Athy and Grandvilliers / John Benchman Minch

The town twinning between Athy and Grandvilliers saw visitors from the French town spending a few days in Athy over the County Show weekend.  Part of the weekend’s programme for the visitors was a history walk of Athy.  It was interesting to notice the reaction of the French visitors when recounting to them some elements of the town’s story and especially the links between the Irish and the French nations. 

The founding of Athy by French speaking Normans whose forebearers came from Normandy and surrounding parts of Northern France was the first documented link between Ireland and France.  It was the 1798 Rebellion which provided the next connection between the French and Irish people.  The French Revolution nine years prior to the United Irishmen Rebellion provided the impetus, as indeed did the earlier American Revolution, for the legislative and religious freedom aspirations of the Irish people.  The 1798 monument in Emily Square provoked particular interest amongst the French visitors and seemed to be the most photographed scene on their tour of Athy.

The plaque on the Town Hall honouring the men from Athy and district who died during the first World War is evidence of the most recent link between France and Athy.  It was of course that four year conflict fought on different fronts but primarily in France and Flanders which brought so much hardship and sorrow to Athy families in the second decade of the last century.  The bodies of many of those unfortunate victims of war from Athy were never found and today they lie in French soil far from their family members who for the most part are themselves buried in St. Michael’s or one of the other local cemeteries. 

As part of the twinning programme a small group is travelling this month from Athy to France to visit a number of World War sites, including the Somme battle site.  I understand the opportunity will be taken to visit the graves of a number of local men who died during the 1914-18 war.  The graves of Athy men who fought in World War 1 are to be found everywhere throughout those parts of the world touched by that war.  One such place is India and the Delhi War Cemetery holds the remains of the only Athy man to be capped as a full international on an Irish rugby team .  He was John Benchman Minch, son of Matthew J. Minch and Elizabeth O’Kelly of Rockfield House.  John was born on 29^th July 1880 and two years later his father who was the proprietor of Minch Nortons Maltings firm was elected Member of Parliament for South Kildare.  As a member of the Irish Parliamentary Party he held the South Kildare seat until 1903. 

John B. Minch was educated at Blackrock College Dublin and won the first of his five international caps playing for Ireland against South Africa at Landsdowne Road on 30^th November 1912.  The following year he was capped twice playing against England at Landsdowne Road on 8^th February 1913 and against Scotland in Edinburgh on 22^nd February.  His final two caps were earned in internationals against England at Twickenham on 14^th February 1914 and against Scotland at Landsdowne Road two weeks later.

Having qualified as a doctor he joined the Royal Army Medical Corps in September 1914 and rose through the ranks, becoming a captain on 1^st April 1915.  He served in India as a medical officer from 1915 and apart from periods spent in Palestine and Malta in the 1930s John B. Minch spent the rest of his army career in India.  He died on 8^th November 1942 and is buried in the Delhi War Cemetery.

His brothers Willie and Sydney also enlisted during the First World War.  Both survived the war and both had attained the rank of captain at the war’s conclusion.  Willie Minch died on 29^th March 1927 from the after effects of gas poisoning.  He was 32 years of age.  His brother Sydney died on 25^th March 1970.  Both are buried in Barrowhouse Cemetery.

The links between Athy and France are very real and tangible.  What commenced with the arrival of an invading force on our shores in 1169 was strengthened with the blood of young men from Athy spilt on the fields of France and Flanders nearly 750 years later.  It is appropriate that today Athy and Grandvilliers share a bond of friendship which has as its foundation historical links stretching back to the founding of our town by French speaking Normans.

The author Hugh Oram has contacted me regarding a book he is presently writing on the history of Flahavans oat millers of County Waterford.  The business was apparently founded in or around 1785 by Dunn family members who were originally from Athy.  He is interested in getting background information on the Dunn family.  If you can help give me a call and I’ll pass on Hugh’s contact details. 

St. Michael's Cemetery

It was a sobering sight to see so many gathered together in what was once a playground for youngsters in the 1950s and earlier still part of the town’s fair green.  The occasion was the annual cemetery Mass in what we call new St. Michael’s and the grounds which once echoed to the delightful cries of youngsters in the 1950s and the bellowing of cows and calves now holds memories of lives lost within living memory.

As a new graveyard the names on the gravestones are names we recognise and can relate to, bringing memories of times not so long ago when those named shared experiences with us.  As I waited for the Mass to start I walked through the newest part of the cemetery and there recognised name after name of people I knew well, some not so well, but all sharing a common connection as members of our local community.  It’s sad to think of so many friends and acquaintances that have died since the new cemetery was opened in or about 1964.  The gravestones of memories are very real and the last resting place of the Dominican Fathers, the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy reinforce the feeling of history which pervades St. Michael’s Cemetery.

As I walked between the cemetery plots family members and friends were to be seen sitting or standing alongside the graves of loved ones.  Everywhere I looked I was reminded of persons I once knew and of times which I had shared with them.  A line in Ronald Fletcher’s interesting and poignant book ‘In a Country Churchyard’ published 30 or so years ago came to mind.

‘A country churchyard is more than just a burial place for the dead.  It is a place which reminds us of a living tradition, the people and community of the past which made us what we are.’ 

New St. Michael’s is not yet of an age to allow us to describe it as part of our historical and cultural heritage.  While it offers us opportunities to re-visit our recent social history, only with time can it be expected to become a place of pilgrimage for those interested in our history.  Whenever that occurs I wonder what the visitor will think of the grandiose monuments to be found in a small section of the cemetery.  The Victorians spent large sums of monies on grave monuments and fine examples of the 19^th century masons art are to be found scattered around cemeteries in Ireland and England.  Those who today seek to make a cult of death unfortunately tend to be responsible for the production of monuments which are quite simply inappropriate.  The cemetery of St. Michael’s belongs to the whole local community and our generation will be judged by the way in which we care for the religious landscape which is the local cemetery.  Some control should have been exercised over the installation of extensively grandiose monuments in new St. Michael’s.  They present a bizarre scene in a country graveyard. 

If new St. Michael’s cemetery is yet to come of age in terms of its historical value, the same cannot be said of St. Johns in the oldest part of Athy.  Situated on the site of the 12^th century priory of St. Thomas the Martyr and the Hospital of St. Johns, this small cemetery has possibly been in use for over 700 years.  The Urban Archaeological Survey of County Kildare conducted by John Bradley and others in 1986 reported that ‘the north wall of the graveyard preserves a portion of the wall 12 metres long which may be part of the original priory or hospital’.  The graveyard contains many ancient gravestones marking the graves of local residents and military men who were based in Athy’s Cavalry Barracks during the 19^th century.  In 1998 the members of Athy’s Alternative Project produced a small booklet outlining the history of the graveyard and the results of a survey of the gravestones.  Copies should be in the local library and could usefully be read before a visit to St. Johns.  Honor McCulloch has single handed over many months carried out a major cleanup of St. Johns and it will be opened each Wednesday and Sunday from 2.00 p.m. to 4 p.m. for the summer months.  Do visit St. John’s for a glimpse into our medieval past and the centuries which followed, bearing in mind the lines from Grays’ ‘Elegy in a Country Churchyard’ – ‘The paths of glory lead but to the grave’. 

Athy Borough Charges

Reading in a local newspaper recently of the €673,000 net profit made by Newbridge Town Commissioners from pay parking reminded me of the explanation offered by Council officials when it was first proposed to bring pay parking to Athy.  Its purpose, the then Urban Council members were informed, was to better regulate traffic and was not a revenue collection exercise.  I did not believe the explanation then and am still not convinced having seen the implementation of pay  parking in Athy in recent years.  Indeed, since the scheme was first brought in, the pay parking areas have been extended and the parking fees have been substantially increased.  This does not to me seem to reflect the need to regulate traffic, rather confirms that its purpose is to raise revenue.

The Town Council as successors to the Borough Corporation which was abolished in 1840 is of course following a well trodden path in extracting money from those with business to transact in Athy.  The former Borough Council collected custom and tolls on fair and market days following the granting of a charter by Henry VIII in 1515.  They continued to be collected up to the 19^th century.  Initially the customs and tolls were let each year to the highest bidder, with the successful person having the sole right to collect them within the town on market and fair days.  In the latter years of the Borough Council’s existence the tolls were collected by toll collectors appointed and paid for by the Council.  However, the tolls and customs collected were handed over to the Duke of Leinster, on whose authority it cannot now be ascertained.

Another source of finance were charges for cranage.  A public weighing scales was located in the Market Square and to it came the farmers and dealers who bought and sold their produce by weight.  The schedule of cranage charges for 1817 shows that a half penny was charged for weighing corn, malt, flour, butter, wool hides, coals and culm under 100 lbs. weight and one penny over that weight.  Potatoes were weighed free of charge, while one penny was paid for weighing meat carcasses.

By 1824 the town of Athy had taken to itself additional fairs held on various dates throughout the year, while to the Tuesday market operated by charter the town now added a market on Saturdays.  However, the markets were particularly handicapped by the imposition of tolls at the toll gates on the Dublin Road and the Kilkenny Road.  The resulting falloff in business no doubt prompted the Duke of Leinster in 1824 to propose to the Borough Council the abolition of customs and tolls collected on his behalf on the two weekly market days.  Taxes were still to be imposed and collected on fair days, while on market days coal and culm were still to be subject to custom.  The Duke’s proposal also provided for the retention of the cranage charges which he suggested could finance a scale of payments for the various corporation officials, while an extra half penny custom on coal and culm was to fund a salary for the Town Sovereign. 

The Borough officials in 1824 and the salaries which they were paid or shared were :-

Deputy Sovereign                                 £30.0.0.

Town Clerk                                            £11.7.6.

Billet Master                                          £  2.5.6.

3 Sergeants at Mace                              £6.16.6.

Bellman                                                 £  2.5.6.

Weighmaster at Crane                           £15.0.0.

Weightmasters helpers                           £  5.0.0.

Weight master (Coal and Culm)            £10.0.0.

Receivers on Fair days                          £1.10.0.

3 Assistants on Fair Days                      £1.10.0.

4 Collectors at other Custom Gates      £  3.0.0.          

4 Assistants                                            £1.10.0.

Collector of Market Square                   £1.10.0.

At least the early 19^th century town folk had some idea where the tolls and taxes collected on fair and market days were spent.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the very generous parking fees now collected by the current Town Council.  Indeed, come to think of it, I have never seen any mention of the amount collected each year in parking fees by the local Council.  Do you think we might be told what is collected and how the money is spent?

Congratulations to the organisers of tri-Athy which was yet again blessed with good weather.  It was by all accounts a very successful two day event and the craft fair held in the grounds of White’s Castle on the Saturday added further colour and interest to the weekend’s activities.  I believe the craft fair will be held every Saturday giving the grounds of White’s Castle a new lease of life and one which those who languished in the cells of the former prison could never have anticipated.  The Sunday morning Farmers Market seems to be going through a difficult period at this time and needs the townspeople’s support if it is to develop.  It would be a shame if either the Farmers Market or the Craft Fair were not to succeed.

Social Club Players

A very welcome recent arrival by email from America were copies of a large number of programmes of plays put on by the Athy Social Club players between 1943 and 1959.  Many of you will remember the Social Club in St. John’s Lane where the Social Club Players were based.  The club house was originally built by the British Legion as an old comrade’s hall and passed out of their ownership in the mid 1930s. 

The Social Club provided facilities such as a snooker//billiards room, a cards room and a badminton court which was based in the hall which also doubled as a concert hall/theatre.  That hall alternated with the Town Hall as the venue for the plays put on by the Social Club Players.

The first programme I have is for a comedy by Bernard Duffy called ‘Cupboard Love’.   It was put on in the Town Hall on Easter Monday, 26^th April 1943 and the following day, with admission fees of 2/6, 1/6 and 1/=.  That programme was printed by ‘Printing Works Athy’.  I cannot say if this was the first play put on by the Athy Players and would welcome hearing from anyone who can give me any information on this matter.

The characters in that play were played by Liam Ryan, Bella Blanchfield, Florrie Lawler, Tadgh Brennan, Mollie Moore, Paddy Flynn, Rosaleen Timmons, Ger Moriarty and D.S. Walsh.  The director was local curate, Fr. Morgan Crowe.

Many of the names mentioned will still be remembered today but I could not recall Bella Blanchfield, Paddy Flynn or Rosaleen Timmons and so made enquiries.  Bella lived in Leinster Street in the house later bought by Ger Moriarty, while Paddy Flynn was from Skerries and Rosaleen Timmons, who was a sister of Kevin Timmons, lived in St. Patrick’s Avenue.  Two weeks ago while attending a conference in Kilmallock, Co. Limerick I had the pleasure of meeting a grandson of D.S. Walsh or ‘Daney’ as he was known.  D.S. had a shop premises at the corner of Leinster Street and Chapel Lane and appeared in several plays put on by the Social Club Players in the late 1940s with his son Tommy.  To complete the family picture Nora McKenna who was later to marry Tommy Walsh appeared in the 1957 Social Club production of ‘The Devil from Dublin’. 

Throughout the lifespan of the Social Club Players many individuals were involved including Liam Ryan, Tadgh Brennan, Florrie Lawler, Pat Mulhall, Jo Lawler and Ger Moriarty.  Other actors came and went over the years, their names recorded on faded programmes and in some cases unrecognised after a period of 50 years or more.  Lelia Lewis played in that other 1943 play by the Social Club Players called ‘Paul Twyning’.  Does anyone know who Lelia was, or Cathal Kennedy who featured in the 1948 play ‘They Got What They Wanted’?  What of Michael Walsh who played in the 1951 production of ‘The Whiteheaded Boy’ or Michael Fitzpatrick who featured in ‘Twenty Years a-Wooing’ produced in 1955?

In 1959 ‘The Turn of the Wheel’ by local playwright Mary D. Mullan was put on in St. John’s Hall and included in that cast were Christine O’Donohoe and Jim Gardner, whose names are unfamiliar to me.  This may have been the last play put on by the Social Club Players.  Recently Len Hayden, formerly of St. Patrick’s Avenue, passed away and I see from the 1959 programme that she played the part of Kitty Ryan in ‘The Turn of the Wheel’.

The Social Club Players won the Capuchin Silver Cup for the best group in rural Ireland at the Fr. Mathew Feis in Dublin in 1949 for their production of ‘The Righteous are Bold’.  The cast included Liam Ryan, Freddie Moore, Ken Reynolds, May Fenelon, Jo Lawler, Joseph Martin, Tadgh Brennan, Tommy Walsh, Claire Moore and Eileen Darcy.  The producer of that play was the legendary Jack McGowran of the Abbey Theatre Dublin and the stage manager was Pat Mulhall.  A press report of the time noted ‘the inhabitants of Athy district are more and more convinced that there is not in the rural parts of the country an amateur group of equal talent.’

I would like to hear from anyone who remembers the Social Club Players or who can identify the forgotten actors I have mentioned.

I also have a number of programmes relating to different to Athy theatrical groups including Athy Teachers Drama Group, Athy Dramatic Society, the Athy Players and Athy’s Comedy Players.  The last named featured in some comedy sketches put on in the Town Hall in 1951 or thereabouts, while the Teachers Group put on ‘Professor Tim’ in the Parochial Hall (the former Social Club premises) in March 1963.  If you know anything about any of these groups I would welcome hearing from you.