The passage of time was the theme of a project recently undertaken by the sixth formers of Scoil Mhichil Naofa. Their work unveiled to admiring parents in the Halla Mor last week dealt with life in Athy in 1970 and what they predicted it would be like in 25 years time. Time locked in a capsule until 2020 it will give a future generation of Athy schoolgirls, not yet born an opportunity to see through the eyes of a previous generation glimpses of past life in our town. The 2020 Project which I understand is a European nature conservation initiative not only requires the girls to record the present but also to look back and forward 25 years.
The changes in Athy over the past 25 years have been quite substantial. A generation ago the Wallboard Factory and the I.V.I., both centres of manufacturing activity, welcomed each morning the men who sweated and laboured for their hard-earned wages. These factories are now gone, spawning in their wake a number of smaller enterprises which happily continue today.
The loss of these two factories which in 1970 had been operating for 35 years and 25 years respectively was not the only dismal news on the industrial front in the intervening years. Minch Nortons, the famous malting business first started in 1847 had almost 78 men employed in its local malting works 25 years ago. Today mechanisation has caused that number to plummet to about six men. In every sphere of activity, especially industrial and farming the same story is revealed. Less men and women are required today to meet the production targets set for their parents 25 years ago.
Some things have not changed. Just a few years prior to 1970 Athy Urban District Council submitted to the Department of Local Government as the present Department of the Environment was then called, its proposals for meeting the new road requirements of traffic passing through Athy on the main Dublin/Kilkenny route. Traffic projections based on figures compiled in 1967 indicated the urgent need for a new road which would free Leinster Street and Duke Street of much of the traffic passing through Athy. Ever optimistic, the local Council chose two alternative routes for the proposed road. The Inner Relief Road and the Outer Relief Road were to remain as lines on the carefully prepared road Engineer's drawing ever since.
Butlers Row, Janeville Lane, Beggars End, Kirwans Lane and Chapel Lane were some of the places where families were still living in 1970. The various housing developments in the Woodstock area were prepared and planned, with insufficient thought it must now be said, to replace the older housing stock in Athy. In time Butlers Row and other old terraces in the town were vacated. Windows and doors were blocked up providing a visual backdrop of decay where previously home life had once been evident. The decay of 1970 was not confined to the older type of private houses, but was evident also in the public buildings of the town. The Town Hall housed the Urban District Council Offices and in the Ballroom on the first floor a shirt manufacturing unit. The latter is now housed in the recently re-opened factory on the Dublin Road and the local Council has managed in the intervening years to create its own piece of architectural history. The aptly called "Glass Taj Mahal" in Rathstewart unblushing stands a mute testament to the prolificacy of a local Council which prepared for the future by discarding its historical links with the most splendid building in Athy - The Town Hall.
Luckily that same Town Hall was saved by the timely intervention of An Taisce and ultimately by the co-operation of Kildare County Council and AnCO - The Industrial Training Authority, in a major rebuilding programme which went on for many years.
Twenty five years ago school boys still travelled the same route taken by their fathers and grandfathers on their way to the Christian Brothers School in St. John's Lane. On their way they passed at one end the Social Club while at the other end Ted Vernal's Forge and Carberys building yard were still going strong. The Christian Brothers have since left Athy while the Secondary School in St. John's Lane has closed down to be replaced by the ultra modern school building in Rathstewart. The builders yard, the forge and the Social Club are now no more.
Closed also is Dreamland Ballroom the mecca for dancers which first opened its doors in 1961. In 1970 it was still going strong but was to be sold within years by its owner, the irrepressible future politician and Taoiseach Albert Reynolds. Today the Dancehall which played host to the showband stars of the past is a sports hall but its future is uncertain and it may well go the way of the Social Club which once stood in St. John's Lane.
Our town which for a short period in the late 1950's boasted two cinemas has witnessed the recent closure of its last cinema, the relatively new Grove Cinema. Hopefully when the time capsule prepared by the schoolgirls in Scoil Mhichil Naofa is opened in 2020 the Grove Cinema will still be there as a popular centre of entertainment for the growing population of Athy.
My wish for Athy is that in 25 years time it will be home to many young families living in a friendly and healthy environment. Would it be too much to hope that the orderly development of the town on the twin waterways of Barrow and Canal will by then be facilitated by an Outer Relief Road which would take away from the heart of Athy the fumes, noise and danger of passing traffic.
Thursday, February 1, 1996
Friday, January 26, 1996
Joe "Onie" Walsh
Among those who attend St. Michael’s cemetery each November to honour Athy’s dead in World War I is to be found a sprightly man of advancing years who proudly steps forward to place a cross on the grave of Michael Byrne who died in November 1918. In honouring his mother’s brother Joe Walsh, known locally as “Lowly” remembers also his fallen comrades who served with him in World War II.
Son of master tailor Joseph Walsh and Teresa Byrne, “Lowly” was born almost seventy-five years ago in Barrack Street. His nick-name comes from his maternal grandfather’s ready response to the oft repeated enquiry from neighbours as to the health of his small, then sickly grandchild. “Lowly” was to remain Joe’s name thereafter.
Having left school at ten years of age he started work one year later in P.P. Doyle’s brick yard with all the other young fellows from Dooley’s Terrace where his parents were then living. The winter months were spent picking stones out of the yellow clay while in summer he was put to “hacking” bricks, building them up one on top of the other ready for firing in the kiln. His older brother Michael also worked in the brick yard but sadly he died at nineteen years of age.
When the asbestos factory started in 1936 “Lowly” got a job there. With the outbreak of World War II like so many other Athy men he called to the local Garda Station to enlist in the Irish Army. Garda Connell took his details and the next day “Lowly” was brought with a number of other locals to the Curragh Camp. Conditions in the Irish Army were not good. Indeed his abiding memory of his three years spent in the Irish Army is what he still recalls after a lapse of fifty-four years as the “scandalous Army food”. Conditions in the Army were so bad that there was wholesale desertion by the disenchanted recruits who travelled by train to Belfast to join the British Army.
“Lowly” followed the same path and in 1942 he joined the RAF. He was stopped on his way to Dublin by two military policeman but was lucky to escape the fate of his friend Bobby Bachelor, also a deserter, who spent ninety days in detention following his arrest by “Cushy” Ryan, a military policeman from Athy. An indication of the large number of Southern Irish Army deserters can be gauged from “Lowly’s” description of the fifty or sixty recruits who on arrival at Belfast railway station with him marched with practised steps in strict military formation to the recruiting barracks.
While training to be a rear gunner “Lowly” responded to a request for volunteers to go to France and joined the Motor Transport Light Repair Unit. He passed through Caen where even the graveyards had been bombed and on into Ghent in Belgium where his unit camped for some time. Moving into the Ardennes forest they were attacked by the Germans. This was the arena where Hitler gambled on an offensive against the allies. The Germans were first checked by the Americans and eventually routed by an Allied Counter Offensive in January 1945 which became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
“Lowly’s” unit passed on into Holland and he still recalls the abject poverty of the war-torn people of that country and Belgium after the Germans had retreated. The people were starving, unlike the soldiers who were liberating them. Cigarettes and bars of chocolate supplied each week to the Allied soldiers sustained a barter system in these countries whose economies were destroyed during the War. “Lowly” eventually ended up in Berlin where he stayed two weeks in the stadium which had hosted the Olympic Games in 1936. He also recalls visiting the Reich Chancellery where Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in May 1945.
Demobbed in June 1946 “Lowly” was unable to return to Athy until Bill Norton, the Labour T.D., successfully raised in the Dail the possibility of an amnesty for deserters from the Irish Army. The numbers involved were such as to necessitate the granting of this amnesty, otherwise the Irish Army authorities would have been overwhelmed by the number of the soldiers returning to their homeland. Anyway it was privately acknowledged that the unsatisfactory conditions in the Irish Army contributed hugely to the mass exodus across the border.
“Lowly” returned to Athy in June 1947 and for the second time got a job in the Asbestos factory. He married Kathleen Brennan of Crettyard in July of the following year and they lived in Geraldine before moving in time to Convent View where they still reside. Later on he joined Bord na Mona, continuing to work there until he retired in 1985.
“Lowly”, a good soccer player, played for Carlow A.F.C. as did the late Gerry Sullivan, a Waterford man, both of whom with “Cymbal” Davis of Joseph’s Terrace and Louis Poperlensky founded Athy A.F.C. in or about 1950. Mick McEvoy of St. Joseph’s Terrace was the first Treasurer, with Willie O’Neill, commonly called “Woodbine Willie” and Gordon Prole Snr. as Club officers.
Another club in which Joe was involved was the handball club which was re-started by George Ryan, Mick McEvoy, Shay May, James Delaney and Joe “Lowly” Walsh. The handball alley was out of repair and those involved each paid six pence a week to pay for the repairs which enabled many to continue playing the game which had such a long tradition in Athy. Good handballers remembered by Joe included brothers Jack and Henry Foley, Tom Day and George Aldridge, all of Barrack Street, Mickey Costello of Shrewleen, Willie Frazier of Higginsons Lane, Jack Delaney and George Roche, both of Woodstock Terrace, Bill Aldridge and George Ryan.
“Lowly” Walsh has a wonderful life story to tell, only snatches of which I have been able to relate. His delightful recounting of times spent both in and out of his native town give an interesting insight into events of national and local interest. His recall is sharply focused as he re-lives both the happy and sad experiences of a life lived to the full. The “Lowly” child of the 1920’s who outlived many of his contemporaries has carried throughout his life a nick-name which age has demonstrably shown to be a less than accurate description of his constitution.
Son of master tailor Joseph Walsh and Teresa Byrne, “Lowly” was born almost seventy-five years ago in Barrack Street. His nick-name comes from his maternal grandfather’s ready response to the oft repeated enquiry from neighbours as to the health of his small, then sickly grandchild. “Lowly” was to remain Joe’s name thereafter.
Having left school at ten years of age he started work one year later in P.P. Doyle’s brick yard with all the other young fellows from Dooley’s Terrace where his parents were then living. The winter months were spent picking stones out of the yellow clay while in summer he was put to “hacking” bricks, building them up one on top of the other ready for firing in the kiln. His older brother Michael also worked in the brick yard but sadly he died at nineteen years of age.
When the asbestos factory started in 1936 “Lowly” got a job there. With the outbreak of World War II like so many other Athy men he called to the local Garda Station to enlist in the Irish Army. Garda Connell took his details and the next day “Lowly” was brought with a number of other locals to the Curragh Camp. Conditions in the Irish Army were not good. Indeed his abiding memory of his three years spent in the Irish Army is what he still recalls after a lapse of fifty-four years as the “scandalous Army food”. Conditions in the Army were so bad that there was wholesale desertion by the disenchanted recruits who travelled by train to Belfast to join the British Army.
“Lowly” followed the same path and in 1942 he joined the RAF. He was stopped on his way to Dublin by two military policeman but was lucky to escape the fate of his friend Bobby Bachelor, also a deserter, who spent ninety days in detention following his arrest by “Cushy” Ryan, a military policeman from Athy. An indication of the large number of Southern Irish Army deserters can be gauged from “Lowly’s” description of the fifty or sixty recruits who on arrival at Belfast railway station with him marched with practised steps in strict military formation to the recruiting barracks.
While training to be a rear gunner “Lowly” responded to a request for volunteers to go to France and joined the Motor Transport Light Repair Unit. He passed through Caen where even the graveyards had been bombed and on into Ghent in Belgium where his unit camped for some time. Moving into the Ardennes forest they were attacked by the Germans. This was the arena where Hitler gambled on an offensive against the allies. The Germans were first checked by the Americans and eventually routed by an Allied Counter Offensive in January 1945 which became known as the Battle of the Bulge.
“Lowly’s” unit passed on into Holland and he still recalls the abject poverty of the war-torn people of that country and Belgium after the Germans had retreated. The people were starving, unlike the soldiers who were liberating them. Cigarettes and bars of chocolate supplied each week to the Allied soldiers sustained a barter system in these countries whose economies were destroyed during the War. “Lowly” eventually ended up in Berlin where he stayed two weeks in the stadium which had hosted the Olympic Games in 1936. He also recalls visiting the Reich Chancellery where Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in May 1945.
Demobbed in June 1946 “Lowly” was unable to return to Athy until Bill Norton, the Labour T.D., successfully raised in the Dail the possibility of an amnesty for deserters from the Irish Army. The numbers involved were such as to necessitate the granting of this amnesty, otherwise the Irish Army authorities would have been overwhelmed by the number of the soldiers returning to their homeland. Anyway it was privately acknowledged that the unsatisfactory conditions in the Irish Army contributed hugely to the mass exodus across the border.
“Lowly” returned to Athy in June 1947 and for the second time got a job in the Asbestos factory. He married Kathleen Brennan of Crettyard in July of the following year and they lived in Geraldine before moving in time to Convent View where they still reside. Later on he joined Bord na Mona, continuing to work there until he retired in 1985.
“Lowly”, a good soccer player, played for Carlow A.F.C. as did the late Gerry Sullivan, a Waterford man, both of whom with “Cymbal” Davis of Joseph’s Terrace and Louis Poperlensky founded Athy A.F.C. in or about 1950. Mick McEvoy of St. Joseph’s Terrace was the first Treasurer, with Willie O’Neill, commonly called “Woodbine Willie” and Gordon Prole Snr. as Club officers.
Another club in which Joe was involved was the handball club which was re-started by George Ryan, Mick McEvoy, Shay May, James Delaney and Joe “Lowly” Walsh. The handball alley was out of repair and those involved each paid six pence a week to pay for the repairs which enabled many to continue playing the game which had such a long tradition in Athy. Good handballers remembered by Joe included brothers Jack and Henry Foley, Tom Day and George Aldridge, all of Barrack Street, Mickey Costello of Shrewleen, Willie Frazier of Higginsons Lane, Jack Delaney and George Roche, both of Woodstock Terrace, Bill Aldridge and George Ryan.
“Lowly” Walsh has a wonderful life story to tell, only snatches of which I have been able to relate. His delightful recounting of times spent both in and out of his native town give an interesting insight into events of national and local interest. His recall is sharply focused as he re-lives both the happy and sad experiences of a life lived to the full. The “Lowly” child of the 1920’s who outlived many of his contemporaries has carried throughout his life a nick-name which age has demonstrably shown to be a less than accurate description of his constitution.
Thursday, January 25, 1996
Mullaghmast Rath
I paid a visit to Mullaghmast last Sunday to see again the famous Rath which has figured in Irish history from as far back as 82AD. The site consists of a raised circular rampart breached at two sides allowing grazing cattle to wander through at will. It is now difficult to image that here was once the Palace of an Irish King frequently mentioned in the ancient Annals.
In 82AD O'Toole, a member of the South Kildare Clan whose territory was called Omurethy, waged war on his son-in-law Eochy King of Leinster for leaving O'Toole's daughter to marry her sister. We are told that O'Toole destroyed the Palaces and Fortresses of Naas Mullaghcreelan and Mullaghmast.
Again we find in Keatings history of Ireland the oft repeated reference to Felimy the Law Giver who was King of Ireland from 111 to 119 A.D. During his reign the Munster men invaded Leinster as far as Mullaghmast. The dispossessed clans appealed to the King of Ulster and with his help proceeded to drive out the Munster men from the area. Defeated at a small Ford on the River Greise the Munster men retreated to a Ford on the River Barrow where Ae the son of a Munster Chieftan was killed. It was from him that the future town of Athy got it's name being the anglicised form of the Gaelic place name Ath Ae, meaning the Ford of Ae, being the place where Ae was slain. Thus was Mullaghmast and Athy first linked in history.
Another connection between the two ancient places was forged in the second century when Con of the Hundred Battles, King of Ireland, sought to enforce his right to a Cow Tribute against the son of the King of Leinster resulting in a Battle at Mullaghmast. Victory went to Con's opponent who then proceeded to take over the Royal Palace of Tara. The Cow Tribute or Borumha was an important element in the relationship between King and subjects and in our own locality we have Aughraboura the area where the Cow Tribute was once paid. In 241A.D. another King of Ireland, this time Cormac MacArt burnt the Palace of Mullaghmast to revenge a massacre perpetrated by the son of the King of Leinster.
In 727 Mullaghmast was the site of a pitched battle between the Clans of Dowlings and Kinsellas resulting in a victory for the latter. Following the Battle of Clontarf which saw the Irish victorious over the Danes, the Armies of Desmond and Thomand camped at Mullaghmast on their way home to Munster. The usual rivalry between the two great Munster tribes overlooked in the face of the coming enemy now resurfaced and the men of Desmond thought they would take advantage of the Thomand men who were weakened by exertion and carrying many wounded. Those nursing wounds used moss to stem the flow of blood and declared their intention of playing their part in the fight against the Desmonds. The latter on hearing this left the area whereupon the men of Thomand travelled onwards to Ath Ae where they drank the water from the River Barrow and cleaned their wounds. However it was in 1577 that occurred an event which was to fix the name of Mullaghmast in Irish memories for ever more. Tradition relates that leaders of the Seven Septs of Laois and their followers who had waged a constant war against English settlers were summoned to the Rath at Mullaghmast under terms which guaranteed their safety. On their arrival they were set upon and murdered depriving the ancient territory of Laois of so many of the O'Moores, O'Kellys, O'Lalors, Devoys, McEvoys, O'Dorans and O'Dowlings. Tradition has us believe that one of the O'Lalors escaped on horseback, hurrying back through the countryside to his own place. The horse wounded in the escape collapsed and died near Brackna Woods giving to the area a name which it still bears - The Bleeding Horse.
A carved stone commemorating the massacre of 1577 was placed in the centre of the Rath in 1991 by the Greise Valley Development Association. This is the only visible reminder of the horrible happenings of 400 years ago.
On Sunday the 1st of October 1843 the Liberator Daniel O'Connell spoke at a Repeal Meeting in Mullaghmast. The SequiCentenary of that event so well documented in Irish histories was celebrated in 1993 with the unveiling of a suitably inscribed stone on the roadside nearest to the Rath of Mullaghmast. The fields nearest to the road on the Mullaghmast crossroads side of the Rath are believed to be those in which O'Connell's Repeal Meeting was held. On the same side of the Rath and next to the roadway is the famous long stone of Mullaghmast reputed to mark the grave of a Munster Chieftan. The seven foot high granite stone is the only one of its kind in the area and was evidently brought from afar to its present site.
Mullaghmast once had another six small Raths in the earlier mentioned Repeal meeting field but they have been razed leaving the larger Rath of Mullaghmast as the only visible reminder of the once great Palace of Mullaghmast.
Last Sunday afternoon the area was quiet with not another person in sight. It was difficult to believe that almost 2,000 years ago this was an important settlement, a lordly place fit for Kings.
The grazing cattle were unconcerned as I moved amongst them hoping to catch an echo from the past. The air was still as I gazed across the rich plains of South Kildare and on the horizon I imagined I could see the marching Army of a Munster Chieftain as it made haste to Mullaghmast. But for a moment only I held the vision and then it disappeared leaving me to regret the passing of time and the glories that were once Mullaghmast's.
In 82AD O'Toole, a member of the South Kildare Clan whose territory was called Omurethy, waged war on his son-in-law Eochy King of Leinster for leaving O'Toole's daughter to marry her sister. We are told that O'Toole destroyed the Palaces and Fortresses of Naas Mullaghcreelan and Mullaghmast.
Again we find in Keatings history of Ireland the oft repeated reference to Felimy the Law Giver who was King of Ireland from 111 to 119 A.D. During his reign the Munster men invaded Leinster as far as Mullaghmast. The dispossessed clans appealed to the King of Ulster and with his help proceeded to drive out the Munster men from the area. Defeated at a small Ford on the River Greise the Munster men retreated to a Ford on the River Barrow where Ae the son of a Munster Chieftan was killed. It was from him that the future town of Athy got it's name being the anglicised form of the Gaelic place name Ath Ae, meaning the Ford of Ae, being the place where Ae was slain. Thus was Mullaghmast and Athy first linked in history.
Another connection between the two ancient places was forged in the second century when Con of the Hundred Battles, King of Ireland, sought to enforce his right to a Cow Tribute against the son of the King of Leinster resulting in a Battle at Mullaghmast. Victory went to Con's opponent who then proceeded to take over the Royal Palace of Tara. The Cow Tribute or Borumha was an important element in the relationship between King and subjects and in our own locality we have Aughraboura the area where the Cow Tribute was once paid. In 241A.D. another King of Ireland, this time Cormac MacArt burnt the Palace of Mullaghmast to revenge a massacre perpetrated by the son of the King of Leinster.
In 727 Mullaghmast was the site of a pitched battle between the Clans of Dowlings and Kinsellas resulting in a victory for the latter. Following the Battle of Clontarf which saw the Irish victorious over the Danes, the Armies of Desmond and Thomand camped at Mullaghmast on their way home to Munster. The usual rivalry between the two great Munster tribes overlooked in the face of the coming enemy now resurfaced and the men of Desmond thought they would take advantage of the Thomand men who were weakened by exertion and carrying many wounded. Those nursing wounds used moss to stem the flow of blood and declared their intention of playing their part in the fight against the Desmonds. The latter on hearing this left the area whereupon the men of Thomand travelled onwards to Ath Ae where they drank the water from the River Barrow and cleaned their wounds. However it was in 1577 that occurred an event which was to fix the name of Mullaghmast in Irish memories for ever more. Tradition relates that leaders of the Seven Septs of Laois and their followers who had waged a constant war against English settlers were summoned to the Rath at Mullaghmast under terms which guaranteed their safety. On their arrival they were set upon and murdered depriving the ancient territory of Laois of so many of the O'Moores, O'Kellys, O'Lalors, Devoys, McEvoys, O'Dorans and O'Dowlings. Tradition has us believe that one of the O'Lalors escaped on horseback, hurrying back through the countryside to his own place. The horse wounded in the escape collapsed and died near Brackna Woods giving to the area a name which it still bears - The Bleeding Horse.
A carved stone commemorating the massacre of 1577 was placed in the centre of the Rath in 1991 by the Greise Valley Development Association. This is the only visible reminder of the horrible happenings of 400 years ago.
On Sunday the 1st of October 1843 the Liberator Daniel O'Connell spoke at a Repeal Meeting in Mullaghmast. The SequiCentenary of that event so well documented in Irish histories was celebrated in 1993 with the unveiling of a suitably inscribed stone on the roadside nearest to the Rath of Mullaghmast. The fields nearest to the road on the Mullaghmast crossroads side of the Rath are believed to be those in which O'Connell's Repeal Meeting was held. On the same side of the Rath and next to the roadway is the famous long stone of Mullaghmast reputed to mark the grave of a Munster Chieftan. The seven foot high granite stone is the only one of its kind in the area and was evidently brought from afar to its present site.
Mullaghmast once had another six small Raths in the earlier mentioned Repeal meeting field but they have been razed leaving the larger Rath of Mullaghmast as the only visible reminder of the once great Palace of Mullaghmast.
Last Sunday afternoon the area was quiet with not another person in sight. It was difficult to believe that almost 2,000 years ago this was an important settlement, a lordly place fit for Kings.
The grazing cattle were unconcerned as I moved amongst them hoping to catch an echo from the past. The air was still as I gazed across the rich plains of South Kildare and on the horizon I imagined I could see the marching Army of a Munster Chieftain as it made haste to Mullaghmast. But for a moment only I held the vision and then it disappeared leaving me to regret the passing of time and the glories that were once Mullaghmast's.
Friday, January 19, 1996
Butlers Row
Continuing the story of Butlers Row, Athy, last week I mentioned the Mahon family who lived there over 65 years ago. John, a good footballer died young and his brother Michael a superb player with few equals on the football pitch emigrated to New York in October 1927. On the night before he emigrated the local G.A.A. Club, then called Young Emmets, made a presentation to Michael at a function in the local Council offices in the Town Hall. He had played for Athy Senior Team in the 1923 Senior Championship Final when Athy was defeated by Naas and was later chosen for the Kildare County Senior team in the year he emigrated.
In Number 6 Butlers Row lived Fran O'Rourke who had married Kate Cunningham of Meeting Lane. He was a carpenter working for the railway company in their Inchicore Works commuting to Athy each weekend by train. His sons Paddy Joe, Thomas, Frank and Hughie are dead as is a daughter Josephine who was married to the late Joe Moloney. A son Peter is living in Londonwhile a daughter Breda is married to Michael O'Meara and living in Geraldine. George and Mary Ryan were appointed tenants of No. 6 in 1942 and lived there until 1950 when they transferred to No. 63 Pairc Bhride. Their son George born the same year as myself was in my class in St. Joseph's Boys School. He died in 1949 and I can still recall the entire class under Sr. Alberta praying for George, little realising the finality of death. He was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery one week after another of our young friends Jimmy Bracken of Emily Square who had drowned underneath the Barrow Bridge. That was a sad week in November 1949.
George Ryan Senior was a first class handballer who won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Doubles title partnered by "Wiggie" Costello of Shrewleen in 1936. While living in Butlers Row George won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Singles title in 1946. Sadly he died in 1969.
In the next house lived Mr. & Mrs. O'Brien and their daughter. I have no information about them. They were followed by Mick O'Shea, his mother and grandfather who moved from Garden Lane off Meeting Lane. Mick and his sister Molly who had spent many years in England later moved down to No. 2 Butlers Row. Mick who worked for many years in the I.V.I. Foundry was the last tenant of Butlers Row living there for some time after the remaining houses fell vacant. He and Molly now live in Kirwans Court off Leinster Street.
"Robbie" Robinson and his wife Caroline later moved into No. 7. Robbie worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and was known locally as "Black Sam" because of his frequent performances as a blacked up minstrel in local musicals in the Town Hall. Their son Michael who is now in Australia was home for Christmas and renewed acquaintances with his school pals with whom he attended the Christian Brothers School in the 1950's.
The Stapleton family lived in No. 8. There were three brothers and one sister, all now long dead. Jim and Larry were bakers in Bradleys bakery which was located at the rear of the present Delaney's Barber Shop in Duke Street. Mick was unemployed largely due to ill health while their sister Mary kept house for her bachelor brothers. Tom and Maria Langton and family replaced the Stapletons. Tom was a local postman and fireman and both himself and his wife were wonderful ballroom dancers known far and wide for their dancing skill.
Next door in the 1930's we find Mr. & Mrs. Dargan, their son Jim and two daughters. They later moved to Offaly Street taking over the house vacated by the Stafford family. Mr. Dargan worked in Duthie Larges and his son Jim was in his early years in the Irish Army. Jim took part in many of the musical shows in Athy over the years. His sister Katie who never married was reputed to have the cure for haemorrhage. When the Dargans moved to Offaly Street the new tenants were Tommy and Eileen Pender. Tommy worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and when the family were still young they moved to Offaly Street taking over Sunderlands house. In doing so Eileen Pender was moving to live opposite her own family home where her brother John Evans and parents were still living.
Mr. & Mrs. Dempsey and their daughter Lil lived in the second last house in the Lane. "Cruiser" Dempsey as he was known was the Porter in the Hibernian Bank in Leinster Street. He was a small man with a moustache and always wore a cap. Lil married a railway porter named Tobin and moved down the country. Mick Corr, his wife and two sons later lived in the house and Mick is now living in Nelson Street, his wife sadly dying while they were living in Butlers Row.
At the end of Butlers Row lived Mr. & Mrs. Hendricks. He was a photographer and used the wall of the Leinster Arms Hotel yard to hang his photographs of local events and people which he wished to sell. Hendricks was an exceptionally tall man whose wife was equally exceptionally small. Paddy Dunne his wife Molly and family later lived in Hendricks house.
The houses in Butlers Row were privately owned. It may be assumed that the name indicates the original owner or person responsible for their construction. Peter P. Doyle of Woodstock Street at one time collected the rent averaging 2/6 per week on behalf of the then owner George Dillon who was a butcher in Leinster Street. On his death George willed the Butlers Row property to his nephew Tommy who lived in Ardreigh and in time he sold the 11 houses to Mona Sylvester of Offaly Street. Mona is reputed to have paid £100 for the entire housing scheme and she continued to collect the rents to the end.
Butlers Row is now no more. The roofless remains of the houses which once echoed to the lively sounds of family life now wait for the bulldozers to knock the remaining walls. In recording the names of those who lived there over the years since 1930 inevitably some names will be missed and some mistakes made. If you can help to add to what is published here I would welcome hearing from you.
In Number 6 Butlers Row lived Fran O'Rourke who had married Kate Cunningham of Meeting Lane. He was a carpenter working for the railway company in their Inchicore Works commuting to Athy each weekend by train. His sons Paddy Joe, Thomas, Frank and Hughie are dead as is a daughter Josephine who was married to the late Joe Moloney. A son Peter is living in Londonwhile a daughter Breda is married to Michael O'Meara and living in Geraldine. George and Mary Ryan were appointed tenants of No. 6 in 1942 and lived there until 1950 when they transferred to No. 63 Pairc Bhride. Their son George born the same year as myself was in my class in St. Joseph's Boys School. He died in 1949 and I can still recall the entire class under Sr. Alberta praying for George, little realising the finality of death. He was buried in St. Michael's Cemetery one week after another of our young friends Jimmy Bracken of Emily Square who had drowned underneath the Barrow Bridge. That was a sad week in November 1949.
George Ryan Senior was a first class handballer who won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Doubles title partnered by "Wiggie" Costello of Shrewleen in 1936. While living in Butlers Row George won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Singles title in 1946. Sadly he died in 1969.
In the next house lived Mr. & Mrs. O'Brien and their daughter. I have no information about them. They were followed by Mick O'Shea, his mother and grandfather who moved from Garden Lane off Meeting Lane. Mick and his sister Molly who had spent many years in England later moved down to No. 2 Butlers Row. Mick who worked for many years in the I.V.I. Foundry was the last tenant of Butlers Row living there for some time after the remaining houses fell vacant. He and Molly now live in Kirwans Court off Leinster Street.
"Robbie" Robinson and his wife Caroline later moved into No. 7. Robbie worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and was known locally as "Black Sam" because of his frequent performances as a blacked up minstrel in local musicals in the Town Hall. Their son Michael who is now in Australia was home for Christmas and renewed acquaintances with his school pals with whom he attended the Christian Brothers School in the 1950's.
The Stapleton family lived in No. 8. There were three brothers and one sister, all now long dead. Jim and Larry were bakers in Bradleys bakery which was located at the rear of the present Delaney's Barber Shop in Duke Street. Mick was unemployed largely due to ill health while their sister Mary kept house for her bachelor brothers. Tom and Maria Langton and family replaced the Stapletons. Tom was a local postman and fireman and both himself and his wife were wonderful ballroom dancers known far and wide for their dancing skill.
Next door in the 1930's we find Mr. & Mrs. Dargan, their son Jim and two daughters. They later moved to Offaly Street taking over the house vacated by the Stafford family. Mr. Dargan worked in Duthie Larges and his son Jim was in his early years in the Irish Army. Jim took part in many of the musical shows in Athy over the years. His sister Katie who never married was reputed to have the cure for haemorrhage. When the Dargans moved to Offaly Street the new tenants were Tommy and Eileen Pender. Tommy worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and when the family were still young they moved to Offaly Street taking over Sunderlands house. In doing so Eileen Pender was moving to live opposite her own family home where her brother John Evans and parents were still living.
Mr. & Mrs. Dempsey and their daughter Lil lived in the second last house in the Lane. "Cruiser" Dempsey as he was known was the Porter in the Hibernian Bank in Leinster Street. He was a small man with a moustache and always wore a cap. Lil married a railway porter named Tobin and moved down the country. Mick Corr, his wife and two sons later lived in the house and Mick is now living in Nelson Street, his wife sadly dying while they were living in Butlers Row.
At the end of Butlers Row lived Mr. & Mrs. Hendricks. He was a photographer and used the wall of the Leinster Arms Hotel yard to hang his photographs of local events and people which he wished to sell. Hendricks was an exceptionally tall man whose wife was equally exceptionally small. Paddy Dunne his wife Molly and family later lived in Hendricks house.
The houses in Butlers Row were privately owned. It may be assumed that the name indicates the original owner or person responsible for their construction. Peter P. Doyle of Woodstock Street at one time collected the rent averaging 2/6 per week on behalf of the then owner George Dillon who was a butcher in Leinster Street. On his death George willed the Butlers Row property to his nephew Tommy who lived in Ardreigh and in time he sold the 11 houses to Mona Sylvester of Offaly Street. Mona is reputed to have paid £100 for the entire housing scheme and she continued to collect the rents to the end.
Butlers Row is now no more. The roofless remains of the houses which once echoed to the lively sounds of family life now wait for the bulldozers to knock the remaining walls. In recording the names of those who lived there over the years since 1930 inevitably some names will be missed and some mistakes made. If you can help to add to what is published here I would welcome hearing from you.
Friday, January 12, 1996
Butlers Row in 1930s
The local Urban Council will shortly commence building houses for the elderly in what was once Butler’s Row, a short narrow cul-de-sac off Offaly Street. Butler’s Row consisted of 11 small two storey houses on the left hand side of the lane which ended at the entrance gate to an orchard. The apple and pear trees which provided generations of young boys from the area with illicit nourishment are no more, and the orchard itself will soon form part of a new housing scheme which will have a pathway linking it with Offaly Street and Meeting Lane.
When the original houses in Butler’s Row were built I cannot say, but the roofless shells which are still standing were once homes to countless families. At the entrance to the lane in the 1930’s was Webster’s sweet shop on the left hand side and Pat Dowling’s public house and grocery on the right.
The first house on the lane was also the largest. It had, like all the others, one room at ground floor level but two bedrooms upstairs. Every other house had one large bedroom upstairs. In that first house lived Billy Leakes with his sister Bertha and her daughters Mary and Bertha. Billy had lost both legs in World War I and was confined to a wheelchair. Despite this handicap he worked as a sack mender for Minch Norton’s and for Jackson’s, also occasionally repairing sacks for local farmers in his own house. Billy was an experienced fisherman, and his fishing rods had pride of place on the wall of the living room of his small house. He was often to be seen each evening sitting in his wheelchair at the end of the lane, chatting to the local people on their way to the Picture Palace in Offaly Street. He died in January 1949. His daughter Bertha worked in the Church of Ireland Rectory for Rev. Dunlop. She died approximately ten years ago, having emigrated to England, and is buried in a cemetery in Eastbourne, where coincidentally, her friend, May Sunderland, formerly of Offaly Street, is also buried. May was an usherette in the Picture Palace before she emigrated to England. Following Billy Leakes’ death, Jim and Sarah Doyle and their family came to live in No. 1 Butler’s Row.
In the adjoining house in the 1930’s lived Mr. & Mrs. Tom McHugh and family. Tom had a foundry in Janeville Lane which continued in operation into the late 1950’s. Some of the men who worked in McHugh’s Foundry included Mannix Thompson, Des Donaldson and Paddy Eaton. The McHugh family included John, Tommy, May, Annie, Gertie, Babs, Matt and Una. Annie died in Butler’s Row before the family moved to No. 7 Offaly Street. Mick O’Shea and his sister Molly later moved into the second house in Butler’s Row.
In the third house over 60 years ago, lived Granny Murphy, even then a very old woman, remembered for the large white apron she always wore. With her was her son Seanie, whom I believe is now in England, and her daughter-in-law Maureen who worked in Murphy’s of Sunnyside. Maureen later remarried Jack Carroll, who was in the Irish Army.
Next door lived Mrs. Stafford and her children John, Peter and Julia. They later moved to No. 28 Offaly Street which adjoins the present Credit Union office. John Stafford was later to occupy the premises opposite the courthouse now owned by Jim Lawlor, from where he operated a bicycle shop and a hackney business. Replacing the Staffords in Butler’s Row were Matt Collingwood, his wife Lil and their family. Lil was a daughter of Mrs. Woods of Meeting Lane, who operated a dairy at the end of Janeville Lane, where Bill Cash and his family later lived. Matt was caretaker of the local courthouse. The entire Collingwood family emigrated to Luton in the mid-1930’s. I believe that one of Matt’s daughters is married in England to Johnny Hoare’s brother, while a son, Thomas, is married to Mick Dunphy’s daughter, formerly of The Bleach. After the Collingwoods, the house was occupied by Jack and Ciss Webster and their young family. Jack was a painter and local fireman, and Ciss, who is now living in Offaly Street, is remembered by me for her early start as an office cleaner in Bob Osborne’s solicitors’ office in Emily Square. In the 1950’s I invariably met Mrs. Webster walking to work as I plodded my way to serve 7.00 o’clock morning Mass in the Parish Church. Her son Tom, who was a good friend of mine when we were growing up, is now a fire officer in Athlone.
Mrs. Mahon, a widow, lived in No. 5 with her children Molly, Stacia, Michael, John and Betty. John, who was a good footballer, died of T.B. while living in Butler’s Row. His team-mates from Athy Gaelic Football Club carried John’s coffin from Butler’s Row on the day of his funeral. His brother Michael was one of the stars of Gaelic football in Athy and he emigrated to America in October 1927. On the night before he departed, members of the G.A.A. Club, then called Young Emmets, made a presentation to Michael at a function in the urban council offices in the Town Hall. He had played for the Athy Senior Team in the 1923 Senior Championship Final when Athy was defeated by Naas, and was chosen for the Kildare County Senior football team in the year he emigrated. Michael Mahon later returned to Ireland, and is believed to be the only Athy man to win an All-Ireland Senior Football medal which he received for playing for his county in the 1928 championship, even though he did not figure in the final of that year. The Mahon family members are all deceased.
Tommy Moran and family lived in the house next door to the Mahons before they transferred to St. Patrick’s Avenue, where Mrs. Moran is still living. Tommy was a master tailor, a craft once very much in vogue in the pre World War II years but which went into decline with the advent of ready-made suits. Jack Bennett and his family replaced the Morans in Butler’s Row, transferring from Janeville Lane on the far side of Offaly Street. Jack worked as a baker in Bradbury’s. His daughter Mary Whelan now lives in Pairc Bhride.
In No. 6 Butler’s Row lived Fran O’Rourke, who was married to Kate Cunningham of Meeting Lane. He was a carpenter who worked for the railway company in their Inchicore Works, commuting to Athy each weekend by train. His sons Paddy Joe, Thomas, Frank and Hughie are dead, as is his daughter Josephine, who was married to the late Joe Moloney. Another son, Peter, is living in London, while a daughter Breda is married to Michael O’Meara and living in Geraldine Road. George and Mary Ryan were appointed tenants of No. 6 in 1942 and lived there until 1950 when they transferred to No. 63 Pairc Bhride. Their son George, born the same year as myself, was in my class in St. Joseph’s Boys School. He died in 1949 and I can still recall the entire class under Sr. Alberta’s guidance praying for George, little realising that we would never see him again. He was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery one week after another of our young friends, Jimmy Bracken of Emily Square, was drowned underneath the Barrow Bridge. That was a sad week in November 1949.
George Ryan Senior was a first class handballer who won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Doubles title partnered by “Wiggie” Costello of Shrewleen in 1936. While living in Butler’s Row, George won the All Ireland Handball Junior Singles title of 1946. Sadly he died in 1969.
In the next house lived Mr. & Mrs. O’Brien and their daughter. I have no information about them. They were followed by Mick O’Shea, his mother and grandfather who moved from Garden Lane off Meeting Lane. Mick and his sister Molly, who had spent many years in England, later moved down to No. 2 Butler’s Row. Mick, who worked for many years in the I.V.I. Foundry, was the last tenant of Butler’s Row as he continued to live there for some time after the remaining houses fell vacant. He and Molly now live in Kirwan’s Court off Leinster Street.
“Robbie” Robinson and his wife Caroline later moved into No. 7 Butler’s Row. Robbie worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and was known locally as “Black Sam”, allegedly because of his frequent performances as a blacked up minstrel in local musicals in the Town Hall. Their eldest son Michael, who is now in Australia, was home for Christmas, and renewed acquaintances with his school pals from the Christian Brothers School of the 1950’s.
The Stapleton family lived in No. 8. There were three brothers and one sister, all now long dead. Jim and Larry were bakers in Bradley’s bakery which was located at the rear of the present Delaney’s Barber shop in Duke Street. Mick was unemployed, largely due to ill health, while his sister Mary kept house for her bachelor brothers. Tom and Maria Langton and family replaced the Stapletons. Tom was a local postman and fireman and both himself and his wife were wonderful ballroom dancers, known far and wide for their dancing skill.
Next door in the 1930’s we find Mr. & Mrs. Dargan, their son Jim and two daughters. They later moved to Offaly Street taking over the house vacated by the Stafford family. Mr. Dargan worked in his own forge and also in Duthie Large’s while his son Jim left Athy Christian Brothers School to take up a cadetship with the Irish Army. Jim Dargan, who later left the Army to work with his father in the family forge, participated in many of the musical shows in Athy over the years. When the Dargans moved to Offaly Street the new tenants of No. 9 Butler’s Row were Tommy and Eileen Pender. Tommy worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and when his children were very young, the family moved to Offaly Street, taking over Sunderland’s house. In doing so, Eileen Pender was moving to live directly opposite her old family home, where her parents were still living at the time.
Mr. & Mrs. Dempsey and their daughter Lil lived in the second last house in Butler’s Lane. “Cruiser” Dempsey as he was known, was the porter in the Hibernian Bank in Leinster Street. He was a small man with a moustache and always wore a cap. Lil married a railway porter named Tobin and moved down the country. Mick Corr, his wife and two sons later lived in the house and Mick is now living in Nelson Street, his wife sadly dying while they were living in Butler’s Row.
At the end of Butler’s Row lived Mr. & Mrs. Hendricks. He was a freelance photographer, and used the wall of the Leinster Arms Hotel yard to display his photographs of local events and people which he offered for sale. Hendricks was an exceptionally tall man whose wife was very small. Paddy Dunne, his wife Molly and family later lived in Hendricks house.
The houses in Butler’s Row were privately owned. It may be assumed that the name indicates a previous owner or perhaps the person responsible for constructing the houses in the 19th century. Peter P. Doyle of Woodstock Street, at one time collected the rents averaging 2/6 per week, on behalf of the then owner George Dillon, who was a butcher in Leinster Street. On his death George willed the Butler’s Row property to his nephew Tommy who lived in Ardreigh, and in time he sold the 11 houses to Mona Sylvester of Offaly Street. Mona is reputed to have paid £100 for the entire housing scheme and she continued to collect the rents until the last house was vacated.
Butler’s Row is no more. The roofless remains of the houses which once echoed to the lively sounds of family life now await the bulldozers to knock down their crumbling walls. In recording the names of those who lived there over the years since 1930, inevitably some names will be missed and some mistakes made. If you can help to add to what is written here, I would welcome hearing from you.
When the original houses in Butler’s Row were built I cannot say, but the roofless shells which are still standing were once homes to countless families. At the entrance to the lane in the 1930’s was Webster’s sweet shop on the left hand side and Pat Dowling’s public house and grocery on the right.
The first house on the lane was also the largest. It had, like all the others, one room at ground floor level but two bedrooms upstairs. Every other house had one large bedroom upstairs. In that first house lived Billy Leakes with his sister Bertha and her daughters Mary and Bertha. Billy had lost both legs in World War I and was confined to a wheelchair. Despite this handicap he worked as a sack mender for Minch Norton’s and for Jackson’s, also occasionally repairing sacks for local farmers in his own house. Billy was an experienced fisherman, and his fishing rods had pride of place on the wall of the living room of his small house. He was often to be seen each evening sitting in his wheelchair at the end of the lane, chatting to the local people on their way to the Picture Palace in Offaly Street. He died in January 1949. His daughter Bertha worked in the Church of Ireland Rectory for Rev. Dunlop. She died approximately ten years ago, having emigrated to England, and is buried in a cemetery in Eastbourne, where coincidentally, her friend, May Sunderland, formerly of Offaly Street, is also buried. May was an usherette in the Picture Palace before she emigrated to England. Following Billy Leakes’ death, Jim and Sarah Doyle and their family came to live in No. 1 Butler’s Row.
In the adjoining house in the 1930’s lived Mr. & Mrs. Tom McHugh and family. Tom had a foundry in Janeville Lane which continued in operation into the late 1950’s. Some of the men who worked in McHugh’s Foundry included Mannix Thompson, Des Donaldson and Paddy Eaton. The McHugh family included John, Tommy, May, Annie, Gertie, Babs, Matt and Una. Annie died in Butler’s Row before the family moved to No. 7 Offaly Street. Mick O’Shea and his sister Molly later moved into the second house in Butler’s Row.
In the third house over 60 years ago, lived Granny Murphy, even then a very old woman, remembered for the large white apron she always wore. With her was her son Seanie, whom I believe is now in England, and her daughter-in-law Maureen who worked in Murphy’s of Sunnyside. Maureen later remarried Jack Carroll, who was in the Irish Army.
Next door lived Mrs. Stafford and her children John, Peter and Julia. They later moved to No. 28 Offaly Street which adjoins the present Credit Union office. John Stafford was later to occupy the premises opposite the courthouse now owned by Jim Lawlor, from where he operated a bicycle shop and a hackney business. Replacing the Staffords in Butler’s Row were Matt Collingwood, his wife Lil and their family. Lil was a daughter of Mrs. Woods of Meeting Lane, who operated a dairy at the end of Janeville Lane, where Bill Cash and his family later lived. Matt was caretaker of the local courthouse. The entire Collingwood family emigrated to Luton in the mid-1930’s. I believe that one of Matt’s daughters is married in England to Johnny Hoare’s brother, while a son, Thomas, is married to Mick Dunphy’s daughter, formerly of The Bleach. After the Collingwoods, the house was occupied by Jack and Ciss Webster and their young family. Jack was a painter and local fireman, and Ciss, who is now living in Offaly Street, is remembered by me for her early start as an office cleaner in Bob Osborne’s solicitors’ office in Emily Square. In the 1950’s I invariably met Mrs. Webster walking to work as I plodded my way to serve 7.00 o’clock morning Mass in the Parish Church. Her son Tom, who was a good friend of mine when we were growing up, is now a fire officer in Athlone.
Mrs. Mahon, a widow, lived in No. 5 with her children Molly, Stacia, Michael, John and Betty. John, who was a good footballer, died of T.B. while living in Butler’s Row. His team-mates from Athy Gaelic Football Club carried John’s coffin from Butler’s Row on the day of his funeral. His brother Michael was one of the stars of Gaelic football in Athy and he emigrated to America in October 1927. On the night before he departed, members of the G.A.A. Club, then called Young Emmets, made a presentation to Michael at a function in the urban council offices in the Town Hall. He had played for the Athy Senior Team in the 1923 Senior Championship Final when Athy was defeated by Naas, and was chosen for the Kildare County Senior football team in the year he emigrated. Michael Mahon later returned to Ireland, and is believed to be the only Athy man to win an All-Ireland Senior Football medal which he received for playing for his county in the 1928 championship, even though he did not figure in the final of that year. The Mahon family members are all deceased.
Tommy Moran and family lived in the house next door to the Mahons before they transferred to St. Patrick’s Avenue, where Mrs. Moran is still living. Tommy was a master tailor, a craft once very much in vogue in the pre World War II years but which went into decline with the advent of ready-made suits. Jack Bennett and his family replaced the Morans in Butler’s Row, transferring from Janeville Lane on the far side of Offaly Street. Jack worked as a baker in Bradbury’s. His daughter Mary Whelan now lives in Pairc Bhride.
In No. 6 Butler’s Row lived Fran O’Rourke, who was married to Kate Cunningham of Meeting Lane. He was a carpenter who worked for the railway company in their Inchicore Works, commuting to Athy each weekend by train. His sons Paddy Joe, Thomas, Frank and Hughie are dead, as is his daughter Josephine, who was married to the late Joe Moloney. Another son, Peter, is living in London, while a daughter Breda is married to Michael O’Meara and living in Geraldine Road. George and Mary Ryan were appointed tenants of No. 6 in 1942 and lived there until 1950 when they transferred to No. 63 Pairc Bhride. Their son George, born the same year as myself, was in my class in St. Joseph’s Boys School. He died in 1949 and I can still recall the entire class under Sr. Alberta’s guidance praying for George, little realising that we would never see him again. He was buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery one week after another of our young friends, Jimmy Bracken of Emily Square, was drowned underneath the Barrow Bridge. That was a sad week in November 1949.
George Ryan Senior was a first class handballer who won the All Ireland Hardball Junior Doubles title partnered by “Wiggie” Costello of Shrewleen in 1936. While living in Butler’s Row, George won the All Ireland Handball Junior Singles title of 1946. Sadly he died in 1969.
In the next house lived Mr. & Mrs. O’Brien and their daughter. I have no information about them. They were followed by Mick O’Shea, his mother and grandfather who moved from Garden Lane off Meeting Lane. Mick and his sister Molly, who had spent many years in England, later moved down to No. 2 Butler’s Row. Mick, who worked for many years in the I.V.I. Foundry, was the last tenant of Butler’s Row as he continued to live there for some time after the remaining houses fell vacant. He and Molly now live in Kirwan’s Court off Leinster Street.
“Robbie” Robinson and his wife Caroline later moved into No. 7 Butler’s Row. Robbie worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and was known locally as “Black Sam”, allegedly because of his frequent performances as a blacked up minstrel in local musicals in the Town Hall. Their eldest son Michael, who is now in Australia, was home for Christmas, and renewed acquaintances with his school pals from the Christian Brothers School of the 1950’s.
The Stapleton family lived in No. 8. There were three brothers and one sister, all now long dead. Jim and Larry were bakers in Bradley’s bakery which was located at the rear of the present Delaney’s Barber shop in Duke Street. Mick was unemployed, largely due to ill health, while his sister Mary kept house for her bachelor brothers. Tom and Maria Langton and family replaced the Stapletons. Tom was a local postman and fireman and both himself and his wife were wonderful ballroom dancers, known far and wide for their dancing skill.
Next door in the 1930’s we find Mr. & Mrs. Dargan, their son Jim and two daughters. They later moved to Offaly Street taking over the house vacated by the Stafford family. Mr. Dargan worked in his own forge and also in Duthie Large’s while his son Jim left Athy Christian Brothers School to take up a cadetship with the Irish Army. Jim Dargan, who later left the Army to work with his father in the family forge, participated in many of the musical shows in Athy over the years. When the Dargans moved to Offaly Street the new tenants of No. 9 Butler’s Row were Tommy and Eileen Pender. Tommy worked in the I.V.I. Foundry and when his children were very young, the family moved to Offaly Street, taking over Sunderland’s house. In doing so, Eileen Pender was moving to live directly opposite her old family home, where her parents were still living at the time.
Mr. & Mrs. Dempsey and their daughter Lil lived in the second last house in Butler’s Lane. “Cruiser” Dempsey as he was known, was the porter in the Hibernian Bank in Leinster Street. He was a small man with a moustache and always wore a cap. Lil married a railway porter named Tobin and moved down the country. Mick Corr, his wife and two sons later lived in the house and Mick is now living in Nelson Street, his wife sadly dying while they were living in Butler’s Row.
At the end of Butler’s Row lived Mr. & Mrs. Hendricks. He was a freelance photographer, and used the wall of the Leinster Arms Hotel yard to display his photographs of local events and people which he offered for sale. Hendricks was an exceptionally tall man whose wife was very small. Paddy Dunne, his wife Molly and family later lived in Hendricks house.
The houses in Butler’s Row were privately owned. It may be assumed that the name indicates a previous owner or perhaps the person responsible for constructing the houses in the 19th century. Peter P. Doyle of Woodstock Street, at one time collected the rents averaging 2/6 per week, on behalf of the then owner George Dillon, who was a butcher in Leinster Street. On his death George willed the Butler’s Row property to his nephew Tommy who lived in Ardreigh, and in time he sold the 11 houses to Mona Sylvester of Offaly Street. Mona is reputed to have paid £100 for the entire housing scheme and she continued to collect the rents until the last house was vacated.
Butler’s Row is no more. The roofless remains of the houses which once echoed to the lively sounds of family life now await the bulldozers to knock down their crumbling walls. In recording the names of those who lived there over the years since 1930, inevitably some names will be missed and some mistakes made. If you can help to add to what is written here, I would welcome hearing from you.
Friday, January 5, 1996
Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company
I was handed an old leather attaché case a while ago and asked to look through its contents. The bearer of this request was himself the scion of an illustrious old theatrical family, and as one might expect, the contents were an interesting mixture of theatrical ephemera dating from the 1930’s and the 1940’s.
The bag itself was stamped with the letters J.M.A.P., which after a little detective work I deduced were the initials of Jonathan M.A. Pasley, one half of the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company which flourished in the midlands almost 60 years ago. Posters for the Company’s performances in Newbridge Picture Palace and the cinema in Mountmellick were found neatly folded in the leather bag. The earliest poster for the Newbridge Cinema, of which P. Foy and J. McGovern were named as lessees, gave a programme, for Saturday and Sunday November 20th and 21st, of “Buck Jones” on the screen and a supporting variety show. No details of the variety performance or the performers were given except to indicate admission charges of 4d, 9d and 1/4d.
The poster for the Mountmellick performance indicated admission prices of 2/=, 1/4d and 8d and might consequently be a few years later than the Newbridge show. Again, the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company were offering the latest in variety with a change of film every night of the week. This time however, the variety programme was detailed, with J.M.A. Pasley billed as Ireland’s own male impersonator. The Two Namrehs, a German comedy acrobatic duo, shared billing with Mr. Knoto, a Japanese contortionist. Mon Nomen, “Never has Ireland seen such a Genius” came near to the end of the programme as did E.T. O’Rourke-Glynn described as Ireland’s Youngest Basso. Glynn, was of course, Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn of Athy, the other half of the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company. It would seem that the Company operated in the mid-1930’s with Pasley as musical director and E.T. O’Rourke-Glynn as director and secretary, with offices at Rathloe House, 47 Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin and the Theatrical Stores, Athy. The latter address was the home of the O’Rourke-Glynns. In a handbill printed for performances in the Electric Cinema, Kildare, it was claimed for the Pasley-Glynn Company “This is the first Cine Variety Company which ever toured Ireland”.
The bag yielded up tickets for a performance of what was described as a “Spectacular domestic costume Irish drama by O’Rourke-Glynn”, titled ‘Mavourneen’, given in the Town Hall, Athy on Wednesday and Thursday the 15th and 16th of June 1936, in aid of the Arranmore disaster fund. A letter from the Town Clerk of Athy Urban District Council J.W. Lawler, dated the 5th of December 1935, expressed the Council’s appreciation of the offer ‘to carry out a play in the Town Hall, Athy, for the bereaved relatives of the Arranmore disaster and to contribute 50% of the proceeds for the worthy cause.”
Another poster advertised dancing in the Ritz Ballroom, Carlow, on Wednesday the 4th of October 1939, and on every succeeding Wednesday, to Ernest Glynn’s Cabaret Band. Tickets were 1/6d, with dancing from 9.00 p.m. to 11.30 p.m.
The varied career of Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn was highlighted by other pieces of theatrical ephemera found in Pasley’s old leather attaché case. Programmes for the Gaiety and the Olympia Theatres in Dublin featured performances in the early 1940’s for which costumes were designed and supplied by O’Rourke-Glynn. A copy for May 1944 of the “Commentary”, a theatrical magazine edited by Sean Dorman, reported :
“The costumes of Lilac Time produced at the Gaiety by the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society last month were some of the loveliest seen in Dublin for a long time. They were the work of Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn, character actor, scene designer and theatrical customaire. Mr. O’Rourke-Glynn comes of a very old theatrical family, his grandfather being Nicholas O’Rourke-Glynn who presented the brilliant violinist Irene Vanburgh to Ireland in 1868 when he opened his first professional company. His father Nicholas O’Rourke-Glynn Jnr. was a writer, actor and producer”.
Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn advertised his scenic studios and theatrical costumes from showrooms and offices at 126 St. Stephen’s Green West, Dublin in the early 1940’s, with his works and stores at Duke Street, Athy. He built and painted scenery to order, and had costumes on hire for all plays, pantomimes and grand operas. A typed note found amongst the papers showed that canvass back drops of a kitchen scene, a prison cell, a library, a palace hall, a landscape or a seascape could be purchased from O’Rourke-Glynn’s stock at £5.5.0 for the standard 12ft. by 9ft. stage size.
Shutting Pasley’s attaché case was like closing a book on theatrical life of 60 years ago. Jonathan Pasley and Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn are now long gone to their reward, but someone out there will remember their Cine Variety Company which toured the midlands before the start of the Second World War.
The bag itself was stamped with the letters J.M.A.P., which after a little detective work I deduced were the initials of Jonathan M.A. Pasley, one half of the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company which flourished in the midlands almost 60 years ago. Posters for the Company’s performances in Newbridge Picture Palace and the cinema in Mountmellick were found neatly folded in the leather bag. The earliest poster for the Newbridge Cinema, of which P. Foy and J. McGovern were named as lessees, gave a programme, for Saturday and Sunday November 20th and 21st, of “Buck Jones” on the screen and a supporting variety show. No details of the variety performance or the performers were given except to indicate admission charges of 4d, 9d and 1/4d.
The poster for the Mountmellick performance indicated admission prices of 2/=, 1/4d and 8d and might consequently be a few years later than the Newbridge show. Again, the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company were offering the latest in variety with a change of film every night of the week. This time however, the variety programme was detailed, with J.M.A. Pasley billed as Ireland’s own male impersonator. The Two Namrehs, a German comedy acrobatic duo, shared billing with Mr. Knoto, a Japanese contortionist. Mon Nomen, “Never has Ireland seen such a Genius” came near to the end of the programme as did E.T. O’Rourke-Glynn described as Ireland’s Youngest Basso. Glynn, was of course, Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn of Athy, the other half of the Pasley-Glynn Cine Variety Company. It would seem that the Company operated in the mid-1930’s with Pasley as musical director and E.T. O’Rourke-Glynn as director and secretary, with offices at Rathloe House, 47 Upper Rathmines Road, Dublin and the Theatrical Stores, Athy. The latter address was the home of the O’Rourke-Glynns. In a handbill printed for performances in the Electric Cinema, Kildare, it was claimed for the Pasley-Glynn Company “This is the first Cine Variety Company which ever toured Ireland”.
The bag yielded up tickets for a performance of what was described as a “Spectacular domestic costume Irish drama by O’Rourke-Glynn”, titled ‘Mavourneen’, given in the Town Hall, Athy on Wednesday and Thursday the 15th and 16th of June 1936, in aid of the Arranmore disaster fund. A letter from the Town Clerk of Athy Urban District Council J.W. Lawler, dated the 5th of December 1935, expressed the Council’s appreciation of the offer ‘to carry out a play in the Town Hall, Athy, for the bereaved relatives of the Arranmore disaster and to contribute 50% of the proceeds for the worthy cause.”
Another poster advertised dancing in the Ritz Ballroom, Carlow, on Wednesday the 4th of October 1939, and on every succeeding Wednesday, to Ernest Glynn’s Cabaret Band. Tickets were 1/6d, with dancing from 9.00 p.m. to 11.30 p.m.
The varied career of Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn was highlighted by other pieces of theatrical ephemera found in Pasley’s old leather attaché case. Programmes for the Gaiety and the Olympia Theatres in Dublin featured performances in the early 1940’s for which costumes were designed and supplied by O’Rourke-Glynn. A copy for May 1944 of the “Commentary”, a theatrical magazine edited by Sean Dorman, reported :
“The costumes of Lilac Time produced at the Gaiety by the Rathmines and Rathgar Musical Society last month were some of the loveliest seen in Dublin for a long time. They were the work of Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn, character actor, scene designer and theatrical customaire. Mr. O’Rourke-Glynn comes of a very old theatrical family, his grandfather being Nicholas O’Rourke-Glynn who presented the brilliant violinist Irene Vanburgh to Ireland in 1868 when he opened his first professional company. His father Nicholas O’Rourke-Glynn Jnr. was a writer, actor and producer”.
Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn advertised his scenic studios and theatrical costumes from showrooms and offices at 126 St. Stephen’s Green West, Dublin in the early 1940’s, with his works and stores at Duke Street, Athy. He built and painted scenery to order, and had costumes on hire for all plays, pantomimes and grand operas. A typed note found amongst the papers showed that canvass back drops of a kitchen scene, a prison cell, a library, a palace hall, a landscape or a seascape could be purchased from O’Rourke-Glynn’s stock at £5.5.0 for the standard 12ft. by 9ft. stage size.
Shutting Pasley’s attaché case was like closing a book on theatrical life of 60 years ago. Jonathan Pasley and Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn are now long gone to their reward, but someone out there will remember their Cine Variety Company which toured the midlands before the start of the Second World War.
Friday, December 29, 1995
Review of Articles in 1995
Another year about to end. How quickly it passes but then someone like myself attuned to the demands and discipline of a weekly article knows only too well the speed of passing time.
At the beginning of the year I wrote of Dr. Don Rodrigue de Vere, a colourful character who adorned life in Athy during the Second World War. I was reminded of it only a few weeks when a County Laois farmer favourably commented on the piece and attempted to complete the Ballad of de Vere for me. In February the Sorrento Dance Band was featured and resulted in a very welcome letter from its leader Paddens Murphy who now spends his time between London and Spain. Paddens was fulsome in his praise of the local musicians who have given Athy such a wonderful musical heritage down the years. The story of Jack MacKenna, father of writer John MacKenna was told later that month highlighting some little known facts surrounding the War of Independence in South Kildare.
Athy Workhouse and the Great Famine were dealt with in several articles during this year's 150th Anniversary of the Irish holocaust. Approximately 2,500 died in Athy during the four years of the Famine and we still wait for the Eastern Health Board and the Local Authorities to mark in some suitable way the last resting place of those who died in the local Workhouse. Maybe it will happen in 1996.
In March I marked the passing of Jack Kelly, traditional fiddle player with an article which drew on his reminiscences of Churchtown Pipe Band. This was to lead to another later article on that Band and the Kilberry Pipe Band when I was contacted by two local men living in England - Jim Connor and Jim Moran.
May Lalor shared an evening with me in April when she told me of life in Athy in the 1930's and 1940's. Her late husband Michael Lalor had purchased Christy Reid's pub and grocery premises which was next to Cootes Gents Outfitters. Incidentally in answering a recent query I placed Cootes premises in Anthony Auctioneers. Several readers have contacted me to say that Cootes were located in the present Heffernans premises. From the evidence of the Lawrence photograph it would seem that Cootes were in the 1890’s located where Anthony Auctioneers are now, and transferred in 1905 to the other premises.
In May I wrote a two part article on Offaly Street residents of 50 years ago when my parents moved from Castlecomer to Athy to avail of secondary schooling for their sons. Sadly my mother who had lived in the street for 50 of her 89 years in this world passed away before the second part appeared. As I wrote then "Offaly Street is now a street of childhood memories for many of us as a new generation takes our place."
Memories of a different kind were evoked when I received a bundle of old letters from David Hannon whose father, the late Archdeacon Gordon Hannon, was formally of Ardreigh House, Athy. The letters were written to Gordon Hannon by his brothers Leslie Hannon and Ian Hannon while they were both serving in France during World War I. Lesley was killed in action in Festubert on the 16th of May 1915 while Ian suffered the same fate on the 18th of August 1916. I wrote in June of the two young Athy men whose letters delivered to Ardreigh House during the first two years of the Great War were to arrive there again this time bound together with ribbon and in a box evidently of old age. Reading them evoked a poignant reminder of the futility of war and the wanton waste of human life which results. This was a theme I returned to in November when the men of Athy who fought in World War I were again remembered.
Henry Grattan Donnelly, Solicitor, featured in an article in June and how sad it is to relate that his son Barry has since passed away. The appearance of the Wexford Sinfonia in the Dominican Church on the 11th of June and the Literary Evening organised by the Athy Literary Group in Ballintubbert six days later prompted me to praise the efforts of all concerned while affording me an opportunity yet again to highlight the work of Rev. Thomas Kelly, Evangelist and hymn writer extraordinary. There were many such good cultural experiences throughout the year but the recent performance of Charlie Hughes in Greasepaint Youth Theatre's production of Smike was of particular merit. I look forward to the next performance on stage of Charlie who is clearly a talent born to tread the boards.
Fr. Paddy Finn wrote to me in July as a result of which I was able to pen a piece on his predecessor as Parish Priest of Dunlavin Canon John Hyland who with Paddy shared an Athy background. The times of the legendary John Farrell afforded me an opportunity to delve into times past in Athy and Ballylinan as far back as the 1920's. The summer holiday period brought an unusual high number of visitors to Athy including Mike Hickey from Blackpool whose grandparents John and Catherine Hickey lived in Higginsons Lane 80 years ago and who featured in the Eye on the Past. Another visitor was Jim Moran, now 88 years old and living in Luton who presented me with a photograph of Kilberry Pipe Band and more importantly gave me an amazing amount of information about the Band he had joined in 1917. My regret is that when I was flying into Luton every weekend during September and October I did not get an opportunity to call on this extraordinary Athy man whose memories of his native town are as immediate and as fresh as if he was recounting events of last week. Maybe another time Jim.
The passing of Joe Bermingham while I was on holidays prompted me to regret the loss of a priceless repository of local knowledge given that Joe was uniquely placed to correctly record and interpret the happenings of many decades past. As I wrote then "Castlemitchell owes him an enormous debt of gratitude".
The power and universality of Church music prompted an article on the links and similarities between Athy and a number of Bedfordshire towns with which I became very familiar during the latter part of the year. Not for the first time Rev. Thomas Kelly featured yet again. It is hard to disregard the man who died 140 years ago but whose hymns are still included in Church Hymnals throughout the English speaking world.
A visit to Maynooth College unearthed two important artefacts from Athy with which I was not previously acquainted. A 1634 Holy Week Book found in Athy and a silver cup presented to a former Sovereign of Athy in 1795 are important relics of our past and hopefully may in time return to our long awaited Heritage Centre.
The final month of the year saw articles on two nurses each of whom has worked to improve the lives of people in our town. Sr. Consilio is of course now a national figure for her contribution to helping people suffering from alcoholism. At the other end of the scale and very much a local heroine in her own quiet way is Nurse Brennan, the last Jubilee Nurse in Athy.
As always it is a pleasure helping to bring the past into focus each week not least for the wonderful response it provokes in the readers. To all who have written to me during the year or who have telephoned about the articles I say a big thank-you. I am always delighted to hear your comments and of course the stories which go to make up the tapestry of our local history. Happy New Year to you all.
At the beginning of the year I wrote of Dr. Don Rodrigue de Vere, a colourful character who adorned life in Athy during the Second World War. I was reminded of it only a few weeks when a County Laois farmer favourably commented on the piece and attempted to complete the Ballad of de Vere for me. In February the Sorrento Dance Band was featured and resulted in a very welcome letter from its leader Paddens Murphy who now spends his time between London and Spain. Paddens was fulsome in his praise of the local musicians who have given Athy such a wonderful musical heritage down the years. The story of Jack MacKenna, father of writer John MacKenna was told later that month highlighting some little known facts surrounding the War of Independence in South Kildare.
Athy Workhouse and the Great Famine were dealt with in several articles during this year's 150th Anniversary of the Irish holocaust. Approximately 2,500 died in Athy during the four years of the Famine and we still wait for the Eastern Health Board and the Local Authorities to mark in some suitable way the last resting place of those who died in the local Workhouse. Maybe it will happen in 1996.
In March I marked the passing of Jack Kelly, traditional fiddle player with an article which drew on his reminiscences of Churchtown Pipe Band. This was to lead to another later article on that Band and the Kilberry Pipe Band when I was contacted by two local men living in England - Jim Connor and Jim Moran.
May Lalor shared an evening with me in April when she told me of life in Athy in the 1930's and 1940's. Her late husband Michael Lalor had purchased Christy Reid's pub and grocery premises which was next to Cootes Gents Outfitters. Incidentally in answering a recent query I placed Cootes premises in Anthony Auctioneers. Several readers have contacted me to say that Cootes were located in the present Heffernans premises. From the evidence of the Lawrence photograph it would seem that Cootes were in the 1890’s located where Anthony Auctioneers are now, and transferred in 1905 to the other premises.
In May I wrote a two part article on Offaly Street residents of 50 years ago when my parents moved from Castlecomer to Athy to avail of secondary schooling for their sons. Sadly my mother who had lived in the street for 50 of her 89 years in this world passed away before the second part appeared. As I wrote then "Offaly Street is now a street of childhood memories for many of us as a new generation takes our place."
Memories of a different kind were evoked when I received a bundle of old letters from David Hannon whose father, the late Archdeacon Gordon Hannon, was formally of Ardreigh House, Athy. The letters were written to Gordon Hannon by his brothers Leslie Hannon and Ian Hannon while they were both serving in France during World War I. Lesley was killed in action in Festubert on the 16th of May 1915 while Ian suffered the same fate on the 18th of August 1916. I wrote in June of the two young Athy men whose letters delivered to Ardreigh House during the first two years of the Great War were to arrive there again this time bound together with ribbon and in a box evidently of old age. Reading them evoked a poignant reminder of the futility of war and the wanton waste of human life which results. This was a theme I returned to in November when the men of Athy who fought in World War I were again remembered.
Henry Grattan Donnelly, Solicitor, featured in an article in June and how sad it is to relate that his son Barry has since passed away. The appearance of the Wexford Sinfonia in the Dominican Church on the 11th of June and the Literary Evening organised by the Athy Literary Group in Ballintubbert six days later prompted me to praise the efforts of all concerned while affording me an opportunity yet again to highlight the work of Rev. Thomas Kelly, Evangelist and hymn writer extraordinary. There were many such good cultural experiences throughout the year but the recent performance of Charlie Hughes in Greasepaint Youth Theatre's production of Smike was of particular merit. I look forward to the next performance on stage of Charlie who is clearly a talent born to tread the boards.
Fr. Paddy Finn wrote to me in July as a result of which I was able to pen a piece on his predecessor as Parish Priest of Dunlavin Canon John Hyland who with Paddy shared an Athy background. The times of the legendary John Farrell afforded me an opportunity to delve into times past in Athy and Ballylinan as far back as the 1920's. The summer holiday period brought an unusual high number of visitors to Athy including Mike Hickey from Blackpool whose grandparents John and Catherine Hickey lived in Higginsons Lane 80 years ago and who featured in the Eye on the Past. Another visitor was Jim Moran, now 88 years old and living in Luton who presented me with a photograph of Kilberry Pipe Band and more importantly gave me an amazing amount of information about the Band he had joined in 1917. My regret is that when I was flying into Luton every weekend during September and October I did not get an opportunity to call on this extraordinary Athy man whose memories of his native town are as immediate and as fresh as if he was recounting events of last week. Maybe another time Jim.
The passing of Joe Bermingham while I was on holidays prompted me to regret the loss of a priceless repository of local knowledge given that Joe was uniquely placed to correctly record and interpret the happenings of many decades past. As I wrote then "Castlemitchell owes him an enormous debt of gratitude".
The power and universality of Church music prompted an article on the links and similarities between Athy and a number of Bedfordshire towns with which I became very familiar during the latter part of the year. Not for the first time Rev. Thomas Kelly featured yet again. It is hard to disregard the man who died 140 years ago but whose hymns are still included in Church Hymnals throughout the English speaking world.
A visit to Maynooth College unearthed two important artefacts from Athy with which I was not previously acquainted. A 1634 Holy Week Book found in Athy and a silver cup presented to a former Sovereign of Athy in 1795 are important relics of our past and hopefully may in time return to our long awaited Heritage Centre.
The final month of the year saw articles on two nurses each of whom has worked to improve the lives of people in our town. Sr. Consilio is of course now a national figure for her contribution to helping people suffering from alcoholism. At the other end of the scale and very much a local heroine in her own quiet way is Nurse Brennan, the last Jubilee Nurse in Athy.
As always it is a pleasure helping to bring the past into focus each week not least for the wonderful response it provokes in the readers. To all who have written to me during the year or who have telephoned about the articles I say a big thank-you. I am always delighted to hear your comments and of course the stories which go to make up the tapestry of our local history. Happy New Year to you all.
Friday, December 22, 1995
Nurse Teresa Brennan
“There is a crying need for a nurse in Athy”. The year was 1950 and Dr. Barry, Master of Holles Street Hospital, was addressing Ward Sister Teresa Brennan who had just completed her training with the Queen’s Institute of District Nursing. Teresa, a native of Belanagore, Co. Roscommon, the home of the O’Connors, one time High Kings of Connaught, had originally began her general nursing training in Withington Hospital, Manchester, later transferring to Townleys Hospital, Bolton where she spent three years as a Ward Sister. Returning to Ireland, she worked in the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, and on completing her midwifery training she undertook a District Nursing course in Leeson Street, Dublin.
District Nurses were then called Jubilee Nurses, and they were employed by local voluntary committees, which sought to provide medical services for everyone, irrespective of means. In Athy, the Jubilee Nurse Committee included Dr. John Kilbride who was the local dispensary Doctor, his wife May Kilbride, Nellie Holland of Model Farm, Kitty Higgins of Minch’s Terrace and Margaret Flood of Leinster Street. Mindful of Dr. Barry’s suggestion, Teresa Brennan successfully applied for the job in Athy where any doubts harboured by the candidate were speedily dispelled by the promise of “a house with the job”. This turned out to be number 3 St. Michael’s Terrace, which was rented by the Committee from Athy Urban District Council, and where Nurse Brennan, now long retired, still lives.
As a Jubilee Nurse she assisted at the local dispensary each morning where Dr. John Kilbride was in charge. Patients were visited in their homes in the afternoon by Nurse Brennan who travelled a radius of ten miles around Athy on her Raleigh bicycle. Changing dressings, comforting the sick and supplying medication were the every day tasks of the Jubilee Nurse who was readily identified by her navy blue uniform and white apron.
She travelled every road and by-road in the town and district and like her colleagues, the District mid-wives Madge May and Josie Candy, she saw and experienced life in all its many manifestations. The “blue ticket” which was required to avail of the services of the dispensary Doctor and the Jubilee Nurse has now been replaced by the medical card which the older people still refer to as the “blue card”.
Teresa Brennan filled the role of Jubilee Nurse for fifteen years until appointed as a public health nurse by Kildare County Council. The range and nature of her duties did not change. Now, however, she was a pensionable, salaried official of the County Council, no longer dependant on the financial well being of the voluntary committee which up to then had paid her salary.
Transferring from Dublin to Athy in 1950 was for the young Teresa Brennan a not entirely happy experience. “It seemed a terrible place” was her first impression of the town, but soon the warmth and friendliness of the townspeople won over the Roscommon girl. It was those same local people, always anxious and willing to help in an emergency, who brought home to the young nurse the strength and value of living in a happy, vibrant community. She is particularly warm in her appreciation of the help afforded to her by so many people in Convent View and St. Patrick’s Avenue and as she says “indeed every area in the town” during her time as Jubilee Nurse and later as Public Health Nurse. “People’s good nature comes to the fore in times of sickness and death and so many times I witnessed the innate goodness of the local people in dealing with emergencies as they arose.” Her words remind her of the terrible scourge of tuberculosis which was rampant in the 1950’s and which carried off so many young people to an early grave. She recalls the very real poverty which was to be seen in Athy in those years, a poverty which was matched by the poor quality housing of the time. It was in those conditions that tuberculosis developed and remained a threat to public health for a considerable time. As she recalls it, the appointment of Dr. Noel Brown, as Minister for Health, coincided with the beginning of the end of the battle against TB.
She remembers with a smile the furore in Athy soon after she arrived, when rust was detected in the local drinking water. Reminiscent of the more recent magnesium in the water scare encountered in parts of Graysland and Kingsgrove, the rusty water of 1950 was apparently a perennial problem created by the rusty pipes which carried the water from Modubeigh Reservoir. Even then, the dispensary doctor, John Kilbride, allayed public fear in a manner reminiscent of officials forty four years later with the claim “rust never did anyone any harm.”
In her time she has witnessed huge social changes in our community. “People do not need to go hungry in today’s society as they did in the old days”, she declares with the confidence and assurance of one who has witnessed at first hand those terrible times, which were once so familiar in Irish society.
As the last Jubilee Nurse in Athy, Teresa Brennan, no longer awaits the knock on the door which invariably meant a trip through the night to a distant, often cold room of a sick person for whom the nurse was a comforting and reassuring figure. Nurse Brennan, “don’t ask me my age”, is a familiar sight around Athy and is a Minister of Eucharist in the local Parish Church. Having retired some years ago, she recalls the recent past with a sometimes whimsical regret that the years have passed so quickly.
District Nurses were then called Jubilee Nurses, and they were employed by local voluntary committees, which sought to provide medical services for everyone, irrespective of means. In Athy, the Jubilee Nurse Committee included Dr. John Kilbride who was the local dispensary Doctor, his wife May Kilbride, Nellie Holland of Model Farm, Kitty Higgins of Minch’s Terrace and Margaret Flood of Leinster Street. Mindful of Dr. Barry’s suggestion, Teresa Brennan successfully applied for the job in Athy where any doubts harboured by the candidate were speedily dispelled by the promise of “a house with the job”. This turned out to be number 3 St. Michael’s Terrace, which was rented by the Committee from Athy Urban District Council, and where Nurse Brennan, now long retired, still lives.
As a Jubilee Nurse she assisted at the local dispensary each morning where Dr. John Kilbride was in charge. Patients were visited in their homes in the afternoon by Nurse Brennan who travelled a radius of ten miles around Athy on her Raleigh bicycle. Changing dressings, comforting the sick and supplying medication were the every day tasks of the Jubilee Nurse who was readily identified by her navy blue uniform and white apron.
She travelled every road and by-road in the town and district and like her colleagues, the District mid-wives Madge May and Josie Candy, she saw and experienced life in all its many manifestations. The “blue ticket” which was required to avail of the services of the dispensary Doctor and the Jubilee Nurse has now been replaced by the medical card which the older people still refer to as the “blue card”.
Teresa Brennan filled the role of Jubilee Nurse for fifteen years until appointed as a public health nurse by Kildare County Council. The range and nature of her duties did not change. Now, however, she was a pensionable, salaried official of the County Council, no longer dependant on the financial well being of the voluntary committee which up to then had paid her salary.
Transferring from Dublin to Athy in 1950 was for the young Teresa Brennan a not entirely happy experience. “It seemed a terrible place” was her first impression of the town, but soon the warmth and friendliness of the townspeople won over the Roscommon girl. It was those same local people, always anxious and willing to help in an emergency, who brought home to the young nurse the strength and value of living in a happy, vibrant community. She is particularly warm in her appreciation of the help afforded to her by so many people in Convent View and St. Patrick’s Avenue and as she says “indeed every area in the town” during her time as Jubilee Nurse and later as Public Health Nurse. “People’s good nature comes to the fore in times of sickness and death and so many times I witnessed the innate goodness of the local people in dealing with emergencies as they arose.” Her words remind her of the terrible scourge of tuberculosis which was rampant in the 1950’s and which carried off so many young people to an early grave. She recalls the very real poverty which was to be seen in Athy in those years, a poverty which was matched by the poor quality housing of the time. It was in those conditions that tuberculosis developed and remained a threat to public health for a considerable time. As she recalls it, the appointment of Dr. Noel Brown, as Minister for Health, coincided with the beginning of the end of the battle against TB.
She remembers with a smile the furore in Athy soon after she arrived, when rust was detected in the local drinking water. Reminiscent of the more recent magnesium in the water scare encountered in parts of Graysland and Kingsgrove, the rusty water of 1950 was apparently a perennial problem created by the rusty pipes which carried the water from Modubeigh Reservoir. Even then, the dispensary doctor, John Kilbride, allayed public fear in a manner reminiscent of officials forty four years later with the claim “rust never did anyone any harm.”
In her time she has witnessed huge social changes in our community. “People do not need to go hungry in today’s society as they did in the old days”, she declares with the confidence and assurance of one who has witnessed at first hand those terrible times, which were once so familiar in Irish society.
As the last Jubilee Nurse in Athy, Teresa Brennan, no longer awaits the knock on the door which invariably meant a trip through the night to a distant, often cold room of a sick person for whom the nurse was a comforting and reassuring figure. Nurse Brennan, “don’t ask me my age”, is a familiar sight around Athy and is a Minister of Eucharist in the local Parish Church. Having retired some years ago, she recalls the recent past with a sometimes whimsical regret that the years have passed so quickly.
Friday, December 15, 1995
Famine Losses in Athy coupled with piece on Tailoring Businesses
I attended the launch of a book by Kildare County Council as part of its contribution to this years commemoration of the Great Famine on Tuesday night in Naas Library. “Lest we forget - Kildare in the Great Famine”, comprises a number of essays dealing with various aspects of the Famine in Kildare. Yours truly contributed a chapter on the Famine in Athy, which in itself is not sufficient reason for deciding not to buy the book. It should be available in your local bookshop, and as it costs only £4.95 there is no need to raise a bank loan to buy your own copy.
Re-reading the Famine article which I had written earlier this year, I was reminded that the population of Athy had decreased by 825 in the ten years from 1841 to 1851. This did not take into account persons in the local Workhouse where 1205 paupers died during the Great Famine.
Earlier in the week I bought a copy of the 1911 Census report for County Kildare, which I will readily admit, would not be everybody’s favourite bedtime reading. However, the wealth of information it held concerning the residents of Athy 84 years ago was fascinating. The population of the town in 1911 was 3,535 persons, living in 691 houses. There were 64 uninhabited houses in the town, and only one dwellinghouse in the course of erection that year. The Census also disclosed that there were 26 one-roomed tenements in the town and in one unfortunate case there were no less than nine persons living in a one-roomed house.
What I found astonishing were the details of the previous Census results for Athy, which showed that in the ten years to 1901 the town’s population fell by 1287 persons to 3599. This represented a bigger decrease in the towns population, than that experienced in the ten years which spanned the period of the Great Famine. I must confess that I am puzzled as to the likely explanation for this relatively high population decrease. Is there by chance an explanation in the establishment of the Urban Council in 1898, and a possible reduction in the urban area compared to the town area over which the Town Commissioners exercised authority? If this was the case then the figures for 1901 and 1891 would not be comparable and might not necessarily indicate a decline in the town’s population.
As I write this article, I cannot possibly say whether this explanation is correct or not. Indeed, I had always assumed that the functional area of the Urban Council was coterminous with that of the earlier Town Commissioners, established in 1847, and with that of the Borough Council incorporated by charters in 1515 and 1613. If the figures in the 1901 Census returns do in fact reflect the loss of 1287 persons for Athy in the previous ten years, wherein lies the explanation? I have never before been alerted to any great population shift in the town at the end of the last century and cannot speculate as to the possible cause. However, more about this again when further research has been done.
John Craven, of Capanafeacle, Ballyadams, in a letter to last week’s paper mentioned J. W. Coote, Tailor, Out-fitters Athy and a purchase made by his mother in 1917 which came with a Coote coat hanger, which he still has. Coote’s had their premises in what their advertisements always referred to as Market Square, Athy. This was, of course, Emily Square. Mr. Coote, who operated what he called a “Fitting Establishment”, wrote to the local newspaper on 5th April 1902, criticising the destruction of the tailoring trade in Athy by the “greedy drapers who supply suits to measure made in London or in Dublin”. His fear, which was in time realised, concerned the possible demise of the master tailoring craft in Athy. Coote’s obviously continued in business until 1917 at least, as evidenced by Mr. Craven’s account of his mothers purchase that same year.
Another Master tailor’s establishment at the turn of the century was that of Thomas G. Lumley of Duke Street, where craftsmen such as Thomas Moran, Mick Egan and Paddy Bracken worked in the tailoring rooms. Returning to John Craven’s query as to where exactly in Market Square or Emily Square was Coote’s Fitting Establishment, I do recall an early Lawrence Photograph of the town showing Coote’s next door to Noud’s Corner Shop, which is now Winkle’s. This would make Anthony’s Auctioneers the present occupiers of Coote’s premises.
The mention of Master tailors prompts another query, concerning James Moses Kelly, a tailor who married Margaret Dunne of Athy, some time around the turn of the century. Whether he worked for one of the local tailoring establishments or worked on his own account, I cannot say. My interest in the man lies in the belief that he was the grandfather or possibly the father of Elizabeth Coxhead, a prolific writer amongst whose works was a book of particular local interest called “The House in the Heart”. If any of the readers know anything about James Moses Kelly or can help me track down a copy of Elizabeth Coxhead’s book, I would very much like to hear from them.
Re-reading the Famine article which I had written earlier this year, I was reminded that the population of Athy had decreased by 825 in the ten years from 1841 to 1851. This did not take into account persons in the local Workhouse where 1205 paupers died during the Great Famine.
Earlier in the week I bought a copy of the 1911 Census report for County Kildare, which I will readily admit, would not be everybody’s favourite bedtime reading. However, the wealth of information it held concerning the residents of Athy 84 years ago was fascinating. The population of the town in 1911 was 3,535 persons, living in 691 houses. There were 64 uninhabited houses in the town, and only one dwellinghouse in the course of erection that year. The Census also disclosed that there were 26 one-roomed tenements in the town and in one unfortunate case there were no less than nine persons living in a one-roomed house.
What I found astonishing were the details of the previous Census results for Athy, which showed that in the ten years to 1901 the town’s population fell by 1287 persons to 3599. This represented a bigger decrease in the towns population, than that experienced in the ten years which spanned the period of the Great Famine. I must confess that I am puzzled as to the likely explanation for this relatively high population decrease. Is there by chance an explanation in the establishment of the Urban Council in 1898, and a possible reduction in the urban area compared to the town area over which the Town Commissioners exercised authority? If this was the case then the figures for 1901 and 1891 would not be comparable and might not necessarily indicate a decline in the town’s population.
As I write this article, I cannot possibly say whether this explanation is correct or not. Indeed, I had always assumed that the functional area of the Urban Council was coterminous with that of the earlier Town Commissioners, established in 1847, and with that of the Borough Council incorporated by charters in 1515 and 1613. If the figures in the 1901 Census returns do in fact reflect the loss of 1287 persons for Athy in the previous ten years, wherein lies the explanation? I have never before been alerted to any great population shift in the town at the end of the last century and cannot speculate as to the possible cause. However, more about this again when further research has been done.
John Craven, of Capanafeacle, Ballyadams, in a letter to last week’s paper mentioned J. W. Coote, Tailor, Out-fitters Athy and a purchase made by his mother in 1917 which came with a Coote coat hanger, which he still has. Coote’s had their premises in what their advertisements always referred to as Market Square, Athy. This was, of course, Emily Square. Mr. Coote, who operated what he called a “Fitting Establishment”, wrote to the local newspaper on 5th April 1902, criticising the destruction of the tailoring trade in Athy by the “greedy drapers who supply suits to measure made in London or in Dublin”. His fear, which was in time realised, concerned the possible demise of the master tailoring craft in Athy. Coote’s obviously continued in business until 1917 at least, as evidenced by Mr. Craven’s account of his mothers purchase that same year.
Another Master tailor’s establishment at the turn of the century was that of Thomas G. Lumley of Duke Street, where craftsmen such as Thomas Moran, Mick Egan and Paddy Bracken worked in the tailoring rooms. Returning to John Craven’s query as to where exactly in Market Square or Emily Square was Coote’s Fitting Establishment, I do recall an early Lawrence Photograph of the town showing Coote’s next door to Noud’s Corner Shop, which is now Winkle’s. This would make Anthony’s Auctioneers the present occupiers of Coote’s premises.
The mention of Master tailors prompts another query, concerning James Moses Kelly, a tailor who married Margaret Dunne of Athy, some time around the turn of the century. Whether he worked for one of the local tailoring establishments or worked on his own account, I cannot say. My interest in the man lies in the belief that he was the grandfather or possibly the father of Elizabeth Coxhead, a prolific writer amongst whose works was a book of particular local interest called “The House in the Heart”. If any of the readers know anything about James Moses Kelly or can help me track down a copy of Elizabeth Coxhead’s book, I would very much like to hear from them.
Friday, December 8, 1995
Sr. Consilio
Sr. Consilio. The name immediately conjures up images, not of a woman in Holy Orders, but rather of a movement which now reaches across the length and breadth of Ireland. Cuan Mhuire, meaning the Harbour of Mary, are homes for the care and rehabilitation of those with alcohol dependency problems and are located in Athy, Bruree, Newry and Athenry. They exist because Sr. Consilio, a member of the Sisters of Mercy congregation in Athy, sought to provide a service for people, whose needs she felt, had been overlooked by society.
Born Eileen Fitzgerald in 1937, she began training as a nurse in Cork in 1956. Soon the religious life beckoned. Her own sister, Ita, was in Ardee Convent of Mercy and on her suggestion Eileen Fitzgerald entered the Convent of Mercy in Athy, after qualifying as a nurse. Her noviceship was spent there, but in 1965 she transferred to the local St. Vincent’s Hospital, where the Sisters of Mercy had provided nursing care since 1873. It was here that she first came in regular contact with men and women suffering from alcoholism. Her concern for their welfare found support in the compassionate outlook of Sr. Dominic, Matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Before long however, she was transferred to St. Finbar’s Hospital in Cork to complete her midwifery studies, which when completed, saw her returning to the Athy Convent.
Sr. Consilio’s charitable response to the needs of those troubled by alcohol addiction encouraged those requiring help to call on her at the local Convent of Mercy. In time, the small library room in the Convent building became a meeting place for alcoholics. In 1968 the library was deemed unsuitable for the numbers attending, and it was then that the dairy house attached to the Convent was given over for the use of Sr. Consilio’s group. This became the first Cuan Mhuire residential centre in Ireland.
In 1971, Sr. Consilio, determined to provide accommodation for the men and women seeking help from the torment of alcoholism, agreed to buy 70 acres of farm land at Cardenton, Athy. The purchase price at auction was £49,000.00, and when the property was knocked down to her, she did not have that money. Fate played its hand when the vendor died before the legal formalities could be completed, resulting in a lengthy delay, which allowed Sr. Consilio sufficient time to raise the necessary funds. The first buildings on the Cardenton lands were planned and erected by members of her group, all of whom brought their own talents and skills to the work. Building work began in 1972, with Paddy Lalor of Woodstock Street as the only contractor employed on the site.
The early success of Cuan Mhuire was achieved despite the misgivings of some members of the local community in Athy to the siting of an alcohol treatment centre near to their town. Over time however, the local opposition to the centre evaporated, as it became clear that Sr. Consilio’s mission was fulfilling an important need in Irish society.
The mission statement of Cuan Mhuire is an affirmation of the relevance of Sr. Consilio’s work in every community “to provide a context in which persons who feel rejected or dejected because of their addictions become aware of and learn to deal with the underlying problems related to those addictions and discover their uniqueness, goodness, giftedness and real purpose in life.”
In 1975 Sr. Consilio received a Person of the Year Award for her work and in the following year the second Cuan Mhuire was opened in Bruree House, Bruree, Co. Limerick. The continuing demand for Cuan Mhuire services led to the opening of another centre in the former Good Shepherd Convent, Newry in 1984. Two years later, Galilee, a house of prayer was opened in what was the former Fever Hospital in Athy.
The facilities originally provided at Cuan Mhuire, Athy, were replaced by a modern complex which was opened on the 14th of June 1992 by the Superior General of the Sister of Mercy. This was followed by the opening of the fourth Cuan Mhuire in Coolarne, Athenry, Co. Galway and an after care facility in the former O’Briens Hotel, Gardiner Street, Dublin. This latter facility provides short term drug free residential accommodation for those who have attended Cuan Mhuire for treatment. Overnight accommodation is not yet available, but in the meantime the city centre complex operates as a drop-in centre.
Today the four Cuan Mhuires provide places for 418 persons suffering from alcoholism. It is a proud tradition of Cuan Mhuire, that regardless of circumstances, no person is refused admission or treatment. This in itself can create problems, but given the inspirational leadership and dedication of Sr. Consilio and the Cuan Mhuire staff there is no reason to doubt the continuing success of the Cuan Mhuire Alcohol Recovery Programme.
Equally, I have no doubt that the future of the Cuan Mhuire movement is assured. So much of what has happened in its formative years was due, largely, if not solely, to one woman - Sr. Consilio. In time to come her name will be remembered alongside that of Catherine McAuley, Mary Aikenhead, Nano Nagle, and those other great women in religion, who stirred an Irish nation’s conscience by tackling the social problems of their day.
Born Eileen Fitzgerald in 1937, she began training as a nurse in Cork in 1956. Soon the religious life beckoned. Her own sister, Ita, was in Ardee Convent of Mercy and on her suggestion Eileen Fitzgerald entered the Convent of Mercy in Athy, after qualifying as a nurse. Her noviceship was spent there, but in 1965 she transferred to the local St. Vincent’s Hospital, where the Sisters of Mercy had provided nursing care since 1873. It was here that she first came in regular contact with men and women suffering from alcoholism. Her concern for their welfare found support in the compassionate outlook of Sr. Dominic, Matron of St. Vincent’s Hospital. Before long however, she was transferred to St. Finbar’s Hospital in Cork to complete her midwifery studies, which when completed, saw her returning to the Athy Convent.
Sr. Consilio’s charitable response to the needs of those troubled by alcohol addiction encouraged those requiring help to call on her at the local Convent of Mercy. In time, the small library room in the Convent building became a meeting place for alcoholics. In 1968 the library was deemed unsuitable for the numbers attending, and it was then that the dairy house attached to the Convent was given over for the use of Sr. Consilio’s group. This became the first Cuan Mhuire residential centre in Ireland.
In 1971, Sr. Consilio, determined to provide accommodation for the men and women seeking help from the torment of alcoholism, agreed to buy 70 acres of farm land at Cardenton, Athy. The purchase price at auction was £49,000.00, and when the property was knocked down to her, she did not have that money. Fate played its hand when the vendor died before the legal formalities could be completed, resulting in a lengthy delay, which allowed Sr. Consilio sufficient time to raise the necessary funds. The first buildings on the Cardenton lands were planned and erected by members of her group, all of whom brought their own talents and skills to the work. Building work began in 1972, with Paddy Lalor of Woodstock Street as the only contractor employed on the site.
The early success of Cuan Mhuire was achieved despite the misgivings of some members of the local community in Athy to the siting of an alcohol treatment centre near to their town. Over time however, the local opposition to the centre evaporated, as it became clear that Sr. Consilio’s mission was fulfilling an important need in Irish society.
The mission statement of Cuan Mhuire is an affirmation of the relevance of Sr. Consilio’s work in every community “to provide a context in which persons who feel rejected or dejected because of their addictions become aware of and learn to deal with the underlying problems related to those addictions and discover their uniqueness, goodness, giftedness and real purpose in life.”
In 1975 Sr. Consilio received a Person of the Year Award for her work and in the following year the second Cuan Mhuire was opened in Bruree House, Bruree, Co. Limerick. The continuing demand for Cuan Mhuire services led to the opening of another centre in the former Good Shepherd Convent, Newry in 1984. Two years later, Galilee, a house of prayer was opened in what was the former Fever Hospital in Athy.
The facilities originally provided at Cuan Mhuire, Athy, were replaced by a modern complex which was opened on the 14th of June 1992 by the Superior General of the Sister of Mercy. This was followed by the opening of the fourth Cuan Mhuire in Coolarne, Athenry, Co. Galway and an after care facility in the former O’Briens Hotel, Gardiner Street, Dublin. This latter facility provides short term drug free residential accommodation for those who have attended Cuan Mhuire for treatment. Overnight accommodation is not yet available, but in the meantime the city centre complex operates as a drop-in centre.
Today the four Cuan Mhuires provide places for 418 persons suffering from alcoholism. It is a proud tradition of Cuan Mhuire, that regardless of circumstances, no person is refused admission or treatment. This in itself can create problems, but given the inspirational leadership and dedication of Sr. Consilio and the Cuan Mhuire staff there is no reason to doubt the continuing success of the Cuan Mhuire Alcohol Recovery Programme.
Equally, I have no doubt that the future of the Cuan Mhuire movement is assured. So much of what has happened in its formative years was due, largely, if not solely, to one woman - Sr. Consilio. In time to come her name will be remembered alongside that of Catherine McAuley, Mary Aikenhead, Nano Nagle, and those other great women in religion, who stirred an Irish nation’s conscience by tackling the social problems of their day.
Friday, December 1, 1995
Atkinson's Tour of Ireland in 1814 with Description of Athy
Travellers’ narratives are always a fascinating, if not necessarily dependable, source of information on places and persons of the past. One such narrative, which I came across recently, was published in 1815 by Thomas Courtney of 6 Wood Street, Dublin, for its author A. Atkinson. Titled “The Irish Tourist” it was sub-titled “A Series of Picturesque Views Travelling Incidents and Observations, Statistical Political and Moral on the Character and Aspect of the Irish Nation”. The rather turgid title cloaked the work of a man who claimed in his introductory piece to have collected his material “at the expense of health and ease as well as of time and money”. He travelled 6,000 miles, or so he claimed, on his journeys through Ireland, all the while appealing to what he described as “the rank and property of the country” for funds to publish an account of his experiences. Those who contributed were listed as subscribers in the book, and amongst those listed are Thomas Boake of Boakefield, Athy, John M. Johnson, Athy, Robert Rawson, Athy and Col. Weldon of Kilmoroney.
Atkinson’s journey commenced in November 1810 in Sligo, and ended in Dublin in December 1814. In February 1814 he set out for the South East of Ireland, and reached the small post town and market town of Stradbally, where he found in the centre of the town an extensive cotton mill worked by water. It had been erected on the river adjoining what he described as “that pretty retreat called the Abbey”, by a Mr. Calcott, who employed 50 to 100 hands in the spinning department.
Proceeding to Athy, which he described as a market town, a post town and a corporate town, and alternately with Naas, the assizes town of County Kildare, he gave the following interesting and informative account of our town in 1814.
“It is situated on the river Barrow, which is navigable from thence to its junction with the sea near Waterford, while with the city of Dublin, this town has an open communication by the Grand Canal, so that it is extremely well circumstanced for trade; and in the corn department, I understand, a considerable communication subsists between them. For the quality and quantity of its wheat (with which useful article, disposed of by sample in the market, and afterwards delivered at the purchaser’s stores, for many miles around) this market is deservedly celebrated. In the town, however, there is no manufacturer of note, save that of two establishments for the distillation of malt into ale and whiskey; nor are the public buildings of the place remarkable either for their beauty or magnitude - nevertheless the town has a respectable appearance. It consists of two principal streets, which open a communication with the market-square; and from these principal divisions, several smaller streets issue, which, upon the whole, give this town an aspect of tolerable magnitude. The footpaths are neatly paved, and in winter the streets are lighted up, an accommodation rather unusual in country towns and therefore particularly grateful to the feelings of a stranger. The river passes nearly through the centre of the town, and while engaged in wafting the produce of the country to distant ports, is an object of great beauty in the eye of the passenger, when surveyed from the bridge, a piece of architecture which contributes much to the improved appearance of the town, since its re-construction in the year 1796. The jail, the church, the Roman Catholic chapel, and a small, but very neat chapel belonging to the Calvinistic Methodists, constitute the public buildings of the place. Formerly there was a meeting house of the Friends or Quakers in this town, but this society has been for a long time nearly extinct in this place, and I am now equally ignorant whether this little meeting-house is standing, or has fallen into ruin.
In the vicinity of this town, there are several pretty villas. Of these, that of Mr. Rawson, the collector, is deserving of attention - Mount Ophelia, on the Carlow Road, the residence of Dr. Johnson, is also a pretty retreat from the noise and bustle of the streets - but of all the seats in this neighbourhood which beautify the banks of the Barrow, that of Kilmoroney, the seat of Colonel Weldon, stands pre-eminent. It is situate on the opposite bank of the river, (as you proceed to Carlow) about seven miles north of that town, and three miles south of Athy. The river in the valley and the house, lawn, and plantations beyond them, are in perfect prospect. Among these latter, I would rank, as of no mean effect, a thick coppice or woody elevation on the bank just noticed, as you approach within view of this seat; and about half a mile farther on, a Danish fort embellished with ornamental plantations, is a striking feature of the landscape. Between these distinct objects, which mark the extremities of the lawn, stands Kilmoroney house, on a beautiful elevation; and in a valley, just opposite, are the ruins of the castle of Grangemelon, which , in that picturesque scene forms an object of considerable grandeur. Beside this more remarkable seat, you have the prospect of many inferior villas on the banks of the river, which embellish the country, in your progress to Carlow, and render the drive from Athy to that town, particularly interesting.”
Strange that Atkinson, in referring to the public buildings of the town, made no mention of the Town Hall or the Military Barracks in Barrack Street. What is interesting, was his description of the footpaths as neatly paved and the lighting of the streets in winter. This, as he states, was unusual in country towns and indicates that the corporate affairs of the town were perhaps better advanced than had previously been thought.
Athy did not often figure in the itineraries of early travellers to Ireland, and for that reason Atkinson’s description of the town in 1814 is important, even if it is somewhat incomplete.
Atkinson’s journey commenced in November 1810 in Sligo, and ended in Dublin in December 1814. In February 1814 he set out for the South East of Ireland, and reached the small post town and market town of Stradbally, where he found in the centre of the town an extensive cotton mill worked by water. It had been erected on the river adjoining what he described as “that pretty retreat called the Abbey”, by a Mr. Calcott, who employed 50 to 100 hands in the spinning department.
Proceeding to Athy, which he described as a market town, a post town and a corporate town, and alternately with Naas, the assizes town of County Kildare, he gave the following interesting and informative account of our town in 1814.
“It is situated on the river Barrow, which is navigable from thence to its junction with the sea near Waterford, while with the city of Dublin, this town has an open communication by the Grand Canal, so that it is extremely well circumstanced for trade; and in the corn department, I understand, a considerable communication subsists between them. For the quality and quantity of its wheat (with which useful article, disposed of by sample in the market, and afterwards delivered at the purchaser’s stores, for many miles around) this market is deservedly celebrated. In the town, however, there is no manufacturer of note, save that of two establishments for the distillation of malt into ale and whiskey; nor are the public buildings of the place remarkable either for their beauty or magnitude - nevertheless the town has a respectable appearance. It consists of two principal streets, which open a communication with the market-square; and from these principal divisions, several smaller streets issue, which, upon the whole, give this town an aspect of tolerable magnitude. The footpaths are neatly paved, and in winter the streets are lighted up, an accommodation rather unusual in country towns and therefore particularly grateful to the feelings of a stranger. The river passes nearly through the centre of the town, and while engaged in wafting the produce of the country to distant ports, is an object of great beauty in the eye of the passenger, when surveyed from the bridge, a piece of architecture which contributes much to the improved appearance of the town, since its re-construction in the year 1796. The jail, the church, the Roman Catholic chapel, and a small, but very neat chapel belonging to the Calvinistic Methodists, constitute the public buildings of the place. Formerly there was a meeting house of the Friends or Quakers in this town, but this society has been for a long time nearly extinct in this place, and I am now equally ignorant whether this little meeting-house is standing, or has fallen into ruin.
In the vicinity of this town, there are several pretty villas. Of these, that of Mr. Rawson, the collector, is deserving of attention - Mount Ophelia, on the Carlow Road, the residence of Dr. Johnson, is also a pretty retreat from the noise and bustle of the streets - but of all the seats in this neighbourhood which beautify the banks of the Barrow, that of Kilmoroney, the seat of Colonel Weldon, stands pre-eminent. It is situate on the opposite bank of the river, (as you proceed to Carlow) about seven miles north of that town, and three miles south of Athy. The river in the valley and the house, lawn, and plantations beyond them, are in perfect prospect. Among these latter, I would rank, as of no mean effect, a thick coppice or woody elevation on the bank just noticed, as you approach within view of this seat; and about half a mile farther on, a Danish fort embellished with ornamental plantations, is a striking feature of the landscape. Between these distinct objects, which mark the extremities of the lawn, stands Kilmoroney house, on a beautiful elevation; and in a valley, just opposite, are the ruins of the castle of Grangemelon, which , in that picturesque scene forms an object of considerable grandeur. Beside this more remarkable seat, you have the prospect of many inferior villas on the banks of the river, which embellish the country, in your progress to Carlow, and render the drive from Athy to that town, particularly interesting.”
Strange that Atkinson, in referring to the public buildings of the town, made no mention of the Town Hall or the Military Barracks in Barrack Street. What is interesting, was his description of the footpaths as neatly paved and the lighting of the streets in winter. This, as he states, was unusual in country towns and indicates that the corporate affairs of the town were perhaps better advanced than had previously been thought.
Athy did not often figure in the itineraries of early travellers to Ireland, and for that reason Atkinson’s description of the town in 1814 is important, even if it is somewhat incomplete.
Friday, November 24, 1995
Athy Artefacts in Maynooth College Museum
A few weeks ago I travelled to Maynooth College to attend the Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Local History Societies. With time to spare before the start of the meeting I had an opportunity of visiting the College Museum and viewing the many interesting artefacts of our ecclesiastical past. Two items were of particular interest. Both had an Athy provenance the first being a Holy Week book published in Paris in 1634. It was of the type used by priests during penal days and was found in an old building adjoining the Parochial House in Athy. Unfortunately there was no information available as to when it had been found and indeed I have not yet followed up my curiosity in this regard with a query to the College authorities.
The population of Athy in 1659 numbered 565 of which 83 were English settlers and 482 native Irish. In September 1653 Murdo McKenzy was directed to preach in Irish as well as in English as a Minister of the Established Church in the Athy area. Two years later the Dublin Castle authorities ordered that James Carey, a former Catholic Priest who had become a Minister of the State religion, preach in Irish in Trim and Athy. Before long Carey was to complain that the Athy people were very remiss in coming to hear him preach and that they preferred to spend the hours appointed for Church services in frequenting ale houses and indulging in "unwarranted exercises".
Whatever about the laxity in Church attendance there appears to have been some Catholics in Athy who conformed. The sincerity of the conformist was however doubted for in July 1654 an order was issued to John Murcit to examine the conversion of the native Irish about Athy who for that reason had been excused from transplanting to the West of Ireland with those who had opted for Connaught rather than hell. Murcit was enjoined to see "whether they have upon any conscientious grounds deserted popery or for any feigned considerations or by ends pretended the embracing of Protestantism."
In 1662 William Weldon M.P. for Athy and then residing in St. John's reported that two Catholic priests named Fitzgerald and Carroll daily frequented the place and "lately said Mass in the middle of the town several times". Maybe the Holy Week book now in Maynooth Museum belonged to one of these priests who have had good reason to hide it when it was not in use. The same Weldon reported that on a particular Sunday Fitzgerald was found "at his devotions" attended by five hundred people. Being arrested the Priest was rescued four times by the locals but was eventually taken prisoner by the soldiers. It was around this time that Fr. Raymond Moore, Prior of the Dominicans in Athy, was also arrested and imprisoned in Dublin where he died in 1665.
The second item in Maynooth Museum of local interest was a silver cup presented by the citizens of Athy to John Stoyt, Steward to the Duke of Leinster. The inscription on the cup read "Presented by the inhabitants of Athy to John Stoyt Esquire as a token of their appreciation of his upright and impartial conduct and the many services he has rendered to the town during his sovereignty September 29th 1795."
Stoyt was elected a Burgess of the town on the 29th of September 1791 in place of Sir Kildare Dixon Burrowes and served as Sovereign of Athy in 1794/95 and again in 1798/99. The Sovereign was the 18th century equivalent of the Council Chairman with substantially more powers than the present day office holder would have.
John Stoyt's house in Maynooth was acquired by the Trustees of the newly founded College in Maynooth in 1795 and Stoyt's house is today the principal building in the College complex which has grown over the past two hundred years.
It was an unexpected pleasure to encounter these two links with Athy's distant past in Maynooth College. Maybe some day when our long awaited Heritage Centre is up and running the silver cup and the Holy Week Book could be returned to Athy where they would form an important part of our town's story as presented in artefacts of the past preserved for the enjoyment and knowledge of the present generation.
The population of Athy in 1659 numbered 565 of which 83 were English settlers and 482 native Irish. In September 1653 Murdo McKenzy was directed to preach in Irish as well as in English as a Minister of the Established Church in the Athy area. Two years later the Dublin Castle authorities ordered that James Carey, a former Catholic Priest who had become a Minister of the State religion, preach in Irish in Trim and Athy. Before long Carey was to complain that the Athy people were very remiss in coming to hear him preach and that they preferred to spend the hours appointed for Church services in frequenting ale houses and indulging in "unwarranted exercises".
Whatever about the laxity in Church attendance there appears to have been some Catholics in Athy who conformed. The sincerity of the conformist was however doubted for in July 1654 an order was issued to John Murcit to examine the conversion of the native Irish about Athy who for that reason had been excused from transplanting to the West of Ireland with those who had opted for Connaught rather than hell. Murcit was enjoined to see "whether they have upon any conscientious grounds deserted popery or for any feigned considerations or by ends pretended the embracing of Protestantism."
In 1662 William Weldon M.P. for Athy and then residing in St. John's reported that two Catholic priests named Fitzgerald and Carroll daily frequented the place and "lately said Mass in the middle of the town several times". Maybe the Holy Week book now in Maynooth Museum belonged to one of these priests who have had good reason to hide it when it was not in use. The same Weldon reported that on a particular Sunday Fitzgerald was found "at his devotions" attended by five hundred people. Being arrested the Priest was rescued four times by the locals but was eventually taken prisoner by the soldiers. It was around this time that Fr. Raymond Moore, Prior of the Dominicans in Athy, was also arrested and imprisoned in Dublin where he died in 1665.
The second item in Maynooth Museum of local interest was a silver cup presented by the citizens of Athy to John Stoyt, Steward to the Duke of Leinster. The inscription on the cup read "Presented by the inhabitants of Athy to John Stoyt Esquire as a token of their appreciation of his upright and impartial conduct and the many services he has rendered to the town during his sovereignty September 29th 1795."
Stoyt was elected a Burgess of the town on the 29th of September 1791 in place of Sir Kildare Dixon Burrowes and served as Sovereign of Athy in 1794/95 and again in 1798/99. The Sovereign was the 18th century equivalent of the Council Chairman with substantially more powers than the present day office holder would have.
John Stoyt's house in Maynooth was acquired by the Trustees of the newly founded College in Maynooth in 1795 and Stoyt's house is today the principal building in the College complex which has grown over the past two hundred years.
It was an unexpected pleasure to encounter these two links with Athy's distant past in Maynooth College. Maybe some day when our long awaited Heritage Centre is up and running the silver cup and the Holy Week Book could be returned to Athy where they would form an important part of our town's story as presented in artefacts of the past preserved for the enjoyment and knowledge of the present generation.
Friday, November 17, 1995
Brian Fitzgerald and the Duck Press Restaurant
When the Grand Canal reached Athy in 1791 it marked a turning point in the towns fortunes. Thereafter the South Kildare town was to develop as a commercial centre which boosted and complemented its earlier role as a market town. The canal link which brought the capital within twelve hours of Athy's market inevitably led to a dramatic increase in market activity in the area. Produce brought into Athy by local farmers found its way to Dublin as a thriving carriage industry developed to supplement the Grand Canal Company's efforts. The trade was not one way and the boats returning from Dublin came loaded with merchants goods which soon adorned the shop windows of Athy. Truly could it be said of Athy then that it was taken on the grandeur and style of cosmopolitan Dublin.
Passenger services on the Grand Canal commenced with a 5.00 a.m. start from the canal basin in Athy. The ladies and gentlemen of the day delighted with the advances in travel made possible by the Canal thought little or nothing of the twelve hour journey to Dublin. Before the coming of the Canal the same journey was made on horseback or in carriages, on roads unsuited for the purpose and dangerous to all travellers. An early start on the canal journey necessitated sleeping accommodation being available for the travellers near to the canal basin and so it was that Canal Hotels were built. In Athy the fine two storey overbasement building which was later to become the Canal Company's offices was initially constructed as a small Hotel to accommodate travellers on the Grand Canal. Today it is home to the Duck Press Restaurant owned and managed by Brian Fitzgerald. Brian, born in West Ham in London in 1946 is a cockney who came to Athy in 1993 on acquiring the business from its founder owner Stephen Corcoran. As an East Londoner Brian has led a chequered career since he first went to work as a meat salesman in Smithfields markets in London at seventeen years of age. Memories of Stanley Holloway and Katherine Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" bring to mind scenes reminiscent of those encountered by Brian in his work first in the meat markets and later in Billingsgate Fish Market where he worked for two years. Experiences in the meat and fish markets led him to Covent Gardens Fruit Markets where he was a fruit salesman for three years. His years in the markets brought him in contact with many famous and some infamous characters. Billy Walker, Champion Heavyweight Boxer was a fish porter in Billingsgate in Brian's time while Kenny Lynch, Comedian and television personality, was another colleague who worked as a porter in Smithfield market. However the most intriguing relationship struck up by Brian was that with the notorious London criminals The Kray Twins. They were frequent visitors to the markets and the acquaintanceship extended to the Regency Club and the K. Club both of which were operated by the Kray Brothers.
It was with the financial backing of the Kray Twins that Brian first went into business on his own account when he opened up the Doric Restaurant in Attleborough in Norfolk. Three successful years there led to further business ventures which included two butcher shops in High Street, Walthenstone, London and a boning factory which he operated for Peter O'Sullivan the famous racing commentator in Long Stratham, Norwich. His final business venture in England was as proprietor of "The Old Crown" in Diss, Norfolk, a market pub.
Brian spent his early years in Plashet Road, West Ham, a stones throw away from the Grand Union Canal. He learned to swim as did his friends in the Canal at Stratford Broadway and now he has renewed his links with canal life with his beautifully located Duck Press Restaurant on the Grand Canal basin in Athy.
The London cockney has grown to love the sometimes strange but always charming ways of the Irish and has firmly set his roots down in this country. As he says himself having married Denise Fitzgerald of Allencross in 1993, his home is where his heart is and those of us lucky enough to have partaken of the culinary delights of the Duck Press are glad that he has finally dropped his anchor in Athy.
Passenger services on the Grand Canal commenced with a 5.00 a.m. start from the canal basin in Athy. The ladies and gentlemen of the day delighted with the advances in travel made possible by the Canal thought little or nothing of the twelve hour journey to Dublin. Before the coming of the Canal the same journey was made on horseback or in carriages, on roads unsuited for the purpose and dangerous to all travellers. An early start on the canal journey necessitated sleeping accommodation being available for the travellers near to the canal basin and so it was that Canal Hotels were built. In Athy the fine two storey overbasement building which was later to become the Canal Company's offices was initially constructed as a small Hotel to accommodate travellers on the Grand Canal. Today it is home to the Duck Press Restaurant owned and managed by Brian Fitzgerald. Brian, born in West Ham in London in 1946 is a cockney who came to Athy in 1993 on acquiring the business from its founder owner Stephen Corcoran. As an East Londoner Brian has led a chequered career since he first went to work as a meat salesman in Smithfields markets in London at seventeen years of age. Memories of Stanley Holloway and Katherine Hepburn in "My Fair Lady" bring to mind scenes reminiscent of those encountered by Brian in his work first in the meat markets and later in Billingsgate Fish Market where he worked for two years. Experiences in the meat and fish markets led him to Covent Gardens Fruit Markets where he was a fruit salesman for three years. His years in the markets brought him in contact with many famous and some infamous characters. Billy Walker, Champion Heavyweight Boxer was a fish porter in Billingsgate in Brian's time while Kenny Lynch, Comedian and television personality, was another colleague who worked as a porter in Smithfield market. However the most intriguing relationship struck up by Brian was that with the notorious London criminals The Kray Twins. They were frequent visitors to the markets and the acquaintanceship extended to the Regency Club and the K. Club both of which were operated by the Kray Brothers.
It was with the financial backing of the Kray Twins that Brian first went into business on his own account when he opened up the Doric Restaurant in Attleborough in Norfolk. Three successful years there led to further business ventures which included two butcher shops in High Street, Walthenstone, London and a boning factory which he operated for Peter O'Sullivan the famous racing commentator in Long Stratham, Norwich. His final business venture in England was as proprietor of "The Old Crown" in Diss, Norfolk, a market pub.
Brian spent his early years in Plashet Road, West Ham, a stones throw away from the Grand Union Canal. He learned to swim as did his friends in the Canal at Stratford Broadway and now he has renewed his links with canal life with his beautifully located Duck Press Restaurant on the Grand Canal basin in Athy.
The London cockney has grown to love the sometimes strange but always charming ways of the Irish and has firmly set his roots down in this country. As he says himself having married Denise Fitzgerald of Allencross in 1993, his home is where his heart is and those of us lucky enough to have partaken of the culinary delights of the Duck Press are glad that he has finally dropped his anchor in Athy.
Friday, November 10, 1995
World War 1 and War Graves in St. Michaels Cemetery
Each year at this time I write of World War I and the men from Athy who were involved in that conflict. Just a few weeks after starting the “Eye on the Past” column I wrote in November 1992 of John Vincent Holland, Athy’s only holder of the Victoria Cross. Holland, son of a local veterinary surgeon, was born in Model Farm on the 19th of July 1889 and received the highest military award for gallantry in an attack on Guillemont in September 1916.
One year later I wrote of the Hannon brothers, Norman and John, both of Ardreigh House who died in the Great War. Reference was also made to their cousins Henry Hannon and Thomas Hannon who also perished. I mentioned how in November 1991 and every year since then local people came together to commemorate the men of Athy who had died in World War I. Their memories were recalled in prayer and poetry in a simple ceremony in St. Michael’s cemetery where six of the Athy dead are buried. Elsewhere I referred to Andrew Delaney of Crookstown who died in Netley Hospital, London from gas poisoning on 31st May, 1915 and whose remains were brought home for interment in Crookstown cemetery.
In November 1993 I listed the names of 105 Athy men, all soldiers who were killed in action during the 1914/18 War. Another 86 men from the rural hinterland around Athy also died representing a terrible loss to a small Irish provincial town. The tragedy of death was compounded when the War Office telegram arrived, not once but three times at the same hall door. Such was the experience of “Jacksie” and Mark Kelly of Mount Hawkins who lost three sons, Denis, John and Owen in the Great War. Owen died on the 3rd of May, 1915, his brother John twenty days later and Denis on 30th September, 1918 just eleven days short of the cease-fire. Other parents who suffered the horrendous loss of three sons were Jack and Margaret Curtis of Quarry who lost their son Patrick, killed in action in France on 4th November, 1914. In 1917 two more Curtis brothers were killed, John on the 9th of January and Lawrence on 4th December. Their father Jack worked as a farm steward for Michael Dooley, one of the foremost Irish nationalist figures in Athy during that period.
Remembering the dead is a proud tradition of all communities but particularly we Irish who hold dearly to our memories of loved ones. Sometimes we must grieve silently as did the many Irish families who for decades found it inappropriate to publicly acknowledge their dead, especially when they died fighting in the uniform of the “auld” enemy.
Times have changed and since November 1991 those unfortunate Athy men who died in action during the 1914/18 War have been remembered each year. Many of those who died no longer have families in Athy but amongst us there are many who bear the name of a dead soldier.
World War I or The Great War ended at 11.00 a.m. on the 11th of November 1918. Ten million men were killed and another thirty million were wounded or missing during the fifty three months of the War. In County Kildare we lost five hundred and sixty-seven men killed in action and an incalculable number amongst the wounded and maimed. In Athy our losses were proportionally greater than most with the deaths of one hundred and five men from the town and another eighty-two from the neighbouring countryside. Most of those men were buried where they fell, some were never found, their names recorded in stone in the War Memorials in Belgium and France.
St. Michael’s Cemetery holds the grave of six soldiers from Athy who died during the Great War.
• Private M. Byrne, Leinster Regiment, died on 21st November, 1918 aged 28 years
• Private James Dwyer, Royal Irish Army Service Corps, died on 31st March, 1918 aged 30 years
• Private Thomas Flynn, Connaught Rangers, died on 26th February, 1915 aged 28 years
• Private Martin Hyland, Offaly Street, Dublin Fusiliers, died 19th September, 1916 aged 29 years
• Lance Corporal J. Lawler, Ardreigh, Dublin Fusiliers, died on 3rd October, 1918 aged 37 years
• Private Michael O’Brien, Irish Guards, died on 26th December, 1917 aged 27 years.
The Irish War Memorials recorded that Martin Hyland died of wounds in France. It is highly unusual therefore to see his burial place in Athy. However, he probably died in Athy of wounds received while on service in France. Three of the soldiers interred in Athy cemetery do not appear in the Irish War Memorial records. The name of Private M. Byrne, Private James Dwyer and Lance Corporal J. Lawler must therefore be added to the list of Athy’s dead.
On Sunday, 12th November at 3.00 p.m. we will gather again in St. Michael’s Cemetery to honour the men from our town whose lives were lost so many years ago. As we stand at the graves of each of the six Athy men who were buried in their native soil we can recall all those husbands, fathers and brothers who died, especially those who lie, some in unmarked graves, far from their own place and far from their families and friends in Athy.
Maybe you will visit St. Michael’s Cemetery on Sunday, 12th November and say a prayer for those men and their families. It is the least we can do for those who once walked the familiar streets of our town.
One year later I wrote of the Hannon brothers, Norman and John, both of Ardreigh House who died in the Great War. Reference was also made to their cousins Henry Hannon and Thomas Hannon who also perished. I mentioned how in November 1991 and every year since then local people came together to commemorate the men of Athy who had died in World War I. Their memories were recalled in prayer and poetry in a simple ceremony in St. Michael’s cemetery where six of the Athy dead are buried. Elsewhere I referred to Andrew Delaney of Crookstown who died in Netley Hospital, London from gas poisoning on 31st May, 1915 and whose remains were brought home for interment in Crookstown cemetery.
In November 1993 I listed the names of 105 Athy men, all soldiers who were killed in action during the 1914/18 War. Another 86 men from the rural hinterland around Athy also died representing a terrible loss to a small Irish provincial town. The tragedy of death was compounded when the War Office telegram arrived, not once but three times at the same hall door. Such was the experience of “Jacksie” and Mark Kelly of Mount Hawkins who lost three sons, Denis, John and Owen in the Great War. Owen died on the 3rd of May, 1915, his brother John twenty days later and Denis on 30th September, 1918 just eleven days short of the cease-fire. Other parents who suffered the horrendous loss of three sons were Jack and Margaret Curtis of Quarry who lost their son Patrick, killed in action in France on 4th November, 1914. In 1917 two more Curtis brothers were killed, John on the 9th of January and Lawrence on 4th December. Their father Jack worked as a farm steward for Michael Dooley, one of the foremost Irish nationalist figures in Athy during that period.
Remembering the dead is a proud tradition of all communities but particularly we Irish who hold dearly to our memories of loved ones. Sometimes we must grieve silently as did the many Irish families who for decades found it inappropriate to publicly acknowledge their dead, especially when they died fighting in the uniform of the “auld” enemy.
Times have changed and since November 1991 those unfortunate Athy men who died in action during the 1914/18 War have been remembered each year. Many of those who died no longer have families in Athy but amongst us there are many who bear the name of a dead soldier.
World War I or The Great War ended at 11.00 a.m. on the 11th of November 1918. Ten million men were killed and another thirty million were wounded or missing during the fifty three months of the War. In County Kildare we lost five hundred and sixty-seven men killed in action and an incalculable number amongst the wounded and maimed. In Athy our losses were proportionally greater than most with the deaths of one hundred and five men from the town and another eighty-two from the neighbouring countryside. Most of those men were buried where they fell, some were never found, their names recorded in stone in the War Memorials in Belgium and France.
St. Michael’s Cemetery holds the grave of six soldiers from Athy who died during the Great War.
• Private M. Byrne, Leinster Regiment, died on 21st November, 1918 aged 28 years
• Private James Dwyer, Royal Irish Army Service Corps, died on 31st March, 1918 aged 30 years
• Private Thomas Flynn, Connaught Rangers, died on 26th February, 1915 aged 28 years
• Private Martin Hyland, Offaly Street, Dublin Fusiliers, died 19th September, 1916 aged 29 years
• Lance Corporal J. Lawler, Ardreigh, Dublin Fusiliers, died on 3rd October, 1918 aged 37 years
• Private Michael O’Brien, Irish Guards, died on 26th December, 1917 aged 27 years.
The Irish War Memorials recorded that Martin Hyland died of wounds in France. It is highly unusual therefore to see his burial place in Athy. However, he probably died in Athy of wounds received while on service in France. Three of the soldiers interred in Athy cemetery do not appear in the Irish War Memorial records. The name of Private M. Byrne, Private James Dwyer and Lance Corporal J. Lawler must therefore be added to the list of Athy’s dead.
On Sunday, 12th November at 3.00 p.m. we will gather again in St. Michael’s Cemetery to honour the men from our town whose lives were lost so many years ago. As we stand at the graves of each of the six Athy men who were buried in their native soil we can recall all those husbands, fathers and brothers who died, especially those who lie, some in unmarked graves, far from their own place and far from their families and friends in Athy.
Maybe you will visit St. Michael’s Cemetery on Sunday, 12th November and say a prayer for those men and their families. It is the least we can do for those who once walked the familiar streets of our town.
Friday, November 3, 1995
Care of the Elderly Athy
I received a small booklet through the post last week which was published as a record of the work of the Athy Committee for the Care of the Elderly during the past 30 years. The “Old Folks House” as we commonly call the Committee’s headquarters in Leinster Street, is the readily identifiable centre of the Committee’s work. Not always identified and acknowledged however, is the hard work and dedication of the many men and women, who since 1965, have contributed to the Committee’s success. Familiar names came to me as I perused the booklet’s pages. These were the names of men and women, once well known in Athy, but now only recalled in a litany of the dead. Tim McCarthy, Eamon McAuley, Tom Langton, Bill Horgan and Ted O’Rourke are just some of those names, which conjure up remembrances of times and events now past, never again to be experienced.
It is right that their names and those of their colleagues should be recorded, and that the record should show the part they played in creating and sustaining what was possibly Athy’s first voluntary social service for the elderly.
It was Dr. Brendan O’Donnell, then Medical Officer for county Kildare, who in 1965, suggested that a Care of the Elderly Committee be set up. This was at a time when the Old Age Pension was £2.7.6 per week, and the Home Assistance Officers under the late Tommy Harvey of Naas were busily engaged helping old people to keep body and soul together. I knew both Dr. O’Donnell and Tommy Harvey when I worked in the Health Section of Kildare County Council in the early 1960’s, and I recognised that their concern for the less well-off and the less capable in our society, extended far beyond the duties and responsibilities imposed by their respective offices.
At Dr. O’Donnell’s prompting, a public meeting was held in St. John’s Hall in October 1965 to establish a local Committee. St. John’s Hall, which once housed the former Social Club, was located in St. John’s Lane. It has long since been demolished, and on its site we now have the local Boy Scouts den. Dr. Brian Maguire, who arrived in Athy in July 1957 to take charge of the Dispensary District of Moone, was elected first Chairman of the Committee, a position he continued to occupy with distinction for the following 20 years. Vice-Chairman was Tom McEvoy, with Noreen Ryan as Secretary, and national school teacher Pierce Ferriter as Treasurer. The Honorary Social Worker appointed to the Committee was the indefatigable Megan Maguire, born in Manchester of Welsh parents, and wife of Dr. Brian Magurie. Megan’s involvement with the Care of the Elderly Committee continues to this day. She can justifiably be proud of her 30 years unstinting service as Honorary Social Worker.
In 1966, the Care of the Elderly Committee decided to provide a permanent centre for its activities, and Kevin Maher, Des McHugh, Tadhg Brennan, Dr. J.T. O’Neill and the late Capt. Sean O’Connor were instrumental in raising the funds required to purchase No. 82 Leinster Street from the Duke of Leinster’s Estate.
Close co-operation with the State’s social services and Athy Urban District Council gave the Committee scope for supplementing the support services available for the elderly. Home visits were, and remain, the highest priority need of the elderly, and the Committee, realising this, always ensured that its home visitation programme was effective and regular.
The welfare schemes and projects championed by the Care of the Elderly Committee changed and extended over the years as new needs were identified. Summer outings were organised from 1969 onwards, and in recent years, summer holidays in Butlins holiday camp, Mosney, have formed part of the Care of the Elderly programme. Laundry services, the provision of radios and televisions, and an early Meals on Wheels Scheme, were just some of the services provided for the elderly of the district. In addition, the houses of the elderly were repaired and painted, chimneys were swept and smoke alarms were fitted. The list goes on and on, as does the energy and resilience of the Committee members who have fulfilled such an important role in our community over the past 30 years.
The help, afforded to the Committee by local Clubs, has been acknowledged in the booklet. Innovative fund raising projects ensured that the Committee’s finances were never less than sufficient to meet its requirements. One of the most successful ventures in the early years of the Committee was the sponsored family walk, which, in its first year in 1968, raised £513. Subsequent sponsored walks realised £1,929.00 and £1,844.00 respectively. Since 1985, these walks have been replaced by church gate collections.
The volunteers who worked so hard over the years, did so without public recognition or reward. Those who contributed in no small way to the Committee’s success, include many who are no longer with us. Donal Mitchell, Delia Anderson, Eddie Diccox, Enid Donnelly, Barney Doyle, Tom Fleming, Paddy Hubbock, Jim Kelly, Mary Keogh, Jim Maher, Joan Tubridy and Kathleen Cullen are included among that number. This booklet remembers them all and records for posterity, the work of the many volunteers who sought to bring comfort to our neighbours in their declining years.
It is right that their names and those of their colleagues should be recorded, and that the record should show the part they played in creating and sustaining what was possibly Athy’s first voluntary social service for the elderly.
It was Dr. Brendan O’Donnell, then Medical Officer for county Kildare, who in 1965, suggested that a Care of the Elderly Committee be set up. This was at a time when the Old Age Pension was £2.7.6 per week, and the Home Assistance Officers under the late Tommy Harvey of Naas were busily engaged helping old people to keep body and soul together. I knew both Dr. O’Donnell and Tommy Harvey when I worked in the Health Section of Kildare County Council in the early 1960’s, and I recognised that their concern for the less well-off and the less capable in our society, extended far beyond the duties and responsibilities imposed by their respective offices.
At Dr. O’Donnell’s prompting, a public meeting was held in St. John’s Hall in October 1965 to establish a local Committee. St. John’s Hall, which once housed the former Social Club, was located in St. John’s Lane. It has long since been demolished, and on its site we now have the local Boy Scouts den. Dr. Brian Maguire, who arrived in Athy in July 1957 to take charge of the Dispensary District of Moone, was elected first Chairman of the Committee, a position he continued to occupy with distinction for the following 20 years. Vice-Chairman was Tom McEvoy, with Noreen Ryan as Secretary, and national school teacher Pierce Ferriter as Treasurer. The Honorary Social Worker appointed to the Committee was the indefatigable Megan Maguire, born in Manchester of Welsh parents, and wife of Dr. Brian Magurie. Megan’s involvement with the Care of the Elderly Committee continues to this day. She can justifiably be proud of her 30 years unstinting service as Honorary Social Worker.
In 1966, the Care of the Elderly Committee decided to provide a permanent centre for its activities, and Kevin Maher, Des McHugh, Tadhg Brennan, Dr. J.T. O’Neill and the late Capt. Sean O’Connor were instrumental in raising the funds required to purchase No. 82 Leinster Street from the Duke of Leinster’s Estate.
Close co-operation with the State’s social services and Athy Urban District Council gave the Committee scope for supplementing the support services available for the elderly. Home visits were, and remain, the highest priority need of the elderly, and the Committee, realising this, always ensured that its home visitation programme was effective and regular.
The welfare schemes and projects championed by the Care of the Elderly Committee changed and extended over the years as new needs were identified. Summer outings were organised from 1969 onwards, and in recent years, summer holidays in Butlins holiday camp, Mosney, have formed part of the Care of the Elderly programme. Laundry services, the provision of radios and televisions, and an early Meals on Wheels Scheme, were just some of the services provided for the elderly of the district. In addition, the houses of the elderly were repaired and painted, chimneys were swept and smoke alarms were fitted. The list goes on and on, as does the energy and resilience of the Committee members who have fulfilled such an important role in our community over the past 30 years.
The help, afforded to the Committee by local Clubs, has been acknowledged in the booklet. Innovative fund raising projects ensured that the Committee’s finances were never less than sufficient to meet its requirements. One of the most successful ventures in the early years of the Committee was the sponsored family walk, which, in its first year in 1968, raised £513. Subsequent sponsored walks realised £1,929.00 and £1,844.00 respectively. Since 1985, these walks have been replaced by church gate collections.
The volunteers who worked so hard over the years, did so without public recognition or reward. Those who contributed in no small way to the Committee’s success, include many who are no longer with us. Donal Mitchell, Delia Anderson, Eddie Diccox, Enid Donnelly, Barney Doyle, Tom Fleming, Paddy Hubbock, Jim Kelly, Mary Keogh, Jim Maher, Joan Tubridy and Kathleen Cullen are included among that number. This booklet remembers them all and records for posterity, the work of the many volunteers who sought to bring comfort to our neighbours in their declining years.
Friday, October 27, 1995
Leighton Buzzard
I was reminded of the power and universality of music when attending Mass in Leighton Buzzard, an English town in Bedfordshire last weekend. Rev. Thomas Kelly, a native of Ballintubbert, Athy, who died in 1855 left us a huge number of Church hymns, one of which broke pleasantly into life as the small congregation sang Kelly’s “The head that once was crowned with thorns”. The Little Church of the Sacred Heart, tucked neatly and unobtrusively behind a row of terraced houses in the small English town, echoed to words and music which no doubt were often heard in the Kellyite Meeting House in Duke Street during Kelly’s lifetime.
The beautiful narrow boats, moored on the Grand Union Canal, which cuts through Leighton Buzzard and neighbouring Linslade, were another reminder of my home town where the Grand Canal, like its English counterpart, helped to transform a once quiet country town. I have no reason to believe that Rev. Thomas Kelly ever set foot in this small town in Bedfordshire, where last Sunday, some of the locals were offering up their Sabbath tribute using the words of the man who often preached from the pulpit of St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Athy.
Later that day, I stopped off at a local country pub a few miles outside Aylesbury, another town on the Grand Union Canal, immortalised as the home of the “Aylesbury Duck”. The “Wool Pack” was the name of the Inn, which, in the best English Landlord tradition, offered a good substantial meal, as well as liquid refreshment, for the weary traveller. The name Wool Pack is of course a reference to the wool trade, which for centuries was the mainstay of English rural prosperity. The process of converting the wool from fleece into cloth varied little over the centuries. Fleece was graded and packed into wool sacks which were of a regulated size. Each wool sack was suspended from a roof beam and two wool packers were employed to stand into the huge wool sack using their feet to tread down each layer of fleece. When filled, the packers stepped out backwards, sewing up the sacks which was then marked ready to be carted away. The name Wool Pack generally referred to the barn where this activity was carried out. I am reminded that in Wolfhill there is a pub with the name “The Wolf Pack”, perhaps a corruption of the better known Wool Pack, but maybe also a reference to the placename Wolfhill, once a woodland countryside where wolves proliferated in the early middle ages.
Later that day I met an interesting man fast approaching his 82nd year whose late brother was the first Australian Ambassador to Ireland. John Roberthaun, a book publisher now retired, travelled on bicycle from what he referred to as “Londonderry” to Cork in the Summer of 1936. He passed through the Irish midlands on undulating roads with little or no motorised traffic. The colourful scenery made a lasting impression on the young man, who almost 60 years later still recalls the green swarth which cloaked the countryside and the abundant hedgerows which traversed the countryside in what Dick Warner would refer to as “corridors of wilderness”.
Approaching Athy from the Dublin direction he cycled over the railway bridge, where the steam train passed under as it travelled twice daily to and from Dublin with its multi-class passengers. This was the age of the second and third class passengers who shared nothing in common with the first class passengers but the engine which pulled their carriages. A foreign visitor on bicycle was an unusual sight in Athy of the 1930’s and no doubt he aroused the curiosity of the locals as he dismounted at McGrath’s Tea Rooms in Leinster Street, to partake of dinner consisting of bacon, cabbage and potatoes.
Whites Castle in the centre of the town “at the foot of the bridge” and the Town Hall in Emily Square, are the only local buildings John Roberthaun recalled from that short visit so many years ago. The Irish countryside made an indelible impression on the young visitor which the intervening years have not tended to dull. He regrets never having the opportunity to retrace his youthful journey.
Earlier that morning in the same Church where I heard Thomas Kelly’s hymn, the Parish Priest conducted a Mass service which was a rare treat. He communicated with his small congregation in a way which was endearing and captivating, embracing visitors and locals alike in the camaraderie and warmth of a service which was uplifting and appealing. When I spoke to him later to discover that he was an Anglican-born convert or revert to Catholicism, I could not help drawing comparisons with Thomas Kelly, the Anglican, who left the Church of England to found his own religious sect.
I wondered did he ever imagine that 140 years after his own death, his hymns would continue to find a place in Catholic as well as Anglican worship throughout the English speaking world? Last Sunday I recalled an earlier visit to Kelly’s last resting place in Ballintubbert, Co. Laois and acknowledged that no matter where we may travel there is always someone, some place or something to remind us of our own place. Such was my experience last weekend in Leighton Buzzard.
The beautiful narrow boats, moored on the Grand Union Canal, which cuts through Leighton Buzzard and neighbouring Linslade, were another reminder of my home town where the Grand Canal, like its English counterpart, helped to transform a once quiet country town. I have no reason to believe that Rev. Thomas Kelly ever set foot in this small town in Bedfordshire, where last Sunday, some of the locals were offering up their Sabbath tribute using the words of the man who often preached from the pulpit of St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Athy.
Later that day, I stopped off at a local country pub a few miles outside Aylesbury, another town on the Grand Union Canal, immortalised as the home of the “Aylesbury Duck”. The “Wool Pack” was the name of the Inn, which, in the best English Landlord tradition, offered a good substantial meal, as well as liquid refreshment, for the weary traveller. The name Wool Pack is of course a reference to the wool trade, which for centuries was the mainstay of English rural prosperity. The process of converting the wool from fleece into cloth varied little over the centuries. Fleece was graded and packed into wool sacks which were of a regulated size. Each wool sack was suspended from a roof beam and two wool packers were employed to stand into the huge wool sack using their feet to tread down each layer of fleece. When filled, the packers stepped out backwards, sewing up the sacks which was then marked ready to be carted away. The name Wool Pack generally referred to the barn where this activity was carried out. I am reminded that in Wolfhill there is a pub with the name “The Wolf Pack”, perhaps a corruption of the better known Wool Pack, but maybe also a reference to the placename Wolfhill, once a woodland countryside where wolves proliferated in the early middle ages.
Later that day I met an interesting man fast approaching his 82nd year whose late brother was the first Australian Ambassador to Ireland. John Roberthaun, a book publisher now retired, travelled on bicycle from what he referred to as “Londonderry” to Cork in the Summer of 1936. He passed through the Irish midlands on undulating roads with little or no motorised traffic. The colourful scenery made a lasting impression on the young man, who almost 60 years later still recalls the green swarth which cloaked the countryside and the abundant hedgerows which traversed the countryside in what Dick Warner would refer to as “corridors of wilderness”.
Approaching Athy from the Dublin direction he cycled over the railway bridge, where the steam train passed under as it travelled twice daily to and from Dublin with its multi-class passengers. This was the age of the second and third class passengers who shared nothing in common with the first class passengers but the engine which pulled their carriages. A foreign visitor on bicycle was an unusual sight in Athy of the 1930’s and no doubt he aroused the curiosity of the locals as he dismounted at McGrath’s Tea Rooms in Leinster Street, to partake of dinner consisting of bacon, cabbage and potatoes.
Whites Castle in the centre of the town “at the foot of the bridge” and the Town Hall in Emily Square, are the only local buildings John Roberthaun recalled from that short visit so many years ago. The Irish countryside made an indelible impression on the young visitor which the intervening years have not tended to dull. He regrets never having the opportunity to retrace his youthful journey.
Earlier that morning in the same Church where I heard Thomas Kelly’s hymn, the Parish Priest conducted a Mass service which was a rare treat. He communicated with his small congregation in a way which was endearing and captivating, embracing visitors and locals alike in the camaraderie and warmth of a service which was uplifting and appealing. When I spoke to him later to discover that he was an Anglican-born convert or revert to Catholicism, I could not help drawing comparisons with Thomas Kelly, the Anglican, who left the Church of England to found his own religious sect.
I wondered did he ever imagine that 140 years after his own death, his hymns would continue to find a place in Catholic as well as Anglican worship throughout the English speaking world? Last Sunday I recalled an earlier visit to Kelly’s last resting place in Ballintubbert, Co. Laois and acknowledged that no matter where we may travel there is always someone, some place or something to remind us of our own place. Such was my experience last weekend in Leighton Buzzard.
Friday, October 20, 1995
Guide Books on Athy and their Advertisements
Old guide books on Athy give a wealth of information on past business life in the town, and comparisons show how much the town has changed in the intervening years. The Annals of Athy compiled by Michael Malone, a former Chairman of the Urban Council, which appeared in the early 1930’s was the first guide book produced for the town. In it, the Leinster Arms Hotel Company Limited took a full page advertisement which extolled its qualities as a “First Class Family and Commercial Hotel, fully licensed with free garage”. Another full-page advertisement accompanied by a photograph was for Murphy’s Commercial House, a general drapery and boot and shoe warehouse, where furniture, bedding, Irish tweeds and linens were sold. Murphy’s is long gone, as is J. Hutchinson, Electrical Contractor of Leinster Street who advised his customers that he was “an expert in wiring business houses and private dwellings for electric light”. He gave his address in Leinster Street as the “Central Hotel”, which is now the location of Bradbury’s restaurant.
Industrial Vehicles (Ireland) Limited, manufacturers of the “Universal” Tractor Trailer and main Fordson Tractor Dealers, promised service and satisfaction and a guarantee that “repairs to tractors, trailers, lorries and cars would be expeditiously carried out by qualified mechanics.” Further on in the Annals we find the Hibernian Hotel of Leinster Street, owned by Mrs. Lawlor, advertising moderate terms for its centrally situated accommodation “Close to Railway Station, Buses pass the door”. Michael Lawlor of the same family advertised as a Family Grocer, Tea, Wine and Provision Merchant.
All are now gone, as is W.S. Cross, Plumber and Domestic Engineer of Duke Street whose advertisement was next to that of F.J. Darling’s Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Hairdressing Saloons of 28 Leinster Street, and Jackson Bros. General Merchants and Automobile and Electrical Engineers of 58 Leinster Street. St. John Jeweller, Athy, advertised a full range of wedding and birthday gifts with watches, artistic jewellery, silver broaches and fountain pens while Duthie Large & Co. Ltd. were automobile and agricultural engineers with a Ford Motor Company agency. Others who advertised in the Annals included Thomas L. Flood, a Family Grocer, Spirit and Provision Merchant in the Railway Hotel, Leinster Street who specialised in fifteen-year old whiskey and Purcell Bros. who carried on business in William Street, as well as Market Square, Maryboro. D. & J. Carbery Building Contractors paid particular attention to house repairs and sanitary alterations and had Joinery Works in Athy and Carlow.
These businesses are no longer to be found in Athy and of the advertisers in the Annals over 60 years ago only two businesses survive, Shaw & Sons and McHugh’s Pharmacy.
Many years later, “Athy Official Guide” was published with the approval of Athy Urban District Council. I can only hazard a guess that it was printed in the mid-1950’s, as unfortunately there is no publication date on the booklet itself. Of the businesses which advertised in the Annals 25 years previously only D.P. McHugh, Dispensing Chemist, Duthie Large Ltd. and Shaw & Sons Ltd. were again to be found. Those advertising for the first time included Carlow Kildare Livestock Ltd. which held monthly sales in Athy, Carlow and Bagenalstown, and Michael Cunningham of William Street a Tea, Wine, Spirit and Provision Merchant. W. T. Duthie, Watchmaker and Jeweller offered guaranteed repairs, gramophone records, musical instruments, engagement and wedding rings, crest of Athy souvenir goods and fishing tackle. Located at 30 Leinster Street, the business was established in 1905 and happily is still occupying a commanding position on the principal street of the town. The Kildare County Show was advertised as the event of the year scheduled for the second week of July with the largest Industrial Exhibition outside Dublin and Cork Shows.
O’Rourke-Glynn Stores offered souvenirs of Athy and urged all to “make a habit of visiting our Gents Hairdressing Saloon”. M. O’Connor of Leinster Street advertised Helena Rubinstein Real Silk Face Powder with the claim, “You’ll never be lovelier”. Maxwells Garage Duke Street, Athy, was the simple message of the advertisement which marked the entry of one of the few businesses still operating in the town. Nolan’s General Drapers of Duke Street, specialists in Ladies and Gents outfitting, is now long gone as are Doyle Brothers Ltd., Hardwaremen, Fuel Merchants and Electrical Contractors. The biggest loss to the town was undoubtedly that of the final advertiser in the Guide Book of 40 years ago. Bowaters Irish Wallboard Mills Ltd. informed the readers :
“New plant and machinery at the Mills have sent production figures up and up. Soon the output will reach 50 million square feet of hardboard per year. For house, factory, or farm, Bowater Board has 101 uses and is available from your local stockists.”
Many of us will recall the advertisers of yesteryear, who are no longer part of the business life of Athy. That there has been so many changes in the years since the publication of the Annals of Athy and the later publication of the Official Guide to Athy is not unexpected. The constant movement of people in and out of the town is a perennial experience and the changing names over local businesses must be a reminder to us of the importance of the written record in preserving the history of our own place.
Industrial Vehicles (Ireland) Limited, manufacturers of the “Universal” Tractor Trailer and main Fordson Tractor Dealers, promised service and satisfaction and a guarantee that “repairs to tractors, trailers, lorries and cars would be expeditiously carried out by qualified mechanics.” Further on in the Annals we find the Hibernian Hotel of Leinster Street, owned by Mrs. Lawlor, advertising moderate terms for its centrally situated accommodation “Close to Railway Station, Buses pass the door”. Michael Lawlor of the same family advertised as a Family Grocer, Tea, Wine and Provision Merchant.
All are now gone, as is W.S. Cross, Plumber and Domestic Engineer of Duke Street whose advertisement was next to that of F.J. Darling’s Ladies’ and Gentlemen’s Hairdressing Saloons of 28 Leinster Street, and Jackson Bros. General Merchants and Automobile and Electrical Engineers of 58 Leinster Street. St. John Jeweller, Athy, advertised a full range of wedding and birthday gifts with watches, artistic jewellery, silver broaches and fountain pens while Duthie Large & Co. Ltd. were automobile and agricultural engineers with a Ford Motor Company agency. Others who advertised in the Annals included Thomas L. Flood, a Family Grocer, Spirit and Provision Merchant in the Railway Hotel, Leinster Street who specialised in fifteen-year old whiskey and Purcell Bros. who carried on business in William Street, as well as Market Square, Maryboro. D. & J. Carbery Building Contractors paid particular attention to house repairs and sanitary alterations and had Joinery Works in Athy and Carlow.
These businesses are no longer to be found in Athy and of the advertisers in the Annals over 60 years ago only two businesses survive, Shaw & Sons and McHugh’s Pharmacy.
Many years later, “Athy Official Guide” was published with the approval of Athy Urban District Council. I can only hazard a guess that it was printed in the mid-1950’s, as unfortunately there is no publication date on the booklet itself. Of the businesses which advertised in the Annals 25 years previously only D.P. McHugh, Dispensing Chemist, Duthie Large Ltd. and Shaw & Sons Ltd. were again to be found. Those advertising for the first time included Carlow Kildare Livestock Ltd. which held monthly sales in Athy, Carlow and Bagenalstown, and Michael Cunningham of William Street a Tea, Wine, Spirit and Provision Merchant. W. T. Duthie, Watchmaker and Jeweller offered guaranteed repairs, gramophone records, musical instruments, engagement and wedding rings, crest of Athy souvenir goods and fishing tackle. Located at 30 Leinster Street, the business was established in 1905 and happily is still occupying a commanding position on the principal street of the town. The Kildare County Show was advertised as the event of the year scheduled for the second week of July with the largest Industrial Exhibition outside Dublin and Cork Shows.
O’Rourke-Glynn Stores offered souvenirs of Athy and urged all to “make a habit of visiting our Gents Hairdressing Saloon”. M. O’Connor of Leinster Street advertised Helena Rubinstein Real Silk Face Powder with the claim, “You’ll never be lovelier”. Maxwells Garage Duke Street, Athy, was the simple message of the advertisement which marked the entry of one of the few businesses still operating in the town. Nolan’s General Drapers of Duke Street, specialists in Ladies and Gents outfitting, is now long gone as are Doyle Brothers Ltd., Hardwaremen, Fuel Merchants and Electrical Contractors. The biggest loss to the town was undoubtedly that of the final advertiser in the Guide Book of 40 years ago. Bowaters Irish Wallboard Mills Ltd. informed the readers :
“New plant and machinery at the Mills have sent production figures up and up. Soon the output will reach 50 million square feet of hardboard per year. For house, factory, or farm, Bowater Board has 101 uses and is available from your local stockists.”
Many of us will recall the advertisers of yesteryear, who are no longer part of the business life of Athy. That there has been so many changes in the years since the publication of the Annals of Athy and the later publication of the Official Guide to Athy is not unexpected. The constant movement of people in and out of the town is a perennial experience and the changing names over local businesses must be a reminder to us of the importance of the written record in preserving the history of our own place.
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