The Great Famine

The annual famine national commemoration day falls on Sunday next 21st May. On that day, we will remember the unfortunate folk from Athy and the outlying districts who died during the Great Famine. We will remember in particular the 1,200 or more men, women and children who died in the Athy workhouse. The service led by our Parish Priest, Fr. Liam Rigney will be held at 3.00 p.m. in St. Mary’s Cemetery where the uncoffined remains of the workhouse dead were buried during the Great Famine. Their graves remain unmarked and sad to write Kildare County Council have yet to erect a memorial to the famine dead in St. Mary’s which memorial was promised some years ago. The Great Famine, so called to distinguish it from other Irish famines, saw the darkest days in Irish history. Evictions were a common place occurrence in Ireland of the 19th Century but the clearing of tenants from land during and immediately after the Great Famine was a cause of extreme hardship for many. Hunger and plague stalked the Irish countryside at that time and entire families were robbed of life. The workhouse opened in Athy in January 1844 was just one of the 163 workhouses which were built in Ireland between 1840 and 1853. Recording the tragedy of the Great Famine has been very difficult. For decades, the tragic events of Ireland’s worst famine were shrouded in silence. Those who survived those terrible years were perhaps ashamed to speak of what occurred. The famine dead were buried and sadly their memories were neglected for far too long. In more recent years, we have come to understand the suffering and the hardships of those who lived or died during the Great Famine. It was this better understanding of the famine years that led to the holding of the first National Famine Commemoration in Skibbereen in 2009 and since then the National Commemoration Day has been held in different locations throughout the country. Five years ago, the Government formally designated the third Sunday in May as the National commemoration day to officially mark the Great Famine. Many years ago I studied the minutes of meetings of Athy’s Town Commissioners held during the famine years 1845 to 1849. I was astonished not to find a single mention of the Great Famine, it’s effect on the townspeople or any reference to the local workhouse which was under the control of the Athy Board of Guardians. During those years, more than 1,200 persons died in the workhouse while the town’s population which had numbered 4,698 in 1841 had fallen to 3,873 ten years later. This represented an actual loss of 825 persons but if one takes account of the town’s population increase of 4.5% in the 10 years prior to 1841 and applied the same rate to the following decade a loss of 1,036 persons can be assumed. The Irish famine of the 1840s was one of the worst tragedies in 19th century Europe and the silence of the towns public representatives at that time is a sad reminder of how a demoralised people become silent. Not only did they remain silent and leave little record for examination by future generations but the survivors of the famine also remained silent. For decades, the Great Famine remained an unspoken and an unwritten part of our shared history. The first publication of note on the famine was published in 1874 by Fr. John O’Rourke who was Parish Priest of Maynooth. He had been ordained in 1850 and immediately spent some months as a curate in Castledermot before being transferred to St. Michael’s Parish in Athy in 1851. In his book “History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847”, he wrote “I have a vivid recollection of the blight as it appeared in the southern portion of Kildare in 1850. The 15th July in that year was a day of clouds and lightening, of thunder and terrific rain. It was one of those days that strike the timid with alarm and terror, sometimes it was dark as twilight, sometimes a sudden ghastly brightness was produce by the lightening. Those who had an intimate knowledge of the various blights from 1845 said this is the beginning of the blight, so it was”. We will remember on Sunday next at 3.00p.m. our dead of the Great Famine and especially those who passed away in the local workhouse and whose uncoffined remains were brought by hand cart to the nearby cemetery of St. Mary’s for burial.

Education in Athy in the 19th Century

The Model School which was intended to provide non-denominational education for the Athy area was frustrated in its efforts in this regard from the very start and within a few years it joined the other schools in Athy in catering exclusively for particular religious denomination. The agricultural school which formed part of the Model School complex ran into financial difficulties which led to its closure in 1880. Pupils of that school had received training in the most up to date farming methods and techniques on the farm attached to the School. Originally with a farm of 19.5 acres it was extended to 64 acres in 1855 but the cost of maintaining the agricultural school was excessive and despite the best efforts of the local farmers the school closed down. The lands were auctioned in September 1880. In 1866 the Sisters of Mercy, who had arrived in Athy 14 years earlier, came into possession of two houses in William Street adjoining Minch Nortons Malt Houses. They were adapted for use as classrooms for infant boys and girls and continued to be used as such until 1882. A lay teachers, Mrs. Tormey, taught classes there while Sisters of Mercy provided religious instructions for the young children. The School was known locally as the Turnpike School because it was located on what was known years previously as the Turnpike Road. On the closing of the school in 1882 the children transferred to the Convent schools in Stanhope Place. In 1869 the Sisters of Mercy built a three roomed schoolhouse for infant boys at the end of their garden plot in front of the Convent for the sum of £600. St. Joseph’s was to continue in use as an infant’s school up to 1960 when it was demolished during building work for the new church. Located at the North West corner of the Church grounds and facing onto Rathstewart, it was to hold fond memories for several generations of Athy men whose first experience of school life was in the small one storey building close by the Moneen River. The erection of St. Joseph’s enabled the Sisters of Mercy to expand their secondary school into the rooms vacated by the infants. Further growth in the numbers attending for secondary education resulted in the building of St. Mary’s Secondary School in 1884. This new building, connected with the existing Convent, was blessed by Very Rev. James Doyle, P.P. in July 1884. Meanwhile the Classical and Boarding School located in Emily Square in 1856 closed and in 1870 Slater’s Directory listed only one private school, that of Edward Aiken in Duke Street. On 3 April 1886 the local Catholic clergy and upwards of 700 townspeople signed a petition addressed to the Chief Secretary John Morley requesting that the needs of the local Convent and Christian Brothers Schools be catered for in the event of any changes in the financing of the Model Schools. It was claimed in the petition that £300,000 had been expended on the Model School in Athy which then catered for only 50 pupils, while the other local schools received no state subvention. By 1893 the Convent School building programme which commenced in August 1844 was advanced one stage further with the construction of St. Michael’s Primary Girls School. This School, the foundation stone for which was laid on 26th June, 1892 by the Archbishop of Dublin, was officially opened by Dr. Walsh on 13th August, 1893. Built at a cost of £2,662 the new School had accommodation for 640 pupils. A government grant accounted for £1,316.10.9 of the cost with £658.5.8 being contributed locally. The remaining £687.2.7 was borrowed and cleared by 1922. The Irish Education Acts of 1892/93 which provided for free education in elementary schools and for compulsory attendance copperfastened the denominational system of education initiated by the Catholic Church’s opposition to the Model School system of education. Athy’s Model School which had originally commenced as a nondenominational school lost its Catholic pupils to the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers. Thereafter it was to be staffed solely by non-Catholic teachers with pupil numbers far less than when it first opened in 1852. The educational separation of Catholic and Protestant children was a sad reminder of the social and religious differences which had their roots in previous centuries.

St. Laurence's Football Club

The important part that the Gaelic Athletic Association plays in community life, whether urban or rural, was emphasised for me when I attended a recent book launch in the St. Laurence’s GAA complex. Club members and local residents came together in a display of common identity, the focal point of which was the GAA complex lying at the heart of the local community. I was intrigued to discover that St. Laurence’s GAA Club was founded following a meeting in the National School in Crookstown in February 1957. The meeting was called by the then Parish Priest of Narraghmore, Fr. Joseph Young. A County Cavan man, he had been ordained a few months before the 1916 Rising and after spending 25 years as a curate in Aughrim Street, Dublin was appointed Parish Priest of Narraghmore in 1949. He would serve in that rural parish for the following 9 years before moving to Seville Place, Dublin where he died three days before Christmas 1959. It is somewhat of a mystery why he called the meeting for Crookstown National School as the parish of Narraghmore was already home to two GAA Clubs. Ballytore GAA Club and Narraghmore GAA Club were in existence at that time and indeed I can remember lining out for the Athy minor team against the Narraghmore team in or about 1959. We played in a field in Narraghmore which masqueraded as a GAA pitch and togged out at the side of a ditch. That was a common enough feature of football matches played at that time in rural venues. It is claimed by some that Fr. Young sought to follow the generally accepted policy of the early GAA by seeking to have a club based on the geographical area of the Catholic parish. This had given the GAA in its early years one club per parish, even at a time when the relationship between the Catholic Church and the GAA was not always a harmonious one. Local folklore has us to believe that the relationship between the Narraghmore club and the Ballytore club in the mid-1950s was not good, prompting the local Parish Priest to establish a parish-based club which was called St. Laurence’s. Fr. Young was elected President of the new club which shortly thereafter saw the disbandment of the existing clubs in Narraghmore and Ballytore which merged with the new St. Laurence’s. St. Laurence’s has become one of the more advanced clubs in the county since its foundation and has provided its members with first class playing facilities and an excellent club premises. This has been due to the high calibre of local leadership which has helped to make this rural GAA club an important force in the social and cultural life of the locality. Just a week or so before the book launch in St. Laurence’s John Joe Walsh, President of the Club, died. John Joe, a Mayo man, whose family migrated from the western county with a number of other families in 1956, served for many years as Secretary of St. Laurence’s Club, followed by an extended period as the Club’s Chairman. He was one of the many men and women who over the years provided local leadership which was so vital for the continuing success of the club. John Joe held the unique distinction of being the first footballer from the St. Laurence’s Club to be selected for the County Kildare senior football team. Other players from the area had previously played with the Kildare seniors, including Peter Waters and Jimmy Byrne, both of whom featured on the Kildare team which played Cavan in the 1935 All Ireland Football Final. As I mentioned at the book launch Athy GAA followers still complain of the Kildare County selectors decision to drop the regular county team goalkeeper ‘Cuddy’ Chanders of Athy for the All-Ireland Final. Kildare lost that day after going into the All-Ireland Final as the overwhelming favourites to win the game. Claiming, as I do, that I am a Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare, the story of John Joe Walsh’s arrival in Narraghmore in 1956 and his dedicated service to the local GAA club over many years reminds me that irrespective of club membership we tend to maintain allegiances to the county of our birth. The importance of a GAA club lies in the sense of identity which pulling on the club jersey or supporting the team on the side lines gives us. All GAA clubs are community-based clubs which provide a focal point for communities and help reinforce the sense of place which we all have for the town, the village or the rural community in which we live. That was the sense I experienced in St. Laurence’s last week. Gaelic football and hurling matches inspire passion and sometimes controversy, while the local GAA club holds special importance, not only for its members but also for the wider community, especially in rural areas. The members of St. Laurence’s GAA Club can be justifiably proud of the wonderful facilities which the club now provides, not only for club members but also for the wider local community. The book launch in St. Laurence’s was local man Tom O’Connell’s ‘A Life’s Harvest – Stories from the home place Loraine’. The book is a useful contribution to our understanding of the difficulties, the hardship and the joys of life in rural Ireland in the decades following the economic war of the 1930s. The book should be available to buy in your nearest book shop.

Athy's Soccer Club

In August 1970 Athy AFC, which had been founded 22 years earlier, won its first major soccer trophy when the club’s team defeated Newbridge Rangers in the final of the Ardenode Cup. John Keyes who played that day was 17 years of age and had been selected to play in the final in place of the injured Ernest Henderson. Last week the teammates who won the Ardenode Cup in 1970 and again in 1972 and 1973 came together in Pat Dunnes for a 50th anniversary re-union. It was an evening for meeting old friends and reminiscing on the glory days of Athy’s young soccer club when youthful limbs and high energy levels provided the necessary ingredients for success on the playing field. John, who travelled from Tullamore to attend the function last week, later wrote how for many growing up in Athy in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s soccer dominated their dreams and ambitions. The 1966 World Cup was the springboard which propelled what was previously called the garrison game to the forefront of sport in Ireland. The English players such as Bobby Charlton, Gordon Banks and Bobby Moore were the footballing heroes of the time and the Athy youngsters involved in the local soccer street league enjoyed playing the game of their heroes. I remember many of the Athy A.F.C. club officials of that time, including George Lammon, Frankie Aldridge, Jim Dargan and Brendan O’Flaherty. The soccer pitch at the Showgrounds is today named after Frankie Aldridge who for as long as I can remember encouraged and supported the playing of soccer in Athy. Aldridge Park was previously used by Athy’s hockey club, but when that club went out of existence the ground was leased to the newly formed soccer club. The first soccer match on the Athy grounds was played between Athy and Carlow, with the home team winning by 4 goals to 3. That first Athy team comprised Cuddy Chanders, M. O’Donnell, T. Kiely, J. Walsh, B. O’Flaherty, J. O’Sullivan, G. Kelly, J. O’Donnell, L. Pawelvsych, J. Davis and B. Chanders. It was following in the steps of these pioneering soccer players that the young men of 1970, ’72 and ’73 achieved success in the Ardenode Cup. The gathering in Pat Dunnes brought together many of the players of 50 years ago, but sadly Ambrose Martin, John Barry, George Chatfield, Johnny Hickey, Denis Chanders, Tony Byrne and Walter Clancy are no longer with us. Enjoying the evening were Pat Leahy, John Keyes, Morgan Gray, Cha Chanders, Seamus Clandillon, Noel Myles, Ernest Henderson, Pat Lammon, Colm O’Sullivan, Stephen Bolger, John Bolger and Jack Loughman. Only two past players, Vincent Gray and Joe Foley, were unable to attend the 50th anniversary of Athy A.F.C.’s first major footballing success. John Keyes, in reminiscing about his playing days, identified the street league organised by Jim Dargan, Brendan O’Flaherty and Niall Smith as the means by which excellent players such as Brendan Shortt, Peter Thompkins, P.J. Cooney, Enda Condron, Vincent Gray, Joe Foley, Gerry O’Sullivan, George Chatfield and many others emerged. John acknowledged how soccer brought together young fellows from different backgrounds in the weekly pilgrimage to the Showgrounds which helped each of them improve their personal development and quality of life. Once moment which stood out for John and his teammates was the parade through Athy with the Ardenode Cup following the 1970 victory. The Club’s success that year led to the founding of the Athy and District Association Football Council, representative of Athy AFC and eight newly formed schoolboy clubs. Under the direction of local school teacher Michael Reen and the club’s then secretary Aidan Prendergast, FAI coaching for schoolboy players was organised. It would lead to success in the Sheehan Cup in 1975. Over the 75 years of its existence the club has been helped and guided by many including Matt Tynan who was the club’s first president. Ned Ward, Mick McEvoy, Mick Corr, Mick O’Shea and Bob Kelly are others who come to mind. As a teenager I remember watching Brian O’Hara and Denis Smyth playing with Joe Aldridge, Gordan Prole and Vinny Smith. That was in the days of the G.A.A. Ban when one kept an eye on the soccer matches from the embankment on the adjoining G.A.A. grounds. The aforementioned Denis Smyth was secretary of the club for many years when he took over the position from the club’s first secretary Danny O’Brien. The get together in Paddy Dunnes was a most enjoyable event and brought back treasured memories for the players of the past. I will leave the last word to John Keyes who was the subject of a previous Eye following his retirement as County Manager in Cavan:- ‘The victory in 1970 gave Athy AFC its first cup success, ensuring the club’s place in Athy’s sporting history.’

Launch of Tom O'Connell book 'A Life's Harvest: Stories from the Homeplace Loraine''

It has been a sad week, with so many deaths among friends and folks I have known for a long time past. The journey to St. Michael’s Cemetery was repeated several times as neighbours and friends paid their final respects. The Irish funeral is one of the great traditions of Irish life and unlike similar occasions on the far side of the Irish Sea it demonstrates strong community bonds which unite us in a common identity. ‘Boy’ Prendergast, Anne Prendergast (no relation) and Sean Loughman left us last week and we walked in the funeral processions to St. Michael’s Cemetery remembering and recalling the different qualities they shared socially and through work with the community at large. The new cemetery at St. Michael’s is fast filling up. It opened in or around 1965 and since then has received the remains of many friends, many school mates and several Taaffe family members. They are all remembered while their generations are still represented amongst the living. In another generation or two the identity of those named on the grave memorials will be lost to memory. Writing as I have been for the last 30 years or so on the forgotten people who once walked the streets of Athy I cannot but realise how fragile is human memory. Many men and women who years ago were so much a part of their local community are no longer remembered. Athy, despite recent giant steps in population growth, is still small enough to sustain a sense of community. I was reminded of this when attending the local Arts Centre during the week. ‘Stories from a Small Town’, based on contributions by Athy and Castledermot folk compiled by author John MacKenna was recorded before an interested audience for later broadcast on KFM. The stories gave a glimpse of past lives as lived in south Kildare and provided an interesting insight into times which have changed so much in the last few decades. On next Saturday 22nd April a book launch will take place in St. Lawrence’s GAA clubhouse at 8pm. Tom O’Connell, a native of south Kildare, has written a book based on his late father’s shared memories captured in recorded interviews in the last year of his long life. ‘A Life’s Harvest – Stories from the Home Place Loraine’ is a personal memory of a life lived in rural Ireland. It’s an oral history of one man’s experiences in the extended south Kildare community where he lived and worked. It’s a fascinating story of farming families and how the ways of the recent past have changed. A farming life is revealed as John Connell’s memories are explored and exposed to give us a deeper understanding of a sense of community. The book will be launched by the local TD and Minister for State Martin Hayden, while the MC on the night will be some fellow by the name of Frank Taaffe. I was very interested to find that Tom O’Connell had included in his book a number of interviews carried out by the late Willie Kelly in the south Kildare area prior to his death in 2002. Willie was a man who sought to record the cultural and social history of the people of his local area and his research has helped in no small way to preserve the rural heritage of south Kildare. It’s a task which has been shared with other relatively recent publications such as Michael Delaney’s ‘The Time of our Lives’, Colm Flynn’s ‘A Tie to the Land’, ‘Kilmead, A Local History’ by Geraldine Deegan and others, ‘The Parish of Narraghmore’ by Fr. J. Young P.P. and ‘Kilmead 1798-1998’. Indeed the venue for the book launch on Saturday has itself been the subject of one of the better GAA club histories published in recent years. Local history is alive and well in the hearts and minds of the people of south Kildare and Tom O’Connell’s first venture into publishing will be a welcome addition to our understanding of rural life as once lived in this part of the green country. Athy’s Art Centre which has become an important part, indeed an essential part of the cultural reawakening of Athy and south Kildare, hosts an interesting talk on Tuesday 25th April. Colm Walsh, the originator of the now famous ‘Made in Athy’ plaque project, will give a talk on Athy’s contribution to the world of music. Under the title ‘The Local Families who changed music forever’, he will relate the stories of four families from Athy who made an important contribution to the development of modern music. Colm’s talk will deal with emigration from Athy in the mid-1950s and the subsequent rise of musicians such as The Stone Roses, the Smiths, the Buzzcocks and many other international music stars. The evening will feature rare interviews, archived performances and many interesting if surprising stories. Athy’s Art Centre is the place to be on Tuesday 25th at 8pm, while St. Lawrences GFC will be focus of our attention on Saturday 22nd, also at 8pm. Both events are free of charge.