Whites Castle and the early years of medieval Athy

Last week’s Kildare Nationalist carried a news item concerning White’s Castle and an announcement of the forthcoming auction of what was described as a 2.5 acre development site in the centre of Athy. It was an unusual coincidence which highlighted on the same paper two important elements of Athy’s past history, even if the development site description might not immediately signal any historical significance. But in fact the site located off Emily Square has a history which predates that of White’s Castle by over 150 years or more. The site was correctly identified in the notice as being located within the old ‘Abbey lands’, a reminder that a few years ago it was the site of the Abbey, a fine 18th century house which was pulled down overnight. The name came down to us over the years because it was the site of the first Dominican Abbey or Friary founded in 1257. The French speaking Anglo Normans who sailed up the river Barrow and opened settlements at various locations in the Barrow valley founded one of their most important settlements at the Ford of Ae. They built a fortified castle at Woodstock around which the medieval village of Athy developed. Within a few years the Crouched Friars founded a monastery on the west bank of the River Barrow in the area still known to this day as St. Johns. A few years later the Dominicans founded their monastery on the opposite bank of the river in the area which the auction notice called the ‘Abbey lands’. The Dominicans occupied their monastery until the Reformation when Henry VIII suppressed the Irish and English monasteries and sequestered the Abbey property which was leased to Martin Pelles, constable of the castle of Athy. The Abbey consisted of a church with a bell tower, a chapter house, dormitory, kitchen, rooms and two halls in addition to an open cloister, a cemetery, an orchard and a garden. The buildings were in time destroyed and levelled to the ground leaving only, I believe, traces underground. The Abbey site has an important story awaiting to be told and it is a story which can only be fully explained after a comprehensive archaeological survey of the site has been carried out. Following the Battle of Ardscull on 26th January 1316 when the Scottish troops under Edward Bruce defeated the Anglo Normans, the Book of Howth records that ‘of the Scot side were slain Lord Fergus Anderson, Lord Walter More and many others whose bodies were buried in the Abbey of the Friars Preachers Athy.’ Also buried there were the Dominican Friars who in the first 300 years of the Abbey’s existence lived, worshipped, and prayed in Athy’s Abbey. This important historical site needs to have an archaeological assessment and investigation carried out as a matter of urgency. White’s Castle recently purchased for the third time in recent years by a private individual without any interest being expressed by Kildare County Council, has been awarded funding under the Community Monuments Fund. I understand the purpose of the funding is to help protect the historical building and facilitate access to it by the general public. White’s Castle is an iconic building at the heart of our town which stands not alone but is twinned with the adjoining Crom a Boo bridge to provide a symbolic representation of the town’s ancient history. Picture Athy in your mind’s eye and almost certainly images of the castle and the bridge will come into view. For so long at the heart of town life in Athy the Castle, as a garrison fortress, as a prison and as a police barracks has witnessed the passing of so many different generations stretching back over 600 years. I had hoped that White’s Castle would again become an integral part of community life in Athy with its development as a heritage centre/museum to complement the Shackleton Museum in the former market house. I don’t know what plans the new owner has for the castle but the successful application for Community Monument funding is an encouraging sign that private enterprise might yet take up the challenge which Kildare County Council and Athy Town Council so abysmally failed to do in the past.

Whites Castle and its recent owners

Last week’s article was written before I received an email from America telling me that Whites Castle was about to be put on the market for sale.  You will recall that under the headline, ‘Athy Awakes from Slumber’.  I had advanced the case that Athy was about to reposition itself in the drive for tourist development on the basis of several projects currently planned for the town.  The announcement that for the third time in twelve years Whites Castle is for sale presents the local community and Kildare County Council with a huge challenge.  When the castle first went on the market in 2005 half-hearted attempts by Athy Town Council to acquire the property were quickly dashed by the successful bid at auction of Gabriel Dooley.  Gabriel’s ownership of the castle saw the 15^th century fortress opened to the public for the very first time.  As a native of Athy but with business interests in County Wicklow and elsewhere Gabriel went to great lengths to bring the story of the castle and its involvement in our national and local history to a wider audience.  He expended substantial funds in replacing the roof of the castle and in carrying out remedial works under the supervision of an archaeologist and with the agreement of Kildare County Council.

Gabriel Dooley’s ownership of the castle gave Athy locals the first ever opportunity to see the interior of the building which with the adjoining Crom a Boo bridge provides the iconic image which is commonly associated with the town of Athy.  Sadly Gabriel, who had wonderful creative plans for community engagement and participation in the use of the castle, had to release his ownership of the property.  This resulted in the sale of the castle in 2012 when it was purchased for a much smaller figure than that realized some years previously.  Again, to the dismay of many locals the then Town Council failed to step up to the plate and buy the castle, even though the price achieved was less than the price of an average four bedroomed semi-detached house.

Athy Town Council has since been dissolved and our local authority is now Kildare County Council.  That Council has brought forward many worthwhile schemes and projects, some of which I alluded to in last week’s Eye on the Past.  As a former Council official I am acutely aware of the many demands which are continuously made on public funds at local and national level.  Those demands need to be prioritised and it is that process which can sometimes push particular projects to the end of the line, never again to be resurrected. 

Is the purchase of Whites Castle such a project?  I suggest not, since the iconic building is for Athy people, a part of what we are.  It is our history and so we should ensure that we preserve for the future the building, which in itself is important, but which can be developed and used as a part of the tourist regeneration drive about which I wrote last week.

With the recent departure of the Dominicans from Athy we have lost a link with our history stretching back 760 years or so.  Whites Castle, built perhaps 150 years after the Dominicans arrived in Athy is with Woodstock Castle the most visible reminders we have of our past history.  That history can also be noted in Athy’s street names which record the connection going back hundreds of years between successive generations of the Fitzgerald families and the town of Athy founded by the Anglo Normans soon after their arrival in Ireland in 1169.  The development of Whites Castle as a Fitzgerald Museum would be a meaningful attraction in this area and would represent an appropriate use of a former Fitzgerald stronghold.

Many years ago during the late Joe Bermingham’s time as the Minister for State for responsibility for the Office of Public Works I wrote to Joe asking if he would have Whites Castle designated as a national monument.  Joe unfortunately was either unwilling or unable to accede to the request and so a great opportunity was missed then by a local government minister to protect Whites Castle.  Another opportunity now arises to put the castle into public ownership and so ensure its preservation and further utilisation by and on behalf of the local community.  Could I suggest that Kildare Co. Co. and the local community here in Athy come together to see what can be done in that regard?

Whites Castle and Inner Relief Road following High Court Decision

The tricolour was raised over White’s Castle last weekend.  The last time a flag flew over the ancient fortress was the day the Royal Irish Constabulary vacated the castle and marched through the main street to take over the military barracks in Barrack Lane.  The flag flown that day was of course the Union Jack and the R.I.C. who had occupied the castle as the local R.I.C. Barracks for the previous fifty years or so were moving to the more comfortable and more commodious facilities afforded by the military barracks.  The military barracks had been built in the early part of the 18^th century to house a cavalry troop and it had lain largely unused following the withdrawal of English troops from the town at the end of the Crimean War.  The decision to move the R.I.C. from the town centre location was not met with favour and letters in the local Press of the time confirmed the townspeople’s opposition to the move.  It was felt that Barrack Lane was too far removed from the town and that the R.I.C. would not be able to provide from their new base sufficient patrols to service the main streets of the town.  The complaints went unanswered and the R.I.C. station remained in the old military barracks until the disbandment of the force in 1922.  I have seen a photograph of the take-over of the R.I.C. Barracks in Athy following the Treaty but interestingly enough the new Garda Siochana were not located there when they arrived in Athy in August 1922.

I had my first view of the interior of White’s Castle about two months ago and in that regard I was one of the many thousands of local persons who had never previously had the opportunity to view the interior of the building, which with the neighbouring bridge, is the iconic representation of our town.  The interest in the building as demonstrated by the many thousands who queued patiently last weekend to pass through the doors of White’s Castle owes much to the heightened interest awakened in recent years in our local history and the sense of pride of place which has resulted.

Plans for the future use of White’s Castle are for discussion between its new owner Gabriel Dooley and the Town Council and I hope, as I am sure all of you do, that our local representatives have the foresight to do whatever is necessary to ensure the future use of White’s Castle as a civic amenity for Athy. 

The saga of the Inner Relief Road continues in the High Court on the 14^th of this month.  You will recall that An Bord Pleanala held a six day public hearing on the issues involved, at which a number of expert witnesses retained by Kildare County Council gave evidence, as did a number of local objectors.  The Planning Board subsequently issued it’s decision and in so doing handed down a decision which for the first time in it’s history went against a County Council road scheme.

The County Manager took an executive decision to seek in the High Court a judicial review of the Board’s decision on the basis that the Board’s procedure in arriving at this decision was somewhat imperfect.  In doing so the County Manager did not seek the approval of the elected members of the Council but acted, as he was quite entitled to do so, by way of a managerial order.

The Council’s case includes a claim that while An Bord Pleanala found the Environmental Impact Statement prepared by Kildare County Council deficient in terms of alternative route proposals, the Board did not request the Council to submit such additional information as might have cured those deficiencies.  In not doing so the Council claims that An Bord Pleanala acted unfairly.  The Council also claims that the Board’s decision flew in the face of reason and common sense and was irrational.  I suppose I could make exactly the same response to the County Council claim that despite the fact that 60% of the traffic in Athy was local traffic, the remaining being “through traffic”, the construction of a bypass “would not solve in any way congestion on the main street”.

The admission that 40% of the traffic is “through traffic”, when for years we were told that the figure was 18% or thereabouts gives me grave reason to question the veracity of any information coming from official sources from within the local authority.  The 40% admission was literally dragged out of the Council at the oral hearing but even now the Council refuses to accept that the removal of the through traffic, including as it would all the lorries which daily pass up and down Duke Street and Leinster Street, would alleviate traffic congestion in the town centre.  The County Council’s claim in that regard are as absurd as it’s outdated and as of now, rejected road plan.

In response to submissions made by Kildare County Council An Bord Pleanala points to the fact that the necessity for the new road in the context of potential alternatives was central to the arguments put forward by both the County Council and the local objectors.  The submissions lodged by the various objectors were sent to Kildare County Council well in advance of the oral hearing and consequently the Council were well aware that the issue of alternative routes was one of the most contentious issues raised, especially by Athy Urban Development Group and also by this writer.

I understand that the Town Council within the past week met to consider the adoption of the Town Development Plan which will operate for the next five years.  Rather strangely, given that large portions of that development plan is based on the implementation of the Inner Relief Road project, the Council by a majority of six votes to three nevertheless decided to proceed with the plan as drafted.  If the High Court, following the hearing next week, rejects the County Council’s judicial review application, then all references to the Inner Relief Road will have to be removed from the Town Development Plan.  This will necessitate a major revision of the plan and further public consultation before its eventual adoption by the same elected representatives who last week rushed to judgment on the present development plan knowing that the High Court case was scheduled for hearing two weeks later.

In the meantime the Outer Relief Road still remains an objective in the Town Development Plan and I am told, although how reliably I cannot say, that Kildare County Council are moving ahead with the design work on that road and that the construction of the Outer Relief Road could commence in two years time.  There is no question but there is an urgent need to deal with Athy’s ongoing traffic problems but the solution to the problem lies not in the Inner Relief Road which would only create more traffic chaos in the town.

There is a common misconception that Kildare County Council is “appealing” An Bord Pleanala’s decision.  This is not so.  The decision of An Bord Pleanala is final insofar as the planning process is concerned.  What Kildare County Council is seeking to do is to have the Planning Board’s decision judicially reviewed by the High Court.  Judicial review is not an appeal from the decision already made but a review of the manner in which the  decision was made.  If the High Court finds in favour of Kildare County Council the Planning Board’s decision will be voided and the matter sent back to An Bord Pleanala to start all over again it’s review of the process in relation to the Athy Inner Relief Road.  Incidentally, Kildare County Council is only the second local authority to ever judicially review a decision of An Bord Pleanala in the thirty years of the Board’s existence.  Kilkenny County Council commenced a similar action in 1991 but later withdrew before the case came on for hearing.  This, however, is the first time a County Council has challenged a ruling by An Bord Pleanala over a road scheme.  The outcome of the High Court hearing will be awaited with much interest, not only in Athy but elsewhere throughout Ireland wherever local communities opposed the sometimes unacceptable decisions of local authorities which have done little to protect and nurture the principles of “local Government”.

Whites Castle

A castle for sale!  For perhaps the first time since it was built almost 600 years ago Whites Castle has come on the property market.  Recognised far and wide, the medieval building with the adjoining bridge is the familiar representation of the 800 year old town of Athy which developed around the earlier built Woodstock Castle.  A private residence for almost 100 years, the Castle when built in 1414 as a bridge tower was a much smaller building than it is today.  It was Lord Furnival, the Viceroy of Ireland, who recognising the importance of the only river crossing on the Barrow giving access to the O’Mores of Laois, arranged for the re-building of the bridge at Athy and the construction of a bridge tower to house a garrison.  The village of Athy comprising French speaking Anglo Normans had already suffered at the hands of the dispossessed Irish and none were more ferocious in their opposition to the foreigners in their midst than the O’Mores of Laois.  It was imperative therefore to keep the O’Mores at bay and hence the strengthening of the bridge and placing of a garrison there to protect those living within the village.  Furnival’s plan had a two fold purpose.  In protecting the inhabitants of Athy he was also providing the first line of defence for those English settlers who were living within the Pale. 

So it was that from an early age Athy was a garrison town, a description which it well merited well into the 20^th century.  By then English garrisons had vacated the Military Barracks in Barrack Lane and indeed had done so soon after the Crimean War.  Nevertheless the town which had been home for centuries to English soldiers would spawn its own military tradition and give more volunteer soldiers to the war effort of 1914-18 than any other town of similar size in Ireland.

By then of course the role of Whites Castle in the life of the town had changed, indeed had gone through several changes over the centuries.  A defensive fortress for the first 250 years of its life, it figured prominently in the military battles which were such a common feature of later medieval Ireland.  Nowhere was that involvement more pronounced than during the Confederate wars of 1641-1653, commonly regarded as the Irish Civil wars.  The protagonists were the Irish and the old English who at different stages made up the Confederates, the Royalists and finally the English Parliamentary Forces to whom we assign the un-military sounding name of the Puritans.  Athy, a little more than a village in modern terms but in 17^th century Ireland a substantial settlement of strategic importance, was seized by one side or the other at different times during the 12 year war.  Owen Roe O’Neill, leading the Confederates, captured Whites Castle and the adjoining Woodstock Castle in 1645 and held them for the next three years.  Towards the end of that period Anthony Preston, son of the former Confederate General, Thomas Preston, who had fallen out with O’Neill, approached Athy from the Carlow direction and attacked Whites Castle.  Unable to shoot his canon higher than the first floor of the castle which was surrounded on all sides by water, he instead turned his attention to the nearby Dominican Friary.  This he captured but O’Neill’s troops subsequently attacked Preston’s men and contemporary accounts tell us that “having gained the upper hand they cut them to pieces in the lawn, the gardens and the cloisters.  Those who escaped drowned in the River Barrow.”

Preston retreated to Carlow and later returned via the west bank of the River Barrow, intent on taking Woodstock Castle as he had already failed on two occasions to take Whites Castle.  In this he also failed and he retired to Carlow, leaving future generations of Athy people to identify as Preston’s Gate the medieval town gate which stood at Offaly Street up to 1860 and under which Preston passed on his retreat.  Whites Castle and the adjoining Woodstock Castle were seized by Royalist troops the following year and in August of 1649 Cromwell landed in Ireland.  As the old saying goes, the rest of history.

When a Military Barracks was built near to Woodstock Castle in 1730, Whites Castle became a town gaol and remained so for over 100 years.  Many were imprisoned there during the 1798 Rebellion and we have Patrick O’Kelly’s account of the six young local men taken from the gaol and marched across the Barrow Bridge to be hanged.  Afterwards their heads were placed on pikes on top of the Barrow Bridge as a warning to other would-be rebels.  We pass and re-pass over that same bridge today, little realising the horrible sight which greeted local people as they passed on their way in 1798.

The gaol was also the place of incarceration for Nicholas Grey and several more who were implicated in Emmet’s Rebellion of 1803.  Whites Castle was for many years regarded as the most primitive prison in Ireland and was the subject of several damning reports from the Inspector of Gaols.  The Castle was extended in 1808 or thereabouts and the new addition doubled the size of the original bridge tower.  If you stand in Edmund Rice Square and look across at the Castle you will see the division almost in the middle of the wall which indicates the extent of that extension.  In time a new prison was built on the Carlow Road and thereafter Whites Castle became the local police station. 

The Royal Irish Constabulary were housed in Whites Castle which was not only a barracks but also home to the policemen and their families for many decades.  Around 1894 the R.I.C. moved out of Whites Castle and were re-located in the vacant military barracks in Barrack Lane.  There was much local controversy about this decision as it was felt that the policemen needed to be based in the centre rather than the outskirts of the town.  However, the police authorities of the time ignored the pleas of the local people and the Town Commissioners in much the same way as the Department of Justice and the Garda Commissioner ignores the perennial request for 24 hour policing in the expanding Athy of today.

The Castle was called Whites Castle because of the colour of the stone used in its building, in contrast to the Black Castle which is believed was to be found in the area of the car park opposite St. Michael’s Parish Church.  It has had a varied and intriguing history, all the time at the centre of life in the medieval village of Athy and in the town which developed over the centuries.

Nothing better symbolises the strength and character of Athy and its people than the ancient castle which has stood like a sentinel guarding the bridge of Athy for almost 600 years.  It is part of our heritage, part of what we are and a familiar point of reference to those who for one reason or another have had to leave their home town of Athy to work and live away from family and home town friends.

One such family, most members of which left Athy many years ago, are the Fox family who lived in No. 3 Meeting Lane.  Several of the Fox brothers played Gaelic football for County Kildare and I am anxious to trace any surviving members of the family.  I understand that Dinny Fox, one of five Fox brothers, is living somewhere in Dublin.  If anyone can help put me in contact with Dinny Fox or any of his siblings I would be most grateful.

Whites Castle

White’s castle has stood as a sentinel on the river Barrow at Athy for at least four centuries. In it’s time it has been a garrison for troops, a prison, a constabulary barracks and now a private residence. It easy to forget the significance of a such a building that is so much a part of our everyday lives. There may have been an structure on the site as early as 1297 when David Fitz le feure was held in the ‘ward of Athy’.

The castle as it presently stands was first built in 1417 by Sir John Talbot to protect the bridge at this important crossing point. In 1422 William Scryvener was appointed constable, a position he was to hold until at least 1426. Athy has always been a very important part of the early Anglo-Norman settlement of Leinster and its strategic role was enhanced by the addition of a fortified tower to the bridge. The government in Dublin noted in 1431 that it considered that Athy was the ‘greatest fortalice and a key town’. By 1505 the castle was beginning to show its age and the 8th Earl of Kildare set about its refurbishment along with that of his other castles at Rathvillly and Castledermot.

The primary purpose of the castle was to protect the bridge but it also served as part of a chain of defences along the Leix-Kildare border particularly from the 15th century onwards. Few doubted the strategic importance of the town. Patrick Finglas, Baron of the Exchequer for Ireland, writing in 1515 in ‘The Decay of Ireland’ believed it necessary that an English captain should have been given control of both White’s and Woodstock castle in order to form a bulwark against the predatory incursions of the native O’More’s of Leix into south Kildare. They had been responsible for the burning of the town of Athy at least four times in the 14th century.

It would appear that originally White’s was not the only tower on the bridge at Athy. In 1516 the Prior of the monastery of St Thomas the Martyr of Athy granted to the Gerald, the Earl of Kildare a castle on the western side of the bridge at Athy. This tower was still evident on the bridge in the late 16th century when Athy was represented on Mercator’s map of the Leix-Offaly plantation.

Maintenance and upkeep of the castle was always an consideration given the importance of the castle. Lord Leonard Grey wrote to Thomas Cromwell in 1536 informing him that materials and masons were being provided for the re-edification and fortification on the castle. The repairs continued through the summer months of June and July. The castle was still being referred to as the ‘new castle’ when Giles Cornewell leased land near the bridge in 1569.

In 1598 James FitzPiers was in charge of the garrison in the castle. The privy council was informed that FitzPiers, formerly a sheriff of County Kildare had broken into rebellion. He refused to surrender the castle and when finally he abandoned its command he broke down the bridge in his retreat.

The castle was to play a prominent role in the confederate wars where the competing Royalist and Confederate armies frequently vied for it’s and the town’s control. The era of the castles final great prominence came in the aftermath of the 1798 rebellion when it served as the prison for the captured rebels. A large extension was built onto the castle’s north face in 1802 to improve the town gaol as it then was. But conditions remained primitive. As a prison the castle had little to recommend it. An prison inspectors report for 1824 stated that White’s castle was ‘without exception the worst county jail I have met with, in point of accommodation having neither yards, pumps, hospital, chapel or proper day rooms’.

The old prison had nine cells and three small kitchens and the prisoners principal diet was bread and water. In the new gaol, built on the Carlow road in 1830,the prisoners were employed in stone breaking, mat making and oakum picking. The Governor was a Mr. Drill who had the assistance of three turnkeys to supervise the prisoners. He was later succeeded by Edward Carter who was governor when the prison closed in 1859.

After its closure as a prison the castle was used as a barracks for the Royal Irish Constabulary until the turn of the century. Today it serves a private residence.

Naas and Athy connections

A very interesting walk through historic Naas last week under the guidance of Liam Kenny of the local history group prompted me to reflect on the links between Naas and Athy. Both are towns of ancient lineage and owe their development as urban settlements to the Normans. However, Naas in all probability was a settlement long before Athy as it's Irish name Nas na Riogh implies. Translated as the place of the assembly or Kings it's nomenclature clearly derives meaning from the important North and South motes which were a pre-Norman significance. Athy on the other hand was an ancient and important river crossing with nothing to indicate a settlement prior to the coming of the Normans.

It is with the Normans of the late 12th century that Athy and Naas became established as settlements of importance. Both had Dominican Monasteries, Athy founded in 1253 and Naas in 1355. Athy's proud boast is that the Dominicans are still with us after 740 years. The Reformation of 1540 put an end to their involvement in Naas.

Another link stretching back into the medieval past was the existence in both towns of a Whites Castle. Athy's Whites Castle is still prominently located on the Bank of the River Barrow overlooking the Barrow Bridge. Indeed it was built in 1417 to protect the pass over the bridge and ensure the safety of those living within the Pale. Athy was situated on the Marches of Kildare, and while not within the Pale was regarded as an important Fortress in the first line of the defence for the people living within the Pale. Naas of course, situated within the Pale, was one of the many beneficiaries of the military policy which sought to restrict the wild Irish west of the River Barrow at Athy. The Whites Castle of Naas was located in the area of the present Town Hall and was demolished in 1786. Apart from the similar names there appears to have been no link between the Castles, it being common in medieval times to have White and Black Castles throughout the land.

Both towns were chartered as Town Boroughs with Sovereigns and Burgesses - Athy in 1515 and Naas in 1568. The earlier incorporation of Athy points to its greater importance during the early years of the County Kildare towns. Given Naas' central location in the County it was inevitable that Naas would eventually outstrip it's southern neighbour and relegate it to a minor role in County affairs.

In the 1860's the Quarter Sessions which alternated between Naas and Athy were transferred to Naas on a permanent basis and within two years the jail in Athy which had been built in 1830 to replace an older jail was closed and all prisoners transferred to the equally new Naas jail. The emergence of Naas as the County town was now predicable as was the subsequent decline in Athy. The respective populations of Naas and Athy in 1831 were 3806 and 4494, a fair reflection of the advantage which Athy from early time had held over Naas. The trend however was by then changing and their positions were reversed with finality with the setting up of Kildare County Council with administrative headquarters in Naas in 1899. Thereafter Naas was to continue to prosper as it was chosen for no other reason than it’s central location within the County as the administrative headquarters of further state agencies.

The linkage first forged between the ancient seats of the Kings and the Ford of Ae were strengthened when the Christian Brothers and the Sisters of Mercy opened schools in both towns during the 19th century. It was almost as if neither town was prepared to give way to the other in matters of social or educational advancement.

The ultimate link between the two towns apart from the ancient roadway from Dublin was the Grand Canal which was extended to Naas in 1789 and to Athy in 1791. The Ford of Ae, anciently a river settlement was now linked with the riverless town of Naas by the waters of a manmade waterway. This linkage between the present County town and the once larger and busier market town of Athy was in a way the coming together of two estranged brothers who had grown apart from each other. Modern communications have sidelined the Grand Canal but in their histories the towns of Athy and Naas share a common heritage and a common aspiration to give their own people in their own place a future full of promise and hope.