a large plastic bag and a picker with which she picked up papers and refuse. I was intrigued as I knew her very well and she was not known to be employed by the local municipal authority. She told me that she walks around the People’s Park and the car park early every morning picking up refuse which she bags and leaves for a Council workman to take away. I was humbled to think that an old age pensioner would devote so much of her time and energy for the benefit of the local community, without seeking recognition or acknowledgement of her daily good deed. Her contribution to the local community dwarfs anything I have come across in recent years. There are several local volunteers who over the years have made a contribution to the betterment of community life here in Athy. Their work by and large goes unrecognised, although I recall the Municipal Council some years ago holding a presentation night for persons who have made a significant contribution to the local community. During my time as Chairman of the Urban District Council the Council adopted my proposal to make an annual ‘Person of the Year Award’. Recipients of that reward included photographer John Minihan and Sr. Consilio, founder of the Cuan Mhuire organisation. The latter award was particularly relevant because of previous criticism of Sr. Consilio and Cuan Mhuire by some councillors who claimed that the local alcoholic treatment centre was detrimental to the town of Athy. The person who works on her own to keep the People’s Park safe for use by the public is just one of several volunteers working in the town for the common good. The Tidy Towns Committee immediately come to mind. I have written in a previous Eye of their good work, as well as of the work of the many club officials and committee members who have helped create a great sporting tradition for the town. The Men’s Shed, the Women’s Shed and the multiplicity of residents’ associations throughout the town help to create and maintain a community spirit in Athy which is second to none. In a lot of ways, the people of Athy are way ahead of the local government officials and public representatives who make up the County Council and the Municipal District Council. As we await the completion of the Outer Relief Road I was amused to read an extract from the Urban District Council minute book of December 1985 which read: ‘the County Engineer indicated to the members of Athy U.D.C. that it was expected to commence building of the Inner Relief Road in 1986.’ Our town’s history is littered with forgettable events, but also those memorable occasions which enhance our memories of the past. The Inner Relief Road was one such forgettable non-event, but on Sunday I enjoyed a memorable moment or two while watching the Kildare Roscommon football match. I had travelled from Connemara late that morning and arrived home just in time to watch the last 15 minutes or so of the game. With one minute of extra time left Kevin Feeley’s wonderful overhead catch of the football brought an opportunity to kick a winning score. His athleticism and superb fielding were reminiscent of the great Kerry footballer Mick O’Connell. I was privileged to watch the man from Valentia Island play several times in Croke Park. He was one of the greatest Gaelic footballers of all time and when watching Kevin Feeley in that last passage of play I was reminded of the great Kerryman. The then successful kick from the hand for a point from a very difficult angle was another moment of greatness by a Kildare player. I was very proud of the Athy club player and county player who within a minute turned around the game to give the shortgrass county a long sought after victory. What was to follow afterwards was a very impressive post-match interview with Kevin Feeley. I had not previously come across a studio interview between a player just off the pitch and the television’s football panel. If the young player’s performance on the pitch was impressive, his extended post-match interview was superb. Well done to Kildare senior team, and especially Kevin Feeley for a wonderful display both on and off the pitch. He too was a volunteer. As for as the female volunteer of pensionable age, well done and thank you for your work on behalf of the local community.

Ernest Shackleton

The Shackleton Museum in Athy closed its doors in December 2022 as part of the first phase of renovation and conservation works began on the building as part of the five million euro redevelopment. The museum has come a long way from its modest origins forty years ago in the then vacant St. Marys secondary school. A group of local enthusiastic volunteers had come together at a meeting in the local Courthouse in 1983 to establish the Athy Museum Society. Many of those volunteers are now gone, Pat Mulhall, Ken Sales, Bertie Doyle and Noreen Ryan, but their legacy will be seen in the transformed Town Hall in late 2024. This year marks the centenary of the publication of the first biography of Ernest Shackleton. ‘The Life of Sir Ernest Shackleton’ was written by Dr. Hugh Robert Mill, a distinguished academic and close personal friend of Ernest Shackleton. Applying himself intensely to the task, he researched and wrote the book in the 12 months after Shackleton’s death, with significant input and assistance from Shackleton’s widow, Lady Emily. The book is a fine celebration of Shackleton’s life, and particularly his early life. We learn that Shackleton was taught to swim by his father in the local river, the Griese, reminding them of the old Quaker joke of the Ballitore school boys, ‘those who go into the Griese come out dripping.’ There was an idyllic element to his early life in Kilkea where Mill’s writes ‘When the little group of Shackleton children went out with their nurse in the country lanes, Ernest was always dropping behind, looking about in the hedges and ditches, happy in his own thoughts, or gathering and eating the wayside flowers. So habitual was this, that the nurse used to call him “Mr. Lag”. It was almost certain that Ernest could read simple words when he was four years old. He was much attracted by music, and would listen in great contentment to his mother singing Irish airs, or playing the piano for an hour at a time.’ Shackleton’s time in Kilkea was short as after his father qualified as a doctor the family moved to Dublin when Shackleton was six. There was no doubt that his early life in south Kildare made a huge impression on him. This early life and his familial connections with Kildare going back two centuries will form an important component of the displays in the revamped Shackleton Museum in addition to the visitors experience of the highs and lows of Shackleton’s polar triumphs and failures. Key exhibits will include a full sizzed replica of the James Caird life boat. This was the boat that Shackleton, Kerry man Tom Crean and the Cork man Tim McCarthy and three others launched from Elephant Island on Easter Monday 1916 to initiate the rescue mission that saved all the men of Shackleton’s ship ‘Endurance’ after their ship was crushed in the Antarctic ice in late 1915. Perhaps the most important and evocative artefact will be the deck cabin from the Shackleton’s last expedition ship ‘RYS Quest’. This extraordinary survival is the cabin in which Shackleton died on 4th January 1922. Many of us will have enjoyed the superb documentary produced by Moondance Productions shown on RTE on 4th January 2022 which told the story of the cabin’s acquisition and restoration by the Shackleton Museum here in Athy. This artefact will be a focal point of the new museum and is destined to draw visitors from all over the globe. I have written recently of the encouraging signs of the economic uplift of the town , particularly in the opening of new businesses and the completion of the works on the Shackleton Museum are no doubt going to be a huge fillip to this process and present exciting opportunities for the town and its people which they no doubt will grasp eagerly. The international reach of the Shackleton story will be evident with the hosting of the 23rd Shackleton Autumn School on the weekend of 20th – 22nd October 2023. With the museum closed for renovations this year’s Autumn School will be held in the Abbey and the lectures themselves will be held in what was the former chapel of the Sisters of Mercy. There is already huge interest in this event and strong bookings are expected. One of the key speakers this year will be Dr. Michael Rosove, an oncologist surgeon from California who is one of the premier Antarctic scholars and he will be speaking about the publication of HR Mills biography of Shackleton in its centenary year. And for our more intrepid visitors a dip in the Griese will be a must!

Why is there an air of confidence about Athy?

There is a noticeable air of confidence in Athy town of late. It’s evidenced by the recent opening of several coffee shops and an Italian restaurant on the town’s main street. Yet south Kildare has the highest level of unemployment in the country and Athy has an excess of closed business premises which present an unhappy picture of the town. Nevertheless the ancient town which is handsomely traversed by river and canal, continues to receive many compliments with claims that it is the most attractive town within the boundaries of the short grass county. As a young fellow growing up in Athy I knew nothing of the town’s history and like everyone else had no understanding or appreciation of the town’s built heritage. Athy is truly a gem of an Irish provincial town, something which our visitors readily acknowledge. Sometimes however they wonder why the buildings on the main streets are not being properly maintained. Many unpainted and somewhat dishevelled buildings take from the town’s appearance. Kildare County Council have in the past encouraged shop front improvements by offering grants. Would the County Council consider extending the shopfront scheme by engaging a colour consultant to provide colour schemes on a street by street basis to brighten up the local streetscape? The outer relief road is expected to have a huge effect in reducing traffic in the town centre, thereby affording local businesses an opportunity to attract a bigger footfall. However, it needs the business people to come together to plan and execute the necessary steps to attract shoppers back into the town centre. Different sections of Athy’s residents have in the past taken a lead in promoting the town’s interest. The building of the Parish Church and the Dominican Church necessitated the prolonged involvement of many local volunteers during the 1950s and beyond. Later still another group of Athy men came together on Athy’s swimming pool committee to spearhead the town’s drive for a local swimming pool. Their initiative and voluntary work over several years convinced Kildare County Council to proceed with the building of County Kildare’s first municipal swimming pool in the grounds of the People’s Park. The Shackleton Museum and the Arts Centre came about because of local initiatives taken by local volunteers coming together and working for desired objectives. Indeed the outer relief road, championed for so long by the townspeople as opposed to an inner relief road, is a prime example of what can be achieved by collective action. The retailing life of Athy’s main streets rests in the hands of the present day shop keepers. Unfortunately we no longer have a Chamber of Commerce in the town, but there is a need for the collective voices of the business people and residents of Athy to be heard. There is so much which can and should be done to improve business in Athy. The one common complaint from newly arrived residents is what they describe as the town’s poor shopping experience. All of those whom I have interviewed recently regard Athy people as very friendly and the town as one with great potential. Might I hope that the shopkeepers get together to plan and improve our town’s shopping experience, so that instead of locals travelling out of town to shop we can instead encourage local shopping and attract outsiders to shop in Athy. One of my own favourites for a new independent shop in the town would be a book shop. Athy residents as they faced into three more years of famine in 1846 had a book shop in Duke Street owned by John Lahee. The present Lions Club second hand book shop is a wonderful facility but any town with a population in excess of ten thousand people surely deserves a book shop selling the latest new titles. I don’t know if John Lahee was still selling books from his Duke Street premises in 1857 when gas lights were introduced into the principal shops of Athy. The Leinster Leader reported on Christmas Eve of that year ‘on Monday evening (19th December) the streets were thronged by persons admiring the tasteful manner in which the shops were lighted’. The gas lighting of the shops 166 years ago was a momentous event and heralded decades of successful business in Athy which justified the oft repeated claim that Athy was the best market town in Leinster. The opening of the outer relief road offers an opportunity to revive Athy’s main shopping streets. If that revival or regeneration takes place Athy can reclaim the honour which the Leinster Express of 30th July 1859 bestowed on the town ‘there is not in Ireland an inland town that can boast a more public spirit than Athy.’ As I finished this week’s Eye I learned of the passing of St. Dolores O’Grady, a locally based Sister of Mercy who did so much as a community leader within the Ardrew Meadows estate. She led by example to empower her local community on the Barrowhouse road. As a member of the local Sisters of Mercy community she dedicated her life to helping others, especially those in need. In doing so she made a huge contribution to the Sisters of Mercy mission here in Athy. Our condolences go to her family, especially to her sister Mary English and to the Sisters of Mercy.

James Durney's new book 'Stand You Now for Ireland's Cause'

At the opening night of the recent military seminar held in the Riverbank Arts Centre in Newbridge, author and broadcaster John MacKenna launched James Durney’s latest book. Coming at the end of the Decade of Commemoration celebrations it was appropriate that the book was a biographical dictionary of republican activists in County Kildare during the period 1913-1923. James Durney who was the first historian in residence for County Kildare has written the most important book of the many that have been published in recent years with the assistance of the Kildare Decade of Commemoration Committee. ‘Stand you now for Ireland’s Cause’ is a work of immense research and represents a fitting acknowledgement of, and tribute to, the men and women from this county, or those associated with County Kildare during the years of revolution. I have been reading the fascinating information in the book, especially that relating to men who were members of the 5th Battalion Carlow Kildare Brigade which covered Athy, Barrowhouse, Moone, Ballylinan, Moat and Castledermot. The Volunteers, formed in Athy in May 1914, evolved as the A Coy. of the 5th Battalion, while the B Coy. was centred in Barrowhouse, the C Coy. in Moone, later Ballitore, the D Coy. in Ballylinan, the E Coy. in the Moat area, with Castledermot having the largest membership comprised the F Company of the 5th Battalion. Early entries in the dictionary indicated the extent to how often members of the same family were involved as republican activists. John Behan and his younger brother Edward, who lived in Chapel Lane and later Matthews Lane, were both arrested as anti-treaty activists and imprisoned. James Brown and his brother Billy, both of Barrack Street, were members of Athy A Coy. Thomas Brown, who was also a Coy. member, may have been another brother, but this cannot yet be confirmed. Mick Curtis, whose three brothers, Patrick, Laurence and John were killed during World War I, was another member of the Athy Volunteers. Perhaps the most extensive family involvement as republican activists was that of the Dooley family members of 41 Duke Street. Seven members of that family were active participants during the War of Independence. The father of the family, Michael Dooley, was a Laois man who married Julia Bradley of Athy in 1893. The couple operated a grocery and provision store at 41 Duke Street which address was a regular meeting place for local republicans. Michael Dooley was a founder member of the local Gaelic League branch, as well as a founder member of Athy’s Sinn Féin Club. He was elected President of that club in May 1918 and was still the Sinn Féin President when the Civil War started. He played an extremely influential part in the development of Sinn Féin in the Athy area and following his death in 1933 the newly constructed housing estate on the Stradbally Road was named Dooley’s terrace in his honour. His brother Patrick Dooley who operated a bakery at Leinster Street, later the site of Mrs. Hughes shop and Madden’s chemist, was elected to Athy Urban District Council on several occasions between 1922 and 1934. He first stood as a Sinn Féin candidate and in later elections following the establishment of the Fianna Fáil party, stood as a candidate for that party. He was Chairman of Athy U.D.C. from 1929 to 1936. During the War of Independence, he served as a justice in the local republican court. Three daughters and two sons of Michael and Julia Dooley were also actively involved in the republican movement. Esther Dooley, who many of us will remember as Mrs. Hester May, was a member of Cumann na mBan who later moved to Dublin to work in the Sinn Féin publicity department as Secretary to Piaras Béaslaí. She was later Secretary to General J.J. O’Connell and Oscar Traynor. Esther married Athy man Joe May, who had been Secretary of Athy’s Sinn Féin club and who following his arrest in November 1920 was imprisoned in Ballykinler camp for almost a year. Esther’s sister Catherine was also member of Athy’s Cumann na mBan. She later married Eamon Malone, one time Commander of the 5th Battalion Carlow/Kildare Brigade. Eamon was captured while on the run in November 1919 and imprisoned in Mountjoy Jail where he was elected Officer commanding of the Republican Prisoners who went on hunger strike in April 1920. Julia Dooley, known as ‘Gypsy’ was another Dooley family member of Cumann na mBan, while her brothers Michael Junior and John were members of the Athy Coy. of Volunteers. John was arrested by members of the National Army soldiers during the Civil War which would seem to indicate that he might have taken the anti-treaty side. His brother, Michael Junior, on the other hand, joined the National Army and served as a sergeant in Tralee, Co. Kerry during some of the most bitter periods of the Civil War.

Disquieting Scenes in Inch, Co. Clare

On the Great Famine National Commemoration Day a group of people gathered in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Athy to remember those who died in the local Workhouse during the famine years of the 1840s and later. Events in Dublin and County Clare during the previous week prompted remembrance of the million and a half Irish men, women and children who left Ireland during the 1840s to seek refuge in America or Great Britain. How many left Athy or South Kildare for a new life overseas during those years we cannot say. What we do know is that those Irish who sought refuge in America was subjected to harassment and rejection by many Americans who came together in what was known as the ‘Know Nothing Party’. In England but not so much so in Wales or Scotland the Irish who sought refuge were subjected to rejection which was highlighted by notices such as ‘blacks or Irish need not apply’. I wonder did the people of Inch, Co. Clare who appeared to have been given free rein by the Garda Siochana to block with impunity access to public roads, think of the times when their ancestors were refugees. County Clare was like most western seashore counties severely affected by the failure of the potato crop from 1845 onwards. In the Kilrush union area almost 900 houses were knocked down and made uninhabitable between November 1847 and July 1848 by landlords seeking to limit their contribution to the Board of Guardians annual expense. Almost 4,000 men, women and children were left without homes as a result and those who did not enter the local Workhouse struggled to flee Ireland. It was a scene replicated almost 40 years later in the same county of Clare when evictions started on the Bodyke Estate in East Clare in June 1887. The following year the Vandeleur evictions in Kilrush took place. The two evictions are well remembered, especially in County Clare, as are the Luggacurran evictions of the same period which are remembered here in Athy. How some women and men of County Clare acted in recent weeks in opposing refugees being placed in their area is a sad acknowledgement that they have not learned any lesson from their own past history. During the Bodyke evictions Clare women played a leading part in opposing the bailiffs. Indeed at Court hearings following the evictions 22 out of the 26 persons were charged with assault or obstructing the bailiffs were women. Michael Davitt, founder of the Land League, later presented medals to the Bodyke women to show his appreciation for their courageous stand against the landlord, Colonel O’Callaghan, the bailiffs and the R.I.C. who were in attendance at the evictions. The disquieting scenes in Inch, Co. Clare were a reversal of the roles played out by the women of County Clare in the 1880s. There will be no medals for the Clare women folk or their men folk whose stand against refugees is a reminder of what faced the Irish refugees who arrived in America and Great Britain during and after the Great Famine. What I wondered is one to make of the standoff by the Gardai, whose leader Commissioner Drew Harris, seemed to see merit in not dealing with the public ‘road blockers’ by claiming that the Garda inaction showed that the Gardai Siochana was not reacting to ‘right wing forces’. I am frankly puzzled by the Garda Commissioner’s comments and surprised at the failure of the Garda Siochana to deal with the Co. Clare blockades as they are empowered to do by law. There is a perceptible lack of morale amongst many present members of the Garda Siochana. Recruitment to the force is at a low level, while many relatively new members of the Gardai have resigned within the last year or two. The recent decision of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution to proffer charges against an unnamed Garda following the death of three criminals during a pursuit on the motorway adds further to the concerns of serving Gardai. The Garda in question who put his/her own life at risk in an attempt to arrest criminals now finds himself/herself subject to legal sanction. No wonder Garda morale throughout the country is at a low ebb. James Durney, Historian in Residence for County Kildare has produced another superb book, this time a biographical dictionary of republican activists from County Kildare. His work covers the 10 years between 1913 and 1923 and has been published with the assistance of the Royal Irish Academy and the County Kildare Decade of Commemoration Committee. The Committee has done wonderful work during the past decade, with several publications which have opened up previously unknown aspects of our local history. The latest publication ‘Stand You Now for Ireland’s Cause’ will be the subject of a future Eye on the Past. In the meantime the book is for sale in all good Irish book shops.

Great Britain is no longer great

King Charles III was crowned 333 years after the death of the second King Charles, who on his death bed proclaimed himself to be a Catholic. Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660 after the death of Cromwell and the subsequent disintegration of the Commonwealth. The Protestant settlers living in the fortress town of Athy were alarmed following Charles II’s coronation. Their concern arose from the prospect of a Catholic resurgence following years of religious repression. They had witnessed the accession to the English throne of Charles I in 1625 in succession to his father James I. James was the son of Mary Queen of Scots and was brought up as a Protestant. He was not a popular King as he incurred the opposition of Catholics and Protestants alike, especially Presbyterians. He initially sought to encourage religious tolerance, but the Parliamentarians forced him in the opposite direction. He then attempted to strengthen anti-Catholic measures by replacing the Catholic majority in the Irish House of Commons and limiting the power of elections to Boro Councils which historically were exclusively Protestant. Athy had achieved Boro status in 1515 and by virtue of the 1613 Boro legislation passed during the reign of James I it became a closed Boro with 12 burgesses of the town having exclusive rights to elect two Members of Parliament. Charles I was 16 years old when the Rising of 1641 started in Ulster. The Rising which spread southwards saw attacks by Catholics on Protestants and reprisals by Protestants on Catholics resulting in widespread sectarian massacres. The 1641 Depositions for County Kildare include many accounts of atrocities in and around Athy. James Pearse, a cooper from Athy, recounted how the Irish rebels attacked the town of Athy and how he and his Protestant neighbours were required to set fire to their own homes near the castle of Athy ‘to prevent the rebels’. The following year the Irish rebels returned to Athy and destroyed much of the town. The crown forces of Colonel Crafford’s Regiment eventually captured many rebels who were hanged, as was Athy’s Sovereign George Walker who was believed to have helped the rebels. The Confederate War continued until 1649 and saw several military actions in and around Athy involving Royalist troops, Parliamentary troops and Irish rebels under the command of Owen Roe O’Neill. The Royalists and the Irish rebels fought on the side of King Charles I in the monarch’s war with the English Parliamentarians who were led by Oliver Cromwell. King Charles I was beheaded in London on 10th January 1649 for treason and within weeks the English monarchy was abolished. Some months later Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland. By the summer of 1652 the English Parliamentarians had control over most of Ireland. Athy was nominated as one of 14 Revenue Precincts to collect taxes and administer justice and as such was the administrative centre for counties Kildare, Carlow and parts of the Queen’s County. The Commonwealth would end with the restoration of the monarchy when in 1660 Charles II was crowned King of England, Scotland and Ireland. He had in fact been proclaimed King of Ireland 11 years earlier during the final years of the Confederate wars. One year before Charles II’s coronation the population of Athy was 565, of which 85 were English and 480 Irish. Athy was then a larger settlement than either Naas or Carlow. In 1662 William Weldon, MP for Athy, claimed that two priests named Fitzgerald and Carroll daily frequented the town and ‘said Mass in the middle of the town several times’. The two priests on being arrested were rescued by the local people, but were soon retaken prisoner. It’s not known what happened to them. It was also during the reign of Charles II that Fr. Raymond Moore, Prior of the Dominican Friary in Athy on two occasions, was arrested and imprisoned in Dublin where he died in 1655. In 1669 Charles II was petitioned to grant two additional fairs to Athy. The petition from the Boro Sovereign and other town officials, claimed that Athy ‘is an ancient and loyal corporation and seated in the heart of a plentiful country both for corn and cattle’. The petitioners stressed that many of the inhabitants of Athy were English tradesmen and that they had suffered much, both by the recent rebellion and by the two fires ‘which lately destroyed most of their houses’. Continuing the petitioners stressed that as a garrison town it would be to the advantage of Athy and the neighbouring countryside to have fairs on May 29th and November 30th, each to last for three days. King Charles II granted the petition and issued the letter patent on 14th January 1670. The Protestant settlers alarmed at a perceived Catholic resurgence under Charles II and the Titus Oates plot of 1678, pressed to have the anti-Catholic legislation enforced more rigorously than before. The Council of State wrote to Athy’s Town Sovereign on 2nd December 1678 following a complaint that about 1,300 persons assembled in or near the town to hear Mass. The Council wrote again seven days later enquiring as to the names of the priests in the area who had not obeyed the Proclamation banishing priests from Ireland. The Town Sovereign was directed to ensure that ‘no popish service be publicly celebrated within the town’. In 1680 a defrocked Franciscan, James Geoghegan, was sent to Ireland to seek out priests. He arrested Fr. Thomas Archibold in Athy who was later released when Thomas Fitzgerald of Maddenstown entered into a bond on his behalf. Five years later Charles II died and is reported to have proclaimed himself a Catholic on his deathbed. What I wonder might we expect to happen during the reign of Charles III. Another Civil War is unlikely, while hunting Catholic priests is no longer appropriate, even if Charles III still swore in his Coronation oath ‘that I am a fateful Protestant’ and pledged to ‘uphold and maintain the Protestant accession to the Throne’. Charles III’s reign starts with great industrial unrest in Great Britain involving unions led by Union leaders of Irish parentage. Current rail strikes are being led by sons of Irish emigrants Mick Lynch of RMT and Mick Whelan of ASLEF. Both men lead the two sister rail unions, while the female union leader Pat Cullen from the north of Ireland leads the strike by NHS nursing staff. Are the Kings subjects, like those of the earlier Charles I and II, in rebellion? Great Britain is no longer great, it’s a country deeply divided. Would it be too much to expect that with the decline and death of the British empire the former colonial power would acknowledge its wrongs of the past, not only in relation to slavery and religious discrimination but also in relation to the partitioning of our country.

The Great Famine

The annual famine national commemoration day falls on Sunday next 21st May. On that day, we will remember the unfortunate folk from Athy and the outlying districts who died during the Great Famine. We will remember in particular the 1,200 or more men, women and children who died in the Athy workhouse. The service led by our Parish Priest, Fr. Liam Rigney will be held at 3.00 p.m. in St. Mary’s Cemetery where the uncoffined remains of the workhouse dead were buried during the Great Famine. Their graves remain unmarked and sad to write Kildare County Council have yet to erect a memorial to the famine dead in St. Mary’s which memorial was promised some years ago. The Great Famine, so called to distinguish it from other Irish famines, saw the darkest days in Irish history. Evictions were a common place occurrence in Ireland of the 19th Century but the clearing of tenants from land during and immediately after the Great Famine was a cause of extreme hardship for many. Hunger and plague stalked the Irish countryside at that time and entire families were robbed of life. The workhouse opened in Athy in January 1844 was just one of the 163 workhouses which were built in Ireland between 1840 and 1853. Recording the tragedy of the Great Famine has been very difficult. For decades, the tragic events of Ireland’s worst famine were shrouded in silence. Those who survived those terrible years were perhaps ashamed to speak of what occurred. The famine dead were buried and sadly their memories were neglected for far too long. In more recent years, we have come to understand the suffering and the hardships of those who lived or died during the Great Famine. It was this better understanding of the famine years that led to the holding of the first National Famine Commemoration in Skibbereen in 2009 and since then the National Commemoration Day has been held in different locations throughout the country. Five years ago, the Government formally designated the third Sunday in May as the National commemoration day to officially mark the Great Famine. Many years ago I studied the minutes of meetings of Athy’s Town Commissioners held during the famine years 1845 to 1849. I was astonished not to find a single mention of the Great Famine, it’s effect on the townspeople or any reference to the local workhouse which was under the control of the Athy Board of Guardians. During those years, more than 1,200 persons died in the workhouse while the town’s population which had numbered 4,698 in 1841 had fallen to 3,873 ten years later. This represented an actual loss of 825 persons but if one takes account of the town’s population increase of 4.5% in the 10 years prior to 1841 and applied the same rate to the following decade a loss of 1,036 persons can be assumed. The Irish famine of the 1840s was one of the worst tragedies in 19th century Europe and the silence of the towns public representatives at that time is a sad reminder of how a demoralised people become silent. Not only did they remain silent and leave little record for examination by future generations but the survivors of the famine also remained silent. For decades, the Great Famine remained an unspoken and an unwritten part of our shared history. The first publication of note on the famine was published in 1874 by Fr. John O’Rourke who was Parish Priest of Maynooth. He had been ordained in 1850 and immediately spent some months as a curate in Castledermot before being transferred to St. Michael’s Parish in Athy in 1851. In his book “History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847”, he wrote “I have a vivid recollection of the blight as it appeared in the southern portion of Kildare in 1850. The 15th July in that year was a day of clouds and lightening, of thunder and terrific rain. It was one of those days that strike the timid with alarm and terror, sometimes it was dark as twilight, sometimes a sudden ghastly brightness was produce by the lightening. Those who had an intimate knowledge of the various blights from 1845 said this is the beginning of the blight, so it was”. We will remember on Sunday next at 3.00p.m. our dead of the Great Famine and especially those who passed away in the local workhouse and whose uncoffined remains were brought by hand cart to the nearby cemetery of St. Mary’s for burial.