Last week Jack Murphy passed away at the age of 94 years. He had been a bicycle mechanic all of his working life. The heyday of the bicycle has long gone and with it the skill of the bicycle mechanic. Indeed, the motor mechanic who succeeded the bicycle mechanic is himself in danger of extinction with the new fangled diagnostic machinery now being built for the cars of today.
Jack first started work in 1919 with Duthie Larges in Leinster Street and about eight years later moved up the street to Jackson Brothers when they started a motor and bicycle business. Both Duthie Larges and Jacksons have since disappeared from the commercial life of Athy.
The first Jackson to come to the town was Francis Robert Jackson who was the local station master employed by the Great Southern Railway Company. A man with apparent entrepreneurial flair, he became involved in the sale of grain waste from Guinesses Brewery in Dublin. He rented the yard at the rear of McEvoy's Public House in Leinster Street from where he carried on business under another persons name while at the same time remaining on as Station Master in Athy. The Railway Company disapproved of his commercial activities and this ultimately led to him resigning his position and purchasing a shop in Leinster Street where he lived with his family for a number of years. He developed a hardware and general merchants business on the premises which was later to grow into the most substantial business outlet of its kind in Athy.
The older generations will remember Jacksons which was always referred to as Jackson Brothers. This was a hark back to the days when the developing business was carried on by the original proprietor Robert Francis, with his two brothers John and William. The prospering business activities of the brothers were brought to a temporary halt in 1907 when their two storied
shop premises was destroyed by fire. The local newspaper reported the disaster as follows :-
"A few minutes before three o clock this morning a fire was discovered on the premises of Jackson Bros. Athy, hardware and general merchants. The residential portion of the premises consists of a two-storey house facing Leinster Street, and a wing at the back or north side...................... The newly formed fire brigade was summoned, and soon arrived as did a large force of police, under Head-Constable Blessing. The efforts of the brigade were principally directed towards keeping the flames from spreading to the adjoining buildings, and in this they were successful. So fierce however, were the flames that within half an hour the roof of the building fell in, and subsequently the walls collapsed. The extensive stores at the back were also burned to the ground."
The shop was re-built and the opportunity was taken to purchase adjoining premises. The hardware and grocery extended over a very large premises which are now occupied by Perrys Supermarket and the adjoining Goggin Hardware Shop. The man who started the business, the former Station Master Francis Robert Jackson died in 1916 and his interests were assumed by his eldest surviving son and namesake, Francis Robert. Before his death Francis Jackson, the elder, had been living in Kilkea House and previously in Shamrock Lodge, Kildare Road where he had moved with his family from the living quarters over the original shop in Leinster Street. It was the second Francis Robert Jackson who in the early 1920'2 opened the garage to cater for the then developing motor business. He obtained permission from Athy Urban District Council to install petrol pumps on Leinster Street and it was to join the newly opened garage that Jack Murphy left Duthie Larges in 1927. Jackson Brothers prospered over the years and it was Francis Robert Jackson, the son of the founder of the firm who purchased Farmhill on the Carlow Road as the family residence. He was also to buy out the interest of his
uncles John Jackson and William Jackson in the family business
which however continued to be known as Jackson Brothers.
Francis Robert Jackson died in October 1949 and was succeeded by his son Francis Kenneth whom locals will recall lived in Farm Hill, the house first purchased by his father. Francis Kenneth, known locally as Ken, worked in the Leinster Street Shop before serving in Italy during World War II where he attained the rank of Major. On his return to Athy he continued the business first set up by his Grandfather improving and expanding it over the years. It was a coincidence that in Leinster Street were to be found two thriving businesses, one managed by Major Jackson while the other was controlled by Colonel Hosie, both of whom served overseas during World War II. Jackson Brothers continued in business until 1963 when a Receiver was appointed and the business was eventually sold. Quinns opened their hardware business in one part of the premises while Byrnes had a supermarket in that portion of the property now occupied by Perrys.
Jack Murphy had left Jacksons long before Francis Robert Jackson had taken over the business. Injured at work he lost a finger and his job in Jacksons Garage, but was fortunately able to rejoin his old employers, Duthie Larges where he was to remain until 1979. As I wrote in a previous Eye on the Past on Jack Murphy when he retired at 78 years of age, Leinster Street no longer had a Duthie or a Large or a Jackson in business.
Thursday, March 27, 1997
Thursday, March 20, 1997
Herterich's Pork Butchers
Paul Herterich closed the door of his pork butchers shop in Duke Street for the last time on Saturday, 29th March. Another family's long connection with the business life in Athy has now become part of the towns history. The departure of the Herterich name from our main street is a sad reminder of the everchanging face of Irish life as new occupations and skills push out the old and the traditional. Butcher shops, once a familiar site in every town and village in Ireland, are fast disappearing, a victim of the one stop shopping environment established and developed by the supermarket conglomerates.
Paul's father Ernest Herterich opened the doors of his pork butchers shop in Athy in February, 1942 in a premises purchased the previous year from Slaters Bookmakers. He was a member of a large family, the head of which was his father George Herterich who had emigrated from England at the turn of this century. George's father was German born Karl Godfrey Herterich who had opened a pork shop in Preston, England where he died in 1909. George Herterich emigrated to Ireland with two friends, George Haffner and George Mogley and all three were to be involved in pork butchering in one way or the other for the rest of their lives. Haffner was in time to found a sausage manufacturing business of the same name, while Mogley operated a pork butchers shop on the South Circular Road in Dublin. George Herterich opened his first business in Newry, Northern Ireland which did not succeed. He then moved to Dublin where he and his family lived in Percy Place, while he worked with Haffner Sausages.
In or about 1926 George set up a pork butchers business in Main Street, Naas which flourished and from where the later Herterich pork butchering empire was to spring. George and his wife Maud had eleven children, all of whom with he exception of their daughter Alice are now deceased. As the head of the Herterich family, George was noted for his strongly held views on the "perfidious" nature of Roman Catholicism which found expression in a tale often told of George and the annual Corpus Christi procession in Naas. Apparently the procession wound its way around the back of his property and passed a spot on George's wall where someone mischievously or otherwise had placed a statue. George stood nonchalantly at the side of the wall while the procession approached and as the standard bearers drew close, he tumbled the statue to the ground with a flick of his hand where it smashed in smithereens.
What is extraordinary to relate is that all eleven of his children became Catholics, and even his wife Maud was receiving instruction in the Catholic faith when she died. His two eldest sons, Charlie and Fred apparently made their decision to convert without recourse to their parents and on the pretext of travelling to football matches, cycled to Mass in Newbridge each Sunday morning. Ernest, who was to set up business in Athy, wanted to marry local Naas girl, Margaret Mahon but in the days of Ne Temere could not do so without himself being received into the Catholic Church. On approaching the local Parish Priest, Ernest was advised to his astonishment to discuss the matter with his two older brothers who unknown to him had already become Catholics.
The Herterich story is not limited to extraordinary happenings on the religious front, but follows the trail of the eight sons of George and Maud who opened up pork butchering businesses throughout the country. Charlie took over his father's business on the latter's death in 1932, while Fred opened up a shop in Galway which is still going strong. Ernest came to Athy and his brother Reggie went west to Tuam, both shops having since closed. Louis Herterich opened his pork shop in Longford, George in Newbridge and after his early death Harry opened up there. Desmond Herterich had his own shop in Westport which is still in business. Of the nine pork shops opened over the years, only three are still in operation. Ernest Herterich died in Athy in 1967 aged fifty three years and now the business he started fifty five years ago has closed for the last time.
As a young lad I can recall the enormously appetizing cooked hams which were once the hallmark of Herterich Pork Butchers. Unlike today, ham was then something acquired for the special guests, especially someone who arrived unannounced at teatime. Their presence generally necessitated a quick rethink on the evenings eating arrangements and a high tea was quickly assembled after a dash to Herterichs Pork Shop. There the whole cooked hams looked splendid in their dressed state, awaiting your choice before being plucked from the cabinet and sat comfortably into the slicer where the thin slices of meat were carefully assembled for weighing. A slice more or less could make all the difference as regards an equal distribution between young family members, the guest of course always having more than the rest of us and generally far too much for one person. At least that is what one could only presume from the protestations which always seemed to greet the proffered plate of ham. "Ah, sure that's too much for me" was the oft repeated claim which however never seemed to result in a more even distribution of Herterich's ham amongst the rest of us around the kitchen table.
The delights of Herterich's homecooked hams are today replaced by the bland uniformity of the Supermarket product which lacks the taste, texture and aroma of that which we enjoyed so many years ago. The closure of Herterich's Pork Shop would seem to suggest that we value convenience shopping more than we do the wholesome distinctive qualities which are the hallmark of the local shopkeeper.
Paul's father Ernest Herterich opened the doors of his pork butchers shop in Athy in February, 1942 in a premises purchased the previous year from Slaters Bookmakers. He was a member of a large family, the head of which was his father George Herterich who had emigrated from England at the turn of this century. George's father was German born Karl Godfrey Herterich who had opened a pork shop in Preston, England where he died in 1909. George Herterich emigrated to Ireland with two friends, George Haffner and George Mogley and all three were to be involved in pork butchering in one way or the other for the rest of their lives. Haffner was in time to found a sausage manufacturing business of the same name, while Mogley operated a pork butchers shop on the South Circular Road in Dublin. George Herterich opened his first business in Newry, Northern Ireland which did not succeed. He then moved to Dublin where he and his family lived in Percy Place, while he worked with Haffner Sausages.
In or about 1926 George set up a pork butchers business in Main Street, Naas which flourished and from where the later Herterich pork butchering empire was to spring. George and his wife Maud had eleven children, all of whom with he exception of their daughter Alice are now deceased. As the head of the Herterich family, George was noted for his strongly held views on the "perfidious" nature of Roman Catholicism which found expression in a tale often told of George and the annual Corpus Christi procession in Naas. Apparently the procession wound its way around the back of his property and passed a spot on George's wall where someone mischievously or otherwise had placed a statue. George stood nonchalantly at the side of the wall while the procession approached and as the standard bearers drew close, he tumbled the statue to the ground with a flick of his hand where it smashed in smithereens.
What is extraordinary to relate is that all eleven of his children became Catholics, and even his wife Maud was receiving instruction in the Catholic faith when she died. His two eldest sons, Charlie and Fred apparently made their decision to convert without recourse to their parents and on the pretext of travelling to football matches, cycled to Mass in Newbridge each Sunday morning. Ernest, who was to set up business in Athy, wanted to marry local Naas girl, Margaret Mahon but in the days of Ne Temere could not do so without himself being received into the Catholic Church. On approaching the local Parish Priest, Ernest was advised to his astonishment to discuss the matter with his two older brothers who unknown to him had already become Catholics.
The Herterich story is not limited to extraordinary happenings on the religious front, but follows the trail of the eight sons of George and Maud who opened up pork butchering businesses throughout the country. Charlie took over his father's business on the latter's death in 1932, while Fred opened up a shop in Galway which is still going strong. Ernest came to Athy and his brother Reggie went west to Tuam, both shops having since closed. Louis Herterich opened his pork shop in Longford, George in Newbridge and after his early death Harry opened up there. Desmond Herterich had his own shop in Westport which is still in business. Of the nine pork shops opened over the years, only three are still in operation. Ernest Herterich died in Athy in 1967 aged fifty three years and now the business he started fifty five years ago has closed for the last time.
As a young lad I can recall the enormously appetizing cooked hams which were once the hallmark of Herterich Pork Butchers. Unlike today, ham was then something acquired for the special guests, especially someone who arrived unannounced at teatime. Their presence generally necessitated a quick rethink on the evenings eating arrangements and a high tea was quickly assembled after a dash to Herterichs Pork Shop. There the whole cooked hams looked splendid in their dressed state, awaiting your choice before being plucked from the cabinet and sat comfortably into the slicer where the thin slices of meat were carefully assembled for weighing. A slice more or less could make all the difference as regards an equal distribution between young family members, the guest of course always having more than the rest of us and generally far too much for one person. At least that is what one could only presume from the protestations which always seemed to greet the proffered plate of ham. "Ah, sure that's too much for me" was the oft repeated claim which however never seemed to result in a more even distribution of Herterich's ham amongst the rest of us around the kitchen table.
The delights of Herterich's homecooked hams are today replaced by the bland uniformity of the Supermarket product which lacks the taste, texture and aroma of that which we enjoyed so many years ago. The closure of Herterich's Pork Shop would seem to suggest that we value convenience shopping more than we do the wholesome distinctive qualities which are the hallmark of the local shopkeeper.
Thursday, March 13, 1997
Cobh - Emigration - Heritage Centre
I sat at my desk this evening to write of a recent trip to Cobh, gateway to the Americas. It was for me a journey of discovery revealing as it did the evocative nature of Irish history. But as I sat poised to commence the article my eye fastened on a small, somewhat battered green card lying on my desk. Eighty seven years ago that card was sold for the sum of two shillings guaranteeing its purchaser a reserved seat for the Grand Popular Concert in the Town Hall, Athy, on St. Patrick's Night 1910. The Concert was given by the members of the "Athy Pierot Troupe" including Miss Stanford Campbell and Mr. Sealy Jeffares. Songs, choruses, instrumental selections and national dances were on offer for those attending. I have no knowledge of Miss Campbell or Mr. Jeffares or indeed any other member of the "Athy Pierrot Troupe", all of whom have undoubtedly passed away, almost certainly forgotten and unremembered. As they performed on the Town Hall stage that night they were possibly the most talked about group of individuals in the town. Their time is now long passed and their lives have disappeared unmarked and without leaving a trace in our own time.
I had a similar sense of loss as I travelled last week on the road between Cork and Cobh. At times the road narrowed between old stone walls which could have been there for over 100 years and it was then that thoughts crowded in on my mind of emigrants who once made the same journey. I could imagine them travelling with heavy hearts but as the harbour of Cobh came into view their tired faltering steps quickened in anticipation of the adventures that lay ahead. I thought also of the 37 young orphan girls sent from Athy Workhouse to Australia between 1849 and 1850. They were part of the 4,000 or so exported from Ireland under the Orphan Emigration Scheme introduced by the English Government following the Great Famine in order to reduce the number of children in Irish Workhouses. Those young girls probably travelled the same road as I did but they were destined never again to return to their homeland.
I paid a visit to the Heritage Centre located in the old Railway building of the harbour town which told of the origins, history and legacy of Cobh under the general title of the Queenstown Story. I have previously written of Ellis Island, New York, where the Irish emigrants of a later generation were to disembark for health and other checks before being allowed on to the mainland. In the post Famine years most emigrants from Ireland travelled to Canada ending up in Gosse Island which served as a receiving station for those crossing the Atlantic. The Irish travelled to America and Canada from many Irish ports but Cobh is fixed in most of our minds as the departure point for the greater number emigrating from this island. We will never know how many Athy men and women looked upon the towering spires of St. Colman's Cathedral in Cobh as their ships sailed over seas. The personal stories of the thousands who have left this area over the last 150 years cannot now ever hope to be told. All that may now remain, perhaps laid aside and forgotten, are mementos of a time and of a place which can never be reclaimed. Letters, cards and personal effects of the emigrants are like the ticket for the St. Patrick's Night Concert in 1910, a nostalgic reminder of another forgotten age.
The Queenstown Story as related in the Heritage Centre failed to catch my imagination despite the enormous advantages which the wealth of Cobh's historical links should have gained for it. I did not come away with a sense of the awfulness which must have attended the coffin ships and the convict ships which sailed from Cobh. The story of Irish emigration is a sad but inspiring one which gives enormous opportunity in its telling for the rich tapestry of history to be unfolded in its most lucid colours. That opportunity was not seized in the Cobh Heritage Centre and while I came away satisfied enough with what I had read, heard and seen I still long for a more dramatic retelling of a story in which people from my area of Co. Kildare played a part.
The importance of a Heritage Centre in a designated Heritage Town can perhaps be over emphasised. For instance in Cobh there was obvious neglect visible in the grass infested roads and pathways and in the poor state of many shop fronts. Athy could well take to heart the lessons to be learned from this and ensure that its shop fronts, street furniture and road signage complement and support its heritage status. Our Heritage Centre will be ready towards to end of the Summer and it is perhaps now we should be reviewing the need to replace the ugly road signs around the town. Time also to get rid of the E.S.B. sub-stations erected in Barrow Quay and Woodstock Street in the 1930's and time indeed to take away the unsightly poles on our streets and put the overhead wires under ground.
The site of our new Heritage Centre, the ground floor of the Town Hall, this week began to take on an appearance it last had over 100 years ago. It was once an open area which provided shelter for the Town Market and as the walls later built to provide meeting rooms are pulled down we can more easily visualise the market as it was at the beginning of the last century. Here was the centre of commercial life in 18th and 19th century Athy and as we head into the second millennium we are reshaping the building yet again confirming its status as the cultural centre of our town.
I had a similar sense of loss as I travelled last week on the road between Cork and Cobh. At times the road narrowed between old stone walls which could have been there for over 100 years and it was then that thoughts crowded in on my mind of emigrants who once made the same journey. I could imagine them travelling with heavy hearts but as the harbour of Cobh came into view their tired faltering steps quickened in anticipation of the adventures that lay ahead. I thought also of the 37 young orphan girls sent from Athy Workhouse to Australia between 1849 and 1850. They were part of the 4,000 or so exported from Ireland under the Orphan Emigration Scheme introduced by the English Government following the Great Famine in order to reduce the number of children in Irish Workhouses. Those young girls probably travelled the same road as I did but they were destined never again to return to their homeland.
I paid a visit to the Heritage Centre located in the old Railway building of the harbour town which told of the origins, history and legacy of Cobh under the general title of the Queenstown Story. I have previously written of Ellis Island, New York, where the Irish emigrants of a later generation were to disembark for health and other checks before being allowed on to the mainland. In the post Famine years most emigrants from Ireland travelled to Canada ending up in Gosse Island which served as a receiving station for those crossing the Atlantic. The Irish travelled to America and Canada from many Irish ports but Cobh is fixed in most of our minds as the departure point for the greater number emigrating from this island. We will never know how many Athy men and women looked upon the towering spires of St. Colman's Cathedral in Cobh as their ships sailed over seas. The personal stories of the thousands who have left this area over the last 150 years cannot now ever hope to be told. All that may now remain, perhaps laid aside and forgotten, are mementos of a time and of a place which can never be reclaimed. Letters, cards and personal effects of the emigrants are like the ticket for the St. Patrick's Night Concert in 1910, a nostalgic reminder of another forgotten age.
The Queenstown Story as related in the Heritage Centre failed to catch my imagination despite the enormous advantages which the wealth of Cobh's historical links should have gained for it. I did not come away with a sense of the awfulness which must have attended the coffin ships and the convict ships which sailed from Cobh. The story of Irish emigration is a sad but inspiring one which gives enormous opportunity in its telling for the rich tapestry of history to be unfolded in its most lucid colours. That opportunity was not seized in the Cobh Heritage Centre and while I came away satisfied enough with what I had read, heard and seen I still long for a more dramatic retelling of a story in which people from my area of Co. Kildare played a part.
The importance of a Heritage Centre in a designated Heritage Town can perhaps be over emphasised. For instance in Cobh there was obvious neglect visible in the grass infested roads and pathways and in the poor state of many shop fronts. Athy could well take to heart the lessons to be learned from this and ensure that its shop fronts, street furniture and road signage complement and support its heritage status. Our Heritage Centre will be ready towards to end of the Summer and it is perhaps now we should be reviewing the need to replace the ugly road signs around the town. Time also to get rid of the E.S.B. sub-stations erected in Barrow Quay and Woodstock Street in the 1930's and time indeed to take away the unsightly poles on our streets and put the overhead wires under ground.
The site of our new Heritage Centre, the ground floor of the Town Hall, this week began to take on an appearance it last had over 100 years ago. It was once an open area which provided shelter for the Town Market and as the walls later built to provide meeting rooms are pulled down we can more easily visualise the market as it was at the beginning of the last century. Here was the centre of commercial life in 18th and 19th century Athy and as we head into the second millennium we are reshaping the building yet again confirming its status as the cultural centre of our town.
Thursday, March 6, 1997
Athy's Town Hall
There is a feeling of nostalgia in the air this week. As a child of Offaly Street, l look upon the development of Butler's Row and the refurbishment of the ground floor of the Town Hall as further proof, if such is required, that the Town of my childhood is changing every so rapidly. The row of little houses in Butler's Row have been demolished and replaced by modern semi-detached models of the Architect's Training and Skill. It's the demolition work on the ground floor of the Town Hall which commenced on the Tuesday after St. Patrick's Day which brings back memories of times not so long ago.
When the builders have finished reshaping what was once the butter market, in its place we will have a Heritage Centre. I never imagined that such a thing existed when as a young fellow I played in the back square under the watchful eye of Jim Dempsey the Weighmaster. He sat in his little office alongside the Weighbridge which was positioned at the entrance of what up to last week was the Fire Station. Then of course the Fire Station was located in Meeting Lane and the Town Hall housed nothing more than the Wright family, the Ballroom on the First Floor and the Freemasons Lodge at the top of the building. What an extraordinary combination that was in the grand building which was provided for the people of Athy by the Duke of Leinster in the early years of the Eighteenth Century.
The initial construction date for the Town Hall is unclear although it was an existence by the time Bishop Pocoke passed through the town in 1745 . He noted "a new market house at Athy". It was for this purpose that the building was first constructed where its arcaded structure provided easy access for traders while protecting them and their wares from the vagaries of the Irish Weather. The building of the new corn exchange in 1862, a building later converted to use as the Courthouse, reinforced the Market Square as the Commercial Centre of Athy in the Nineteenth Century.
The ground floor of the Townhall served as the Market Place while the upper stories functioned as the centre of local Government during the days of the Borough Council of Athy. A number of borough officers would have used the Townhall. These included the Recorder, the Sergeants at Mace, the Town Clerk and Billet Master, the Bellman, the Weighmaster and the Inspector of Coal and Culm. Also on the first floor of the Townhall was the Courtroom where many a local man and woman faced the fearsome rigours of eighteenth and nineteenth Century Irish Law. Lengthy prison sentences were then common place even for what we would now regard as the simplest form of offence. The theft of a chicken merited the harsh penalty of seven years imprisonment which was served in the primitive conditions of the White Castle Prison up to 1830. Thereafter the new jail on the Carlow Road was the centre of detention where the prisoners at least could expect a more reasonable standard of care during their confinement. The Courtroom was a scene of many notable trials including those of persons implicated in the 1798 Rebellion and Robert Emmets Rebellion of five years later. The infamous hanging Judge Lord Norbury sat in Judgement on offenders in the Town Hall and on one memorable occasion he had a Jury which displeased him transported in turf baskets on the back of jennets to the borders of Co. Laois.
In the more recent years the Ballroom was a welcome addition to the facilities provided in the Town Hall. Again it was the Duke of Leinster who had the Ballroom incorporated into the building which was owned by the Duke's Family before it was acquired by Kildare County Council. For natives of Athy, the Ballroom holds many memories. A Theatre at times, it was home to successive amateur dramatic clubs and to Musical Societies long before the Social Club in St. John's Lane came on stream. Indeed, I can recall the very first play I attended in the Town Hall when I was a young lad, I was brought to the Town Hall by my older brother Jack to see "The Barrets of Wimpole Street". The Social Club players were involved and I have never forgotten what for me was a most memorable experience. Later on the Ballroom was a scene of Sunday afternoon dancing classes organised by Cara an Irish Language Organisation started in Athy forty years ago. There my pals and I made our first faltering attempts to follow in the dancing footsteps of our elders all of whom seemed to us to possess uncanny and seemingly unlearnable Ballroom Dancing skills. But the intricacies of the quick step were in time to be conquered even by us clumsily corduroyed lads of the late 1950's and before long we were able to strut our skill with the best of them. Indeed, the Town Hall Ballroom provided a great training ground for us before we transferred our allegience to Dreamland Ballroom when it opened its doors in 1961. By then the Town Hall was no longer the local dancing mecca having lost out to the Ritz in Carlow and Lawler's of Naas. Everything however was put to right with the coming of the Reynolds Brothers to Athy and the opening of Dreamland. The Town Hall was forgotten as we made the weekly Sunday night trip up past Blackparks to the Glitzy Lights of Athy's newest attraction.
As in life the wheel turns full circle and here we are over thirty five years later returning to the Town Hall. The lights have long gone out in Dreamland and its the ancient Buttermarket Building that is now about to come to life again.
When the builders have finished reshaping what was once the butter market, in its place we will have a Heritage Centre. I never imagined that such a thing existed when as a young fellow I played in the back square under the watchful eye of Jim Dempsey the Weighmaster. He sat in his little office alongside the Weighbridge which was positioned at the entrance of what up to last week was the Fire Station. Then of course the Fire Station was located in Meeting Lane and the Town Hall housed nothing more than the Wright family, the Ballroom on the First Floor and the Freemasons Lodge at the top of the building. What an extraordinary combination that was in the grand building which was provided for the people of Athy by the Duke of Leinster in the early years of the Eighteenth Century.
The initial construction date for the Town Hall is unclear although it was an existence by the time Bishop Pocoke passed through the town in 1745 . He noted "a new market house at Athy". It was for this purpose that the building was first constructed where its arcaded structure provided easy access for traders while protecting them and their wares from the vagaries of the Irish Weather. The building of the new corn exchange in 1862, a building later converted to use as the Courthouse, reinforced the Market Square as the Commercial Centre of Athy in the Nineteenth Century.
The ground floor of the Townhall served as the Market Place while the upper stories functioned as the centre of local Government during the days of the Borough Council of Athy. A number of borough officers would have used the Townhall. These included the Recorder, the Sergeants at Mace, the Town Clerk and Billet Master, the Bellman, the Weighmaster and the Inspector of Coal and Culm. Also on the first floor of the Townhall was the Courtroom where many a local man and woman faced the fearsome rigours of eighteenth and nineteenth Century Irish Law. Lengthy prison sentences were then common place even for what we would now regard as the simplest form of offence. The theft of a chicken merited the harsh penalty of seven years imprisonment which was served in the primitive conditions of the White Castle Prison up to 1830. Thereafter the new jail on the Carlow Road was the centre of detention where the prisoners at least could expect a more reasonable standard of care during their confinement. The Courtroom was a scene of many notable trials including those of persons implicated in the 1798 Rebellion and Robert Emmets Rebellion of five years later. The infamous hanging Judge Lord Norbury sat in Judgement on offenders in the Town Hall and on one memorable occasion he had a Jury which displeased him transported in turf baskets on the back of jennets to the borders of Co. Laois.
In the more recent years the Ballroom was a welcome addition to the facilities provided in the Town Hall. Again it was the Duke of Leinster who had the Ballroom incorporated into the building which was owned by the Duke's Family before it was acquired by Kildare County Council. For natives of Athy, the Ballroom holds many memories. A Theatre at times, it was home to successive amateur dramatic clubs and to Musical Societies long before the Social Club in St. John's Lane came on stream. Indeed, I can recall the very first play I attended in the Town Hall when I was a young lad, I was brought to the Town Hall by my older brother Jack to see "The Barrets of Wimpole Street". The Social Club players were involved and I have never forgotten what for me was a most memorable experience. Later on the Ballroom was a scene of Sunday afternoon dancing classes organised by Cara an Irish Language Organisation started in Athy forty years ago. There my pals and I made our first faltering attempts to follow in the dancing footsteps of our elders all of whom seemed to us to possess uncanny and seemingly unlearnable Ballroom Dancing skills. But the intricacies of the quick step were in time to be conquered even by us clumsily corduroyed lads of the late 1950's and before long we were able to strut our skill with the best of them. Indeed, the Town Hall Ballroom provided a great training ground for us before we transferred our allegience to Dreamland Ballroom when it opened its doors in 1961. By then the Town Hall was no longer the local dancing mecca having lost out to the Ritz in Carlow and Lawler's of Naas. Everything however was put to right with the coming of the Reynolds Brothers to Athy and the opening of Dreamland. The Town Hall was forgotten as we made the weekly Sunday night trip up past Blackparks to the Glitzy Lights of Athy's newest attraction.
As in life the wheel turns full circle and here we are over thirty five years later returning to the Town Hall. The lights have long gone out in Dreamland and its the ancient Buttermarket Building that is now about to come to life again.
Thursday, February 27, 1997
Archbishop Empey
Walton Empey Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland returned to Athy on Sunday, 2nd March to confirm a number of young people in St. Michael's Church, Athy. It was an important day for the youngsters involved and no less important for Athy, the onetime town on the borders of the English Pale. The occasion was marked by the Town Council with a civic reception for Archbishop Empey the first such so far as I am aware for any Church of Ireland Archbishop of this Diocese.
In a very pleasant speech after the formal presentation in the Council Chamber, Archbishop Empey regaled the audience with memories of both his parents family links with Athy. The Empey's of Leinster Street and the Cox's of Duke Street are still remembered in the Town. Newcome Empey Painting and Decorating Contractor carried on business in what is now O'Sullivan's Video Shop while the Cox's lived in Number 27 Duke Street.
For the Archbishop, the visit was a welcome return to the town where he spent many happy holidays with his grandmother. Indeed, as he told the congregation in St. Michael's Church on Sunday morning as a young boy, he had pumped the Church organ on many an occasion during Sunday service in the 1940's. The Organist was his Granny, Mrs. Cox whose devotion to her duties as Church Organist extended over three decades.
The Members of the Town Council attended the Confirmation Service in St. Michael's again possibly another first for the elected representatives of Athy. I was reminded of a recently published book of memoirs by Tim Leahy, a retired Garda Superintendent who recalled Confirmation Day in Buncranna, Co. Donegal in the 1970's where the local F.C.A. provided a Guard of Honour for the Bishop while the Urban Councillors attended at the Church with the Chairman wearing his chain of office. The writer noted "Bishop Farren it would appear was partial to this ostentatious pomposity".
No such ostentatious display for Archbishop Empey, however as he reciprocated the Councillors Civic Reception with an invitation to the Confirmation Ceremony. He spoke during the Confirmation Ceremony addressing his words to the youngsters who were to receive Confirmation. As I sat there listening to him, I was conscious that St. Michael's was the oldest Church in Athy still in use. The doors of St. Michael's were first opened in 1840, five years before the advent of the Great Famine. The Rector at the time was Frederick Trench then living in Kilmoroney House who was to tragically die following an accident at Preston's Gate in Offaly Street in November 1860. His Parishioners erected a beautiful marble pulpit in St. Michael's in his memory which is still standing and in use.
But to return to Archbishop Empey, he was generous of his time that Sunday and welcomed the opportunity to meet the public representatives from his parents home town. Indeed there was a delightful moment in the Council Chamber when Tom "Tanner" Bracken met Archbishop Empey and the two reminisced of the days when the Brackens and Newcombe Empey worked together. Born in 1934 in Dublin, Archbishop Empey was ordained 25 years later and spent the next 22 years in various Parishes in Ireland and Canada. He was the Bishop's curate in Grand Falls New Brunswick Canada for three years from 1960 and Incumbent of Madawaska in Canada for another three years. Returning to Ireland he spent five years in Stradbally the nearest Parish to Ballintubbert where another prominent churchman but from a different century was born. That was Thomas Kelly, the man who often preached in St. Michael's, Athy and who established the Kellyites in Athy and in Blackrock, Co. Dublin at the beginning of the last Century.
Walton Empey was first elected Bishop for Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmadugh and Emly in 1981. The amalgamation of the ancient Dioceses enumerated in this title is a clear indication of the falling numbers then and now being experienced by the Church of Ireland. Today there are approximately 100,000 members of what I always refer to as the reformed Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland. Bishop Empey was elected Bishop of Meath and Kildare in 1985 before becoming Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland last year. Although he was not born in Athy, we can justifiably claim him as our own, and take pride in his appointment as Primate of Ireland.
A number of people have written to me recently with various queries and from that correspondence, I take one letter which questioned whether I was right in claiming that Pairc Bhride was named after St. Brigid, the Patron Saint of Kildare. The writer thought that Miss. Brigid Darby former member of Athy Urban District Council and Headmistress of Churchtown National School was the person honoured in the name of the early 1950 housing estate. I wonder can any of my readers throw light on the subject.
In a very pleasant speech after the formal presentation in the Council Chamber, Archbishop Empey regaled the audience with memories of both his parents family links with Athy. The Empey's of Leinster Street and the Cox's of Duke Street are still remembered in the Town. Newcome Empey Painting and Decorating Contractor carried on business in what is now O'Sullivan's Video Shop while the Cox's lived in Number 27 Duke Street.
For the Archbishop, the visit was a welcome return to the town where he spent many happy holidays with his grandmother. Indeed, as he told the congregation in St. Michael's Church on Sunday morning as a young boy, he had pumped the Church organ on many an occasion during Sunday service in the 1940's. The Organist was his Granny, Mrs. Cox whose devotion to her duties as Church Organist extended over three decades.
The Members of the Town Council attended the Confirmation Service in St. Michael's again possibly another first for the elected representatives of Athy. I was reminded of a recently published book of memoirs by Tim Leahy, a retired Garda Superintendent who recalled Confirmation Day in Buncranna, Co. Donegal in the 1970's where the local F.C.A. provided a Guard of Honour for the Bishop while the Urban Councillors attended at the Church with the Chairman wearing his chain of office. The writer noted "Bishop Farren it would appear was partial to this ostentatious pomposity".
No such ostentatious display for Archbishop Empey, however as he reciprocated the Councillors Civic Reception with an invitation to the Confirmation Ceremony. He spoke during the Confirmation Ceremony addressing his words to the youngsters who were to receive Confirmation. As I sat there listening to him, I was conscious that St. Michael's was the oldest Church in Athy still in use. The doors of St. Michael's were first opened in 1840, five years before the advent of the Great Famine. The Rector at the time was Frederick Trench then living in Kilmoroney House who was to tragically die following an accident at Preston's Gate in Offaly Street in November 1860. His Parishioners erected a beautiful marble pulpit in St. Michael's in his memory which is still standing and in use.
But to return to Archbishop Empey, he was generous of his time that Sunday and welcomed the opportunity to meet the public representatives from his parents home town. Indeed there was a delightful moment in the Council Chamber when Tom "Tanner" Bracken met Archbishop Empey and the two reminisced of the days when the Brackens and Newcombe Empey worked together. Born in 1934 in Dublin, Archbishop Empey was ordained 25 years later and spent the next 22 years in various Parishes in Ireland and Canada. He was the Bishop's curate in Grand Falls New Brunswick Canada for three years from 1960 and Incumbent of Madawaska in Canada for another three years. Returning to Ireland he spent five years in Stradbally the nearest Parish to Ballintubbert where another prominent churchman but from a different century was born. That was Thomas Kelly, the man who often preached in St. Michael's, Athy and who established the Kellyites in Athy and in Blackrock, Co. Dublin at the beginning of the last Century.
Walton Empey was first elected Bishop for Limerick, Ardfert, Aghadoe, Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert, Kilmadugh and Emly in 1981. The amalgamation of the ancient Dioceses enumerated in this title is a clear indication of the falling numbers then and now being experienced by the Church of Ireland. Today there are approximately 100,000 members of what I always refer to as the reformed Catholic Church in the Republic of Ireland. Bishop Empey was elected Bishop of Meath and Kildare in 1985 before becoming Archbishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland last year. Although he was not born in Athy, we can justifiably claim him as our own, and take pride in his appointment as Primate of Ireland.
A number of people have written to me recently with various queries and from that correspondence, I take one letter which questioned whether I was right in claiming that Pairc Bhride was named after St. Brigid, the Patron Saint of Kildare. The writer thought that Miss. Brigid Darby former member of Athy Urban District Council and Headmistress of Churchtown National School was the person honoured in the name of the early 1950 housing estate. I wonder can any of my readers throw light on the subject.
Thursday, February 20, 1997
Medieval Athy
Two weeks ago in the Town Hall the local branch of An Taisce hosted a lecture given by Mr. John Bradley, a lecturer in medieval history at Maynooth College. The title of the lecture was the ‘Medieval town in Ireland’ with particular reference to the towns of County Kildare. Those who braved the elements on that wintry night enjoyed a comprehensive treatment of the origins, nature and form of the urban settlement in Ireland. It prompted me to reflect on Athy in the medieval period, as to the type of communal facilities or arrangements which existed in the town. Squalor and filth was an integral part of the street life of that period. Towns varied in their tolerance towards the keeping of dunghills outside houses. One writer noted -
‘Every house had a heap of refuse outside it, partly because many horses and pigs were kept in the towns, and partly because destruction of refuse by burning was not considered safe’.
Athy’s charter of 1515 is silent on such matters but it may be assumed that there existed some system for disposal of waste. One author writes of the period -
‘Street cleaning defeated the authorities of every medieval town. Despite regulations often repeated, householders persisted in dumping refuse and sewage in the streets, and allowing their animals and poultry to foul public thoroughfares at will. Few people concerned themselves if dead animals lay about unburied for days, and butchers who commonly did their slaughtering in the streets, allowed the blood and offal to drain away as best they could. The channel which ran down the middle of most streets became an open sewer, and on hot and humid days, it must have stunk abominably’.
In English towns for this period there survive some references to the disposal of refuse. In Cambridge in 1402 dung and filth was allowed to accumulate in heaps for up to seven days while in York in the late fourteenth century any accumulation that could be called a heap was prohibited. It is likely that in these English towns as in Athy there would have existed ‘carters’ or scavengers’ who would have removed such materials for a small sum. In the 12th of July, 1890 issue of the Kildare Observer it was reported that at the meeting of the Town Commissioners, the ‘scavenger’ who was normally required to be in attendance to preserve order in the town fair was not noticed. The reason apparently was the latest suit of clothes, paid for him by the Commissioners, was of a brown colour rather than the traditional red which had made it easy to distinguish him from other people at the fair. It was suggested and agreed, that the colour be altered and that a green suit would be used instead. The job of the scavenger was to keep the marketplace and the fair clean and free of all dirt or obstructions. His appointment might have been a consequence of the Town Commissioners meeting in September 1886 ‘when the dirty conditions of the streets of the town were once more discussed. It is really time that something should be done to remedy this crying evil.’
It would appear that the ‘scavenger’ was unable to perform his role adequately as the sheer volume of his work overwhelmed him. One anonymous writer, more cynical than most, was inspired to pen a piece entitled ‘Sweet Athy’ which he stated was inspired by the ‘present superfluity of mud and gas in Athy’.
“Sweet Athy! Loveliest village in Kildare,
Where muddy streets appear with mud so fair,
How often I wandered down thy street,
While lovely clinging slush adorned my feet.
Here nature holds her own with regal sway,
No wandering scavenger e’er mars the day,
And if per chance he comes to ply his art,
With shovel, brush and corporation cart.
Poetic soul he takes not all the dirt,
Fearing dame nature he per chance might hurt,
The better part he leaves upon the ground,
To be by passing footsteps spread around.”
But the Towns administration was not always dilatory in its treatment of such matters and where required reverted to law. From time to time the courts had to intervene in such matters. The Leinster Leader for the 13th February, 1904 reported that -
“At the Athy Petty Session on Tuesday a large number of parties were at the incidence of the Urban Council fined for creating obstructions by allowing heaps of manure to accumulate outside the doors on the streets at their residences. At this time the occupants of small houses sell whatever manure is accumulating in their back premises to the local shopkeepers and farmers. The manure has of course to be transferred to the streets where it is sometimes allowed to remain for days, constituting a source of danger and presenting a most unsightly appearance. It is a pity however that the real culprits, the purchasers, can apparently escape scot free. In one case disposed of on Tuesday the defendant, a delicate, sickly and indeed hungry-looking old woman who was in receipt of 1 shilling and 6 pence a week outdoor relief was ordered to pay in fines and costs exactly what she received for the manure, 2 shillings. Yet in the case it was shown that the purchaser had bought the manure fully a week before it was transferred to the street. Its failure to remove it resulting in the unfortunate woman who sold it being punished in a manner almost beyond bearing. Neglect of this description is certainly a crime.”
Today happily such problems are a thing of the past.
‘Every house had a heap of refuse outside it, partly because many horses and pigs were kept in the towns, and partly because destruction of refuse by burning was not considered safe’.
Athy’s charter of 1515 is silent on such matters but it may be assumed that there existed some system for disposal of waste. One author writes of the period -
‘Street cleaning defeated the authorities of every medieval town. Despite regulations often repeated, householders persisted in dumping refuse and sewage in the streets, and allowing their animals and poultry to foul public thoroughfares at will. Few people concerned themselves if dead animals lay about unburied for days, and butchers who commonly did their slaughtering in the streets, allowed the blood and offal to drain away as best they could. The channel which ran down the middle of most streets became an open sewer, and on hot and humid days, it must have stunk abominably’.
In English towns for this period there survive some references to the disposal of refuse. In Cambridge in 1402 dung and filth was allowed to accumulate in heaps for up to seven days while in York in the late fourteenth century any accumulation that could be called a heap was prohibited. It is likely that in these English towns as in Athy there would have existed ‘carters’ or scavengers’ who would have removed such materials for a small sum. In the 12th of July, 1890 issue of the Kildare Observer it was reported that at the meeting of the Town Commissioners, the ‘scavenger’ who was normally required to be in attendance to preserve order in the town fair was not noticed. The reason apparently was the latest suit of clothes, paid for him by the Commissioners, was of a brown colour rather than the traditional red which had made it easy to distinguish him from other people at the fair. It was suggested and agreed, that the colour be altered and that a green suit would be used instead. The job of the scavenger was to keep the marketplace and the fair clean and free of all dirt or obstructions. His appointment might have been a consequence of the Town Commissioners meeting in September 1886 ‘when the dirty conditions of the streets of the town were once more discussed. It is really time that something should be done to remedy this crying evil.’
It would appear that the ‘scavenger’ was unable to perform his role adequately as the sheer volume of his work overwhelmed him. One anonymous writer, more cynical than most, was inspired to pen a piece entitled ‘Sweet Athy’ which he stated was inspired by the ‘present superfluity of mud and gas in Athy’.
“Sweet Athy! Loveliest village in Kildare,
Where muddy streets appear with mud so fair,
How often I wandered down thy street,
While lovely clinging slush adorned my feet.
Here nature holds her own with regal sway,
No wandering scavenger e’er mars the day,
And if per chance he comes to ply his art,
With shovel, brush and corporation cart.
Poetic soul he takes not all the dirt,
Fearing dame nature he per chance might hurt,
The better part he leaves upon the ground,
To be by passing footsteps spread around.”
But the Towns administration was not always dilatory in its treatment of such matters and where required reverted to law. From time to time the courts had to intervene in such matters. The Leinster Leader for the 13th February, 1904 reported that -
“At the Athy Petty Session on Tuesday a large number of parties were at the incidence of the Urban Council fined for creating obstructions by allowing heaps of manure to accumulate outside the doors on the streets at their residences. At this time the occupants of small houses sell whatever manure is accumulating in their back premises to the local shopkeepers and farmers. The manure has of course to be transferred to the streets where it is sometimes allowed to remain for days, constituting a source of danger and presenting a most unsightly appearance. It is a pity however that the real culprits, the purchasers, can apparently escape scot free. In one case disposed of on Tuesday the defendant, a delicate, sickly and indeed hungry-looking old woman who was in receipt of 1 shilling and 6 pence a week outdoor relief was ordered to pay in fines and costs exactly what she received for the manure, 2 shillings. Yet in the case it was shown that the purchaser had bought the manure fully a week before it was transferred to the street. Its failure to remove it resulting in the unfortunate woman who sold it being punished in a manner almost beyond bearing. Neglect of this description is certainly a crime.”
Today happily such problems are a thing of the past.
Thursday, February 13, 1997
Athy UDC and the War of Independence
New Year's Day 1921 saw no respite in the continuing conflict between the Black and Tans and the newly recruited auxiliaries on the one hand and the Irish Republican Army on the other. The year started as the old year had ended with killings on both sides, but losses were heaviest amongst the ranks of the largely untrained volunteers on the Republican side. Even before the first 24 hours elapsed John Lawler of Ardfert, Thomas Murphy of Ballylanders and Daniel Tobin of County Limerick would be killed.
In Athy the Urban District Council met in the Town Hall on 4th April under the chairmanship of Thomas Corcoran of Woodstock St. His vice-chairman was Michael "Crutch" Malone, also of Woodstock St. whose later claim to fame was as author of the "Annals of Athy". The other Council members included Rex Hannon of Athy Mills, Thomas J. Whelan, Thomas O'Rourke and Joseph O'Rourke, all of William St., Patrick Keogh and Peter Paul Doyle of Woodstock St. The Bleach was represented by Patrick Dooley who was not to be confused with another Council member of the same name but who lived in Leinster St., which was also the address of Francis Jackson. William Mahon of Clonmullin, John Joseph Bailey of Stanhope St., Daniel Toomey of Meeting Lane and James Dargan of Butler's Row were the remaining Council members.
The Town Clerk, Joseph A. Lawler, had little to do that night as the fifteen man Council quickly went through the meetings Agenda. Apparently the Council's only decision concerned the taking down of the public lamps and gas fittings for the summer of 1921. The Town Surveyor, Michael Bradley of Offaly St. informed the members that surfacing with broken limestone and steam rolling of the main roads would continue, while five heaps of manure had been sold by P.J. Corcoran, Auctioneer for £5.7.6.
On 11th April the Council members met yet again to strike a rate of £7.6s in the pound to meet it's financial needs for the coming year. One week later it again convened to establish a Committee to further the appeal issued by the Irish White Cross. This organisation had been established late the previous year to help cope with the distress and hardship resulting from the War then being raged throughout Ireland. The Athy Committee consisted of Canon Mackey, the Parish Priest; Archdeacon Johnson, Church of Ireland Rector; Thomas Corcoran, Urban Council Chairman; M.E. Doyle; P.P. Doyle; William Malone; R.A. Hannon; Michael Dooley and C.J. Supple, a local Trade Union organiser. The White Cross Organisation was later to report that £125.15 was paid in personal relief to Athy people to 31st August, 1922. During the same period a total of £1,302.00 was paid to residents in Carlow.
Athy Young Emmets, the local Gaelic Football Club were granted permission by the Urban Council to erect a barrier at the entrance gate of the show grounds on the occasion of the Kildare v. Laois football match on Sunday, 8th May 1921. No doubt the young men from Barrowhouse area travelled to Athy that day to cheer on their County team. They were to be disappointed as the Kildare men ran out victors on the score of 2:3 to 1:3. As they travelled home that evening little did they realise that on the following Sunday two of their neighbours would become part of the deadly statistics in the bitter armed struggle which would end even if only temporarily with the calling of the truce on 11th July.
James Lacey and William Connor would die on the side of the roadway at Barrowhouse on 15th May, 1921. They had been members of a party which attempted to ambush a group of Black and Tans which were travelling through the Irish countryside around Barrowhouse on their way from Ballylinan to Maganey.
The next night the members of Athy Urban District Council met again in the Town Hall. Reference was made to the house Dr. John Kilbride was building in what the minute writer termed "Crib Road". Even now we know that the reference was to Church Road, although the name "Crib Road" has long gone out of use. A vote of sympathy was passed on the death of Mrs. Murphy, wife of Michael Murphy of Commercial House, Athy who had been a member
of the Council for many years. The minutes of that meeting do not record any reference to the killing of Connor or Lacey, nor was there any reference at their next meeting held on 6th June. At that latter meeting votes of sympathy were passed on the death of Matthew Minch, "a member of this Council and it's Chairman for many years and it's largest rate payer". A similar vote of sympathy was also passed on the death of John Holland, veterinary surgeon of Model Farm, Athy.
During the month of May 1921 70 Irishmen were killed by the Crown forces in Ireland, while 39 men were killed the following month. Nowhere is there recorded in the minutes of the local Urban District Council any reference to this. No outrage followed the shocking events which were unfolding daily throughout the country. Even where the drama unfolded within shooting distance of the town, it did not apparently merit any mention at meetings of the local Council.
Life in the Market Town went on as before, with the town fathers' only concern being with that of the public lamps, the sale of manure heaps and road surfacing. History appears to have passed by the Town Council without leaving it's mark.
In Athy the Urban District Council met in the Town Hall on 4th April under the chairmanship of Thomas Corcoran of Woodstock St. His vice-chairman was Michael "Crutch" Malone, also of Woodstock St. whose later claim to fame was as author of the "Annals of Athy". The other Council members included Rex Hannon of Athy Mills, Thomas J. Whelan, Thomas O'Rourke and Joseph O'Rourke, all of William St., Patrick Keogh and Peter Paul Doyle of Woodstock St. The Bleach was represented by Patrick Dooley who was not to be confused with another Council member of the same name but who lived in Leinster St., which was also the address of Francis Jackson. William Mahon of Clonmullin, John Joseph Bailey of Stanhope St., Daniel Toomey of Meeting Lane and James Dargan of Butler's Row were the remaining Council members.
The Town Clerk, Joseph A. Lawler, had little to do that night as the fifteen man Council quickly went through the meetings Agenda. Apparently the Council's only decision concerned the taking down of the public lamps and gas fittings for the summer of 1921. The Town Surveyor, Michael Bradley of Offaly St. informed the members that surfacing with broken limestone and steam rolling of the main roads would continue, while five heaps of manure had been sold by P.J. Corcoran, Auctioneer for £5.7.6.
On 11th April the Council members met yet again to strike a rate of £7.6s in the pound to meet it's financial needs for the coming year. One week later it again convened to establish a Committee to further the appeal issued by the Irish White Cross. This organisation had been established late the previous year to help cope with the distress and hardship resulting from the War then being raged throughout Ireland. The Athy Committee consisted of Canon Mackey, the Parish Priest; Archdeacon Johnson, Church of Ireland Rector; Thomas Corcoran, Urban Council Chairman; M.E. Doyle; P.P. Doyle; William Malone; R.A. Hannon; Michael Dooley and C.J. Supple, a local Trade Union organiser. The White Cross Organisation was later to report that £125.15 was paid in personal relief to Athy people to 31st August, 1922. During the same period a total of £1,302.00 was paid to residents in Carlow.
Athy Young Emmets, the local Gaelic Football Club were granted permission by the Urban Council to erect a barrier at the entrance gate of the show grounds on the occasion of the Kildare v. Laois football match on Sunday, 8th May 1921. No doubt the young men from Barrowhouse area travelled to Athy that day to cheer on their County team. They were to be disappointed as the Kildare men ran out victors on the score of 2:3 to 1:3. As they travelled home that evening little did they realise that on the following Sunday two of their neighbours would become part of the deadly statistics in the bitter armed struggle which would end even if only temporarily with the calling of the truce on 11th July.
James Lacey and William Connor would die on the side of the roadway at Barrowhouse on 15th May, 1921. They had been members of a party which attempted to ambush a group of Black and Tans which were travelling through the Irish countryside around Barrowhouse on their way from Ballylinan to Maganey.
The next night the members of Athy Urban District Council met again in the Town Hall. Reference was made to the house Dr. John Kilbride was building in what the minute writer termed "Crib Road". Even now we know that the reference was to Church Road, although the name "Crib Road" has long gone out of use. A vote of sympathy was passed on the death of Mrs. Murphy, wife of Michael Murphy of Commercial House, Athy who had been a member
of the Council for many years. The minutes of that meeting do not record any reference to the killing of Connor or Lacey, nor was there any reference at their next meeting held on 6th June. At that latter meeting votes of sympathy were passed on the death of Matthew Minch, "a member of this Council and it's Chairman for many years and it's largest rate payer". A similar vote of sympathy was also passed on the death of John Holland, veterinary surgeon of Model Farm, Athy.
During the month of May 1921 70 Irishmen were killed by the Crown forces in Ireland, while 39 men were killed the following month. Nowhere is there recorded in the minutes of the local Urban District Council any reference to this. No outrage followed the shocking events which were unfolding daily throughout the country. Even where the drama unfolded within shooting distance of the town, it did not apparently merit any mention at meetings of the local Council.
Life in the Market Town went on as before, with the town fathers' only concern being with that of the public lamps, the sale of manure heaps and road surfacing. History appears to have passed by the Town Council without leaving it's mark.
Thursday, February 6, 1997
Athy in the last decade of the 18th century
Next year will mark the 200th anniversary of the 1798 rebellion. This was a period of great turmoil in Ireland and particularly in the county of Kildare and the town of Athy. How we commemorate what has been called the year of liberty will be indicative of our views concerning the murderous events that unfolded two centuries ago. A previous commemoration in 1898 was marked by an upsurge in nationalism with a particular idolisation of those men and women involved in the rebellion. It was however a different age. Parnell was not long dead and the nationalist movement that would soon sweep the country was only then in the early stages of a development which would see it replace the Irish Home Rule party in Westminster.
However, this was all in the future when the assizes opened in the Town Hall, Athy on the 3rd August 1790. Among the barristers robing in the bar room that day was a young newly qualified member of the legal profession. Theobald Wolfe Tone was then struggling to support his young family while at the same time developing his political outlook. What would Tone have made of the town of Athy as it was in 1790. He could hardly have foreseen that he would be one of those responsible for the events that would divide the townspeople eight years later. Our knowledge of the town in this period comes from contemporary writings of the time. The French traveller De Latocnaye who journeyed from Carlow to Athy in 1796 in order to catch the ‘service of public boats to Dublin’ described Athy as a ‘village’. On entering it he was ‘stopped by four or five persons who asked for charity - they explained that it was to be used to give decent burial to a poor wretch who had died of hunger’. Dear Latocnayes response was quite cynical - ‘I replied that since he was dead he wanted nothing. This answer did not appear to satisfy them, and so I contributed to the funereal pomp, the occasion being, perhaps, the only one in which the poor fellow’s friends were interested in his concerns’.
Chevalier De Latocnaye was an exiled French royalist whose lifestyle in his homeland would have been a world apart from the rather bleak small midland towns he found himself while travelling through Ireland. For example, his single observation regarding Carlow was that a seminary for catholic priests had recently been established there. Although in the case of Athy one must conclude that the Frenchman’s view was a fair refection of the town as it then was.
Not many years earlier the antiquarian Austin Cooper visited the town and his description of the town in 1782 suggests a quiet, sleepy backwater, the town being ‘a small town situated on the river Barrow over which is a plain bridge of arches with a low square castle adjoining on the east side. Here is a market house, church and county courthouse, nothing remarkable in elegance of building. On the north west side of the town is a plain horse barracks and near it another old castle’.
The year before Wolfe Tone attended the court at Athy, Deborah Chandlee, a member of the local Quaker community (whose husband Thomas was a linen draper in Duke Street), wrote to her sister Sarah Shackleton in Ballitore that ‘Athy affords nothing worth sending (newswise) it being dead in every sense of the word’.
Thomas Rawson, one time Sovereign of the town, and the man who would play a prominent part in the events of 1798 on the government side wrote in 1807 that ‘in the midst of a populous charming country with water carriage to all the world Athy is neglected, is in poverty and has not any one manufacture carried on’. He felt that the position of the town on the river Barrow and with its junction with the grand canal held out ‘much invitation to English capital and English Industry’. He further noted that ‘its vicinity abounds with mill sites yet it is full of unemployed inhabitants’. A colourful account survives of one individuals impressions of the towns market in 1837 which would not have been vastly different from the market scene at the end of the 18th century - ‘just take a walk to Cobb’s Corner and proceed from thence around the market square. On your left is a row of decent looking housewives, clean aprons, clean faces, with “I assure you it is as sweet and clean butter as any in Ireland, and those eggs were laid this blessed good morning.” Don’t be surprised if the butter and eggs get together. Go on a little further through the corn sacks, and it is a chance if you don’t stumble over the new crocks and dishes prepared to pack the butter or hold the milk in, with now and then a sort of jingling knell, sounding in the midst of those self same crocks”.
So we might picture Athy on the eve of the rebellion as typical market town somewhat stagnant and yet to experience the growth which would come in the first half of the nineteenth century. The rebellion would have many participants, some willing, many others unavoidably and reluctantly dragged into the horror and grief which marked those times. Some locals would play a more prominent part than others. Thomas Rawson of Glassealy House who later wrote of the town in his book ‘Survey of Kildare’, would be blamed for the repressive government action in the locality in the months leading to and after the rebellion itself. Mary Leadbetter, a resident of Ballitore, would write eloquently and with great compassion in the Annals of Ballitore of the excesses on both sides. A member of the Fitzgerald family would enter the pantheon of nationalist heroes before the rebellion had ended. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who had once been a member of parliament for the Borough of Athy was to be captured due in no small measure to the treachery of another local, Thomas Reynolds, who lived in Kilkea Castle. But more important than all those individuals were the people of Athy who suffered and endured the most terrible hardships during and after the rebellion.
Next year we will have an opportunity to both remember and commemorate this significant period in our town’s history. Whether we view these events with misty eyed romanticism as did those who celebrated the centenary in 1898 remains to be seen. Perhaps these events and their participants deserve a more realistic appraisal and assessment in the context of the national and local history of the day.
However, this was all in the future when the assizes opened in the Town Hall, Athy on the 3rd August 1790. Among the barristers robing in the bar room that day was a young newly qualified member of the legal profession. Theobald Wolfe Tone was then struggling to support his young family while at the same time developing his political outlook. What would Tone have made of the town of Athy as it was in 1790. He could hardly have foreseen that he would be one of those responsible for the events that would divide the townspeople eight years later. Our knowledge of the town in this period comes from contemporary writings of the time. The French traveller De Latocnaye who journeyed from Carlow to Athy in 1796 in order to catch the ‘service of public boats to Dublin’ described Athy as a ‘village’. On entering it he was ‘stopped by four or five persons who asked for charity - they explained that it was to be used to give decent burial to a poor wretch who had died of hunger’. Dear Latocnayes response was quite cynical - ‘I replied that since he was dead he wanted nothing. This answer did not appear to satisfy them, and so I contributed to the funereal pomp, the occasion being, perhaps, the only one in which the poor fellow’s friends were interested in his concerns’.
Chevalier De Latocnaye was an exiled French royalist whose lifestyle in his homeland would have been a world apart from the rather bleak small midland towns he found himself while travelling through Ireland. For example, his single observation regarding Carlow was that a seminary for catholic priests had recently been established there. Although in the case of Athy one must conclude that the Frenchman’s view was a fair refection of the town as it then was.
Not many years earlier the antiquarian Austin Cooper visited the town and his description of the town in 1782 suggests a quiet, sleepy backwater, the town being ‘a small town situated on the river Barrow over which is a plain bridge of arches with a low square castle adjoining on the east side. Here is a market house, church and county courthouse, nothing remarkable in elegance of building. On the north west side of the town is a plain horse barracks and near it another old castle’.
The year before Wolfe Tone attended the court at Athy, Deborah Chandlee, a member of the local Quaker community (whose husband Thomas was a linen draper in Duke Street), wrote to her sister Sarah Shackleton in Ballitore that ‘Athy affords nothing worth sending (newswise) it being dead in every sense of the word’.
Thomas Rawson, one time Sovereign of the town, and the man who would play a prominent part in the events of 1798 on the government side wrote in 1807 that ‘in the midst of a populous charming country with water carriage to all the world Athy is neglected, is in poverty and has not any one manufacture carried on’. He felt that the position of the town on the river Barrow and with its junction with the grand canal held out ‘much invitation to English capital and English Industry’. He further noted that ‘its vicinity abounds with mill sites yet it is full of unemployed inhabitants’. A colourful account survives of one individuals impressions of the towns market in 1837 which would not have been vastly different from the market scene at the end of the 18th century - ‘just take a walk to Cobb’s Corner and proceed from thence around the market square. On your left is a row of decent looking housewives, clean aprons, clean faces, with “I assure you it is as sweet and clean butter as any in Ireland, and those eggs were laid this blessed good morning.” Don’t be surprised if the butter and eggs get together. Go on a little further through the corn sacks, and it is a chance if you don’t stumble over the new crocks and dishes prepared to pack the butter or hold the milk in, with now and then a sort of jingling knell, sounding in the midst of those self same crocks”.
So we might picture Athy on the eve of the rebellion as typical market town somewhat stagnant and yet to experience the growth which would come in the first half of the nineteenth century. The rebellion would have many participants, some willing, many others unavoidably and reluctantly dragged into the horror and grief which marked those times. Some locals would play a more prominent part than others. Thomas Rawson of Glassealy House who later wrote of the town in his book ‘Survey of Kildare’, would be blamed for the repressive government action in the locality in the months leading to and after the rebellion itself. Mary Leadbetter, a resident of Ballitore, would write eloquently and with great compassion in the Annals of Ballitore of the excesses on both sides. A member of the Fitzgerald family would enter the pantheon of nationalist heroes before the rebellion had ended. Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who had once been a member of parliament for the Borough of Athy was to be captured due in no small measure to the treachery of another local, Thomas Reynolds, who lived in Kilkea Castle. But more important than all those individuals were the people of Athy who suffered and endured the most terrible hardships during and after the rebellion.
Next year we will have an opportunity to both remember and commemorate this significant period in our town’s history. Whether we view these events with misty eyed romanticism as did those who celebrated the centenary in 1898 remains to be seen. Perhaps these events and their participants deserve a more realistic appraisal and assessment in the context of the national and local history of the day.
Thursday, January 30, 1997
Woodstock Castle and its stone carvings
A recent article in the Irish Times dealt with the history of the bagpipes and their usage and popularity in Ireland from the early medieval period to the present time. In the course of this reference was made to a carving of a man garbed in medieval dress playing the bagpipes. The columnist mistakenly described it as being in wood and from “Woodstock Castle, Co. Kilkenny”. The sculpture is however in stone and once formed part of the elaborate chimney piece which adorned the fireplace of the great hall on the first floor of Woodstock Castle, in this town, in the sixteenth century. Today all that remains of the fireplace in the castle is one or two simple, undecorated fragmentary remains high up in the internal wall face of the now roofless castle. Although the fireplace has long since disappeared, we can get some idea of its splendour as it originally appeared. Lord Walter Fitzgerald the renowned antiquarian and founder member of the Kildare Archaeological Society recorded these stones. One fragment would have formed the centre of the mantel consisting of a pair of opposed lions figures holding the Fitzgerald coat of arms while a similar piece has a pair of opposing angel-like figures either side of the Fitzgerald arms. It is likely that the carvings date to the late fifteenth/early sixteenth century. Of particular interest is the absence of the monkey traditionally found on the crest of the Fitzgerald family which is evident on another carved stone from Woodstock Castle which now rests in the south wall of Whites Castle. These various carvings were first recorded by an anonymous writer at the turn of the nineteenth century who noted that angel-like figures and the lions formed compartments of the cornice of the chimney piece. After this authors visit the carvings were removed to the Earl of Kildare’s residence at Carton.
The castle, like many in the Irish countryside, is remarkably absent from the historical record for large parts of its history, but considerable information may be garnered from the architecture of the castle and most particularly from its carved and decorated fragments. The Fitzgeralds occupied many castles in Kildare with their principal seat at Maynooth but the delicacy of the carved ornamentation from Woodstock Castle with its bold display of the family coat of arms is sufficient proof of the importance of the castle in Athy.
Castles by their very nature were dark and gloomy places which afforded title light or warmth to their residents and while the thick walls might provide a cool refuge from the heat of the summer sun, they were in the depths of winter often oppressively cold and damp dwellings.
The inhabitants might seek to alleviate such cold and discomfort by a variety of methods, principally thick and voluminous layers of clothing which found suitable accompaniment in large open fires. The fireplace, particularly in the throws of winter, formed a natural focal point in the principal rooms for the castle dwellers. It was thus not unnatural that considerable care and effort would be expended in the design and execution of such a feature. Naturally the visitor to the castle on entering the ‘great hall’ would immediately be drawn to the fire by his host and thus the visitors eye might fall upon the intricacies and subtleties of a large and well-decorated chimney piece. The style and nature of the carvings would indicate that they were executed in the period of the castles history when it was undergoing substantial alterations to its structure and form. In a sense the insertion of the large well-decorated chimney pieces might well be said to mark the evolution of the castle from a simple castle structure to the prototype of the later country house of the gentry. The small and narrow windows which since the 13th century had served to ventilate and light the castle were replaced by large gracious mullioned windows with sleek hood mouldings lighting the great hall on the first floor to an extent never possible before. Within these windows would have been set large window seats adding to the comfort of this the principal room of the castle. Woodstock of the many Fitzgerald castles was not alone in experiencing such additions. Maynooth Castle underwent substantial alterations in the sixteenth century, similar to those at Woodstock. These served to increase the comfort afforded by these buildings while at the same time reducing their defensive abilities by creating much large openings in the external walls. At Woodstock one concession to security was made by the addition of a defensive tower on the south face with narrow windows and gunports.
The only reference to building or repairs at the castle dates to 1536 when remedial work to the structure was necessitated by damage caused to doors, windows and battlements. A lease of the castle in 1560 stipulated that new lofts be constructed which may not have been done as another lease of the castle was granted to William Sheregolde in 1569. It is likely that all the finely carved stones from Woodstock Castle relate to the earlier residence of the Fitzgerald family and it is appropriate that these very same carvings were rescued from the ruins of Woodstock Castle by a member of the family that originally commissioned some unknown mason to create them many centuries ago. The stones to this day remain at Kilkea Castle, another ancestral home of the Fitzgerald family although the carving of the piper is now lost.
The castle, like many in the Irish countryside, is remarkably absent from the historical record for large parts of its history, but considerable information may be garnered from the architecture of the castle and most particularly from its carved and decorated fragments. The Fitzgeralds occupied many castles in Kildare with their principal seat at Maynooth but the delicacy of the carved ornamentation from Woodstock Castle with its bold display of the family coat of arms is sufficient proof of the importance of the castle in Athy.
Castles by their very nature were dark and gloomy places which afforded title light or warmth to their residents and while the thick walls might provide a cool refuge from the heat of the summer sun, they were in the depths of winter often oppressively cold and damp dwellings.
The inhabitants might seek to alleviate such cold and discomfort by a variety of methods, principally thick and voluminous layers of clothing which found suitable accompaniment in large open fires. The fireplace, particularly in the throws of winter, formed a natural focal point in the principal rooms for the castle dwellers. It was thus not unnatural that considerable care and effort would be expended in the design and execution of such a feature. Naturally the visitor to the castle on entering the ‘great hall’ would immediately be drawn to the fire by his host and thus the visitors eye might fall upon the intricacies and subtleties of a large and well-decorated chimney piece. The style and nature of the carvings would indicate that they were executed in the period of the castles history when it was undergoing substantial alterations to its structure and form. In a sense the insertion of the large well-decorated chimney pieces might well be said to mark the evolution of the castle from a simple castle structure to the prototype of the later country house of the gentry. The small and narrow windows which since the 13th century had served to ventilate and light the castle were replaced by large gracious mullioned windows with sleek hood mouldings lighting the great hall on the first floor to an extent never possible before. Within these windows would have been set large window seats adding to the comfort of this the principal room of the castle. Woodstock of the many Fitzgerald castles was not alone in experiencing such additions. Maynooth Castle underwent substantial alterations in the sixteenth century, similar to those at Woodstock. These served to increase the comfort afforded by these buildings while at the same time reducing their defensive abilities by creating much large openings in the external walls. At Woodstock one concession to security was made by the addition of a defensive tower on the south face with narrow windows and gunports.
The only reference to building or repairs at the castle dates to 1536 when remedial work to the structure was necessitated by damage caused to doors, windows and battlements. A lease of the castle in 1560 stipulated that new lofts be constructed which may not have been done as another lease of the castle was granted to William Sheregolde in 1569. It is likely that all the finely carved stones from Woodstock Castle relate to the earlier residence of the Fitzgerald family and it is appropriate that these very same carvings were rescued from the ruins of Woodstock Castle by a member of the family that originally commissioned some unknown mason to create them many centuries ago. The stones to this day remain at Kilkea Castle, another ancestral home of the Fitzgerald family although the carving of the piper is now lost.
Thursday, January 23, 1997
Eamon Malone I.R.A. Commander and the Naming of Estates in Athy
"Three Volleys were fired by Members of the Old I.R.A. over the grave of Mr. Eamon Malone (45) late of Dunbrin, Athy after his burial in Barrowhouse Cemetery, Athy on Monday". The Nationalist Newspaper Report of his funeral is the only written account I have come across of the man who formed in Athy in 1917 a Branch of the Irish Volunteers. I have written previously in this series of Eamon Malone. Indeed, my article of the 7th January 1994 evoked an interesting response from a wide area, not least from a reader in Belfast whose allegiances were all too obvious. What prompts this further mention of a local man from our past whose courageous exploits are all but forgotten is a recent momentous decision by the local Urban District Council to call its latest Housing Scheme Malone Terrace. The honour falls to the houses in Woodstock Street directly opposite St. Martin's Terrace and occupying in part the site of the former thatched residence of successive Curates of the Parish of St. Michael's.
Eamon Malone died a relatively young man at his residence in Sutton, Co. Dublin and was survived by his Widow, two daughters and one son. His importance to the national struggle for Independence during the early part of this Century was readily recognised by his colleagues when he was put in charge of the I.R.A. Prisoners in Mountjoy during the Hunger strike of 1920. Married to Kathleen Dooley a sister of Mrs. Hester May and daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Michael Dooley of Duke Street, Athy, he was to spend some time in Mayo and Wicklow as a Republican Organiser following his release from Mountjoy.
I described the decision of the local Council as momentous because it is the first occasion that Athy has officially recognised any person connected with the struggle for Independence. The principal streets of our town are all named after members of the extended families of successive Duke's of Leinster. The old laneways, some no longer recognisable were generally named after the owners of the small houses which to be found there before the slum clearance programmes of the 1930's. Butler's Row, Connolly's Lane, Higginson's Lane, Kirwan's Lane, Kelly's Court and Porter's Row are but a few examples of the many Landlord names which were carried down to this Century.
It was the housing programmes of the local Council commenced in 1913 which gave the Town Father's their first opportunity to name and in some cases to re-name older parts of the Town. The names of Saints were especially favoured at a time when the affairs of Church and State seemed inextricably linked. St. Michael's Terrace an obvious reference to the Parish of the same name in which Athy is located and St. Martin's Terrace were two of the first names chosen by the local Council.
Pairc Bhride officially opened in the early 1950's continued the Saintly connection but with a difference. The Gaelic version was for the first and only time used in connection with an Athy place name. Around the same time, McDonnell Drive was named after the local Parish Priest, Archdeacon McDonnell whom I remember well. It was he who drove me out of his temporary Confession box by shaking his walking stick after I had forgot ten the words of the Act of Contrition. I could well be excused since I was about seven years of age at the time. The subsequent tearful journey home ended in joy when I was made aware of the arrival that morning of an American Parcel from a Cousin in New York who thoughtfully sent on much treasured goods and foodstuffs which in those post-war years were otherwise denied to those living in Ireland. I later served Mass for Canon McDonnell on the side-altar of St. Michael's, always keeping a careful eye on the infamous walking stick in case he felt a further assault on my person was warranted.
During the slum clearance programmes of 60 years ago, the Council embarked on an extensive building programme which saw houses built on McHugh's field in Woodstock Street, Plewman's field on the Kilkenny Road, Dooley's field at Townspark and Holland's field at Geraldine Road. When it came to naming the new housing estates, the then Council showed an independent streak by ignoring the precedents set by the previous Council. Michael Dooley's Terrace was named after Michael Dooley of 41 Duke's Street, the man earlier referred to in this article whose daughters married Eamon Malone and Joe May. His Shop and House in Duke Street was a meeting place for Republicans in the post 1916 period. Whether this was the reason the very last houses built of Athy brick were named after him I cannot say. I am sure some of my readers can perhaps help me on this as the relevant Council Minute Book dealing with Dooley's Terrace cannot be traced.
Minch's Terrace built in what was McHugh's field in Woodstock Street was so named "in recognition of the long and honoured connection of the Minch Family with the Industrial and Commercial life of Athy". So it was recorded in the Minutes of the local Council on the 18th January 1937. In the following month the new houses on the Kilkenny road were officially named Plewman's Terrace "as a slight recognition of the long services which the late Thomas Plewman gave to the benefit of his native town both as Chairman and Member of this Council and in his private capacity". When the time came to name the houses on Holland's site, the Council fell back on the Townland name of Geraldine.
Local private developers in recent years have given extraordinary inappropriate names to their Housing Schemes. These names which have no connection with the ancient place names of the area and less with the Irish countryside give rise to the thought that perhaps the local Urban Council on taking over such estates might consider in conjunction with the local residents giving them names more appropriate for an Irish Town.
All of this by way of measuring my pleasure as the decision to name our most recent housing scheme after a truly great local man who like so many of his colleagues was in danger of been forgotten by the present generation.
Eamon Malone died a relatively young man at his residence in Sutton, Co. Dublin and was survived by his Widow, two daughters and one son. His importance to the national struggle for Independence during the early part of this Century was readily recognised by his colleagues when he was put in charge of the I.R.A. Prisoners in Mountjoy during the Hunger strike of 1920. Married to Kathleen Dooley a sister of Mrs. Hester May and daughter of Mr. & Mrs. Michael Dooley of Duke Street, Athy, he was to spend some time in Mayo and Wicklow as a Republican Organiser following his release from Mountjoy.
I described the decision of the local Council as momentous because it is the first occasion that Athy has officially recognised any person connected with the struggle for Independence. The principal streets of our town are all named after members of the extended families of successive Duke's of Leinster. The old laneways, some no longer recognisable were generally named after the owners of the small houses which to be found there before the slum clearance programmes of the 1930's. Butler's Row, Connolly's Lane, Higginson's Lane, Kirwan's Lane, Kelly's Court and Porter's Row are but a few examples of the many Landlord names which were carried down to this Century.
It was the housing programmes of the local Council commenced in 1913 which gave the Town Father's their first opportunity to name and in some cases to re-name older parts of the Town. The names of Saints were especially favoured at a time when the affairs of Church and State seemed inextricably linked. St. Michael's Terrace an obvious reference to the Parish of the same name in which Athy is located and St. Martin's Terrace were two of the first names chosen by the local Council.
Pairc Bhride officially opened in the early 1950's continued the Saintly connection but with a difference. The Gaelic version was for the first and only time used in connection with an Athy place name. Around the same time, McDonnell Drive was named after the local Parish Priest, Archdeacon McDonnell whom I remember well. It was he who drove me out of his temporary Confession box by shaking his walking stick after I had forgot ten the words of the Act of Contrition. I could well be excused since I was about seven years of age at the time. The subsequent tearful journey home ended in joy when I was made aware of the arrival that morning of an American Parcel from a Cousin in New York who thoughtfully sent on much treasured goods and foodstuffs which in those post-war years were otherwise denied to those living in Ireland. I later served Mass for Canon McDonnell on the side-altar of St. Michael's, always keeping a careful eye on the infamous walking stick in case he felt a further assault on my person was warranted.
During the slum clearance programmes of 60 years ago, the Council embarked on an extensive building programme which saw houses built on McHugh's field in Woodstock Street, Plewman's field on the Kilkenny Road, Dooley's field at Townspark and Holland's field at Geraldine Road. When it came to naming the new housing estates, the then Council showed an independent streak by ignoring the precedents set by the previous Council. Michael Dooley's Terrace was named after Michael Dooley of 41 Duke's Street, the man earlier referred to in this article whose daughters married Eamon Malone and Joe May. His Shop and House in Duke Street was a meeting place for Republicans in the post 1916 period. Whether this was the reason the very last houses built of Athy brick were named after him I cannot say. I am sure some of my readers can perhaps help me on this as the relevant Council Minute Book dealing with Dooley's Terrace cannot be traced.
Minch's Terrace built in what was McHugh's field in Woodstock Street was so named "in recognition of the long and honoured connection of the Minch Family with the Industrial and Commercial life of Athy". So it was recorded in the Minutes of the local Council on the 18th January 1937. In the following month the new houses on the Kilkenny road were officially named Plewman's Terrace "as a slight recognition of the long services which the late Thomas Plewman gave to the benefit of his native town both as Chairman and Member of this Council and in his private capacity". When the time came to name the houses on Holland's site, the Council fell back on the Townland name of Geraldine.
Local private developers in recent years have given extraordinary inappropriate names to their Housing Schemes. These names which have no connection with the ancient place names of the area and less with the Irish countryside give rise to the thought that perhaps the local Urban Council on taking over such estates might consider in conjunction with the local residents giving them names more appropriate for an Irish Town.
All of this by way of measuring my pleasure as the decision to name our most recent housing scheme after a truly great local man who like so many of his colleagues was in danger of been forgotten by the present generation.
Thursday, January 16, 1997
'Missing Friends' from Boston Newspaper 'The Pilot'
Emigration has been a recurring tragedy in Irish family life during the past 200 years. Nowhere is that more evident than in the pages of American newspapers where down the years members of once close-knit Irish families have placed advertisements in an attempt to trace missing parents, brothers or sisters. One such advertisement under the headline "Missing Friends" first appeared in a Boston Newspaper, "The Pilot" on 1st October, 1831. It was placed by the American Emigration Commission in an attempt to find Patrick McDermott, "a native of County Kildare" whose wife and five children had just arrived in Boston. It was the first of thousands of such advertisements placed in the Pilot Newspaper over the next 85 years. The first reference to a person from Athy in these advertisements was in the newspaper of 14th October, 1848 when Robert Browne sought information on Philip Butler of Gormanstown, near Athy who was supposed to be working in a sawmill in Boston. In November of the following year two advertisements appeared relating to Athy persons. The first referred to :-
"Christopher Moore and Mrs. Catherine Cummings, natives of Athy who emigrated to this country, Catherine in 1825 and Christopher in 1831 and landed in Quebec. When last heard of they were in Marshfield Upper, Canada."
Their brother David, then based in Massachusetts was the enquirer. The second request for information came from James Kelly whose mother and family, all from Athy, emigrated to the American Continent in July 1849, landing in Quebec. On 13th August, 1853 Catherine Keyes inserted an advertisement in an attempt to trace her brother "Patrick Keyes, native of Athy who left there 5 years last June - when last heard from he was in New York."
The following April Michael Kirwan of Athy was being sought by his brother Patrick, while in May 1854 The Pilot carried a father's sad plea. He was James Brennan who referred to his
"daughter Elizabeth from Athy, aged 21 years who arrived in New York in December 1853. When she landed I was in Coaticook, Lower Canada, she wrote to me at the time and I sent her some money which she acknowledged. I wrote the following May to her but received no answer."
We were never made aware if father and daughter were ever re-united.
That same year Mrs. Mary Birmingham, then living in Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania wanted to hear of her son Martin whom she described as :-
"son of Patrick Birmingham and Mary Kelly of Geraldine Athy."
In the same edition of The Pilot, Edward Moore sought information as to the whereabouts of his mother, Mary Moore from Athy "who was last heard of in New York."
June 1855 saw another Athy family featured in an advertisement in The Pilot. John and Edward Corcoran of Athy "who left Ireland about eight years ago and landed in Quebec" were the subject of an advertisement placed by their brother Michael.
The Commissioners for Emigration who had placed the first advertisement in 1831 were acting again in August 1855 on behalf of Mrs. Julia Steacum who had arrived in New York from Athy in December 1854. She had accompanied her husband Matthew and her six children to America, but he soon departed for Cincinnati leaving four of their children in Staten Island Hospital and his wife and one child in Albany. The advertisement continued :-
"Since then nothing has been heard from him, but it has been ascertained that he never reached his destination, hence the worst fears are entertained for his safety. He was 57 years of age with dark hair."
In the following month Mary Birmingham was again seeking information on her son Martin "whom I left with my father in Geraldine, Athy when leaving Ireland about 20 years ago." In the same advertisement enquiries were made of Mary's brother "John Kelly, formerly of Geraldine, Athy."
Just before Christmas 1855 William Bourke placed an advertisement in the Boston Newspaper. He was attempting to make contact with his brother Henry, a baker from Athy, County Kildare "who emigrated to this country about 10 years ago and is supposed to be in Boston or it's vicinity."
The advertisements of 150 years ago make sad reading and give a rare insight into the difficulties of those who took to the Emigrant ships after the earlier departure of family members. How successful the various advertisers were in tracing missing relatives we do not know. The value today of these old newspaper advertisements lies in the information they provide for genealogists and historians on Irish emigrants of the period.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society has published three books of Boston Pilot advertisements under the title "The Search for Friends" covering the years 1831 to 1856. The references in this article are taken from these books which make fascinating if sad reading.
"Christopher Moore and Mrs. Catherine Cummings, natives of Athy who emigrated to this country, Catherine in 1825 and Christopher in 1831 and landed in Quebec. When last heard of they were in Marshfield Upper, Canada."
Their brother David, then based in Massachusetts was the enquirer. The second request for information came from James Kelly whose mother and family, all from Athy, emigrated to the American Continent in July 1849, landing in Quebec. On 13th August, 1853 Catherine Keyes inserted an advertisement in an attempt to trace her brother "Patrick Keyes, native of Athy who left there 5 years last June - when last heard from he was in New York."
The following April Michael Kirwan of Athy was being sought by his brother Patrick, while in May 1854 The Pilot carried a father's sad plea. He was James Brennan who referred to his
"daughter Elizabeth from Athy, aged 21 years who arrived in New York in December 1853. When she landed I was in Coaticook, Lower Canada, she wrote to me at the time and I sent her some money which she acknowledged. I wrote the following May to her but received no answer."
We were never made aware if father and daughter were ever re-united.
That same year Mrs. Mary Birmingham, then living in Beaver Meadows, Pennsylvania wanted to hear of her son Martin whom she described as :-
"son of Patrick Birmingham and Mary Kelly of Geraldine Athy."
In the same edition of The Pilot, Edward Moore sought information as to the whereabouts of his mother, Mary Moore from Athy "who was last heard of in New York."
June 1855 saw another Athy family featured in an advertisement in The Pilot. John and Edward Corcoran of Athy "who left Ireland about eight years ago and landed in Quebec" were the subject of an advertisement placed by their brother Michael.
The Commissioners for Emigration who had placed the first advertisement in 1831 were acting again in August 1855 on behalf of Mrs. Julia Steacum who had arrived in New York from Athy in December 1854. She had accompanied her husband Matthew and her six children to America, but he soon departed for Cincinnati leaving four of their children in Staten Island Hospital and his wife and one child in Albany. The advertisement continued :-
"Since then nothing has been heard from him, but it has been ascertained that he never reached his destination, hence the worst fears are entertained for his safety. He was 57 years of age with dark hair."
In the following month Mary Birmingham was again seeking information on her son Martin "whom I left with my father in Geraldine, Athy when leaving Ireland about 20 years ago." In the same advertisement enquiries were made of Mary's brother "John Kelly, formerly of Geraldine, Athy."
Just before Christmas 1855 William Bourke placed an advertisement in the Boston Newspaper. He was attempting to make contact with his brother Henry, a baker from Athy, County Kildare "who emigrated to this country about 10 years ago and is supposed to be in Boston or it's vicinity."
The advertisements of 150 years ago make sad reading and give a rare insight into the difficulties of those who took to the Emigrant ships after the earlier departure of family members. How successful the various advertisers were in tracing missing relatives we do not know. The value today of these old newspaper advertisements lies in the information they provide for genealogists and historians on Irish emigrants of the period.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society has published three books of Boston Pilot advertisements under the title "The Search for Friends" covering the years 1831 to 1856. The references in this article are taken from these books which make fascinating if sad reading.
Thursday, January 9, 1997
Athy's Heritage Centre
The Heritage Centre for Athy is a dream soon to be realised. The Fire Station has been moved from the ground floor of the Town Hall, and soon the giant doors which disfigured the rear facade of the building will be a memory. The architectural composition which is Emily Square and to which the Town Hall forms an important backdrop gives Athy a very attractive town centre. The siting there of the Heritage Centre will further enhance the area, as will the building works which are intended to improve the rear of the early 19th century building.
My attention was inevitably drawn to this when contemplating the 21 year old plan to put a new roadway across Emily Square with a bridge between the Courthouse and the Dominican Church. How times have changed in the intervening years. Now that Athy has heritage status and we are all beginning to appreciate the historical and architectural wealth of the Town, it seems inconceivable that we should ever have contemplated such a road plan.
Work on the Heritage Centre should start within weeks and behind the scenes professional historians and amateurs alike are working on the Themes which will be featured in the centre. These will relate the history of the town and place local events in the wider context of Irish history.
The long and varied history of Athy offers great opportunities for exploring the different periods of the Irish past. Athy was originally a small settlement, later a thriving village and now a corporate town, all centred around the River Barrow. Even in pre-settlement times the area was important and many reference to Ath I or the Ford of Ae are to be found.
It is the story of the evolution of the urban settlement on the river which will probably provide the material for at least one early history lesson in the new Heritage Centre. Here the story will start with the Anglo Norman settlement established in the late 12th century around the first wooden fortress or castle which was called Woodstock. French speaking people who had travelled from Wales and earlier from France put up the first buildings in what was to be the future town of Athy. The rise of the two monasteries, on either side of the river, gave the area a status and a permanency which it was never to lose. The Trinitarians are long gone from the area, but the Dominicans who came here in 1253 are still an important element of the town's story. I wonder do we realise the importance of the Dominican link with Athy, one which has lasted for over 700 years despite some enforced interruptions during the 16th and 17th century. The Irish Dominicans in Athy are the living embodiment of our past history, and as such should be cherished by all of us.
The evolving story of the medieval town of Athy is one where battles and wars figure prominently. It was a fortress town, garrisoned to protect the pass or bridge over the river and shield from attack those who lived within the Pale. For that reason Athy was of major strategic importance and figured prominently in all the major events in medieval Irish history. Indeed, its turbulent early and middle history saw the disruption of the Monasteries, siege and counter siege and destruction by fire before it was to emerge into the relative peace and prosperity of the 18th century.
Before then the town had received corporate status, first from King Henry VIII (he of the many wives) and later from King James. This gave an opportunity for development and growth, but the continuing wars of the 16th and 17th century restricted this opportunity and so the town grew very slowly. In 1650 Athy was a village of about 100 houses or so with a population of about 600. It had changed little over the previous 100 years. The town walls destroyed during the Confederate wars of the 1640's were never to be replaced. More importantly, the abandonment of these medieval constraints to the outward spread of the village proved to be an important factor in the future development of the town. The relative calm and stability of the 18th century provided the stimulus for growth which was to be a feature of life in Athy during that century. Commercial activity rather than manufacture provided the basis for Athy's early development. As a market centre with a large agricultural hinterland the village was ideally located to benefit from road improvements in the first half of the 18th century. In common with all other settlements of the 18th century Athy had a Manor Mill where the locals were required to grind their corn and wheat. As a town owing it's patronage to the Duke of Leinster, it was not unusual to find in Athy Leases, even into the last century, the stipulation that local tenants should "grind all such wheat, oats, malt and other grain at the Manor Mill of Athy and pay the accustomed toll for grinding." It is also the 18th century which was to give Athy it's unique religious diversity and as we look at the present day town we see four of those religious groups each represented by a Church on one of the four corners of Athy.
The late 18th century story of the town will be taken up with the coming of the Grand Canal in 1791 and the horrific events surrounding the 1798 Rebellion. The Canal came to Athy, perhaps too late to save the thriving brewing, distilling and tanyard industries which were to be found in Athy 200 years ago. Around the basin of the newly arrived Canal buildings were soon erected, including milling stores which are still standing today. The story of the 1798 Rebellion is one of brutal and systematic suppression of the townspeople. It was precisely that brutality and suppression exercised on the local community by the garrison and local yeomanry groups which quickly dispelled any revolutionary tendencies the townspeople once held. This and the later history of Athy will come alive in audio and visual presentations in what was once the town's Butter Market. I hope the Heritage Centre will be the first of many new enterprises which will develop and flourish in the town of Athy.
My attention was inevitably drawn to this when contemplating the 21 year old plan to put a new roadway across Emily Square with a bridge between the Courthouse and the Dominican Church. How times have changed in the intervening years. Now that Athy has heritage status and we are all beginning to appreciate the historical and architectural wealth of the Town, it seems inconceivable that we should ever have contemplated such a road plan.
Work on the Heritage Centre should start within weeks and behind the scenes professional historians and amateurs alike are working on the Themes which will be featured in the centre. These will relate the history of the town and place local events in the wider context of Irish history.
The long and varied history of Athy offers great opportunities for exploring the different periods of the Irish past. Athy was originally a small settlement, later a thriving village and now a corporate town, all centred around the River Barrow. Even in pre-settlement times the area was important and many reference to Ath I or the Ford of Ae are to be found.
It is the story of the evolution of the urban settlement on the river which will probably provide the material for at least one early history lesson in the new Heritage Centre. Here the story will start with the Anglo Norman settlement established in the late 12th century around the first wooden fortress or castle which was called Woodstock. French speaking people who had travelled from Wales and earlier from France put up the first buildings in what was to be the future town of Athy. The rise of the two monasteries, on either side of the river, gave the area a status and a permanency which it was never to lose. The Trinitarians are long gone from the area, but the Dominicans who came here in 1253 are still an important element of the town's story. I wonder do we realise the importance of the Dominican link with Athy, one which has lasted for over 700 years despite some enforced interruptions during the 16th and 17th century. The Irish Dominicans in Athy are the living embodiment of our past history, and as such should be cherished by all of us.
The evolving story of the medieval town of Athy is one where battles and wars figure prominently. It was a fortress town, garrisoned to protect the pass or bridge over the river and shield from attack those who lived within the Pale. For that reason Athy was of major strategic importance and figured prominently in all the major events in medieval Irish history. Indeed, its turbulent early and middle history saw the disruption of the Monasteries, siege and counter siege and destruction by fire before it was to emerge into the relative peace and prosperity of the 18th century.
Before then the town had received corporate status, first from King Henry VIII (he of the many wives) and later from King James. This gave an opportunity for development and growth, but the continuing wars of the 16th and 17th century restricted this opportunity and so the town grew very slowly. In 1650 Athy was a village of about 100 houses or so with a population of about 600. It had changed little over the previous 100 years. The town walls destroyed during the Confederate wars of the 1640's were never to be replaced. More importantly, the abandonment of these medieval constraints to the outward spread of the village proved to be an important factor in the future development of the town. The relative calm and stability of the 18th century provided the stimulus for growth which was to be a feature of life in Athy during that century. Commercial activity rather than manufacture provided the basis for Athy's early development. As a market centre with a large agricultural hinterland the village was ideally located to benefit from road improvements in the first half of the 18th century. In common with all other settlements of the 18th century Athy had a Manor Mill where the locals were required to grind their corn and wheat. As a town owing it's patronage to the Duke of Leinster, it was not unusual to find in Athy Leases, even into the last century, the stipulation that local tenants should "grind all such wheat, oats, malt and other grain at the Manor Mill of Athy and pay the accustomed toll for grinding." It is also the 18th century which was to give Athy it's unique religious diversity and as we look at the present day town we see four of those religious groups each represented by a Church on one of the four corners of Athy.
The late 18th century story of the town will be taken up with the coming of the Grand Canal in 1791 and the horrific events surrounding the 1798 Rebellion. The Canal came to Athy, perhaps too late to save the thriving brewing, distilling and tanyard industries which were to be found in Athy 200 years ago. Around the basin of the newly arrived Canal buildings were soon erected, including milling stores which are still standing today. The story of the 1798 Rebellion is one of brutal and systematic suppression of the townspeople. It was precisely that brutality and suppression exercised on the local community by the garrison and local yeomanry groups which quickly dispelled any revolutionary tendencies the townspeople once held. This and the later history of Athy will come alive in audio and visual presentations in what was once the town's Butter Market. I hope the Heritage Centre will be the first of many new enterprises which will develop and flourish in the town of Athy.
Thursday, January 2, 1997
Johnny Doran, 'Bocky' Cash, Felix Doran
Making connections is the life blood of every historian. Everything read and observed is seen against the backdrop of a particular place or event, all the time bringing into sharper focus the people and events already known but not necessarily understood.
I am reminded of this as I sit at my desk penning these lines while listening to the uileann piping of Johnny Doran. Johnny, regarded as one of the great uileann pipers, died at the young age of 42 in the County Home, Athy on 19th January, 1950. A married man and a member of the travelling community his Grandmother was a daughter of the famous piper John Cash, known far and wide as "Cash the Piper". A native of County Wexford where he was born in 1832, Cash married at a young age "Polly" Connors. He combined the trade of tinsmith with that of horse dealer, but it was for his long career as piper that he is recalled today. John Cash died in 1909, some 19 years after the death of his own son James, also a noted piper and commonly referred to as "Young Cash".
This then was the background to the music making skills of Johnny Doran, the man who died in Athy 46 years ago. In the early 1930's Doran travelled around the country in his horsedrawn caravan, playing his pipes at fairs, football matches and whenever crowds gathered to enjoy themselves. He was a well recognised feature at all the popular midland venues of the 1930's and 1940's, even if those who listened to and enjoyed his music did not know his name. In those early days he was usually accompanied by his bother, Felix Doran who also became a well known piper in his own right.
During the cold winter of 1947 Johnny Doran with his wife and children lived in their caravan on a derelict site at Back Lane, opposite Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Sean McBride, leader of the new political party Clann na Poblachta having heard Johnny play his uileann pipes on the street, invited him to play at a rally in College Green some days before the General Election of 1947. Before he could do so however, Johnny suffered serious injuries when a portion of the derelict wall at Back Lane fell onto his caravan. Johnny was crippled from the waist down and was never to regain the use of his legs. Undaunted, he set off the following year travelling through County Kildare where some of his relatives lived, but his deteriorating health saw him admitted to the County Home in Athy on 27th October. He remained there throughout the winter, but passed away on 19th January 1950.
I was reminded of Johnny Doran and "Cash the Piper" as I was attending the funeral of a neighbour last week. "Becky" Cash grew up in the same street as myself, although there was quite a few years between us. Her late brothers Miley and Danny were pals of mine in Offaly Street, and they were all direct descendants of the legendary piper John Cash and cousins of Johnny Doran. Horse dealing had been carried on for generations by the Cash family and Bill Cash who with his family was to settle in Offaly Street in the early 1950's was a skilful and knowledgable horseman. This of course meant that horses were always to be found in the stables which Bill had made out of what was once Birney's Dairy Parlour in Janeville Lane. It was here, despite my parents' entreaties not to have anything to do with the horses, that myself and Teddy Kelly and others were sometimes to be found with Miley and Danny Cash. Miley was to die very young and his brother Danny died some years ago, long before reaching middle age. It would seem that the piping skills of "Cash the Piper" and "Young Cash" had not been passed on down the line through the Cash family as I can never recall the haunting music of the uileann pipes around Janeville Lane. Instead, Bill Cash of Janeville Lane and later of Offaly Street, had his legendary horse trading skills and wonderful storytelling ability which he was wont to embellish and always to good effect.
Here then were some of the connections made as I stood in the cold of a January morning in Barrowhouse Graveyard while the young girl remembered from Offaly Street, now a mother, was laid to rest. Familiar faces came to me out of the memories of over 35 years ago. I was approached by one whose youthful face was untouched by the years, and who grasping my hand reminded me of days spent in Janeville Lane amongst the horses and the dealers who came to trade with the acknowledged king of horse dealers, Bill Cash. He was Tom Cash who had lived in Athy as a young lad, reared among Mr. and Mrs. Cashs' own children. We re-lived young carefree days spent free of our parents' cautious ways amongst the restless hooves of horses destined to soon pass on into other hands.
It seems that making connections is not solely the prerogative of the historians. We all relive times past when that past presents itself, even it is only for a passing moment. The connections we make can sometimes go deeper than our own experiences as here where many generations of past pipers came into focus with the passing of a neighbour.
"Cash the Piper", "Young Cash", Johnny Doran and Felix Doran inhabited a world of traditional music which older generations were privileged to hear and enjoy. The Cash tradition of uileann piping is no longer with us, except on the limited but treasured recordings of Johnny Doran and that of his brother Felix.
I am reminded of this as I sit at my desk penning these lines while listening to the uileann piping of Johnny Doran. Johnny, regarded as one of the great uileann pipers, died at the young age of 42 in the County Home, Athy on 19th January, 1950. A married man and a member of the travelling community his Grandmother was a daughter of the famous piper John Cash, known far and wide as "Cash the Piper". A native of County Wexford where he was born in 1832, Cash married at a young age "Polly" Connors. He combined the trade of tinsmith with that of horse dealer, but it was for his long career as piper that he is recalled today. John Cash died in 1909, some 19 years after the death of his own son James, also a noted piper and commonly referred to as "Young Cash".
This then was the background to the music making skills of Johnny Doran, the man who died in Athy 46 years ago. In the early 1930's Doran travelled around the country in his horsedrawn caravan, playing his pipes at fairs, football matches and whenever crowds gathered to enjoy themselves. He was a well recognised feature at all the popular midland venues of the 1930's and 1940's, even if those who listened to and enjoyed his music did not know his name. In those early days he was usually accompanied by his bother, Felix Doran who also became a well known piper in his own right.
During the cold winter of 1947 Johnny Doran with his wife and children lived in their caravan on a derelict site at Back Lane, opposite Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Sean McBride, leader of the new political party Clann na Poblachta having heard Johnny play his uileann pipes on the street, invited him to play at a rally in College Green some days before the General Election of 1947. Before he could do so however, Johnny suffered serious injuries when a portion of the derelict wall at Back Lane fell onto his caravan. Johnny was crippled from the waist down and was never to regain the use of his legs. Undaunted, he set off the following year travelling through County Kildare where some of his relatives lived, but his deteriorating health saw him admitted to the County Home in Athy on 27th October. He remained there throughout the winter, but passed away on 19th January 1950.
I was reminded of Johnny Doran and "Cash the Piper" as I was attending the funeral of a neighbour last week. "Becky" Cash grew up in the same street as myself, although there was quite a few years between us. Her late brothers Miley and Danny were pals of mine in Offaly Street, and they were all direct descendants of the legendary piper John Cash and cousins of Johnny Doran. Horse dealing had been carried on for generations by the Cash family and Bill Cash who with his family was to settle in Offaly Street in the early 1950's was a skilful and knowledgable horseman. This of course meant that horses were always to be found in the stables which Bill had made out of what was once Birney's Dairy Parlour in Janeville Lane. It was here, despite my parents' entreaties not to have anything to do with the horses, that myself and Teddy Kelly and others were sometimes to be found with Miley and Danny Cash. Miley was to die very young and his brother Danny died some years ago, long before reaching middle age. It would seem that the piping skills of "Cash the Piper" and "Young Cash" had not been passed on down the line through the Cash family as I can never recall the haunting music of the uileann pipes around Janeville Lane. Instead, Bill Cash of Janeville Lane and later of Offaly Street, had his legendary horse trading skills and wonderful storytelling ability which he was wont to embellish and always to good effect.
Here then were some of the connections made as I stood in the cold of a January morning in Barrowhouse Graveyard while the young girl remembered from Offaly Street, now a mother, was laid to rest. Familiar faces came to me out of the memories of over 35 years ago. I was approached by one whose youthful face was untouched by the years, and who grasping my hand reminded me of days spent in Janeville Lane amongst the horses and the dealers who came to trade with the acknowledged king of horse dealers, Bill Cash. He was Tom Cash who had lived in Athy as a young lad, reared among Mr. and Mrs. Cashs' own children. We re-lived young carefree days spent free of our parents' cautious ways amongst the restless hooves of horses destined to soon pass on into other hands.
It seems that making connections is not solely the prerogative of the historians. We all relive times past when that past presents itself, even it is only for a passing moment. The connections we make can sometimes go deeper than our own experiences as here where many generations of past pipers came into focus with the passing of a neighbour.
"Cash the Piper", "Young Cash", Johnny Doran and Felix Doran inhabited a world of traditional music which older generations were privileged to hear and enjoy. The Cash tradition of uileann piping is no longer with us, except on the limited but treasured recordings of Johnny Doran and that of his brother Felix.
Johnny Doran, 'Bocky' Cash, Felix Doran
Making connections is the life blood of every historian. Everything read and observed is seen against the backdrop of a particular place or event, all the time bringing into sharper focus the people and events already known but not necessarily understood.
I am reminded of this as I sit at my desk penning these lines while listening to the uileann piping of Johnny Doran. Johnny, regarded as one of the great uileann pipers, died at the young age of 42 in the County Home, Athy on 19th January, 1950. A married man and a member of the travelling community his Grandmother was a daughter of the famous piper John Cash, known far and wide as "Cash the Piper". A native of County Wexford where he was born in 1832, Cash married at a young age "Polly" Connors. He combined the trade of tinsmith with that of horse dealer, but it was for his long career as piper that he is recalled today. John Cash died in 1909, some 19 years after the death of his own son James, also a noted piper and commonly referred to as "Young Cash".
This then was the background to the music making skills of Johnny Doran, the man who died in Athy 46 years ago. In the early 1930's Doran travelled around the country in his horsedrawn caravan, playing his pipes at fairs, football matches and whenever crowds gathered to enjoy themselves. He was a well recognised feature at all the popular midland venues of the 1930's and 1940's, even if those who listened to and enjoyed his music did not know his name. In those early days he was usually accompanied by his bother, Felix Doran who also became a well known piper in his own right.
During the cold winter of 1947 Johnny Doran with his wife and children lived in their caravan on a derelict site at Back Lane, opposite Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Sean McBride, leader of the new political party Clann na Poblachta having heard Johnny play his uileann pipes on the street, invited him to play at a rally in College Green some days before the General Election of 1947. Before he could do so however, Johnny suffered serious injuries when a portion of the derelict wall at Back Lane fell onto his caravan. Johnny was crippled from the waist down and was never to regain the use of his legs. Undaunted, he set off the following year travelling through County Kildare where some of his relatives lived, but his deteriorating health saw him admitted to the County Home in Athy on 27th October. He remained there throughout the winter, but passed away on 19th January 1950.
I was reminded of Johnny Doran and "Cash the Piper" as I was attending the funeral of a neighbour last week. "Becky" Cash grew up in the same street as myself, although there was quite a few years between us. Her late brothers Miley and Danny were pals of mine in Offaly Street, and they were all direct descendants of the legendary piper John Cash and cousins of Johnny Doran. Horse dealing had been carried on for generations by the Cash family and Bill Cash who with his family was to settle in Offaly Street in the early 1950's was a skilful and knowledgable horseman. This of course meant that horses were always to be found in the stables which Bill had made out of what was once Birney's Dairy Parlour in Janeville Lane. It was here, despite my parents' entreaties not to have anything to do with the horses, that myself and Teddy Kelly and others were sometimes to be found with Miley and Danny Cash. Miley was to die very young and his brother Danny died some years ago, long before reaching middle age. It would seem that the piping skills of "Cash the Piper" and "Young Cash" had not been passed on down the line through the Cash family as I can never recall the haunting music of the uileann pipes around Janeville Lane. Instead, Bill Cash of Janeville Lane and later of Offaly Street, had his legendary horse trading skills and wonderful storytelling ability which he was wont to embellish and always to good effect.
Here then were some of the connections made as I stood in the cold of a January morning in Barrowhouse Graveyard while the young girl remembered from Offaly Street, now a mother, was laid to rest. Familiar faces came to me out of the memories of over 35 years ago. I was approached by one whose youthful face was untouched by the years, and who grasping my hand reminded me of days spent in Janeville Lane amongst the horses and the dealers who came to trade with the acknowledged king of horse dealers, Bill Cash. He was Tom Cash who had lived in Athy as a young lad, reared among Mr. and Mrs. Cashs' own children. We re-lived young carefree days spent free of our parents' cautious ways amongst the restless hooves of horses destined to soon pass on into other hands.
It seems that making connections is not solely the prerogative of the historians. We all relive times past when that past presents itself, even it is only for a passing moment. The connections we make can sometimes go deeper than our own experiences as here where many generations of past pipers came into focus with the passing of a neighbour.
"Cash the Piper", "Young Cash", Johnny Doran and Felix Doran inhabited a world of traditional music which older generations were privileged to hear and enjoy. The Cash tradition of uileann piping is no longer with us, except on the limited but treasured recordings of Johnny Doran and that of his brother Felix.
I am reminded of this as I sit at my desk penning these lines while listening to the uileann piping of Johnny Doran. Johnny, regarded as one of the great uileann pipers, died at the young age of 42 in the County Home, Athy on 19th January, 1950. A married man and a member of the travelling community his Grandmother was a daughter of the famous piper John Cash, known far and wide as "Cash the Piper". A native of County Wexford where he was born in 1832, Cash married at a young age "Polly" Connors. He combined the trade of tinsmith with that of horse dealer, but it was for his long career as piper that he is recalled today. John Cash died in 1909, some 19 years after the death of his own son James, also a noted piper and commonly referred to as "Young Cash".
This then was the background to the music making skills of Johnny Doran, the man who died in Athy 46 years ago. In the early 1930's Doran travelled around the country in his horsedrawn caravan, playing his pipes at fairs, football matches and whenever crowds gathered to enjoy themselves. He was a well recognised feature at all the popular midland venues of the 1930's and 1940's, even if those who listened to and enjoyed his music did not know his name. In those early days he was usually accompanied by his bother, Felix Doran who also became a well known piper in his own right.
During the cold winter of 1947 Johnny Doran with his wife and children lived in their caravan on a derelict site at Back Lane, opposite Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin. Sean McBride, leader of the new political party Clann na Poblachta having heard Johnny play his uileann pipes on the street, invited him to play at a rally in College Green some days before the General Election of 1947. Before he could do so however, Johnny suffered serious injuries when a portion of the derelict wall at Back Lane fell onto his caravan. Johnny was crippled from the waist down and was never to regain the use of his legs. Undaunted, he set off the following year travelling through County Kildare where some of his relatives lived, but his deteriorating health saw him admitted to the County Home in Athy on 27th October. He remained there throughout the winter, but passed away on 19th January 1950.
I was reminded of Johnny Doran and "Cash the Piper" as I was attending the funeral of a neighbour last week. "Becky" Cash grew up in the same street as myself, although there was quite a few years between us. Her late brothers Miley and Danny were pals of mine in Offaly Street, and they were all direct descendants of the legendary piper John Cash and cousins of Johnny Doran. Horse dealing had been carried on for generations by the Cash family and Bill Cash who with his family was to settle in Offaly Street in the early 1950's was a skilful and knowledgable horseman. This of course meant that horses were always to be found in the stables which Bill had made out of what was once Birney's Dairy Parlour in Janeville Lane. It was here, despite my parents' entreaties not to have anything to do with the horses, that myself and Teddy Kelly and others were sometimes to be found with Miley and Danny Cash. Miley was to die very young and his brother Danny died some years ago, long before reaching middle age. It would seem that the piping skills of "Cash the Piper" and "Young Cash" had not been passed on down the line through the Cash family as I can never recall the haunting music of the uileann pipes around Janeville Lane. Instead, Bill Cash of Janeville Lane and later of Offaly Street, had his legendary horse trading skills and wonderful storytelling ability which he was wont to embellish and always to good effect.
Here then were some of the connections made as I stood in the cold of a January morning in Barrowhouse Graveyard while the young girl remembered from Offaly Street, now a mother, was laid to rest. Familiar faces came to me out of the memories of over 35 years ago. I was approached by one whose youthful face was untouched by the years, and who grasping my hand reminded me of days spent in Janeville Lane amongst the horses and the dealers who came to trade with the acknowledged king of horse dealers, Bill Cash. He was Tom Cash who had lived in Athy as a young lad, reared among Mr. and Mrs. Cashs' own children. We re-lived young carefree days spent free of our parents' cautious ways amongst the restless hooves of horses destined to soon pass on into other hands.
It seems that making connections is not solely the prerogative of the historians. We all relive times past when that past presents itself, even it is only for a passing moment. The connections we make can sometimes go deeper than our own experiences as here where many generations of past pipers came into focus with the passing of a neighbour.
"Cash the Piper", "Young Cash", Johnny Doran and Felix Doran inhabited a world of traditional music which older generations were privileged to hear and enjoy. The Cash tradition of uileann piping is no longer with us, except on the limited but treasured recordings of Johnny Doran and that of his brother Felix.
Thursday, December 26, 1996
Sir Ernest Shackleton
He died early on the morning of 5th January, 75 years ago on board a ship anchored off a whaling station in the Antarctic. Ernest Shackleton, Edwardian hero, whose life and achievements are currently being reassessed, was on his fourth journey of exploration to the Antarctic when he died. He had first set foot on that forbidden uncharted area as a member of Scott's expedition during 1901 to 1903 when a young man of 27 years of age. Born in Kilkea House, Kilkea, Co. Kildare on 15th February, 1874, Ernest was the eldest son and second child of Henry and Henrietta Shackleton. His father was a fourth generation descendant of Abraham Shackleton who had founded the Quaker School in Ballitore in the 18th century. The Kilkea Shackletons, unlike their Shackleton ancestors, were Anglicans and they were to leave their large Georgian house and farm for Dublin in 1880 when Henry Shackleton resumed his studies in Trinity College. Immediately on qualifying as a Doctor, he and the entire family emigrated to England where Ernest, the future explorer, was to spend the rest of his life.
Another brother of the future explorer was Frank Shackleton who was to achieve certain notoriety as one of the chief suspects in the robbery of the Irish Crown Jewels in 1904. Sir Arthur Vicars who was murdered in April 1921 during the Irish troubles had always claimed that Frank Shackleton was the thief responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the jewels of which he, Vicars, was the official custodian.
Ernest Shackleton's greatest achievements were on his second and third attempts to reach the South Pole. He led his own expedition to the Antarctic on the whaling ship "Nimrod", which set out from London on 30th July, 1907. This was his most successful attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole when he came within 97 miles of his objective before having to give up the attempt. On his return to England he was feted and received a Knighthood in 1909, the same year that a book of his exploits titled "The Heart of the Antarctic" was published. The must sought after prize of first man to reach the South Pole was to fall to the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, who arrived there on 14th December, 1911.
It was Shackleton's third trip to the Antarctic for which he is now most remembered. This started on 1st August, 1914, just days before England declared war in Germany. The County Kildare man Shackleton accompanied by 27 men set sail on a boat which he had renamed "Endurance". The name had been taken from Shackleton's family motto, "By Endurance We Conquer" and as events were to prove, was a harbinger of what was to come over the next two years. The initial stages of the journey were uneventful and even when the boat stuck in ice on 19th January, 1915 there were little grounds for fearing the worst. However, the boat was still caught in the icy fastness of the Antarctic on the following 27th October when it was crushed and had to be abandoned. Shackleton now faced the daunting task of saving his men and he decided that they should travel across the ice floes to Elephant Island on the North West edge of the Weddell Sea. The journey was to take 5 months and near the end the men were confined to a single ice floe which had broken away and drifted on the seas. Conscious of the dangers of the floe cracking, Shackleton and his men were very low in spirit, existing as they did solely on seal meat. The 100 sledge dogs brought on the expedition were kept alive as long as possible, but eventually had to be shot on 30th March. Two weeks afterwards the expedition members reached the safety of land, while at the same time the London newspapers were carrying headlines announcing the loss of Shackleton and his men.
The immediate danger had passed now that the expedition had reached unpopulated land, but somehow or other Shackleton and his men had to get to the whaling station of South Georgia Island which was over 800 miles away. The courageous leader and 5 of his companions set off 9 days later in a 22ft. boat called "James Caird" to travel across 800 miles of rough seas. Two of his companions on that trip were fellow Irishmen, Tom Crean and Jim McCarthy. The story of that trip like that of the overland journey across the ice floes was one of amazing courage and on 10th May, 1916 six men reached land but then had to make a further overland trip lasting 10 days to reach the whaling station at Stromness. From there a relief expedition under Shackleton set out to rescue the men left behind in Elephant Island and after no less than 3 attempts these men were finally rescued on 30th August, 1916.
Shackleton and the members of his team returned to London to a heroes welcome and the story of that expedition was recounted in Shackleton's second book published in 1919 which he called "South".
Financial problems beset Shackleton and he was to spend the next few years on a tour of lecturing halls recounting his experiences in the South Pole. Almost inevitably, the attraction of the Antarctic drew back Shackleton yet again and in 1921 he set out on his 4th and final expedition. It was while on the early stages of that expedition that he died of a heart attack on South Georgia on 15th January, 1922. Shackleton's body was sent back to England for burial, but on his wife's instructions the remains were turned back at Montevideo and brought back for burial on South Georgia.
Shackleton, the man who created the image of the polar explorer as a hero, never received, until recently, the recognition that he deserved in this country. This is now changing, ever so slowly, what with the current Irish expedition to the Antarctic retracing one of Shackleton's journeys. The Athy Heritage Centre which will be opened during 1997 will also have as one of it's many attractions, an exhibition on Shackleton, the local man who may not have reached the South Pole, but who conquered the World of Polar Exploration with his courage and leadership.
Another brother of the future explorer was Frank Shackleton who was to achieve certain notoriety as one of the chief suspects in the robbery of the Irish Crown Jewels in 1904. Sir Arthur Vicars who was murdered in April 1921 during the Irish troubles had always claimed that Frank Shackleton was the thief responsible for the mysterious disappearance of the jewels of which he, Vicars, was the official custodian.
Ernest Shackleton's greatest achievements were on his second and third attempts to reach the South Pole. He led his own expedition to the Antarctic on the whaling ship "Nimrod", which set out from London on 30th July, 1907. This was his most successful attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole when he came within 97 miles of his objective before having to give up the attempt. On his return to England he was feted and received a Knighthood in 1909, the same year that a book of his exploits titled "The Heart of the Antarctic" was published. The must sought after prize of first man to reach the South Pole was to fall to the Norwegian, Roald Amundsen, who arrived there on 14th December, 1911.
It was Shackleton's third trip to the Antarctic for which he is now most remembered. This started on 1st August, 1914, just days before England declared war in Germany. The County Kildare man Shackleton accompanied by 27 men set sail on a boat which he had renamed "Endurance". The name had been taken from Shackleton's family motto, "By Endurance We Conquer" and as events were to prove, was a harbinger of what was to come over the next two years. The initial stages of the journey were uneventful and even when the boat stuck in ice on 19th January, 1915 there were little grounds for fearing the worst. However, the boat was still caught in the icy fastness of the Antarctic on the following 27th October when it was crushed and had to be abandoned. Shackleton now faced the daunting task of saving his men and he decided that they should travel across the ice floes to Elephant Island on the North West edge of the Weddell Sea. The journey was to take 5 months and near the end the men were confined to a single ice floe which had broken away and drifted on the seas. Conscious of the dangers of the floe cracking, Shackleton and his men were very low in spirit, existing as they did solely on seal meat. The 100 sledge dogs brought on the expedition were kept alive as long as possible, but eventually had to be shot on 30th March. Two weeks afterwards the expedition members reached the safety of land, while at the same time the London newspapers were carrying headlines announcing the loss of Shackleton and his men.
The immediate danger had passed now that the expedition had reached unpopulated land, but somehow or other Shackleton and his men had to get to the whaling station of South Georgia Island which was over 800 miles away. The courageous leader and 5 of his companions set off 9 days later in a 22ft. boat called "James Caird" to travel across 800 miles of rough seas. Two of his companions on that trip were fellow Irishmen, Tom Crean and Jim McCarthy. The story of that trip like that of the overland journey across the ice floes was one of amazing courage and on 10th May, 1916 six men reached land but then had to make a further overland trip lasting 10 days to reach the whaling station at Stromness. From there a relief expedition under Shackleton set out to rescue the men left behind in Elephant Island and after no less than 3 attempts these men were finally rescued on 30th August, 1916.
Shackleton and the members of his team returned to London to a heroes welcome and the story of that expedition was recounted in Shackleton's second book published in 1919 which he called "South".
Financial problems beset Shackleton and he was to spend the next few years on a tour of lecturing halls recounting his experiences in the South Pole. Almost inevitably, the attraction of the Antarctic drew back Shackleton yet again and in 1921 he set out on his 4th and final expedition. It was while on the early stages of that expedition that he died of a heart attack on South Georgia on 15th January, 1922. Shackleton's body was sent back to England for burial, but on his wife's instructions the remains were turned back at Montevideo and brought back for burial on South Georgia.
Shackleton, the man who created the image of the polar explorer as a hero, never received, until recently, the recognition that he deserved in this country. This is now changing, ever so slowly, what with the current Irish expedition to the Antarctic retracing one of Shackleton's journeys. The Athy Heritage Centre which will be opened during 1997 will also have as one of it's many attractions, an exhibition on Shackleton, the local man who may not have reached the South Pole, but who conquered the World of Polar Exploration with his courage and leadership.
Thursday, December 19, 1996
Annual Review of Articles for past year
This time of the year I indulge myself in the yearly review of articles penned during the last twelve months. The first off the press this time last year dealt with the Pasley Glynn Cine Variety Company, one half of which was the late Ernest O'Rourke-Glynn. A two part article on Butlers Row in the 1930's evoked huge response which one particularly noteworthy phone call from a former resident now living in Dublin. Butler's Row came again to mind as I walked behind the recent funeral cortege of Christina Shaughnessy, granddaughter of Tom Langton, a one time resident of the lane. My school pal and one time neighbour from Butlers Row, Tom Webster, was also there and was very happy to see that the lane will soon again re-echo to the sounds of family life.
Convent Lane and its residents in the early 1930's also featured in an article as did the Mulhall family, long time barbers in Athy. My information for that latter article came courtesy of Jim Mulhall, himself a barber and a lover of history who sadly passed away during the year. Earlier in the year I had noticed the passing of Tosh Doyle who had opened the floodgates of memory for me and others when his own story was recounted in Eye on the Past.
Caught up in the football euphoria which envelopes every one in County Kildare at the beginning of the season, I penned a piece on the last occasion Kildare contested an All-Ireland Final. The year was 1935 and the human story behind the final was the dropping of Athy man "Cuddy" Chanders from the team. I often wondered whether Kildare is still being made to suffer by the Almighty for the injustice done to "Cuddy" on that September day 62 years ago. How else can be possibly explain the lack of success by the Lily Whites during the intervening years.
The social history of Athy was given more attention with a two part article on the residents of Leinster Street in the year of the Eucharistic Congress. The name of Bridget Darby, an Urban Councillor, Teacher and Gaelic speaker who lived where Conroys shop is today was mentioned in that and a subsequent article on the Gaelic League in Athy. I have come across several references to the formidable Miss Darby since then and maybe a further article on herself is called for.
The closing of Bryan Brothers afforded an opportunity for an article on the fine premises fronting on to Emily Square which had been a soap boilers shop in 1824. Later in the year the refurbishment of what was "Chopsie" Dillon's old premises in Barrow Quay revealed part of its past as a printing shop and was included in an article on printing in Athy.
The Duncans of Tonlegee House or Fortbarrington House as it was originally known featured in a piece on Elizabeth Coxhead's book "The House and the Heart". Some time afterwards I had a visit from a descendent of the Duncan family who very generously passed on to me copies of family papers relating to the late Alexander Duncan. The bi-centenary of the opening of Crom-a-Boo Bridge in May passed unnoticed by the authorities apart from my article on the Bridge which had replaced earlier more primitive methods of passing over the River Barrow. Unusually a father and son featured in separate articles during the year. Tadgh Brennan was the subject of a two part article early in 1996 and I later dealt with the early life of his father Fintan Brennan up to the time of his imprisonment during the troubles.
Sr. Xavier very generously gave of her time and of her memories during a pleasant evening spent with her and Sr. Paul in the Convent of Mercy. She was to pass away a few weeks later. Dr. George Cross from Christ Church, Dorset, met me in the summer and presented the local Museum with original plans of houses in Janeville Lane and Connolly Lane. This gave rise to another article on the two lanes where houses once busy with life are now long vacated. I later received from Dr. Cross a copy of a Diary kept by his ancestor Rev. Thomas Cross while a young man in Athy from 1847 onwards. The Diary entries gave much valuable information on a period long lost to memory and naturally enough formed the basis of another Eye on the Past.
Soon after that I was presented with a small Minute Book of the Gaelic League meetings held in Athy in the 1920's. It was here that Bridget Darby's name came up again and others mentioned included Joe May, Dick Candy and Ed Nolan amongst others. Athy Soccer Club was featured thanks largely to Johnny McEvoy, a former G.A.A. star of the 1930's and 1940's who now lives in Dublin. Johnny wrote me a most interesting letter which prompted that article and later in the year a civic reception was afforded by Athy Urban District Council to Johnny, Gerry Stynes and Paddy Joe Hughes. The occasion was the 57th anniversary of their leaving Athy to join the Garda Siochana.
Ex-Garda Michael Cunnane formerly stationed in Athy gave me much useful background information on the successful Athy hurling team of 1959 and the resultant article was well received especially by Mick "Cactus" Brennan who is now in Castlecomer. Jack Mitchell of the Coneyboro was as generous as ever with his extensive knowledge of Ardreigh in the old days and Hannon's Mill. The launch of John Minahan's book "Portrait of an Irish Town" was the subject of an article which ranged over the old residents of Athy now long forgotten. As another year comes to a close I remember some of those people who have been mentioned in articles during the past twelve months. George Robinson, Sr. Xavier, Tosh Doyle, Kevin Meaney, Matt Murray, Kitty McLaughlin, Maureen Clancy, all of whom had helped in no small way to make sense of the interlocking pieces which form the story of our town.
Towards the end of the year a visit to Rome prompted an article on the connection between the Eternal City and the South Kildare town and the names of Monsignor William Murphy and Fr. Raymond Dowdall provided the links. Another former Dominican priest, now long deceased, Fr. John O'Sullivan, was remembered in an article recalling the 14th of May 1993 when the Grotto to his memory was unveiled before a large attendance in the grounds of the Dominican Church, Athy.
To all the people who have contacted me personally, by phone or by letter during the past year with bits and pieces of information concerning Athy and its past I wish a very Happy Christmas. The same good wishes goes to readers of Eye on the Past.
Convent Lane and its residents in the early 1930's also featured in an article as did the Mulhall family, long time barbers in Athy. My information for that latter article came courtesy of Jim Mulhall, himself a barber and a lover of history who sadly passed away during the year. Earlier in the year I had noticed the passing of Tosh Doyle who had opened the floodgates of memory for me and others when his own story was recounted in Eye on the Past.
Caught up in the football euphoria which envelopes every one in County Kildare at the beginning of the season, I penned a piece on the last occasion Kildare contested an All-Ireland Final. The year was 1935 and the human story behind the final was the dropping of Athy man "Cuddy" Chanders from the team. I often wondered whether Kildare is still being made to suffer by the Almighty for the injustice done to "Cuddy" on that September day 62 years ago. How else can be possibly explain the lack of success by the Lily Whites during the intervening years.
The social history of Athy was given more attention with a two part article on the residents of Leinster Street in the year of the Eucharistic Congress. The name of Bridget Darby, an Urban Councillor, Teacher and Gaelic speaker who lived where Conroys shop is today was mentioned in that and a subsequent article on the Gaelic League in Athy. I have come across several references to the formidable Miss Darby since then and maybe a further article on herself is called for.
The closing of Bryan Brothers afforded an opportunity for an article on the fine premises fronting on to Emily Square which had been a soap boilers shop in 1824. Later in the year the refurbishment of what was "Chopsie" Dillon's old premises in Barrow Quay revealed part of its past as a printing shop and was included in an article on printing in Athy.
The Duncans of Tonlegee House or Fortbarrington House as it was originally known featured in a piece on Elizabeth Coxhead's book "The House and the Heart". Some time afterwards I had a visit from a descendent of the Duncan family who very generously passed on to me copies of family papers relating to the late Alexander Duncan. The bi-centenary of the opening of Crom-a-Boo Bridge in May passed unnoticed by the authorities apart from my article on the Bridge which had replaced earlier more primitive methods of passing over the River Barrow. Unusually a father and son featured in separate articles during the year. Tadgh Brennan was the subject of a two part article early in 1996 and I later dealt with the early life of his father Fintan Brennan up to the time of his imprisonment during the troubles.
Sr. Xavier very generously gave of her time and of her memories during a pleasant evening spent with her and Sr. Paul in the Convent of Mercy. She was to pass away a few weeks later. Dr. George Cross from Christ Church, Dorset, met me in the summer and presented the local Museum with original plans of houses in Janeville Lane and Connolly Lane. This gave rise to another article on the two lanes where houses once busy with life are now long vacated. I later received from Dr. Cross a copy of a Diary kept by his ancestor Rev. Thomas Cross while a young man in Athy from 1847 onwards. The Diary entries gave much valuable information on a period long lost to memory and naturally enough formed the basis of another Eye on the Past.
Soon after that I was presented with a small Minute Book of the Gaelic League meetings held in Athy in the 1920's. It was here that Bridget Darby's name came up again and others mentioned included Joe May, Dick Candy and Ed Nolan amongst others. Athy Soccer Club was featured thanks largely to Johnny McEvoy, a former G.A.A. star of the 1930's and 1940's who now lives in Dublin. Johnny wrote me a most interesting letter which prompted that article and later in the year a civic reception was afforded by Athy Urban District Council to Johnny, Gerry Stynes and Paddy Joe Hughes. The occasion was the 57th anniversary of their leaving Athy to join the Garda Siochana.
Ex-Garda Michael Cunnane formerly stationed in Athy gave me much useful background information on the successful Athy hurling team of 1959 and the resultant article was well received especially by Mick "Cactus" Brennan who is now in Castlecomer. Jack Mitchell of the Coneyboro was as generous as ever with his extensive knowledge of Ardreigh in the old days and Hannon's Mill. The launch of John Minahan's book "Portrait of an Irish Town" was the subject of an article which ranged over the old residents of Athy now long forgotten. As another year comes to a close I remember some of those people who have been mentioned in articles during the past twelve months. George Robinson, Sr. Xavier, Tosh Doyle, Kevin Meaney, Matt Murray, Kitty McLaughlin, Maureen Clancy, all of whom had helped in no small way to make sense of the interlocking pieces which form the story of our town.
Towards the end of the year a visit to Rome prompted an article on the connection between the Eternal City and the South Kildare town and the names of Monsignor William Murphy and Fr. Raymond Dowdall provided the links. Another former Dominican priest, now long deceased, Fr. John O'Sullivan, was remembered in an article recalling the 14th of May 1993 when the Grotto to his memory was unveiled before a large attendance in the grounds of the Dominican Church, Athy.
To all the people who have contacted me personally, by phone or by letter during the past year with bits and pieces of information concerning Athy and its past I wish a very Happy Christmas. The same good wishes goes to readers of Eye on the Past.
Thursday, December 12, 1996
Rheban Football Club
He was a very persuasive man. This was expected given his day job as an Insurance Agent. However Tom Moore did not have to give too much encouragement to his young neighbour in Offaly Street on the day that he first broached the subject of playing football with Rheban Club. After all Tom was the long serving Secretary of the rural Club first formed in 1929 and his listener was an eager if unpolished player of the Gaelic code who up to then had plied his skills with the Athy Club. I was no great catch for the Rheban Club but nevertheless the relevant Transfer Forms were passed to the County Board and I was free to line out in Tierney's field with Rheban Gaelic Football Club.
The only other times I had ventured out into the Rheban area was when I accompanied my father and my brothers to our plot in the bog. The plot in fact was not ours at all but apparently my father had for many years rented one of the many banks available for cutting turf. With my brothers I was employed in what for a very young lad was back-breaking work of footing and stacking the sods of turf which would later provide the winter warmth in our house in Offaly Street.
But to return to Tierney's field, it was to be found on the right hand side just over the Railway Bridge leading to the bog. It was there for one season that I played my football, travelling to and from Athy by bicycle accompanied by Michael and Willie Moore, my friends from Offaly Street and sons of the Club Secretary Tom Moore. Success did not mark my efforts in the Rheban jersey and I was soon to return to the town team but not before I had acquired a life-long interest in the rural Club which this year has achieved remarkable success on the football field.
The Club's successes in 1966 read like a football litany. Junior A Champions, winners of the Jack Higgins Cup, Minor B Champions, Junior League Division III winners and Special Club Award Winners for 1996.
The founders of the Club would have been justifiably proud. It was on the 6th of February 1929 that a group of men gathered in a field in Rheban intent on forming their own football club. County Kildare had won two successive All Irelands in 1927 and 1928 and understandably every young man in the County wanted to emulate the feats of such great footballers as Larry Stanley and Jack Higgins.
The first Club Chairman was John Moore and his younger brother Tom was appointed Secretary and Treasurer. Tom was to remain in that position for over 50 years, the longest serving Club Secretary in the County, if not in Ireland. The cricket field in Rheban was the venue for the Club's early practice games while Mary Moore's field in Rheban was used for inter-club games. Rheban won its very first game of football when playing in Geraldine Park, Athy, against opposition provided by Suncroft Club. The team on that occasion was Peter Taylor, Christy Myles, Owney Pender, Mick Hickey, Jack Kavanagh, Paddy Myles, Jack Foley, Willie Hutchinson, Mick Flynn, Jim Haughton, Tom Moore, John Moore, Christy Keane, Dick Tierney and Paddy Mooney. The Club Captain was Paddy Fitzpatrick, a former Athy Club player who had played with Co. Kildare in 1928.
Another Rheban player to wear the County jersey was Paddy Myles who was on the Kildare County Junior team which won the Leinster title in 1931. Paddy also played for County Kildare at right half-back position on the Senior team defeated by Kerry in the All Ireland final of 1931.
The newly formed Rheban Club was to suffer many disappointments before winning its first Championship in 1940. Before that it lost the 1937 Junior Final to Kilcock and in 1938 lost to Rathangan. The 1940 Final played between Rheban and Ardclough ended in a draw but in the subsequent replay Rheban Gaelic Football Club defeated their opponents on the score of 0-8 to 1-1 thus giving Rheban its first major success on the Gaelic football field. The team on that day included Alf Keane, Mick Hickey, Owney Pender, Tony Keogh, Mick McEvoy, Billy Marrum, Tom Hickey, Arthur Lynch, Hugh Owens, Pat Fitzpatrick, Paddy Myles, Jack Foley, Willie Moore, Jim Keane, Pat Connolly, John Cardiff, Bill Tierney and Joe Barry. It fell to an Athy man, Fintan Brennan, then Chairman of the Leinster Council, to present the medals to the victorious team. Further success soon followed and in 1942 the Club won the Intermediate Championship while on the Kildare Junior team of 1943 there were four Rheban Club players Arthur Lynch, Tom Hickey, Paddy Myles and Mick McEvoy. The post-War years were lean periods for Rheban and it was not until 1969 that the Club achieved further success when winning the Junior A Jack Higgins Cup. This was soon followed in the following year by success in the Intermediate Championship and in the League. Other notable successes by the Club down the years included a League win in 1985 and last year Rheban Gaelic Football Club won the U-16 B Championship and the U-16 League.
The success of the Club has been secured by the contribution of many young players and Club officials over the last 67 years. To Tom Moore, my old neighbour from Offaly Street, must go a substantial measure of the credit for keeping Rheban Club going through the good and bad times. Like myself he played Club football with Athy before joining Rheban but unlike my one year sojourn on Tierney's field Tom devoted the rest of his life to the Club he helped to establish. He was "Mr. Rheban" inspiring a great community of players and workers who down the years made Rheban one of the proudest Clubs in County Kildare.
This year the Club has achieved remarkable success on the playing field. Everyone involved in Gaelic games applaud their achievements. No doubt Tom and "Skinner" and all the other players who have passed to the other side are looking down today on their beloved Rheban basking in the limelight of the Club's hard won success.
The only other times I had ventured out into the Rheban area was when I accompanied my father and my brothers to our plot in the bog. The plot in fact was not ours at all but apparently my father had for many years rented one of the many banks available for cutting turf. With my brothers I was employed in what for a very young lad was back-breaking work of footing and stacking the sods of turf which would later provide the winter warmth in our house in Offaly Street.
But to return to Tierney's field, it was to be found on the right hand side just over the Railway Bridge leading to the bog. It was there for one season that I played my football, travelling to and from Athy by bicycle accompanied by Michael and Willie Moore, my friends from Offaly Street and sons of the Club Secretary Tom Moore. Success did not mark my efforts in the Rheban jersey and I was soon to return to the town team but not before I had acquired a life-long interest in the rural Club which this year has achieved remarkable success on the football field.
The Club's successes in 1966 read like a football litany. Junior A Champions, winners of the Jack Higgins Cup, Minor B Champions, Junior League Division III winners and Special Club Award Winners for 1996.
The founders of the Club would have been justifiably proud. It was on the 6th of February 1929 that a group of men gathered in a field in Rheban intent on forming their own football club. County Kildare had won two successive All Irelands in 1927 and 1928 and understandably every young man in the County wanted to emulate the feats of such great footballers as Larry Stanley and Jack Higgins.
The first Club Chairman was John Moore and his younger brother Tom was appointed Secretary and Treasurer. Tom was to remain in that position for over 50 years, the longest serving Club Secretary in the County, if not in Ireland. The cricket field in Rheban was the venue for the Club's early practice games while Mary Moore's field in Rheban was used for inter-club games. Rheban won its very first game of football when playing in Geraldine Park, Athy, against opposition provided by Suncroft Club. The team on that occasion was Peter Taylor, Christy Myles, Owney Pender, Mick Hickey, Jack Kavanagh, Paddy Myles, Jack Foley, Willie Hutchinson, Mick Flynn, Jim Haughton, Tom Moore, John Moore, Christy Keane, Dick Tierney and Paddy Mooney. The Club Captain was Paddy Fitzpatrick, a former Athy Club player who had played with Co. Kildare in 1928.
Another Rheban player to wear the County jersey was Paddy Myles who was on the Kildare County Junior team which won the Leinster title in 1931. Paddy also played for County Kildare at right half-back position on the Senior team defeated by Kerry in the All Ireland final of 1931.
The newly formed Rheban Club was to suffer many disappointments before winning its first Championship in 1940. Before that it lost the 1937 Junior Final to Kilcock and in 1938 lost to Rathangan. The 1940 Final played between Rheban and Ardclough ended in a draw but in the subsequent replay Rheban Gaelic Football Club defeated their opponents on the score of 0-8 to 1-1 thus giving Rheban its first major success on the Gaelic football field. The team on that day included Alf Keane, Mick Hickey, Owney Pender, Tony Keogh, Mick McEvoy, Billy Marrum, Tom Hickey, Arthur Lynch, Hugh Owens, Pat Fitzpatrick, Paddy Myles, Jack Foley, Willie Moore, Jim Keane, Pat Connolly, John Cardiff, Bill Tierney and Joe Barry. It fell to an Athy man, Fintan Brennan, then Chairman of the Leinster Council, to present the medals to the victorious team. Further success soon followed and in 1942 the Club won the Intermediate Championship while on the Kildare Junior team of 1943 there were four Rheban Club players Arthur Lynch, Tom Hickey, Paddy Myles and Mick McEvoy. The post-War years were lean periods for Rheban and it was not until 1969 that the Club achieved further success when winning the Junior A Jack Higgins Cup. This was soon followed in the following year by success in the Intermediate Championship and in the League. Other notable successes by the Club down the years included a League win in 1985 and last year Rheban Gaelic Football Club won the U-16 B Championship and the U-16 League.
The success of the Club has been secured by the contribution of many young players and Club officials over the last 67 years. To Tom Moore, my old neighbour from Offaly Street, must go a substantial measure of the credit for keeping Rheban Club going through the good and bad times. Like myself he played Club football with Athy before joining Rheban but unlike my one year sojourn on Tierney's field Tom devoted the rest of his life to the Club he helped to establish. He was "Mr. Rheban" inspiring a great community of players and workers who down the years made Rheban one of the proudest Clubs in County Kildare.
This year the Club has achieved remarkable success on the playing field. Everyone involved in Gaelic games applaud their achievements. No doubt Tom and "Skinner" and all the other players who have passed to the other side are looking down today on their beloved Rheban basking in the limelight of the Club's hard won success.
Thursday, December 5, 1996
Paddy Walsh
A Gaelic speaker from Ring in Co. Waterford, Paddy Walsh, despite 46 years spent in the settlers town on the " Marches of Kildare", still retains an affection for and a wonderful command of his native language. Paddy first came to Athy in August 1950 as Foreman with P.J. Walsh & Company, Tramore, who had been contracted by the local Town Council to clean the water pipes leading from the reservoir in Modubeigh, Co. Laois. His digs were in Minches Terrace with Nora Carbery and her husband, carpenter and Town Councillor Tom Carbery. Unlike other digs where you had your tea, washed and went out, Carberys treated their paying guests as members of the family. Discourse and discussion developed in front of the sitting room fire on winter evenings ably led by Tom Carbery, the man who brought many an Urban Council meeting to life with his direct methods and straight talking.
For the six months of the water main cleaning contract, P.J. Walsh & Company had two of its permanent staff in Athy, Paddy Walsh and Larry Murphy from Doneraile in Co. Cork. Local men employed included Chevit Doyle of St. Joseph's Terrace, "Twin" Power, Frankie Keane and Tom Hughes of Dooley's Terrace, "Red" Mick Keane of Barrack Street and Jack Chanders of St. Joseph's Terrace.
The cleaning of the towns water mains which had been installed in 1907 was a very difficult job which started after 6.00 p.m. each evening when the supply was cut off. The original cast iron pipes which 43 years previously had been brought by train from Dublin and then drawn by Johnny Rigney's horse and dray were meticulously cleaned every 300 yards or so by scrapers pulled through each opened pipe section. The road surface was opened with a jack hammer and a trench eight yards long by three foot deep and eighteen inches wide was dug by hand at the piece rate of three shillings a yard to gain access to the water main. The pipe was then cut and a hemp rope floated down the pipe to the next cutting 300 yards away. To the end of the hemp rope was attached a steel rope with a scraper which was pulled along the pipe to clean it.
It was a New Year's blind date with Nancy O'Rourke, daughter of local harness maker Paddy O'Rourke of Stanhope Street which was to lead to their marriage on the 11th of February 1953. Paddy left Athy when the Modubeigh contract finished but returned finally to live permanently in Athy in 1955. A period with Bord na Mona was soon followed by a 21 year stint in the Wallboard factory where he worked with Mick Doody in the boiler room.
He remembers with particular affection the camaraderie of the early days in the Wallboard factory with the likes of Charlie Holohan, William "Belgium" Cranny, Tom Murphy of Maganey and Jim Keeffe of Ardreigh. The Wallboard Company had been incorporated in 1939 but due to the intervention of the Second World War the necessary machinery could not be imported and the factory did not open until April 1949. The night before the factory went into production 1,700 tonnes of baled straw stored within yards of the factory buildings were destroyed by a fire which was subsequently the subject of a malicious damage claim.
When "The Wallboard", as it was generally known in Athy, closed down in 1977 Paddy joined Peerless Rugs from where he was to later become a member of the outdoor staff of Athy Urban District Council. He finally retired in 1990 and is now as busy as ever with his involvement in a number of local voluntary organisations.
Paddy's involvement in the promotion of the Irish language is inspired by his deep affection for the language he learned as a young boy in the Ring Gaeltact of Co. Waterford. It is no surprise then to find that he was one of the principle promoters of the Gaelic League in Athy during the 1950's and 1960's when the efforts of Maisie Candy, Dorothy Mullan, Peadar O'Murchu, Mick Kelleher, Kevin Meaney and others obtained sixth place for Athy in the Glor na nGael Competition in the under 10,000 population category. Paddy received a cheque from President Hilary on behalf of the Athy Committee, an event which is recorded in the photograph which has pride of place on his sitting room wall.
Paddy also founded the Padraig Pearse Commemmoration Committee in Athy along with Paddy Dooley who was a former pupil of St. Enda's School in Dublin. It was one of the last Na Pearsaig Clubs in the country and I was reminded by Paddy that I had presented to the Committee some years ago a Cup in memory of the late Sean MacFheorois for a competition between the local schools.
Paddy is also involved with many good causes in or around Athy including the Care of the Elderly Committee of which he has been Vice-Chairman for a number of years. He revived the Athy Dog Show in or about 1971 and it still continues each year as a very successful feature. About 10 years ago with Eileen Goulding he founded a local branch of the Guide Dogs Association and arranges their Annual Walk and Flagday each year to provide much needed financial support for the association.
To Paddy I leave the final word in an Irish poem he composed quite recently which amply demonstrates his affection for his adopted town of Athy.
"Nac aoibhinn mo Shaol deire an lae,
Is an ghrian ag dul faoi um thrathnona
Nil scamall so speir no scail ar mo chroi
Is me suite cois na Bearra ag iascaireacht.
Ta aoibhneas ann seachas ait ar domhan
An Moinin is an bearra ag meascadh le cheile
Is na cnoca glasa go geal is go neata
Cuilleoga Mheithimh i mbarr an uisce
Is breaic ag eiri chun feasta,
Is molaim Tu a Dhia mar thug Tu duinn Ath I
An Bhearra, Tobararra is an Moinin."
For the six months of the water main cleaning contract, P.J. Walsh & Company had two of its permanent staff in Athy, Paddy Walsh and Larry Murphy from Doneraile in Co. Cork. Local men employed included Chevit Doyle of St. Joseph's Terrace, "Twin" Power, Frankie Keane and Tom Hughes of Dooley's Terrace, "Red" Mick Keane of Barrack Street and Jack Chanders of St. Joseph's Terrace.
The cleaning of the towns water mains which had been installed in 1907 was a very difficult job which started after 6.00 p.m. each evening when the supply was cut off. The original cast iron pipes which 43 years previously had been brought by train from Dublin and then drawn by Johnny Rigney's horse and dray were meticulously cleaned every 300 yards or so by scrapers pulled through each opened pipe section. The road surface was opened with a jack hammer and a trench eight yards long by three foot deep and eighteen inches wide was dug by hand at the piece rate of three shillings a yard to gain access to the water main. The pipe was then cut and a hemp rope floated down the pipe to the next cutting 300 yards away. To the end of the hemp rope was attached a steel rope with a scraper which was pulled along the pipe to clean it.
It was a New Year's blind date with Nancy O'Rourke, daughter of local harness maker Paddy O'Rourke of Stanhope Street which was to lead to their marriage on the 11th of February 1953. Paddy left Athy when the Modubeigh contract finished but returned finally to live permanently in Athy in 1955. A period with Bord na Mona was soon followed by a 21 year stint in the Wallboard factory where he worked with Mick Doody in the boiler room.
He remembers with particular affection the camaraderie of the early days in the Wallboard factory with the likes of Charlie Holohan, William "Belgium" Cranny, Tom Murphy of Maganey and Jim Keeffe of Ardreigh. The Wallboard Company had been incorporated in 1939 but due to the intervention of the Second World War the necessary machinery could not be imported and the factory did not open until April 1949. The night before the factory went into production 1,700 tonnes of baled straw stored within yards of the factory buildings were destroyed by a fire which was subsequently the subject of a malicious damage claim.
When "The Wallboard", as it was generally known in Athy, closed down in 1977 Paddy joined Peerless Rugs from where he was to later become a member of the outdoor staff of Athy Urban District Council. He finally retired in 1990 and is now as busy as ever with his involvement in a number of local voluntary organisations.
Paddy's involvement in the promotion of the Irish language is inspired by his deep affection for the language he learned as a young boy in the Ring Gaeltact of Co. Waterford. It is no surprise then to find that he was one of the principle promoters of the Gaelic League in Athy during the 1950's and 1960's when the efforts of Maisie Candy, Dorothy Mullan, Peadar O'Murchu, Mick Kelleher, Kevin Meaney and others obtained sixth place for Athy in the Glor na nGael Competition in the under 10,000 population category. Paddy received a cheque from President Hilary on behalf of the Athy Committee, an event which is recorded in the photograph which has pride of place on his sitting room wall.
Paddy also founded the Padraig Pearse Commemmoration Committee in Athy along with Paddy Dooley who was a former pupil of St. Enda's School in Dublin. It was one of the last Na Pearsaig Clubs in the country and I was reminded by Paddy that I had presented to the Committee some years ago a Cup in memory of the late Sean MacFheorois for a competition between the local schools.
Paddy is also involved with many good causes in or around Athy including the Care of the Elderly Committee of which he has been Vice-Chairman for a number of years. He revived the Athy Dog Show in or about 1971 and it still continues each year as a very successful feature. About 10 years ago with Eileen Goulding he founded a local branch of the Guide Dogs Association and arranges their Annual Walk and Flagday each year to provide much needed financial support for the association.
To Paddy I leave the final word in an Irish poem he composed quite recently which amply demonstrates his affection for his adopted town of Athy.
"Nac aoibhinn mo Shaol deire an lae,
Is an ghrian ag dul faoi um thrathnona
Nil scamall so speir no scail ar mo chroi
Is me suite cois na Bearra ag iascaireacht.
Ta aoibhneas ann seachas ait ar domhan
An Moinin is an bearra ag meascadh le cheile
Is na cnoca glasa go geal is go neata
Cuilleoga Mheithimh i mbarr an uisce
Is breaic ag eiri chun feasta,
Is molaim Tu a Dhia mar thug Tu duinn Ath I
An Bhearra, Tobararra is an Moinin."
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