Athy Photographic Society's Calendar 2024

For a historian there are many windows into the past. Sources such as letters, diaries, and newspapers give us good records of our predecessors, but for me photography can give a vivid and intimate link to the past that is difficult to replicate anywhere else. A simple image, whether in black and white or colour, gives us a direct connection to people or events long past. I was reminded of this with the recent opening of the exhibition ‘Here Comes Everybody’ at Arthouse which is described as an art gallery and exhibition space in 42a Leinster Street. It is part of an ongoing initiative as part of the Creative Places programme running in Athy. Though small, the exhibition was well presented with some fine reproductions of photographs of people and places in Athy over the last 80-100 years. Peering out from the photographs were faces of many people I had known in my youth who are now long gone, but their memory lives on in the photographic images which survive then. There was one thing lacking from the exhibition which I think could add to its interest. None of the images that I viewed were captioned and while I could happily identify many people and places from the photographs, from a historian’s point of view it would add immeasurably to the exhibition if there was some guide or captions to the images on display. It’s a worthwhile endeavour and the exhibition itself will run until the middle of January. It is intended that the venue will host further exhibitions and events throughout 2025. Athy Photographic Society, which from my reckoning is now running for almost forty years, has released their annual photographic calendar. The 2025 edition is an interesting digression from previous calendars as rather than just simply featuring images of the town and locality this year, rather imaginatively, the society have used local images to recreate twelve iconic music album covers. It was nice to see the juxtaposition between local people and local places paying homage to classic music albums. My musical heritage is grounded in the music of the ‘50s and ‘60s and so many of the album covers featured meant little to me but I particularly enjoyed the recreation of the British rock band Jethro Tull’s album cover, ‘Songs from the Woods’. One of the more curiously titled bands, their name derives from a pioneering English agriculturalist Jethro Tull who developed the horsedrawn seed drill in the early 18th century that revolutionised agriculture in providing farmers with a modern and economic method of sowing seeds in neat rows for tillage purposes. His master work on the subject ‘The New Horse Houghing Husbandry: or, An essay on the principles of tillage and vegetation’ was published in Dublin in 1731 and it was one of the earliest works on agriculture published in Ireland at the time. This invention had a huge impact on both the economic life and landscape of South Kildare surrounded as Athy is by some of the best tillage land in the country. This is reflected in a detailed report on the agriculture of Athy and district published in the Leinster Leader on 26th March 1898. Athy’s agricultural economy was prospering and it seemed to have avoided the agricultural depression which dogged much of the country at the time. The article focused on the mills run by Messrs H. Hannon and Sons. The reporter interviewed the manager of the mills, a Mr. Price, who treated the journalist to a detailed description of the milling process from the arrival of the raw product by barge on the Grand Canal to the final process of manufacturing. Mr Price paid particular tribute to the managing clerk, a Mr. Dobbin and mentioned that twenty men were employed in the three mills. The mills in Ardreigh and Prumplestown were focused on the manufacturing of flour, while the Athy Mills were solely devoted to the manufacture of Indian meal. Much of the land around the town at that time was devoted to the wheat growing industry. In 1897 the Prumplestown Mill produced 9,338 barrels of wheat which were manufactured into flour while the Ardreigh Mill produced 8,500 barrels of wheat which were manufactured into flours of various qualities with titles such as ‘Acme’, ‘Champion’, Rollo First’, ‘XL’, etc. The market for the produce was local and would have been sold in Carlow, Tullow, Baltinglass, Castledermot, Stradbally, Castlecomer, Monasterevin, Portarlington and Edenderry. Wheat from both mills was sold at one shilling and six pence per barrel. That price was apparently very good from a local farmers’ perspective insofar as it encouraged them to treble the area for wheat production the following year. Sadly this prosperity was not to last as by the early 1920’s imports of cheaper grain from the United States devastated the Irish grain industry to the point where none of the Hannon mills were operating by the late 1920s.

Pay parking and free parking for Christmas

For me Christmas is the season that marks the winding down of my working year. I look forward to the chance to rest and recuperate and catch up on those books which have eluded me during the year because of work and social commitments. Coupled with this quiet time is the chance to enjoy those long-established Christmas traditions. As a child, that was the opportunity to stand outside Duthie’s Jewellers Shop at No. 30 Leinster Street and gaze in wonder at the nodding Santa placed on the top shelf of the window display by Albert Duthie. And while that wonder did not outlive my teenage years, the nodding Santa was still a harbinger of the Christmas festivities and the school holidays to look forward to in eager anticipation. Our local authorities, be it the former Athy Town Council and Kildare County Council, have always been supportive of Christmas traditions such as the installation and funding of the Christmas lights all through the town which adds immeasurably to the season of good will. I am not quite sure how far back the Council’s endeavours in this regard go but certainly in Christmas 1962, the then Athy Urban District Council greed to provide an illuminated tree in Emily Square and contribute £120 (less the costs of the tree) towards the costs of the street illuminations which were provided by the Athy Illuminations Committee. Because of the current works in Emily Square, the Christmas tree has now been relocated to the back square near the Courthouse but still provides a lovely backdrop to the town during this festive season. I was more than disappointed to learn recently that another imbedded Christmas tradition had been dispensed with by Kildare County Council. During my time on Athy Town Council, I like many others was resistant to the idea of pay parking being introduced into the Town. While County Council Officials always dressed it up as a “traffic management measure”, I and many of my councillor colleagues were satisfied that it was a “revenue generating exercise”. Notwithstanding that, pay parking was introduced more than twenty years ago and I suspect that its benefits for traffic management are far more outweighed by its revenue gathering benefits for the County Council! One by-product of this regime was that for the four weeks around the Christmas period, pay parking was suspended in the town. This was an inducement to those who might do their shopping in towns such as Portlaoise, Naas, Newbridge and Carlow to stay in their hometown and contribute to local businesses at a very important time for local commerce. I was surprised and disappointed to understand that without any official announcement pay parking has not been suspended for the Christmas period. I understand that this was greeted very negatively by people in the town who voiced their dissent and disappointment to public representatives. I further understand that a limited exemption from pay parking in the afternoons between 2pm and 6pm in public car parks (only) has now been introduced belatedly but that is not good enough. Many people have been caught out by this limited exemption by being ticketed while parked on the street (and not in car parks), though why this distinction is necessary is unclear to me. Between the commercial rates paid by businesses in the town and the parking fees paid by the inhabitants of the town, there was no reason why a townwide suspension of paid parking should not be introduced over the four weeks of the festive period. It beholds our public representatives using their reserved function to ensure that this does not happen again in 2025. The town businesses need our support and any number of initiatives by Kildare County Council will not support those businesses if something as simple as pay parking cannot be suspended for a brief period. The encouragement of commercial development in the town requires a holistic approach and this will be compromised by a narrow-minded approach to prioritise revenue generation over town development. Let’s hope that a more forward-thinking approach to this issue is applied in December 2025. As many readers will know, I have been experiencing significant health challenges over the last six months which has unfortunately necessitated hospital visits and sometimes stays. I am hugely appreciative of the many cards, letters, emails and texts which I have received from people both far and wide enquiring after my welfare and I would like to thank people for those expressions of support, and I wish all of my readers a Happy and Peaceful Christmas.

Nicholas McDonogh

1822 was a tumultuous year in Ireland. A famine erupted in Munster and Connacht when the potato crop failed but it had nothing of the excess of mortality of the later Great Famine of 1845 to 1852. That same year also saw the introduction of the 1822 Constabulary Ireland Act which for the first time established a countrywide police force for the country. The Act established police in each of the four provinces with Chief Constables appointed by the administration in Dublin Castle. The First Chief Constable appointed to Athy was Nicholas McDonogh (1783-1864). We don’t know much about McDonogh’s time in Athy nor his service in the Town, but he was involved in a notorious shooting incident in November 1823 which, at the time, must have cast significant doubt over the authority of the Police in the town. Newspapers at the time reported that McDonogh was out ‘wildfowling’ near Stradbally with a friend by the name of Forbes. It was reported that when they were passing a local farmhouse, they were attacked by a large mastiff type dog which McDonogh in an act of self-protection shot dead. It appears that a farm labourer on hearing “the report of the gun and the yell of the expiring dog” rushed out to confront the shooter. Accounts differ as to what occurred next. The friends of the farm labourer would say that he went out to remonstrate with McDonogh over the shooting of the dog while Forbes claimed they were being pursued and threatened by the farm labourer. In any event, McDonogh raised his gun at the then unnamed farm labourer. The Farm labourer remonstrated and asked him not to fire his gun as he is merely seeking to see exactly what had happened with the dog. Notwithstanding this plea, McDonogh fired his gun hitting the man in the thigh and killing him. By this point another man appeared and incensed by the shooting of his companion pressed forward and in the words of the reporter cried out “villain you have murdered the man”. McDonogh then appeared to have fired a second time hitting the second man in his stomach who also died. Conscious, their actions would cause ructions in the locality they sought refuge in the house of a Mr. Montgomery where crowds soon gathered seeking to take Forbes and McDonogh prisoner. As matters were coming to a head, the Reverend Fr. Pelan, presumably a local catholic clergyman, arrived on the scene and urged calmness on the crowd. He negotiated for Forbes and McDonogh to give up their guns and under his protection conducted them to another house in Ballylinan. By this point events were moving fast. A party of soldiers from the 78th Foot , a Scottish infantry regiment, based in the barracks of Athy arrived in considerable force. Whether or not they had been summoned because of the shooting incident or whether they were just out on patrol is unknown but their presence immediately heightened tensions. The house in Ballylinan was attacked by a crowd. The Highland soldiers of the 78th Foot fired on the crowd but luckily no injuries were sustained. Before matters could descend into complete chaos, Mr. Clancy, the Chief Constable of the Stradbally Police arrived. A reporter wrote that Clancy “Upon reaching the village, he found not only that but every road leading to it thronged with the peasantry, infuriated to the last degree, and the act of pulling down the house in which the gentleman had taken refuge. Two of the Stradbally police were struck with stones as they passed – nevertheless – Mr. Clancy got off his horse and went among the outrageous populous. He soothed, threatened and pointed out the madness of their attacking armed men and the further loss of lives and consequent misery to many of their families, that there was likely to be the consequence of their doing so. He pledged himself no matter who the parties were who unfortunately killed the men, he would not stop until he lodged them in jail, after a considerable time spent in exertions of this kind, the peasantry became tranquil, threw away stones and other weapons they had provided, cleared a passage for him and showed every inclination to be guided entirely by his wishes, in fact, proved they only wanted some person to whom they could confide to secure and bring the prisoners to justice”. Clancy’s approach defused the situation and with two Constables he conducted the prisoners back to Stradbally. From there McDonogh and Forbes were committed to Portlaoise jail. Ultimately the two men would be tried and while I have been unable to establish the outcome of the trial of Mr. Forbes, McDonogh was convicted of manslaughter. The victims unnamed in the press report at the time were two brothers William and Joseph McDarby. McDonogh was sentenced to nine months imprisonment and rather extraordinarily after only serving four months in prison returned to his post as Chief Constable in Athy in 1824.

Winnifred Letts - Author

This Christmas the Athy Lions Club book shop, based in Duke Street, Athy, is offering two free books for any young boy or girl (of their choosing) as a Christmas gift from the Lions Club. You can call in to the Lions Club book shop at any time up to Christmas and collect your two free books. It’s a wonderful gesture from the Athy Lions Club, whose book shop has proved to be an important resource for the town over the last number of years. The members of the Athy Lions Club have made a huge contribution to the local community since it was established in 1971. Perhaps the most visible reminder of the club’s work is the Sheltered Housing Scheme in the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital. This was a project led by the Athy Lions Club and funded in part by government grants and fundraising locally by the Lions Club members. Christmas is the ideal time to gift books to your loved ones and particularly important for children to be encouraged to read from a very young age. We are very fortunate in this town to have a very fine public library in the old Dominican Church with a myriad of facilities available to young and old alike. Children’s literature is now very prominent in book shops, but that was not always the case. I was reminded of this when perusing a recent publication titled ‘Sing in the Quite Places of my Heart’ – the life works of W.M. Letts (1882-1972). Winifred Letts, a native of Salford, Lancashire, spent much of her life in Ireland and was distinguished as a writer of plays, poetry and prose. She probably first came to prominence with her poetry collections including ‘Songs of Leinster’ published in 1913, followed by ‘Halloween’ and ‘Poems of the War’ in 1916. Her war poems were inspired by her wartime service in a military hospital. In 1926 she married W.H.F. Verschoyle, a land agent who owned a farm in Kilberry and up to his death in 1943 she spent many of her summers, weekends and holidays in Kilberry. On 5th May 1932 she recorded in her diary her trip to Kilberry on her sixth wedding anniversary, ‘the birds are in fine song at Kilberry – chaff, mistle thrush, chaff finches and best joy of all, a pair of gold crest wrens very busy about the avenue singing and flitting and feeding all the time.’ She had a keen appreciation and love of nature which is recorded beautifully in Bairbe O’ Hogan’s new book just published by South Dublin Libraries. The book is a lovely record of a life joyfully lived through nature and through Letts’ own writings. She was a versatile writer who also had successful collaborations with Kathleen Verschoyle, the artist, who was her stepdaughter. One of their more attractive collaborations was a Cuala press print of St. Brigid with a poem by Letts (illustrated by Verschoyle), a copy of which I understand hangs in Government Buildings in Dublin at the present time. Kathleen also illustrated Lett’s memoir ‘Knockmaroon’ Her children’s books including titles such as ‘Diana Dethroned’ published in 1909, ‘Naughty Sophia’ (1912), ‘Pomonas Island’ (1931) and finally ‘The Gentle Mountain’ in 1938. She was not the first Kildare based writer to publish a children’s book. That accolade goes to the Ballitore based diarist Mary Leadbetter, who published in 1794 ‘Extracts and original anecdotes for the improvement of youth’, although anonymously which would have been quite common for women writers at the time. It is regarded as the earliest children’s book published by an Irish woman. After the death of her husband in 1947 Letts moved to Kent, but returned again to Ireland in 1953, spending the rest of her life in Killiney until her death in 1972. Letts is commemorated by a memorial plaque and sculpture at the Church of Ireland in Rathcoole, County Wicklow where she is buried with her husband. While there is no monument to her in Kilberry, there is a beautifully made stained glass window to the memory of her husband, W.H.F. Verschoyle in the Church of Ireland there. The local St. Vincent de Paul Society, aided by the Athy Lions Club, will be holding their annual Christmas Food Appeal at Pettitt’s Supervalu Athy from 9am to 8pm on Friday 6th December and from 9am to 5pm on Saturday 7th December. The people of the town have been hugely supportive of the appeal in the past and no doubt will be equally generous this festive season.