Betty O'Donnell's 100th birthday

Today we celebrate the 100th birthday of Betty O’Donnell, whose birthday occurs on 29th August. Betty, like myself and like so many others now living in Athy, is not a native of the South Kildare town. She has lived here for 76 years, having first arrived in Athy just a few years after the end of the 2nd World War to take over a business with her late husband Jimmy. Betty was always associated with ‘The Gem’, a readily identifiable news agency, stationery and book shop adjoining the Garda Siochana station which was located on Duke Street at that time. ‘The Gem’, under the management of Betty and her daughter Una, continued in business until it closed in March 2020. Betty, formerly Betty Prendergast, a native of Carlow, first arrived in Athy as the young bride of Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim native Jimmy O’Donnell. Her father, Thomas, some years previously had bought the premises for his widowed sister, Bridget (‘Biddy’) Gavin, when she returned from America. She operated a sweet shop and an ice cream parlour, which on fair days became tea rooms. Operating the business successfully for a number of years Bridget felt it was time to close up the shop when Tom Bradbury opened up his tea rooms in Leinster Street. It was then that Betty and her husband Jimmy were invited to take over the business, which they did, just as the important newspaper agency of Mrs. James at 12 Duke Street became available to them. The tea rooms were soon discontinued and ‘The Gem’ became a fulltime stationery and news agency so beloved of the people of Athy. Betty was sadly widowed in 1971 when her beloved husband Jimmy died suddenly at the young age of 52 years. With eight children to support, the youngest aged 5 years old, Betty continued to operate the business. Behind Betty’s cheerfulness there lay a resourcefulness and an innate strength which allowed her to make a success of the business. Always good natured, Betty managed over the decades to involve herself in the social and community life of the town. Elected Lady Captain and later Lady President of Athy Golf Club, she managed both honorary positions with distinction. Up until recent years she still retained an active involvement in bridge playing as a member of the Geraldine Bridge Club and the bridge club associated with Athy’s Golf Club. Her bridge partner for many years was her near neighbour in Chanterlands, Moya Wall, to whom belated birthday wishes are also sent, although Moya has quite a few years to wait for the President’s cheque to arrive! Betty, who was driving her car up to quite recently, has proved to be a great friend of this column over the years. Her interest in Athy’s history is matched by an extensive background knowledge of Athy people and Athy events of the past. She proved invaluable to me in suggesting persons, events and topics for previous Eyes on the Past. It was Betty who first drew my attention to the forgotten roadside memorial to Tommy O’Connell, former Commanding Officer of the Carlow/Kildare Brigade. Tommy was killed in a road traffic accident on the Carlow Road near Maganey on 31st August, 1924. He had worked in Betty’s father’s furniture manufacturing workshop prior to and during the War of Independence. The memorial, hidden from public view for many years, was rediscovered by myself, but unfortunately soon thereafter was damaged as a result of a road traffic accident. Due to the good work of Jerry O’Toole it has now been fully restored and continues to serve as a fitting tribute to a brave Irish republican. Betty O’Donnell’s name is synonymous with that of ‘The Gem’. Both are part of the living lore of a community which treasures not only those native to Athy, but the many who like Betty and myself came as strangers to live in the South Kildare town. Best wishes to Betty O’Donnell on her 100th birthday and very sincere thanks to the cheerful and chatty Betty whose presence enlivened every gathering of which she was a part.

Investing in Athy's cultural past

A recent report commissioned by Historic England, the public body which promotes and protects that country’s historic environment, confirmed that the best way to boost a town’s ailing economy is to invest in its cultural past. It found that wherever heritage and cultural history are linked to the works of new artistic communities, business growth is the result. In an interview with the Observer newspaper the chairman of the UK Government Culture and Heritage Capital Programme said: ‘The report demonstrates that the heritage which surrounds us has a positive significant effect on boosting local pride and it makes people feel good – 93% of people agree that local heritage raises their quality of life.’ I was struck by his words as I thought of two major elements of Athy’s built heritage. Woodstock Castle and the White Castle are Athy’s crowning features, with the White Castle being to the forefront because of its prominent location in the very centre of our town. Yet the local people and the local government agencies with responsibility for Athy have shown scant interest in the preservation, protection and future use of the castle. There is a long and disappointing history in relation to the castle ever since it was first put up for sale by the Doyle family. That was approximately 35 years ago and since then the castle has appeared on the property market for sale without any serious interest in acquiring the 15th century building being displayed by the State or local government agencies. The most disappointing aspect of this failure was the lack of appreciation of the importance of the White Castle in terms of the town’s-built heritage, but also in terms of its links with the important historical events of the past. The White Castle forms an important link with our historic past. For that reason alone it deserves to remain part of our community story. However, the case for its preservation is strengthened by its unique and prominent position in the town centre. Imagine if you will that a demolition crew started the removal of the White Castle from Athy’s townscape. It’s not a thought to be considered. For yet as a community if we do not act to protect to preserve this unique feature we will eventually arrive at a situation where it will be too late to save the White Castle. For those interested in working to save the White Castle I intend to register Athy’s Civic Trust Company for the purpose of taking ownership, in time, of the town’s-built heritage on behalf of the people of Athy. The Trust would also apply for charitable status and be in a position to try and obtain State grants allocated for the protection of our built heritage. All of this is preliminary work without any definite knowledge if the White Castle can be acquired or if funding from State agencies or local government agencies can be committed to the project. The expectation is that funding will be available at some time in the future, but less certain is how and when the possibility of acquiring the castle will arise. There is now an opportunity for the people of Athy to express their interest in maintaining the White Castle as a unique aspect of the town’s streetscape. Athy’s Historical Society will call a meeting for the local Community Arts Centre within the next few weeks to which anyone interested is invited to attend. Our community must give voice and support to the White Castle project for if we do not future generations will question why we failed to take up the torch.

Maisie Candy

The history of the 800-year-old town of Athy is the story of a community growing from the closeknit village of yesteryear to the more loosely connected life of a modern day sprawling urban centre. Where once both young and old alike knew everyone and every place within the town, nowadays there are limits to our local knowledge as the population increases and new housing estates are developed on the outskirts of the town. It has become more difficult to contain the unified community life which once characterised the town’s earlier existence and so almost inevitably we find communities emerging in areas which lack the cohesion and common purpose of a strong urban community. That was the opening paragraph to an Eye on the Past which I wrote in July 2008. I went on to praise the Castlemitchell and Churchtown community’s strength which developed and sustained over the years, had made it one of the premier rural communities in County Kildare. One of the community leaders in Castlemitchell and Churchtown during her time as Principal of Churchtown National School and later in retirement, was Maisie Candy whose death was announced last week. Maisie was an extraordinary, energetic and kind woman who more than anyone else personified the community spirit of Castlemitchell/Churchtown. She always highlighted the importance of community involvement and helped maintain by her leadership and involvement the community spirit which gave recognition to Castlemitchell/Churchtown as an active and vibrant community. That involvement saw Maisie initiating two important projects for the Castlemitchell area. The unveiling of the 1798 monument during the bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion was one such initiative of hers. Another which I know was very close to her heart was the revival of the annual pilgrimage to the Holy Well at Toberara. In 1979 Maisie and the children of Churchtown National School compiled a detailed account of local brickyards in the south Kildare area and wrote a detailed description of the handmade brickmaking techniques of the late 19th century. That work was reproduced in the recently published book ‘Brickmaking in Ireland’, written by the retired conservation architect, Susan Rowantree and published by Wordwell. Another very important project initiated by Maisie and completed by the children of Churchtown National School was an investigation and listing of local field names in and around Castlemitchell. Local history and local folklore were the abiding interests of Maisie and as a native daughter of Castlemitchell she was always willing to share her knowledge with others. In that regard she was most generous. An Irish language enthusiast, she was a member of the committee set up by Athy’s Chamber of Commerce in 1994 to help restore interest in the everyday use of the Irish language. Athy’s ‘Glor na nGael’ was in its time one of the most successful organisations in the town. ‘Seachtain na nGailge’ was organised annually to encourage local shopkeepers to make use of the Irish language by advertising in Irish and speaking Irish during that one week in the year. All of this was a revival of the Gaelic League of ninety years or more earlier which had flourished for a few years under the guidance of Bridget Darby who like Maisie was principal of Churchtown National School and Michael Dooley, shopkeeper of Duke Street and one time president of Athy’s Sinn Féin Club. The later revived Gaelic League of the early 1960s was headed up by Paddy Walsh, a native speaker from Ring, with the help of Kevin Meaney, Mick Kelleher, Peadar O’Murchu, Maisie Candy and others. Athy’s Chamber of Commerce Irish language initiative led to the setting up of the first Gaelscoil in December 2004. The following November the Gaelscoil moved from the Aontas Ogra premises adjoining the former Dreamland Ballroom to Athy’s soccer clubhouse. There it remained until the Gaelscoil at Rathstewart was built. All of this stemmed from the work of many people, including Kathleen Robinson, David Murphy and Maisie Candy. Maisie was also to the forefront in promoting concerts and drama in the local Castlemitchell hall. She was a renaissance woman whose allegiance to Castlemitchell/Churchtown was forged by ties of birth but whose lifelong efforts to encourage a strong community spirit was the hallmark of a generous person who could truly be described as a passionate community activist. Our sympathies on Maisie’s passing go to her daughters Brid, Catherine, Eilis, her son Sean and her extended family and friends.

Letters from Athy and Athy natives

While browsing in a bookshop recently I came across a recent publication titled “Letters of note”. It is a compilation, by Sean Usher, as he describes it of the “World’s Most Entertaining, Inspiring and Unusual Letters”. Included was a letter by Patrick Hitler to US President Franklin Roosevelt on March, 3rd 1942 seeking permission to enlist in the US Navy. Patrick of course was the nephew of Aldolf Hitler and his mother Bridget was from the Athy area. This interesting collection made me reflect on the importance of the letters as repositories of our collective histories. Often these letters are written by townspeople who are far from our shores and sometimes at war. One such letter was published in the Leinster Leader on the 23rd of June 1900 from an unnamed correspondent from Athy who was fighting in the Boer War in South Africa. Described in the paper as “an Athy Yeoman” he was serving in the 74th Dublin Company of the Imperial Yeomanry, a mounted volunteer unit. Writing from Stellenbosch Camp on the 28th of May 1900 he described the town of Colesberg. The town comprised of about 6,000 inhabitants (which was a little bit bigger than Athy at the time) and of which “half of the people in it are rebels and the other half are loyalists”. Perhaps with the view to ingratiating themselves with the locals the troops hosted an ’entertainment’ one night. The Athy cavalryman was first up singing “The Heart Bowed Down” and then gave an encore with the song “Terence’s farewell to Kathleen”. In concluding the letter he wrote: ‘The officers brought our company on a mountain climbing expedition last week. We rode about 14 miles, and then left our horses at the base, where we proceeded on foot with our rifles. The mountains are full of buck, a sort of deer. We brought back four, from which we dined very well. I am rather pressed for time, so I must conclude with the hope that all home are well. Tell all the boys in Athy that I was enquiring for them, and also the girls. Your affectionate brother.’ Postal services and their provision have been a source of controversy in the past and I was intrigued to come across a debate in the Dail on the 15th of April 1975 between Dr. Conor Cruise O’Brien, the then Minister for Post and Telegraphs, and Paddy Power TD over the provision of a post box in Ballyroe, Athy. Power was bemoaning the lack of a post box in Ballyroe and was asking was “the Minister aware that the residents of the Ballyroe area have to travel three and a half miles to post a letter and does he not think that they deserve better facilities than that?”. The Minister replied “the facilities provided are equivalent to those provided generally and those which in the past have been provided for small rural districts and thinly populated areas like this. The exchange continued but Power was unsuccessful in his submissions to the Minister who when Patrick Power posed his final question “would the Minister not consider to have one postal official travel three miles a day rather than have a certain number of people from Ballyroe travelling three miles to Athy”. The Minister answered simply ‘no’ and there the exchange ended. Ballyroe to this day does not have a postbox. The cholera outbreak of 1832 might have escaped my notice had I not come across correspondence (held in the National Archives) regarding meetings held in the Athy Courthouse (at that time in the Town Hall) where the inhabitants had gathered to nominate a Board of Health to deal with the threat of cholera which had broken out in the town. The letter from the townspeople who had gathered also requested that the central Board of Health in Dublin would provide them with a medical practitioner. This request was supported by a letter from Thomas Fitzgerald, the High Sheriff of County Kildare who resided in Geraldine, Athy. It appeared from the correspondence that the outbreak was attributable to a man who died in the town having travelled over from Portarlington. I often think of the Irish scholar and antiquarian- John O’Donovan who visited Athy in November 1837 and remained in the town for a period of 10 days. His research into local place names and the collection of local historic material was detailed in a series of letters he sent back to the historical department of the ordinance survey of Ireland. Writing from Athy on the 22nd of November 1837 he described the weather as being “very unfavourable to our researchers”. But none the less he detailed the antiquarian remains in Athy which he found consisting of the old Parish Church of St. Michael’s and St. John’s, the Castle of Woodstock and the South East Gate (known as Preston’s Gate) which itself would be demolished by the Town Council of 1860 after an accident involving the Church of Ireland rector, Reverend Frederick Trench from Kilmoroney. There is no doubt that the modern reliance on emails and texts is to the detriment of historians, given the disposal nature of these communications. What letters, if any, from the 21st Century will survive for the historians of the future to peruse?

Athy's Market Rights 1515 and 1907

People on social media during the past week raised concerns about Athy’s Tuesday market. Their concerns were raised in the light of the planned redevelopment of Emily Square or as Kildare County Council would tell us “the improvement of the public realm”. Athy’s Tuesday market came into existence following the granting of a charter by King Henry VIII in 1515. The charter written in latin specified that the market was to be held every Tuesday in a place chosen by Gerald Earl of Kildare at whose request the charter was granted. The same charter granted borough status to the medieval village of Athy and provided for the annual election of a town provost whose modern day equivalent would be the mayor. The primary purpose of the charter was to fund the erection of walls around the medieval village and so provide greater security for the villagers whom we are told “lived in the frontiers of the Irish enemy”. The continuation of the market five hundred and twenty nine years later is wonderful to behold but the present market traders, many of whom have been coming to Athy for over forty years, are concerned as to how they will be catered for when Emily Square is closed during the redevelopment work. During the 18th century the market place was identified as the area immediately in front of the Town Hall which had been built in or around 1720. Immediately behind the Town Hall was St. Michael’s Church of Ireland Church which was demolished following the opening of the new St. Michael’s Church at the top of Offaly Street in 1840. The area between the old church and the nearby river barrow was marshland which would tend to indicate that the market place chosen by the Earl of Kildare was the area now known as Emily Square. Interestingly, Athy Urban District Council adopted market bye laws in July 1907 in which twelve market places in Athy were designated. These included markets for specific agricultural produce which were allocated to the market square, markets in the west and south side of the courthouse and the calf market on the east side of the courthouse. The market for second hand clothes was sited between the Barrow bridge and the south side of the chains on the Barrow Quay while the turf market was located opposite the chains on Barrow Quay. This would tend to show that the market right first established in 1515 by decision of the Urban District Council in 1907 had been extended beyond its original location in the market square. These bye laws were published in local newspapers on the 1st July 1907 and in addition to setting out regulations for the operation of the markets, they also reimposed market tolls on goods sold in the market and also reaffirmed Tuesday as the town market day. This latter declaration was probably deemed necessary because the Commissioners on Municipal Corporations in Ireland Report which followed a public enquiry in Athy on the 3rd and 4th October 1833 stated “Tuesday and Saturday in each week are the market days” . Strangely, Athy Town Commissioners at its meeting on the 2nd August 1852 agreed that “a second market be established in Athy on every Saturday to commence on the 1st September 1852”. The Tuesday market is a market right created by charter which cannot be extinguished by non mere use unlike the Saturday market where the right to hold same has long disappeared and cannot now be revived. The right to hold the Tuesday market under the 1515 charter was given to the Provost of Athy and he was succeeded in time by the heads of subsequent local authorities resulting in Kildare County Council having ownership of the market right and effectively control of the Tuesday Market. Under The Casual Trading Act 1995, Kildare County Council can extinguish the market but only for the purposes of relocating it to a different area. It is not suggested that this be done as the redeveloped Emily Square would be the ideal location for a revamped Tuesday Market. I have written on several occasions over the years calling on Athy U.D.C. and Kildare County Council to adopt casual trading bye laws, the purpose of which would be to improve the market and make it more attractive for locals and visitors alike. In providing even on a temporary basis a different location for the exercise of the market right, the County Council must ensure that the new location provides facilities reasonably corresponding in size etc. to those currently provided. The work on the Emily Square development is, I understand, to start next September. In the meantime, the traders entitled to benefit from the market rights of 1515 wonder what arrangements are to be made in terms of temporary market relocation when the “public realm” development is ongoing.