The Athy Relief Road controversy has raised it’s head yet again. Last week the Traffic Management Consultants Acer McCarthy who were employed by Kildare County Council in 1996 to reinvestigate the Inner Relief Road proposals advised the Urban District Council members of the results of the public consultation process which was carried out over a six week period at the end of last year.
The history of the proposed relief road makes interesting reading. In 1975 Athy Urban District Council commissioned a traffic study of the town. A report was presented to the Urban Council in December 1975 in which the consultants recommended two new alternative routes to relieve traffic congestion in Athy. Both an Inner Relief Road and an Outer Relief Road were approved by the then Council and were subsequently incorporated into the towns development plan. Successive Urban Councils maintained the line of the Outer Relief Road free of development, a situation which continues to this day.
Over the years the membership of the Urban Council has changed and with it the unanimous majority which once favoured the building of an Inner Relief Road through Athy. Opposition to the proposed roadway which was to cut through the back square with a new bridge behind the Courthouse was first raised over ten years ago when a newly elected Councillor questioned the wisdom of the Council’s plans. Since then an increasing minority of the Council has steadfastly opposed the Inner Relief Road proposal and their opposition has galvanised into action the local people who up to then were largely unaware of what was proposed.
It was clear from an early stage that the officials of Kildare County Council favoured the Inner Relief Road and when rumblings of discontent were voiced in the Urban District Council chamber some ten years ago moves were speedily made to transfer responsibility for the planning of the roadway from Athy Urban District Council to Kildare County Council. This served for a while to put a cap on criticism of the Inner Relief Road plans.
Subsequent widespread opposition to the perceived destruction of the fabric of the town centre which would result from the building of the Inner Relief Road prompted the officials of Kildare County Council to soften their initial approach to the project. The Inner Relief Road which would run parallel to Leinster Street and Duke Street, exiting at Blanchfields at one end and at Canal Side at the other was originally designed to be a roadway for vehicular traffic only bounded on both sides by high walls. No development was to be allowed along the route of the road, a position which however was subsequently changed, obviously in an attempt to win over local support for the Inner Relief Road. Thereafter the project was to be offered to the townspeople as a new street, with development potential for shops and houses. Unquestionably many people were won over by this new approach and indeed many business people felt that the commercial future of the town was guaranteed by an Inner Relief Road Project which offered opportunities for further commercial development.
Fast forward then to last weeks meeting when Acer McCarthy presented for the second time in nine months it’s proposals for a traffic strategy for Athy. Surprise, surprise the traffic consultants while favouring the Inner Relief Road do not recommend that the new road be used in conjunction with Leinster Street and Duke Street as a one-way system. To do so would in their words lead to “speeding and an increased risk of road traffic accidents”. Instead, Acer McCarthy would make the Inner Relief Road a two-way system with shopping and commercial activity confined to the existing Leinster Street and Duke Street. No development would be allowed on the Inner Relief Road which is planned to facilitate the movement of upwards of ten thousand vehicles a day.
The consultants’ suggestion regarding the pedestrianisation of Duke Street and Leinster Street has been well publicised and were reviewed as part of the public consultation process at the end of last year. Strangely enough the consultants have not changed their initial proposals one iota following the consultations with the public of Athy. A majority of the locals who made their views known to the consultants opposed the Inner Relief Road while others objected to the pedestrianisation of Duke Street and Leinster Street. Neither set of views was taken on board by the consultants and so what we are now left with is an Inner Relief Road carrying two-way traffic with Leinster Street and Duke Street closed to vehicular traffic. Clearly the public consultation process has been a public relations exercise only, disclosing no evidence of any attempt to take account of the views of the local people.
It is also clear that the officials of Kildare County Council are insistent that the towns’ traffic problems can best be solved by an Inner Relief Road rather than an Outer Relief Road. Much emphasis has been placed on the one day or was it a two day traffic count carried out in 1997 by Acer McCarthy and which rather strangely showed a dramatic fall in the number of vehicles passing through Athy compared to the numbers doing so in 1975. This was sufficient to satisfy the consultants and of course the officials of Kildare County Council that an Inner Relief Road was necessary to facilitate the movement of local traffic within the town. They argue that even if an Outer Relief Road was constructed it would not significantly reduce traffic congestion in the town since as they claim so little of that traffic was passing through Athy. I have to express my doubts about the validity of the claim that vehicles passing through Athy contribute so little to traffic congestion in the town. If we are to believe that the congestion is caused by local vehicles is there not merit in the proposal to develop circulating roads at the rear of Leinster Street and Duke Street without any interconnecting new bridge across the Barrow? This would help maintain the integrity of the open squares at the centre of the town and would offer an environmentally better solution than the proposed Inner Relief Road.
The issue now boils down to a contest between County Council officials and the people they serve. Whose views are to have precedence? Will the decision as to the future development of the town of Athy be assumed by officials who do not live in our town and whose decisions are determined less by social and environmental factors than by economic factors or what the officials grandiosely refer to as cost benefit analysis.
Oh, one other little carrot is about to be dangled before you in an effort to get your support for the Inner Relief Road. Kildare County Council will carry out an Environmental Impact Study to assess the effect of an Inner Relief Road on the town. Strangely such a study was previously refused by Kildare County Council and indeed those members of Athy Urban District Council who support the Inner Relief Road recently voted down a motion to have such a study carried out.
It is time to give the town back to the people and to try to develop the town in a way which makes it an attractive place in which to work, to live and to spend our leisure hours. We cannot do that if we fail to grasp the opportunity to find an environmentally friendly solution to the present traffic congestion in Athy. The proposed Inner Relief Road will be destructive of many of the important elements of the towns layout. The Outer Relief Road on the other hand coupled with the suggested circulating roads on either side of the river Barrow afford an ideal opportunity for marrying the future development potential of the town with the preservation and protection of the fabric of the town.
Thursday, February 26, 1998
Thursday, February 19, 1998
Motte of Ardscull
The motte of Ardscull has been a dominant feature on the Dublin road as it sweeps down towards Athy into the Barrow valley for eight centuries. Today its summit is crowned by trees and it forms a calm tranquil refuge from the volume of traffic which skirts its edge during the day. The placename of Ardscull is derived from the Irish Ard Scol but its origins are unclear. It has been translated at various times as the ‘hill of the shouts’, the hill of the heroes’ and even the ‘hill of schools’. Whatever it’s origins the motte itself has a relatively recent history. It is a Anglo-Norman construction, a defensive enclosure built in the late twelfth century which would have been topped by a timber castle. The Normans built these mounds of earth all over the country in the initial years of their conquest of Ireland. There are no direct references to the motte itself which is unusual given it’s size which makes it one of the largest mottes in Ireland. It was first referred to in 1654 when the inhabitants of Kildare requested the state to contribute thirty pounds ‘towards the finishing of a fort that they have built at the Mote of Ardscull so that same may be a garrison’. These buildings were still evident on the summit of the motte in 1789 but have since disappeared.
At some point in the early 13th century a small town was established close to the motte. In 1282 it was noted as having one hundred and sixty burgesses which indicates it was a town of some size, similar to Castledermot at the same date. It possessed the normal elements of a town of that period with a church, mill and market place. The town was burned in 1286 and after this date nothing is known of the town.
As the native Irish fortunes revived in the fourteenth century many of the smaller boroughs vanished. So while a town like Athy built on a important fording point flourished towns such as Ardscull were abandoned. Ardscull was not the only settlement in this area to disappear.
Just one mile south of Athy the borough of Ardreigh was established in the late 12th century. The land had belonged to ‘Thomas of Flanders’ for whom Hugh de Lacy built a castle in at Ardreigh in 1182. This was probably a timber castle which sat on a motte somewhat similar to Ardscull. Around the castle the town developed. The town appeared to flourish in its early years. Hugh Dullard a landowner in the area granted part of his property in Ardreigh to the Prior of St Thomas’s Abbey in Dublin and it seems likely that the prior had a church built on the site. The church did not remain in the hands of the prior long as in the early 13th century the Diocese of Dublin was noted as having two clergy and a number of Chapels at the site which suggests that it was a relatively important ecclesiastical site.
As with many small towns of the time individuals were appointed to govern the settlement. In the fourteenth century Nicholas Fitzaustin was the Provost while William FitzElye was his deputy. The duty of these men was to collect the tolls on market day. A weekly market was granted in 1318to Milo le Poer who then held the town
Another duty of the provost and his deputy was to maintain law and order. It must have been at times a difficult task. In 1297 Gilbert de Stanton appeared before the court in Athy charged with stealing 60 cows from the town of ‘Ardry’.
The most prominent member of the local community was William de Athy of whom I wrote last week. William owned substantial property in the town which included a large timber house which had its own orchard which was probably prey to the boys of the locality as the orchards of Athy were in my own childhood. At some point in the late 14th century the town of Ardreigh went into decline, presumably it was overshadowed by its larger and more prosperous neighbour Athy. Settlement at Ardreigh did not die out entirely. Sir Piers FitzJames Fitzgerald had a little castle there ‘thatched with straw and sedge in his town of Ardree’ which was burnt down in 1593 by the sons of Fiach Mac Hugh O’Byrne. The family of Sir Piers perished in the fire. The population at Ardreigh never died out completely as the census of 1659 noted that there was twenty four inhabitants. Today as the town of Athy expands out to meet Ardreigh we can only marvel at the past which has seen the earliest settlement founder in the 14th century only to be revitalised by the resurgence of the Celtic Tiger at the close of the twentieth century.
At some point in the early 13th century a small town was established close to the motte. In 1282 it was noted as having one hundred and sixty burgesses which indicates it was a town of some size, similar to Castledermot at the same date. It possessed the normal elements of a town of that period with a church, mill and market place. The town was burned in 1286 and after this date nothing is known of the town.
As the native Irish fortunes revived in the fourteenth century many of the smaller boroughs vanished. So while a town like Athy built on a important fording point flourished towns such as Ardscull were abandoned. Ardscull was not the only settlement in this area to disappear.
Just one mile south of Athy the borough of Ardreigh was established in the late 12th century. The land had belonged to ‘Thomas of Flanders’ for whom Hugh de Lacy built a castle in at Ardreigh in 1182. This was probably a timber castle which sat on a motte somewhat similar to Ardscull. Around the castle the town developed. The town appeared to flourish in its early years. Hugh Dullard a landowner in the area granted part of his property in Ardreigh to the Prior of St Thomas’s Abbey in Dublin and it seems likely that the prior had a church built on the site. The church did not remain in the hands of the prior long as in the early 13th century the Diocese of Dublin was noted as having two clergy and a number of Chapels at the site which suggests that it was a relatively important ecclesiastical site.
As with many small towns of the time individuals were appointed to govern the settlement. In the fourteenth century Nicholas Fitzaustin was the Provost while William FitzElye was his deputy. The duty of these men was to collect the tolls on market day. A weekly market was granted in 1318to Milo le Poer who then held the town
Another duty of the provost and his deputy was to maintain law and order. It must have been at times a difficult task. In 1297 Gilbert de Stanton appeared before the court in Athy charged with stealing 60 cows from the town of ‘Ardry’.
The most prominent member of the local community was William de Athy of whom I wrote last week. William owned substantial property in the town which included a large timber house which had its own orchard which was probably prey to the boys of the locality as the orchards of Athy were in my own childhood. At some point in the late 14th century the town of Ardreigh went into decline, presumably it was overshadowed by its larger and more prosperous neighbour Athy. Settlement at Ardreigh did not die out entirely. Sir Piers FitzJames Fitzgerald had a little castle there ‘thatched with straw and sedge in his town of Ardree’ which was burnt down in 1593 by the sons of Fiach Mac Hugh O’Byrne. The family of Sir Piers perished in the fire. The population at Ardreigh never died out completely as the census of 1659 noted that there was twenty four inhabitants. Today as the town of Athy expands out to meet Ardreigh we can only marvel at the past which has seen the earliest settlement founder in the 14th century only to be revitalised by the resurgence of the Celtic Tiger at the close of the twentieth century.
Thursday, February 12, 1998
Medieval Crime in Athy
Athy over the years has suffered the reputation of being a town with particular social problems and a very high rate of criminal offences. It was therefore heartening to read in the local Press just after Christmas that there had been a considerable drop in the crime rate during that period. It is not unusual when considering the social ills of our day to look back to a time when we were not so burdened with the worries of modern day life. We are at our most reflective when considering the impact of crime in our community. A common refrain which is often heard on such occasions is that the traditional practice of leaving a key in the front door is no longer possible. However, these memories can be misleading. We should always remember that in the past history of the town there were periods when it appeared to be almost over run by those with criminal leanings. The year 1297 was once such year when the Court records which survive recall a wide variety of crimes from murder to arson. At the beginning of the year the unfortunate Walter Le Wylde was killed outside the town by a number of men who included an individual called Lucas who was son of “Joseph the Chaplain”. The perpetrators of this crime were successful in evading the reach of justice but were outlawed for their act, which at the time was akin to a death sentence. Sometimes, however, detention at the behest of the Court was deemed to be sufficient punishment as in the case of David Fitz Le Feure who was ordered to be held in the ward of Athy by the town Sergeant, for what offence the records are silent. A more serious offence in the eyes of the Court was the theft of 60 cows from the town of Ardreigh by a Richard Manellan and others for which they were outlawed. It seems that criminal acts were not the sole preserve of men. The wife of John Le Lowe while she was staying in the town directed her husband’s servants to steal from a farm of Thomas Moynath, hay, to use for her horses. Having accomplished this act they fled from the town and were later outlawed by the Court. It was a time when anything capable of theft would and could be taken, the Court described Simon Le Monaer as a common thief of salts and corn after he broke into a container which held salts on a merchant’s premises in the town. William De Athy one of the more prosperous and prominent merchants, was a particularly attractive target for the villains of the day and in the course of the year had taken from him everything from corn and iron from his household to the very apples from his trees at Ardreigh. His appearances in Court were almost as frequent as those of the wrongdoers.
The continual harassment suffered by William De Athy was at its peak in June 1306 when he complained that William De Poer pulled up all the apple trees in his garden at Ardreigh, pulled down his house, carried the timber from his house back to De Poer’s home at Dunlost and burned it. When De Poer appeared before the Court he admitted his guilt and was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay damages of six marks.
The criminals of the day had few if any moral scruples and were as content to steal from the Church as from the laity. Thomas Moynagh was charged on July 21st with stealing a millstone from the Prior of Athy. The same luckless Prior was again robbed on April 14th. While later in 1298 Thomas Brennan was convicted of a robbery of jewellery and other valuables from chests kept in the Church of St. Michael on the Dublin Road. However, it would seem at the time that the clergy themselves were not immune from lawless acts. In 1347 a dispute arose between the Dominicans (whose Abbey lay on the East side of the River Barrow) and the Crouched Friars whose Abbey lay on the West side of the River Barrow when several members of the Crouched Friars were indicted for the theft of nets with fish by force or arms from a fishing weir belonging to the Dominicans. The law at the time as today extended not only to those who committed outright criminal acts and dispossessed their fellows of property but also to civil matters. Merchants also found themselves on the wrong side of the law when failing to obey the edicts of the Court. John son of Richard De Athy was reprimanded for selling wine in the town of Lea Co. Laois contrary to the law. While the frequency of civil litigation is often remarked upon today our ancestors could be equally litigious.
In July 1308 a case appeared before the Court in Castledermot with regard to an injury received when playing football in the main street at Castledermot. A participant had been wearing his dagger at the time and in tackling a fellow player he fell and the point of his dagger pierced the leg of his opponent. The opponent appeared before the Court seeking damages presumably on the basis of the affect that it would have on his future football career.
The majority of these references are taken from the Calender of Judiciary Rolls of Ireland which survive for the years 1297 to 1314. Unfortunately the vast majority of the judicial records were destroyed in the Custom House fire of 1921. What does survive gives us some insight into the day to day lives of the medieval community of Athy some 700 years ago. Though we are separated by so many centuries the concerns and worries of the townspeople today are similar to those of the townspeople of the past.
The continual harassment suffered by William De Athy was at its peak in June 1306 when he complained that William De Poer pulled up all the apple trees in his garden at Ardreigh, pulled down his house, carried the timber from his house back to De Poer’s home at Dunlost and burned it. When De Poer appeared before the Court he admitted his guilt and was sentenced to jail and ordered to pay damages of six marks.
The criminals of the day had few if any moral scruples and were as content to steal from the Church as from the laity. Thomas Moynagh was charged on July 21st with stealing a millstone from the Prior of Athy. The same luckless Prior was again robbed on April 14th. While later in 1298 Thomas Brennan was convicted of a robbery of jewellery and other valuables from chests kept in the Church of St. Michael on the Dublin Road. However, it would seem at the time that the clergy themselves were not immune from lawless acts. In 1347 a dispute arose between the Dominicans (whose Abbey lay on the East side of the River Barrow) and the Crouched Friars whose Abbey lay on the West side of the River Barrow when several members of the Crouched Friars were indicted for the theft of nets with fish by force or arms from a fishing weir belonging to the Dominicans. The law at the time as today extended not only to those who committed outright criminal acts and dispossessed their fellows of property but also to civil matters. Merchants also found themselves on the wrong side of the law when failing to obey the edicts of the Court. John son of Richard De Athy was reprimanded for selling wine in the town of Lea Co. Laois contrary to the law. While the frequency of civil litigation is often remarked upon today our ancestors could be equally litigious.
In July 1308 a case appeared before the Court in Castledermot with regard to an injury received when playing football in the main street at Castledermot. A participant had been wearing his dagger at the time and in tackling a fellow player he fell and the point of his dagger pierced the leg of his opponent. The opponent appeared before the Court seeking damages presumably on the basis of the affect that it would have on his future football career.
The majority of these references are taken from the Calender of Judiciary Rolls of Ireland which survive for the years 1297 to 1314. Unfortunately the vast majority of the judicial records were destroyed in the Custom House fire of 1921. What does survive gives us some insight into the day to day lives of the medieval community of Athy some 700 years ago. Though we are separated by so many centuries the concerns and worries of the townspeople today are similar to those of the townspeople of the past.
Thursday, February 5, 1998
Funerals in Cork and Athy
I attended a funeral in Doneraile, Co. Cork quite recently and came away marvelling at the dignity and respect with which the entire local community remembered one of their own. In many ways a Cork funeral and a Kildare funeral are much the same. The differences are minimal but it was those differences which served to heighten my awareness of how well the dead are remembered in the rebel county.
The removal to the local Church was at 8.30pm in the evening, a time best suited to the needs of local farmers and factory workers alike. The turnout was quite staggering and everyone in attendance was there for the duration of the ceremony. Contrast that with the arrangements in our own town when funerals are timed to pass down our main street at any time between 6.00pm and 6.30pm.
Workers from shops, factories and offices are coming out of their workplace just before our local funerals start. There is no time to touch base with home. The slow paced journey to the Church impedes traffic coming from both directions at a period which must be regarded as bordering on peak traffic time. The entire proceedings are unsatisfactory in terms of timing and the lesson of the County Cork funeral confirmed for me the benefits of a later evening removal to the Church.
It was the funeral the following day which brought home to me the closeness of community life in rural County Cork. There the priest spoke in eloquent and moving terms of the deceased, touching on his involvement in the community and particularly the local GAA Club. The ancient graveyard was over two miles away as the hired hearse moved slowly ahead of the mourners. It was empty and before it walked a solitary piper who struck up “The Flowers of the Forest” as he commenced the slow trek from the Churchyard. Relays of broad shouldered men took it in turns to carry their coffined neighbour towards his final resting place. It was late in the afternoon when the funeral reached the gate of the cemetery, just as the piper was playing the last notes of “When the Battles’ Over”. Neighbours and friends stood around the opened grave encircling the deceased’s family and relatives, almost as in a friendly protective cocoon. Prayers were said and blessed waters scattered before the proceedings were brought to an end. The crowd stood around talking, sharing thoughts, remembering experiences and enlivening a sad day with the shared words with which a community honours a departed friend.
What a lovely gesture it was to carry the coffin of their neighbour all the way from the Church to his grave. The gesture spoke volumes for the intensity of the community feeling in rural Cork and the honour which is paid to the dead of that County.
I had intended to start this week by mentioning a number of queries which I had received in recent times and which remain unanswered. The first is from George O’Gorman writing from Drogheda whose father, a local Bank Manager, was mentioned by me in a recent article on the local library. George is trying to get information on Cobham’s Flying Circus which visited Athy sometime in the 1930’s. Alan Cobham brought a plane to Athy in which he gave joyrides to those brave or foolish enough to take to the air in his flying machine. George went aloft that day and now boasts that he was the first of the O’Gorman Clan to do so. I have a copy of a photograph taken in or around 1937 which shows a number of local men standing against the backdrop of an aeroplane which was in Athy, for what reason I do not know. Those in the photograph included Paddy O’Rourke, saddler of Stanhope Street, Frank O’Brien of Emily Square, Jimmy Bennett of Janeville, Joe Reynolds of Leinster Street and Pearl and Jim May. I have also come across a reference in the local Christian Brothers’ annals to October 4th, 1931 when a sports and drill display was held in the Showgrounds to which 250 school boys paraded from the school. An aeroplane from Iona National Airways was hired for the day to give joyrides over Athy and this may possibly have been the first occasion on which an aeroplane was seen in Athy. I wonder was it also the occasion George O’Gorman first took to the air.
George mentioned a wonderful story concerning Fr. Kinnane, a local curate who lived in a beautiful thatched house, now demolished, which stood opposite St. Martin’s Terrace. George’s father helped Fr. Kinnane to count the “takings” after the annual mission in the Church and usually did so at the curate’s kitchen table over which hung an old fashioned fly paper, festooned with flies and bluebottles. Fr. Kinnane who wore a wig, but thought nobody was aware of the fact, stood up from the table, brushed against the fly paper, and walked away leaving his wig suspended from the ceiling. The Bank Manager was too embarrassed to draw attention to what had happened and contrived to leave the room before the curate returned.
Returning to George’s query if anyone knows the month and year when Cobham’s Flying Circus came to Athy I would like to hear from them.
Another query, this time centering on Tony Ross who sailed into Halifax, Nova Scotia on 19th January, 1957 and who declares to the world on the Internet that he is a native of Athy of “Johnny I Hardly Knew You” fame. Does anybody know anything of Tony Ross - if so, please contact me.
The final query comes from Steve Allen writing from Australia who wants to trace his Great Grandmother’s people. Her name was Mary Ann Prendergast whose sisters were Catherine Prendergast and Ellen Mary Prendergast. Apparently Mary Ann married Patrick Lambert in 1882 and shortly afterwards they emigrated to Australia. Her parents were Patrick Prendergast and Catherine Rickard. Does anyone know anything of the families involved. If so, perhaps you would contact me so that all the appropriate information can be forwarded to Steve Allen in Australia.
The removal to the local Church was at 8.30pm in the evening, a time best suited to the needs of local farmers and factory workers alike. The turnout was quite staggering and everyone in attendance was there for the duration of the ceremony. Contrast that with the arrangements in our own town when funerals are timed to pass down our main street at any time between 6.00pm and 6.30pm.
Workers from shops, factories and offices are coming out of their workplace just before our local funerals start. There is no time to touch base with home. The slow paced journey to the Church impedes traffic coming from both directions at a period which must be regarded as bordering on peak traffic time. The entire proceedings are unsatisfactory in terms of timing and the lesson of the County Cork funeral confirmed for me the benefits of a later evening removal to the Church.
It was the funeral the following day which brought home to me the closeness of community life in rural County Cork. There the priest spoke in eloquent and moving terms of the deceased, touching on his involvement in the community and particularly the local GAA Club. The ancient graveyard was over two miles away as the hired hearse moved slowly ahead of the mourners. It was empty and before it walked a solitary piper who struck up “The Flowers of the Forest” as he commenced the slow trek from the Churchyard. Relays of broad shouldered men took it in turns to carry their coffined neighbour towards his final resting place. It was late in the afternoon when the funeral reached the gate of the cemetery, just as the piper was playing the last notes of “When the Battles’ Over”. Neighbours and friends stood around the opened grave encircling the deceased’s family and relatives, almost as in a friendly protective cocoon. Prayers were said and blessed waters scattered before the proceedings were brought to an end. The crowd stood around talking, sharing thoughts, remembering experiences and enlivening a sad day with the shared words with which a community honours a departed friend.
What a lovely gesture it was to carry the coffin of their neighbour all the way from the Church to his grave. The gesture spoke volumes for the intensity of the community feeling in rural Cork and the honour which is paid to the dead of that County.
I had intended to start this week by mentioning a number of queries which I had received in recent times and which remain unanswered. The first is from George O’Gorman writing from Drogheda whose father, a local Bank Manager, was mentioned by me in a recent article on the local library. George is trying to get information on Cobham’s Flying Circus which visited Athy sometime in the 1930’s. Alan Cobham brought a plane to Athy in which he gave joyrides to those brave or foolish enough to take to the air in his flying machine. George went aloft that day and now boasts that he was the first of the O’Gorman Clan to do so. I have a copy of a photograph taken in or around 1937 which shows a number of local men standing against the backdrop of an aeroplane which was in Athy, for what reason I do not know. Those in the photograph included Paddy O’Rourke, saddler of Stanhope Street, Frank O’Brien of Emily Square, Jimmy Bennett of Janeville, Joe Reynolds of Leinster Street and Pearl and Jim May. I have also come across a reference in the local Christian Brothers’ annals to October 4th, 1931 when a sports and drill display was held in the Showgrounds to which 250 school boys paraded from the school. An aeroplane from Iona National Airways was hired for the day to give joyrides over Athy and this may possibly have been the first occasion on which an aeroplane was seen in Athy. I wonder was it also the occasion George O’Gorman first took to the air.
George mentioned a wonderful story concerning Fr. Kinnane, a local curate who lived in a beautiful thatched house, now demolished, which stood opposite St. Martin’s Terrace. George’s father helped Fr. Kinnane to count the “takings” after the annual mission in the Church and usually did so at the curate’s kitchen table over which hung an old fashioned fly paper, festooned with flies and bluebottles. Fr. Kinnane who wore a wig, but thought nobody was aware of the fact, stood up from the table, brushed against the fly paper, and walked away leaving his wig suspended from the ceiling. The Bank Manager was too embarrassed to draw attention to what had happened and contrived to leave the room before the curate returned.
Returning to George’s query if anyone knows the month and year when Cobham’s Flying Circus came to Athy I would like to hear from them.
Another query, this time centering on Tony Ross who sailed into Halifax, Nova Scotia on 19th January, 1957 and who declares to the world on the Internet that he is a native of Athy of “Johnny I Hardly Knew You” fame. Does anybody know anything of Tony Ross - if so, please contact me.
The final query comes from Steve Allen writing from Australia who wants to trace his Great Grandmother’s people. Her name was Mary Ann Prendergast whose sisters were Catherine Prendergast and Ellen Mary Prendergast. Apparently Mary Ann married Patrick Lambert in 1882 and shortly afterwards they emigrated to Australia. Her parents were Patrick Prendergast and Catherine Rickard. Does anyone know anything of the families involved. If so, perhaps you would contact me so that all the appropriate information can be forwarded to Steve Allen in Australia.
Thursday, January 29, 1998
Tennis - Helen Wills Moody and Athy
Lawn tennis is a popular game and one which has a history in Athy stretching back into the last century. I have yet to pin-point the exact date when the aficionados of the sport came together to form a lawn tennis club in the town but it has been suggested to me that the relevant date was 1885. If this is true then it was only eight years after a lawn tennis championship was first staged at the Wimbledon Club in London. That tennis had a strong following in Ireland in the latter part of the 19th century is borne out by the success of Irish players in the Wimbledon All-English Championships during the period 1890 - 1896. In 1890 the Mens Single Championship was won by the Monasterevin born Willoby Hamilton who was then twenty-six years old. A keen sportsman, Hamilton had won Irish tennis championships in each of the preceding four years and in addition was an Irish/Soccer International.
In the same year as Hamilton’s single title win the mens double winners were also Irish, as was the lady singles winner. Indeed Irish players figured in many of the Wimbledon finals in the 1890’s with Dr. Joshua Pim emerging as singles champion in 1892 and 1894. Another Irishman Harold Mahony won the mens singles in 1896. He was the last of the Irish winners at Wimbledon.
A second Lawn Tennis Club was started in Athy in 1934. Called the “Geraldine Tennis Club” it acquired grounds in Chanterlands on the Carlow Road. Some of the Members of the Clubs first committee included Joe Hickey, James Tierney, Edward Dooley, Philip Gunn, Tommy Mulhall and William Keyes. From this Tennis Club there was later to develop the Social Club which occupied the former legion hall in St. John’s Lane.
I was reminded of all this when reading of the death of Helen Wills Moody, an American player and eight times winner of Wimbledon who passed away recently in California at the age of ninety-two years. Her lists of successes as a singles player on the tennis circuits of the world were considerable. Seven American Championships between 1923 and 1931, eight English titles between 1927 and 1938 and four successive French titles from 1927 onwards.
Described as a player of unerring accuracy and control she always remained composed on the tennis court. As a baseline player she could drive the tennis ball with more pace and depth off the ground than any of her rivals. As her recent obituary stated “she dominated her matches with both power and precision, cutting down her opponents by directing the ball rhythmically and relentlessly from corner to corner forcing her opponents into mistakes by virtue of her extraordinary command of the court”.
Married in 1929 to American stockbroker Frederick Moody she divorced him in 1937 and two years later married Aidan Roark, an International polo player from Co. Wexford. Aidan was one of two brothers of Violet Roark who was married to David Telford of Barrowford, Athy. David’s father was Stephen Telford who on marrying an Anderson purchased Barrowford House. He was the proprietor of the Athy Tile and Brick Company which operated at Barrowford.
Private lawn tennis parties were an important part of the social scene at the big houses in rural Ireland in the earlier part of the century. This was a tradition which continued until more recent years, and indeed is becoming fashionable yet again. Helen Wills Moody, the most famous tennis player of her day and regarded by many as the best woman player of all time, visited her sister-in-law in Barrowford House in the early 1940’s with her second husband Aidan Roark. Just a few years following her last success in the Wimbledon Finals of 1938 she played on the tennis court at Barrowford in what was her one and only visit to Ireland.
The American tennis star was feted wherever she went, but I have not yet come across any references to her visit to Athy. She was a lady to whom all doors were open. On the continent she partnered the King of Norway in a tennis match, while in England she was presented at Buckingham Palace. She sat for the artist Augustus John, while George Bernard Shaw presented her with a signed copy of
“St. Joan”. She was herself an artist of some merit and in 1929 held an exhibition in London of her own still life’s with sketches of her contemporaries while a similar exhibition in New York was a sell-out.
When Reggie Hannon, now of Dublin whose family has strong ties with Ardreigh, first drew my attention to Helen Wills Moody’s visit to Athy, I knew nothing of the former tennis star. Within weeks I came across a copy of her 1928 book on Tennis which the authoress and Tennis Champion had illustrated herself. Her recent death deprives Athy of its tenuous connection with the world of first class tennis. The heady days of Willoughby Hamilton and his peers are long gone but nevertheless, Lawn Tennis remains a popular club sport in Athy more than 100 years after the first club was started in the town.
In the same year as Hamilton’s single title win the mens double winners were also Irish, as was the lady singles winner. Indeed Irish players figured in many of the Wimbledon finals in the 1890’s with Dr. Joshua Pim emerging as singles champion in 1892 and 1894. Another Irishman Harold Mahony won the mens singles in 1896. He was the last of the Irish winners at Wimbledon.
A second Lawn Tennis Club was started in Athy in 1934. Called the “Geraldine Tennis Club” it acquired grounds in Chanterlands on the Carlow Road. Some of the Members of the Clubs first committee included Joe Hickey, James Tierney, Edward Dooley, Philip Gunn, Tommy Mulhall and William Keyes. From this Tennis Club there was later to develop the Social Club which occupied the former legion hall in St. John’s Lane.
I was reminded of all this when reading of the death of Helen Wills Moody, an American player and eight times winner of Wimbledon who passed away recently in California at the age of ninety-two years. Her lists of successes as a singles player on the tennis circuits of the world were considerable. Seven American Championships between 1923 and 1931, eight English titles between 1927 and 1938 and four successive French titles from 1927 onwards.
Described as a player of unerring accuracy and control she always remained composed on the tennis court. As a baseline player she could drive the tennis ball with more pace and depth off the ground than any of her rivals. As her recent obituary stated “she dominated her matches with both power and precision, cutting down her opponents by directing the ball rhythmically and relentlessly from corner to corner forcing her opponents into mistakes by virtue of her extraordinary command of the court”.
Married in 1929 to American stockbroker Frederick Moody she divorced him in 1937 and two years later married Aidan Roark, an International polo player from Co. Wexford. Aidan was one of two brothers of Violet Roark who was married to David Telford of Barrowford, Athy. David’s father was Stephen Telford who on marrying an Anderson purchased Barrowford House. He was the proprietor of the Athy Tile and Brick Company which operated at Barrowford.
Private lawn tennis parties were an important part of the social scene at the big houses in rural Ireland in the earlier part of the century. This was a tradition which continued until more recent years, and indeed is becoming fashionable yet again. Helen Wills Moody, the most famous tennis player of her day and regarded by many as the best woman player of all time, visited her sister-in-law in Barrowford House in the early 1940’s with her second husband Aidan Roark. Just a few years following her last success in the Wimbledon Finals of 1938 she played on the tennis court at Barrowford in what was her one and only visit to Ireland.
The American tennis star was feted wherever she went, but I have not yet come across any references to her visit to Athy. She was a lady to whom all doors were open. On the continent she partnered the King of Norway in a tennis match, while in England she was presented at Buckingham Palace. She sat for the artist Augustus John, while George Bernard Shaw presented her with a signed copy of
“St. Joan”. She was herself an artist of some merit and in 1929 held an exhibition in London of her own still life’s with sketches of her contemporaries while a similar exhibition in New York was a sell-out.
When Reggie Hannon, now of Dublin whose family has strong ties with Ardreigh, first drew my attention to Helen Wills Moody’s visit to Athy, I knew nothing of the former tennis star. Within weeks I came across a copy of her 1928 book on Tennis which the authoress and Tennis Champion had illustrated herself. Her recent death deprives Athy of its tenuous connection with the world of first class tennis. The heady days of Willoughby Hamilton and his peers are long gone but nevertheless, Lawn Tennis remains a popular club sport in Athy more than 100 years after the first club was started in the town.
Thursday, January 22, 1998
The Gaelicisation of Athy - Success in Glor na nGael Competition
The one time garrison town of Athy has achieved success in the Glor Na nGgael competition for 1997 the results of which have just been announced. The winners of “An Bord Trachtala” prize for the promotion of Irish in Athy joins an illustrious group of past winners.
Reflecting on the town’s success brought home to me its uniqueness especially given the largely un-Irish history of our town. We have become accustomed to hearing of our Anglo-Norman foundation and the subsequent fortification of the town which was located on the “Marches of Kildare”. Indeed the English had a military presence in our town from as early as 1417 right up to 1878. The last regiment stationed in the army barracks in Barrack Street was Prince Charlottes’ 5th Dragoon Guards which itself had an association with Athy going back to 1716. It was that same regiment which last occupied the Army barracks in 1878. It is no wonder then that over time our town became known far and wide as a garrison town.
The Glor Na nGael success has been a long time in the making. While the Black and Tans were still controlling our streets a meeting was called in the local Technical School in Stanhope Place to revive the Gaelic League. Amongst those involved in calling that meeting was Bridget Darby, John Bradley, John Gibbons, Michael Dooley, James Kealy, Tadgh O’Shea, and Misses O’Loughlin, Kealy and Timmons. The meeting elected Michael Dooley of Duke Street as President, Ms. Darby as Treasurer and James Kealy as secretary. Within a short time Irish classes were being held in the town with Jim Tierney of Woodstock Street as the Irish teacher.
This was at a time when a local Justice of the Peace had imposed a fine at the petty sessions in Athy on a teacher in the local technical school who had insisted on signing his name in Irish. The action of the local JP was understandably condemned by the Urban District Council. The local branch of the Gaelic League in its efforts to spread the use of Irish urged the local Council to print its headed notepaper in the Irish language. They also requested that the names of the streets in the town be displayed in Gaelic but all to no avail. No that it was any lack of interest in the native language amongst members of the Council but in all probability a lack of finance dictated their response.
The Athy branch of the Gaelic League continued to hold meetings in the town and for a time used the premises of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Duke Street for that purpose. It organised a Feis in July 1919 which was scheduled to be held in the Gaelic football pitch on the Dublin Road. The efforts of the Gaelic leaguers did not find favour with some of the local men who had served during the 1914/18 war and who had been de-mobbed at the end of hostilities. Without provocation some of these men went on a drunken rampage on the night of the feis destroying bunting and decoration which had been erected in the town. The premises of Ms. Darby in Leinster Street now Conroy’s shop was especially targeted apparently because of her involvement in the Gaelic League. Bridget Darby was a formidable lady who was later to become a Fianna Fail member of Athy Urban District Council and Kildare County Council and who stood on three occasions as a candidate for Dail Eireann.
The advent of the Civil War appears to have brought the work of the Gaelic League in Athy to an end. It was not again to be revived until the late 1940’s when Kevin Meaney and others came together to reform the Irish language organisation. For how long it continued I cannot yet say but no doubt their efforts played some part in fostering the language amongst local men such as Seamus Glespin and John Birmingham. Both men were later to be better known by their Irish names. Seamus Mac Giolla Easpaig wrote the first full length biography of the 1798 Patriot Thomas Russell which was published in Irish in 1957 as “Tomas Ruiseil”. Sean MacFheoreis otherwise John Birmingham published books of poetry in Irish from 1954 onwards. Both these men lovers of their native language and fine writers in Irish are now dead. Their writings remain on as evidence that the work of the Gaelic League in Athy was not without success.
In 1956 Michael O’Neill a young school boy and a native speaker from Co. Kerry who had arrived in Athy a year or two earlier founded Cara an Irish language organisation for young people. As a member of that organisation I remember how enthusiastically we grappled with the finer elements of Irish as we practised the cupla focla with the girls from St. Mary’s. Ceilis organised to help us find our feet in a cultural pursuit which was distinctly Irish were attended with regularity and a joy without the solemnity normally associated with such events.
Paddy Walsh a gaelic speaker from Ring in Co. Waterford who came to Athy in 1950 was one of several people who in the 1960’s and later came together each week in a further revival of the Gaelic League. Others involved with him were Kevin Meaney, Mick Kelleher, Maisie Candy, Dorothy Mullin and Peader O’Mhurchú. Their efforts in keeping the Irish language alive in Athy helped to obtain sixth place in a Glor na nGael competition for the town in the 1960’s.
The most recent effort to restore interest in the Irish language was initiated by Kathleen Robinson when she was President of the local Chamber of Commerce in 1994. Kathleen who like myself has a great love of the Irish language which is unfortunately not matched by our verbal ability in the native tongue organised the first Seachtain na Gaeilge in Athy. The aim was to encourage local shopkeepers to make use of the Irish language for one week in May during the course of their businesses. Advertising signs in Irish coupled with an effort to speak in Irish was to be the aim of the Chamber of Commerce sponsored Seactain Na Gaeilge over the following few years. Each year a perceptible improvement has been noticed in the use of Irish and in 1997 no less than 70 shopkeepers got involved in the competition. The success of Seachtain na Gaeilge owes much to the efforts of Kathleen Robinson and David Murphy who have both spent much energy in the last three years to secure the success achieved this week.
The settlers town of Athy often referred to as a Garrison town has this week earned the right to be regarded as an Irish town one which is proud of its Irish heritage and language.
Reflecting on the town’s success brought home to me its uniqueness especially given the largely un-Irish history of our town. We have become accustomed to hearing of our Anglo-Norman foundation and the subsequent fortification of the town which was located on the “Marches of Kildare”. Indeed the English had a military presence in our town from as early as 1417 right up to 1878. The last regiment stationed in the army barracks in Barrack Street was Prince Charlottes’ 5th Dragoon Guards which itself had an association with Athy going back to 1716. It was that same regiment which last occupied the Army barracks in 1878. It is no wonder then that over time our town became known far and wide as a garrison town.
The Glor Na nGael success has been a long time in the making. While the Black and Tans were still controlling our streets a meeting was called in the local Technical School in Stanhope Place to revive the Gaelic League. Amongst those involved in calling that meeting was Bridget Darby, John Bradley, John Gibbons, Michael Dooley, James Kealy, Tadgh O’Shea, and Misses O’Loughlin, Kealy and Timmons. The meeting elected Michael Dooley of Duke Street as President, Ms. Darby as Treasurer and James Kealy as secretary. Within a short time Irish classes were being held in the town with Jim Tierney of Woodstock Street as the Irish teacher.
This was at a time when a local Justice of the Peace had imposed a fine at the petty sessions in Athy on a teacher in the local technical school who had insisted on signing his name in Irish. The action of the local JP was understandably condemned by the Urban District Council. The local branch of the Gaelic League in its efforts to spread the use of Irish urged the local Council to print its headed notepaper in the Irish language. They also requested that the names of the streets in the town be displayed in Gaelic but all to no avail. No that it was any lack of interest in the native language amongst members of the Council but in all probability a lack of finance dictated their response.
The Athy branch of the Gaelic League continued to hold meetings in the town and for a time used the premises of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Duke Street for that purpose. It organised a Feis in July 1919 which was scheduled to be held in the Gaelic football pitch on the Dublin Road. The efforts of the Gaelic leaguers did not find favour with some of the local men who had served during the 1914/18 war and who had been de-mobbed at the end of hostilities. Without provocation some of these men went on a drunken rampage on the night of the feis destroying bunting and decoration which had been erected in the town. The premises of Ms. Darby in Leinster Street now Conroy’s shop was especially targeted apparently because of her involvement in the Gaelic League. Bridget Darby was a formidable lady who was later to become a Fianna Fail member of Athy Urban District Council and Kildare County Council and who stood on three occasions as a candidate for Dail Eireann.
The advent of the Civil War appears to have brought the work of the Gaelic League in Athy to an end. It was not again to be revived until the late 1940’s when Kevin Meaney and others came together to reform the Irish language organisation. For how long it continued I cannot yet say but no doubt their efforts played some part in fostering the language amongst local men such as Seamus Glespin and John Birmingham. Both men were later to be better known by their Irish names. Seamus Mac Giolla Easpaig wrote the first full length biography of the 1798 Patriot Thomas Russell which was published in Irish in 1957 as “Tomas Ruiseil”. Sean MacFheoreis otherwise John Birmingham published books of poetry in Irish from 1954 onwards. Both these men lovers of their native language and fine writers in Irish are now dead. Their writings remain on as evidence that the work of the Gaelic League in Athy was not without success.
In 1956 Michael O’Neill a young school boy and a native speaker from Co. Kerry who had arrived in Athy a year or two earlier founded Cara an Irish language organisation for young people. As a member of that organisation I remember how enthusiastically we grappled with the finer elements of Irish as we practised the cupla focla with the girls from St. Mary’s. Ceilis organised to help us find our feet in a cultural pursuit which was distinctly Irish were attended with regularity and a joy without the solemnity normally associated with such events.
Paddy Walsh a gaelic speaker from Ring in Co. Waterford who came to Athy in 1950 was one of several people who in the 1960’s and later came together each week in a further revival of the Gaelic League. Others involved with him were Kevin Meaney, Mick Kelleher, Maisie Candy, Dorothy Mullin and Peader O’Mhurchú. Their efforts in keeping the Irish language alive in Athy helped to obtain sixth place in a Glor na nGael competition for the town in the 1960’s.
The most recent effort to restore interest in the Irish language was initiated by Kathleen Robinson when she was President of the local Chamber of Commerce in 1994. Kathleen who like myself has a great love of the Irish language which is unfortunately not matched by our verbal ability in the native tongue organised the first Seachtain na Gaeilge in Athy. The aim was to encourage local shopkeepers to make use of the Irish language for one week in May during the course of their businesses. Advertising signs in Irish coupled with an effort to speak in Irish was to be the aim of the Chamber of Commerce sponsored Seactain Na Gaeilge over the following few years. Each year a perceptible improvement has been noticed in the use of Irish and in 1997 no less than 70 shopkeepers got involved in the competition. The success of Seachtain na Gaeilge owes much to the efforts of Kathleen Robinson and David Murphy who have both spent much energy in the last three years to secure the success achieved this week.
The settlers town of Athy often referred to as a Garrison town has this week earned the right to be regarded as an Irish town one which is proud of its Irish heritage and language.
Thursday, January 15, 1998
Ardellis Ceili Band
I have recently written of the great tradition of music and music making in South Kildare. We have been witnessing a re-awakening of that tradition in recent times in the music of Brian Hughes, Jack Lukeman and David Bradbury. These are all young men whose musical talents are a refreshing re-affirmation of the present generation’s commitment to quality music making. How delightful it is then to be able to acknowledge the musicianship of another local man of an earlier generation whose music is recalled in a CD issued last year. The Ardellis Ceili Band and special guests are featured on a celebratory CD of forty years of dance music and song issued by Chart Records.
Taking its name from the townland of Ardellis the Ceili band formed in 1957 by Fontstown man Brian Lawler has had an interesting and chequered career stretching back five decades. Although born in Dublin Brian lived in South Kildare since the early 1940’s and in Fontstown since 1943. His father was the farm manager in Lambe’s fruit farm in Fontstown and Brian’s brother Dermot now lives there. While a pupil in Athy’s Christian Brothers school Brian developed a keen interest in the playing of the accordion. He got one lesson on the instrument from “Bridge” Behan of the Moate and two formal lessons from Joe O’Neill before embarking on a regime of practice and playing which gave him proficiency and confidence while still in his teens.
In 1956 Brian took up employment in Dublin and late that same year put an advertisement in the evening newspapers for musicians to join a Ceili band he proposed forming. In those pre showband days the Gallowglass Ceili Band based in Naas was the premier musical group in the country and Brian was undoubtedly encouraged by their success. Before the end of the year the nucleus of the band had come together and while still practising got a number of the engagements in Barrys Hotel, Dublin. “The name Ardellis had a nice ring to it” says Brian explaining why he borrowed the South Kildare townland name for his new group. The 1957 line up included Brian and Johnny Hughes of Tipperary on accordions, Freddie Dean on fiddle, Rita Harte on piano and Paddy Dunne on drums.
One of Radio Eireann’s popular programmes was Roy Croft’s “Beginners Please” and in May 1957 the newly formed band travelled to Kilkenny city in a somewhat overcrowded Ford Anglia to audition for the programme. Recording their contribution for “Beginners Please” the Ardellis Ceili Band went out over the Irish airwaves for the first time later that month. A further radio programme followed in September 1957 when the Ardellis provided Irish dance music broadcast live from The Portobello studios in Rathmines. At the beginning of the following year the Ardellis began to play each Monday night at the Irish Club at Parnell Square. Once the quietest night of the week Monday night with the Ardellis in the Irish club soon became the most popular date for ceili dancing in the city of Dublin. Soon Brian Lawler and his small group were playing in venues all over Dublin city and further afield in the provinces. The growing popularity of the Ardellis Ceili Band was marked by further radio broadcasts in February and May 1958. Their big break however, came when they were approached in October of that year by Padraig O’Neill otherwise Paddy O’Brien producer of “Take the Floor” - the most popular radio programme of its day. The band took part in a number of the Sunday night programmes which featured the legendary “Din Joe” including the programme on Christmas night 1958. By now the Ardellis was a household name and throughout 1959 the band travelled three or four nights a week to fulfil engagements. This at a time when the band members were still working in their “day” jobs. The band’s popularity was similar to that of the showbands a decade later but despite their success Brian Lawler decided in 1964 to leave Dublin for Cork city. The Dublin based Ardellis was disbanded and when it was re-formed it was to have Cork based musicians such as Anthony O’Sullivan, John Bennett and Gabriel Frost. I have particular reason to remember John Bennett who was a member of the Cork Senior hurling team deprived my beloved Kilkenny of an All Ireland Championship in 1966. By the mid 1960’s the Irish showbands had replaced the Gallowglass and Ardellis Ceili Bands in the people’s affections. Nevertheless the Ardellis continued to play their music in and around Cork occasionally travelling to Dublin for an Irish Club engagement. In 1970 the band which was then twenty three years on the road recorded its first long playing record with EMI. “Other Side of the Shamrock” was released not only in Ireland but also in England, USA, Canada and Australia and one of Brian’s compositions “One Tuesday April Evening” was subsequently chosen as the theme music for an RTE television programme. The LP was the band’s second recording as they had recorded a single for Columbia in September 1966 with the hurler John Bennett singing the “Winding Banks of the Lee”.
The band took part in the very last “Take The Floor” programme which went out on Radio Eireann in the early 1970’s and had the honour of playing when “Din Joe” called out for the last time “lift the latch, open the door, step right in and take the floor”. A second LP “Bells of Shandon” was released in 1972 but by then ceili band music was on the wane and the Ardellis drifted into semi-retirement. Brian Lawler, however, continued his accordion playing and for five years from 1975 he was accompanist to the well known Cork singer Sean O’Shea.
The Ardellis Ceili Band last performed in April 1997 but now their recently issued CD of Irish music and song gives us an opportunity of enjoying recordings of the band made at different times over those forty years. Their strict tempo ceili music gives what Brian Lawler describes as “tight music” in the distinctive Scottish style and contrasts nicely with the traditional Irish style of the Tulla and Kilfenora Ceili Band. The Ardellis were unquestionably in the first division of Irish ceili music and Brian Lawler whose musical arrangements have bedrocked the band’s performances down the years, despite his protestations is a talented player on the piano accordion. In latter years Brian has become involved in composing and two of his compositions are featured on the recently issued CD. The Ardellis Ceili Band have enriched our Irish musical heritage and have ensured that the South Kildare townland of the name will forever be linked with the music of the Irish people.
Taking its name from the townland of Ardellis the Ceili band formed in 1957 by Fontstown man Brian Lawler has had an interesting and chequered career stretching back five decades. Although born in Dublin Brian lived in South Kildare since the early 1940’s and in Fontstown since 1943. His father was the farm manager in Lambe’s fruit farm in Fontstown and Brian’s brother Dermot now lives there. While a pupil in Athy’s Christian Brothers school Brian developed a keen interest in the playing of the accordion. He got one lesson on the instrument from “Bridge” Behan of the Moate and two formal lessons from Joe O’Neill before embarking on a regime of practice and playing which gave him proficiency and confidence while still in his teens.
In 1956 Brian took up employment in Dublin and late that same year put an advertisement in the evening newspapers for musicians to join a Ceili band he proposed forming. In those pre showband days the Gallowglass Ceili Band based in Naas was the premier musical group in the country and Brian was undoubtedly encouraged by their success. Before the end of the year the nucleus of the band had come together and while still practising got a number of the engagements in Barrys Hotel, Dublin. “The name Ardellis had a nice ring to it” says Brian explaining why he borrowed the South Kildare townland name for his new group. The 1957 line up included Brian and Johnny Hughes of Tipperary on accordions, Freddie Dean on fiddle, Rita Harte on piano and Paddy Dunne on drums.
One of Radio Eireann’s popular programmes was Roy Croft’s “Beginners Please” and in May 1957 the newly formed band travelled to Kilkenny city in a somewhat overcrowded Ford Anglia to audition for the programme. Recording their contribution for “Beginners Please” the Ardellis Ceili Band went out over the Irish airwaves for the first time later that month. A further radio programme followed in September 1957 when the Ardellis provided Irish dance music broadcast live from The Portobello studios in Rathmines. At the beginning of the following year the Ardellis began to play each Monday night at the Irish Club at Parnell Square. Once the quietest night of the week Monday night with the Ardellis in the Irish club soon became the most popular date for ceili dancing in the city of Dublin. Soon Brian Lawler and his small group were playing in venues all over Dublin city and further afield in the provinces. The growing popularity of the Ardellis Ceili Band was marked by further radio broadcasts in February and May 1958. Their big break however, came when they were approached in October of that year by Padraig O’Neill otherwise Paddy O’Brien producer of “Take the Floor” - the most popular radio programme of its day. The band took part in a number of the Sunday night programmes which featured the legendary “Din Joe” including the programme on Christmas night 1958. By now the Ardellis was a household name and throughout 1959 the band travelled three or four nights a week to fulfil engagements. This at a time when the band members were still working in their “day” jobs. The band’s popularity was similar to that of the showbands a decade later but despite their success Brian Lawler decided in 1964 to leave Dublin for Cork city. The Dublin based Ardellis was disbanded and when it was re-formed it was to have Cork based musicians such as Anthony O’Sullivan, John Bennett and Gabriel Frost. I have particular reason to remember John Bennett who was a member of the Cork Senior hurling team deprived my beloved Kilkenny of an All Ireland Championship in 1966. By the mid 1960’s the Irish showbands had replaced the Gallowglass and Ardellis Ceili Bands in the people’s affections. Nevertheless the Ardellis continued to play their music in and around Cork occasionally travelling to Dublin for an Irish Club engagement. In 1970 the band which was then twenty three years on the road recorded its first long playing record with EMI. “Other Side of the Shamrock” was released not only in Ireland but also in England, USA, Canada and Australia and one of Brian’s compositions “One Tuesday April Evening” was subsequently chosen as the theme music for an RTE television programme. The LP was the band’s second recording as they had recorded a single for Columbia in September 1966 with the hurler John Bennett singing the “Winding Banks of the Lee”.
The band took part in the very last “Take The Floor” programme which went out on Radio Eireann in the early 1970’s and had the honour of playing when “Din Joe” called out for the last time “lift the latch, open the door, step right in and take the floor”. A second LP “Bells of Shandon” was released in 1972 but by then ceili band music was on the wane and the Ardellis drifted into semi-retirement. Brian Lawler, however, continued his accordion playing and for five years from 1975 he was accompanist to the well known Cork singer Sean O’Shea.
The Ardellis Ceili Band last performed in April 1997 but now their recently issued CD of Irish music and song gives us an opportunity of enjoying recordings of the band made at different times over those forty years. Their strict tempo ceili music gives what Brian Lawler describes as “tight music” in the distinctive Scottish style and contrasts nicely with the traditional Irish style of the Tulla and Kilfenora Ceili Band. The Ardellis were unquestionably in the first division of Irish ceili music and Brian Lawler whose musical arrangements have bedrocked the band’s performances down the years, despite his protestations is a talented player on the piano accordion. In latter years Brian has become involved in composing and two of his compositions are featured on the recently issued CD. The Ardellis Ceili Band have enriched our Irish musical heritage and have ensured that the South Kildare townland of the name will forever be linked with the music of the Irish people.
Thursday, January 8, 1998
Lawlers of Athy and the Town Chairmanship of Athy
The Lawler Family of Athy have a remarkable record of public service in the town which is unlikely ever to be repeated. Three brothers served as Town Clerks in the town between 1889 and 1942. They were sons of Andrew Lawler and the former Margaret Prendergast of Park House. Matthew Lawler was first appointed Town Clerk on 4th March, 1889 at the annual salary of £13.00 following the earlier resignation of the previous office holder James Muldowney. Athy Town Commissioners was the name of the local authority in those years and it’s Chairman that year was M.J. Minch of Rockfield House.
On 3rd February, 1890 Joseph A. Lawler was appointed Town Clerk at a salary of £12.00 per year. He oversaw the transition in 1900 from Town Commission to Urban Council status and was to remain as Town Clerk until his death on 4th June, 1927. The members of the Town Commission in 1891 were Matthew J. Minch, M.P., Thomas Plewman, Christopher Timmons, Stephen Telford, W.W. Baldwin, Matthew Minch, Michael Anthony, Joseph P. Whelan, Thomas J. Whelan, Peter J. Murphy, Michael Doyle, Michael Lawler, James Nugent, Mark Heffernan and Francis Minchin. This was the era of gas lit streets and in May each year the town’s 47 gas lamps were taken down and packed away until the following winter. The Town Commissioners still operated the Borough Court, a throwback to the days of the Borough Council of Athy which had been abolished in 1840. The Court survived and operated on market and fair days to adjudicate on disputes between traders and customers.
The Commissioners were also responsible for cleaning what was referred to as the Police Barracks lock-up, then located in Whites Castle. Other duties which fell to the Town Clerk and the staff included the prevention of obstructions at the pig fairs and sheep fairs in the town. The Pig Fair was held in Barrack Street, with the Sheep and Cattle Fairs in the Fair Green. The Horse Fair was held on the first Wednesday of each month at Bothar Bui and the upper part of Leinster Street.
One of the interesting responsibilities taken on by the Town Commissioners was their adoption of the Compulsory Education Act in 1898, almost six years after it had been enacted by Parliament. This required compulsory attendance at school by young boys and girls and the Town Commissioners appointed a School Attendance Committee to monitor compliance with the law. It is interesting to note the multi denominational mix in those nominated to the Committee. Heading the list was Mr. M.J. Minch, M.P. and described as a Catholic, followed by Stephen Telford, Presbyterian and John A. Duncan, Methodist. One of the last acts of the Town Commissioners was to pass a resolution in September 1899 protesting against the “unjustifiable war waged against the Boers” and tendering their moral support to “President Kruger and his race in their stand against intrusion”.
On 1st April, 1900 the former Town Commissioner was re-constituted as an Urban District Council and the new body held it’s first meeting on 2nd April with Joseph A. Lawler continuing as Town Clerk. The range of responsibilities of the Urban Council were substantially greater than those of the old Town Commission and the workload of the Town Clerk increased accordingly. Particular attention was paid to public health and in May 1903 the Town Surveyor John Coleman was able to report that since a new system of scavenging was put in place “we have had scarcely a death in Athy”.
John Coleman’s daughter Bridget was to marry Michael Lawler, a brother of the Town Clerk and proprietor of the Hibernian Hotel in Leinster Street. I am reminded of a query from John Perry some months ago regarding a John Coleman of William Street and wonder whether the Town Surveyor who lived in Upper William Street was the person mentioned by John. Mr. Coleman died in May 1910 and was replaced as Town Surveyor by Michael Bradley of Offaly Street whose son John was a local newspaper reporter up to the 1970’s.
During Joseph A. Lawler’s time as Town Clerk the local Council provided the towns first water supply scheme and constructed the first local authority houses in Athy. In 1921 the Town Clerk was receiving a yearly salary of £100 which it was claimed was the smallest such salary in Ireland. The local Council, not anxious to appear parsimonious immediately increased his salary to £300 a year. A married man Joseph continued to live in Park House in the People’s Park where his parents had originally lived. He died on 4th June, 1927 and his widow continued to live in the Park House until her death in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. I remember “Mrs. Lawler” as she was known to us youngsters in Offaly Street who was always attended by her faithful maid Jenny.
On the death of Joseph A. Lawler his brother James W. was appointed Town Clerk in June 1927. The Minister for Local Government wrote to the Council suggesting that the affairs of Athy could be adequately dealt with by a part-time Town Clerk. In deference to his wishes the Council initially appointed Joseph Lawler as a part-time clerk with a salary of £208.00 per year. By now the position was officially titled Town Clerk, Executive Sanitary Officer and Clerk of the Burial Board. Later appointed to the full-time position Joseph A or “Jimmy” as he was known continued as Town Clerk until November 1942 when he retired. His retirement coincided with the appointment of the first County Manager for Counties Kildare and Carlow under the new County Management Act. Jimmy like his late brother was a great GAA fan and was one of the founders of the Young Emmett’s Gaelic Football Club in the town. This Club for young players was started in a successful attempt to revive gaelic football in Athy when an earlier club in the town had faded after some initial success. Jimmy married Essie Cummings of Naas and lived in a fine newly built two story house named “St. Anne’s” in Church Road. They had no children and when Jimmy retired as Town Clerk in 1942 he took up a position as agent for the Duke of Leinster. As the Duke’s employee he lived in 82 Leinster Street which in most recent years was home to the Old Folks Committee. He died in St. Patrick Dunne’s Hospital in Dublin on 13th April, 1957 at the age of 82 years.
Another brother was Michael Lawler, owner of the Hibernian Hotel, now the Oasis Public House. His son Michael who was later employed in Bradbury’s of Leinster Street married Kathleen Watchorn who continues to live in St. Patrick’s Avenue. A daughter of the Hibernian Hotel proprietor married John Watchorn of Crumlin in Dublin in 1933 and it is their daughter Celia Watchorn McDonald who gave me many of the family details for this article.
Don’t forget the Lecture in the Town Hall on Thursday, 5th February at 8.00 p.m. on “Athy and the 1798 Rebellion”.
On 3rd February, 1890 Joseph A. Lawler was appointed Town Clerk at a salary of £12.00 per year. He oversaw the transition in 1900 from Town Commission to Urban Council status and was to remain as Town Clerk until his death on 4th June, 1927. The members of the Town Commission in 1891 were Matthew J. Minch, M.P., Thomas Plewman, Christopher Timmons, Stephen Telford, W.W. Baldwin, Matthew Minch, Michael Anthony, Joseph P. Whelan, Thomas J. Whelan, Peter J. Murphy, Michael Doyle, Michael Lawler, James Nugent, Mark Heffernan and Francis Minchin. This was the era of gas lit streets and in May each year the town’s 47 gas lamps were taken down and packed away until the following winter. The Town Commissioners still operated the Borough Court, a throwback to the days of the Borough Council of Athy which had been abolished in 1840. The Court survived and operated on market and fair days to adjudicate on disputes between traders and customers.
The Commissioners were also responsible for cleaning what was referred to as the Police Barracks lock-up, then located in Whites Castle. Other duties which fell to the Town Clerk and the staff included the prevention of obstructions at the pig fairs and sheep fairs in the town. The Pig Fair was held in Barrack Street, with the Sheep and Cattle Fairs in the Fair Green. The Horse Fair was held on the first Wednesday of each month at Bothar Bui and the upper part of Leinster Street.
One of the interesting responsibilities taken on by the Town Commissioners was their adoption of the Compulsory Education Act in 1898, almost six years after it had been enacted by Parliament. This required compulsory attendance at school by young boys and girls and the Town Commissioners appointed a School Attendance Committee to monitor compliance with the law. It is interesting to note the multi denominational mix in those nominated to the Committee. Heading the list was Mr. M.J. Minch, M.P. and described as a Catholic, followed by Stephen Telford, Presbyterian and John A. Duncan, Methodist. One of the last acts of the Town Commissioners was to pass a resolution in September 1899 protesting against the “unjustifiable war waged against the Boers” and tendering their moral support to “President Kruger and his race in their stand against intrusion”.
On 1st April, 1900 the former Town Commissioner was re-constituted as an Urban District Council and the new body held it’s first meeting on 2nd April with Joseph A. Lawler continuing as Town Clerk. The range of responsibilities of the Urban Council were substantially greater than those of the old Town Commission and the workload of the Town Clerk increased accordingly. Particular attention was paid to public health and in May 1903 the Town Surveyor John Coleman was able to report that since a new system of scavenging was put in place “we have had scarcely a death in Athy”.
John Coleman’s daughter Bridget was to marry Michael Lawler, a brother of the Town Clerk and proprietor of the Hibernian Hotel in Leinster Street. I am reminded of a query from John Perry some months ago regarding a John Coleman of William Street and wonder whether the Town Surveyor who lived in Upper William Street was the person mentioned by John. Mr. Coleman died in May 1910 and was replaced as Town Surveyor by Michael Bradley of Offaly Street whose son John was a local newspaper reporter up to the 1970’s.
During Joseph A. Lawler’s time as Town Clerk the local Council provided the towns first water supply scheme and constructed the first local authority houses in Athy. In 1921 the Town Clerk was receiving a yearly salary of £100 which it was claimed was the smallest such salary in Ireland. The local Council, not anxious to appear parsimonious immediately increased his salary to £300 a year. A married man Joseph continued to live in Park House in the People’s Park where his parents had originally lived. He died on 4th June, 1927 and his widow continued to live in the Park House until her death in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s. I remember “Mrs. Lawler” as she was known to us youngsters in Offaly Street who was always attended by her faithful maid Jenny.
On the death of Joseph A. Lawler his brother James W. was appointed Town Clerk in June 1927. The Minister for Local Government wrote to the Council suggesting that the affairs of Athy could be adequately dealt with by a part-time Town Clerk. In deference to his wishes the Council initially appointed Joseph Lawler as a part-time clerk with a salary of £208.00 per year. By now the position was officially titled Town Clerk, Executive Sanitary Officer and Clerk of the Burial Board. Later appointed to the full-time position Joseph A or “Jimmy” as he was known continued as Town Clerk until November 1942 when he retired. His retirement coincided with the appointment of the first County Manager for Counties Kildare and Carlow under the new County Management Act. Jimmy like his late brother was a great GAA fan and was one of the founders of the Young Emmett’s Gaelic Football Club in the town. This Club for young players was started in a successful attempt to revive gaelic football in Athy when an earlier club in the town had faded after some initial success. Jimmy married Essie Cummings of Naas and lived in a fine newly built two story house named “St. Anne’s” in Church Road. They had no children and when Jimmy retired as Town Clerk in 1942 he took up a position as agent for the Duke of Leinster. As the Duke’s employee he lived in 82 Leinster Street which in most recent years was home to the Old Folks Committee. He died in St. Patrick Dunne’s Hospital in Dublin on 13th April, 1957 at the age of 82 years.
Another brother was Michael Lawler, owner of the Hibernian Hotel, now the Oasis Public House. His son Michael who was later employed in Bradbury’s of Leinster Street married Kathleen Watchorn who continues to live in St. Patrick’s Avenue. A daughter of the Hibernian Hotel proprietor married John Watchorn of Crumlin in Dublin in 1933 and it is their daughter Celia Watchorn McDonald who gave me many of the family details for this article.
Don’t forget the Lecture in the Town Hall on Thursday, 5th February at 8.00 p.m. on “Athy and the 1798 Rebellion”.
Thursday, January 1, 1998
Mario Corrigan's Book on 1798 in Kildare 'All that Delirium of the Brave'
“All that Delirium of the Brave - Kildare in 1798” is the title of a book by Mario Corrigan published by Kildare County Council. The author is a member of the County Library services and spent some time in Athy Community Library. In the preface to his work he tell us that “the purpose of this book is to examine the realities behind the rebellion in Kildare 1798”. It is also he claims “an attempt to demythify and break from the seemingly inherent Irish trait of finding some sort of dignity in disaster.”
Having made that statement of intent Mario proceeds to provide us a text full of interesting and thought provoking analysis. In his opening chapter the author gives brief background information on the county without dealing sufficiently with the United Irishmen’s organisational links with the area. It is in the next chapter dealing with Lord Edward Fitzgerald that Mario’s book comes into its own. He analyses Lord Edward’s involvement in the United Irishman and rather succinctly summarises the links between Ireland and France and the influence of Thomas Paine.
Mario offers the view that the 1798 Rebellion was due more to military excesses on the part of the Government forces rather than what he describes as “the exigencies of the United movement”. In County Kildare in particular he claims that the local mens’ participation in the rebellion was primarily a reaction to military repression. It is difficult to agree with this analysis given the nature and extent of the United Irishmen’s organisation in the County prior to 1798. Kildare was one of the most highly organised counties in Ireland for the United Irishmen while Athy was an important centre for that organisation. Throughout 1797 the organisation in Athy and district was active in forming military style groups each intended to take part in a planned rebellion. Every twelve volunteers appointed a sergeant each eight sergeants a captain and a lieutenant, and every eight captains a colonel. Captaincies in the United Irishmen in Athy were held by Denis Devoy, Patrick Kelly and his brother Peter who was a local shopkeeper. James Lynam, publican was also a Captain as was James Walsh a farmer of Skerries, James Murphy a farmer of Ballytore, Edward McDaniel and Patrick Davin both of Fontstown.
An informer of the time John Chanders of Shrowland, Athy swore information that sixteen companies of the United Irishmen were to be found in and around Athy. Meetings were held in various local houses including Peter Kelly’s shop in the town, John Hyland’s house near the Upper Turnpike Gate and William Kelly’s shop on the main street. Plans for a rebellion were in hand almost certainly encouraged by the events in American and France of a few years previously. Raids for arms such as that which took place in the Canal Harbour in Athy on the 7th December 1797 is evidence of the United Irishmen’s determination to be prepared and ready for an armed rebellion. When the rising took place on the 24th May it was part of a planned operation but one which undoubtedly suffered in the planning due to the earlier arrest of the Leinster leaders.
In chapter three the author explores further the affect that the military repression had on the local people. Reference is made to the writing of Patrick O’Kelly a Kilcoo man who published his own history of the rebellion. When martial law was declared the rebels and those perceived to be rebels in Athy were to bear the full brunt of its harsh enforcement by the military based in Athy Barracks. The well known reference to Thomas James Rawson of Glassealy who had local men stripped and tortured in the triangle is used to reinforce Mario’s argument that the rebellion was due to military excesses rather than anything else. He writes “fear of torture, imprisonment or execution could stir men to resistance more easily than any political reteric”. I tend however, to the view that the military repression and excesses in South Kildare area prior to the 24th May served to dampen local enthusiasm for a planned rebellion. There can be no other explanation for the failure of the rebellion to ignite in South Kildare despite the strength of the organisation in the area in the months leading up to 1798.
In the fourth chapter the rising in County Kildare is dealt with in some detail and the author has done well to bring sense and meaning to the many conflicting and sometimes sketchy accounts which have appeared over the years. I cannot understand, why, however it should be claimed that the rebellion in County Kildare “quickly degenerated into a plundering, Defenderist, bandit war”. It would be wrong to indict an entire movement on the basis of the unacceptable behaviour of some. The actions of “Black Top” otherwise John Whelan and his companions who ruthlessly murdered four women at Glassealy in 1798 were not typical of those involved in the rebellion. The United Irishmen was founded in Belfast in October 1791 by young radicals such as Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell who influenced by the American War of Independence and the French Revolution sought political reforms which would include people of all religious denominations. Its subsequent militarisation did not mean that the United Irishmen lost sight of their primary objectives. That there were excesses by some members of the United Irishmen is beyond dispute. There is not however, adequate evidence to support the writer’s claim that the rebellion in Kildare degenerated into a “bandit war”.
An excellent chronology of the rebellion in County Kildare is included in the book as are poems and songs of Kildare in ’98. I have to admit to being envious of Mario Corrigan’s production which impressed me despite my lack of agreement with some of his analysis. This is a book which will appeal to those who require an analytical rather than a simple descriptive narrative of events in Kildare in ’98. If I can be allowed one little gripe it is to register my dislike of what I see as the deadening hand of academia which is perceptible throughout the text even if not easily understood. How about this in the opening paragraph “if the historian has a hunger for acquiring knowledge he adversely retains a passion to disseminate it multifariously, contritely obvious in the enormous outpourings on emergent mass politicalization in the 18th Century”.
Nevertheless this is a book worth buying and one which anyone in Kildare interested in local history should have on the shelf. It is available to buy in your local library even if it is not in your local bookshop.
Having made that statement of intent Mario proceeds to provide us a text full of interesting and thought provoking analysis. In his opening chapter the author gives brief background information on the county without dealing sufficiently with the United Irishmen’s organisational links with the area. It is in the next chapter dealing with Lord Edward Fitzgerald that Mario’s book comes into its own. He analyses Lord Edward’s involvement in the United Irishman and rather succinctly summarises the links between Ireland and France and the influence of Thomas Paine.
Mario offers the view that the 1798 Rebellion was due more to military excesses on the part of the Government forces rather than what he describes as “the exigencies of the United movement”. In County Kildare in particular he claims that the local mens’ participation in the rebellion was primarily a reaction to military repression. It is difficult to agree with this analysis given the nature and extent of the United Irishmen’s organisation in the County prior to 1798. Kildare was one of the most highly organised counties in Ireland for the United Irishmen while Athy was an important centre for that organisation. Throughout 1797 the organisation in Athy and district was active in forming military style groups each intended to take part in a planned rebellion. Every twelve volunteers appointed a sergeant each eight sergeants a captain and a lieutenant, and every eight captains a colonel. Captaincies in the United Irishmen in Athy were held by Denis Devoy, Patrick Kelly and his brother Peter who was a local shopkeeper. James Lynam, publican was also a Captain as was James Walsh a farmer of Skerries, James Murphy a farmer of Ballytore, Edward McDaniel and Patrick Davin both of Fontstown.
An informer of the time John Chanders of Shrowland, Athy swore information that sixteen companies of the United Irishmen were to be found in and around Athy. Meetings were held in various local houses including Peter Kelly’s shop in the town, John Hyland’s house near the Upper Turnpike Gate and William Kelly’s shop on the main street. Plans for a rebellion were in hand almost certainly encouraged by the events in American and France of a few years previously. Raids for arms such as that which took place in the Canal Harbour in Athy on the 7th December 1797 is evidence of the United Irishmen’s determination to be prepared and ready for an armed rebellion. When the rising took place on the 24th May it was part of a planned operation but one which undoubtedly suffered in the planning due to the earlier arrest of the Leinster leaders.
In chapter three the author explores further the affect that the military repression had on the local people. Reference is made to the writing of Patrick O’Kelly a Kilcoo man who published his own history of the rebellion. When martial law was declared the rebels and those perceived to be rebels in Athy were to bear the full brunt of its harsh enforcement by the military based in Athy Barracks. The well known reference to Thomas James Rawson of Glassealy who had local men stripped and tortured in the triangle is used to reinforce Mario’s argument that the rebellion was due to military excesses rather than anything else. He writes “fear of torture, imprisonment or execution could stir men to resistance more easily than any political reteric”. I tend however, to the view that the military repression and excesses in South Kildare area prior to the 24th May served to dampen local enthusiasm for a planned rebellion. There can be no other explanation for the failure of the rebellion to ignite in South Kildare despite the strength of the organisation in the area in the months leading up to 1798.
In the fourth chapter the rising in County Kildare is dealt with in some detail and the author has done well to bring sense and meaning to the many conflicting and sometimes sketchy accounts which have appeared over the years. I cannot understand, why, however it should be claimed that the rebellion in County Kildare “quickly degenerated into a plundering, Defenderist, bandit war”. It would be wrong to indict an entire movement on the basis of the unacceptable behaviour of some. The actions of “Black Top” otherwise John Whelan and his companions who ruthlessly murdered four women at Glassealy in 1798 were not typical of those involved in the rebellion. The United Irishmen was founded in Belfast in October 1791 by young radicals such as Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell who influenced by the American War of Independence and the French Revolution sought political reforms which would include people of all religious denominations. Its subsequent militarisation did not mean that the United Irishmen lost sight of their primary objectives. That there were excesses by some members of the United Irishmen is beyond dispute. There is not however, adequate evidence to support the writer’s claim that the rebellion in Kildare degenerated into a “bandit war”.
An excellent chronology of the rebellion in County Kildare is included in the book as are poems and songs of Kildare in ’98. I have to admit to being envious of Mario Corrigan’s production which impressed me despite my lack of agreement with some of his analysis. This is a book which will appeal to those who require an analytical rather than a simple descriptive narrative of events in Kildare in ’98. If I can be allowed one little gripe it is to register my dislike of what I see as the deadening hand of academia which is perceptible throughout the text even if not easily understood. How about this in the opening paragraph “if the historian has a hunger for acquiring knowledge he adversely retains a passion to disseminate it multifariously, contritely obvious in the enormous outpourings on emergent mass politicalization in the 18th Century”.
Nevertheless this is a book worth buying and one which anyone in Kildare interested in local history should have on the shelf. It is available to buy in your local library even if it is not in your local bookshop.
Thursday, December 25, 1997
Charles Campbell, Scottish Soccer International
Although born in Scotland in 1854 he always regarded Ireland as his native country. Charles Campbell came to Ireland in 1861 from Pertshire in Scotland when his father James took up the tenancy of a farm on the County Galway border. The following year the Campbell family comprising nine sons and three daughters with their parents James and Margaret took up the tenancy of the Duke of Leinster’s lands at Kilkea Farm in South Kildare.
Two of the sons were to become early members of the Queen’s Park Football Club based in Hampden Park in Glasgow. How or why the Campbell brothers Edward and Charles returned to Scotland I do not know but on the 7th July 1870 Charles enrolled as a member of the newly formed soccer club. His older brother Edward had joined a short time earlier and was elected a member of the club committee in April 1870. Edward was to marry Ellen Hewson, daughter of Reverend John Hewson, Rector of Kilmore in Co. Mayo in 1880 and the Queen’s Park Club records disclosed no further involvement by him in the Club’s affairs.
Charles, however, was to retain links with the club and with the Scottish Football Association for many years both as a player and as an administrator. He became a member of the Queen’s Park Club first team on the 25th October 1873. His first game was a Scottish Cup Tie against Dumbreck which incidentally was the first match played in Hampden Park. He went on to play 81 matches for Queen’s Park as a half back. During his football career he won six Scottish cup medals with Queen Park F.C. between 1873/74 and 1885/86. He also got two F.A. cup runner-up medals when Queen’s Park were beaten in 1884 and again in 1885 by Blackburn Rovers in the F.A. finals played at the Oval in London. He was capped for Scotland on 13 occasions although the Queen’s Park Club history published in 1920 only credits him with 10 international caps. In those early days the international matches in which Charles Campbell played were against either England or Wales. It was one of his great regrets that Scotland did not play Ireland in an international match during his playing career. While still a playing member of the club Charles was elected president of the Queen’s Park Football Club for the 1879/1880 season. The earlier mentioned Club history refers to Charles Campbell as
“wrapped up heart and soul in the Queen’s Park. He, during his many years of active connection with it did more for the Club than any other of its many eminent members. With all his exterior bearing of nonchalance Charles Campbell was an intensely nervous man and took sorely to heart any disaster which befell the team …. His eloquence [he was a capable public speaker] generally swayed the club committee to his views, nor was he exultant over a beaten opponent.
A specialist at after dinner oratory he often assured the defeated the game was the hardest ever he had played. The score (no matter how great) in no sense represented the run of the game and that Queens Park was lucky in winning …. A great player almost to the end of his football career he played the game fairly - too fairly according to the light of modern football. Charging was charging in those days not as today when if one man rubs shoulders on the field with an opponent the whistle is blown. Charles took with equanimity and gave back with interest the hard knocks he received. It is recorded Campbell always apologised when he grassed his man. In defeat he was never despondent, his axiom being `we must do better next time’. He has left his mark on the game and he can console himself in his retirement that he has won universal respect and admiration”
Charles Campbell retired from the club committee at its AGM in May 1890. His retirement was the occasion of a presentation to him of a gold watch and chain inscribed “Presented to Mr. Charles Campbell by the members of Queen’s Park Football Club in recognition of valuable services rendered - Glasgow 18th May 1890”. After his retirement he devoted much of his time to the training of young footballers in Glasgow. The Queens Park Club history noted that
“on the occasion of cup ties or special matches his nervousness was such that he could not bear to look on during the progress of the game. He had been known to remain downstairs in the second Hampden Pavilion while the game progressed, rushing up the spiral stairs when cheers denoted a goal had been obtained. On being assured that all was going well he would go down again. At the finish no man appeared more indifferent and he concealed from all observers the intense nervous strain he had undergone. Truly his heart and soul were in the Queens Park.”
A resident of Glasgow he carried on a successful career as a stockbroker for a number of years. In 1889 he was elected president of the Scottish Football Association which position he held until the following year. His father had died at Kilkea in 1876 and his mother in 1880 and the family farm passed to his older brother David. Charles subsequently inherited Kilkea farm when David died in 1897 but remained in Glasgow until about 1907 when he finally returned to Ireland. A bachelor Charles Campbell farmed at Kilkea until his death in 1927 at the age of 73 years. He was buried in the Presbyterian plot in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Athy surely the only Scottish international soccer player and Scottish cup holder to lie in that medieval graveyard.
Last week I wrote of the launch of John MacKenna’s new book which will be held in the Town Hall Library on Friday, 23rd January at 8 p.m.. Waterstones, the International Booksellers have just announced that MacKenna’s new book, `The Last Fine Summer’ has been chosen as their Book of the Month for February 1998 - a great achievement for a local writer.
Two of the sons were to become early members of the Queen’s Park Football Club based in Hampden Park in Glasgow. How or why the Campbell brothers Edward and Charles returned to Scotland I do not know but on the 7th July 1870 Charles enrolled as a member of the newly formed soccer club. His older brother Edward had joined a short time earlier and was elected a member of the club committee in April 1870. Edward was to marry Ellen Hewson, daughter of Reverend John Hewson, Rector of Kilmore in Co. Mayo in 1880 and the Queen’s Park Club records disclosed no further involvement by him in the Club’s affairs.
Charles, however, was to retain links with the club and with the Scottish Football Association for many years both as a player and as an administrator. He became a member of the Queen’s Park Club first team on the 25th October 1873. His first game was a Scottish Cup Tie against Dumbreck which incidentally was the first match played in Hampden Park. He went on to play 81 matches for Queen’s Park as a half back. During his football career he won six Scottish cup medals with Queen Park F.C. between 1873/74 and 1885/86. He also got two F.A. cup runner-up medals when Queen’s Park were beaten in 1884 and again in 1885 by Blackburn Rovers in the F.A. finals played at the Oval in London. He was capped for Scotland on 13 occasions although the Queen’s Park Club history published in 1920 only credits him with 10 international caps. In those early days the international matches in which Charles Campbell played were against either England or Wales. It was one of his great regrets that Scotland did not play Ireland in an international match during his playing career. While still a playing member of the club Charles was elected president of the Queen’s Park Football Club for the 1879/1880 season. The earlier mentioned Club history refers to Charles Campbell as
“wrapped up heart and soul in the Queen’s Park. He, during his many years of active connection with it did more for the Club than any other of its many eminent members. With all his exterior bearing of nonchalance Charles Campbell was an intensely nervous man and took sorely to heart any disaster which befell the team …. His eloquence [he was a capable public speaker] generally swayed the club committee to his views, nor was he exultant over a beaten opponent.
A specialist at after dinner oratory he often assured the defeated the game was the hardest ever he had played. The score (no matter how great) in no sense represented the run of the game and that Queens Park was lucky in winning …. A great player almost to the end of his football career he played the game fairly - too fairly according to the light of modern football. Charging was charging in those days not as today when if one man rubs shoulders on the field with an opponent the whistle is blown. Charles took with equanimity and gave back with interest the hard knocks he received. It is recorded Campbell always apologised when he grassed his man. In defeat he was never despondent, his axiom being `we must do better next time’. He has left his mark on the game and he can console himself in his retirement that he has won universal respect and admiration”
Charles Campbell retired from the club committee at its AGM in May 1890. His retirement was the occasion of a presentation to him of a gold watch and chain inscribed “Presented to Mr. Charles Campbell by the members of Queen’s Park Football Club in recognition of valuable services rendered - Glasgow 18th May 1890”. After his retirement he devoted much of his time to the training of young footballers in Glasgow. The Queens Park Club history noted that
“on the occasion of cup ties or special matches his nervousness was such that he could not bear to look on during the progress of the game. He had been known to remain downstairs in the second Hampden Pavilion while the game progressed, rushing up the spiral stairs when cheers denoted a goal had been obtained. On being assured that all was going well he would go down again. At the finish no man appeared more indifferent and he concealed from all observers the intense nervous strain he had undergone. Truly his heart and soul were in the Queens Park.”
A resident of Glasgow he carried on a successful career as a stockbroker for a number of years. In 1889 he was elected president of the Scottish Football Association which position he held until the following year. His father had died at Kilkea in 1876 and his mother in 1880 and the family farm passed to his older brother David. Charles subsequently inherited Kilkea farm when David died in 1897 but remained in Glasgow until about 1907 when he finally returned to Ireland. A bachelor Charles Campbell farmed at Kilkea until his death in 1927 at the age of 73 years. He was buried in the Presbyterian plot in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Athy surely the only Scottish international soccer player and Scottish cup holder to lie in that medieval graveyard.
Last week I wrote of the launch of John MacKenna’s new book which will be held in the Town Hall Library on Friday, 23rd January at 8 p.m.. Waterstones, the International Booksellers have just announced that MacKenna’s new book, `The Last Fine Summer’ has been chosen as their Book of the Month for February 1998 - a great achievement for a local writer.
Thursday, December 18, 1997
Writers of Kilberry, Ann O'Neill Barna, Dorothy M. Large, Winnifred Letts
Many writers have in the past been kind to Athy its people and the surrounding countryside. It is forty years ago since I came across the first of many books written by authors familiar with the locality. Ann O’Neill Barna the American born wife of John Ranelagh who fought in 1916 had her book “Himself & I” published in 1958. In it she gave a warmly amusing account of life in Kilberry and Athy in the 1950’s. Her descriptions of the different aspects of local country life were funny and remain delightful to read even today. Who can forget her account of an Athy character from the past known only as Mary who once manned the fish and vegetable stall in Emily Square. Here is part of what Ann O’Neill Barna wrote:
“The one elaborate stall which had place of honour in front of the Square was run by Mary from Dublin …. She was a scrawny dark little thing with snapping black eyes, lank black hair and a toothy but engaging smile. She wore a shapeless overcoat and an ancient cloche hat … She controlled everything with a loud sharp voice …. Chanting ‘cahbages and tomahtoes, ahpricocks, ripe bahnanhnas’ ….. ‘Never mind the green dearie it is only the outside. I’ll peel one for you.’ She took up a banana and held it high and with dramatic gestures peeled four strips until it was half done. The banana was unripe and hard as a rock. ‘I’m sorry it is not ripe enough I said feeling very embarrassed at the wretched banana which looked so exposed and at the silent crowd watching all this with bated breath. Mary snorted ‘not ripe sez she’ to the crowd in a voice that carried for miles, ‘not ripe! after me stripping me bahnahna for her”.
O’Neill Barna lived in Kilberry for a few years in the 1950’s as did at an earlier time, poet, playwright and fiction writer Winnifred M. Letts who was married to W.H. F. Verschoyle. Born in England in 1882 Winnifred wrote extensively between 1907 and 1941 producing many works of fiction and some plays which were put on in the Abbey. She wrote of rural Leinster and two of her books of poetry were titled “Songs from Leinster” and “More Songs from Leinster”. In 1933 she published a book of reminiscences titled “Knockmaroon” which was illustrated by Kathleen Verschoyle. A book of wistful charm Knockmaroon deals with her life in Ireland and of Kilberry she wrote “the stones of this place are very deep in history and I feel often as if the past possesses it and will not let it go. Ivy and nettles are so quick to cover up the stones and to make raids upon all that we would make of a garden. We are surrounded by little stumps of castles, one in the farmyard proudly rules the hayrick. Another, Castle Redy, in a field has its legends of buried treasure and of the old La Rede family who once rode about their fields, now given up to grazing beasts. Just by the avenue gate lies the old churchyard and the ivy buried nave of the church of St. Bride who has become “Berry” in these days. Ruins of the Abbey stand close to the house”.
Another female writer who may have lived in the Kilberry area was Dorothy M. Large. Born Dorothy Lumley in 1891 she is believed to have been a daughter of Mr. Lumley a tailor of Duke Street and that she married a Large of Castle Rheban. However, Tullamore where another branch of the Lumley family were living is sometimes stated as her place of birth and I have made certain assumptions regarding her link with the Larges of Rheban on the basis of her writings. In her book of short stories “The Kind Companions” published in 1936 one of her stories was called “The Cloney Road” and the place name “Cloney” is used in more of her stories. Indeed in 1934 she published a small book of poetry titled “The Cloney Carol and Other Verses”. “Talk in the Townlands” a book of short stories published in 1937 had its story centred on “Rathberry Football Club” an obvious reference to Kilberry. Dorothy Large wrote humourous novels and short stories but her sketches of country life however tended to be sentimental and heavily stage Irish.
It is quite an extraordinary coincidence that Kilberry should have been home to the three eminent female writers of the century. The works of Dorothy Large and Winnifred M. Letts were once extremely popular but are now out of print while Ann O’Neill Barna’s only contribution to the literature of the area is also difficult to find these days. However, antiquarian bookshops can still turn up copies of these writers’ works which are guaranteed to give a fascinating glimpse of Irish country life of a couple of generations ago.
If the Kilberry countryside and its people held a special fascination for these writers the same can be said for the contemporary writer John MacKenna whose love affair with Castledermot and South Kildare is well documented. John who had already written a social history of Castledermot of 1925 has managed to keep South Kildare and his native village especially at the very centre of his fiction writing over the last few years. His first book of short stories “The Fallen and Other Stories” published in 1992 won the Irish Times fiction prize the following year. This was followed in 1993 by his first novel “Clare” which dealt with the life of the English rural poet John Clare. Two years later his second book of short stories “A Year of Our Lives” was published by Picador to critical acclaim earning for the author the description of being “one of the most individual prose writers in Ireland”.
On the 23rd January in the Town Hall, Athy his second novel set in Castledermot and the South Kildare countryside will be launched by Mary O’Donnell the writer and poet. Entitled “The Last Fine Summer” the book will excite and delight those who have been observing MacKenna’s sure rise in the Irish literary world. He is an able writer of considerable stature and everyone with an interest in good writing should come along to the Town Hall on the 23rd January at 8 p.m. to show support for a local writer whose work is gaining in importance with each new publication.
“The one elaborate stall which had place of honour in front of the Square was run by Mary from Dublin …. She was a scrawny dark little thing with snapping black eyes, lank black hair and a toothy but engaging smile. She wore a shapeless overcoat and an ancient cloche hat … She controlled everything with a loud sharp voice …. Chanting ‘cahbages and tomahtoes, ahpricocks, ripe bahnanhnas’ ….. ‘Never mind the green dearie it is only the outside. I’ll peel one for you.’ She took up a banana and held it high and with dramatic gestures peeled four strips until it was half done. The banana was unripe and hard as a rock. ‘I’m sorry it is not ripe enough I said feeling very embarrassed at the wretched banana which looked so exposed and at the silent crowd watching all this with bated breath. Mary snorted ‘not ripe sez she’ to the crowd in a voice that carried for miles, ‘not ripe! after me stripping me bahnahna for her”.
O’Neill Barna lived in Kilberry for a few years in the 1950’s as did at an earlier time, poet, playwright and fiction writer Winnifred M. Letts who was married to W.H. F. Verschoyle. Born in England in 1882 Winnifred wrote extensively between 1907 and 1941 producing many works of fiction and some plays which were put on in the Abbey. She wrote of rural Leinster and two of her books of poetry were titled “Songs from Leinster” and “More Songs from Leinster”. In 1933 she published a book of reminiscences titled “Knockmaroon” which was illustrated by Kathleen Verschoyle. A book of wistful charm Knockmaroon deals with her life in Ireland and of Kilberry she wrote “the stones of this place are very deep in history and I feel often as if the past possesses it and will not let it go. Ivy and nettles are so quick to cover up the stones and to make raids upon all that we would make of a garden. We are surrounded by little stumps of castles, one in the farmyard proudly rules the hayrick. Another, Castle Redy, in a field has its legends of buried treasure and of the old La Rede family who once rode about their fields, now given up to grazing beasts. Just by the avenue gate lies the old churchyard and the ivy buried nave of the church of St. Bride who has become “Berry” in these days. Ruins of the Abbey stand close to the house”.
Another female writer who may have lived in the Kilberry area was Dorothy M. Large. Born Dorothy Lumley in 1891 she is believed to have been a daughter of Mr. Lumley a tailor of Duke Street and that she married a Large of Castle Rheban. However, Tullamore where another branch of the Lumley family were living is sometimes stated as her place of birth and I have made certain assumptions regarding her link with the Larges of Rheban on the basis of her writings. In her book of short stories “The Kind Companions” published in 1936 one of her stories was called “The Cloney Road” and the place name “Cloney” is used in more of her stories. Indeed in 1934 she published a small book of poetry titled “The Cloney Carol and Other Verses”. “Talk in the Townlands” a book of short stories published in 1937 had its story centred on “Rathberry Football Club” an obvious reference to Kilberry. Dorothy Large wrote humourous novels and short stories but her sketches of country life however tended to be sentimental and heavily stage Irish.
It is quite an extraordinary coincidence that Kilberry should have been home to the three eminent female writers of the century. The works of Dorothy Large and Winnifred M. Letts were once extremely popular but are now out of print while Ann O’Neill Barna’s only contribution to the literature of the area is also difficult to find these days. However, antiquarian bookshops can still turn up copies of these writers’ works which are guaranteed to give a fascinating glimpse of Irish country life of a couple of generations ago.
If the Kilberry countryside and its people held a special fascination for these writers the same can be said for the contemporary writer John MacKenna whose love affair with Castledermot and South Kildare is well documented. John who had already written a social history of Castledermot of 1925 has managed to keep South Kildare and his native village especially at the very centre of his fiction writing over the last few years. His first book of short stories “The Fallen and Other Stories” published in 1992 won the Irish Times fiction prize the following year. This was followed in 1993 by his first novel “Clare” which dealt with the life of the English rural poet John Clare. Two years later his second book of short stories “A Year of Our Lives” was published by Picador to critical acclaim earning for the author the description of being “one of the most individual prose writers in Ireland”.
On the 23rd January in the Town Hall, Athy his second novel set in Castledermot and the South Kildare countryside will be launched by Mary O’Donnell the writer and poet. Entitled “The Last Fine Summer” the book will excite and delight those who have been observing MacKenna’s sure rise in the Irish literary world. He is an able writer of considerable stature and everyone with an interest in good writing should come along to the Town Hall on the 23rd January at 8 p.m. to show support for a local writer whose work is gaining in importance with each new publication.
Thursday, December 11, 1997
Simon Vierpyl
A visit to the National Gallery in Merrion Square, Dublin is always a must at this time of the year. As always there are discoveries to be made amongst the collection of old master paintings in the gallery which was established in 1854 to commemorate the generosity of Carlow man William Dargan in funding the Irish Industrial Exhibition the previous year.
I have visited the Gallery on many occasions over the years but it was only recently that I took note of the marble bust of William Robert Fitzgerald 2nd Duke of Leinster which stands in the first room of the Irish collection. William, Duke of Leinster was to marry Emily St. George and both of them have given their names to the principal streets of our town. The bust of William shows him as an officer of the Volunteers which were formed to defend Ireland against a feared French invasion in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The most interesting feature of the bust however was the name of the sculptor inscribed on its base. The name was Simon Vierpyl with the additional details London 1725 - 1810 Athy.
Vierpyl was born in London in 1725 and at a young age was apprenticed to the distinguished Belgian born sculptor Peter Scheemakers. Scheemakers in the 1740’s was one of the premier sculptors of London, feted in his day for his statue of Shakespeare which was erected in Westminster Abbey. It was in the studio of Scheemaker that Vierpyl acquired his taste for the statuary of classical Rome. In 1748 Vierpyl left for Italy where he was to spend the next nine years of his life. His particular skill was to make copies of the great sculptures of the classical civilizations of the Greeks and the Romans. He lived in the Palazzo Zuccarri in Rome where he shared rooms with many of the most famous artists of the age including Sir Joshua Reynolds. Vierpyl is one of the figures in ‘Parody of the School of Athens’ which Reynolds painted in 1751. It forms part of the National Gallery’s collection today.
Vierpyl was a popular artist and was busily engaged in commissions for patrons such as Lord Wicklow and Lord Charlemont. By far his largest and most significant commission came from Rev. Edward Murphy, Charlemont’s tutor and travelling companion. From 1751 to 1755 Vierpyl copied 22 statutes and 78 busts in terra-cotta of Roman Emperors and other figures from the Capitoline Museum in Rome. They were all sent to Ireland in 1755. Vierpyl later described the work in a letter to Murphy in 1774 ‘your happy, and, I believe, singular thought, (getting the whole series copied, and then by one artist only), has never before nor to this day been executed by any sculptor except me. So that your imperial series is the only one of the kind now in the world. I am certain that no eminent artist will here after stand four years, winter and summer (as I have done), in the chilling Capitoline Museum to model so many busts an statues with his own hand’.
Rev. Murphy bequeathed the collection to Lord Charlemont, whose descendants presented the set to the Royal Irish Academy in 1868. With the patronage of Lord Charlemont, Vierpyl came to Ireland in 1756 where he established his reputation to such a degree that his work is noted in the majority of Dublin’s finest buildings of the late eighteenth century. Charlemont engaged him to supervise the construction of Rutland Square, now known as Parnell Square. Vierpyl himself bought No.21 on the square in 1760. Lord Charlemont himself resided in Charlemont House (now the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery) where the collection bequeathed to Charlemont by Rev Edward Murphy were kept in the library of the house.
For Charlemont he executed much of the decorative sculpture for the Casino at Marino, a folly used by Lord Charlemont for holding parties. One of Vierpyl’s clever works was the sculpting of Urns for the roof of the Casino which disguised the chimneys.
Vierpyl’s work for Charlemont brought him to the attention of other patrons. Among his most significant work in Dublin included the earlier version of the Rotunda of the Rotunda Hospital, the facade of St. Thomas’ Church, Marlborough St., executed by him from the design of the Palladio in Venice. He also executed the decorative work on the Royal Exchange, now City Hall. For his contributions to the work on Poolbeg lighthouse he received the thanks of the Ballast Board.
From 1773-1779 he was responsible for the supervision and execution of the decorative stone work on the Blue Coats’ School, Blackhall Place, now the headquarters of the Law Society of Ireland. A painting by the artist Jonathan Trotter, dating to 1779 portrays the nine central characters involved in the construction of the school, one of whom is Simon Vierpyl.
Although his career was one of great distinction, it was his pupil Edward Smyth, an Irishman, who would achieve greater renown. Smyth’s sculptures adorn the principal public buildings built in Dublin in the late eighteenth century. His work graces edifices such as the Four Courts, the Bank of Ireland on College Green and most notably the Custom’s House. Smyth is responsible for the fourteen different River Gods carvings which are the keystones for the windows of the ground floor of the Custom’s House.
Vierpyl was married on the 26th December 1758 in St. Andrew’s Church in Dublin to Frances Dickson, who was a niece of a Rev. Dr. Henry of Kildare Street. Sleator’s Public Gazetteer described her as ‘ a most agreeable young lady , with a considerable fortune and every other qualification which can render that state happy’. They had a number of children including two sons, William and Charles, who became sculptors. However she was to later meet her death by throwing herself out of a window of their house on Batchelor’s Walk, Dublin, some time in the 1770’s. Viepyl was married again on the 30th of August 1779 to Mary Burrowes.
How Simon Vierpyl came to die in Athy on the 10 February 1810 is a mystery. A clue may lie in his second marriage to Mary Burrowes, a family name found in Co. Kildare and Co. Laois. There is no indication of where he lived in Athy and strangely enough his death certificate does not give same merely stating “father to Mrs Feranges from the Bachelors Walk Dublin”. We do know that Simon Vierpyl lived to 85 years of age and was buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Athy. One of the finest sculptors of his generation born in London of Dutch parents lies in an unmarked grave in the cemetery where the remains of the medieval monks of Athy probably also repose. It is ironic that an artist who spent so much of his life creating works of art in stone and marble today has no monument to mark his final resting place in St. Johns Cemetery.
I have visited the Gallery on many occasions over the years but it was only recently that I took note of the marble bust of William Robert Fitzgerald 2nd Duke of Leinster which stands in the first room of the Irish collection. William, Duke of Leinster was to marry Emily St. George and both of them have given their names to the principal streets of our town. The bust of William shows him as an officer of the Volunteers which were formed to defend Ireland against a feared French invasion in the latter part of the eighteenth century. The most interesting feature of the bust however was the name of the sculptor inscribed on its base. The name was Simon Vierpyl with the additional details London 1725 - 1810 Athy.
Vierpyl was born in London in 1725 and at a young age was apprenticed to the distinguished Belgian born sculptor Peter Scheemakers. Scheemakers in the 1740’s was one of the premier sculptors of London, feted in his day for his statue of Shakespeare which was erected in Westminster Abbey. It was in the studio of Scheemaker that Vierpyl acquired his taste for the statuary of classical Rome. In 1748 Vierpyl left for Italy where he was to spend the next nine years of his life. His particular skill was to make copies of the great sculptures of the classical civilizations of the Greeks and the Romans. He lived in the Palazzo Zuccarri in Rome where he shared rooms with many of the most famous artists of the age including Sir Joshua Reynolds. Vierpyl is one of the figures in ‘Parody of the School of Athens’ which Reynolds painted in 1751. It forms part of the National Gallery’s collection today.
Vierpyl was a popular artist and was busily engaged in commissions for patrons such as Lord Wicklow and Lord Charlemont. By far his largest and most significant commission came from Rev. Edward Murphy, Charlemont’s tutor and travelling companion. From 1751 to 1755 Vierpyl copied 22 statutes and 78 busts in terra-cotta of Roman Emperors and other figures from the Capitoline Museum in Rome. They were all sent to Ireland in 1755. Vierpyl later described the work in a letter to Murphy in 1774 ‘your happy, and, I believe, singular thought, (getting the whole series copied, and then by one artist only), has never before nor to this day been executed by any sculptor except me. So that your imperial series is the only one of the kind now in the world. I am certain that no eminent artist will here after stand four years, winter and summer (as I have done), in the chilling Capitoline Museum to model so many busts an statues with his own hand’.
Rev. Murphy bequeathed the collection to Lord Charlemont, whose descendants presented the set to the Royal Irish Academy in 1868. With the patronage of Lord Charlemont, Vierpyl came to Ireland in 1756 where he established his reputation to such a degree that his work is noted in the majority of Dublin’s finest buildings of the late eighteenth century. Charlemont engaged him to supervise the construction of Rutland Square, now known as Parnell Square. Vierpyl himself bought No.21 on the square in 1760. Lord Charlemont himself resided in Charlemont House (now the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery) where the collection bequeathed to Charlemont by Rev Edward Murphy were kept in the library of the house.
For Charlemont he executed much of the decorative sculpture for the Casino at Marino, a folly used by Lord Charlemont for holding parties. One of Vierpyl’s clever works was the sculpting of Urns for the roof of the Casino which disguised the chimneys.
Vierpyl’s work for Charlemont brought him to the attention of other patrons. Among his most significant work in Dublin included the earlier version of the Rotunda of the Rotunda Hospital, the facade of St. Thomas’ Church, Marlborough St., executed by him from the design of the Palladio in Venice. He also executed the decorative work on the Royal Exchange, now City Hall. For his contributions to the work on Poolbeg lighthouse he received the thanks of the Ballast Board.
From 1773-1779 he was responsible for the supervision and execution of the decorative stone work on the Blue Coats’ School, Blackhall Place, now the headquarters of the Law Society of Ireland. A painting by the artist Jonathan Trotter, dating to 1779 portrays the nine central characters involved in the construction of the school, one of whom is Simon Vierpyl.
Although his career was one of great distinction, it was his pupil Edward Smyth, an Irishman, who would achieve greater renown. Smyth’s sculptures adorn the principal public buildings built in Dublin in the late eighteenth century. His work graces edifices such as the Four Courts, the Bank of Ireland on College Green and most notably the Custom’s House. Smyth is responsible for the fourteen different River Gods carvings which are the keystones for the windows of the ground floor of the Custom’s House.
Vierpyl was married on the 26th December 1758 in St. Andrew’s Church in Dublin to Frances Dickson, who was a niece of a Rev. Dr. Henry of Kildare Street. Sleator’s Public Gazetteer described her as ‘ a most agreeable young lady , with a considerable fortune and every other qualification which can render that state happy’. They had a number of children including two sons, William and Charles, who became sculptors. However she was to later meet her death by throwing herself out of a window of their house on Batchelor’s Walk, Dublin, some time in the 1770’s. Viepyl was married again on the 30th of August 1779 to Mary Burrowes.
How Simon Vierpyl came to die in Athy on the 10 February 1810 is a mystery. A clue may lie in his second marriage to Mary Burrowes, a family name found in Co. Kildare and Co. Laois. There is no indication of where he lived in Athy and strangely enough his death certificate does not give same merely stating “father to Mrs Feranges from the Bachelors Walk Dublin”. We do know that Simon Vierpyl lived to 85 years of age and was buried in St. John’s Cemetery, Athy. One of the finest sculptors of his generation born in London of Dutch parents lies in an unmarked grave in the cemetery where the remains of the medieval monks of Athy probably also repose. It is ironic that an artist who spent so much of his life creating works of art in stone and marble today has no monument to mark his final resting place in St. Johns Cemetery.
Thursday, December 4, 1997
Annual Review of Articles
Another year has come and gone. It is time to look back on 1997 and some of the topics carried in past Eyes on the Past.
Kilkea born Ernest Shackleton was featured in the first article of the New Year. Twice during the year I made trips to the London auction house of Sothebys in an attempt to acquire Shackleton memorabilia and artifacts for Athy’s new Heritage Centre. On both occasions material was purchased and when the centre opens in March 1998 Ernest Shackleton the South Kildare man who conquered the world of polar exploration will be suitably commemorated.
At different times during the year I wrote of Eamon Malone local commander of the old IRA and of William Connor and James Lacey who were shot at Barrowhouse on the 15th May 1921. The local Urban District Council honoured Michael Malone by having its new housing scheme at Woodstock Street named after him. Malone Terrace will keep alive the memory of that brave man who lead by example during the War of Independence. Perhaps Connor and Lacy will also be suitably honoured in the not too distant future.
The visit of Archbishop Walter Empey to Athy on 2nd March for a confirmation ceremony in St. Michael’s Church was the occasion of a civic reception by the local Urban District Council and an Eye on the Past article. Archbishop Empey was generous of his time on the day of his visit and one delightful moment was captured when Tom “Tanner” Bracken met the Archbishop and the two reminisced of the days when the Brackens and the Empeys worked together as painters.
The closure of Herterichs pork shop on 29th March afforded an opportunity to write of Ernest Herterich and his family who came to Athy in 1942. The delights of Herterich’s home cooked ham are no more, a victim of the one stop shopping culture developed by the supermarket chains. Jack Murphy of Convent View at 94 years of age and one of Athy’s oldest residents passed away early in the year. He and his wife Margaret were good friends of Eye on the Past and the story of Jack’s long working life encompassed so much of Athy’s commercial history since the 1920’s.
St. John’s Cemetery was the focus of a training scheme during the summer which resulted in a general clean up of this most historic site. It also afforded me an opportunity to delve into its history and its many interesting reminders of Athy’s past. Soon afterwards St. Michael’s Cemetery and its interesting collection of headstones was featured in an Eye on the Past. Apart from the local men killed in World Wars I and II many other historic connections where found in the cemetery. A distant kinsman of Irish parliamentarian Henry Grattan is buried in a quiet corner of St. Michael’s. William Grattan was a lieutenant in the Connaught Rangers and fought in the Peninsular War. Another more recent find in St. Michael’s of which I have yet to write is the grave of a former Captain of the Scottish International Soccer team. More about that in a future article.
Another sport, boxing, featured in an article on St. Michael’s Boxing Club. The first full international boxing match involving Ireland and Canada held outside of Dublin was in the Grove Theatre on the 13th July. The Boxing Club is still going strong but sadly the Grove has closed its doors again.
Some of my travels during the year were remembered particularly two trips made during the 1400th anniversary of the death of St. Colmcille. A summer trip to Iona in the Inner Hebrides off the Isle of Mull brought me for the first time to this most historic and religious of places. A later trip to Derry to visit the sites associated with the Irish Saint before he departed these shores completed the pilgrimage.
Betty May and her family came back to Athy for holidays in the summer. In America since 1949 Betty formerly of St. Martin’s Terrace remembered life in Athy after the War and her friends in the Social Club. The emigration story of the Bradley Brothers who left Athy in the 1920’s for America to be followed by the members of the May family in the 1940’s and 1950’s was typical of those difficult times in Ireland.
A two part article on the first tenants of St. Plewman’s Terrace in 1936 drew an enormous response as did the later article on Ned Ward. The occasion of the article on the legendary Ned was the closure of his daughter’s betting shop in Duke Street. The Ward family had carried on business in Athy since the early 1920’s and the Ward name still manages to conjure up memories of times long past in Athy.
The story of George Lammon who holds a unique record as the longest serving employee of Tegral unfolded the most interesting tale of immigration from Newcastle Upon Tyne and how a Geordie name was transformed. As usual November 11th and the ending of World War I was remembered but sadly Mae Vagts whom I mentioned in that article as a daughter of Edward Stafford of Butlers Row has since died.
A Happy New Year to all.
Kilkea born Ernest Shackleton was featured in the first article of the New Year. Twice during the year I made trips to the London auction house of Sothebys in an attempt to acquire Shackleton memorabilia and artifacts for Athy’s new Heritage Centre. On both occasions material was purchased and when the centre opens in March 1998 Ernest Shackleton the South Kildare man who conquered the world of polar exploration will be suitably commemorated.
At different times during the year I wrote of Eamon Malone local commander of the old IRA and of William Connor and James Lacey who were shot at Barrowhouse on the 15th May 1921. The local Urban District Council honoured Michael Malone by having its new housing scheme at Woodstock Street named after him. Malone Terrace will keep alive the memory of that brave man who lead by example during the War of Independence. Perhaps Connor and Lacy will also be suitably honoured in the not too distant future.
The visit of Archbishop Walter Empey to Athy on 2nd March for a confirmation ceremony in St. Michael’s Church was the occasion of a civic reception by the local Urban District Council and an Eye on the Past article. Archbishop Empey was generous of his time on the day of his visit and one delightful moment was captured when Tom “Tanner” Bracken met the Archbishop and the two reminisced of the days when the Brackens and the Empeys worked together as painters.
The closure of Herterichs pork shop on 29th March afforded an opportunity to write of Ernest Herterich and his family who came to Athy in 1942. The delights of Herterich’s home cooked ham are no more, a victim of the one stop shopping culture developed by the supermarket chains. Jack Murphy of Convent View at 94 years of age and one of Athy’s oldest residents passed away early in the year. He and his wife Margaret were good friends of Eye on the Past and the story of Jack’s long working life encompassed so much of Athy’s commercial history since the 1920’s.
St. John’s Cemetery was the focus of a training scheme during the summer which resulted in a general clean up of this most historic site. It also afforded me an opportunity to delve into its history and its many interesting reminders of Athy’s past. Soon afterwards St. Michael’s Cemetery and its interesting collection of headstones was featured in an Eye on the Past. Apart from the local men killed in World Wars I and II many other historic connections where found in the cemetery. A distant kinsman of Irish parliamentarian Henry Grattan is buried in a quiet corner of St. Michael’s. William Grattan was a lieutenant in the Connaught Rangers and fought in the Peninsular War. Another more recent find in St. Michael’s of which I have yet to write is the grave of a former Captain of the Scottish International Soccer team. More about that in a future article.
Another sport, boxing, featured in an article on St. Michael’s Boxing Club. The first full international boxing match involving Ireland and Canada held outside of Dublin was in the Grove Theatre on the 13th July. The Boxing Club is still going strong but sadly the Grove has closed its doors again.
Some of my travels during the year were remembered particularly two trips made during the 1400th anniversary of the death of St. Colmcille. A summer trip to Iona in the Inner Hebrides off the Isle of Mull brought me for the first time to this most historic and religious of places. A later trip to Derry to visit the sites associated with the Irish Saint before he departed these shores completed the pilgrimage.
Betty May and her family came back to Athy for holidays in the summer. In America since 1949 Betty formerly of St. Martin’s Terrace remembered life in Athy after the War and her friends in the Social Club. The emigration story of the Bradley Brothers who left Athy in the 1920’s for America to be followed by the members of the May family in the 1940’s and 1950’s was typical of those difficult times in Ireland.
A two part article on the first tenants of St. Plewman’s Terrace in 1936 drew an enormous response as did the later article on Ned Ward. The occasion of the article on the legendary Ned was the closure of his daughter’s betting shop in Duke Street. The Ward family had carried on business in Athy since the early 1920’s and the Ward name still manages to conjure up memories of times long past in Athy.
The story of George Lammon who holds a unique record as the longest serving employee of Tegral unfolded the most interesting tale of immigration from Newcastle Upon Tyne and how a Geordie name was transformed. As usual November 11th and the ending of World War I was remembered but sadly Mae Vagts whom I mentioned in that article as a daughter of Edward Stafford of Butlers Row has since died.
A Happy New Year to all.
Thursday, November 27, 1997
Fr. Peter Hickey O.P.
Last week Minch Norton celebrated 150 years in Athy. Theirs is truly a wonderful record of achievement and one which was fittingly recognised when the Minister for Finance, Charlie McCreevy paid a visit to the factory on Friday. In the present modern production facility there is little to remind us of the past years when malting work was carried out under difficult circumstances. The now unused chimney stacks on the older Minch Norton buildings are a silent reminder of those early days when men laboured with wooden shovels in the malt houses. Do you remember the malt house in Stanhope Street occupying the site opposite Noonan’s public house? Not many, if indeed anyone, can go back so far as to recall the malt house in Offaly Street where the cinema was later located or the Malthouse in Rathstewart where Batchelors factory is situated. Now however all of Minch Nortons malting activities are centered in their Kilkenny Road complex and it was there last week that the 150 years celebrations took place.
Another celebration during the week was occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Peter Hickey which took place on 20th December. A member of a local Kilberry family and now a member of the Dominican Community it was appropriate that Athy Urban District Council should honour Fr. Hickey on his Golden Jubilee. Son of Peter and Elizabeth Hickey of Kilberry, he was born in October 1921, the second youngest in the family of seven boys and six girls. He attended Kilberry National School and for a short while Barrowhouse National School while his sister Sheila was teaching there. She was later to join the Sisters of Mercy in Athy where as Sr. Michael she was principal of the Primary School for many years.
At nineteen years of age Peter Hickey entered the Dominican novitiate in St. Mary’s, Cork. As a native of Athy Peter was undoubtedly following in the footsteps of many Athy men who joined the Order of Preachers since the Order first established a monastery in Athy in 1253. After seven years of study Peter Hickey was ordained to the priesthood on 20th December, 1947 by John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of All Ireland. By then his brother Willie and sister Jenny had died, while brothers Ted and Paddy were in America and New Zealand respectively.
After three years in the Retreat House in Tallaght, Co. Dublin he was assigned to the Missions in Trinidad in 1950. A country about one fourteenth the size of Ireland, the islands Trinidad and Tobago form an archipelago located near the Orinoco River Delta of the Venezuelan Coast. With a population of about one million people oil production is the principal form of production. With a slight majority of people of African origin and a large minority descended from Asian Indians, European and Chinese groups make up a small minority of the population. Mainly Christian with a Catholic majority Trinidad has a substantial minority of Hindus and Muslims.
It was to there that Fr. Hickey sailed from Cobh via New York in October 1950 to take up his first post as Chaplain to the Colonial Hospital and also to the prison in the Trinidad Capital of Port-of-Spain. As the hospital name would indicate Trinidad was in 1950 still a British colony but Fr. Hickey’s arrival coincided with the granting of internal autonomy and the holding of elections. In 1962 after a brief period as members of the West Indian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain. Fourteen years later a Republic was declared.
Fr. Hickey travelled to America in 1952 for a holiday during which he performed marriage ceremonies in Pittsburgh for his two brothers Tom and Ted. Returning to Trinidad he was appointed to the Parish of Rio Claro, an inland town on the island. After ten years in Trinidad Fr. Peter returned to Ireland on holidays and remained two years as Bursar in Newbridge College. In 1962 he returned to the Missions in Trinidad where he remained for another five years before he returned to St. Saviours Monastery in Waterford. He served there as Bursar and sub-Prior for a number of years before transferring to St. Dominic’s in Athy twelve years ago.
I have often felt that the Dominican Order’s links with Athy stretching back all of 744 years are one of our town’s most important historical elements. Throughout virtually the entire life of Athy from early village to mediaeval town to the 20th century town the Order of Preachers have had a presence here. This most valued connection has seen the Dominican Monastery firstly on the East bank of the River Barrow, later still in the area of the present Kirwan’s Lane when it was called Convent Lane before the Monastery re-located in the 18th century to Riversdale House. Fr. Peter Hickey has spent the last twelve years of his priesthood amongst the people of his home town of Athy. A nephew of the formidable Monsignor Hickey, late President of Clonliffe College, the Kilberry born priest has earned the respect and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact.
The local Urban District Council in recognising his Golden Jubilee as a priest has also acknowledged the importance of the Dominican Order to present day Athy and the Order’s significance in the history of our town. In the same week that the Dominican priest Fr. Hickey was honoured, a local firm celebrated it’s contribution to the local economy over the past 150 years. To both go our congratulations and good wishes. The Minch Norton Maltings and the Dominicans have become synonymous with Athy and long may they both flourish.
Another celebration during the week was occasioned by the 50th anniversary of the ordination of Fr. Peter Hickey which took place on 20th December. A member of a local Kilberry family and now a member of the Dominican Community it was appropriate that Athy Urban District Council should honour Fr. Hickey on his Golden Jubilee. Son of Peter and Elizabeth Hickey of Kilberry, he was born in October 1921, the second youngest in the family of seven boys and six girls. He attended Kilberry National School and for a short while Barrowhouse National School while his sister Sheila was teaching there. She was later to join the Sisters of Mercy in Athy where as Sr. Michael she was principal of the Primary School for many years.
At nineteen years of age Peter Hickey entered the Dominican novitiate in St. Mary’s, Cork. As a native of Athy Peter was undoubtedly following in the footsteps of many Athy men who joined the Order of Preachers since the Order first established a monastery in Athy in 1253. After seven years of study Peter Hickey was ordained to the priesthood on 20th December, 1947 by John Charles McQuaid, Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of All Ireland. By then his brother Willie and sister Jenny had died, while brothers Ted and Paddy were in America and New Zealand respectively.
After three years in the Retreat House in Tallaght, Co. Dublin he was assigned to the Missions in Trinidad in 1950. A country about one fourteenth the size of Ireland, the islands Trinidad and Tobago form an archipelago located near the Orinoco River Delta of the Venezuelan Coast. With a population of about one million people oil production is the principal form of production. With a slight majority of people of African origin and a large minority descended from Asian Indians, European and Chinese groups make up a small minority of the population. Mainly Christian with a Catholic majority Trinidad has a substantial minority of Hindus and Muslims.
It was to there that Fr. Hickey sailed from Cobh via New York in October 1950 to take up his first post as Chaplain to the Colonial Hospital and also to the prison in the Trinidad Capital of Port-of-Spain. As the hospital name would indicate Trinidad was in 1950 still a British colony but Fr. Hickey’s arrival coincided with the granting of internal autonomy and the holding of elections. In 1962 after a brief period as members of the West Indian Federation, Trinidad and Tobago gained independence from Britain. Fourteen years later a Republic was declared.
Fr. Hickey travelled to America in 1952 for a holiday during which he performed marriage ceremonies in Pittsburgh for his two brothers Tom and Ted. Returning to Trinidad he was appointed to the Parish of Rio Claro, an inland town on the island. After ten years in Trinidad Fr. Peter returned to Ireland on holidays and remained two years as Bursar in Newbridge College. In 1962 he returned to the Missions in Trinidad where he remained for another five years before he returned to St. Saviours Monastery in Waterford. He served there as Bursar and sub-Prior for a number of years before transferring to St. Dominic’s in Athy twelve years ago.
I have often felt that the Dominican Order’s links with Athy stretching back all of 744 years are one of our town’s most important historical elements. Throughout virtually the entire life of Athy from early village to mediaeval town to the 20th century town the Order of Preachers have had a presence here. This most valued connection has seen the Dominican Monastery firstly on the East bank of the River Barrow, later still in the area of the present Kirwan’s Lane when it was called Convent Lane before the Monastery re-located in the 18th century to Riversdale House. Fr. Peter Hickey has spent the last twelve years of his priesthood amongst the people of his home town of Athy. A nephew of the formidable Monsignor Hickey, late President of Clonliffe College, the Kilberry born priest has earned the respect and esteem of all with whom he has come in contact.
The local Urban District Council in recognising his Golden Jubilee as a priest has also acknowledged the importance of the Dominican Order to present day Athy and the Order’s significance in the history of our town. In the same week that the Dominican priest Fr. Hickey was honoured, a local firm celebrated it’s contribution to the local economy over the past 150 years. To both go our congratulations and good wishes. The Minch Norton Maltings and the Dominicans have become synonymous with Athy and long may they both flourish.
Thursday, November 20, 1997
Brian Bracken Whistle Player
Irish Traditional Music, an important part of our Irishness, is one of the most rewarding of my many personal indulgences into the many facets of Irish culture. Music has formed an important part of community life in Athy down the years as evidenced by the many bands and musical combinations to be found in the town over different periods. Who can ever forget the stories, some no doubt improved in the telling, of the Leinster Street Band and their rivalry with the Barrack Street Band of the early decades of this century. The pipers of the Castlemitchell Pipe Band and the earlier St. Brigid’s Pipe Band left a legacy of music which long after their disbandment is still a source of inspiration. Nearer to our own time we can recall the bands of the 1950’s and particularly in the Irish music context the Ardellis Ceili Band founded by Fontstown man, Brian Lawlor in the mid-1950’s. There is even in that backward look sufficient evidence of music and musical talent to satisfy even the most demanding of tastes.
Two weeks ago I walked into the `Celtic Note’ music shop on Nassau Street, Dublin and asked the assistant to help locate a recently issued CD of a whistle player by the name of “Bracken”. Her puzzled expression prompted a quick correction and an acknowledgement by me that the player was in fact “Hughes”. I had used his mother’s maiden name, the former Claire Bracken being well known to me at a time when we were both members of Aontas Ogra. The shop assistant smiled and with her right hand pointing in the general direction of the ceiling said; “that’s his music being played at the moment!” Only then did I take note of the exuberant tin whistle playing which was coming over the shops loudspeaker.
As I listened it was with a sense of pride, knowing that the musician was an Athy man, but also with a sense of excitement only previously experienced when I first heard the singing of Galway man Sean Tyrrell and heard the piping of the legendary Johnny Doran. Johnny Doran who apart from his brother Felix was the last of the travelling pipers, died in the County Home, Athy in 1950. Twenty years later in the same institution, then renamed St. Vincent’s Hospital, was born Brendan Hughes, the whistle player whose music I was hearing that afternoon in a Dublin music shop. Brian the son of Liam and Claire Hughes of Woodstock Street has been a traditional musician for over 15 years. He was first introduced to the Uileann pipes by his grand-father Christy Bracken, when he was 12 years of age. He later travelled every week to the Pipers Club in Henrietta Street, Dublin home of Na Piobairi Uileann founded by Seamus Ennis and Breandan Breathnach. Here he was to master the chanter and here also he listened to and learned from the different piping styles of men such as Leo Rowsome, Seamus Ennis, Kildare’s own Liam O’Floinn, Roscommon’s Andy Conroy and the legendary Patsy Touhy. It was here also he would have heard for the time the only extant recording of the late Johnny Doran the man who played the Uileann pipes with a fire and passion bordering on reckless abandon. A frequent competitor at Feis Ceol Brian non All-Ireland competitions for uileann piping. Not content with mastering this most difficult of instruments, Brian also took up the tin whistle and before long was to gain further success as an Irish champion for that instrument.
One of the growing band of young Irish musicians who have been influenced by Planxty, the Bothy Band and Moving Hearts, Brian’s music is more contemporary than traditional. This is evident in his new arrangement of old tunes and in his exuberant legato style which owes more to the contemporary Irish groups than to the traditional stylists of Sliabh Luachra and the Western seaboard.
Brian, who is married to Bernadette Connell is the proud father of four month old Grainne. A trainee fireman with the Dublin Fire Service, presently he has little time to involve himself in the traditional music sessions which play an important part in sustaining and developing the Irish music scene. In the past he has played in Clancys in Leinster Street, in the Avalon Inn, Castlecomer and in the highly regarded music sessions held in Coffeys of Clogh. However, when the training is completed in March ’98 Brian hopes to be involved in a number of promotional concerts and sessions.
Brian’s CD was issued under the Gael Linn label and represents three years preparation in choosing tunes and making news arrangements for the recording. The choices he made are excellent and the playing is quite superb. Indeed after I had heard all of the tracks on Brian’s CD I then listened to recordings of the late Micko Russell and Michael Tubridy. The contrast in style could not be greater and I was left to marvel at Brian Hughes fast free flowing style which is so reminiscent of what we know of Johnny Doran’s style on the Uileann pipes. Amongst the tracks are two slow airs played on an African Blackwood Whistle. They have a haunting mellow sound which is heard to particularly good effect in the tune Turas go Tir na n’og. Included on the CD are some of Brian’s own jig compositions. All in all this is an exceptional first CD from a confident young players who has talent, feeling and a delightful touch all combining to give us a taste of good traditional music played in a contemporary style.
Athy is undergoing something of a musical renaissance at the moment, what with Jack Lukeman’s recent release and the emerging singing and song writing talent of David Bradbury. More about both of them in the future, but in the meantime everyone in Athy should go out and buy Brian Hughes’ new release “Whistle Stop”. Its a gem and would make a wonderful present for Christmas. There will, I feel, be many more recordings from this wonderful musician.
Two weeks ago I walked into the `Celtic Note’ music shop on Nassau Street, Dublin and asked the assistant to help locate a recently issued CD of a whistle player by the name of “Bracken”. Her puzzled expression prompted a quick correction and an acknowledgement by me that the player was in fact “Hughes”. I had used his mother’s maiden name, the former Claire Bracken being well known to me at a time when we were both members of Aontas Ogra. The shop assistant smiled and with her right hand pointing in the general direction of the ceiling said; “that’s his music being played at the moment!” Only then did I take note of the exuberant tin whistle playing which was coming over the shops loudspeaker.
As I listened it was with a sense of pride, knowing that the musician was an Athy man, but also with a sense of excitement only previously experienced when I first heard the singing of Galway man Sean Tyrrell and heard the piping of the legendary Johnny Doran. Johnny Doran who apart from his brother Felix was the last of the travelling pipers, died in the County Home, Athy in 1950. Twenty years later in the same institution, then renamed St. Vincent’s Hospital, was born Brendan Hughes, the whistle player whose music I was hearing that afternoon in a Dublin music shop. Brian the son of Liam and Claire Hughes of Woodstock Street has been a traditional musician for over 15 years. He was first introduced to the Uileann pipes by his grand-father Christy Bracken, when he was 12 years of age. He later travelled every week to the Pipers Club in Henrietta Street, Dublin home of Na Piobairi Uileann founded by Seamus Ennis and Breandan Breathnach. Here he was to master the chanter and here also he listened to and learned from the different piping styles of men such as Leo Rowsome, Seamus Ennis, Kildare’s own Liam O’Floinn, Roscommon’s Andy Conroy and the legendary Patsy Touhy. It was here also he would have heard for the time the only extant recording of the late Johnny Doran the man who played the Uileann pipes with a fire and passion bordering on reckless abandon. A frequent competitor at Feis Ceol Brian non All-Ireland competitions for uileann piping. Not content with mastering this most difficult of instruments, Brian also took up the tin whistle and before long was to gain further success as an Irish champion for that instrument.
One of the growing band of young Irish musicians who have been influenced by Planxty, the Bothy Band and Moving Hearts, Brian’s music is more contemporary than traditional. This is evident in his new arrangement of old tunes and in his exuberant legato style which owes more to the contemporary Irish groups than to the traditional stylists of Sliabh Luachra and the Western seaboard.
Brian, who is married to Bernadette Connell is the proud father of four month old Grainne. A trainee fireman with the Dublin Fire Service, presently he has little time to involve himself in the traditional music sessions which play an important part in sustaining and developing the Irish music scene. In the past he has played in Clancys in Leinster Street, in the Avalon Inn, Castlecomer and in the highly regarded music sessions held in Coffeys of Clogh. However, when the training is completed in March ’98 Brian hopes to be involved in a number of promotional concerts and sessions.
Brian’s CD was issued under the Gael Linn label and represents three years preparation in choosing tunes and making news arrangements for the recording. The choices he made are excellent and the playing is quite superb. Indeed after I had heard all of the tracks on Brian’s CD I then listened to recordings of the late Micko Russell and Michael Tubridy. The contrast in style could not be greater and I was left to marvel at Brian Hughes fast free flowing style which is so reminiscent of what we know of Johnny Doran’s style on the Uileann pipes. Amongst the tracks are two slow airs played on an African Blackwood Whistle. They have a haunting mellow sound which is heard to particularly good effect in the tune Turas go Tir na n’og. Included on the CD are some of Brian’s own jig compositions. All in all this is an exceptional first CD from a confident young players who has talent, feeling and a delightful touch all combining to give us a taste of good traditional music played in a contemporary style.
Athy is undergoing something of a musical renaissance at the moment, what with Jack Lukeman’s recent release and the emerging singing and song writing talent of David Bradbury. More about both of them in the future, but in the meantime everyone in Athy should go out and buy Brian Hughes’ new release “Whistle Stop”. Its a gem and would make a wonderful present for Christmas. There will, I feel, be many more recordings from this wonderful musician.
Thursday, November 13, 1997
Athy's Model School and 1866 Commissioners of National Education Report
The 33rd report of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland for the year 1866 presented to both Houses of the English Parliament contained many interesting references to Athy’s Model School. Built on a site provided by the Duke of Leinster the Model School was opened in August 1852. A total of 32 Model Schools were intended to be provided throughout Ireland for the dual purpose of providing schooling for children and also training for teachers for Irish National Schools. A number of candidate teachers were to be boarded in each Model School for a period of six months having first been selected by the Commissioner’s Superintendent from National Schools within the district. Each candidate teacher who received the Superintendent’s certificate after the initial six months training in the Model School would then spend another two years teaching in a National School before completing teacher training at the National Model School in Dublin. With the early development of the National school system in Ireland there was a shortage of suitably trained teachers and so the Model School system of training teachers was devised. In addition to the candidate teachers Model Schools also employed Monitors. These were deserving pupils from the area who were admitted as free scholars into the Model School and who in return for small weekly payments helped the teachers in the class. Monitors could in time be selected as candidate teachers by the school superintendent.
In its report for 1866 the Commissioners of National Education stated that there had been no change in the staff of principal or assistant teachers in Athy Model School during the year. However, one pupil teacher was removed for irregularity and one pupil teacher and two monitoresses left at the end of their contracts. The school catered for boys, girls and infants and in charge of the boys’ school was John Walsh a Roman Catholic who held that position since 1852. His assistant was John Henderson of the Church of Ireland and their pupil teachers were William Patterson, Church of Ireland and Charles Dodd, Roman Catholic. The recitation of the religious background of the teachers 130 years ago was significant given the non denominational nature of the Model School which when established was intended to “promote united education”. The boys’ school had 124 on the roll during 1866 although the average daily attendance was considerably less than that. Apparently at a time when school attendance was not compulsory every boy who enrolled even for a day was included in the yearly enrolment figure which tended to give an inflated account of the school numbers. The average attendance was in fact 69 boys and of the 85 school boys on the roll by the end of the year 45 were Church of Ireland, 16 Roman Catholic, 17 Presbyterian and 7 others. They showed an increase of 25 pupils over the previous year with a doubling of the Roman Catholic boys in the school.
In the girls’ school the principal was Ann O’Reilly a Roman Catholic who had joined in 1852 and her assistant was Bessie Glover, Church of Ireland. Their total enrolment for the year was 94 girls with an average attendance of 40. At the end of 1866 the school had 56 girls on its books 30 of whom were Church of Ireland, 11 Roman Catholic, 9 Presbyterian and 6 others. This reflected little change from the previous year.
Harriet Souter, Church of Ireland was Principal of the infant school and her assistant was Teresa Mackey a Roman Catholic. They had enrolled 70 infants during 1866 of which on average 31 infants attended daily. At the end of that year there were 29 infants on the roll.
When the Model School first opened a very substantial majority of its pupils were members of the Catholic Church a fact which did not find agreement with the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. The opening of the Convent of Mercy in 1852 which had been planned long before the Model School reduced the latter school’s numbers. Further substantial reductions were noted when the Christian Brothers opened their school in 1861. The Brothers were invited to come to Athy by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin so that the Catholic pupils would be withdrawn from the Model School. The enrolment figures for 1866 confirm that the Archbishop’s campaign was largely successful although the parents of 22 Roman Catholic children who still attended the Model School felt sufficiently strong to withstand “a belt of the Bishop’s crozier”.
Regarding the Model School the Education Board’s inspector reported that in 1866 pupils generally speaking attended irregularly throughout the year especially in Spring and Harvest owing to demands of field labour. “The prevalence since September last of fever in several portions of the district interfered very much with the pupils attendance. In February, March, August, September and October the attendance was thinest”.
An important element of the Model School complex was the Agricultural Training School which was founded to train young farm workers in the most up to date agricultural methods. I will deal with its story and that of its pupils in a future Eye on the Past.
The Model School will be celebrating the sequecentenary of its foundation in five years time. The fine Tudor building constructed in the Gothic style to a design by Frederick Darley is one of the most impressive buildings in Athy. Equally impressive is the history of the school which has provided educational facilities in town for 145 years and has managed to survive and prosper despite early sustained opposition to Model Schools by the Catholic hierarchy.
In its report for 1866 the Commissioners of National Education stated that there had been no change in the staff of principal or assistant teachers in Athy Model School during the year. However, one pupil teacher was removed for irregularity and one pupil teacher and two monitoresses left at the end of their contracts. The school catered for boys, girls and infants and in charge of the boys’ school was John Walsh a Roman Catholic who held that position since 1852. His assistant was John Henderson of the Church of Ireland and their pupil teachers were William Patterson, Church of Ireland and Charles Dodd, Roman Catholic. The recitation of the religious background of the teachers 130 years ago was significant given the non denominational nature of the Model School which when established was intended to “promote united education”. The boys’ school had 124 on the roll during 1866 although the average daily attendance was considerably less than that. Apparently at a time when school attendance was not compulsory every boy who enrolled even for a day was included in the yearly enrolment figure which tended to give an inflated account of the school numbers. The average attendance was in fact 69 boys and of the 85 school boys on the roll by the end of the year 45 were Church of Ireland, 16 Roman Catholic, 17 Presbyterian and 7 others. They showed an increase of 25 pupils over the previous year with a doubling of the Roman Catholic boys in the school.
In the girls’ school the principal was Ann O’Reilly a Roman Catholic who had joined in 1852 and her assistant was Bessie Glover, Church of Ireland. Their total enrolment for the year was 94 girls with an average attendance of 40. At the end of 1866 the school had 56 girls on its books 30 of whom were Church of Ireland, 11 Roman Catholic, 9 Presbyterian and 6 others. This reflected little change from the previous year.
Harriet Souter, Church of Ireland was Principal of the infant school and her assistant was Teresa Mackey a Roman Catholic. They had enrolled 70 infants during 1866 of which on average 31 infants attended daily. At the end of that year there were 29 infants on the roll.
When the Model School first opened a very substantial majority of its pupils were members of the Catholic Church a fact which did not find agreement with the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin. The opening of the Convent of Mercy in 1852 which had been planned long before the Model School reduced the latter school’s numbers. Further substantial reductions were noted when the Christian Brothers opened their school in 1861. The Brothers were invited to come to Athy by the Catholic Archbishop of Dublin so that the Catholic pupils would be withdrawn from the Model School. The enrolment figures for 1866 confirm that the Archbishop’s campaign was largely successful although the parents of 22 Roman Catholic children who still attended the Model School felt sufficiently strong to withstand “a belt of the Bishop’s crozier”.
Regarding the Model School the Education Board’s inspector reported that in 1866 pupils generally speaking attended irregularly throughout the year especially in Spring and Harvest owing to demands of field labour. “The prevalence since September last of fever in several portions of the district interfered very much with the pupils attendance. In February, March, August, September and October the attendance was thinest”.
An important element of the Model School complex was the Agricultural Training School which was founded to train young farm workers in the most up to date agricultural methods. I will deal with its story and that of its pupils in a future Eye on the Past.
The Model School will be celebrating the sequecentenary of its foundation in five years time. The fine Tudor building constructed in the Gothic style to a design by Frederick Darley is one of the most impressive buildings in Athy. Equally impressive is the history of the school which has provided educational facilities in town for 145 years and has managed to survive and prosper despite early sustained opposition to Model Schools by the Catholic hierarchy.
Thursday, November 6, 1997
1798 Rebellion
Last week I mentioned the Bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion which will be commemorated rather than celebrated next year. The distinction is important because there is little in the events of 1798 which should give rise to any bouts of enthusiastic celebration such as accompanies notable achievements. What happened in the last decade of the 18th Century resulted in considerable distress amongst many communities up and down the country. There is evidence of outrageous and barbarism committed on both sides. The rebels untrained and unskilled were perhaps less blameworthy than the well drilled and better armed Government forces but nevertheless apportionment of blame is less than a useful exercise after such an elapse of time.
Written accounts of the happenings of 1798 first appeared within a short time afterwards. Amongst them was Sir Richard Musgrave’s “Memoirs of the Rebellion in Ireland” first published in 1801. It was unsympathetic to the Irish rebel side as indeed were all the earlier books on the subject. Almost 30 years were to elapse before Wolfe Tone’s biography was published and this understandably included much material relating to the emergence of the United Irishmen and the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. Another account by an active participant was Teeling’s “Personal Narrative” published in 1828. The major work on the United Irishman which has stood the test of time is Madden’s four volumes “The Lives and Times of the United Irishman” published in the years immediately before the Great Famine. It was Madden who sought to rescue Robert Emmett’s housekeeper Ann Devlin from the dreadfully poor conditions she was forced to live in after her employer’s execution.
In the years since Madden’s substantial tomes first appeared many other books dealing with the ’98 Rebellion have been published. Local man Patrick O’Kelly who was leader of the Athy men during that period wrote his account of the rebellion which he had published as “The history of the rebellion of 1798”. As you might expect it had many references to Athy and to County Kildare never before included in any previously published account of the rebellion.
When the Centenary of the rebellion was remembered in 1898 Ireland was still under English rule. Nevertheless local committees up and down the country were organised to commemorate the rebellion of 1798 and a small number of publications were issued. There has been a tendency for such publications to concentrate on Wexford, Wicklow Antrim and Down with little or nothing appearing in relation to other counties in Ireland. This deficiency was remedied somewhat with the appearance in 1949 of McHugh’s edition of “The Autobiography of William Farrell of Carlow”. Farrell had written graphically of the floggings in Athy and highlighted the hardships experienced by the local people during the rebellion.
Next year we will have an opportunity to study not only the rebellious activities of 1798 but also the events which led up to it. The American War of Independence and the French Revolution were important influences on what happened in Ireland in the 1790’s as was Thomas Paine’s work “The Rights of Man”. The United Irishmen founded in Belfast in 1791 was a radical and largely Protestant movement. It was also a movement of particular appeal to Catholics and Dissenters alike at a time when the cry liberty equality and fraternity first sounded during the French Revolution found an echo on the streets of Irish towns. Within a few years of its foundation the United Irishmen organisation began to undergo a change. Forced to go underground it became a secret organisation committed to republicanism and the organisation became more and more militarised. To the alarm of the Government it was reported that local people throughout the country were involved in pike making while rebel raids for guns were a frequent occurrence. In November 1797 a boat anchored in the Grand Canal Harbour at Athy was raided and guns destined for a Co. Carlow Corps of Yeomanry were stolen. The military based in the local Army Barracks immediately reacted and the people of Athy and district were to incur heavy retribution during the following year.
The local blacksmiths of the town were arrested on suspicion of making pikes for the rebels and lodged in White’s Castle jail. Floggings under the triangle became a common occurrence in Athy and we have a contemporary account of this in William Farrell’s diary.
I have often wondered to what extent the 1798 Rebellion affected the community at large in Athy and specifically the Quaker community which lived there. The Quakers as pacifists did not become involved in the 1798 rebellion but as was noted by Mary Ledbetter in her “Annals of Ballytore” members of the Quaker community were nevertheless subjected to violence. Despite having held a weekly meeting in Athy from the latter part of the 17th Century and having had a meeting house constructed at the corner of Meeting Lane in 1780 the local Quaker community disappeared from Athy a few years after the 1798 Rebellion. Was their departure due to intolerable interference during the Rebellion or was it due to the demise of Thomas Chandlee a linen draper of Athy whose dynamic leadership had earlier reactivated the Quaker community in the town? We may never know the answer to this question but perhaps the Bicentenary of 1798 affords us all an ideal time and opportunity to evaluate the period when Protestant, Catholic and
Dissenter came together in a republican movement.
Written accounts of the happenings of 1798 first appeared within a short time afterwards. Amongst them was Sir Richard Musgrave’s “Memoirs of the Rebellion in Ireland” first published in 1801. It was unsympathetic to the Irish rebel side as indeed were all the earlier books on the subject. Almost 30 years were to elapse before Wolfe Tone’s biography was published and this understandably included much material relating to the emergence of the United Irishmen and the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. Another account by an active participant was Teeling’s “Personal Narrative” published in 1828. The major work on the United Irishman which has stood the test of time is Madden’s four volumes “The Lives and Times of the United Irishman” published in the years immediately before the Great Famine. It was Madden who sought to rescue Robert Emmett’s housekeeper Ann Devlin from the dreadfully poor conditions she was forced to live in after her employer’s execution.
In the years since Madden’s substantial tomes first appeared many other books dealing with the ’98 Rebellion have been published. Local man Patrick O’Kelly who was leader of the Athy men during that period wrote his account of the rebellion which he had published as “The history of the rebellion of 1798”. As you might expect it had many references to Athy and to County Kildare never before included in any previously published account of the rebellion.
When the Centenary of the rebellion was remembered in 1898 Ireland was still under English rule. Nevertheless local committees up and down the country were organised to commemorate the rebellion of 1798 and a small number of publications were issued. There has been a tendency for such publications to concentrate on Wexford, Wicklow Antrim and Down with little or nothing appearing in relation to other counties in Ireland. This deficiency was remedied somewhat with the appearance in 1949 of McHugh’s edition of “The Autobiography of William Farrell of Carlow”. Farrell had written graphically of the floggings in Athy and highlighted the hardships experienced by the local people during the rebellion.
Next year we will have an opportunity to study not only the rebellious activities of 1798 but also the events which led up to it. The American War of Independence and the French Revolution were important influences on what happened in Ireland in the 1790’s as was Thomas Paine’s work “The Rights of Man”. The United Irishmen founded in Belfast in 1791 was a radical and largely Protestant movement. It was also a movement of particular appeal to Catholics and Dissenters alike at a time when the cry liberty equality and fraternity first sounded during the French Revolution found an echo on the streets of Irish towns. Within a few years of its foundation the United Irishmen organisation began to undergo a change. Forced to go underground it became a secret organisation committed to republicanism and the organisation became more and more militarised. To the alarm of the Government it was reported that local people throughout the country were involved in pike making while rebel raids for guns were a frequent occurrence. In November 1797 a boat anchored in the Grand Canal Harbour at Athy was raided and guns destined for a Co. Carlow Corps of Yeomanry were stolen. The military based in the local Army Barracks immediately reacted and the people of Athy and district were to incur heavy retribution during the following year.
The local blacksmiths of the town were arrested on suspicion of making pikes for the rebels and lodged in White’s Castle jail. Floggings under the triangle became a common occurrence in Athy and we have a contemporary account of this in William Farrell’s diary.
I have often wondered to what extent the 1798 Rebellion affected the community at large in Athy and specifically the Quaker community which lived there. The Quakers as pacifists did not become involved in the 1798 rebellion but as was noted by Mary Ledbetter in her “Annals of Ballytore” members of the Quaker community were nevertheless subjected to violence. Despite having held a weekly meeting in Athy from the latter part of the 17th Century and having had a meeting house constructed at the corner of Meeting Lane in 1780 the local Quaker community disappeared from Athy a few years after the 1798 Rebellion. Was their departure due to intolerable interference during the Rebellion or was it due to the demise of Thomas Chandlee a linen draper of Athy whose dynamic leadership had earlier reactivated the Quaker community in the town? We may never know the answer to this question but perhaps the Bicentenary of 1798 affords us all an ideal time and opportunity to evaluate the period when Protestant, Catholic and
Dissenter came together in a republican movement.
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