Anna Breakey was 24 years old when she came to live and work in Athy 74 years ago. She was a native of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, the third of...

In August 1782, the Irish antiquarian Austin Cooper, following a visit to Athy, wrote “Athy is a small town situated on the River Barrow ove...

This year we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the civic guards later named the Garda Siochana. The new Irish police force wa...

This year we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the Civic Guards later named the Garda Siochana. The new Irish police force wa...

The mural, which as I write is being painted on the side wall of Alison Quinn’s solicitors office off Meeting Lane, is the latest addition t...

It’s almost 40 years ago when with the assistance of FAS, the Industrial Training Authority, I organised a project intended to record all th...

One of my earliest memories is of walking with my older brothers to the huge fire which broke out at the Wallboard factory in April 1949. I...

It is close on 29 years ago that I penned my first Eye on the Past. This week the 1500th article is printed and I want to take the opportun...

In 1841 Athy had the largest population of any town in County Kildare. With 4,980 persons living within the town boundaries, it exceeded th...

The worst effects of the famine which had ravaged Ireland following the failure of the potato crop in 1845 had abated by the time 1853 arriv...

Two important books arrived on my desk in the last week, both of them with listings of men who served our neighbouring country at a time whe...

During twelve months of lockdown we have witnessed a catastrophic change in the commercial life of our town and district. Local businesses h...

Last week’s Kildare Nationalist carried a news item concerning White’s Castle and an announcement of the forthcoming auction of what was des...

Two hundred years ago Athy, like many other parts of Ireland, was the scene of ribbon men type activity. The so called Ribbon Society was a...

Recent large-scale objections in Dublin to the State’s continuing efforts to accommodate Ukrainian refugees reminded me of similar oppositio...

The local conference of the St. Vincent de Paul Society is the oldest voluntary organisation in Athy. While I don’t have a record of when t...

The local newspapers headlined Clonmullin’s AFC latest victory as ‘Clonmullin’s Magical Treble’, while another newspaper more sedately descr...

My reference last week to the absence of community notice boards in Athy prompted a quick response from several readers who like me bemoaned...

The recently announced Tidy Town competition results for this year show that Athy has made substantial gains in its overall marks and elicit...

Next Sunday, November 13th at 3.00pm we will gather in St. Michael’s Cemetery to remember the young men from Athy and district who died in t...

Athy’s young footballers won the under 16 Division A County Championship final last week. The team captain was Dara English, grandson of my...