17th Annual Shackleton Autumn School 2017

October brings with it a greyness in our morning skies and also unremitting rain.  It is also the month that sees the return of the Shackleton Autumn School to the town of Athy.  This year marks the 17^th year of the school which has been a great success since its inception in 2001. 

 

This year the school will feature lecturers from Ireland, Britain, Norway, Canada, Australia and the US.  The diverse range of events planned by the Autumn School Committee will appeal to many different interests.  The Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador Else Berit Eikeland, will be talking about the importance of polar history to the establishment of the Norwegian National Identity.  Ambassador Eikeland took up office in September 2016 after a career in the Norwegian Foreign Service, laterally as the Polar Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctica where she represented Norway’s interests in these regions.  Her fellow Norwegian, Anne Melgård, a Curator at the National Library of Norway, will be talking about Norway’s great polar hero, Roald Amundsen, the first man to lead an expedition to the South Pole in December 1911. 

 

Irish interest will not be neglected as the Galwegian, Enda O’Cioneen, now residing in Kildare, will talk about his exploits on the high seas over the last thirty years.  Many of us will remember when Enda first came to prominence in the early 1980s when he attempted to cross the Atlantic singlehandedly in a 16ft. dinghy, albeit unsuccessfully when he capsized 300 miles short of the west coast of Ireland, but undaunted he completed the trip a few years later as a world first.

 

A particular feature of this year will be the involvement of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Centre from Ohio University, Columbus, United States.  This is the premier Polar institution in the United States and its involvement is a notable first for the Athy-Heritage Centre Museum.  As I write this article a crate of artefacts is winging its way from America to Ireland to form the nucleus of an exhibition about the great American polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd.  Byrd’s exploits in the Antarctica in the late 1920s and early 1930s were pioneering in their scale and their ambition.  They effectively paved the way for the scientific research stations and bases which now are located all over the Antarctic continent.  An exhibition dedicated to Byrd’s exploits with the title ‘Ushering in the Age of Mechanical Exploration: Richard E. Byrd’s First and Second Expeditions to Antarctica’ will be opened on the night of 27th October by Miss Laura Kissel, the Polar Curator for the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Centre  Archival Program. 

 

There is a welcome return to the Shackleton Autumn School for another Galway man, the actor Aidan Dooley.  I can well remember a stormy night in Athy in October 2002 when I sat transfixed by the extraordinary performance of Aidan in his one man show ‘Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer’.  To use that old theatrical cliché, ‘he held the audience in the palm of his hand’.  Little did I know that many years later when he came to write a book about his experiences in performing as Tom Crean he was extremely concerned that the polar experts in the audience would not be convinced by his performance!

 

Since that date he has criss-crossed the world performing the show to huge acclaim.  The performance, which will begin at 8.30 p.m. on the night of Sunday 29th October in the Athy Church of Ireland Community Centre, is bound to be a sell-out event and whether you have an interest in polar history or not you cannot but be enthralled by the drama of the life story of the Kerryman, Tom Crean.

 

There are a variety of lectures and events which should have some appeal to all of us and I would encourage the people of the town to attend as many events as they possibly can.  As well as the lecturers themselves, there is a wonderful array of nationalities who come and stay in the town for the four days of the Shackleton School and there is a universally positive response to the town and its people from these visitors, which sees many of the same visitors return year after year after year.  The Shackleton Autumn School has been pivotal in establishing Athy as the centre of the commemoration and celebration of the life of the Kildare-born explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton and it has been a catalyst in the plans for the re-development of the Museum which will gather pace once the Athy Library moves to its new site in the Dominican Church.  There is no doubt that the success of the Shackleton Autumn School will be a source of pride for the people of Athy for many years yet to come.  The Shackleton Autumn School runs over the weekend of 27^th-30^th October and details of all events can be found on the school’s website, www.shackletonmuseum.com.

Death marks our lives, whether as family members or members of a community, by its inevitability and its regularity.  As we grow older we cannot but realise the sense of loss as relations, friends and acquaintances pass to the other side, sometimes not having reached the biblical three score and ten.  During the past week I attended the funerals of several persons who as members of our local community have in their own way contributed to the life of Athy and its people.  Maureen Kelly, formerly Maureen Moloney, died at 88 years of age and shared with me and three of her siblings, the birth date of May 12^th.  Maureen came from an old Athy family with connections by marriage to other old Athy families, the Perses, the Kellys and the Phillips’.  The eldest of 4 sons and 6 daughters of Richard Moloney and Mary Perse, her mother’s brother Edward (Ned) Perse was the father of 21 children.  Her brother Brendan was a school mate of mine in the local Christian Brothers School and her eldest son Richard is the past Captain of Athy Golf Club where he has been one of the club’s most skilful golfers in recent years.

 

Maureen was a well-known and well-liked member of the local community who was widowed 17 years ago following the death of her husband Dick Kelly.  Dick was the brother of Dolly Phillips who died recently at 92 years of age.  The Moloney, Phillips, Kelly and Perse families are part of the community fabric of the South Kildare area for decades past and the passing of another member of that extended family group is a sad loss for us all.

 

Our community is ever changing, death not being the only factor in that regard.  As a settlement extending back over 800 years the town of Athy has witnessed over the years the arrival and the departure of families who settled here.  I am reminded as I write these lines that I am myself one such settler, the Taaffe family having arrived here in 1945.  St. Michael’s Cemetery is the final resting place of my father, mother and brother Seamus and it is the resting place, as is St. John’s, Ardreigh and Geraldine cemeteries, of many of those native and non-natives of Athy, who were part of our community in the past.

 

Albert Rotherham, a native son of Belfast, who arrived in Athy almost forty years ago with his wife Mary, died last week.  He was buried in St. Michael’s cemetery alongside Paddy Begley, a former workmate of his in Borden, who also passed away that same week.  Both men were part of that great life exchange which sees some young persons born and educated in Athy migrate to other parts of the country or emigrate overseas while the town welcomes strangers who in time become an integral part of our local community.  Such were Albert and Paddy and my neighbour in Ardreigh, the County Clare born Maureen Cunnane, who passed away recently.  The life blood of any community is constantly being revived and renewed as the movement of persons inspired by the the search for employment brings new faces to our town while other  once familiar faces disappear.  Albert Rotherham and Paddy Begley worked together in Borden and were members of the Borden basketball team in the 1980s.  Albert played a prominent role with Brother Joseph Quinn and Leon Kenny in the formation of Athy’s Basketball Club.  He was at different times Secretary, Chairman and Treasurer of the club and was particularly proud of having trained Athy’s under 16 basketball team which won a national title at the Community Games held in Mosney.

 

Athy as an urban settlement owes its origins to French speaking Anglo Normans of the 12^th century.  Over the succeeding centuries it has been home to an ever-changing community of men, women and children, many of whom were settlers from overseas.  All of them in their own way, good or bad, contributed to the sense of community and wellbeing of a people who live together in what was a small provincial town.

 

The ever-changing pattern of life in Athy continues to be reflected in the changing population which saw Albert Rotherham, Pat Begley and Maureen Cunnane become members of a community where the Kelly, Perse, Moloney and Phillips families have been ensconced for generations past.  Our lives are entwined and no matter from where we came, the place where we chose to pitch our last tent is home and it is from there that we make our final journey.

 

Rosanna Fleming's Orphan Emigration Scheme Travel Box

As conditions slowly began to improve following Ireland’s Great Famine of the 1840s, thirty-four young orphan girls who had been inmates of Athy’s workhouse were sent to Australia as part of the British Government’s Orphan Emigration Scheme.  The Scheme was intended to alleviate overcrowding in Irish Workhouses, while at the same time hopefully lessen the gender imbalance in the Australian population.  Amongst the young girls sent out from Athy Workhouse was Rosanna Fleming, 19 years old, from Ballyadams.  She was one of the oldest girls sent to Australia from Athy’s workhouse.

 

A few months ago I met Jeff Kildea, an Australian historian who was in Ireland for the launch of his most recent book ‘A Biography of Hugh Mahon’.  Jeff is the great great grandson of Rosanna Fleming and I was pleased to bring him to the former workhouse and afterwards to Ballyadams, visiting places associated with his ancestor.  Since then Jeff was invited to address  the 18^th annual gathering at the Irish Famine Monument at Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks.  Of all the distinguished men and women who had addressed previous gatherings at the Irish Famine Monument, Jeff Kildea was the first descendent of a Famine orphan who landed in Sydney to do so.  He spoke of Rosanna Fleming, the former inmate of Athy Workhouse, who on 3^rd July 1849 arrived in Australia on the passenger ship ‘Lady Peel’ with 17 other young girls from Athy’s workhouse.  Author, Evelyn Conlon, whom I also met during Jeff Kildea’s visit to Athy in her novel ‘Not the same sky’ closely followed the known historical facts surrounding the Orphan Emigration Scheme girls.  Some of those girls did well, others did not.

Rosanna, who subsequently led a sad and tragic life in Australia, died at the age of 71 years.  She married James Clarke, a native of County Westmeath, just four months after landing in Australia and over the following 17 years they had 9 children. 

 

By a strange coincidence soon after Jeff Kildea’s visit to Athy I became aware of a joint venture between the Committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims and the Arbour Hill prison authorities.  They came together to undertake a project called ‘Famine Travel Boxes’.  Travel boxes or trunks were given to each of the young girls who participated in the Orphan Emigration Scheme.  In each trunk was clothing, a needle and thread, a Douay Bible, a Certificate of good character and a Certificate of good health.  The Famine Commemoration Committee engaged with the Arbour Hill authorities to have replica travel trunks made and some of those trunks have been presented to President Michael D. Higgins, the United Nations in New York and two museums in Australia. 

 

The two groups when approached by me generously agreed to make a travel trunk for presentation to Athy Heritage Centre.  The trunk bearing the name Rosanna Fleming will be formally presented to the Heritage Centre on Tuesday, 26^th September at 7.30 p.m.

 

It is fitting that Athy Heritage Centre is to be the recipient of a Famine travel trunk as here in Athy we have participated in the National Famine Day’s commemorations with a ceremony each year in St. Mary’s famine cemetery.  The National Famine Commemoration Day was first approved by the Irish government in 2015 following a campaign led by Michael Blanch who was responsible for the setting up of the committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims.  Michael Blanch will be at Athy Heritage Centre for the formal presentation on 26^th September.

 

The Rosanna Fleming travel box will form part of Athy’s permanent local history exhibition in the Heritage Centre to remind visitors of the terrible effect that the Great Famine of 1845-1849 had on the people of Ireland and especially on the people of this part of the country.  Everyone is invited to attend the presentation in the Heritage Centre commencing at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 26^th September.

 

During the past week the formal establishment of a local history society in Athy was finalised and Athy Historical Society is now open for membership.  If you would like to engage with others in research, recording and learning local history, archaeology, folklife or folklore, why not join the society.  A membership fee of €10 per annum is all that is required to participate in the society’s activities which will start with a series of lectures, the first of which will take place in the Heritage Centre on Thursday 12^th October at 7.30 p.m.  Further details will issue shortly.  Contact Athy’s Heritage Centre on Ph. (059)8633075 or Seamus Hughes, the society’s honorary treasurer at shughes856@gmail.com if you would like to become a member of Athy’s Historical Society. 

                                   

Cara formerly Aontas Ogra

The 60^th anniversary of the founding of Cara, since renamed Aontas Ogra, will be marked with a birthday celebration in the club premises which was formally part of the old Dreamland Ballroom on Saturday, 23^rd September at 8.00 p.m.  It promises to be a night of joyful celebration for its current members, while for past members, including those of us who were founder members, it will be a nostalgic night as we remember past events and friends and colleagues, many of whom have since passed away. 

 

Twenty years ago after celebrations for the 40^th anniversary of its foundation I wrote the following. 

 

‘There will be a meeting in the lower classroom after school which you should all attend."  Brother Brett, Headmaster of the Christian Brothers School in Athy, taciturn as ever, addressed his remarks to eager third year pupils.  The year was 1957.  Later that day the noisy gathering of schoolboys was addressed by a fellow student, Michael O'Neill, who had obtained Brother Brett's permission to hold the meeting.  Michael was from Kerry and arrived in Athy about one and a half years previously when his father took up work as a farm steward with Shaws of Cardenton.  His rich mellifluous Kerry accent soon earned Michael the nickname "Aru".  As he stood before his schoolmates that day he spoke firstly in Irish and then in English.

 

Michael, a native Irish speaker, wanted to start an Athy branch of an Irish youth organisation which up to then had only one other branch in Ireland.  "Cara" or Friends of the Irish Language sought to bring the Irish language and culture to the forefront and Michael was anxious to enrol his school mates as club members.  As far as I can recall Pat Flinter, a classmate of mine, was one of Michael's acolytes that afternoon and so must share with him the honour of founding the organisation which was later to become Aontas Ogra. 

 

Our early attempts at promoting the speaking of Irish was less than successful.  The margins of Irish culture were in time pushed out to encompass dancing, not necessarily confined to the walls of Limerick or the high caul cap.  Truth to tell we did start out with Irish dancing classes which of course necessitated the readily obtained co-operation of our female colleagues from St. Mary's Convent School.  Margo Clandillon, Sheila Kehoe, Betty Clancy, Catherine Millar, Josie Murphy, Claire Bracken and Olga Rowan were just some of the names which immediately come to mind when I recall Sunday afternoon spent in St. John's Hall or the Town Hall struggling through the intricacies of Irish dancing.  Whatever the quality of our dancing our interpersonal skills were being nicely honed, from the intermingling with the girls from St. Mary's.’  Frank English, Eddie Hearns, Pat Timpson, Mick Robinson, George Robinson, Anthony Prendergast and many others had occasion to remember with some pleasure those innocent days. 

 

A Club outing to the Rock of Dunamaise on a hot Sunday afternoon is remembered as boys and girls, each with a bicycle walked in formation down the hill into Stradbally whistling the theme tune from the Bridge on the River Kwai.  Several trips to the only other Cara group then in Dublin with club premises in the basement of Molesworth Street was also a welcome diversion from school and the narrow confines of provincial life of the late 1950's.  Another highlight in those young days was a trip to the Scalp, a part of outer Dublin never before known to us but where we stored up enough memories to last a lifetime.’

 

At a more recent birthday celebration of a former member of Aontas Ogra photographs of some of our youthful Aontas Ogra outings were eagerly poured over.  They included coverage of the trip to the Rock of Dunamaise (which I can still vividly recall) and a pageant in St. John’s Hall (which I cannot recall at all).  Once familiar faces captured on film all those years ago in some instances did not immediately bring names to mind, while others were instantly and unmistakably recognised. 

 

Everything comes to an end and for those who attended the initial meeting in 1957 this meant that by June 1960 we had passed out of the secondary school system.  With many of those involved leaving Athy to take up employment in Dublin and elsewhere Cara was to continue with new members but with one person who throughout the years has been the lynchpin in the organisation.  Billy Browne is still associated with the Club, carrying on a proud tradition going back sixty years.  Honoured in the past by the Town Council and by the Lions Club International for his contribution to the youth affairs in Athy, Billy and all the other leaders involved with the club over the years epitomise the commitment, dedication and support which marks the continuing success of the organisation founded in Athy sixty years ago.  Past members and partners are invited to the 60^th birthday celebration on Saturday 23^rd September.

                                   

Athy in the early decades of the 19th century

Sporadic outbursts of ribbonmen activity in and around the south Kildare area was a common enough feature of life in the early part of the 19^th century.  The burning of the Athy residence of Chief Constable Dolman in 1825 was however regarded as an isolated incident for which two local men, Ging and Hutchinson, were arrested.  Conditions in the area continued to improve to the extent that the local Yeomanry were disbanded just 30 years after the ’98 Rebellion.  The Duke of Leinster was sufficiently encouraged to embark on a building project in Athy.  In July 1825 Michael Carey, a local man, noted that the Duke had laid out “Coffey’s ground for his lodge”.  The lodge built on the Carlow Road site was a hunting and fishing lodge which to this day is known as Dukes Lodge.

 

Despite the earlier confidence which led to the disbandment of the local Yeomanry the British Prime Minister Wellington, felt it necessary to advise the King that Ireland was on the verge of rebellion which could only be resolved by the granting of Catholic Emancipation.  Sir Robert Peel, who succeeded Wellington as Prime Minister, introduced in the House of Commons the Catholic Relief Bill which was enacted in August 1829 as an “Act for the Relief of His Majesty’s Roman Catholic Subjects”.

 

Whether in celebration of Catholic Emancipation or a simple act of defiance a green flag with white ribbons at the top was erected on a pole in the centre of Athy.  If it was an act of defiance it was the only apparent evidence of anti-Government activity in Athy about that time.  The countryside had become even more peaceful than before no doubt due to the setting up of the County Constabulary.  Col. Fitzgerald of Geraldine House, who had been the subject of complaints by Thomas Rawson during the ’98 Rebellion, had been stood down as a Magistrate.  As a Catholic Fitzgerald, while not involved in rebellious activity, was nevertheless suspected of sympathising with the leaders of the United Irishmen.  With the passing of Catholic Emancipation, a measure deemed necessary to forestall another rebellion, the way was open for Catholic gentry at least to be accommodated amongst the ruling classes.  Col. Fitzgerald was elected a Burgess of Athy Borough Council in 1832 and elected Town Sovereign the same year.  The following year he was reinstated to his position as a Magistrate.

 

1832 was also the year that cholera was reported, firstly in Belfast on the 15th of March and ten days later in Dublin.  By the middle of the year cholera had struck Athy and would remain a threat to the townspeople for many months.  The earlier mentioned Michael Carey noted that cholera “raged in Athy from May to November 1832”.  He was later to report that five residents of Barrack Street died of cholera on the 7^th of February 1833.

 

Despite the difficulties of that time local man Mark Cross who lived in Emily Square was busily engaged in several building projects in the town.  He built small houses in Janeville Lane and Connolly’s Lane which was located off Meeting Lane.  These houses almost 100 years after they were built would be declared unfit for human habitation during the slum clearance programmes of the 1930’s.  Mark Cross was also recorded as building the Freemasons Hall in January 1842.  I have never come across any other reference to this building and wonder where it was located.

 

Perhaps the most important building projects in Athy at that time were the construction of the Fever Hospital, the new Town Jail and the Workhouse.  The building of the Fever Hospital was financed by a Mr. Keating who following the burning of his house in Market Square was the recipient of a public subscription totalling £300.  Mr. Kavanagh generously donated the money so that a local Fever Hospital could be built.  The new Town Jail, replacing the prison quarters in Whites Castle, was opened in 1830 and 14 years later Athy’s Workhouse was opened.

 

1832 was also the year of Reform which for Ireland saw the passing of the Representation Of The People (Ireland) Act.  This Act increased Irish representation in the House of Commons from 100 to 105 members of Parliament while the introduction of the £10 franchise in Irish Boroughs increased the numbers of those entitled to vote.  Athy Borough Council, which had existed from 1515 and which was represented in Parliament by two Members of Parliament from 1613, was abolished in 1840.  The Town Commissioners elections, which were held in Athy soon thereafter, gave local business people their first opportunity to participate in a local election process.  That exercise kindled a spirit of independence which developed over the years and ultimately led to the formation of the Irish Free State.

Rev. Frederick Trench and the Oxford Movement

Preparing to conduct a tour through some parts of the history of Athy for Heritage Week I re-read some of the notes I wrote over the years to remind myself of people and events which have long gone from memory.  When reading those notes I was reminded of the impact that the Oxford Movement of the 1830s had on the Established Church in Ireland.  Here in Athy the local rector was Rev. Frederick Trench, whose wife was Lady Helena Perceval, daughter of the first Lord Arden, an older brother of Spencer Perceval, the British Prime Minister who was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons in 1812. 

 

The Trench’s lived in Kilmoroney House from 1834.  Rev. Frederick was described in H. Montgomery’s biography of George Alfred Lefroy, Bishop of Calcutta, as one of the old fashioned evangelical clergy deeply versed in bible and prayer book.  A frequent visitor to Kilmoroney House was Sir William Heathcote who was married to Lady Caroline Perceval, sister of Helena Trench.  Sir William was a friend and a patron of clergyman and poet John Keble, one of the leaders of the Oxford Movement and through him Rev. Trench met John Keble and later Edward Pusey, the clergyman and Oxford professor who with John Henry Newman, later a cardinal of the Catholic church, were the acknowledged leaders of that high church movement.  Rev. Trench’s high church practices as a supporter of the Oxford Movement was not to the liking of at least one of his parishioners.  Michael Carey wrote in October 1851:  ‘The Rev. Trench has taken down all the emblems from his popish window and made an apology to his congregation ….. he stated to the congregation that he had not the slightest notion of Puseyism or popery’.

 

Rev. Trench died tragically in 1860 after his carriage careered down Offaly Street, struck the medieval gate known as Preston’s Gate, turned over and tossed both himself and his driver to the ground.  The rector died of his injuries on 23^rd November aged 74 years.  The medieval gate which had been the scene of many previous accidents was immediately removed by the Town Commissioners workmen.  Rev. Trench’s parishioners subsequently donated a fine marble pulpit in memory of their rector which is to be found in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland at the top of Offaly Street.

 

Crom a Boo bridge, built in 1796, provides with nearby Whites Castle the iconic image of our town which is recognised far and wide.  Over its arched pathways passed the prisoners who in 1798 were hanged in the ‘croppy acre’ alongside the Grand Canal basin.  It was in June 1798 that seven young local men were tried by Court martial, convicted and hanged for alleged involvement in the killing of John Jeffries of Narraghmore.  Jeffries who with his family had fled to Athy for safety later returned to his burnt-out home in Narraghmore to retrieve some personal belongings.  While there he was killed.  The seven young men convicted of his murder were marched from the prison cells in Whites Castle over Crom a Boo bridge, accompanied by members of the Waterford Militia.  We are told in Patrick O’Kelly’s account of the 1798 Rebellion that two of the seven were beheaded and their heads placed on Whites Castle as a deterrent to would be insurgents.  As you pass Whites Castle look at the Geraldine family coat of arms embedded in the Castle wall which in 1798 was deliberately damaged by a yeoman in revenge for Lord Edward Fitzgerald’s participation in the Rising.

 

St. Michael’s Catholic Church, consecrated in 1964, replaced an earlier church built in 1808.  The site for that church described as ‘marshy ground’ was donated by the Duke of Leinster.  It replaced an earlier thatched church located in Chapel Lane which was torched and burned to the ground on 7^th March 1800 in the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. 

 

Rev. James Hall, an English cleric who travelled through what he described as the ‘interior and least known parts’ of Ireland published his book of travels in 1813.  He visited the Roman Catholic Church in Athy where near the door on the right hand as he entered there was written in large capitals, ‘COME UNTO ME, ALL YE THAT LABOUR AND ARE HEAVILY LADEN, AND I WILL GIVE YOU REST’.  On the other ‘BLESSED IS HE THAT HEARETH, AND WATCHETH AT THE POST OF WISDOM’S GATES’.  When he entered the church he found both men and women lying flat on their faces on the floor repeating certain prayers and now and then with fervent ejaculations turning up their eyes.  ‘I observed one man walk, on his bare knees, from the door up to the altar, though the floor was extremely rough, the chapel being new, and not quite finished.’  Rev. Hall noted that Roman Catholic chapels in Ireland ‘like the churches in Russia have neither seats nor pews of any kind’.                                        

 

Athy Heritage Centre and Heritage Week 2017

It was in 1983 that Athy Museum Society was formed with the stated objective of developing a local museum here in Athy.  Since then the Society’s volunteers, with the financial support and good will of the former Town Council and currently Kildare County Council, together with several private benefactors have made a huge contribution to the cultural heritage of our historic town.  The local Heritage Centre which has been developed over the years since 1983 has provided a focal point for people’s growing interest in the town’s past. 

 

Our local history is something that all of us have become more aware of in the last 30 years or more.  Recalling my school days in the local Christian Brothers School in the 1950s the only mention I ever heard or read of Athy related to it being the place where the River Barrow and the Grand Canal met.  History lessons touching on the 1798 Rebellion, the Great Famine or any of the many Irish or overseas wars in which so many young Athy men were involved, never disclosed any Athy links or connections.  We now know that Athy was connected in so many ways with many of the great events in the nation’s history.  Athy’s history represents in miniature the history of Ireland and the story of the town is bound up with our nation’s history. 

 

Athy Museum Society has done much to highlight the hidden stories and the forgotten people of Athy’s past. This was particularly important given that the contribution made by so many local men and women to the fabric of life in the past was overlooked and lost to succeeding generations.  The Eye on the Past series which has been appearing each week in your local newspaper for almost 25 years has sought to create an interest in and an understanding of the events and the people of Athy and the part they played in the town’s history.  The interest generated in our local history as evidenced by the queries I receive and the information shared with me each week confirms that the people of Athy are proud of their town.  Pride of place is understandably something normally attributable to one’s place of birth, but Athy, the Anglo Norman town, later the settler’s town, is today home to a lot of people who like myself are not natives of Athy.  Our interest in the history of Athy is not in any way diminished by being born elsewhere, which in my case happened 19 miles down the road in Castlecomer. 

 

Several people having expressed an interest in coming together to further their interest in local history, arrangements have been made for a meeting to be held in the Heritage Centre on Tuesday, 5^th September at 7.30 p.m.  Its purpose is to consider setting up a local history society, which if formed will give interested persons an opportunity to learn more of the town’s history, to encourage research and arrange lectures and field trips.  The setting up of a local history society can been seen as a further contribution to the town’s regeneration plan which was initiated by a group originally established two years ago by Athy Lion’s Club.  The contribution which a local history society can make to the cultural heritage of the area and thus to the well being of the town’s people is something readily recognised in the regeneration plan. 

 

Heritage ‘Week’ started on Saturday last and ends on Sunday 27^th.  Here in Athy there are a number of events including a walking tour through Athy’s history on today, 22^nd.  Starting at 7.00 p.m. from in front of the Town Hall the walk will present an overview of some of the more extraordinary individuals and events associated with the town’s history.  The guide will be yours truly.

 

The Heritage Centre has organised a Museum treasure hunt and further details of this free event can be obtained from the Heritage Centre.  On Sunday 27^th August at 3.00 p.m. there will be a talk in the Heritage Centre on the incredible voyage of the James Caird.  This voyage was one of the greatest seafaring feats of all time led by the Kilkea-born Ernest Shackleton, accompanied by crew members, half of whom were Irish.  On the same day at 7.00 p.m. there will be a guided walking tour of medieval Athy starting from the Heritage Centre at 2.00 p.m.

 

All of the events during Heritage ‘Week’ are free and they give a unique opportunity for anyone interested to savour elements of our town’s history. 

 

Municipal Reform and Anti Tithe activities

Under the headline “Athy Anti Tithe Meeting”, the Leinster Express of the 20^th May 1836 reported. “For several days in the town of Athy and surrounding country, unusual exertions were made to assemble the people for the double purpose of extinguished the tithe and obtaining corporate reform.   Every little politician might be seen running about looking brim-full of something important while the following proclamation looked down from every wall and signpost in the town”.

 

“NOTICE – There will be a meeting held in this town on Tuesday, 24^th May in the market square at two o’clock to petition parliament for corporate reform and the speedy and total extinction of the tithe”. 

 

Tithe was a payment due to the church, nominally one tenth of ones earnings, which after the Reformation proved unpopular with Catholic’s as the tithe was paid solely for the benefit of the Anglican church.  Daniel O’Connell supported by the catholic clergy campaigned for its abolition.  O’Connell’s successful campaign for Catholic Emancipation encouraged the local people to seek changes in the tithe system while municipal reform and the appointment of Catholics to public office was another long term complaint of the catholic population.  Under the Reform Act of 1793, membership of local authorities such as Athy Borough Council were nominally open to Catholics but none of the many borough councils in Ireland had chosen to enlarge the franchise. 

 

The push for reform with regard to tithe’s and municipal corporations started with what is called the tithe war which erupted in Graiguenamanagh in County Kilkenny in November 1830.  There the Tithe Proctor distrained the cattle of the local priest who with the approval of his bishop organised a resistance movement which soon spread throughout the midlands.  There were several violent incidents involving tithe protestors and British soldiers which resulted in deaths and injuries.   The most infamous incident occurred in Rathcormack when the Archdeacon of Cloyne attempted to collect a £2 tithe from a local widow.  The Archdeacon accompanied by soldiers entered the widow’s cottage by a back window and in the resulting conflict 19 locals were killed and 35 injured.

 

Events in Athy by all accounts were less troublesome.  The Leinster Express Report continued “Tuesday, 24^th was market day – and the first indication of the great meeting  was Mr. Holmes Biggam accompanied by a dozen urchins ……labouring hard to roll together some logs to form a rostrum in the potato and pig market …….on the logs was placed a solitary chair….. behind rolled the river barrow and before stood the church.  Although it was announced, the people should meet at 2 o’clock, 3 came on and no appearance except Pat Doran of Castlemitchell House….  At last the committee issued from the Inn and took possession of the platform.  On it we noticed Rev. John Lawler Parish Priest, Messrs. Biggam, G. Evans, James Perrin, S. Eves Miller, T. Dunne farmer, T. Peppard, T. Connors shop keeper, Mr. Keating publican, M. Commons corn buyer, J. Kelly Nicholastown horse dealer and Matthew Lawler with a few others.  Mr. Eves took the chair and referring to a previous meeting regretted that nothing had been done for them since.  They would now he claimed teach the Lords  a lesson and that the abominable tithe should be totally abolished”.

 

The widespread opposition to tithes eventually secured the passage of the Tithe Rentcharge of 1838 which satisfied those opposed to tithes as it became a charge on rent payable by the head landlord.

 

Municipal Reform was already in hand when the Athy meeting took place in March 1838.  The previous year a Bill was introduced in the House of Commons and enacted five years later following an enquiry into the conduct of municipal corporations in Ireland. It found, as in Athy, that the existing Borough Councils were corrupt bastions of Protestantism and so fifty eight of those boroughs including Athy’s Borough Council, were abolished in 1840. The enquiry reported in relation to Athy that while the town charter provided for all the inhabitants of the town to be the commonality of the borough, the local people were excluded from the corporation and that no evidence could be found of any application for the freedom of the corporation to which every person born in the town was entitled.  It also reported “there is not or has been in modern times any Roman Catholic a freeman except Colonel Fitzgerald who was admitted to his freedom in 1831”.

 

The Parish Priest who joined the anti tithe platform in May 1936 would later stand for election to the Town Commissioners which replaced the Borough Council in 1842.  Elected with the Parish Priest at that first ever Council election was the local Rector Rev. Frederick Trench.  Neither clergymen stood for election after their initial foray into local politics.  

 

Athy Dragon Boat Club

Athy’s Heritage Centre was the venue for a crowded gathering of dragon boaters and friends on Friday evening last when ‘The Big Barrow Splash Family Day’ was announced. Hosted by Athy Dragon Boat Club, the reception in the Centre was perhaps the liveliest event ever to be held in what was the town’s former butter market.  It was a joyful occasion which allowed the Dragon Boat Club to celebrate its growing success after six years in being.

 

It was in June 2011 that Aiden McHugh, then leader of Barrow Line Canoe Club, which he founded in the mid 1980’s, read a feature in a local newspaper of a dragon boat race scheduled for Carlow. He encouraged Rosemary O’Sullivan, a member of the Canoe Club, to bring together seventeen of her female friends, whether canoe members or not, to make up Athy’s first dragon boat team.  Sufficient numbers having come forward, the team trained for two weeks in Canadian canoes as a dragon boat was not available.  That first female team called the ‘Barrowline Babes’ just missed the final of the Carlow event by 0.06 of a second but full of determination decided to enter for another dragon boat race in Dublin City Docks.  By then the team was a mix of female and male rowers and the team name was changed to ‘Barrowline Bandits’.  Success was achieved at the Dublin race with the young Athy team winning the first of what would be many gold cups.

 

The newcomers to the sport attracted the attention of the Irish Dragon Boat Association and officials of the association, having inspected the facilities in Athy, held the first dragon boat regatta here in May 2012.  That year and the following year another Athy team ‘Crom a Boo’ won the first prize at the Athy Regatta and followed up with wins also in Carlow and Dublin.    Just three years after the founding of Athy Dragon Boat Club and two years after the town’s first regatta, the annual event was attracting fifteen teams each comprising of eighteen members.

 

The next big development in local dragon boat racing came with the arrival of a team from Kendra Civil Engineering. That team, consisting of local men employed by Dan Curtis’s company, won a number of dragon boat races in 2014 and the following three years.  Indeed, the Kendra team is today regarded as perhaps one of the most successful dragon boat racing teams in Ireland.

 

Hundreds of young people have been introduced to their local River Barrow through the Dragon Boat Club and the Athy Canoe Club which is still going strong.  Both clubs owe their existence to Aiden McHugh whose dynamic leadership has not only given us two of the most vibrant river based clubs in Athy but also a Gymnastics Club and a local sign language Association.  Aiden has stepped down from the Canoe Club and the Gymnastics Club but is still very much involved in sign language development and the local Dragon Boat Club. 

 

The first dragon boat purchased by the Athy club was facilitated by Aiden McHugh and the local canoe club and is now housed in a temporary facility near the former Dominican Church.  Hopefully Kildare County Council will ensure that both the Canoe Club and the Dragon Boat Club will have suitable permanent facilities so that local people, young and old alike, can make maximum of a tremendous river facility which unfortunately those of my age failed to enjoy in years gone by.

 

Returning to the reception in the Heritage Centre, the involvement of so many, young and not so young, speaks volumes for the continuing future success of water sport activities in the town.  Particular congratulations must go to the various parties who have sponsored the Dragon Boat Club’s activities in the last six years and in that the regard the outstanding contributor is Dan Curtis of Kendra Civil Engineering. His contribution to the sport earned special mention at the reception as did the contribution of Aiden McHugh who was the recipient of a special presentation.

 

A great night was enjoyed by the many who attended with a promise that ‘The Big Barrow Splash Family Day’ on Sunday, 13^th August starting at 11.00 a.m. will be a fun day for all the family.

Athy’s 1916 Remembrance Committee will shortly publish a booklet concerning the 1916 Centenary events held in the Town during March and April last year.  It was felt that the opportunity should also be taken to include in the booklet photographs of the 50^th Anniversary commemoration which was held in Emily Square in 1966.  If you know of the existence of any photographs of that event, I would welcome hearing from you.

Kilkea Castle and some of its occupants

A few weeks ago I wrote of my visit with a west of Ireland friend to places in and around south Kildare which I claimed could make an interesting trip as part of Ireland’s Ancient East.  The recent announcement of the proposed re-opening of Kilkea Castle provides another reason to visit this area.  With Whites Castle and Woodstock Castle the Castle at Kilkea forms a unique trio of medieval buildings which at different times were in the ownership of the FitzGerald family, Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster.

 

Kilkea Castle is often claimed as the oldest inhabited castle in Ireland and certainly its part in Irish history stretching back to the 12^th century brings us face to face with many of the great events of the past.  Silken Thomas’s rebellion following the imprisonment of his father Garret Óg, 9^th Earl of Kildare in the tower of London, resulted in the execution of the young man and five of his uncles and the confiscation of the Earl’s lands.  Thomas’s half-brother Gerald had the title and the land restored to him 15 years later and on his return to Ireland from the Continent Gerald took up residence in Kilkea Castle.  Because of his interest in the occult arts he was called the Wizard Earl of Kildare, of whom much has been written in terms of local folklore. 

 

What is perhaps little known is that a Jesuit community was in occupation of Kilkea Castle for 12 years up to 1646.  The widow of the 14^th Earl of Kildare, herself a devout catholic, permitted Fr. Robert Nugent, Superior of the Jesuit Order, to take over the castle and it was here that Cardinal Rinuccini, the papal nuncio, was entertained during the Confederate wars.

 

After the Confederate wars Kilkea Castle was home to many different families who for the most part were unconnected to the Earls of Kildare.  Perhaps the most interesting of those Kilkea residents was Thomas Reynolds whose wife’s sister was married to Wolfe Tone.  Reynolds, a Dublin silk merchant, was friendly with Lord Edward FitzGerald, the one-time member of parliament for the borough of Athy who was leader of the United Irishmen in County Kildare.  He brought Reynolds into the organisation and indeed Reynolds became a colonel in the Army of the United Irishmen.  Regrettably Reynolds turned out to be an informer, a claim which his son unsuccessful attempted to dispute in his biography of Thomas Reynolds, published in 1838.  Subsequent tenants of Kilkea Castle were the Caulfield family who were also occupiers of extensive lands in the Grangemellon area.  A member of the Caulfield family was one of those involved as trustees of Catholic church property for the parish of St. Michael’s Athy in the early post Catholic emancipation period.

 

Kilkea castle after almost 200 years without a FitzGerald in residence once again became a family residence for members of the Duke of Leinster’s family.  However, the once extensive Leinster estates passed into the ownership of an English financier, Sir Harry Mallaby-Deeley.  During the life of the 6^th Duke of Leinster his third son, Lord Edward, while his two older brothers were still alive, disposed of his reversionary rights for a relatively small sum to Mallaby-Deeley.  He did so believing that he had little prospect of succeeding to the title and to the Leinster estates.  However, Desmond FitzGerald, the eldest son of the Duke was killed while serving as an officer in World War 1 and the Duke’s second son Maurice died in February 1920.  When the sixth Duke of Leinster died in 1922 the former bankrupt Edward, described by many as a rakish womaniser, became the 7^th Duke of Leinster.  The tenanted lands belonging to the Leinster estates having been sold under the Wyndham Land Act to tenant farmers, the demesne lands at Carton and Kilkea were all that remained and they passed to Mallaby-Deeley.  He allowed members of the FitzGerald family, but not the improvident 7^th Duke, to live in Carton House until it was sold in 1948.

 

The 7^th Duke’s uncle, Lord Walter FitzGerald and Walter’s two sisters, lived in Kilkea Castle from 1889.  It was there that Lord Walter, one of the founders of the Kildare Archaeological Society, died in 1923.  The FitzGerald sisters continued living in Kilkea and after World War II the castle was occupied by the Marquess of Kildare.  In the mid-1960s he went to live in England and the castle was sold in 1965 to William Cade.  Edward the 7^th Duke who married four times, lived in England on an annual allowance from Mallaby-Deeley.  He died in 1976. 

 

The re-opening of Kilkea Castle as a hotel is to be applauded, bringing as it does the story of the great house of Leinster to our time.  It offers too a wonderful addition to the story of our neighbourhood, bringing with it the history of a great family, some of whose members are remembered today in the street names of our town.