One of the many interesting
discoveries I made while undertaking some research years ago in the National
Library was the pamphlet by Mr. Hierome, Minister at Athy, relating to the
siege of Athy in 1641. The pamphlet had
a wood cut depiction of the town showing White’s Castle, numerous houses and a
church all enclosed within crenellated town walls.
The first reference I found to town
walls in Athy was in reference to Murage Grants which issued in 1431 and 1448. These grants allowed for goods passing
through Athy to be tolled, a right which was later confined to goods sold in
the town. The tolls or taxes so
collected were to be utilised in building town defences. There is no record of what those town
defences consisted of, although it is highly questionable whether the tolls
collected were sufficient to finance the construction of town walls.
The town charter of 1515 gave the
inhabitants of Athy the right to impose tolls and taxes so that ‘they may construct, build and strengthen
the same town with fosses and walls of stone and lime.’ To the Earl of Kildare was assigned the right
of deciding how much of the tolls collected were to be expended on building town
walls. Undoubtedly given the past
history of attacks on Athy, some form of town defences were put in place, but
whether these extended to total encirclement of the settlement cannot be
verified.
The Hierome pamphlet of 1641 is the
only pictorial evidence we have of the town walls, apart from George Victor Du
Noyer’s watercolour of Preston’s Gate of 1837.
It is believed that Prestons Gate was the only surviving remains of the
old town walls but it was demolished in 1860 following an accident involving
the local Rector, Rev. F. Trench.
It is clear that whatever defences
were built following the 1515 charter afforded insufficient protection for the
town. In 1546 the O’Mores of Laois
attacked Athy, burning the town and the Dominican Friary. This raises questions as to the extent and
quality of the town walls. In that
regard it is interesting to note that John Dymok in his ‘Treatise on Ireland’ published in 1600 gave a description of Athy
with no reference to town walls. He
described Athy as ‘divided into two
partes by the ryver of Barrow, over which lyeth a stone bridge, and upon it a
castle occupied by James Fitzpierce ..... the bridge of the castle ..... being
the onelye waye which leadeth into the Queene’s County’.
However, an anonymous writer two
years earlier referred to Castledermot and Athy as ‘the only important towns of Kildare walled and now ruined.’ It is more than likely that the town was
encircled by town walls because of the importance of Athy as a frontier town
during the medieval period. Located as
it was on the Marches of Kildare Athy was garrisoned from an early age to
protect those living within the Pale which came within twelve or fourteen miles
of the town.
The Confederate Wars which lasted
for eight years from 1641 were played out in many arenas throughout
Ireland. Here in Athy there was
considerable military activity, with the town at different times being held by
the different warring factions.
Inevitably the repetitive attacks and counter attacks on the town
defences must have resulted in at least the partial destruction of the town
walls. The walls were never re-built and
inevitably over time those portions which were damaged were removed, leading to
the eventual disappearance of the medieval fortifications.
An Urban Archaeological Survey
carried out in the mid 1980s confirmed the existence of the town walls and a plan
showing the possible outline of those walls was included in the survey’s final
report. It encompassed the Dominican
Friary (now the vacant Abbey site) and incorporated Preston’s Gate (at the
junction of Offaly Street and Emily Row), running in a circular route through
the top part of Meeting Lane, across through Chapel Lane and down to the
Barrow, roughly opposite the existing Parish Church. Avril Thomas in her 1992 book on the Walled Towns
of Ireland gave a slightly different layout for Athy’s town walls which was
based on existing street patterns and the remains of burgage plots.
Later this month a geophysical
survey of a small area of the town will be carried out in an attempt to confirm
the existence underground of the remains of Athy’s medieval town walls, the
survey will be a brief one extending over one day and will hopefully be
followed by further similar surveys over the next few years.
The image with this article shows
Prestons Gate viewed from Emily Row.
This was believed to have been the only remaining part of the medieval
town wall visible in 1837 when the Huguenot Du Noyer visited Athy as part of
the ordnance survey of that time.
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