Athy's Forgotten Laneways

The vast majority of Irish place names are Gaelic in origin. Our own town of Athy owes its name to the anglicization of the Gaelic place name Athy Í, meaning the Ford of Ae. A few Norse names are to be found in the South and East coasts of Ireland and Howth and Waterford are just two of the Irish town names which have Norse derivations. Soon after the Anglo Normans landed in Ireland and travelled inland, using waterways such as the River Barrow, Irish countryside place names began to change. It was the Anglo Normans who introduced counties and baronies and understandably the names applied to these new area divisions were for the most part indicative of their non Irish origins. The Ordnance Survey established in Britain in 1791 to map the country in anticipation off a French invasion was extended to Ireland in 1824. In the Irish context its purpose was to map the townlands as a prelude to the revaluation of property so as to reduce the inequities in local taxation. The Townland Survey of Ireland was carried out between 1825 and 1841 and started in the North of the country at Derry, finish 16 years later in Co. Kerry. The Townland Survey not only mapped the Townlands but also collected information on local antiquities and place names. Those who worked on the Ordnance Survey included such learned Irish scholars as John O’Donovan, Eugene O’Curry and George Petrie. John O’Donovan visited Athy during his period with the Ordnance Survey, as did the artist George Victor de Noyer who did a sketch of the only medieval gateway still standing in Athy at that time. His depiction of Preston’s Gate is now in the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin and a copy of the work was for some time on display in the local Heritage Centre. Those engaged on the Ordnance Survey compiled name books in which they noted local place names and for towns such as Athy, contemporary information regarding the streets and lanes. The entries in the name books by the survey field workers give the approximate location of the smaller laneways in addition to which comments on the general standard of housing in each street or lane is given. The following extract from the Ordnance Survey name books for Athy give a rare insight into the social condition of the town in 1837:- Ophaly Street Clean street occupied by merchants and small dealers Mount Hawkins Por cabins, occupied by journeymen, shoe-makers, labourers and paupers Convent Lane Only one or two cabins in this lane Chapel Lane Occupied by shoemakers and labourers Duncan’s Lane Off Ophaly Street opposite Butler’s Lane. Few cabins occupied by shoemakers Butler’s Lane Row of very poor cabins occupied by labourers Reeve’s Lane Off south side of Leinster Street and near its east end, few poor cabins Mathew’s Lane Few poor cabins Devoy’s Lane Off south side of Leinster Street and near its east end, few poor cabins Boher a boy Few poor cabins on east end of town Green Alley Few poor cabins Tea Lane Few poor cabins occupied by labourers and paupers St. John’s Lane Mostly poor houses occupied by mechanics and labourers When the 1872 Ordnance Survey map of Athy was prepared many new laneways were added. Some of these have since disappeared including:- Barker’s Row Formerly Duncan’s Lane Janeville Lane Off Barker’s Row Carr’s Court Off Mount Hawkins Kelly’s Lane Off Mount Hawkins Merin’s Lane Off Mount Hawkins Keating’s Lane Off Chapel Hill Higginson’s Lane Off Woodstock Street Nelson Street Southern end of lane running parallel with Woodstock St. Woodstock Lane Northern end of the same lane Cooper’s Lane Off Turnpike Road as that part of the Castledomer Road leading from Augustus Bridge was called Even as late as the 1908 Ordnance Survey Revisions, further lanes were included on the town map. The following is a list of these lanes built after 1872 which are no longer in existence. Connolly’s Lane Off Meeting Lane, 20 yards from Emily Square Garden Lane Off Meeting Lane, opposite present Dispensary New Row Off Mount Hawkins, about half way between Chapel Lane and Merin’s Lane which it replaced New Gardens Off Nelson Street between Shrewleen Lane and Higginson’s Lane James’s Lane In the vicinity of Cooper’s Lane Porter’s Row Off Mount Hawkins, nearest lane to and parallel with Kirwan’s Lane Maps of Athy dating back to 1756 have faithfully recorded over the centuries the many changes in the layout of the town. The extensive ribbon development on the west side of the River Barrow and the more centralised development of east Athy which were a feature of the 18th century, gradually gave way to the uncontrolled and claustrophobic infill development of the 19th century. If laneways and small cabins were the extent of Athy’s development in that period, the following century gave hope for a better environment with the systematic eradication of the slums of Athy in the 1930s. Today Athy has little remaining evidence of the miserable slum dwellings built in the early decades of the 19th century.