In Eye on the Past No. 234 I gave an account of advertisements seeking to trace missing family members which were inserted by Athy folk in the American Newspaper “The Pilot” between 1831 and 1856. As Boston city’s most important Irish-American Newspaper “The Pilot” published the first such advertisements under the heading “Missing Friends” in 1831 and continued with similar advertisements over the following 85 years. The New England Historic Genealogical Society in co-operation with The Irish Studies Programme and The Department of History at Northeastern University started a project during the summer of 1983 to collate, index and publish in book form the many thousands of “Missing Friends” advertisements which appeared in “The Pilot” from 1831 to 1916. The first three published volumes formed the basis of my previous Eye on the Past and I have now obtained copies of four further volumes in the series which bring the work up to 1876.
On 31st January 1857 his sister Matilda sought information on the whereabouts of Charles O’Neil, described as a boot and shoe maker of Athy who was last heard of in New York nine years previously. Two weeks later Michael and John Dunne of Crookstown, who together with their mother and their sister Mary Dunne went to America in May 1847, were the subject of an advertisement inserted by their brother-in-law Felix Byrne. Proof that the emigrants from Ireland did not confine themselves to the Eastern seaboard of America was borne out by an advertisement of 25th October 1857 with reference to Thomas McAvoy [sic], a native of Athy who was last heard of in Aurora, Illinois.
Those of you who have seen copies of the Laurence photographs of Athy at the turn of the 20th century will know of Noud’s Corner, now Winkles which figured prominently in a photograph of Emily Square of approximately 100 years ago. I was interested to read the name Noud in the Missing Friends column of August 1858 where Michael and Andrew Noud of Athy were mentioned as having landed in New York on 3rd June 1848 from where they subsequently went to St. Louis.
For some unexplained reason Crookstown always figured prominently in queries printed in “The Pilot”. Persistent enquirers were Mary Walsh and her brother Edward who after a lengthy period sought information on their brother Denis Walsh of Crookstown who emigrated to America in 1846. Unusually for the Missing Friends column Mary Walsh after failing to get a response to previous advertisements offered a $30 reward for information on her missing brother. A sad tale lay behind the notice inserted by Margaret Nolan who on 2nd February 1861 advised the Pilot readership that her husband James Nolan of Athy, aged 28 years, 6ft. 1in. high, black hair, fair complexion, ears pierced, had deserted her and his child in Providence, Rhode Island over five years previously. Even then one could not trust a man who pierced his ears!
Of interest to me was a June 1864 reference to Thomas Bealin, a native of Athy who died in New Orleans in the summer of 1859 leaving a wife and children who were being sought by a Miss Darcy of New York. Bealin is a name no longer to be found in Athy but sometime ago while perusing the Annals of the local Christian Brothers I came across a reference to John J. Bealin of New York City who in 1926 left a substantial amount of money to the local Christian Brothers. He was a son of Mark Bealin and Margaret Brewster and was born on 28th December 1854 in the cornerhouse at Stanhope Street where Mrs. Lehane lived until recently. Bealin’s father had a flourishing bakery business at No. 2 William Street and he had five children, including William, Mark, Margaret, Mary and the earlier-mentioned John. Mr. Bealin Snr. played an active part in community affairs in Athy and died in 1866. When his widow subsequently remarried the three Bealin sons emigrated to America and John Bealin who was only 14 years of age at that time subsequently became a very successful businessman in New York. It is quite possible that Thomas Bealin who died in New Orleans in 1857 was related to Mark Bealin of Athy who died in 1866.
Keeping up the Crookstown connection was Denis Kennedy of that parish who emigrated to America in 1854 and who was being sought by his brother John Kennedy of Athy. Another advertisement placed by a South Kildare resident was that of Mary Langton of Castle Rheban who on 7th May 1864 describing herself as “their poor mother” desired to hear of her children Patrick, Maria and Thomas Langton who were last heard of in Lockport, New York. Mrs. Langton’s heartfelt plea for news of her three children was re-echoed in many of the advertisements placed in the Missing Friends column over the 85 years of its existence. Few of those who emigrated ever returned to Ireland. Despite loneliness and home sickness they stayed in their adopted country, realising that in America, unlike Ireland, they could find work. Eoin Finn of Bert, Athy, living in New York when last heard of some years prior to 1867 and Hugh Tierney of Geraldine who emigrated to America in 1850 were perhaps typical of their time. They were remembered by their own folk back home in Ireland, even if they had lost contact with family and friends. Sometimes those who had emigrated in the years immediately following the Great Famine were followed on the emigrant trail by younger members of their families as happened in the case of the Brennan family of Athy. Michael Brennan left for America in 1852 to be followed two years later by his brother John and in August 1870 their younger brother Denis, who had lately arrived in America, was seeking information as to their whereabouts.
Another Athy man [and it always seemed to be men who were the subject of enquiries in the Missing Friends column] was mentioned in 1872. Joseph Carroll who emigrated from Athy in 1853 was at one time a Superintendent of a sawmill in St. Louis but had moved from there and like John Foran also of Athy, but laterally of Charleston, left no forwarding address.
Three young men who left Athy in 1845 were being sought 27 years later. There is no record of what happened to brothers William, Thomas and Michael O’Dowd, all of Athy who escaped the worst effects of the Potato Famine when they emigrated to America just a few months after the local Workhouse had opened its doors for the first time. One of the last advertisements in the Boston Pilot of 1873 was placed by Julia Kerrigan of Dracutt Post Office, Massachusetts and formerly of Athy who wanted information on her two sisters - Ann who left the South Kildare town 20 years previously and Margaret who had emigrated 25 years previously.
The advertisements in the Boston Pilot newspaper show that while many family and community ties were shattered by mass emigration from Ireland during the 19th century, efforts continued to be made to rebuild those connections. How successful those attempts to reunite families were we cannot say, but the advertisements placed by the friends and families of Irish emigrants give a fascinating insight into Irish emigration in the 19th century.
Thursday, June 28, 2001
Thursday, June 21, 2001
Thom's Directory - Athy 1848/1948
Thom’s Directory, produced each year, is an important record of the commercial life of any town represented within its pages. This was brought home to me as I perused the 1948 edition and for comparison purposes delved also into the edition produced exactly 100 years previously.
The latter gave an account of a world which today we would not recognise. Two Members of Parliament were returned by the County of Kildare to the Parliament in Westminster, while the County Gaol at Athy received 130 persons committed during 1845. Its counterpart in Naas received 77 new prisoners during the same year. The Governor of Athy Gaol was Patrick Dill who operated under the supervision of the Board of Superintendence which included Edward Bagot of Nurney, William Caulfield of Levitstown, Benedict Yates of Moone Abbey, Thomas Fitzgerald and Daniel Browne.
The Fever Hospital was still functioning in 1848 with Dr. William Clayton as Medical Officer, a duty which he performed in addition to acting as Dispensary Doctor for the town of Athy. What was referred to as the Union Workhouse had opened just a few years before but a much older addition to the South Kildare landscape was the Military Barracks at the end of Barrack Lane. The Constabulary were based in Whites Castles, one of 45 Constabulary Stations throughout the County of Kildare. The local officer in charge was Inspector A.G. Judge. The local Magistrates were John Butler of St. John’s, Lord Downes of Bert House, George Evans of Farmhill and B. Lefroy of Cardenton, while the Petty Sessions Clerk for Athy was John D. Waters. The Petty Sessions were held on Tuesdays, the traditional court sitting day still retained by our own District Court.
The 1948 Thom’s Directory has no mention of Members of Parliament, no reference to the town Gaol or Magistrates or Petty Session Clerks. The entries for 43 years ago reflected the more democratic times which then prevailed compared to 100 years previously. Local Government as we know it today was less than 50 years old and on Kildare County Council the Athy electoral area was represented by Thomas Carbery of Woodstock Street, Joseph Greene of Barnhill West, Castledermot, George Henderson of Ardmore and William Mahon of Prusselstown. The one-time Union Workhouse was called the County Home where Sr. Mary Vincent Lalor was Matron. The Medical Officer was Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill, while Dr. John L. Kilbride held the position of Medical Officer of Health for the town of Athy. The local Town Council comprised Michael G. Nolan, Chairman, Patrick Dooley, Tom L. Flood, Joseph C. Reynolds, Liam Ryan, Thomas Carbery, Thomas Dowling, Michael McHugh and Edward Purcell. The Town Clerk was James O’Higgins who had continued to fill that position on and off for another 40 years or so. The District Court which had replaced the Petty Sessions still continued to sit on Tuesdays which was also the market day in the town. The Court Clerk who had his offices in the local Courthouse was Fintan Brennan, whose address in 1948 was given as Offaly Street. As with the Magistrates of 1848 the Peace Commissioners of 100 years later appear to have been drawn from the well-to-do classes and included J.J. Bergin of Maybrook, Edward Doyle of Kilrush House, Reggie Hannon of Ardreigh, M.P. Minch of Rockfield House, Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill of Mount Offaly and Joseph C. Reynolds of 21 Leinster Street. Fortunately for them they did not have to sit in on the District Court proceedings as had the local Magistrates of 1848.
The commercial life of Athy in 1948 as listed in Thom’s Directory is littered with names of enterprises and businesses which are no longer in existence. Under Agricultural Implement Manufacturers there are five names, none of which are represented in Athy today - The IVI, Duthie Larges, Michael Kelly [Leinster Street], Matt McHugh and Tom McHugh. Of all the hardware shops of 53 years ago only one, Shaws & Son Limited, has survived to today. The Co-Op Stores, Duthie Larges, Jacksons, Michael Kellys, E.T. Mulhall, M. Nolan, David Walsh and G. Willis have gone the way of the foundries. As one might expect the tailors and saddlers of those post-war years have not survived the competing demands of 20th century technology and so their names read as of a litany of times past. Murt Hayden, Meeting Lane, Dan Lynam, Duke Street and Pat O’Rourke of Stanhope Street were the saddlers, while the tailors were Michael Egan of Leinster Street, Tom Moran of Butlers Row and Joseph Walsh of St. Joseph’s Terrace.
But surely I hear you say the restaurants and Inns of that year must have survived. But no, they too have gone, including Athy Tea Rooms and Miss Dooleys, both of Leinster Street, O’Rourke-Glynns and The Gem in Duke Street. The Inns, so called to distinguish them from the town’s only hotel, were The Central, Floods, Hibernian and Railway, all located in Leinster Street. The buildings they occupied still remain as public houses, although they no longer provide travellers with meals and accommodation as they had done since the 19th century.
I was intrigued to see that in 1948 cycle agents were more numerous than motor garages. Pedal power was then supreme and John Stafford of Maxwells of Duke Street vied with Jacksons and Duthie Larges of Leinster Street for the business of the town and country folk. Maxwells are the only surviving business from that period and today operate as a motor garage in Leinster Street. It is interesting to note that in 1948 no less than five shops were regarded as booksellers. B.J. Carolans, M.A. James, Mary Lalors, O’Rourke-Glynns and the Pipe Shop. Carroll’s Shop at the corner of Stanhope Street is now Winkles, while James has disappeared completely, demolished many years ago to widen the Convent Lane approach to St. Dominic’s Church. O’Rourke-Glynns and the Pipe Shop continue today under different ownership and in different business, while Mary Lalors of William Street is now the St. Vincent de Paul shop. Mary Lalor was the author of a book published in England in 1926 under the title “The Red Menace” and during the 1940’s she operated a small lending library from her premises in William Street.
One profession given in prominence in Thom’s Directory of 1948 and to be found in every town in Ireland at that time was that of Pawnbroking. Doyle & Son carried on business at Duke Street and P.P. Doyle who lived in Woodstock Street was the last proprietor of what was once the best attended establishment in Athy every Monday morning. No less than 7 butchers were listed that year, all of whom have long since closed for business. Their names were John Farrell, P. Fingleton, Andy & B. Finn, J. Hickey, Matt Hughes, Martin Purcell and Ned Ward who had two butcher shops.
Looking through a directory which is younger than myself brings a sharp reminder of the changes which time brings in its wake. With a few exceptions the names of 53 years ago are no longer over the shop doors of today. Businesses come and go and no doubt the Town Directory for 2001 will in 50 years time read like a history book of a bygone age.
The latter gave an account of a world which today we would not recognise. Two Members of Parliament were returned by the County of Kildare to the Parliament in Westminster, while the County Gaol at Athy received 130 persons committed during 1845. Its counterpart in Naas received 77 new prisoners during the same year. The Governor of Athy Gaol was Patrick Dill who operated under the supervision of the Board of Superintendence which included Edward Bagot of Nurney, William Caulfield of Levitstown, Benedict Yates of Moone Abbey, Thomas Fitzgerald and Daniel Browne.
The Fever Hospital was still functioning in 1848 with Dr. William Clayton as Medical Officer, a duty which he performed in addition to acting as Dispensary Doctor for the town of Athy. What was referred to as the Union Workhouse had opened just a few years before but a much older addition to the South Kildare landscape was the Military Barracks at the end of Barrack Lane. The Constabulary were based in Whites Castles, one of 45 Constabulary Stations throughout the County of Kildare. The local officer in charge was Inspector A.G. Judge. The local Magistrates were John Butler of St. John’s, Lord Downes of Bert House, George Evans of Farmhill and B. Lefroy of Cardenton, while the Petty Sessions Clerk for Athy was John D. Waters. The Petty Sessions were held on Tuesdays, the traditional court sitting day still retained by our own District Court.
The 1948 Thom’s Directory has no mention of Members of Parliament, no reference to the town Gaol or Magistrates or Petty Session Clerks. The entries for 43 years ago reflected the more democratic times which then prevailed compared to 100 years previously. Local Government as we know it today was less than 50 years old and on Kildare County Council the Athy electoral area was represented by Thomas Carbery of Woodstock Street, Joseph Greene of Barnhill West, Castledermot, George Henderson of Ardmore and William Mahon of Prusselstown. The one-time Union Workhouse was called the County Home where Sr. Mary Vincent Lalor was Matron. The Medical Officer was Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill, while Dr. John L. Kilbride held the position of Medical Officer of Health for the town of Athy. The local Town Council comprised Michael G. Nolan, Chairman, Patrick Dooley, Tom L. Flood, Joseph C. Reynolds, Liam Ryan, Thomas Carbery, Thomas Dowling, Michael McHugh and Edward Purcell. The Town Clerk was James O’Higgins who had continued to fill that position on and off for another 40 years or so. The District Court which had replaced the Petty Sessions still continued to sit on Tuesdays which was also the market day in the town. The Court Clerk who had his offices in the local Courthouse was Fintan Brennan, whose address in 1948 was given as Offaly Street. As with the Magistrates of 1848 the Peace Commissioners of 100 years later appear to have been drawn from the well-to-do classes and included J.J. Bergin of Maybrook, Edward Doyle of Kilrush House, Reggie Hannon of Ardreigh, M.P. Minch of Rockfield House, Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill of Mount Offaly and Joseph C. Reynolds of 21 Leinster Street. Fortunately for them they did not have to sit in on the District Court proceedings as had the local Magistrates of 1848.
The commercial life of Athy in 1948 as listed in Thom’s Directory is littered with names of enterprises and businesses which are no longer in existence. Under Agricultural Implement Manufacturers there are five names, none of which are represented in Athy today - The IVI, Duthie Larges, Michael Kelly [Leinster Street], Matt McHugh and Tom McHugh. Of all the hardware shops of 53 years ago only one, Shaws & Son Limited, has survived to today. The Co-Op Stores, Duthie Larges, Jacksons, Michael Kellys, E.T. Mulhall, M. Nolan, David Walsh and G. Willis have gone the way of the foundries. As one might expect the tailors and saddlers of those post-war years have not survived the competing demands of 20th century technology and so their names read as of a litany of times past. Murt Hayden, Meeting Lane, Dan Lynam, Duke Street and Pat O’Rourke of Stanhope Street were the saddlers, while the tailors were Michael Egan of Leinster Street, Tom Moran of Butlers Row and Joseph Walsh of St. Joseph’s Terrace.
But surely I hear you say the restaurants and Inns of that year must have survived. But no, they too have gone, including Athy Tea Rooms and Miss Dooleys, both of Leinster Street, O’Rourke-Glynns and The Gem in Duke Street. The Inns, so called to distinguish them from the town’s only hotel, were The Central, Floods, Hibernian and Railway, all located in Leinster Street. The buildings they occupied still remain as public houses, although they no longer provide travellers with meals and accommodation as they had done since the 19th century.
I was intrigued to see that in 1948 cycle agents were more numerous than motor garages. Pedal power was then supreme and John Stafford of Maxwells of Duke Street vied with Jacksons and Duthie Larges of Leinster Street for the business of the town and country folk. Maxwells are the only surviving business from that period and today operate as a motor garage in Leinster Street. It is interesting to note that in 1948 no less than five shops were regarded as booksellers. B.J. Carolans, M.A. James, Mary Lalors, O’Rourke-Glynns and the Pipe Shop. Carroll’s Shop at the corner of Stanhope Street is now Winkles, while James has disappeared completely, demolished many years ago to widen the Convent Lane approach to St. Dominic’s Church. O’Rourke-Glynns and the Pipe Shop continue today under different ownership and in different business, while Mary Lalors of William Street is now the St. Vincent de Paul shop. Mary Lalor was the author of a book published in England in 1926 under the title “The Red Menace” and during the 1940’s she operated a small lending library from her premises in William Street.
One profession given in prominence in Thom’s Directory of 1948 and to be found in every town in Ireland at that time was that of Pawnbroking. Doyle & Son carried on business at Duke Street and P.P. Doyle who lived in Woodstock Street was the last proprietor of what was once the best attended establishment in Athy every Monday morning. No less than 7 butchers were listed that year, all of whom have long since closed for business. Their names were John Farrell, P. Fingleton, Andy & B. Finn, J. Hickey, Matt Hughes, Martin Purcell and Ned Ward who had two butcher shops.
Looking through a directory which is younger than myself brings a sharp reminder of the changes which time brings in its wake. With a few exceptions the names of 53 years ago are no longer over the shop doors of today. Businesses come and go and no doubt the Town Directory for 2001 will in 50 years time read like a history book of a bygone age.
Thursday, June 14, 2001
Kildare v. Sligo / Michael 'Crutch' Malone / Seamus Malone
I was in the company of two Sligo men last Saturday as the sun finally set on Kildare’s race for the current years football championship. We were not in Croke Park but rather part of a family group gathered together to celebrate not one but two weddings which had taken place 40 years ago. Despite my best efforts to combine the celebrations with what I promised would be a quick visit to Croke Park, “sure I’ll be back in plenty of time”, the better half thought otherwise and mapped out my programme for Saturday afternoon. It was not to include a visit to Jones’ Road so I was dependent on the less than dulcet tones of local radio to follow the progress, or rather the lack of it, of Kildare’s footballing heroes.
When the final whistle went not even the two Sligo men felt able to raise a cheer for in truth, although born in Sligo their allegiances were the same as mine. For you see the two Sligo men were my brothers George and Tony, born in Ballymote and Easkey even before the hungry ‘40’s was a spec on the horizon. We were joined by another brother Jack, born in County Mayo and to complete the kaleidoscope of Irish counties wasn’t I myself always proud, especially during the football starvation years, of my Kilkenny heritage. Kildare for the football, Kilkenny for the hurling. Oh shades of ’98 when both my favourite counties inexplicably stumbled at the last hurdle when least expected to do so.
With Kildare’s defeat I am left clutching for reflected glory in my support of the Black and Amber. It is not often the Kilkenny cat in me is disappointed and that County’s wealth of success over the years prompts me to offer the loss of at least five hurling championships if, but only if Kildare could but once take ould Sam Maguire for a stroll down Athy’s main street.
During the week a letter was passed on to me from Kathleen Brodie, the great grand-daughter of Michael Malone, better remembered by the older members of the local community as “Crutch” Malone. “Crutch” because he had a deformed leg which was thrust up behind him, presumably necessitating the use of a crutch to get him around. He was a publican from Woodstock Street, his premises now owned and operated by Pat Dunne. Originally a native of Barrowhouse where he is today buried, he was for many years a member of Athy Urban District Council and a former member of the Town Council. He is perhaps best remembered today as author of “The Annals of Athy” published in 1932 or thereabouts, copies of which can still be found in many of the homes of Athy.
Kathleen Brodie was seeking the family details, photographs or memorabilia for a family album in the course of preparation for the August wedding of another Michael Malone, a great grandson of “Crutch” Malone. I would like to hear from anyone who can help Mrs. Brodie with her quest.
Help is also required, this time by myself, in compiling background information on John Keenan and his brother Tommy, both of whom served in the Irish Defence Forces during World War II. I understand that they served from 1939 with their father who had himself fought during World War II and who returned home from the 1914-1918 War suffering from serious injuries. My enquiries to date have located two Keenan families, one from Meeting Lane, the other and more likely connected with the family of my enquiry from Dooley’s Terrace. There must surely be many readers who can help me with my enquiries concerning John Keenan whom I am told left Athy around 1947. Looking forward to hearing from you.
While I am seeking your help can I put another name before you, that of Seamus Malone, a member of the teaching staff at Athy Christian Brothers School in the early 1920’s and one time Secretary of Athy G.F.C. It was Seamus Malone’s dynamic leadership which saw the local club develop with renewed energy after its earlier collapse during the years immediately following the 1916 Insurrection. Seamus spent some time in Mountjoy Prison during the Troubles and was later involved with socialism, although my information in relation to that aspect of his life is somewhat sketchy. I know he taught for a period in Newtown School in Waterford from 1936 but what happened to him thereafter is a mystery. It’s a long shot I know but maybe someone reading this has some connection with Waterford where I believe he lived out his last years. Perhaps you could pass on my enquiry to anyone living in the Waterford locality who might be able to fill me in on Seamus Malone’s life after he left Athy.
I received an interesting phone call during the past week from a reader who wanted to know if I was aware of an Athy woman who was one of the librarians of the American Irish Historical Society on 5th Avenue in New York. My interest aroused I had to confess that I had no knowledge of the good lady and her name Toomey struck no immediate chord. However, since that phone call I have been trying to recall names long forgotten and unless I am very much mistaken the name Toomey was once associated with the legal profession in Athy many years ago. I wonder is this a connection. Watch this space for updates on my search to find the missing link!
When the final whistle went not even the two Sligo men felt able to raise a cheer for in truth, although born in Sligo their allegiances were the same as mine. For you see the two Sligo men were my brothers George and Tony, born in Ballymote and Easkey even before the hungry ‘40’s was a spec on the horizon. We were joined by another brother Jack, born in County Mayo and to complete the kaleidoscope of Irish counties wasn’t I myself always proud, especially during the football starvation years, of my Kilkenny heritage. Kildare for the football, Kilkenny for the hurling. Oh shades of ’98 when both my favourite counties inexplicably stumbled at the last hurdle when least expected to do so.
With Kildare’s defeat I am left clutching for reflected glory in my support of the Black and Amber. It is not often the Kilkenny cat in me is disappointed and that County’s wealth of success over the years prompts me to offer the loss of at least five hurling championships if, but only if Kildare could but once take ould Sam Maguire for a stroll down Athy’s main street.
During the week a letter was passed on to me from Kathleen Brodie, the great grand-daughter of Michael Malone, better remembered by the older members of the local community as “Crutch” Malone. “Crutch” because he had a deformed leg which was thrust up behind him, presumably necessitating the use of a crutch to get him around. He was a publican from Woodstock Street, his premises now owned and operated by Pat Dunne. Originally a native of Barrowhouse where he is today buried, he was for many years a member of Athy Urban District Council and a former member of the Town Council. He is perhaps best remembered today as author of “The Annals of Athy” published in 1932 or thereabouts, copies of which can still be found in many of the homes of Athy.
Kathleen Brodie was seeking the family details, photographs or memorabilia for a family album in the course of preparation for the August wedding of another Michael Malone, a great grandson of “Crutch” Malone. I would like to hear from anyone who can help Mrs. Brodie with her quest.
Help is also required, this time by myself, in compiling background information on John Keenan and his brother Tommy, both of whom served in the Irish Defence Forces during World War II. I understand that they served from 1939 with their father who had himself fought during World War II and who returned home from the 1914-1918 War suffering from serious injuries. My enquiries to date have located two Keenan families, one from Meeting Lane, the other and more likely connected with the family of my enquiry from Dooley’s Terrace. There must surely be many readers who can help me with my enquiries concerning John Keenan whom I am told left Athy around 1947. Looking forward to hearing from you.
While I am seeking your help can I put another name before you, that of Seamus Malone, a member of the teaching staff at Athy Christian Brothers School in the early 1920’s and one time Secretary of Athy G.F.C. It was Seamus Malone’s dynamic leadership which saw the local club develop with renewed energy after its earlier collapse during the years immediately following the 1916 Insurrection. Seamus spent some time in Mountjoy Prison during the Troubles and was later involved with socialism, although my information in relation to that aspect of his life is somewhat sketchy. I know he taught for a period in Newtown School in Waterford from 1936 but what happened to him thereafter is a mystery. It’s a long shot I know but maybe someone reading this has some connection with Waterford where I believe he lived out his last years. Perhaps you could pass on my enquiry to anyone living in the Waterford locality who might be able to fill me in on Seamus Malone’s life after he left Athy.
I received an interesting phone call during the past week from a reader who wanted to know if I was aware of an Athy woman who was one of the librarians of the American Irish Historical Society on 5th Avenue in New York. My interest aroused I had to confess that I had no knowledge of the good lady and her name Toomey struck no immediate chord. However, since that phone call I have been trying to recall names long forgotten and unless I am very much mistaken the name Toomey was once associated with the legal profession in Athy many years ago. I wonder is this a connection. Watch this space for updates on my search to find the missing link!
Thursday, June 7, 2001
Archaeological Excavations at Ardreigh
Recent archaeological excavations at Ardreigh have revealed a wealth of material and remains sufficient to give us a unique insight into the forgotten history of this once prosperous borough. Established in the thirteenth century, the settlement with its market place, church and castle rivaled neighbouring Athy in terms of importance and prosperity. Home to a thriving agricultural community and an emerging merchant class, it weathered the vicissitudes of war, disease and famine of medieval Ireland before it was finally abandoned as a settlement in the late seventeenth century.
The documentary sources for Ardreigh’s past are few in comparison with Athy and the records which survive are tantalisingly fragmentary. The earliest reference to a settlement in the area referred to a church established in the late 12th Century. By the late 13th Century, Ardreigh borough appears to be in existence and the Justiciar records have frequent references to thefts of cattle and grain from the boroughs inhabitants. Thereafter references to the borough are few and infrequent. One individual of whom quite a bit is known was William d’Athy. A wealthy and prominent merchant, he imported wines and produce from Europe supplying the tables of the rich and famous in Dublin. He frequently had recourse to the local courts in disputes with fellow merchants. One such case that he brought involved a man who robbed his orchard at Ardreigh. The Calender of Justiciary Rolls of Ireland for 1306 has the following entry.
“William de Athy complains of Will. le Poer that he rooted up the apple trees of the garden of W. de Athy at Ardry and pulled down his houses, and carried the timber of them to his house in Dunlost, and burned it, and did other injuries, to his damage, and against the peace.
William comes and cannot deny it. Let him be committed to gaol, As to damage, they agree that W. le Poer acknowledge that he owes to W. de Athy, 6 marks. And W. de Athy remits all action and damages.”
To this small store of knowledge we can now begin to add the results of the labour of the team of archaeologists who have been working at excavations at Ardreigh over the last 12 months. These excavations have been concentrated on the route of the new roadway to be constructed to replace the current dangerous bend on the Athy-Carlow road. Covering a substantial ground area the excavators began their work in the vicinity of the old graveyard at Ardreigh. Their work has shown that the small 19th century cemetery at Ardreigh is now known to form the nucleus of an older and much larger graveyard which extended beyond the present boundary walls. The burials excavated to date, are from the late 13th to the mid 17th century, but it is possible that burials dating to the Early Christian period might yet be found to confirm to an earlier church site in the area. The remains uncovered represent all ages and sexes and would suggest that the cemetery served as the burial ground for the local community with no evidence to date of any social exclusivity.
The care and formality indicated by the excavated grave sites proves that the ancient burial rites were an important ritual in the medieval period. No grave markers have been found but this is not unexpected as only the wealthy and powerful possessed the means to be commemorated in a permanent form. Currently displayed in the Heritage Centre in Athy are two 14th century cross inscribed burial markers found in medieval cemetery of Old St. Michael’s in the town. These are rare and unusual survivals from that period.
A unique discovery in the excavation has been a feature described as a “Plague pit”. This was a grave hurriedly dug with none of the care and attention normally associated with an intended burial. Into this were cast the remains of up to a dozen individuals of all ages. The speed of the burial, the haphazard disposition of the bodies indicate that an event of some suddenness or violence compelled the community to bury their dead quickly and without ceremony. Perhaps the borough of Ardreigh was visited by one of the plagues which were a constant threat during medieval times and that those not struck down but weakened by disease and fearing for their own lives buried their dead speedily as a defence against the plague. Maybe it was the Black Death of 1348 which gave rise to the “plague pit” in Ardreigh as we know it had a devastating impact on nucleated settlements such as Ardreigh. Whatever and whenever the devastation brought upon Ardreigh the settlement continued although it did not seem to thrive as it did before.
Allied to the excavation of the graves the archaeological team has been digging down to the medieval layers where evidence from the farming of the land around Ardreigh has been uncovered. Cultivation ridges formed by the ard and plough of the medieval farmer still survive confirming that tillage farming was obviously important within the community. Another survival on the site of the borough was an impressive stone built corn-drying kiln, consisting of a central chamber served by two equally large flues.
One hopes that in the future, the archaeologists work on the site might uncover domestic structures which could give us a further insight into the world of our ancestors. There have been very few large-scale excavations of medieval rural settlements in Ireland, a point which has been emphasized by Dr. Kieran O’Connor of University College Galway in his recent book on the subject. There are exciting possibilities in the months ahead when hopefully the excavations at Ardreigh will recommence. Kildare County Council is to be congratulated on its commitment to the thorough investigation and excavation at this ancient site. Perhaps when the excavation has been completed the finds from the site will find a home in the local Heritage Centre so that a wider audience can learn and appreciate something of the life of our medieval forebearers.
The documentary sources for Ardreigh’s past are few in comparison with Athy and the records which survive are tantalisingly fragmentary. The earliest reference to a settlement in the area referred to a church established in the late 12th Century. By the late 13th Century, Ardreigh borough appears to be in existence and the Justiciar records have frequent references to thefts of cattle and grain from the boroughs inhabitants. Thereafter references to the borough are few and infrequent. One individual of whom quite a bit is known was William d’Athy. A wealthy and prominent merchant, he imported wines and produce from Europe supplying the tables of the rich and famous in Dublin. He frequently had recourse to the local courts in disputes with fellow merchants. One such case that he brought involved a man who robbed his orchard at Ardreigh. The Calender of Justiciary Rolls of Ireland for 1306 has the following entry.
“William de Athy complains of Will. le Poer that he rooted up the apple trees of the garden of W. de Athy at Ardry and pulled down his houses, and carried the timber of them to his house in Dunlost, and burned it, and did other injuries, to his damage, and against the peace.
William comes and cannot deny it. Let him be committed to gaol, As to damage, they agree that W. le Poer acknowledge that he owes to W. de Athy, 6 marks. And W. de Athy remits all action and damages.”
To this small store of knowledge we can now begin to add the results of the labour of the team of archaeologists who have been working at excavations at Ardreigh over the last 12 months. These excavations have been concentrated on the route of the new roadway to be constructed to replace the current dangerous bend on the Athy-Carlow road. Covering a substantial ground area the excavators began their work in the vicinity of the old graveyard at Ardreigh. Their work has shown that the small 19th century cemetery at Ardreigh is now known to form the nucleus of an older and much larger graveyard which extended beyond the present boundary walls. The burials excavated to date, are from the late 13th to the mid 17th century, but it is possible that burials dating to the Early Christian period might yet be found to confirm to an earlier church site in the area. The remains uncovered represent all ages and sexes and would suggest that the cemetery served as the burial ground for the local community with no evidence to date of any social exclusivity.
The care and formality indicated by the excavated grave sites proves that the ancient burial rites were an important ritual in the medieval period. No grave markers have been found but this is not unexpected as only the wealthy and powerful possessed the means to be commemorated in a permanent form. Currently displayed in the Heritage Centre in Athy are two 14th century cross inscribed burial markers found in medieval cemetery of Old St. Michael’s in the town. These are rare and unusual survivals from that period.
A unique discovery in the excavation has been a feature described as a “Plague pit”. This was a grave hurriedly dug with none of the care and attention normally associated with an intended burial. Into this were cast the remains of up to a dozen individuals of all ages. The speed of the burial, the haphazard disposition of the bodies indicate that an event of some suddenness or violence compelled the community to bury their dead quickly and without ceremony. Perhaps the borough of Ardreigh was visited by one of the plagues which were a constant threat during medieval times and that those not struck down but weakened by disease and fearing for their own lives buried their dead speedily as a defence against the plague. Maybe it was the Black Death of 1348 which gave rise to the “plague pit” in Ardreigh as we know it had a devastating impact on nucleated settlements such as Ardreigh. Whatever and whenever the devastation brought upon Ardreigh the settlement continued although it did not seem to thrive as it did before.
Allied to the excavation of the graves the archaeological team has been digging down to the medieval layers where evidence from the farming of the land around Ardreigh has been uncovered. Cultivation ridges formed by the ard and plough of the medieval farmer still survive confirming that tillage farming was obviously important within the community. Another survival on the site of the borough was an impressive stone built corn-drying kiln, consisting of a central chamber served by two equally large flues.
One hopes that in the future, the archaeologists work on the site might uncover domestic structures which could give us a further insight into the world of our ancestors. There have been very few large-scale excavations of medieval rural settlements in Ireland, a point which has been emphasized by Dr. Kieran O’Connor of University College Galway in his recent book on the subject. There are exciting possibilities in the months ahead when hopefully the excavations at Ardreigh will recommence. Kildare County Council is to be congratulated on its commitment to the thorough investigation and excavation at this ancient site. Perhaps when the excavation has been completed the finds from the site will find a home in the local Heritage Centre so that a wider audience can learn and appreciate something of the life of our medieval forebearers.
Thursday, May 31, 2001
Athy Parish Festival Show 1964
Amongst a bundle of miscellaneous papers and notes which presently overlay my desk, I have found a folded A4 Sheet, the first page of which reads
Athy Parish Festival
Shopkeepers Show
March 11th and 13th 1964
Programme Price 3d
The back page is blank but the two page centre spread provides a pandora box of names, some of which I remember, others not so well. The show opened with a song from “Calamity Jane” and comprised a rendition of “The Deadwood Stage” by the ladies and gentlemen of the chorus. The ladies were Helen Walsh, Esther Bannon, Kathleen Kelly, Carmel Hickey and Patricia Mahon and surprisingly they were out numbered by the members of the men’s chorus. Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn, Joe McNally, Billy Brown, Brendan Ward, John Byrne, P.J. Hyland and S. Murphy whom I believe was Sean whom I will mention later in this article. I recognise quite a few crows amongst that motly crew so I can only assume that an ability to sing was not a pre-requisite for joining the gentleman’s chorus! After the Deadwood Stage had journeyed on its way Cecily Brady sang “My Secret Love”. Cecily of Dublin Road was a leading member of the local musical societies of the 1940’s. After her, the chorus provided a musical interpretation of the “The Black Hills of Dakota” following which the inimitable Wag O’Keeffe entertained the audience with “Why Doesn’t She Come”. An Irish Dance Troupe consisting of Hazel Darling, Deirdre Hughes and Noleen Murphy were next on stage of the venue which is not identified on the programme. Presumably, however, it was the Social Club in St. John’s Lane because as far as I can remember, the Town Hall was by then the temporary home of a clothing factory.
A one act Play “Love and Acid Drops” by Seamus Bourke then followed in which the various parts were played by John Hillard, Michael Dempsey, Dolly Hyland, Phyllis Coughlan, Ann Dooley and Brian O’Hara. Just before the interval, extracts from the Desert Song were song by Michael Noonan, Mary Conlan and Charlie Prendergast. Charlie, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday was like Cecily Brady, a great favourite over the years with audiences at shows put on by Musical Societies in the Town.
The second half of the programme opened with Margot Higginson giving a solo performance from the Merry Widow with my former neighbour from Offaly Street, Mary Tuohy providing a dance accompaniment. Wag O’Keeffe was next back up again with his rendition of Percy French’s great favourite “Phil The Fluter’s Ball”. Charlie Prendergast, with the wonderful tenor voice which for so many years graced the local Church choir then came on stage and sang “Mattinate” and “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”. I should have mentioned that early in the first half of the programme, some unnamed individuals calling themselves “Clancy Brothers” provided the entertainment and now following Charlie Prendergast, another unnamed group provided a selection of Skittle music. A little detective work on my part, for I did not see the show, indicates that the Clancy’s and the Skittlers were one and the same and comprised Sean Murphy, P.J. Hyland, Brendan Ward and John Byrne.
Maureen Ryan and Carmel Hickey followed with a number of songs before Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn returned to the stage with Reminiscences. This had all the possibilities of being a show stopper given Ernest’s wonderful speaking voice and his involvement in Theatre and entertainment generally for decades previously. The evening show ended with Ian Atwell singing a selection of songs from “Showboat”. Ian formerly of Doyle Brothers of William Street was by then with Duthie Larges in Leinster Street.
Some of the participants in that Show are well remembered by me. I can still picture in my mind’s eye Brian O’Hara togging out on a Sunday afternoon playing alongside the likes of Joe Aldridge and Denis Smyth in the local soccer pitch. More often than that, my view of the “foreign” game was courtesy of the embankment in the adjoining Geraldine Park when ever there was a lull in the football or hurling match which I was attending. Noleen Murphy and Mary Tuohy were neighbours of mine in Offaly Street while husband and wife team, Wag and Dolly O’Keeffe with Dolly’s brother P.J. Hyland need no introduction. Billy Browne, Sean Murphy, John Byrne, Brendan Ward and Joe McNally were school pals of mine over 40 years ago.
Only last week as I was about to step on an escalator in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre in Dublin, I met a school friend last seen over 35 years ago. When I heard my name called in those unfamiliar surroundings, I turned around to recognise the unmistakable features of Sean Murphy who as a young man 37 years ago trod the boards in the Shopkeeper’s Show of 1964. I remember Sean for an exuberant and skillful piano playing session in a hostelry in Tramore which ran on well into the morning. His tall lanky frame was bent over the piano which he played while standing up, his hands moving rhythmically across the keys while his head and shoulders bobbed in unison to the music. He was magic, as the tunes tumbled out without a pause, each piece taken on a foot tapping life of its own filling the room and his audience with a streamless echo of honky tonk music. That was Sean Murphy in his element and I gather he has never lost his love for pounding the piano keys.
We talked for a while and discovered that for a few years before I returned to Athy, both of us lived within a few hundred yards of each other. Sean lived in the North side of Dublin, having joined the Garda Siochana and was stationed in Raheny station for most of his working life. When we met last week, it was a few days after he had retired on reaching the compulsory retirement age of 57 years and was in the centre of Dublin to buy something to wear for his retirement party later that night. The Murphy family lived in St. Michael’s Terrace and I can still remember Sean’s father, Joe Murphy, a skilled man building the cut stone entrance to St. Dominic’s Church at the end of Convent Lane. Its a lasting monument to the skill of a man who is now dead and whose family are all living away from their home town of Athy.
There are many Eye on the Past readers who will remember Sean Murphy as well as his friends who trod the boards during the Shopkeepers Show in Athy in March 1964. Our best wishes go out to all those amateur troubadours who are still with us and especially Sean Murphy on his recent retirement from the Garda Siochana.
Athy Parish Festival
Shopkeepers Show
March 11th and 13th 1964
Programme Price 3d
The back page is blank but the two page centre spread provides a pandora box of names, some of which I remember, others not so well. The show opened with a song from “Calamity Jane” and comprised a rendition of “The Deadwood Stage” by the ladies and gentlemen of the chorus. The ladies were Helen Walsh, Esther Bannon, Kathleen Kelly, Carmel Hickey and Patricia Mahon and surprisingly they were out numbered by the members of the men’s chorus. Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn, Joe McNally, Billy Brown, Brendan Ward, John Byrne, P.J. Hyland and S. Murphy whom I believe was Sean whom I will mention later in this article. I recognise quite a few crows amongst that motly crew so I can only assume that an ability to sing was not a pre-requisite for joining the gentleman’s chorus! After the Deadwood Stage had journeyed on its way Cecily Brady sang “My Secret Love”. Cecily of Dublin Road was a leading member of the local musical societies of the 1940’s. After her, the chorus provided a musical interpretation of the “The Black Hills of Dakota” following which the inimitable Wag O’Keeffe entertained the audience with “Why Doesn’t She Come”. An Irish Dance Troupe consisting of Hazel Darling, Deirdre Hughes and Noleen Murphy were next on stage of the venue which is not identified on the programme. Presumably, however, it was the Social Club in St. John’s Lane because as far as I can remember, the Town Hall was by then the temporary home of a clothing factory.
A one act Play “Love and Acid Drops” by Seamus Bourke then followed in which the various parts were played by John Hillard, Michael Dempsey, Dolly Hyland, Phyllis Coughlan, Ann Dooley and Brian O’Hara. Just before the interval, extracts from the Desert Song were song by Michael Noonan, Mary Conlan and Charlie Prendergast. Charlie, who recently celebrated his 90th birthday was like Cecily Brady, a great favourite over the years with audiences at shows put on by Musical Societies in the Town.
The second half of the programme opened with Margot Higginson giving a solo performance from the Merry Widow with my former neighbour from Offaly Street, Mary Tuohy providing a dance accompaniment. Wag O’Keeffe was next back up again with his rendition of Percy French’s great favourite “Phil The Fluter’s Ball”. Charlie Prendergast, with the wonderful tenor voice which for so many years graced the local Church choir then came on stage and sang “Mattinate” and “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair”. I should have mentioned that early in the first half of the programme, some unnamed individuals calling themselves “Clancy Brothers” provided the entertainment and now following Charlie Prendergast, another unnamed group provided a selection of Skittle music. A little detective work on my part, for I did not see the show, indicates that the Clancy’s and the Skittlers were one and the same and comprised Sean Murphy, P.J. Hyland, Brendan Ward and John Byrne.
Maureen Ryan and Carmel Hickey followed with a number of songs before Ernest O’Rourke-Glynn returned to the stage with Reminiscences. This had all the possibilities of being a show stopper given Ernest’s wonderful speaking voice and his involvement in Theatre and entertainment generally for decades previously. The evening show ended with Ian Atwell singing a selection of songs from “Showboat”. Ian formerly of Doyle Brothers of William Street was by then with Duthie Larges in Leinster Street.
Some of the participants in that Show are well remembered by me. I can still picture in my mind’s eye Brian O’Hara togging out on a Sunday afternoon playing alongside the likes of Joe Aldridge and Denis Smyth in the local soccer pitch. More often than that, my view of the “foreign” game was courtesy of the embankment in the adjoining Geraldine Park when ever there was a lull in the football or hurling match which I was attending. Noleen Murphy and Mary Tuohy were neighbours of mine in Offaly Street while husband and wife team, Wag and Dolly O’Keeffe with Dolly’s brother P.J. Hyland need no introduction. Billy Browne, Sean Murphy, John Byrne, Brendan Ward and Joe McNally were school pals of mine over 40 years ago.
Only last week as I was about to step on an escalator in the Jervis Street Shopping Centre in Dublin, I met a school friend last seen over 35 years ago. When I heard my name called in those unfamiliar surroundings, I turned around to recognise the unmistakable features of Sean Murphy who as a young man 37 years ago trod the boards in the Shopkeeper’s Show of 1964. I remember Sean for an exuberant and skillful piano playing session in a hostelry in Tramore which ran on well into the morning. His tall lanky frame was bent over the piano which he played while standing up, his hands moving rhythmically across the keys while his head and shoulders bobbed in unison to the music. He was magic, as the tunes tumbled out without a pause, each piece taken on a foot tapping life of its own filling the room and his audience with a streamless echo of honky tonk music. That was Sean Murphy in his element and I gather he has never lost his love for pounding the piano keys.
We talked for a while and discovered that for a few years before I returned to Athy, both of us lived within a few hundred yards of each other. Sean lived in the North side of Dublin, having joined the Garda Siochana and was stationed in Raheny station for most of his working life. When we met last week, it was a few days after he had retired on reaching the compulsory retirement age of 57 years and was in the centre of Dublin to buy something to wear for his retirement party later that night. The Murphy family lived in St. Michael’s Terrace and I can still remember Sean’s father, Joe Murphy, a skilled man building the cut stone entrance to St. Dominic’s Church at the end of Convent Lane. Its a lasting monument to the skill of a man who is now dead and whose family are all living away from their home town of Athy.
There are many Eye on the Past readers who will remember Sean Murphy as well as his friends who trod the boards during the Shopkeepers Show in Athy in March 1964. Our best wishes go out to all those amateur troubadours who are still with us and especially Sean Murphy on his recent retirement from the Garda Siochana.
Thursday, May 24, 2001
Athy Courthouse
Our Courthouse having received a one million pounds revamp was officially opened by the Minister for Justice John O’Donoghue on Thursday morning last. The one time corn exchange built in 1857 to Frederick Darley’s design looked at its best after almost 1½ years of careful tending at the hands of D. & J. Cabery, Building Contractors.
The opening ceremony was performed in the presence of Judges of the District Court, the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court, all of whom were women. I’m not sure if this was a coincidence or a reflection of the shifting of the gender imbalance which for so long deprived our State and its institutions of the enriching influence of the female mind. The Supreme Court Judge was Justice Mrs. Susan Denham whose father Douglas Gageby was for so long editor of the Irish Times and in whose newspaper there appeared almost four years ago a letter from a Dublin man criticising those responsible for the sad state of Athy’s fine Jacobean-style Courthouse. Judge Jackie Linnane of the Circuit Court and Judge Mary Martin of the District Court made up the judicial triumvirate at the opening.
The refurbishment work undertaken by D. & J. Carbery, Builders under the guidance of Michael Lysaght, Architect is first class and the mid-19th century building which within two years of being built was described as deficient in ventilation and lighting is now a lasting monument to the skill and workmanship of today’s craftsman as much as it is to the skills of 150 years ago.
Brothers Dan and Brian Carbery now manage the building firm which has been operating in one form or another since the 1880’s and possibly earlier. Dan Carbery and John Carbery of the original company formed sometime at the turn of the last century were Luggacurran brothers who did building work for Lord Landsdowne on his Luggacurran estates, as well as on his estates in Co. Kerry. The Plan of Campaign adopted in Luggacurran in 1886 with the active encouragement of local Curate Rev. John Maher saw the Carbery families as well as 60 or more other families evicted from holdings which they had held as tenants or under tenants of Lord Landsdowne. Some of those evicted, including the Carberys, came to Athy town where the building contracting business of D. & J. Carbery flourished, becoming in time the largest contracting firm in the region. D. & J. Carbery were involved in almost every major housing scheme undertaken by Athy Urban District Council from 1913 onwards. The very first Council housing scheme in Athy saw D. & J. Carbery build 10 houses in what was then known as Matthew’s Lane for the sum of £2,544.7.11. Those houses are now known as St. Michael’s Terrace. The Athy-based firm also built St. Patrick’s Avenue in 1931 and completed the houses in Dooley’s Terrace in January 1934. Convent View was built by them two years later and in November 1936 they completed work on Plewman’s Terrace and Minch’s Terrace. The Geraldine Road housing scheme was also the work of the Cabery firm which they finished in 1939 and their next big local authority housing scheme in Athy was Pairc Bhride in 1951.
The last major contract in which D. & J. Carbery, Building Contractors, Athy were involved in was the building of the Secondary School complex at Rathstewart which now houses Scoil Eoin and St. Mary’s girls school. Soon after completing that contract D. & J. Carbery Limited of Athy went out of business but the Carlow branch of the firm continued and indeed were involved in building houses for Athy Urban District Council at Butler’s Lane a few years ago.
The awarding of the Contract for the restoration of the Courthouse to the firm now managed by Dan and Brian Carbery was significant in terms of the State’s committment to preserving one of the most important architectural features of Athy. The architect of the original building Frederick Darley was one of the most important Irish architects of the 19th century and he was responsible for the Kings Inn library in Henrietta Street, Dublin as well as several other important buildings in the Nations Capital. Here in Athy we have several examples of his work including the Model School on the Dublin Road, St. Michael’s Church of Ireland on the Carlow Road which was built in 1840 during the Rectorship of Rev. F.S. Trench and while Darley was architect to the Ecclesiastical Commission. The Presbyterian Church and former Manse on the Dublin Road were also designed by Darley.
The choice of D. & J. Carbery Limited to refurbish the Courthouse was one which helped to continue this firm’s connection with the built heritage of Athy. The Town Hall and the Courthouse now both handsomely refurbished after years of neglect and fears of their possible demolition for car parking spaces provide a wonderful backdrop to the important urban spaces formerly known as Market Square before being renamed in honour of Emily, Duchess of Leinster. The generous proportions of both buildings are enhanced by the equally generous proportions of the spaces which surround them and which never fail to impress visitors to our town.
Last week Mullingar-based Paddy Looney passed away. Paddy was a former playing member of Athy Gaelic Football Club and won Senior Championship medals with Athy in 1933 and 1934. Athy’s first ever Senior Championship win in 1933 followed a hat trick of defeats in the County Finals of 1923, 1926 and 1927 and was achieved with such great footballers as Cuddy Chanders, Tommy Mulhall, Paul Matthews, Jim Fox and Barney Dunne. These five players were also part of the much fancied County Kildare team which failed to win the 1935 All-Ireland final against the men from the Breifne County. With the death of Paddy Looney, Barney Dunne who played alongside him in the full forward line in the 1934 County Final is the last surviving member of that great Athy team.
The opening ceremony was performed in the presence of Judges of the District Court, the Circuit Court and the Supreme Court, all of whom were women. I’m not sure if this was a coincidence or a reflection of the shifting of the gender imbalance which for so long deprived our State and its institutions of the enriching influence of the female mind. The Supreme Court Judge was Justice Mrs. Susan Denham whose father Douglas Gageby was for so long editor of the Irish Times and in whose newspaper there appeared almost four years ago a letter from a Dublin man criticising those responsible for the sad state of Athy’s fine Jacobean-style Courthouse. Judge Jackie Linnane of the Circuit Court and Judge Mary Martin of the District Court made up the judicial triumvirate at the opening.
The refurbishment work undertaken by D. & J. Carbery, Builders under the guidance of Michael Lysaght, Architect is first class and the mid-19th century building which within two years of being built was described as deficient in ventilation and lighting is now a lasting monument to the skill and workmanship of today’s craftsman as much as it is to the skills of 150 years ago.
Brothers Dan and Brian Carbery now manage the building firm which has been operating in one form or another since the 1880’s and possibly earlier. Dan Carbery and John Carbery of the original company formed sometime at the turn of the last century were Luggacurran brothers who did building work for Lord Landsdowne on his Luggacurran estates, as well as on his estates in Co. Kerry. The Plan of Campaign adopted in Luggacurran in 1886 with the active encouragement of local Curate Rev. John Maher saw the Carbery families as well as 60 or more other families evicted from holdings which they had held as tenants or under tenants of Lord Landsdowne. Some of those evicted, including the Carberys, came to Athy town where the building contracting business of D. & J. Carbery flourished, becoming in time the largest contracting firm in the region. D. & J. Carbery were involved in almost every major housing scheme undertaken by Athy Urban District Council from 1913 onwards. The very first Council housing scheme in Athy saw D. & J. Carbery build 10 houses in what was then known as Matthew’s Lane for the sum of £2,544.7.11. Those houses are now known as St. Michael’s Terrace. The Athy-based firm also built St. Patrick’s Avenue in 1931 and completed the houses in Dooley’s Terrace in January 1934. Convent View was built by them two years later and in November 1936 they completed work on Plewman’s Terrace and Minch’s Terrace. The Geraldine Road housing scheme was also the work of the Cabery firm which they finished in 1939 and their next big local authority housing scheme in Athy was Pairc Bhride in 1951.
The last major contract in which D. & J. Carbery, Building Contractors, Athy were involved in was the building of the Secondary School complex at Rathstewart which now houses Scoil Eoin and St. Mary’s girls school. Soon after completing that contract D. & J. Carbery Limited of Athy went out of business but the Carlow branch of the firm continued and indeed were involved in building houses for Athy Urban District Council at Butler’s Lane a few years ago.
The awarding of the Contract for the restoration of the Courthouse to the firm now managed by Dan and Brian Carbery was significant in terms of the State’s committment to preserving one of the most important architectural features of Athy. The architect of the original building Frederick Darley was one of the most important Irish architects of the 19th century and he was responsible for the Kings Inn library in Henrietta Street, Dublin as well as several other important buildings in the Nations Capital. Here in Athy we have several examples of his work including the Model School on the Dublin Road, St. Michael’s Church of Ireland on the Carlow Road which was built in 1840 during the Rectorship of Rev. F.S. Trench and while Darley was architect to the Ecclesiastical Commission. The Presbyterian Church and former Manse on the Dublin Road were also designed by Darley.
The choice of D. & J. Carbery Limited to refurbish the Courthouse was one which helped to continue this firm’s connection with the built heritage of Athy. The Town Hall and the Courthouse now both handsomely refurbished after years of neglect and fears of their possible demolition for car parking spaces provide a wonderful backdrop to the important urban spaces formerly known as Market Square before being renamed in honour of Emily, Duchess of Leinster. The generous proportions of both buildings are enhanced by the equally generous proportions of the spaces which surround them and which never fail to impress visitors to our town.
Last week Mullingar-based Paddy Looney passed away. Paddy was a former playing member of Athy Gaelic Football Club and won Senior Championship medals with Athy in 1933 and 1934. Athy’s first ever Senior Championship win in 1933 followed a hat trick of defeats in the County Finals of 1923, 1926 and 1927 and was achieved with such great footballers as Cuddy Chanders, Tommy Mulhall, Paul Matthews, Jim Fox and Barney Dunne. These five players were also part of the much fancied County Kildare team which failed to win the 1935 All-Ireland final against the men from the Breifne County. With the death of Paddy Looney, Barney Dunne who played alongside him in the full forward line in the 1934 County Final is the last surviving member of that great Athy team.
Thursday, May 17, 2001
Tom Carbery
As a young fellow growing up in Athy I well remember the tall lean figure of Tom Carbery. He was a carpenter who like his father Joe worked for a long time with D. & J. Carbery, Building Contractors of St. John’s, Athy. Tom was also a member of Athy Urban District Council and of Kildare County Council. To us young fellows he was one of the Patricians of the town, someone who was known to all and sundry.
Tom’s parents were Joseph and Bridget Carbery who had five children, the last of whom, Danny died in New York two years ago aged 93 years. Danny was one of the many young Athy men who emigrated to America in the years immediately following the setting up of the Irish Free State. He was followed to America by another brother, Bill, who later returned to Ireland during the American Depression, only to lose his life while working on the Poulaphoca hydro-electric Scheme. Kathleen and Delia were Tom’s only sisters, Delia dying unmarried before she had reached her 30th birthday. Kathleen who married Bill Joy lived in No. 1 The Bleach and passed away in 1956 leaving a young family of four.
Tom Carbery served his apprenticeship as a carpenter with D. & J. Carbery, the premier building contractors in this area who built almost all of the Local Authority Housing Schemes in Athy between 1913 and the early 1960’s. On qualifying as a carpenter Tom continued to work for many years for the Carbery firm. A young Limerick girl, Nora Donnelly, came to in Athy in the early 1920’s to work in the Leinster Arms Hotel which was then owned by a consortium of local business men and operated by the Darcy sisters, Eileen, Josie and Florence. Tom and Nora married in 1927 and their only son Joseph was their first born, followed by their only daughter Delia. Tom and his young bride lived for some time with his parents in No. 1 The Bleach before moving to No. 2 St. Martin’s Terrace.
A Labour Party activist for most of his life, Tom was first elected to Athy Urban District Council in 1928. Bill Norton, the small almost barrel-shaped former leader of the Federated Workers Union was appointed leader of the Labour Party in 1932, a position he was to hold for the following 28 years. The Labour Leaders man in Athy for many years was Tom Carbery who threw himself with enthusiasm and energy into the task of organising the Labour Party in South Kildare.
Controversy was never far away when Tom spoke at meetings of the local Council, although it must be said he always made his contributions with the dignity and thoughtfulness expected of a public representative. Nevertheless he was fearless in furthering the causes which he expoused and as one would expect of somebody whose predecessors had been evicted during the Luggacurran Plan of Campaign he was a champion of the underprivileged. One famous campaign highlighted by Tom centred on the rather parsimonious diet made available to the needy poor of the County Home. As a frequent visitor to that institution he became only too aware of the penny pinching ways of the County Council which was responsible for medical services in the County of Kildare. Each inmate was provided with a daily supply of butter which Tom felt was less than adequate and promptly brought the matter to the attention of Kildare County Council creating something of a stink amongst that august body. Tom vigorously attacked the Local Authority for its meanness and drove home his message by holding up the small portion of butter allocated every day to each County Home inmate. Betwixt the transfer of the perishable item from the bedside of Tom’s informant in the County Home and the Chamber of the County Council, the butter had succumbed to the ravages of time and assailed the assembled nostrils with a pungency which added strength to Tom’s argument. The point was quickly taken and Tom was able to report success in another clash with the Council bureaucrats.
Another of Tom’s campaigns still recalled by the older generation of Athy folk was his demand to have clergy attend the removal of the remains of the inmates from the County Home to the nearby St. Mary’s cemetery. Traditionally they were buried with the benefit of previously blessed clay scattered on their coffined remains by a fellow inmate. Tom railed against this practice which was an extension of the common enough practice in Irish towns of that time whereby those too poor to pay for the attendance of clergy were brought straight from the death bed to the graveyard, accompanied only by the local sacristan. But for the County Home inmates not even the attendance of the local Church sacristan was deemed necessary, as their lifeless bodies were lowered into the same ground which many years before had received the famine dead of Athy’s workhouse. Tom Carbery raised the issue at a meeting of Athy Urban District Council and had the satisfaction of eventually overseeing a welcome change in the practice which had its roots in a time when dignity and respect took a back seat to snobbery and slavish attitudes.
Tom and his wife Delia were to suffer, as did so many Athy families during the terrible TB epidemic of the 1940’s. Their only son Joseph who had attended the local Christian Brothers School, worked as a timekeeper for D. & J. Carbery’s firm during the building of the Pairc Bhride housing scheme. He was just 20 years of age when he contacted TB and spent some time in Peamount Hospital before returning home to die in or about 1950. Joseph’s death was a terrible blow to his parents and the only surviving member of the Carbery family, his sister Delia, says that neither her mother or father ever got over the loss of their only son. Tom who died in 1974, predeceased his wife Delia by just two years. As befits a man who was a strong and persistent voice for the underprivileged, Tom is today remembered in the local housing estate Carbery Park which was named in his honour.
His daughter Delia who emigrated to America in 1959 returned recently to Athy for a short visit with her Roscrea born husband John Kenny. In meeting with and talking to Delia I regretted not having done so when Tom’s brother’s Danny was still alive and living in New York. Danny who was almost 74 years out of Athy never forgot his home town and took a great interest in its daily happenings as reported in the Kildare Nationalist. He was a frequent visitor to Athy and whenever he could helped his own townspeople when they were in or passing through New York. I know for instance that my schoolboy friend Leopold Kelly after his ordination and not long before his young life ended stayed with Danny in New York and with his encouragement played football in Gaelic Park. Maybe another day I can tell the story of Danny Carbery and the other ex-pats whose early days were spent in Athy but whose adult lives were lived out amongst the teeming streets of New York.
Tom’s parents were Joseph and Bridget Carbery who had five children, the last of whom, Danny died in New York two years ago aged 93 years. Danny was one of the many young Athy men who emigrated to America in the years immediately following the setting up of the Irish Free State. He was followed to America by another brother, Bill, who later returned to Ireland during the American Depression, only to lose his life while working on the Poulaphoca hydro-electric Scheme. Kathleen and Delia were Tom’s only sisters, Delia dying unmarried before she had reached her 30th birthday. Kathleen who married Bill Joy lived in No. 1 The Bleach and passed away in 1956 leaving a young family of four.
Tom Carbery served his apprenticeship as a carpenter with D. & J. Carbery, the premier building contractors in this area who built almost all of the Local Authority Housing Schemes in Athy between 1913 and the early 1960’s. On qualifying as a carpenter Tom continued to work for many years for the Carbery firm. A young Limerick girl, Nora Donnelly, came to in Athy in the early 1920’s to work in the Leinster Arms Hotel which was then owned by a consortium of local business men and operated by the Darcy sisters, Eileen, Josie and Florence. Tom and Nora married in 1927 and their only son Joseph was their first born, followed by their only daughter Delia. Tom and his young bride lived for some time with his parents in No. 1 The Bleach before moving to No. 2 St. Martin’s Terrace.
A Labour Party activist for most of his life, Tom was first elected to Athy Urban District Council in 1928. Bill Norton, the small almost barrel-shaped former leader of the Federated Workers Union was appointed leader of the Labour Party in 1932, a position he was to hold for the following 28 years. The Labour Leaders man in Athy for many years was Tom Carbery who threw himself with enthusiasm and energy into the task of organising the Labour Party in South Kildare.
Controversy was never far away when Tom spoke at meetings of the local Council, although it must be said he always made his contributions with the dignity and thoughtfulness expected of a public representative. Nevertheless he was fearless in furthering the causes which he expoused and as one would expect of somebody whose predecessors had been evicted during the Luggacurran Plan of Campaign he was a champion of the underprivileged. One famous campaign highlighted by Tom centred on the rather parsimonious diet made available to the needy poor of the County Home. As a frequent visitor to that institution he became only too aware of the penny pinching ways of the County Council which was responsible for medical services in the County of Kildare. Each inmate was provided with a daily supply of butter which Tom felt was less than adequate and promptly brought the matter to the attention of Kildare County Council creating something of a stink amongst that august body. Tom vigorously attacked the Local Authority for its meanness and drove home his message by holding up the small portion of butter allocated every day to each County Home inmate. Betwixt the transfer of the perishable item from the bedside of Tom’s informant in the County Home and the Chamber of the County Council, the butter had succumbed to the ravages of time and assailed the assembled nostrils with a pungency which added strength to Tom’s argument. The point was quickly taken and Tom was able to report success in another clash with the Council bureaucrats.
Another of Tom’s campaigns still recalled by the older generation of Athy folk was his demand to have clergy attend the removal of the remains of the inmates from the County Home to the nearby St. Mary’s cemetery. Traditionally they were buried with the benefit of previously blessed clay scattered on their coffined remains by a fellow inmate. Tom railed against this practice which was an extension of the common enough practice in Irish towns of that time whereby those too poor to pay for the attendance of clergy were brought straight from the death bed to the graveyard, accompanied only by the local sacristan. But for the County Home inmates not even the attendance of the local Church sacristan was deemed necessary, as their lifeless bodies were lowered into the same ground which many years before had received the famine dead of Athy’s workhouse. Tom Carbery raised the issue at a meeting of Athy Urban District Council and had the satisfaction of eventually overseeing a welcome change in the practice which had its roots in a time when dignity and respect took a back seat to snobbery and slavish attitudes.
Tom and his wife Delia were to suffer, as did so many Athy families during the terrible TB epidemic of the 1940’s. Their only son Joseph who had attended the local Christian Brothers School, worked as a timekeeper for D. & J. Carbery’s firm during the building of the Pairc Bhride housing scheme. He was just 20 years of age when he contacted TB and spent some time in Peamount Hospital before returning home to die in or about 1950. Joseph’s death was a terrible blow to his parents and the only surviving member of the Carbery family, his sister Delia, says that neither her mother or father ever got over the loss of their only son. Tom who died in 1974, predeceased his wife Delia by just two years. As befits a man who was a strong and persistent voice for the underprivileged, Tom is today remembered in the local housing estate Carbery Park which was named in his honour.
His daughter Delia who emigrated to America in 1959 returned recently to Athy for a short visit with her Roscrea born husband John Kenny. In meeting with and talking to Delia I regretted not having done so when Tom’s brother’s Danny was still alive and living in New York. Danny who was almost 74 years out of Athy never forgot his home town and took a great interest in its daily happenings as reported in the Kildare Nationalist. He was a frequent visitor to Athy and whenever he could helped his own townspeople when they were in or passing through New York. I know for instance that my schoolboy friend Leopold Kelly after his ordination and not long before his young life ended stayed with Danny in New York and with his encouragement played football in Gaelic Park. Maybe another day I can tell the story of Danny Carbery and the other ex-pats whose early days were spent in Athy but whose adult lives were lived out amongst the teeming streets of New York.
Thursday, May 10, 2001
Tubberara Well / Opening of Athy Credit Union Offices
Sunday, 17th June will witness the re-enactment of a timeless journey whose origin is lost in time, when we set out for the Holy Well of Tubberara. Last year the Pattern Day or more properly the Patron’s Day was revived after the lapse of almost 175 years. The Patron was St. John, under whose patronage the Well at Tubberara was revered by the Catholics of this area for generations past. St. John’s Day falls on June 24th but I am reliably told that matters of religious commemoration, no matter how historic, play second fiddle to the demands of Gaelic football. I gather the Lillywhites will (hopefully) be contesting the Leinster Semi-final on Sunday, 24th June and so it was that the Tubberara Pattern Day must step back a week to the previous Sunday. As I am writing this piece in advance of the forthcoming game against Carlow, you will understand my indecisiveness in relation to whether or not Kildare will be involved on St. John’s Day.
Last years outing to Tubberara was marked with wonderful weather and it was great to see so many local people, young and old, coming together in a celebration, as people of Athy and District had done centuries ago. In this, the first year of the 21st century, the Tubberara Pattern Day will start with everybody congregating at the roadside entrance near Bert Bridge at 3.00pm. This is a change from last year when the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital played welcome host to the hundreds who had foregathered ready for the journey to the Holy Well. It is planned to hold a number of stations between the entrance gate and the Well itself where the principal ceremonies of the Pattern Day will take place, hopefully again with the benefit of glorious sunshine and in the glow of a resounding victory over our neighbours Carlow on the previous Sunday!
Unfortunately I will miss the official opening of the Credit Union new offices on June 8th. The new offices, opened for the past year or so, occupy what in my days in Offaly Street were two private houses. Indeed the entire length of Emily Row had only one shop which was on the far side of that narrow street, and owned by Mona Sylvester. Now Sylvester’s shop has reverted to residential use, while the Credit Union office has been joined by Kings shop, which like it, now occupies what was once a private house.
The Credit Union was established in Athy following a meeting in No. 82 Leinster Street on St. Patrick’s night, 1968. That night the locals who attended the meeting having listened to an address by Michael O’Doherty of the Irish League of Credit Unions agreed unanimously to establish a Credit Union in the town. The first Board of Directors were Donal Murphy, Jim O’Flaherty, Pat Fay, Richard Mulhall, Patsy O’Neill, Chris McMahon, Paddy Keane, Dermot Griffin, Jim McEvoy and John Quirke. Jim O’Flaherty who worked in the local Post Office was elected first President of the new Credit Union, with Donal Murphy of Sunnyside as Vice-President. Paddy Keane, who with Donal Murphy was an employee of Minch Nortons, was elected Secretary, with Jim McEvoy of Leinster Street as Treasurer and Patsy O’Neill, also of Leinster Street, as Assistant Treasurer.
Quite a lot of time was spent by the Officers and Committee, all of whom were volunteers, in learning the practices and procedures relating to the Credit Union business. When the necessary skills and knowledge had been acquired Athy Credit Union opened for business at precisely 8.00pm on Friday, 31st May, 1969. A room in the Courthouse in Emily Square was from the start and for some years thereafter, the offices of the local Credit Union largely due to the generosity of Tadgh Brennan, then County Registrar based in Naas and formerly a Solicitor practising in the town. The expansion of the Credit Union business later prompted the purchase of premises at the corner of Emily Row next to what was anciently called “Prestons Gate”.
It’s a coincidence that the new Credit Union offices are to be officially opened less than two weeks before the refurbished Courthouse is itself scheduled to have its own official opening. The one time Corn Exchange has gone through several reconstructions and refurbishments since it was first opened for business nearly 150 years ago. Here’s hoping that the Credit Union office in Emily Row and the Credit Union movement generally will prosper in Athy in the years ahead.
I was delighted to meet last week the daughter of a man whose name will forever be recalled in the name of one of our local housing estates. Tom Carbery was his name, hers is now Mrs. Delia Kenny and the estate is Carbery Park which was so called to honour one of Athy’s most famous public representatives. Tom Carbery was a member of Athy Urban District Council and Kildare County Council who died in 1972, just two years before his wife Nora and some 23 years after the death of his only son Joseph. Delia was on a short visit to Athy from her New York home and gave me the opportunity to get first hand information on a man whom I have always regarded as one of the bravest public representatives this ancient town of ours has ever had. More about Tom Carbery and the Carbery family next week.
Last years outing to Tubberara was marked with wonderful weather and it was great to see so many local people, young and old, coming together in a celebration, as people of Athy and District had done centuries ago. In this, the first year of the 21st century, the Tubberara Pattern Day will start with everybody congregating at the roadside entrance near Bert Bridge at 3.00pm. This is a change from last year when the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital played welcome host to the hundreds who had foregathered ready for the journey to the Holy Well. It is planned to hold a number of stations between the entrance gate and the Well itself where the principal ceremonies of the Pattern Day will take place, hopefully again with the benefit of glorious sunshine and in the glow of a resounding victory over our neighbours Carlow on the previous Sunday!
Unfortunately I will miss the official opening of the Credit Union new offices on June 8th. The new offices, opened for the past year or so, occupy what in my days in Offaly Street were two private houses. Indeed the entire length of Emily Row had only one shop which was on the far side of that narrow street, and owned by Mona Sylvester. Now Sylvester’s shop has reverted to residential use, while the Credit Union office has been joined by Kings shop, which like it, now occupies what was once a private house.
The Credit Union was established in Athy following a meeting in No. 82 Leinster Street on St. Patrick’s night, 1968. That night the locals who attended the meeting having listened to an address by Michael O’Doherty of the Irish League of Credit Unions agreed unanimously to establish a Credit Union in the town. The first Board of Directors were Donal Murphy, Jim O’Flaherty, Pat Fay, Richard Mulhall, Patsy O’Neill, Chris McMahon, Paddy Keane, Dermot Griffin, Jim McEvoy and John Quirke. Jim O’Flaherty who worked in the local Post Office was elected first President of the new Credit Union, with Donal Murphy of Sunnyside as Vice-President. Paddy Keane, who with Donal Murphy was an employee of Minch Nortons, was elected Secretary, with Jim McEvoy of Leinster Street as Treasurer and Patsy O’Neill, also of Leinster Street, as Assistant Treasurer.
Quite a lot of time was spent by the Officers and Committee, all of whom were volunteers, in learning the practices and procedures relating to the Credit Union business. When the necessary skills and knowledge had been acquired Athy Credit Union opened for business at precisely 8.00pm on Friday, 31st May, 1969. A room in the Courthouse in Emily Square was from the start and for some years thereafter, the offices of the local Credit Union largely due to the generosity of Tadgh Brennan, then County Registrar based in Naas and formerly a Solicitor practising in the town. The expansion of the Credit Union business later prompted the purchase of premises at the corner of Emily Row next to what was anciently called “Prestons Gate”.
It’s a coincidence that the new Credit Union offices are to be officially opened less than two weeks before the refurbished Courthouse is itself scheduled to have its own official opening. The one time Corn Exchange has gone through several reconstructions and refurbishments since it was first opened for business nearly 150 years ago. Here’s hoping that the Credit Union office in Emily Row and the Credit Union movement generally will prosper in Athy in the years ahead.
I was delighted to meet last week the daughter of a man whose name will forever be recalled in the name of one of our local housing estates. Tom Carbery was his name, hers is now Mrs. Delia Kenny and the estate is Carbery Park which was so called to honour one of Athy’s most famous public representatives. Tom Carbery was a member of Athy Urban District Council and Kildare County Council who died in 1972, just two years before his wife Nora and some 23 years after the death of his only son Joseph. Delia was on a short visit to Athy from her New York home and gave me the opportunity to get first hand information on a man whom I have always regarded as one of the bravest public representatives this ancient town of ours has ever had. More about Tom Carbery and the Carbery family next week.
Thursday, April 26, 2001
Clerics from Athy, Rev. J. Malone, Mons. Boylan
I was sorry to read in last weeks newspaper of the impending departure of the Church of Ireland Rector Canon Leslie Crampton. He will be a great loss, not only to his parishioners but also to the wider community of Athy. Rev. Crampton is a man of extraordinary gentle demeanour and of what, some might describe as old world courtesy. He is an exemplary missionary, not only for his own Church but for the religious life in general. Nowadays, more than ever before, the laity look elsewhere rather than to those ordained for the Church for guidance and example. Canon Crampton is an exception insofar as he epitomises all that is good in a cleric at a time when clerical and indeed Episcopal example and guidance has not been as it should. His departure for the midlands will be a sad loss for St. Michael’s Church and for the town and district of Athy.
Continuing on the clerical theme, for some time now I have been researching the lives of two Catholic Priests, both of whom by coincidence were born in the Barrowhouse area. Monsignor Patrick Boylan at the time of his death was Parish Priest of Dun Laoghaire and a former Professor of Theology (I think) in Clonliffe College. He was the author of a number of books on religious topics. His father was principal teacher in Barrowhouse National School but I have little or no other information about the Boylan family.
The other priest was Rev. James Malone who was born in 1863 in Dunbrin and who following his ordination went to Australia in 1892. He served in a number of Australian parishes, eventually becoming Parish Priest of Geelong in 1919 where he remained until he died in 1948. Fr. Malone was the author of three books, including a book of poetry called “Wild Briar and Wattle Blossom” published in Melbourne in 1914. He also wrote a book published in 1915 and entitled “Talks about Poets and Poetry” and a book on his travels between Australia and the Middle East which he called “Purple East”. His writings earned him the praise of that famous Irishman, Cardinal Mannix, who referred to the Dunbrin-born Malone as the John Henry Newman of Australia.
Fr. Malone returned to Ireland in 1907 and the local newspaper of the day reported on the 1st of June that year that he was at home from Australia on a visit to his family at Barrowhouse. I believe he may also have visited Ireland in 1928, although I have no confirmation of this as yet.
His book of poetry “Wild Briar and Wattle Blossom” produced 22 years after he landed in Australia included such nostalgic pieces as “The Old Whitewashed Schoolhouse of Shanganamore” which opens with the following lines.
“Through the bogs of Dunbrin, leaping pool after pool,
‘Up and follow the leader’ ‘s the law of the school;
A plunge at the stile with the risk of a spill,
For the best bunch of cowslips on green Cowsey’s hill -
A race for the rath through the long meadow grass,
Though the boldest heart quakes at the dread ‘fairy pass’ -
A leap for the hazel, a rustling of boughs -
Hush ! it’s only the gadfly that’s driving the cows.
A gallop for life to the wild brake of briar,
For the fairies will kidnap the laggards who tire.
A fox breaks his cover beneath the furze-thorn,
And our hearts leap again at the sound of the horn;
A dive through the hedges - away o’er the bogs -
Ho ! the whipper-in holds us as well as his dogs.
On, on to the river, he’s foiled them at last;
So we halt in the furze, but the school-hour is past.
And that’s how the boy took his pathway of yore
To the old whitewashed schoolhouse of Shanganamore.”
I would like to hear from anyone who can give me background information on the families of Monsignor Boylan or Fr. James Malone or indeed the clerics themselves.
I had a number of phone calls in response to the recent reference to “The River Plate Fresh Meat Company Limited” sign exposed on the wall of Hacketts Bookmakers in Duke Street. One such caller wondered if the sign was of pre-Irish Free State vintage. In those days the British Colonial lifestyle saw American bacon imported into Ireland and sold at a penny cheaper per pound than home-produced bacon. American wheat was another import at a time when barley was the principal crop on Irish farms. Was it not, my caller wondered, that same era which saw the importation of Argentinean beef for sale in a local shop in Athy? Nobody has yet identified the persons involved in the River Plate Company or for how long it carried on business at the Leinster Street premises which was later occupied by local butcher Barney Day. I would welcome any information which might throw light on the subject.
Sarah Brennan of St. Joseph’s Terrace passed away recently. I knew Sarah as a very kind and considerate person who went out of her way to help many, who for one reason or another found themselves facing difficult times or seemingly insurmountable problems. She was a good friend to many and I was fortunate to have shared a friendship with her which extended back to the early 1980’s after I returned to Athy following twenty years of wandering. May she rest in peace.
Finally, I must mention, although I’ll return to the subject at a later date, the Pattern Day which takes place in Tubberara on Sunday, June 17th.
Continuing on the clerical theme, for some time now I have been researching the lives of two Catholic Priests, both of whom by coincidence were born in the Barrowhouse area. Monsignor Patrick Boylan at the time of his death was Parish Priest of Dun Laoghaire and a former Professor of Theology (I think) in Clonliffe College. He was the author of a number of books on religious topics. His father was principal teacher in Barrowhouse National School but I have little or no other information about the Boylan family.
The other priest was Rev. James Malone who was born in 1863 in Dunbrin and who following his ordination went to Australia in 1892. He served in a number of Australian parishes, eventually becoming Parish Priest of Geelong in 1919 where he remained until he died in 1948. Fr. Malone was the author of three books, including a book of poetry called “Wild Briar and Wattle Blossom” published in Melbourne in 1914. He also wrote a book published in 1915 and entitled “Talks about Poets and Poetry” and a book on his travels between Australia and the Middle East which he called “Purple East”. His writings earned him the praise of that famous Irishman, Cardinal Mannix, who referred to the Dunbrin-born Malone as the John Henry Newman of Australia.
Fr. Malone returned to Ireland in 1907 and the local newspaper of the day reported on the 1st of June that year that he was at home from Australia on a visit to his family at Barrowhouse. I believe he may also have visited Ireland in 1928, although I have no confirmation of this as yet.
His book of poetry “Wild Briar and Wattle Blossom” produced 22 years after he landed in Australia included such nostalgic pieces as “The Old Whitewashed Schoolhouse of Shanganamore” which opens with the following lines.
“Through the bogs of Dunbrin, leaping pool after pool,
‘Up and follow the leader’ ‘s the law of the school;
A plunge at the stile with the risk of a spill,
For the best bunch of cowslips on green Cowsey’s hill -
A race for the rath through the long meadow grass,
Though the boldest heart quakes at the dread ‘fairy pass’ -
A leap for the hazel, a rustling of boughs -
Hush ! it’s only the gadfly that’s driving the cows.
A gallop for life to the wild brake of briar,
For the fairies will kidnap the laggards who tire.
A fox breaks his cover beneath the furze-thorn,
And our hearts leap again at the sound of the horn;
A dive through the hedges - away o’er the bogs -
Ho ! the whipper-in holds us as well as his dogs.
On, on to the river, he’s foiled them at last;
So we halt in the furze, but the school-hour is past.
And that’s how the boy took his pathway of yore
To the old whitewashed schoolhouse of Shanganamore.”
I would like to hear from anyone who can give me background information on the families of Monsignor Boylan or Fr. James Malone or indeed the clerics themselves.
I had a number of phone calls in response to the recent reference to “The River Plate Fresh Meat Company Limited” sign exposed on the wall of Hacketts Bookmakers in Duke Street. One such caller wondered if the sign was of pre-Irish Free State vintage. In those days the British Colonial lifestyle saw American bacon imported into Ireland and sold at a penny cheaper per pound than home-produced bacon. American wheat was another import at a time when barley was the principal crop on Irish farms. Was it not, my caller wondered, that same era which saw the importation of Argentinean beef for sale in a local shop in Athy? Nobody has yet identified the persons involved in the River Plate Company or for how long it carried on business at the Leinster Street premises which was later occupied by local butcher Barney Day. I would welcome any information which might throw light on the subject.
Sarah Brennan of St. Joseph’s Terrace passed away recently. I knew Sarah as a very kind and considerate person who went out of her way to help many, who for one reason or another found themselves facing difficult times or seemingly insurmountable problems. She was a good friend to many and I was fortunate to have shared a friendship with her which extended back to the early 1980’s after I returned to Athy following twenty years of wandering. May she rest in peace.
Finally, I must mention, although I’ll return to the subject at a later date, the Pattern Day which takes place in Tubberara on Sunday, June 17th.
Thursday, April 19, 2001
Pubs in Athy 1924 and Billy/Skurt Doyle
Two weeks ago I listed the forty Publicans who in 1924 traded amongst the 4,000 or so, souls whom made up population of the former garrisoned town of Athy. Just imagine, one pub for every 100 persons whether man, woman or child. There was little or no full time employment in Athy in the early years of the Irish Free State and the local brick yards and Minch Nortons were what passed for industry in those days. Clearly there was little spare money for drinking which makes me believe that to be a Publican in Athy 77 years ago was not an occupation guaranteed to lead to wealth and fortune.
I made a passing reference in that same article to an industrial dispute in what I believed was Sylvester’s Public House at the corner of Emily Square. I had identified the right premises but apparently by the time the dispute broke out, it housed a Pork Butchers shop operated by a Mr. Conlan. He purchased the premises from Henry Sylvester, who had operated a Public House there in 1924. Details of the Industrial dispute which dragged on for several years are still unclear. Two workers employed by Conlan’s Pork Butchers have been identified as Hopkins and Kavanagh but I have no knowledge of whether or not they were involved in what is claimed to be one of the longest industrial disputes in this country. I would like to hear from anyone who can fill me in on any part of the Conlan’s strike.
Des McHugh tells me with reference to queries I raised in the same article that Stan Glynn’s Public House was subsequently purchased by Townsends and was later known as Smugglers while Thomas Bergin’s is now Barney Dunne’s premises. Matthew Cunningham’s Public House in Duke Street burnt down one Christmas night resulting in the tragic death of a woman whom I have not yet identified. The premises was later rebuilt but not as a public house and it is now incorporated in the front portion of the Super Value Supermarket. Can anyone recall the year of the Christmas night fire in Duke Street which resulted in a tragic loss of life and the destruction of one of Athy’s oldest public houses.
May Lalor phoned me in relation to the same article and was able to identify the location of the various public houses in Athy in 1924. She remembered Stan Glynn and his wife as a kindly elderly couple whose only son died at a young age. Was this I wonder Joseph William Glynn who died in December 1916 when 22 years of age and whose grandfather William Glynn died 20 years earlier aged 85? May also pinpointed Thomas O’Gorman’s Public House in Duke Street as the premises located between what is now Kane’s shop and the vacant Goalpost Public House.
Hackett’s Bookmakers were repainting the front of their premises in Leinster Street during the past week. Did you notice the unusual sign underneath the shop window which came to light when years of accumulated paint had been removed. “The River Plate Fresh Meat Company Limited” was an unusual name for an Irish Firm. Clearly the reference is the Argentinian area which was and still remains one of the foremost beef production areas in the world. But who were the promoters of the Company who so proudly advertised their wares in this way on the main street of an Irish provincial town. Was it the late Andy Finn, a farmer of Milltown, Athy who had a butcher’s shop in the same premises in the 1940’s and 1950’s?
I had a welcome visit recently from Billy Doyle whom I last met at a Kildare Association Function in Manchester a few years ago. Billy, now 64 years of age is a son of the late James “Barracks” Doyle and his wife Elizabeth MacMahon who was originally from Levitstown. Like many of his peers “Barracks” served in the British Army during World War 1 and on returning home joined the Irish Army. The Doyle Family lived in a thatched house at Moneen at a time when it was the only house on what was once the town’s commonage. Moneen or Clonmullin as it is now known is unrecognisable today from the time when Paddy Doyle and his siblings walked the short distance through Moneen lane and Convent View to the nearby school. “Barracks” Doyle who was one of Athy’s enduring characters died on the 20th March 1958 at 65 years of age. Billy went to England ten years later to work in the Lairds Shipyard in Birkinhead having earlier served his time as an apprentice mechanic with Joe Brophy and Jim Kenny in Duthie Larges of Leinster Street. He was able to fill in for me another part of the local jigsaw when he recounted a conversation he had with Jack McKenna some years ago. Jack in an interview with me some time before he passed away spoke of the day he stole a gun from a black and tan who has been pushed through Jackson’s Shop window. Jack told Billy that it was his father “Barracks” Doyle who had sent the Black and Tan flying through the plate glass window following which the youthful Jack McKenna relieved him of his weapon which he quickly passed on to a member the local republican army.
Talking to Billy brought to mind snippets of stories heard and remembered over the years concerning his father “Barracks” and that other great character with World War experience “Skurt” Doyle. “Skurt” who was married to one of the Lawler’s of Ardreigh died in or about 1953 and so far I have been unable to locate his last resting place in St. Michael’s Cemetery. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time and is still remembered by the older people of the Town. I have tried for some considerable time to gather information on “Skurts” involvement in the British Army and his sporting career which spanned many decades. I would like to hear from anyone who can help me piece together the story of the extraordinary “Skurt” Doyle as his is a story which needs to be recorded while his deeds are still part of the folk memory of some of the older people of Athy.
Let me finish off this week by referring to the consultation process which has just begun in connection with the proposed new road linking Dublin and Waterford. The views of the general public are being canvassed as to the best route for this major new road and Athy’s opportunity to meet with the road Engineers was on Monday and Tuesday last. However, information on the different routes being canvassed as possibilities for the major road link will be on display in the Library in the Town Hall until Friday 15th June.
The eventual decision on the chosen route could have a bearing on the ongoing local controversy centered on the Inner versus the Outer Relief Road . If the suggested route nearest to Athy is chosen this would undoubtedly serve as the long awaited Outer Relief Road for the town thereby saving the heart the town from destruction. Might I encourage you to check out the plans for the new Dublin/Waterford roadway at the local Library and make your views known to the National Roads Design Office at Naas telephone (045) 898199.
I made a passing reference in that same article to an industrial dispute in what I believed was Sylvester’s Public House at the corner of Emily Square. I had identified the right premises but apparently by the time the dispute broke out, it housed a Pork Butchers shop operated by a Mr. Conlan. He purchased the premises from Henry Sylvester, who had operated a Public House there in 1924. Details of the Industrial dispute which dragged on for several years are still unclear. Two workers employed by Conlan’s Pork Butchers have been identified as Hopkins and Kavanagh but I have no knowledge of whether or not they were involved in what is claimed to be one of the longest industrial disputes in this country. I would like to hear from anyone who can fill me in on any part of the Conlan’s strike.
Des McHugh tells me with reference to queries I raised in the same article that Stan Glynn’s Public House was subsequently purchased by Townsends and was later known as Smugglers while Thomas Bergin’s is now Barney Dunne’s premises. Matthew Cunningham’s Public House in Duke Street burnt down one Christmas night resulting in the tragic death of a woman whom I have not yet identified. The premises was later rebuilt but not as a public house and it is now incorporated in the front portion of the Super Value Supermarket. Can anyone recall the year of the Christmas night fire in Duke Street which resulted in a tragic loss of life and the destruction of one of Athy’s oldest public houses.
May Lalor phoned me in relation to the same article and was able to identify the location of the various public houses in Athy in 1924. She remembered Stan Glynn and his wife as a kindly elderly couple whose only son died at a young age. Was this I wonder Joseph William Glynn who died in December 1916 when 22 years of age and whose grandfather William Glynn died 20 years earlier aged 85? May also pinpointed Thomas O’Gorman’s Public House in Duke Street as the premises located between what is now Kane’s shop and the vacant Goalpost Public House.
Hackett’s Bookmakers were repainting the front of their premises in Leinster Street during the past week. Did you notice the unusual sign underneath the shop window which came to light when years of accumulated paint had been removed. “The River Plate Fresh Meat Company Limited” was an unusual name for an Irish Firm. Clearly the reference is the Argentinian area which was and still remains one of the foremost beef production areas in the world. But who were the promoters of the Company who so proudly advertised their wares in this way on the main street of an Irish provincial town. Was it the late Andy Finn, a farmer of Milltown, Athy who had a butcher’s shop in the same premises in the 1940’s and 1950’s?
I had a welcome visit recently from Billy Doyle whom I last met at a Kildare Association Function in Manchester a few years ago. Billy, now 64 years of age is a son of the late James “Barracks” Doyle and his wife Elizabeth MacMahon who was originally from Levitstown. Like many of his peers “Barracks” served in the British Army during World War 1 and on returning home joined the Irish Army. The Doyle Family lived in a thatched house at Moneen at a time when it was the only house on what was once the town’s commonage. Moneen or Clonmullin as it is now known is unrecognisable today from the time when Paddy Doyle and his siblings walked the short distance through Moneen lane and Convent View to the nearby school. “Barracks” Doyle who was one of Athy’s enduring characters died on the 20th March 1958 at 65 years of age. Billy went to England ten years later to work in the Lairds Shipyard in Birkinhead having earlier served his time as an apprentice mechanic with Joe Brophy and Jim Kenny in Duthie Larges of Leinster Street. He was able to fill in for me another part of the local jigsaw when he recounted a conversation he had with Jack McKenna some years ago. Jack in an interview with me some time before he passed away spoke of the day he stole a gun from a black and tan who has been pushed through Jackson’s Shop window. Jack told Billy that it was his father “Barracks” Doyle who had sent the Black and Tan flying through the plate glass window following which the youthful Jack McKenna relieved him of his weapon which he quickly passed on to a member the local republican army.
Talking to Billy brought to mind snippets of stories heard and remembered over the years concerning his father “Barracks” and that other great character with World War experience “Skurt” Doyle. “Skurt” who was married to one of the Lawler’s of Ardreigh died in or about 1953 and so far I have been unable to locate his last resting place in St. Michael’s Cemetery. He was one of the most remarkable men of his time and is still remembered by the older people of the Town. I have tried for some considerable time to gather information on “Skurts” involvement in the British Army and his sporting career which spanned many decades. I would like to hear from anyone who can help me piece together the story of the extraordinary “Skurt” Doyle as his is a story which needs to be recorded while his deeds are still part of the folk memory of some of the older people of Athy.
Let me finish off this week by referring to the consultation process which has just begun in connection with the proposed new road linking Dublin and Waterford. The views of the general public are being canvassed as to the best route for this major new road and Athy’s opportunity to meet with the road Engineers was on Monday and Tuesday last. However, information on the different routes being canvassed as possibilities for the major road link will be on display in the Library in the Town Hall until Friday 15th June.
The eventual decision on the chosen route could have a bearing on the ongoing local controversy centered on the Inner versus the Outer Relief Road . If the suggested route nearest to Athy is chosen this would undoubtedly serve as the long awaited Outer Relief Road for the town thereby saving the heart the town from destruction. Might I encourage you to check out the plans for the new Dublin/Waterford roadway at the local Library and make your views known to the National Roads Design Office at Naas telephone (045) 898199.
Thursday, April 12, 2001
Extracts from Minute Books Athy U.D.C.
Minute Books are a wonderful source of information on times past in Athy and in that regard the records of Athy Urban District Council are in the premier class. The very fact that the local authority’s meetings were recorded in minute detail and are retained intact is a glorious exception to the general state of affairs insofar as the records of other organisations are concerned. Particularly so where those organisations are dependent on honorary officers, whose period of office is uncertain and not always marked by a smooth transition from one period to another. As a result valuable records get lost, mislaid or more regrettably destroyed. The problem of lost or destroyed records is not only confined to voluntary organisations, as I found to my dismay some years ago when researching the history of Athy Workhouse. The invaluable Workhouse records had been removed and burned some years previous to my research and the resulting loss is one which can never be recouped.
Athy Urban District Council has a history stretching back to 1900 but the records of its predecessors, Athy Town Commissioners and Athy Borough Councils as far back as the mid 18th century have been preserved and they provide a fruitful source of research for the historian. In the records of Athy Urban District Council successive Town Clerks have recorded not only the decisions made at the Council meetings but also the contributions of individual Councillors. It was while researching the records of the Urban District Council for the purposes of a publication to mark the centenary of the Council that I came across a number of interesting side lights on the town’s history. This week I am dipping into the Council’s Minute Books to bring you a flavour of times past in Athy.
6TH MAY, 1901
The Council adopted by-laws regulating common lodging houses in the town of Athy following a letter received from the local R.I.C. Sergeant regarding the refusal of several lodging houses to accommodate a young girl.
17TH NOVEMBER, 1902
Congratulations were extended to Patrick Brien of Canal Side for saving three children from drowning in the River Barrow at the Horse Bridge on 15th November, 1902.
16TH NOVEMBER, 1903
The Council reported to the L.G. Board in Dublin that the Moneen River was a source of domestic water supply for the townspeople.
6TH JUNE, 1904
For some reason the Council felt it necessary to pass a resolution permitting all persons “to use the seats and the space that they enclosed which are now erected around Woodstock Street pump.”
JULY 1904
The Post Master applied to the Council for permission to erect letter boxes at Offaly Street and Leinster Street and to move the letter box from the Pleasure Grounds wall to the inside of the Railway Station. There were three other letter boxes in the town, with four collections each day and one collection on Sunday.
6TH MARCH, 1905
The Council appealed to all traders in the town to honour St. Patrick’s Day as a general holiday and to close their premises on the day. Posters to that effect were posted throughout the town.
4TH MARCH, 1907
Thomas Plewman raised the issue of unemployment in Athy and following a special meeting two days later the Council agreed to hire extra men for street cleaning for a couple of weeks.
15TH APRIL, 1907
James Duthie, Secretary, Athy Volunteer Fire Brigade confirmed a membership of 27 following which the Council agreed to allow the recently formed volunteer group to have use of the Fire Brigade Engine.
7TH JANUARY, 1908
The Council adopted new market bye laws providing for payment of tolls once goods were exposed for sale in the Market Square irrespective of whether or not, they were subsequently sold.
18TH MAY, 1908
It was agreed that that Council workmen would be allowed to finish work early at 4.00pm on Saturdays for a month trial period.
2ND MAY, 1910
The Irish Automobile Club were requested to have warning posts erected at the main entrances to Athy cautioning motorists to drive through the town at a speed not exceeding 7 miles per hour.
7TH NOVEMBER, 1910
There were 21 cow keepers in the town of Athy and two retailers of milk.
1ST MAY, 1912
Athy shopkeepers agreed by ballot for a ½ day holiday for shop assistants on Thursdays with shops closing at 2.00p.m. This followed the passing of the Shop Acts of 1911 which gave shop assistants a legal entitlement to a weekly ½ day holiday.
20TH MARCH, 1913
The first Council house tenants were appointed by the elected members of the Council. This was a function the members continued to exercise until 1953 when tenancies were thereafter allocated on the recommendations of the Council Medical Officers.
28TH MAY, 1914
Council Workman James Chanders of Rathstewart, a store breaker employed at the Gallowshill Gravel Pit was killed when the gravel bank collapsed on him.
4TH JANUARY, 1915
The Council was told that about 60 children attending National School in Athy were unable by reason of lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided. The Sisters of Mercy provided 36 school children with breakfast each morning before school started. Four years later the Sisters of Mercy were providing 96 children with breakfast.
JULY 1915
As part of its War economy measures, the Council decided to employ one lamp light instead of two as in previous years. It was also agreed to light every second lamp and no lamps to be lit during the summer months.
4TH DECEMBER, 1916
Michael Johnston, Lamp Lighter was granted a war bonus of two shillings per week.
4TH NOVEMBER, 1917
The Council presented an address of welcome to Eamon de Valera on his first visit to Athy.
FEBRUARY 1919
The Council workmen were unionised after World War I and on the application of the Transport Workers Union their wages were increased from 27/6 to 33/= per week for which they worked 52 hours a week in summer and 47 hours a week in winter.
These snippets from the town’s past give only a flavour of life as it was lived at the beginning of the 20th century. The importance of the Council’s records and indeed records of other organisations in the town for the study of our local history cannot be over emphasised. Hopefully more organisations in Athy will take extra care to ensure that their records are preserved and maintained, otherwise we run the risk of losing what may be important elements of the story of the town and its people.
Athy Urban District Council has a history stretching back to 1900 but the records of its predecessors, Athy Town Commissioners and Athy Borough Councils as far back as the mid 18th century have been preserved and they provide a fruitful source of research for the historian. In the records of Athy Urban District Council successive Town Clerks have recorded not only the decisions made at the Council meetings but also the contributions of individual Councillors. It was while researching the records of the Urban District Council for the purposes of a publication to mark the centenary of the Council that I came across a number of interesting side lights on the town’s history. This week I am dipping into the Council’s Minute Books to bring you a flavour of times past in Athy.
6TH MAY, 1901
The Council adopted by-laws regulating common lodging houses in the town of Athy following a letter received from the local R.I.C. Sergeant regarding the refusal of several lodging houses to accommodate a young girl.
17TH NOVEMBER, 1902
Congratulations were extended to Patrick Brien of Canal Side for saving three children from drowning in the River Barrow at the Horse Bridge on 15th November, 1902.
16TH NOVEMBER, 1903
The Council reported to the L.G. Board in Dublin that the Moneen River was a source of domestic water supply for the townspeople.
6TH JUNE, 1904
For some reason the Council felt it necessary to pass a resolution permitting all persons “to use the seats and the space that they enclosed which are now erected around Woodstock Street pump.”
JULY 1904
The Post Master applied to the Council for permission to erect letter boxes at Offaly Street and Leinster Street and to move the letter box from the Pleasure Grounds wall to the inside of the Railway Station. There were three other letter boxes in the town, with four collections each day and one collection on Sunday.
6TH MARCH, 1905
The Council appealed to all traders in the town to honour St. Patrick’s Day as a general holiday and to close their premises on the day. Posters to that effect were posted throughout the town.
4TH MARCH, 1907
Thomas Plewman raised the issue of unemployment in Athy and following a special meeting two days later the Council agreed to hire extra men for street cleaning for a couple of weeks.
15TH APRIL, 1907
James Duthie, Secretary, Athy Volunteer Fire Brigade confirmed a membership of 27 following which the Council agreed to allow the recently formed volunteer group to have use of the Fire Brigade Engine.
7TH JANUARY, 1908
The Council adopted new market bye laws providing for payment of tolls once goods were exposed for sale in the Market Square irrespective of whether or not, they were subsequently sold.
18TH MAY, 1908
It was agreed that that Council workmen would be allowed to finish work early at 4.00pm on Saturdays for a month trial period.
2ND MAY, 1910
The Irish Automobile Club were requested to have warning posts erected at the main entrances to Athy cautioning motorists to drive through the town at a speed not exceeding 7 miles per hour.
7TH NOVEMBER, 1910
There were 21 cow keepers in the town of Athy and two retailers of milk.
1ST MAY, 1912
Athy shopkeepers agreed by ballot for a ½ day holiday for shop assistants on Thursdays with shops closing at 2.00p.m. This followed the passing of the Shop Acts of 1911 which gave shop assistants a legal entitlement to a weekly ½ day holiday.
20TH MARCH, 1913
The first Council house tenants were appointed by the elected members of the Council. This was a function the members continued to exercise until 1953 when tenancies were thereafter allocated on the recommendations of the Council Medical Officers.
28TH MAY, 1914
Council Workman James Chanders of Rathstewart, a store breaker employed at the Gallowshill Gravel Pit was killed when the gravel bank collapsed on him.
4TH JANUARY, 1915
The Council was told that about 60 children attending National School in Athy were unable by reason of lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided. The Sisters of Mercy provided 36 school children with breakfast each morning before school started. Four years later the Sisters of Mercy were providing 96 children with breakfast.
JULY 1915
As part of its War economy measures, the Council decided to employ one lamp light instead of two as in previous years. It was also agreed to light every second lamp and no lamps to be lit during the summer months.
4TH DECEMBER, 1916
Michael Johnston, Lamp Lighter was granted a war bonus of two shillings per week.
4TH NOVEMBER, 1917
The Council presented an address of welcome to Eamon de Valera on his first visit to Athy.
FEBRUARY 1919
The Council workmen were unionised after World War I and on the application of the Transport Workers Union their wages were increased from 27/6 to 33/= per week for which they worked 52 hours a week in summer and 47 hours a week in winter.
These snippets from the town’s past give only a flavour of life as it was lived at the beginning of the 20th century. The importance of the Council’s records and indeed records of other organisations in the town for the study of our local history cannot be over emphasised. Hopefully more organisations in Athy will take extra care to ensure that their records are preserved and maintained, otherwise we run the risk of losing what may be important elements of the story of the town and its people.
Thursday, April 5, 2001
Public Houses in Athy in 1924
Last week the Newspapers featured a claim by a spokesman for the Vintners Association that Athy, described as a typical provincial Irish town, was well provided with Public Houses. It was stated that the town now has 26 Public Houses and at one time in the distant past had 32 Pubs, one for each County in Ireland. Indeed, Athy has always held a somewhat unenviable record in terms of the high number of Public Houses in the town, but today we have considerably less licensed premises than we had in 1924. Would you believe that Athy then boasted no less than 40 local hostelries, all of which were open for business. As you can imagine many changes have taken place in the personnel involved in the Public House business in the intervening 77 years. See how many of the Proprietors of that year you can recall and how many of them are represented today in the same premises by their direct descendants.
Myles Whelan, Duke Street. Joseph Whelan, Offaly Street.
Thomas Whelan, William Street. David Walsh, Leinster Street,
Annie O’Brien, Emily Square. Mary Reid, Leinster Street.
Patrick O’Brien, 78 Leinster Street. John Anderson, Emily Square.
Michael O’Brien, Leinster Street. James McLaughlin, Leinster Street.
Fintan Dowling, 16 William Street. Michael Hughes, William Street.
John Joseph Phelan, Market Square. Mary Doyle, Barrack Street.
Michael O’Meara, 67 Leinster Street. Mary Josephine Timmons, William St.
Eileen Butler, Leinster Street. E.T. Mulhall, Leinster Street.
Michael Malone, 4 Woodstock St. Edward Lawler, 3 Woodstock St.
Jacob Purcell, William St. John P. Dillon, Barrow Quay.
Thomas F. Bergin, Duke St. James McEvoy, Leinster St.
Thomas O’Gorman, Duke St. S. G. Glynn, Duke St.
John Maher, 23 Leinster St. Michael Kavanagh, 18 Duke St.
Matthew Cunningham, Duke St. Patrick Smith, Stanhope St.
Michael McCauley, Leinster St. William Scully, Leinster St.
Patrick Kelly, Leinster St. Michael Crawley, Barrack St.
Martin Brophy, William St. Mary Ann Kelly, William St.
Katherine Conlan, Duke St. Henry Sylvester, The Square.
Myles Whelan, Leinster St. Michael Lawlor, Leinster St.
In those early days of the Irish Free State, Pubs either had a six day or a seven day Licence, the latter Licence entitling its holder to open for a limited number of hours each Sunday. Some of the local Pubs had Special Exemptions allowing them to open between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. on the morning of fairs and markets in the town. Only a few of the pubs had names other than the proprietor’s names over their doors. These included the Railway Bar operated by Patrick O’Brien of Leinster Street and the Nag’s Head where Michael O’Brien was the Proprietor. Incidentally, the Nag’s Head was once a Hotel although I can’t say if it operated as such in 1924. The Dublin Bar at 18 Duke Street was owned by Michael Kavanagh while Henry Sylvester operated The Shamrock Bar at Emily Square in what was later Miss Dallon’s Off Licence. Sylvester then had a seven day Licence and his premises was located immediately next to the Leinster Arms Hotel which in 1924 was owned by Myles Whelan. Some years ago I was told of what was claimed to be Ireland’s longest trade dispute which took place in the late 1920’s extending into the 1930’s in Athy and involved employees of Henry Sylvester’s Public House in the Square. Can anyone give me any information concerning this strike which I am led to understand went on for six or seven years.
Eileen Butler’s Public House in Leinster Street was the only Licenced Premises which had a name in Irish over the door. This was the Pub which Tom Flood bought in 1926. Patrick Smith had bought John J. Bailey’s premises in Stanhope Street in 1923 having sold his old premises in Leinster Street to Michael McCauley.
I cannot accurately identify the Pubs owned by Thomas Bergin, Thomas O’Gorman and S.G. Glynn all in Duke Street but I am sure somebody out there will do so for me.
Before 1924 had ended, Mary Ann Kelly who operated a Grocer and Spirits Store in William Street gave up the business and it was the first of the Public Houses listed to close down. Several more have closed in the intervening years but despite this, Athy can still claim to be one of the most “Licenced” towns in Ireland today.
Myles Whelan, Duke Street. Joseph Whelan, Offaly Street.
Thomas Whelan, William Street. David Walsh, Leinster Street,
Annie O’Brien, Emily Square. Mary Reid, Leinster Street.
Patrick O’Brien, 78 Leinster Street. John Anderson, Emily Square.
Michael O’Brien, Leinster Street. James McLaughlin, Leinster Street.
Fintan Dowling, 16 William Street. Michael Hughes, William Street.
John Joseph Phelan, Market Square. Mary Doyle, Barrack Street.
Michael O’Meara, 67 Leinster Street. Mary Josephine Timmons, William St.
Eileen Butler, Leinster Street. E.T. Mulhall, Leinster Street.
Michael Malone, 4 Woodstock St. Edward Lawler, 3 Woodstock St.
Jacob Purcell, William St. John P. Dillon, Barrow Quay.
Thomas F. Bergin, Duke St. James McEvoy, Leinster St.
Thomas O’Gorman, Duke St. S. G. Glynn, Duke St.
John Maher, 23 Leinster St. Michael Kavanagh, 18 Duke St.
Matthew Cunningham, Duke St. Patrick Smith, Stanhope St.
Michael McCauley, Leinster St. William Scully, Leinster St.
Patrick Kelly, Leinster St. Michael Crawley, Barrack St.
Martin Brophy, William St. Mary Ann Kelly, William St.
Katherine Conlan, Duke St. Henry Sylvester, The Square.
Myles Whelan, Leinster St. Michael Lawlor, Leinster St.
In those early days of the Irish Free State, Pubs either had a six day or a seven day Licence, the latter Licence entitling its holder to open for a limited number of hours each Sunday. Some of the local Pubs had Special Exemptions allowing them to open between 6.00 a.m. and 9.00 a.m. on the morning of fairs and markets in the town. Only a few of the pubs had names other than the proprietor’s names over their doors. These included the Railway Bar operated by Patrick O’Brien of Leinster Street and the Nag’s Head where Michael O’Brien was the Proprietor. Incidentally, the Nag’s Head was once a Hotel although I can’t say if it operated as such in 1924. The Dublin Bar at 18 Duke Street was owned by Michael Kavanagh while Henry Sylvester operated The Shamrock Bar at Emily Square in what was later Miss Dallon’s Off Licence. Sylvester then had a seven day Licence and his premises was located immediately next to the Leinster Arms Hotel which in 1924 was owned by Myles Whelan. Some years ago I was told of what was claimed to be Ireland’s longest trade dispute which took place in the late 1920’s extending into the 1930’s in Athy and involved employees of Henry Sylvester’s Public House in the Square. Can anyone give me any information concerning this strike which I am led to understand went on for six or seven years.
Eileen Butler’s Public House in Leinster Street was the only Licenced Premises which had a name in Irish over the door. This was the Pub which Tom Flood bought in 1926. Patrick Smith had bought John J. Bailey’s premises in Stanhope Street in 1923 having sold his old premises in Leinster Street to Michael McCauley.
I cannot accurately identify the Pubs owned by Thomas Bergin, Thomas O’Gorman and S.G. Glynn all in Duke Street but I am sure somebody out there will do so for me.
Before 1924 had ended, Mary Ann Kelly who operated a Grocer and Spirits Store in William Street gave up the business and it was the first of the Public Houses listed to close down. Several more have closed in the intervening years but despite this, Athy can still claim to be one of the most “Licenced” towns in Ireland today.
Thursday, March 29, 2001
Railway in Athy
The recent news that the Arrow service will not be extended to Athy for a number of years yet was disappointing. The railways have long played an important role in the life of the town and with the increasing number of people commuting to Dublin everyday will continue to do so.
Athy was first linked by rail to the outside world in 1846. The following extract is taken from James Cunneen’s History of Athy Parish -
“Apart from a few minor alterations the present Athy Station was the original one. It was designed by a man named Woods, the Architect of many of the Great Southern and Western Railway stations. The siding at Kilberry was built by a Mr. Hodgson who carried out turf production in the area. This siding was later reconstructed for the Bord na Mona factory. Maganey was one of the original stations, while the Kildangan Halt dates from the early years of this century; both are now closed.
On August 4th, 1846 the line between Kingsbridge and Carlow was opened to the public. The first runs were trial trips and they left Dublin at 9.00am and 5.00pm and Carlow at 9.30am and 5.00pm. The first public train to arrive at Athy station was the Carlow/Dublin morning train due in Athy at 10.08am, the train from Dublin was due at 11.46am. The fares at the time of opening were Single - Dublin to Athy 1st Class 6/6; 2nd Class 5/- and 3rd Class 2/10.
In those early days return fares were not available. There were no dining cars or their equivalent in those trains to Athy - not until the arrival of the diesel trains in more recent years. However, in pre-1914 days, breakfast and luncheon baskets at 3/- each and tea baskets at 1/- each could be bought at Kingsbridge and Waterford stations.
Only two trains each way were run at first, as there were not sufficient carriages for more. The third-class carriages on the Athy line, although plain enough inside, were at least covered; such carriages on other lines had no roof at all and sometimes were open to the elements at the sides and often they had no seats. For quite a number of years the second-class carriages had no seat cushions and in fact were little better than the third-class carriages. It is not surprising then that in 1847 the Chairman of the Company complained that members of the middle classes were travelling third-class instead of second, although the third-class intended only for “the poorer classes”. He even complained that “the upper classes” sometimes travelled third-class! Third-class carriages were not completely dispensed with until May 1956.
The first carriages used on the line to Athy were built by a coach builder named Hutton at Summerhill, Dublin. Later, carriages were obtained from other Dublin builders and from England until such time as the Inchicore Works started to build their own. The engines at the time were relatively small, with no cab for the protection of the crew and no brakes except wooden ones working on the wheels and operated by hand. Indeed, stopping the train was a very “tricky business” which had to be helped by another hand-brake in the Guard’s van. Those engines, like many of our engines today, were named - rejoicing in such colourful names as Antelope, Buffalo, Leopard and Pheasant!
At the beginning the line to Carlow was double-track. At the end of the First World War it was singled from Cherryville Junction to Athy in order to provide rails for the Castlecomer branch. Later it was singled from Athy to Carlow to provide rails for the Athy-Wolfhill line.”
A permanent reminder of the difficulties facing the Great Southern and Western Railway Company in laying tracks to Athy remains to this day in the twin level approach road from the town to the railway bridge. This part of Bothair Bui was extensively built on with cottages on both sides of the road. Apparently those living on the north side of the road resisted the Railway Company’s attempts to raise the level of the roadway in front of their houses so a compromise was reached resulting in the raising of the road level on one side only. Indeed the Town Commissioners were somewhat at sea in relation to the erection of the railway bridge and sought the Duke of Leinster’s opinion as to how they should act with regard to the approach to the railway.
The advice offered is lost in time but on 7th May, 1846 the Commissioners were sufficiently assertive to write to the Railway Company.
“Gentleman
At a special meeting of the Athy Town Commissioners held this day pursuant to notice it was unanimously resolved that I should communicate to your Board the decided disapprobation of said Commissioners relative to the approach that is now being made from the railway bridge to the town. The Commissioners now see what is intended to be done and are of opinion that it is the worst plan that could be adopted in as much as it injures the property on the opposite side of the street and entirely disfigures the principal entrance to the town. The Commissioners are aware that they cannot prevent the company from building on their own property, but they will not accept the intended line of road in lieu of the one they had. Trusting that your Board will give this matter due consideration prior to your proceeding further with the works.
I have the honour to be your obedient Servant
Patrick Commins - Chairman.”
The Company’s response is unknown but ultimately the road was constructed on two levels and the Town Commissioners noted with approval on 5th March 1849 that the Railway Company had built “a permanent, useful and ornamental wall adjoining the public road at the Railway Bridge”.
Athy was first linked by rail to the outside world in 1846. The following extract is taken from James Cunneen’s History of Athy Parish -
“Apart from a few minor alterations the present Athy Station was the original one. It was designed by a man named Woods, the Architect of many of the Great Southern and Western Railway stations. The siding at Kilberry was built by a Mr. Hodgson who carried out turf production in the area. This siding was later reconstructed for the Bord na Mona factory. Maganey was one of the original stations, while the Kildangan Halt dates from the early years of this century; both are now closed.
On August 4th, 1846 the line between Kingsbridge and Carlow was opened to the public. The first runs were trial trips and they left Dublin at 9.00am and 5.00pm and Carlow at 9.30am and 5.00pm. The first public train to arrive at Athy station was the Carlow/Dublin morning train due in Athy at 10.08am, the train from Dublin was due at 11.46am. The fares at the time of opening were Single - Dublin to Athy 1st Class 6/6; 2nd Class 5/- and 3rd Class 2/10.
In those early days return fares were not available. There were no dining cars or their equivalent in those trains to Athy - not until the arrival of the diesel trains in more recent years. However, in pre-1914 days, breakfast and luncheon baskets at 3/- each and tea baskets at 1/- each could be bought at Kingsbridge and Waterford stations.
Only two trains each way were run at first, as there were not sufficient carriages for more. The third-class carriages on the Athy line, although plain enough inside, were at least covered; such carriages on other lines had no roof at all and sometimes were open to the elements at the sides and often they had no seats. For quite a number of years the second-class carriages had no seat cushions and in fact were little better than the third-class carriages. It is not surprising then that in 1847 the Chairman of the Company complained that members of the middle classes were travelling third-class instead of second, although the third-class intended only for “the poorer classes”. He even complained that “the upper classes” sometimes travelled third-class! Third-class carriages were not completely dispensed with until May 1956.
The first carriages used on the line to Athy were built by a coach builder named Hutton at Summerhill, Dublin. Later, carriages were obtained from other Dublin builders and from England until such time as the Inchicore Works started to build their own. The engines at the time were relatively small, with no cab for the protection of the crew and no brakes except wooden ones working on the wheels and operated by hand. Indeed, stopping the train was a very “tricky business” which had to be helped by another hand-brake in the Guard’s van. Those engines, like many of our engines today, were named - rejoicing in such colourful names as Antelope, Buffalo, Leopard and Pheasant!
At the beginning the line to Carlow was double-track. At the end of the First World War it was singled from Cherryville Junction to Athy in order to provide rails for the Castlecomer branch. Later it was singled from Athy to Carlow to provide rails for the Athy-Wolfhill line.”
A permanent reminder of the difficulties facing the Great Southern and Western Railway Company in laying tracks to Athy remains to this day in the twin level approach road from the town to the railway bridge. This part of Bothair Bui was extensively built on with cottages on both sides of the road. Apparently those living on the north side of the road resisted the Railway Company’s attempts to raise the level of the roadway in front of their houses so a compromise was reached resulting in the raising of the road level on one side only. Indeed the Town Commissioners were somewhat at sea in relation to the erection of the railway bridge and sought the Duke of Leinster’s opinion as to how they should act with regard to the approach to the railway.
The advice offered is lost in time but on 7th May, 1846 the Commissioners were sufficiently assertive to write to the Railway Company.
“Gentleman
At a special meeting of the Athy Town Commissioners held this day pursuant to notice it was unanimously resolved that I should communicate to your Board the decided disapprobation of said Commissioners relative to the approach that is now being made from the railway bridge to the town. The Commissioners now see what is intended to be done and are of opinion that it is the worst plan that could be adopted in as much as it injures the property on the opposite side of the street and entirely disfigures the principal entrance to the town. The Commissioners are aware that they cannot prevent the company from building on their own property, but they will not accept the intended line of road in lieu of the one they had. Trusting that your Board will give this matter due consideration prior to your proceeding further with the works.
I have the honour to be your obedient Servant
Patrick Commins - Chairman.”
The Company’s response is unknown but ultimately the road was constructed on two levels and the Town Commissioners noted with approval on 5th March 1849 that the Railway Company had built “a permanent, useful and ornamental wall adjoining the public road at the Railway Bridge”.
Thursday, March 22, 2001
Local Authority Housing Schemes in Athy
Housing is viewed by the general public as the Urban Council’s main contribution to the development of the town. This is despite the importance of roads, water supply and sewerage systems to sustaining adequate infrastructures for the towns population.
The role of local authorities in public housing was re-affirmed and promulgated, if not for the first time, in the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890. An earlier Act, The Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act, 1851 which empowered Town Commissioners to build houses for workers was a failure as it depended as did the 1890 Act on local rates to finance house building. A central housing fund was first established in 1908 to assist Urban Councils in providing houses for those in need. Athy Urban District Council completed it’s first housing scheme consisting of twenty-two houses one year before the outbreak of World War I. The houses were at Meeting Lane, St. Michael’s Terrace and St. Martin’s Terrace and the tenants appointed were described by the Town Clerk as “artisans rather than members of the labouring classes”.
The first World War and the Irish War of Independence delayed the Urban Council’s plans for further housing schemes in the town. These difficulties however were cleared when in 1923 the Council advertised for tenders for six houses at the Bleach. P.J. Watchorn & Sons of Dublin quoted £2,898.9s.0d. which was accepted and they were asked to build an extra house at the same rate. When Watchorns later increased their tender, D. & J. Carbery of Athy submitted a revised tender for eight houses at £450 each. These houses were completed by the local firm before the end of March 1924 when nine applications were received by the Urban Council for the eight new houses known as Bleach Cottages.
In October 1929 the Urban Council under the Chairmanship of Patrick Dooley of Leinster Street sought to further it’s plans for Council housing with the appointment of Mr. D. Heaney as Consulting Architect. The Council’s Housing Committee which had been asked to inspect the areas of the town suitable for housing brought to a meeting of the Council on 16th October his recommendations. They were advised to acquire the Gaol field on the Carlow Road of about 2 acres 26 perches owned by Miss Kilbride, together with Peter P. Doyle’s field near the County Home and Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill’s field on the Carlow Road. This latter field was in excess of 6 ½ acres. The Housing Committee agreed to review it’s recommendations and a week later it’s Members, accompanied by Mr. Heaney Architect, the Town Clerk John W. Lawler(?) and the Town Overseer Bland Bramley, inspected nine possible housing sites around the town. Apart from the three sites already mentioned others visited were Hollands field at Geraldine and another field owned by the same family adjoining the Showgrounds on the Dublin Road. The ruined and vacant malthouse at Woodstock Street owned by the McHugh family was also inspected, as were ruins at St. James Place, Rigney’s field at Blackparks and Sylvesters field at the Bleach.
At a subsequent meeting on 4th November, 1929 the Council agreed to acquire the following :-
1. The Gaol Field on the Carlow Road.
2. Dr. J. O’Neill’s field on the Carlow Road.
3. McHugh’s Malt store on Woodstock Street.
4. P.P. Doyle’s field in Barrack Street.
Councillors P. Dooley, F.R. Jackson, Tom Carbery and Bridget Darby were appointed to interview the various owners and negotiate the purchase of the relevant sites.
The following January Mr. Strahan, a housing inspector with the Department of Local Government, visited Athy and accompanied by the Town Clerk did a house to house inspection and found 316 houses in the town unfit for human habitation and 27 houses considerably below normal standards but which might be made fit. Soon thereafter the house plans prepared by D. Heaney, Architect for the various sites already ear marked but not yet acquired by the Council were approved by the Urban Council. At the same time Messrs Stanton Limited advised the Council that following their Engineer’s evaluation of the town’s water supply scheme it was clear that “the present supply is totally inadequate to meet the demands of businesses in Athy.” Undaunted the Council pressed ahead with it’s housing plans and on 2nd March, 1930 passed a Motion proposed by Michael Malone and seconded by Tom Carbery :-
“When advertising for the building of houses in Athy that local labour be employed and local housing labours wages be paid and also that all doors, windows and window frames and cement blocks be made in Athy.”
In April 1930 Athy Urban District Council advertised for tenders to build 36 houses in the Gaol field on the Carlow Road, 14 houses in Rigney’s field at Blackparks and 9 houses on McHugh’s site at Woodstock Street. The tender of D. & J. Carbery of Athy was accepted for all of the houses and duly approved by the Department of Local Government which agreed to pay a Grant of £72.00 to the Urban District Council for each of the 59 houses. The Council’s third housing scheme commenced on June 30th with Captain H.B. Foy of 7 Percy Place, Dublin as Clerk of Works at a salary of five guineas a week. Legal problems were encountered with the McHughs and Rigneys sites and Carberys Building Contractors continued only with the building work on the Gaol field house site. On 29th July the Rigneys site was abandoned due to the title problems and a decision was made to acquire McHugh’s site by compulsory Purchase Order.
By October 1930 the Council Minute Book records the Architect’s Report on the progress of the houses under construction in “St. Patrick’s Avenue, Carlow Road.” Strangely this was the first and only reference to the naming of the Gaol field housing site after the country’s patron Saint and no record exists of the Council’s decision to use that name. While the houses were still in the course of construction the Council agreed to have electric lights and liffey ranges installed. The local electrician, J. Hutchinson of Leinster Street, successfully tendered to install electric lights in the 36 houses for which he was to receive £175. The possible installation of baths in 12 of the houses was also considered but deferred until tenants were appointed and their views canvassed on the issue.
The role of local authorities in public housing was re-affirmed and promulgated, if not for the first time, in the Housing of the Working Classes Act of 1890. An earlier Act, The Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act, 1851 which empowered Town Commissioners to build houses for workers was a failure as it depended as did the 1890 Act on local rates to finance house building. A central housing fund was first established in 1908 to assist Urban Councils in providing houses for those in need. Athy Urban District Council completed it’s first housing scheme consisting of twenty-two houses one year before the outbreak of World War I. The houses were at Meeting Lane, St. Michael’s Terrace and St. Martin’s Terrace and the tenants appointed were described by the Town Clerk as “artisans rather than members of the labouring classes”.
The first World War and the Irish War of Independence delayed the Urban Council’s plans for further housing schemes in the town. These difficulties however were cleared when in 1923 the Council advertised for tenders for six houses at the Bleach. P.J. Watchorn & Sons of Dublin quoted £2,898.9s.0d. which was accepted and they were asked to build an extra house at the same rate. When Watchorns later increased their tender, D. & J. Carbery of Athy submitted a revised tender for eight houses at £450 each. These houses were completed by the local firm before the end of March 1924 when nine applications were received by the Urban Council for the eight new houses known as Bleach Cottages.
In October 1929 the Urban Council under the Chairmanship of Patrick Dooley of Leinster Street sought to further it’s plans for Council housing with the appointment of Mr. D. Heaney as Consulting Architect. The Council’s Housing Committee which had been asked to inspect the areas of the town suitable for housing brought to a meeting of the Council on 16th October his recommendations. They were advised to acquire the Gaol field on the Carlow Road of about 2 acres 26 perches owned by Miss Kilbride, together with Peter P. Doyle’s field near the County Home and Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill’s field on the Carlow Road. This latter field was in excess of 6 ½ acres. The Housing Committee agreed to review it’s recommendations and a week later it’s Members, accompanied by Mr. Heaney Architect, the Town Clerk John W. Lawler(?) and the Town Overseer Bland Bramley, inspected nine possible housing sites around the town. Apart from the three sites already mentioned others visited were Hollands field at Geraldine and another field owned by the same family adjoining the Showgrounds on the Dublin Road. The ruined and vacant malthouse at Woodstock Street owned by the McHugh family was also inspected, as were ruins at St. James Place, Rigney’s field at Blackparks and Sylvesters field at the Bleach.
At a subsequent meeting on 4th November, 1929 the Council agreed to acquire the following :-
1. The Gaol Field on the Carlow Road.
2. Dr. J. O’Neill’s field on the Carlow Road.
3. McHugh’s Malt store on Woodstock Street.
4. P.P. Doyle’s field in Barrack Street.
Councillors P. Dooley, F.R. Jackson, Tom Carbery and Bridget Darby were appointed to interview the various owners and negotiate the purchase of the relevant sites.
The following January Mr. Strahan, a housing inspector with the Department of Local Government, visited Athy and accompanied by the Town Clerk did a house to house inspection and found 316 houses in the town unfit for human habitation and 27 houses considerably below normal standards but which might be made fit. Soon thereafter the house plans prepared by D. Heaney, Architect for the various sites already ear marked but not yet acquired by the Council were approved by the Urban Council. At the same time Messrs Stanton Limited advised the Council that following their Engineer’s evaluation of the town’s water supply scheme it was clear that “the present supply is totally inadequate to meet the demands of businesses in Athy.” Undaunted the Council pressed ahead with it’s housing plans and on 2nd March, 1930 passed a Motion proposed by Michael Malone and seconded by Tom Carbery :-
“When advertising for the building of houses in Athy that local labour be employed and local housing labours wages be paid and also that all doors, windows and window frames and cement blocks be made in Athy.”
In April 1930 Athy Urban District Council advertised for tenders to build 36 houses in the Gaol field on the Carlow Road, 14 houses in Rigney’s field at Blackparks and 9 houses on McHugh’s site at Woodstock Street. The tender of D. & J. Carbery of Athy was accepted for all of the houses and duly approved by the Department of Local Government which agreed to pay a Grant of £72.00 to the Urban District Council for each of the 59 houses. The Council’s third housing scheme commenced on June 30th with Captain H.B. Foy of 7 Percy Place, Dublin as Clerk of Works at a salary of five guineas a week. Legal problems were encountered with the McHughs and Rigneys sites and Carberys Building Contractors continued only with the building work on the Gaol field house site. On 29th July the Rigneys site was abandoned due to the title problems and a decision was made to acquire McHugh’s site by compulsory Purchase Order.
By October 1930 the Council Minute Book records the Architect’s Report on the progress of the houses under construction in “St. Patrick’s Avenue, Carlow Road.” Strangely this was the first and only reference to the naming of the Gaol field housing site after the country’s patron Saint and no record exists of the Council’s decision to use that name. While the houses were still in the course of construction the Council agreed to have electric lights and liffey ranges installed. The local electrician, J. Hutchinson of Leinster Street, successfully tendered to install electric lights in the 36 houses for which he was to receive £175. The possible installation of baths in 12 of the houses was also considered but deferred until tenants were appointed and their views canvassed on the issue.
Thursday, March 15, 2001
Women in Local History
The contribution of women in Irish society was in times past rarely viewed as being equal to that of their male counterparts. I was prompted to reflect on this when I was asked to give a talk to members of the local ICA guild. The audience was exclusively female and so I felt it appropriate to speak of those female achievers or pioneers of previous generations in our local society who in some way or other helped to change society’s attitude towards women in general.
One of the most important professions today is that of nursing but it was not always so. Up to the middle of the 19th century our own local hospital which was then a workhouse was staffed during the day by a Workhouse Master and a number of helpers, none of whom had any medical qualifications. At night time the workhouse inmates were locked in and elderly women inmates were delegated the task of looking after the sick until day break arrived. The Crimean War of 1854 was the catalyst for change which resulted in nursing becoming a reputable reputation and Florence Nightingale was the instigator of this change. She applied to the English War Office for permission to travel to the Crimea to nurse the soldiers who were dying in their thousands because of lack of adequate medical care. She was assisted in this work by several young women including Sisters of Mercy from Irish Convents including Carlow and Kinsale. As a result of their work the very first training school for nurses was set up in England at the conclusion of the Crimean War. It was soon afterwards that the Sisters of Mercy in Athy Convent began to visit the patients in the local workhouse and before long they were invited to take over responsibility for all nursing care in the workhouse hospital. In this the Sisters of Mercy, who had been trained as teachers, were pioneers and innovators of their generation.
Another female pioneer or achiever was the Ballitore based Quaker writer and post mistress Mary Leadbetter who is today remembered for her published works. The most memorable of those, “The Leadbetter Papers” incorporating “The Annals of Ballitore” were published long after she died. During her own lifetime she published several books ranging from poems to letters of her parents Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton. Her “Cottage Dialogues” and “Cottage Biographies” are perhaps her best known works, apart from the “Ballitore Annals”. Mary Leadbetter was a pioneer in terms of her literary achievements, whose published works added enormously to the importance and relevance of female writers of our time and her time.
Several generations after Mary Leadbetter came Ann O’Neill-Barna, pen-name of Ann Raleigh, the American-born wife of an Irishman who lived for a number of years in the 1950’s at Kilberry, just a few miles outside Athy. Her contribution to the literary wealth of the area is to be found in her book “Himself and I” published in 1958. She gave an amusing account of life in Kilberry and Athy of the 1950’s dealing with different aspects of country and town life in a delightful and at all times comical way. Do you remember her account of Mary from Dublin, a well-known character from our past who each week manned a fish and fruit stall in Emily Square.
“The one elaborate stall which had place of honour in front of the Square was run by Mary from Dublin …. She was a scrawny dark little thing with snapping black eyes, lank black hair and a toothy but engaging smile. She wore a shapeless overcoat and an ancient cloche hat … She controlled everything with a loud sharp voice …. Chanting ‘cahbages and tomahtoes, ahpricocks, ripe bahnanhnas ….. ‘Never mind the green dearie it is only the outside. I’ll peel one for you.’ She took up a banana and held it high and with dramatic gestures peeled four strips until it was half done. The banana was unripe and hard as a rock. ‘I’m sorry it is not ripe enough’ I said feeling very embarrassed at the wretched banana which looked so exposed and at the silent crowd watching all this with bated breath. Mary snorted ‘not ripe sez she’ to the crowd in a voice that carried for miles, ‘not ripe! after me stripping me bahnahna for her”.
Ann Raleigh was an achiever and a pioneer as indeed was the stallholder Mary herself whom the Kilberry-based writer so vividly captured in her book “Himself and I”.
A different kind of pioneering spirit is attributable to another local woman Brigid Darby, the first woman elected as a public representative to Athy’s Town Council. She was so elected in 1928 and served as an Urban Councillor until 1942 when she stood down. In the meantime she served her local community as a member of Kildare County Council, the Vocational Education Committee and the County Committee of Agriculture. A teacher in Churchtown National School and later its Principal she first came to prominence when during the influenza epidemic of 1918/19 she helped to organise a committee of local women to provide food and assistance for the poor families of the area. Brigid was also secretary of the Gaelic League in Athy and throughout her time as a public representative played an enormously important part in improving the stock of Council houses in the town. Her close relationship with the various members of the Fianna Fail government first elected in 1932 and especially the Minister for Local Government Sean T. O’Callaigh was to Athy’s advantage when funding for Slum Clearance Programmes and new house programmes were being allocated in the 1930’s. She was an achiever and a pioneer in terms of her public representative role and as a community activist.
Another group of pioneers in the very real sense of the word were the young girls who between 1849/51 left Athy Workhouse to travel to Plymouth from where they journeyed to Australia as part of an Orphan Emigration Scheme. They were all local girls whose parents had died or had abandoned them in the Workhouse. As such they were regarded as a financial burden on the landowners who paid rates to fund the operation of Athy Workhouse. The Orphan Emigration Scheme was seen as an opportunity to off load from Irish Workhouses young unfortunate females while at the same time providing a much needed counterbalance to the largely male convict population of Australia. Those young girls who left Athy Workhouse as part of the Orphan Emigration Scheme to travel to Australia were truly of pioneering stock.
The ladies of the local ICA Guild whom I addressed on the changing attitudes to women in our society themselves played no small part in pioneering the breakthrough for Irish women. But theirs is a story for another day.
One of the most important professions today is that of nursing but it was not always so. Up to the middle of the 19th century our own local hospital which was then a workhouse was staffed during the day by a Workhouse Master and a number of helpers, none of whom had any medical qualifications. At night time the workhouse inmates were locked in and elderly women inmates were delegated the task of looking after the sick until day break arrived. The Crimean War of 1854 was the catalyst for change which resulted in nursing becoming a reputable reputation and Florence Nightingale was the instigator of this change. She applied to the English War Office for permission to travel to the Crimea to nurse the soldiers who were dying in their thousands because of lack of adequate medical care. She was assisted in this work by several young women including Sisters of Mercy from Irish Convents including Carlow and Kinsale. As a result of their work the very first training school for nurses was set up in England at the conclusion of the Crimean War. It was soon afterwards that the Sisters of Mercy in Athy Convent began to visit the patients in the local workhouse and before long they were invited to take over responsibility for all nursing care in the workhouse hospital. In this the Sisters of Mercy, who had been trained as teachers, were pioneers and innovators of their generation.
Another female pioneer or achiever was the Ballitore based Quaker writer and post mistress Mary Leadbetter who is today remembered for her published works. The most memorable of those, “The Leadbetter Papers” incorporating “The Annals of Ballitore” were published long after she died. During her own lifetime she published several books ranging from poems to letters of her parents Richard and Elizabeth Shackleton. Her “Cottage Dialogues” and “Cottage Biographies” are perhaps her best known works, apart from the “Ballitore Annals”. Mary Leadbetter was a pioneer in terms of her literary achievements, whose published works added enormously to the importance and relevance of female writers of our time and her time.
Several generations after Mary Leadbetter came Ann O’Neill-Barna, pen-name of Ann Raleigh, the American-born wife of an Irishman who lived for a number of years in the 1950’s at Kilberry, just a few miles outside Athy. Her contribution to the literary wealth of the area is to be found in her book “Himself and I” published in 1958. She gave an amusing account of life in Kilberry and Athy of the 1950’s dealing with different aspects of country and town life in a delightful and at all times comical way. Do you remember her account of Mary from Dublin, a well-known character from our past who each week manned a fish and fruit stall in Emily Square.
“The one elaborate stall which had place of honour in front of the Square was run by Mary from Dublin …. She was a scrawny dark little thing with snapping black eyes, lank black hair and a toothy but engaging smile. She wore a shapeless overcoat and an ancient cloche hat … She controlled everything with a loud sharp voice …. Chanting ‘cahbages and tomahtoes, ahpricocks, ripe bahnanhnas ….. ‘Never mind the green dearie it is only the outside. I’ll peel one for you.’ She took up a banana and held it high and with dramatic gestures peeled four strips until it was half done. The banana was unripe and hard as a rock. ‘I’m sorry it is not ripe enough’ I said feeling very embarrassed at the wretched banana which looked so exposed and at the silent crowd watching all this with bated breath. Mary snorted ‘not ripe sez she’ to the crowd in a voice that carried for miles, ‘not ripe! after me stripping me bahnahna for her”.
Ann Raleigh was an achiever and a pioneer as indeed was the stallholder Mary herself whom the Kilberry-based writer so vividly captured in her book “Himself and I”.
A different kind of pioneering spirit is attributable to another local woman Brigid Darby, the first woman elected as a public representative to Athy’s Town Council. She was so elected in 1928 and served as an Urban Councillor until 1942 when she stood down. In the meantime she served her local community as a member of Kildare County Council, the Vocational Education Committee and the County Committee of Agriculture. A teacher in Churchtown National School and later its Principal she first came to prominence when during the influenza epidemic of 1918/19 she helped to organise a committee of local women to provide food and assistance for the poor families of the area. Brigid was also secretary of the Gaelic League in Athy and throughout her time as a public representative played an enormously important part in improving the stock of Council houses in the town. Her close relationship with the various members of the Fianna Fail government first elected in 1932 and especially the Minister for Local Government Sean T. O’Callaigh was to Athy’s advantage when funding for Slum Clearance Programmes and new house programmes were being allocated in the 1930’s. She was an achiever and a pioneer in terms of her public representative role and as a community activist.
Another group of pioneers in the very real sense of the word were the young girls who between 1849/51 left Athy Workhouse to travel to Plymouth from where they journeyed to Australia as part of an Orphan Emigration Scheme. They were all local girls whose parents had died or had abandoned them in the Workhouse. As such they were regarded as a financial burden on the landowners who paid rates to fund the operation of Athy Workhouse. The Orphan Emigration Scheme was seen as an opportunity to off load from Irish Workhouses young unfortunate females while at the same time providing a much needed counterbalance to the largely male convict population of Australia. Those young girls who left Athy Workhouse as part of the Orphan Emigration Scheme to travel to Australia were truly of pioneering stock.
The ladies of the local ICA Guild whom I addressed on the changing attitudes to women in our society themselves played no small part in pioneering the breakthrough for Irish women. But theirs is a story for another day.
Thursday, March 8, 2001
Athy G.F.C.
Eoghan Corry in his centenary history of the GAA in County Kildare stated that “Athy, a town of British Soldiers and public houses was an unlikely venue for a Gaelic revival. It happened in the 1920’s”. The revival Corry referred to was due in large measure to a teacher in the Christian Brothers School, Athy by the name of Seamus Malone. He served as club secretary for Athy GFC for a number of years before leaving for a teaching post in Waterford in or about 1928. The Athy Gaelic Football Club had enjoyed little success in its early years and following a defeat in the Junior Final of 1913 the Club’s fortunes began to wane. Recruitment for regiments fighting in World War I also played a significant part in the demise of Gaelic football in Athy during the War years. Indeed Corry claimed that “Athy provided more British Army recruits, two thousand in all, for the first World War than any other town in the 26 counties.” In that he was incorrect, although Athy’s contribution to the War was proportionately greater than other Irish towns when comparisons are made on a population basis.
Seamus Malone’s importance to Gaelic football in Athy was his part in establishing a minor club known as “The Young Emmets Gaelic Football Club” which catered for under-18 footballers, there being insufficient Senior players left in Athy at that stage. The Young Emmets rented a playing field from the South Kildare Agricultural Society and this was later to be purchased by the local club and developed as Geraldine Park. As the Young Emmet players grew in years the Club assumed senior status and was re-graded as such in 1921.
Over the years the Athy Club known at different times as Geraldine Football Club, The Young Emmets Gaelic Football Club and since December 1945 as Geraldine Hurling and Gaelic Football Club has been served by dedicated administrators. In the early years Seamus Malone and the J.A. Lawlor Town Clerk were to the forefront of the club’s affairs, while Bill Mahon of Sawyerswood served as Club Chairman from 1928 to 1945. Another whose name is synonymous with the GAA in Athy is Fintan Brennan, District Court Clerk and one-time Chairman of the Leinster Council. John W. Kehoe, Publican of Offaly Street, Joe Murphy, Railway company employee of Offaly Street and Andy Smith, Publican of Leinster Street were other long-serving members of the GAA Club in Athy. There are many others who made a major contribution to Gaelic football in the town, many of whom are now dead and in many cases forgotten by the present generation.
A couple of Sundays past the current members of Athy Gaelic Football Club came together to pay a tribute to two members of the Club who between them have 134 years of involvement with Gaelic football in Athy. Both of the men have many things in common. Neither are from the town of Athy or even from the County of Kildare. One is from Baileboro, Co. Cavan, the other from Tullamore near Listowel in Co. Kerry. Both Tim O’Sullivan and Barney Dunne have served the Athy Gaelic Football Club as players, Committee Members and as Club Secretaries in the past.
Tim O’Sullivan first came to Athy in the week before Christmas 1937 to work as a Chemist’s assistant with J.J. Collins in Duke Street. As expected of somebody from the Kingdom he joined Athy Gaelic Football Club and togged out on a few occasions but without much success. Tim played junior football for Athy for several years and was a sub on the senior team when it played the first round of the 1942 championship. Unfortunately when Athy won that championship in a replay against Carbery later in the year Tim was not on the panel. His forte was on the administrative side of club affairs and he served as a committee member for some years from 1945 and in 1953 was appointed Club Secretary. He held that position for the following four years which were lean years for the club both in terms of finance and success on the football field. This was nothing new for the Athy Gaelic Football Club as borne out by a reference in the Club minutes of January 1946 when the then Club Secretary reported that he had managed to buy a football cover and then went on to report to his fellow committee members “that there was every chance of getting a bladder”. Tim was appointed to the Geraldine Park Grounds Committee in or about 1951 and served as Chairman of that Committee from 1961-1963. He is currently the President of Athy Gaelic Football Club and is justifiably proud of the fact that he has attended every Annual General Meeting of Athy Gaelic Football Club since 1938.
Barney Dunne came to Athy from Baileboro in County Cavan in November 1931 to work as a barman in Mrs. Margaret O’Meara’s pub in Leinster Street. Bar Manager there at the time was the earlier-mentioned Andy Smith, another Co. Cavan man who was later to open up his own public house in Leinster Street. As a fit and big young man from the footballing county of Cavan Barney was a great acquisition for the local Club and he was soon togging out for Athy alongside the legendary Paul Matthews, the Ardee County Louth man who came to Athy in 1925.
Barney was a member of the first Athy team to win a senior championship in 1933 when Athy defeated Rathdangan by 2-6 to 1-4. That first success was achieved after Athy’s senior teams had been defeated in three previous county finals, 1923, 1926 and 1927. The 1933 victory was followed by a second championship win the following year to give Barney Dunne his second senior medal. A third championship medal was won by Barney and his team-mates when Athy defeated Sarsfield in the 1937 final played in Naas on 17th July, 1938.
Athy suffered defeat in the 1941 senior championship final against Carbery but by then Barney Dunne was working in Dublin from where he was to return in time to play in the 1942 championship which ended with the Athy Club winning its fourth senior final in nine years. Barney also won two Leinster Leader Cup medals in 1937 and 1942 and played inter-county football for Kildare, winning a Leinster medal in 1935. He was a sub on the all-Ireland losing team of that year when Cavan unexpectedly defeated the hot favourites Kildare.
Barney retired from football in 1945 and was later a committee member of the Club and for a short period its joint Hon. Secretary with the legendary footballer, the later Tommy Mulhall. Barney is one of our last links with Athy’s great footballing years of the 1930’s and holds the unique record of four Senior Championship medals, a record which is unlikely to be bettered.
Congratulations to Tim and Barney on receiving the recent Club Award and to both of them goes our appreciation for years of dedicated service to Gaelic games in Athy.
Seamus Malone’s importance to Gaelic football in Athy was his part in establishing a minor club known as “The Young Emmets Gaelic Football Club” which catered for under-18 footballers, there being insufficient Senior players left in Athy at that stage. The Young Emmets rented a playing field from the South Kildare Agricultural Society and this was later to be purchased by the local club and developed as Geraldine Park. As the Young Emmet players grew in years the Club assumed senior status and was re-graded as such in 1921.
Over the years the Athy Club known at different times as Geraldine Football Club, The Young Emmets Gaelic Football Club and since December 1945 as Geraldine Hurling and Gaelic Football Club has been served by dedicated administrators. In the early years Seamus Malone and the J.A. Lawlor Town Clerk were to the forefront of the club’s affairs, while Bill Mahon of Sawyerswood served as Club Chairman from 1928 to 1945. Another whose name is synonymous with the GAA in Athy is Fintan Brennan, District Court Clerk and one-time Chairman of the Leinster Council. John W. Kehoe, Publican of Offaly Street, Joe Murphy, Railway company employee of Offaly Street and Andy Smith, Publican of Leinster Street were other long-serving members of the GAA Club in Athy. There are many others who made a major contribution to Gaelic football in the town, many of whom are now dead and in many cases forgotten by the present generation.
A couple of Sundays past the current members of Athy Gaelic Football Club came together to pay a tribute to two members of the Club who between them have 134 years of involvement with Gaelic football in Athy. Both of the men have many things in common. Neither are from the town of Athy or even from the County of Kildare. One is from Baileboro, Co. Cavan, the other from Tullamore near Listowel in Co. Kerry. Both Tim O’Sullivan and Barney Dunne have served the Athy Gaelic Football Club as players, Committee Members and as Club Secretaries in the past.
Tim O’Sullivan first came to Athy in the week before Christmas 1937 to work as a Chemist’s assistant with J.J. Collins in Duke Street. As expected of somebody from the Kingdom he joined Athy Gaelic Football Club and togged out on a few occasions but without much success. Tim played junior football for Athy for several years and was a sub on the senior team when it played the first round of the 1942 championship. Unfortunately when Athy won that championship in a replay against Carbery later in the year Tim was not on the panel. His forte was on the administrative side of club affairs and he served as a committee member for some years from 1945 and in 1953 was appointed Club Secretary. He held that position for the following four years which were lean years for the club both in terms of finance and success on the football field. This was nothing new for the Athy Gaelic Football Club as borne out by a reference in the Club minutes of January 1946 when the then Club Secretary reported that he had managed to buy a football cover and then went on to report to his fellow committee members “that there was every chance of getting a bladder”. Tim was appointed to the Geraldine Park Grounds Committee in or about 1951 and served as Chairman of that Committee from 1961-1963. He is currently the President of Athy Gaelic Football Club and is justifiably proud of the fact that he has attended every Annual General Meeting of Athy Gaelic Football Club since 1938.
Barney Dunne came to Athy from Baileboro in County Cavan in November 1931 to work as a barman in Mrs. Margaret O’Meara’s pub in Leinster Street. Bar Manager there at the time was the earlier-mentioned Andy Smith, another Co. Cavan man who was later to open up his own public house in Leinster Street. As a fit and big young man from the footballing county of Cavan Barney was a great acquisition for the local Club and he was soon togging out for Athy alongside the legendary Paul Matthews, the Ardee County Louth man who came to Athy in 1925.
Barney was a member of the first Athy team to win a senior championship in 1933 when Athy defeated Rathdangan by 2-6 to 1-4. That first success was achieved after Athy’s senior teams had been defeated in three previous county finals, 1923, 1926 and 1927. The 1933 victory was followed by a second championship win the following year to give Barney Dunne his second senior medal. A third championship medal was won by Barney and his team-mates when Athy defeated Sarsfield in the 1937 final played in Naas on 17th July, 1938.
Athy suffered defeat in the 1941 senior championship final against Carbery but by then Barney Dunne was working in Dublin from where he was to return in time to play in the 1942 championship which ended with the Athy Club winning its fourth senior final in nine years. Barney also won two Leinster Leader Cup medals in 1937 and 1942 and played inter-county football for Kildare, winning a Leinster medal in 1935. He was a sub on the all-Ireland losing team of that year when Cavan unexpectedly defeated the hot favourites Kildare.
Barney retired from football in 1945 and was later a committee member of the Club and for a short period its joint Hon. Secretary with the legendary footballer, the later Tommy Mulhall. Barney is one of our last links with Athy’s great footballing years of the 1930’s and holds the unique record of four Senior Championship medals, a record which is unlikely to be bettered.
Congratulations to Tim and Barney on receiving the recent Club Award and to both of them goes our appreciation for years of dedicated service to Gaelic games in Athy.
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