The evening before
I left for a short holiday I walked behind the coffined remains of a young man
in the company of many of his friends and former work mates. The funeral procession down the main street
of the town as the hearse approaches our Parish Church is an oft repeated scene
familiar to us all. It is always a
poignant scene, particularly so when the funeral is that of someone who has
died well short of the biblical three score and ten.
Mark Browne was
just 30 years of age and is survived by his parents, Kieran and Eilish of The
Bleach. That simple statement when read
by any of the more recent arrivals in what is fast becoming the satellite town
of Athy will be accompanied by no appreciation or understanding of a family whose
contacts with Athy go back many decades.
I was reminded even more forcibly of the “knowledge” deficit of the new citizens of Athy when again
attending funerals last week of deceased members of two of the oldest families
in Athy.
Christy Bracken of
Woodstock Street was 90 years of age when he passed away. The Bracken family go back generations in
Athy and with his brother Paddy, Christy had carried on the Bracken tradition
of painting and decorating. The Bracken
name is synonymous with that trade, even though it is many years since Christy
last practised the skills which had been passed on to him by his own father,
James Bracken. His uncle, Tom Bracken,
who died aged 90 several years ago will be remembered as the father of “Tanner”
and Willie, all of whom sadly passed away in recent years.
At the funeral I
met my old school friend, Paddy Bracken who is now living in Naas. His family left their home in Emily Square in
1956 when Paddy’s father who was a brother of Christy of Woodstock Street
started a market garden business in Caragh.
That same year he collapsed and died, aged 44 years. None of us will ever forget the tragedy of
1948 when Jimmy Bracken, the older brother of my school friend Paddy slipped
while playing on a raft at Barrow Quay and drowned. His home was just 20 yards away from the
scene of his early tragic death.
A few days later
another old Athy family laid to rest one of its members with the passing of
Micky Dooley of Tomard. Michael,
formerly of St. Michael’s Terrace, was a fine footballer in his younger days
and on his last journey to St. Michael’s Cemetery was accompanied by a Guard of
Honour provided by the members of Athy’s Geraldine Football Club. The Dooley family name is inextricably linked
with the municipal history of Athy and with the struggle for independence at
the early part of the last century.
Micky’s uncle, Paddy Dooley, a National School teacher was T.D. for
Kildare for a number of years in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and served,
as did his father and his son, as members of the local Town Council for many
years.
With the death of
these three men is lost another layer of the interlinking story of a town in
which their families played a prominent part over many years.
The month of May
is historically very important in terms of Athy’s past. It was in May 1798 that the townspeople of
Athy underwent harsh treatment at the hands of the military which quenched for
generations, some will say quenched forever, the spirit of the local
people. Patrick O’Kelly, originally from
Kilcoo, as a young man was involved in the events of 1798 and afterwards left
for France from where he returned to live in Dublin many years later. Just three years before the Great Famine he
published his account of the 1798 Rebellion, giving many details in relation to
the local happenings in the Athy area.
He tells us :-
“Early in April ’98, free
quarters commenced in Athy ….. every respectable farmhouse which could be met
with by the military ….. was visited by lawless bands of soldiers who demanded
entrance and then required that all places within should be opened and
searched. Their cruelty knew no bounds
for if any arms or papers touching on the time such as songs or ballads or
lists of mens names were found, that house was instantly set fire to and
burned. The ditches and cornfields in
various places exhibited wrecks of half burned furniture, taken from the flames
by women and children, whereas the men were forced from fear of being seized
and dragged to prison to leave their houses and keep from the roads where the
military might be supposed to pass ….. on the day that Peter Kelly’s property
was destroyed and himself made prisoner, the pitch cap was appended to the
turnpike gate for the people to look at and see what awaited them. Many among the Smiths and Carpenters were
seized and dragged to jail and as floggings were introduced in various places,
the use of the cow hide to extort confessions was unsparingly applied. Several were flogged at Athy in order to
elicit information against all who were suspected of being officers among the
United men or of being implicated in the fabrication or concealment of
arms. The arrests were without number
and many of the respectable females of the town and neighbourhood were sent by
their parents to Dublin to be beyond the reach of military outrage”.
I have to again
raise the issue of the 1798 monument which seven years ago was commissioned by
Athy Urban District Council for erection in the town to commemorate the memory
of those awful times and the local people who suffered and the many who
died. The monument by Eithne Ni Rinne,
still lies today in the Council yard in a disassembled state, if anything, a
monument to the lackadaisical incompetence of officials and public
representatives of Athy Town Council.
Can anything be
done to have the 1798 Monument erected in the front of Emily Square as agreed
to by everyone involved in this project.
The continuing saga of Athy’s ’98 monument will not go away so I would
urge the Town Hall authorities to complete the seven year old project before it
becomes an enduring symbol of local authority incompetence.
