Eye 906

I travelled on the new road leading from Gallowshill to the M9 motorway over the Easter weekend and marvelled at the previously unseen landscapes which the changing geography of the district has now opened up for us. The previously circuitous route via Shanrath and Foxhill leading to the village of Ballitore has been replaced with a direct route which leaves what was once the meandering track way of medieval man and beast, like a modern day castaway. Almost, but not quite superfluous, the ancient roadway now serves as a way of passage to dwelling houses which over the decades sprang up amidst the quietness of a rural setting.

The geography of this part of South Kildare has been changed in much the same way as the original road from Athy to Dublin was changed two hundred years or so ago to give us the straight stretches of roadway on either side of the Moat of Ardscull two hundred years or so ago. The old Dublin Road ran a few hundred yards to the east of the Moat but why it was changed I do not know. As the old road approached Athy it passed through the lands of Gallowshill, as did its 18th century replacement and as still does the new 21st century roadway.

Gallowshill was then a much more important part of the town’s geography than it is today. As the name confirms it was the site of the town’s gallows which stood as a permanent reminder of the fate which awaited those who infringed the law. Property rights in the 17th and 18th centuries and earlier were far more important than the right to life and the death penalty was applied rigorously for what might now appear to have been the most minor of offences. The path to Gallowshill was a well trodden one as the unfortunate miscreants were brought to the public place of execution where afterwards their bodies were left on the gallows as a deterrent to others.

A decade or so ago when excavations were being carried out on sandpits at Gallowshill a number of skeletal remains were found. In all probability these were the remains of some unfortunates who breathed their last on the town gallows at Gallowshill. Now as we approach the new Gallowshill roundabout we can be forgiven for overlooking the history of a place which in another age struck fear and loathing in the hearts of so many. Its story may never be fully known.

On another side of the town, this time out on the Carlow Road, there remains another new roadway awaiting completion. The Ardreigh bypass, which was the subject of much comment after the costly rediscovery of the medieval village of Ardreigh, will hopefully be finished before the year is out. In the meantime the archaeologists who spent so much time and money on excavating the Ardreigh site have provided a multi volume preliminary report on their findings.

The findings indicated that the Ardreigh site was of regional and possibly national importance. As in Gallowshill where the road alignment was changed over the centuries, it was clear that the medieval village of Ardreigh was served by a road which ran to the east of the present roadway.

A quite enormous amount of medieval material and artefacts was unearthed at Ardreigh during the archaeological excavations which commenced in 2000 and initially lasted for just over three years. The site was not worked on again until 2007 and was finally completed approximately a year later. In addition to medieval material the site also gave up evidence of prehistoric life, including a Neolithic stone axe head, as well as several sherids of prehistoric pottery and flint tools. One of the most important finds on the excavated site was an intact late Bronze Age pot. The findings all point to the Ardreigh site being a settlement dating from prehistoric through to medieval times.

The existing graveyard at Ardreigh was always assumed to have been the more modern successor of an ancient burial ground and the finding of nearly 1300 skeletal remains outside the eastern boundary wall of the graveyard confirms that the commonly held belief was indeed correct. The ‘Lost’ graveyard would appear to have held an unusually large number of child skeletons, an obvious indication of the high mortality rate in medieval times. Where however was the explanation for the five skeletons found buried outside the medieval graveyard boundary? Three skeletons were buried in the same grave which might indicate individuals executed for some criminal offence or other. The traditional Christian practice of burying corpses on their backs with their heads to the west and their eyes to the east was practiced during the life of the Ardreigh settlement. Incidentally it is a practice which was and is still followed in Old St. Michael’s cemetery but not in new St. Michaels where corpses are buried in a north south orientation.

The finding of the remains of large lime kilns, lime storage pots and industrial hearths, together with corn drying kilns, fragments of quern stones and the remains of some medieval structures points to Ardreigh having been the site of a substantial settlement. Its importance in terms of Irish archaeology awaits the outcome of further studies including carbon dating and Ardreigh may well prove to have had an early Christian existence. No matter what further findings are made Ardreigh has provided a unique collection of artefacts which adds enormously to the heritage resources of the area. The concern must be that those artefacts can eventually be restored to this area to help us redefine and clarify our prehistoric and medieval past.

The skeletal remains which were removed from the site for analysis will presumably be eventually returned to Ardreigh for re-internment. Would it be too much to hope for the recreation on the ‘idle’ land between the old and new road of the Ardreigh medieval village as found by the archaeologists?

My thanks to the readers who contacted me about the cast of Mary Mullans’ play, ‘The Turn of the Wheel’. Unfortunately no one has yet turned up a photograph of the cast, although I believe that such a photograph exists. If you can help me in my quest I would be delighted to hear from you.

Road Alignment at Gallowshill and Ardreigh

I travelled on the new road leading from Gallowshill to the M9 motorway over the Easter weekend and marvelled at the previously unseen landscapes which the changing geography of the district has now opened up for us.  The previously circuitous route via Shanrath and Foxhill leading to the village of Ballitore has been replaced with a direct route which leaves what was once the meandering track way of medieval man and beast, like a modern day castaway.  Almost, but not quite superfluous, the ancient roadway now serves as a way of passage to dwelling houses which over the decades sprang up amidst the quietness of a rural setting. 

The geography of this part of South Kildare has been changed in much the same way as the original road from Athy to Dublin was changed two hundred years or so ago to give us the straight stretches of roadway on either side of the Moat of Ardscull two hundred years or so ago.  The old Dublin Road ran a few hundred yards to the east of the Moat but why it was changed I do not know.  As the old road approached Athy it passed through the lands of Gallowshill, as did its 18^th century replacement and as still does the new 21^st century roadway. 

Gallowshill was then a much more important part of the town’s geography than it is today.  As the name confirms it was the site of the town’s gallows which stood as a permanent reminder of the fate which awaited those who infringed the law.  Property rights in the 17^th and 18^th centuries and earlier were far more important than the right to life and the death penalty was applied rigorously for what might now appear to have been the most minor of offences.  The path to Gallowshill was a well trodden one as the unfortunate miscreants were brought to the public place of execution where afterwards their bodies were left on the gallows as a deterrent to others. 

A decade or so ago when excavations were being carried out on sandpits at Gallowshill a number of skeletal remains were found.  In all probability these were the remains of some unfortunates who breathed their last on the town gallows at Gallowshill.  Now as we approach the new Gallowshill roundabout we can be forgiven for overlooking the history of a place which in another age struck fear and loathing in the hearts of so many.  Its story may never be fully known. 

On another side of the town, this time out on the Carlow Road, there remains another new roadway awaiting completion.  The Ardreigh bypass, which was the subject of much comment after the costly rediscovery of the medieval village of Ardreigh, will hopefully be finished before the year is out.  In the meantime the archaeologists who spent so much time and money on excavating the Ardreigh site have provided a multi volume preliminary report on their findings. 

The findings indicated that the Ardreigh site was of regional and possibly national importance.  As in Gallowshill where the road alignment was changed over the centuries, it was clear that the medieval village of Ardreigh was served by a road which ran to the east of the present roadway.

A quite enormous amount of medieval material and artefacts was unearthed at Ardreigh during the archaeological excavations which commenced in 2000 and initially lasted for just over three years.  The site was not worked on again until 2007 and was finally completed approximately a year later.  In addition to medieval material the site also gave up evidence of prehistoric life, including a Neolithic stone axe head, as well as several sherids of prehistoric pottery and flint tools.  One of the most important finds on the excavated site was an intact late Bronze Age pot.  The findings all point to the Ardreigh site being a settlement dating from prehistoric through to medieval times.

The existing graveyard at Ardreigh was always assumed to have been the more modern successor of an ancient burial ground and the finding of nearly 1300 skeletal remains outside the eastern boundary wall of the graveyard confirms that the commonly held belief was indeed correct.  The ‘Lost’ graveyard would appear to have held an unusually large number of child skeletons, an obvious indication of the high mortality rate in medieval times. Where however was the explanation for the five skeletons found buried outside the medieval graveyard boundary?  Three skeletons were buried in the same grave which might indicate individuals executed for some criminal offence or other.  The traditional Christian practice of burying corpses on their backs with their heads to the west and their eyes to the east was practiced during the life of the Ardreigh settlement.  Incidentally it is a practice which was and is still followed in Old St. Michael’s cemetery but not in new St. Michaels where corpses are buried in a north south orientation.

The finding of the remains of large lime kilns, lime storage pots and industrial hearths, together with corn drying kilns, fragments of quern stones and the remains of some medieval structures points to Ardreigh having been the site of a substantial settlement.  Its importance in terms of Irish archaeology awaits the outcome of further studies including carbon dating and Ardreigh may well prove to have had an early Christian existence.  No matter what further findings are made Ardreigh has provided a unique collection of artefacts which adds enormously to the heritage resources of the area.  The concern must be that those artefacts can eventually be restored to this area to help us redefine and clarify our prehistoric and medieval past. 

The skeletal remains which were removed from the site for analysis will presumably be eventually returned to Ardreigh for re-internment.  Would it be too much to hope for the recreation on the ‘idle’ land between the old and new road of the Ardreigh medieval village as found by the archaeologists?

My thanks to the readers who contacted me about the cast of Mary Mullans’ play, ‘The Turn of the Wheel’.  Unfortunately no one has yet turned up a photograph of the cast, although I believe that such a photograph exists.  If you can help me in my quest I would be delighted to hear from you. 

Crime and Punishment in the old days

Wrong doers making an appearance before Courts today are faced with a range of punishments from fines to imprisonment to community services orders. The latter requires the convicted person to provide a specified number of hours of labour on a community project in his own locality. In this way he repays his debt to society and more specifically the community in which the offence occurred.

An offender would have faced almost certain death for many of the offence which today are treated quite lightly. At one time up to 500 criminal offences ranging from the stealing of a chicken to murder merited the death penalty. Every town had its Gallows and up to the beginning of the last century every traveller approaching Athy from the Kilcullen direction passed by the Gallows which was sited on rising ground just outside Athy. It was in this area, now known as Gallowshill, that the unfortunates were hanged and their bodies summarily disposed of in a nearby field. During the 17th and 18th centuries gibbeting or hanging the body of an executed criminal in chains on the approach to the town was the accepted practice. It acted as a permanent reminder to would be criminals and vagrants of the fate that awaited them should they step out of line in Athy.

Records of those hanged at Gallowshill are not available but we do know that on the 16th of August 1743 Luke Sherlock and his companion named Donnelly were hanged in Athy for robbery. The Dublin Journal of the 19th of September, 1756 reported that on the following Tuesday John Cronin was to be hanged in Athy for horse stealing, an offence committed four years previously. A note in the Irish Magazine of 1809 referred to a recent arrangement whereby Athy prisoners were transferred to Naas for execution. The writer regarded this as a breach of the privileges of the town of Athy! The change of execution place was of little consequence to those facing the ultimate penalty such as the four people sentenced to death at Athy assizes in July 1817 for stealing potatoes. Their six accomplices were deported for seven years.

During the months of May and June of 1798 several men from Athy and the surrounding countryside were arrested and lodged in Athy jail. Located in Whites Castle the jail was commonly regarded as the worst of its type in Ireland. Seven of those men, six of whom were from Narraghmore, were tried convicted and sentenced to be hanged. They were marched from the jail to an area close to the present dry dock and opposite the Military Barracks, where a Gallows had been erected. After the hangings two of the seven were beheaded and their severed heads were placed on Whites Castle as a warning to the local people not to get involved in rebellious activity.

Frequently criminals were brought back to the scene of their crime and hanged from the nearest tree. Such a fate befell John Whelan, known locally as "Black Top" who was involved in an attack on Glassealy House, the home of Thomas J. Rawson in 1798. Rawson, who later wrote the “Statistical Survey of County Kildare”, was leader of the Athy Loyalists and a member of the local Borough Council. 'Black Top' and his accomplices burned Rawson's house on the same day that they had fired the home of Mrs. Hannah Manders of Glassealy resulting in the death of four women and Mrs. Manders' nephew.

In 1799 Rawson captured 'Black Top' in Monavullagh bog and he was tried before a Court Martial, convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. An eye witness account of 'Black Top's' journey to the place of execution in Glassealy was written by Mary Leadbetter of Ballitore. She referred to
"two men yet living but in the same car were their coffins. One had been convicted of burning the Courthouse in Narraghmore, the other for the murder of Hannah Manders and they were to suffer death at the places where their crimes had been committed. One of the men hung his head weeping, the other looked about as if stupefied by terror. The march of the soldiers was slow and solemn and the people in the market seemed afraid to notice the prisoners."

Two years ago, during clearance work on a field, Gallowshill began to give up its deadly secrets as several skeletal remains were recovered. Work was temporarily stopped while the authorities satisfied themselves as to the nature of the findings but work soon re-commenced as the bulldozers buried centuries of history and death beneath clay ready to give up new life to 20th century crops.

Luckily enough for some hanging was not the only form of punishment in bygone days. In addition to a prison sentence the criminal might expect to spend some time in the town stocks or in the town pillory or alternatively to be subjected to the whip.

Imprisonment was of course the primary form of punishment and still is to this day. To be deprived of your personal freedom was always an unpleasant experience but particularly so where the prison to which you were sentenced was regarded as the worst of its kind in Ireland. Such was the description accorded in 1824 to Athy jail, then located in Whites Castle by the Inspector of Jails. The prison had nine cells and the diet of the prisoners was bread and water only. Matters improved somewhat when the new jail was built on the Carlow Road in 1830. Consisting of five day rooms and thirty cells built in a semi-circular form around the Governors house, it replaced the much criticised Whites Castle jail. Prisoners were employed in stone breaking, mat making and oakum picking.

While the prison was designed to accommodate each prisoner in a separate cell the level of drunkenness and lawlessness in Athy soon lead to overcrowding. In 1854 the average daily number in the jail was 48, and in 1856 was 47. The severity with which offenders were treated by the law can be gleaned from an examination of the prison sentences imposed on local people in Athy Courts in 1837. Six prisoners were sentenced to life imprisonment for cattle and sheep stealing while one unfortunate man got seven years for stealing a pig. Two offenders were whipped for simple larceny while 103 men and women were sent to prison for drunkenness.

In earlier years the drunk would probably have served time in the town's stocks. An Act of 1405 required every town and village to have stocks which were two stout boards with holes through which the legs of the offender were placed while he was sitting, and then padlocked together. The object was to humiliate or shame the offender who was padlocked in the stocks for a prescribed period. The local stocks and the pillory were in all probability located in the Market Square in Athy.

The use of the pillory was another way of publicly humiliating any offender who was required by the local Court to be pilloried. Made of wood, the pillory was a frame with holes through which the head and hands of the offender were placed while he was in a standing position. When the offender was placed in the stocks or in the pillory, he was at the mercy of the locals who could jeer him or if he was particularly offensive or disliked throw rubbish at him. The records of the Borough Council show that on the 16th of October, 1738 the members of the Corporation noted the conviction of Graham Bradford, a freeman of Athy, for "wilful and corrupt perjury" following which he was pilloried and subsequently transported to America.

Reference was earlier made to offenders sentenced to whipping in Athy Courts in 1837. Whipping was a common form of punishment following the Whipping Act of 1530. Initially it was reserved for vagrants who were to be whipped until blood was drawn and who were then required to take an oath to leave town and return to their own area. In time whipping became a more common place punishment for petty offenders. A whipping post was normally provided alongside the town's stocks and used as required.

In 1798 a large wooden triangle was erected opposite the Military Barracks in Barrack Street and used in an attempt to obtain information from uncooperative local people. Men thought to be involved in rebellious activity were tied to the triangle and flogged. The man in charge was Thomas Rawson of Glassealy. Thomas Fitzgerald of Geraldine writing of his experiences in December 1802 described Rawson as having
"every person tortured and stripped as his cannibal will directed. He would seat himself in a chair in the centre of a ring formed around the triangle, the miserable victims kneeling under the triangle until they would be spotted over with the blood of the others".

If the pillory and the stocks were normally reserved for men a peculiarly female form of punishment was the ducking stool. Consisting of a chair at the end of a long pole or beam which could be swivelled and lowered into the River Barrow, the ducking chair was particularly effective in dampening the spirits of quarrelsome women. It was a form of punishment first used in the 15th century but which fell out of favour much to the dismay of many a hen-pecked husband, long before its usefulness could be fully exploited!