A Book Launch is always a treasured memory and for a man evokes perhaps some of the emotion felt by a woman following a birth. I jest of course, but arguably the comparision can sometimes be made more justifiably in some cases than in others.
Last week I was in the happy position of watching Volume 2 of Eye on Athy’s Past slipping down the launch pad helped along by the gracious words of Athy born Senator Brendan Ryan. I was particularly pleased that Brendan, who also wrote a Foreword to the book, did the honours on the night as I owe more than perhaps I acknowledge to his late Father Liam. A teacher of generous qualities, Liam Ryan shared his knowledge and above all his enthusiasm with his young charges in the Christian Brothers Secondary School in Athy where he taught for over forty years. Liam O’Riain was the name which would undoubtedly have been included on the School Syllabus if same was printed in those days but to his pupils he was known simply as Bill Ryan. There was no nickname applied in his case unlike the other teachers whose behind the back but never face to face, nomeclatures, gave a hint of their standing of or lack of it in the eyes of their students.
Bill Ryan was an enthusiast in every thing that he did and in the allegiances he bestowed. Faint hearted allegiances or half hearted efforts were foreign to the Tipperary County man who spent his adult life in Athy. By the time I joined the Secondary School, Bill Ryan was already part of the folklore of scholars and teachers who had passed through the gates of St. John’s. He was still a relatively young man (certainly from the chronological time span which I now occupy) but for so long had been part of school and town life that he was accorded a venerability and a status seldom if ever, reserved for persons today.
I remember the five years spent in the Secondary School in Athy for a variety of reasons, most better than some and Bill Ryan was, and remains, a substantial part of the good things remembered from those days. He thought us gawky youngsters with the enthusiasm of a man who delighted in his role as a teacher and a mentor. For him, the learn by rota system held no attraction but instead he brought his own personal experiences to bear on the subject, whether, it was English, History or Latin. I can still visualize him standing at the top of the class, his right hand in his pocket with his glasses focused on his young audience watching, monitoring and constantly noticing the reaction of his listeners. His voice carried across the room almost always to the accompaniment of the clicking sound of coins which he constantly turned over in the pocket of his trousers. He spoke of every day things of the Reports in that morning’s papers, which for a man of his political allegiances was always the Irish Press. For Bill Ryan was a follower of De Valera and his political convictions were assured and steadfast. Nevertheless, he never allowed himself to politicise in a party political sense, his remarks to his students and the overriding theme of all his asides was the importance of our national and political independence and the realisation that what we had achieved owed much to the sacrifices of previous generations.
Bill Ryan figures large in the school boy memories of several generations of Athy men who negotiated each morning and afternoon the iron staircase which lead to the academy of excellence which was Athy Christian Brothers School. I owe an enormous debt to the teachers who taught me over the years but particularly so to the late Bill Ryan whose son Brendan did the honours in launching my book during the week. I was delighted to see among those attending the book launch, Brendan’s mother Mrs. Noreen Ryan who apart from a few years spent in Spain during the years of the Spanish Civil War has lived her life in her native town of Athy.
A short time ago, I had made arrangements to interview Kevin Fingleton of Grangemellon with particular reference to the ballad he composed during the Kilkea Farmers strike of the 1940’s. Unfortunately Kevin died before the planned interview took place. I first met Kevin when he was a senior member of the Local Nights of Malta and I was a member of the Malta Cadets. It was only in recent times that I became aware of his authorship of the Ballad which I first heard from Michael Delaney formerly of Kilkea and now of Dunquinn in County Kerry. I learned at Kevin’s funeral that his first rendition of the ballad in public was on the back of a lorry used as a platform in conjunction with what was presumably a strikers meeting in Emily Square. With Kevin’s passing, I missed the opportunity to record an important aspect of local history but hopefully someone, somewhere, will be able to recover the voices of almost sixty years ago and the events in which those forgotten men and women were involved.
It would be remiss of me not to take this opportunity to thank those people who in so many ways helped to give Volume 2 of Athy’s Eye on Past such a good send off during the week. Fiona and Liam Rainsford were particularly helpful in preparing for printing the manuscript which had been typed and retyped for me by my secretary Eithne Wall. My thanks to them and to Brian Rowan and his Transport Company who sponsored the Wine Reception at the Book Launch.
A special thanks to you the readers of this column who have persevered through 478 weekly columns, some of which have now been reprinted in book form. My gratitude to every person who has allowed me to reproduce and print the interviews with which I tried to record the lives and events of times past in this part of our little country.
Thursday, November 29, 2001
Thursday, November 22, 2001
Castlecomer / Aran Island Funeral
Last week I returned to Castlecomer to give a talk to the local history society. It was for me a unique occasion as I was born in Castlecomer and lived the first few years of my life in part of a big rambling house next door to the Garda Barracks. Indeed that was the sum total of my knowledge about the town of my birth until after my lecture last week when I spoke to 82 year old Michael Ferris. He greeted me with the welcome if somewhat improbable claim, “I’d know you from your father”. Nobody has ever before claimed that my father and I bore anything other than a fleeting resemblance to each other. Michael knew my father in the days when they were both relatively young men, one a Garda Sergeant, the other a hackney driver and garage man.
I was born, according to Michael, in what was one time a British Army Barracks but which under the Irish Free State housed the Garda Barracks and accommodation for the Superintendent, the Sergeant and a number of the local Gardai. Nurse O’Mahony of Florentine Terrace was the local midwife and she apparently must take the responsibility for bringing a second red-head into the Taaffe family all those years ago. A formidable woman she was, so my informant told me last week, with the strength of two men and a thirst to match. Michael Ferris told me how my father had wanted to stay in Castlecomer but sought a transfer to Athy so that his five sons could attend secondary school. “You’ve Canon McNamara to thank for that” said Michael, referring to the man who was Parish Priest of Castlecomer between 1926 and 1957. As a former Rector of St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, the Canon sought to ensure that local boys with ambitions for secondary education attended St. Kieran’s College. For that reason, or so it is claimed, the Canon resisted any attempt to start a secondary school for boys in Comer, thereby unwittingly or otherwise depriving many young fellows of the opportunity of a secondary education. For not everyone could hope to fund the fees for St. Kieran’s College, and certainly a Garda Sergeant could not do so and as Michael Ferris said, “we lost a good Sergeant as a result.”
Another Comer man to greet me after the lecture was Eddie Collins who served Mass with my eldest brother Jack. Jim Downey’s daughter laughingly told me of how her father’s coal allowance for his steam threshing machine was utilised during the War. Apparently the anthracite provided was not suitable for the threshing machine and word soon got around the neighborhood of the availability of a supply of badly needed coal. Inevitably approaches were made to Jim for a few bags of anthracite and one of the supplicants was the local Sergeant, who with an empty grate at home with a couple of young children to keep warm, could not be refused.
“Cactus” Brennan also made my acquaintance, renewing a contact first made between us by telephone some years ago after I wrote of the Athy Hurling Team’s success in the 1959 championship. “Cactus”, so-called because of his crew cut, was a member of that team and now retired from the ESB he regaled me with a story of how my father once came to his rescue. Apparently Michael was in charge of the gelignite store in Thurles at a time when the IRA campaign in the North was ongoing. He togged out for a hurling match in Geraldine Park with the Athy team one Sunday afternoon, but since he had previously transferred to the Thurles club he played under an assumed name. During the course of the match he got a few “belts” and next day on returning to work his face bore the marks of battle, so much so that his superior questioned where he had been. “Up north” came Michael’s flippant response whereupon the Garda on duty at the gelignite store brought him to the Garda Station where he was questioned at length. “Lucky for me” said Michael, “I remembered seeing Sergeant Taaffe at Geraldine Park and a phone call to the Athy Station confirmed my sporting involvement over the weekend.”
A few days later I travelled to the Aran Island to attend the funeral of an elderly island woman. Catholic funeral rituals are the same wherever you go, even if the local funeral traditions differ from place to place. I have written previously of a funeral in rural county Cork, but this was my first time to attend a funeral on the Aran Islands. The local cemetery, located on high ground overlooking the Atlantic ocean, was 2 ½ miles from the Church and was approached by a narrow undulating road which circled around the edge of the island. In the past, coffins were brought by horse and cart from the Church to the cemetery, but today this has given way to the Fordson tractor and trailer. The journey across the island was made in clear, calm weather and at the start and for a short time thereafter the tractor and trailer was followed by an orderly group of men, women and children with cars bringing up the rear. The tractor’s pace, geared to maintain a purchase on the approach hills to the cemetery, soon saw those following on foot stretching back along the road for almost half a mile. As the hills steepened, those on foot fell further behind and the cars passed out the stragglers here and there picking up those for whom the journey was proving too much. Everyone assembled at the gate to the cemetery to await the last of the mourners before the coffin was carried shoulder high and placed beside the open grave which had been dug earlier that day by family and friends. Prayers were said and two of the deceased’s sons stood down into the grave to receive the coffin which was placed into their hands and which they reverently placed into position in the bottom of the grave. Then those same men took up shovels and while the rosary was being said filled in the grave. As a final act one of the deceased’s sons played the haunting tune “Se Fath mo Bhuartha” [The Cause of my Sorrows] on a tin whistle over the grave of his mother.
As I looked around at the nearby gravestones I could not but notice names in Gaelic script for those who died up to the 1940’s, but thereafter more often than not the inscriptions were in English. The O’Flaherty’s, the Conneely’s, the Costello’s were represented here by many generations and included references to service in the USA Army in World War II. Clearly the call of emigration found a ready response among the Aran Islanders.
What I wondered was the story behind the burial of Art O’Lundy, K.M. of Lisburn, Co. Antrim here among the islanders of Inis Mór. I was reminded of a conversation I had earlier that morning with a 70 year old islander who on hearing I was from Co. Kildare pointed to an elderly man in a distant group, “He’s a Kildare man too”. Seemingly the “Kildare man” was born to an Aran Island mother and a Kildare father, but despite having spent all his life apart from his early childhood on Inis Mór he was still regarded as “a Kildare man”.
Inis Mór graveyard had no more poignant reminder of the tragedies of life than the gravestone erected by Bridget McDonagh to commemorate her husband Coleman who died in 1956, aged 84 years of age, which also noted the deaths of her children Mary on 25th December 1918 aged 4 years, John on 27th December 1918 aged 3 years and Catherine on 28th December 1918 aged 2 years. The flu epidemic which ravaged the European mainland at the end of the Great War had obviously reached the Aran Islands and decimated a young family in the space of three days.
No matter where we live life and death are our constant companions.
I was born, according to Michael, in what was one time a British Army Barracks but which under the Irish Free State housed the Garda Barracks and accommodation for the Superintendent, the Sergeant and a number of the local Gardai. Nurse O’Mahony of Florentine Terrace was the local midwife and she apparently must take the responsibility for bringing a second red-head into the Taaffe family all those years ago. A formidable woman she was, so my informant told me last week, with the strength of two men and a thirst to match. Michael Ferris told me how my father had wanted to stay in Castlecomer but sought a transfer to Athy so that his five sons could attend secondary school. “You’ve Canon McNamara to thank for that” said Michael, referring to the man who was Parish Priest of Castlecomer between 1926 and 1957. As a former Rector of St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, the Canon sought to ensure that local boys with ambitions for secondary education attended St. Kieran’s College. For that reason, or so it is claimed, the Canon resisted any attempt to start a secondary school for boys in Comer, thereby unwittingly or otherwise depriving many young fellows of the opportunity of a secondary education. For not everyone could hope to fund the fees for St. Kieran’s College, and certainly a Garda Sergeant could not do so and as Michael Ferris said, “we lost a good Sergeant as a result.”
Another Comer man to greet me after the lecture was Eddie Collins who served Mass with my eldest brother Jack. Jim Downey’s daughter laughingly told me of how her father’s coal allowance for his steam threshing machine was utilised during the War. Apparently the anthracite provided was not suitable for the threshing machine and word soon got around the neighborhood of the availability of a supply of badly needed coal. Inevitably approaches were made to Jim for a few bags of anthracite and one of the supplicants was the local Sergeant, who with an empty grate at home with a couple of young children to keep warm, could not be refused.
“Cactus” Brennan also made my acquaintance, renewing a contact first made between us by telephone some years ago after I wrote of the Athy Hurling Team’s success in the 1959 championship. “Cactus”, so-called because of his crew cut, was a member of that team and now retired from the ESB he regaled me with a story of how my father once came to his rescue. Apparently Michael was in charge of the gelignite store in Thurles at a time when the IRA campaign in the North was ongoing. He togged out for a hurling match in Geraldine Park with the Athy team one Sunday afternoon, but since he had previously transferred to the Thurles club he played under an assumed name. During the course of the match he got a few “belts” and next day on returning to work his face bore the marks of battle, so much so that his superior questioned where he had been. “Up north” came Michael’s flippant response whereupon the Garda on duty at the gelignite store brought him to the Garda Station where he was questioned at length. “Lucky for me” said Michael, “I remembered seeing Sergeant Taaffe at Geraldine Park and a phone call to the Athy Station confirmed my sporting involvement over the weekend.”
A few days later I travelled to the Aran Island to attend the funeral of an elderly island woman. Catholic funeral rituals are the same wherever you go, even if the local funeral traditions differ from place to place. I have written previously of a funeral in rural county Cork, but this was my first time to attend a funeral on the Aran Islands. The local cemetery, located on high ground overlooking the Atlantic ocean, was 2 ½ miles from the Church and was approached by a narrow undulating road which circled around the edge of the island. In the past, coffins were brought by horse and cart from the Church to the cemetery, but today this has given way to the Fordson tractor and trailer. The journey across the island was made in clear, calm weather and at the start and for a short time thereafter the tractor and trailer was followed by an orderly group of men, women and children with cars bringing up the rear. The tractor’s pace, geared to maintain a purchase on the approach hills to the cemetery, soon saw those following on foot stretching back along the road for almost half a mile. As the hills steepened, those on foot fell further behind and the cars passed out the stragglers here and there picking up those for whom the journey was proving too much. Everyone assembled at the gate to the cemetery to await the last of the mourners before the coffin was carried shoulder high and placed beside the open grave which had been dug earlier that day by family and friends. Prayers were said and two of the deceased’s sons stood down into the grave to receive the coffin which was placed into their hands and which they reverently placed into position in the bottom of the grave. Then those same men took up shovels and while the rosary was being said filled in the grave. As a final act one of the deceased’s sons played the haunting tune “Se Fath mo Bhuartha” [The Cause of my Sorrows] on a tin whistle over the grave of his mother.
As I looked around at the nearby gravestones I could not but notice names in Gaelic script for those who died up to the 1940’s, but thereafter more often than not the inscriptions were in English. The O’Flaherty’s, the Conneely’s, the Costello’s were represented here by many generations and included references to service in the USA Army in World War II. Clearly the call of emigration found a ready response among the Aran Islanders.
What I wondered was the story behind the burial of Art O’Lundy, K.M. of Lisburn, Co. Antrim here among the islanders of Inis Mór. I was reminded of a conversation I had earlier that morning with a 70 year old islander who on hearing I was from Co. Kildare pointed to an elderly man in a distant group, “He’s a Kildare man too”. Seemingly the “Kildare man” was born to an Aran Island mother and a Kildare father, but despite having spent all his life apart from his early childhood on Inis Mór he was still regarded as “a Kildare man”.
Inis Mór graveyard had no more poignant reminder of the tragedies of life than the gravestone erected by Bridget McDonagh to commemorate her husband Coleman who died in 1956, aged 84 years of age, which also noted the deaths of her children Mary on 25th December 1918 aged 4 years, John on 27th December 1918 aged 3 years and Catherine on 28th December 1918 aged 2 years. The flu epidemic which ravaged the European mainland at the end of the Great War had obviously reached the Aran Islands and decimated a young family in the space of three days.
No matter where we live life and death are our constant companions.
Castlecomer / Aran Island Funeral
Last week I returned to Castlecomer to give a talk to the local history society. It was for me a unique occasion as I was born in Castlecomer and lived the first few years of my life in part of a big rambling house next door to the Garda Barracks. Indeed that was the sum total of my knowledge about the town of my birth until after my lecture last week when I spoke to 82 year old Michael Ferris. He greeted me with the welcome if somewhat improbable claim, “I’d know you from your father”. Nobody has ever before claimed that my father and I bore anything other than a fleeting resemblance to each other. Michael knew my father in the days when they were both relatively young men, one a Garda Sergeant, the other a hackney driver and garage man.
I was born, according to Michael, in what was one time a British Army Barracks but which under the Irish Free State housed the Garda Barracks and accommodation for the Superintendent, the Sergeant and a number of the local Gardai. Nurse O’Mahony of Florentine Terrace was the local midwife and she apparently must take the responsibility for bringing a second red-head into the Taaffe family all those years ago. A formidable woman she was, so my informant told me last week, with the strength of two men and a thirst to match. Michael Ferris told me how my father had wanted to stay in Castlecomer but sought a transfer to Athy so that his five sons could attend secondary school. “You’ve Canon McNamara to thank for that” said Michael, referring to the man who was Parish Priest of Castlecomer between 1926 and 1957. As a former Rector of St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, the Canon sought to ensure that local boys with ambitions for secondary education attended St. Kieran’s College. For that reason, or so it is claimed, the Canon resisted any attempt to start a secondary school for boys in Comer, thereby unwittingly or otherwise depriving many young fellows of the opportunity of a secondary education. For not everyone could hope to fund the fees for St. Kieran’s College, and certainly a Garda Sergeant could not do so and as Michael Ferris said, “we lost a good Sergeant as a result.”
Another Comer man to greet me after the lecture was Eddie Collins who served Mass with my eldest brother Jack. Jim Downey’s daughter laughingly told me of how her father’s coal allowance for his steam threshing machine was utilised during the War. Apparently the anthracite provided was not suitable for the threshing machine and word soon got around the neighborhood of the availability of a supply of badly needed coal. Inevitably approaches were made to Jim for a few bags of anthracite and one of the supplicants was the local Sergeant, who with an empty grate at home with a couple of young children to keep warm, could not be refused.
“Cactus” Brennan also made my acquaintance, renewing a contact first made between us by telephone some years ago after I wrote of the Athy Hurling Team’s success in the 1959 championship. “Cactus”, so-called because of his crew cut, was a member of that team and now retired from the ESB he regaled me with a story of how my father once came to his rescue. Apparently Michael was in charge of the gelignite store in Thurles at a time when the IRA campaign in the North was ongoing. He togged out for a hurling match in Geraldine Park with the Athy team one Sunday afternoon, but since he had previously transferred to the Thurles club he played under an assumed name. During the course of the match he got a few “belts” and next day on returning to work his face bore the marks of battle, so much so that his superior questioned where he had been. “Up north” came Michael’s flippant response whereupon the Garda on duty at the gelignite store brought him to the Garda Station where he was questioned at length. “Lucky for me” said Michael, “I remembered seeing Sergeant Taaffe at Geraldine Park and a phone call to the Athy Station confirmed my sporting involvement over the weekend.”
A few days later I travelled to the Aran Island to attend the funeral of an elderly island woman. Catholic funeral rituals are the same wherever you go, even if the local funeral traditions differ from place to place. I have written previously of a funeral in rural county Cork, but this was my first time to attend a funeral on the Aran Islands. The local cemetery, located on high ground overlooking the Atlantic ocean, was 2 ½ miles from the Church and was approached by a narrow undulating road which circled around the edge of the island. In the past, coffins were brought by horse and cart from the Church to the cemetery, but today this has given way to the Fordson tractor and trailer. The journey across the island was made in clear, calm weather and at the start and for a short time thereafter the tractor and trailer was followed by an orderly group of men, women and children with cars bringing up the rear. The tractor’s pace, geared to maintain a purchase on the approach hills to the cemetery, soon saw those following on foot stretching back along the road for almost half a mile. As the hills steepened, those on foot fell further behind and the cars passed out the stragglers here and there picking up those for whom the journey was proving too much. Everyone assembled at the gate to the cemetery to await the last of the mourners before the coffin was carried shoulder high and placed beside the open grave which had been dug earlier that day by family and friends. Prayers were said and two of the deceased’s sons stood down into the grave to receive the coffin which was placed into their hands and which they reverently placed into position in the bottom of the grave. Then those same men took up shovels and while the rosary was being said filled in the grave. As a final act one of the deceased’s sons played the haunting tune “Se Fath mo Bhuartha” [The Cause of my Sorrows] on a tin whistle over the grave of his mother.
As I looked around at the nearby gravestones I could not but notice names in Gaelic script for those who died up to the 1940’s, but thereafter more often than not the inscriptions were in English. The O’Flaherty’s, the Conneely’s, the Costello’s were represented here by many generations and included references to service in the USA Army in World War II. Clearly the call of emigration found a ready response among the Aran Islanders.
What I wondered was the story behind the burial of Art O’Lundy, K.M. of Lisburn, Co. Antrim here among the islanders of Inis Mór. I was reminded of a conversation I had earlier that morning with a 70 year old islander who on hearing I was from Co. Kildare pointed to an elderly man in a distant group, “He’s a Kildare man too”. Seemingly the “Kildare man” was born to an Aran Island mother and a Kildare father, but despite having spent all his life apart from his early childhood on Inis Mór he was still regarded as “a Kildare man”.
Inis Mór graveyard had no more poignant reminder of the tragedies of life than the gravestone erected by Bridget McDonagh to commemorate her husband Coleman who died in 1956, aged 84 years of age, which also noted the deaths of her children Mary on 25th December 1918 aged 4 years, John on 27th December 1918 aged 3 years and Catherine on 28th December 1918 aged 2 years. The flu epidemic which ravaged the European mainland at the end of the Great War had obviously reached the Aran Islands and decimated a young family in the space of three days.
No matter where we live life and death are our constant companions.
I was born, according to Michael, in what was one time a British Army Barracks but which under the Irish Free State housed the Garda Barracks and accommodation for the Superintendent, the Sergeant and a number of the local Gardai. Nurse O’Mahony of Florentine Terrace was the local midwife and she apparently must take the responsibility for bringing a second red-head into the Taaffe family all those years ago. A formidable woman she was, so my informant told me last week, with the strength of two men and a thirst to match. Michael Ferris told me how my father had wanted to stay in Castlecomer but sought a transfer to Athy so that his five sons could attend secondary school. “You’ve Canon McNamara to thank for that” said Michael, referring to the man who was Parish Priest of Castlecomer between 1926 and 1957. As a former Rector of St. Kieran’s College in Kilkenny, the Canon sought to ensure that local boys with ambitions for secondary education attended St. Kieran’s College. For that reason, or so it is claimed, the Canon resisted any attempt to start a secondary school for boys in Comer, thereby unwittingly or otherwise depriving many young fellows of the opportunity of a secondary education. For not everyone could hope to fund the fees for St. Kieran’s College, and certainly a Garda Sergeant could not do so and as Michael Ferris said, “we lost a good Sergeant as a result.”
Another Comer man to greet me after the lecture was Eddie Collins who served Mass with my eldest brother Jack. Jim Downey’s daughter laughingly told me of how her father’s coal allowance for his steam threshing machine was utilised during the War. Apparently the anthracite provided was not suitable for the threshing machine and word soon got around the neighborhood of the availability of a supply of badly needed coal. Inevitably approaches were made to Jim for a few bags of anthracite and one of the supplicants was the local Sergeant, who with an empty grate at home with a couple of young children to keep warm, could not be refused.
“Cactus” Brennan also made my acquaintance, renewing a contact first made between us by telephone some years ago after I wrote of the Athy Hurling Team’s success in the 1959 championship. “Cactus”, so-called because of his crew cut, was a member of that team and now retired from the ESB he regaled me with a story of how my father once came to his rescue. Apparently Michael was in charge of the gelignite store in Thurles at a time when the IRA campaign in the North was ongoing. He togged out for a hurling match in Geraldine Park with the Athy team one Sunday afternoon, but since he had previously transferred to the Thurles club he played under an assumed name. During the course of the match he got a few “belts” and next day on returning to work his face bore the marks of battle, so much so that his superior questioned where he had been. “Up north” came Michael’s flippant response whereupon the Garda on duty at the gelignite store brought him to the Garda Station where he was questioned at length. “Lucky for me” said Michael, “I remembered seeing Sergeant Taaffe at Geraldine Park and a phone call to the Athy Station confirmed my sporting involvement over the weekend.”
A few days later I travelled to the Aran Island to attend the funeral of an elderly island woman. Catholic funeral rituals are the same wherever you go, even if the local funeral traditions differ from place to place. I have written previously of a funeral in rural county Cork, but this was my first time to attend a funeral on the Aran Islands. The local cemetery, located on high ground overlooking the Atlantic ocean, was 2 ½ miles from the Church and was approached by a narrow undulating road which circled around the edge of the island. In the past, coffins were brought by horse and cart from the Church to the cemetery, but today this has given way to the Fordson tractor and trailer. The journey across the island was made in clear, calm weather and at the start and for a short time thereafter the tractor and trailer was followed by an orderly group of men, women and children with cars bringing up the rear. The tractor’s pace, geared to maintain a purchase on the approach hills to the cemetery, soon saw those following on foot stretching back along the road for almost half a mile. As the hills steepened, those on foot fell further behind and the cars passed out the stragglers here and there picking up those for whom the journey was proving too much. Everyone assembled at the gate to the cemetery to await the last of the mourners before the coffin was carried shoulder high and placed beside the open grave which had been dug earlier that day by family and friends. Prayers were said and two of the deceased’s sons stood down into the grave to receive the coffin which was placed into their hands and which they reverently placed into position in the bottom of the grave. Then those same men took up shovels and while the rosary was being said filled in the grave. As a final act one of the deceased’s sons played the haunting tune “Se Fath mo Bhuartha” [The Cause of my Sorrows] on a tin whistle over the grave of his mother.
As I looked around at the nearby gravestones I could not but notice names in Gaelic script for those who died up to the 1940’s, but thereafter more often than not the inscriptions were in English. The O’Flaherty’s, the Conneely’s, the Costello’s were represented here by many generations and included references to service in the USA Army in World War II. Clearly the call of emigration found a ready response among the Aran Islanders.
What I wondered was the story behind the burial of Art O’Lundy, K.M. of Lisburn, Co. Antrim here among the islanders of Inis Mór. I was reminded of a conversation I had earlier that morning with a 70 year old islander who on hearing I was from Co. Kildare pointed to an elderly man in a distant group, “He’s a Kildare man too”. Seemingly the “Kildare man” was born to an Aran Island mother and a Kildare father, but despite having spent all his life apart from his early childhood on Inis Mór he was still regarded as “a Kildare man”.
Inis Mór graveyard had no more poignant reminder of the tragedies of life than the gravestone erected by Bridget McDonagh to commemorate her husband Coleman who died in 1956, aged 84 years of age, which also noted the deaths of her children Mary on 25th December 1918 aged 4 years, John on 27th December 1918 aged 3 years and Catherine on 28th December 1918 aged 2 years. The flu epidemic which ravaged the European mainland at the end of the Great War had obviously reached the Aran Islands and decimated a young family in the space of three days.
No matter where we live life and death are our constant companions.
Thursday, November 8, 2001
Inaugural Shackleton Weekend / Remembrance Sunday
The inaugural Shackleton Autumn School was a rip-roaring success. Last weekend Athy’s Heritage Company played host to a lot of visitors, many of whom were spending their first time in the South Kildare town. All had arrived, some from as far away as Scotland and England, others from Kerry, Galway and Wexford, to participate in the events planned for the October Bank Holiday weekend. I have to say that all those involved with the Heritage Company were more than pleasantly surprised at the widespread response to the programme prepared in connection with the Shackleton School.
Right from the official opening on Friday evening it became apparent that there would be a large attendance at the various lectures on Saturday and Sunday and so it proved to be. Frank O’Brien’s was the scene of a unique coming together of local talent in the person of Brian Hughes, tin whistle player and Michael Delaney, balladeer on that Friday evening. The venue was packed to the rafters and both artistes performed to an appreciative audience. The next morning saw the lecture hall attached to the Library full to capacity as John MacKenna spoke on the Shackleton quaker legacy in South Kildare, while Jonathan Shackleton dealt with his relation’s early life and Kevin Kenny unraveled the story behind the arrival of a polar sledge harness in the Athy Heritage Centre. Dr. Bob Headland of the Scot Polar Research Institute of Cambridge was the first speaker in the afternoon when he lectured on Shackleton’s expeditions to the Antarctic. He was followed by Dublin man Frank Nugent who three years ago was part of the team which set out to retrace the famous journey of the James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Frank ended his lecture with a lovely rendition of a ballad written to commemorate the exploits of Kilkea-born Ernest Shackleton. The first day of lectures drew to a close when the audience dispersed to prepare for the concert in St. Dominic’s Church on Saturday night. For the first time ever, Ireland’s foremost uileann piper, Liam O’Flynn and his colleagues in the Piper’s Call Band, played in Athy and a great night was had by the large attendance.
More than 60 persons travelled on Sunday morning to various sites associated with Ernest Shackleton, including Ballitore Village, Moone High Cross and Kilkea House where he was born in 1874. Thanks are due to Mary Malone, Librarian, Ballitore, Eamon Kane of Castledermot, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Greene and Michael Delaney of Kilkea and Dún Chaoin, Co. Kerry for their contribution during that trip. The Shackleton Autumn School concluded on Sunday afternoon with an exceptionally finely delivered lecture by Michael Smith, a London journalist and recent biographer of Tom Crean. Understandably his subject was Tom Crean, the Annascaul, Co. Kerry man who had accompanied Shackleton on a number of his expeditions and whose story remained untold until taken up in Michael Smith’s recently released book.
The Ernest Shackleton Autumn School was a unique event representing the first time that the Kilkea-born explorer was honoured in this way in his own country. Everyone who attended had nothing but kind words to speak of Athy, a town which many of them had never previously visited. It is obvious that this is a venture which can and should be repeated in the future years. In the meantime congratulations are due and are extended to Margaret O'Riordan, Manager of the Heritage Centre who put an enormous amount of work into organising the event. Well done also to the local businesses and associations who provided sponsorship for the weekend.
Next Sunday, November 11th, is Remembrance Sunday, the one day which each year is set aside to remember the dead of World War I. No doubt you will recall my many previous references to the men of Athy and District who died tragically and needlessly in the bloody conflict which changed the world order. What did a man like James Dunne who lived with his father Peter Dunne at 3 Offaly Street, Athy expect to achieve when he enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France and died aged 20 years on Monday, 13th November 1916. His name is to be found on the Thiepval Memorial at the Somme in France which is a memorial to the missing soldiers of the Battle of the Somme and includes the names of more than 72,000 officers and men who have no known grave.
What did Frank Fanning of Convent Lane hope to achieve when he enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers to fight in the war described as ‘the war to end all wars’. He took part in the landing at Cape Helles on 25th and 26th April 1915. He died on 12th July 1915 and is buried in Twelve Three Copse Cemetery which was opened at the end of the war when remains were brought in from isolated burial sites and small burial grounds on the neighbouring battle fields. There are 3,360 World War I soldiers buried or commemorated in the cemetery, but sadly 2,226 of those burials are unidentified.
These are two of the many local men who were destined never to return to their homes at the end of World War I. James Dunne and Frank Fanning have no known graves, unlike their six colleagues who are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Michael Byrne, James Dwyer, Thomas Flynn, Martin Hyland, John Lawler and Michael O’Brien in a sense represent the 188 men from Athy and District who died during the 1914-1918 War. Next Sunday at 3.00pm we can pay our respects to the forgotten men of another time who once walked the same roads we now travel.
Another man who lived in Athy during the 1930’s and 1940’s died last week in England. He was Br. John Keane of the Christian Brothers who taught in the local CBS from 1935 to 1948. He was last in Athy in September 1994 when the townspeople celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice, which celebration coincided with the departure of the Christian Brothers from Athy after a period of 132 years. Br. Keane who was based in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham came back to Athy for the celebrations and renewed acquaintances with some of his former pupils including Cha Chanders and Denis Smith. His death severs another link between the Irish Christian Brothers and the town of Athy.
Right from the official opening on Friday evening it became apparent that there would be a large attendance at the various lectures on Saturday and Sunday and so it proved to be. Frank O’Brien’s was the scene of a unique coming together of local talent in the person of Brian Hughes, tin whistle player and Michael Delaney, balladeer on that Friday evening. The venue was packed to the rafters and both artistes performed to an appreciative audience. The next morning saw the lecture hall attached to the Library full to capacity as John MacKenna spoke on the Shackleton quaker legacy in South Kildare, while Jonathan Shackleton dealt with his relation’s early life and Kevin Kenny unraveled the story behind the arrival of a polar sledge harness in the Athy Heritage Centre. Dr. Bob Headland of the Scot Polar Research Institute of Cambridge was the first speaker in the afternoon when he lectured on Shackleton’s expeditions to the Antarctic. He was followed by Dublin man Frank Nugent who three years ago was part of the team which set out to retrace the famous journey of the James Caird from Elephant Island to South Georgia. Frank ended his lecture with a lovely rendition of a ballad written to commemorate the exploits of Kilkea-born Ernest Shackleton. The first day of lectures drew to a close when the audience dispersed to prepare for the concert in St. Dominic’s Church on Saturday night. For the first time ever, Ireland’s foremost uileann piper, Liam O’Flynn and his colleagues in the Piper’s Call Band, played in Athy and a great night was had by the large attendance.
More than 60 persons travelled on Sunday morning to various sites associated with Ernest Shackleton, including Ballitore Village, Moone High Cross and Kilkea House where he was born in 1874. Thanks are due to Mary Malone, Librarian, Ballitore, Eamon Kane of Castledermot, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Greene and Michael Delaney of Kilkea and Dún Chaoin, Co. Kerry for their contribution during that trip. The Shackleton Autumn School concluded on Sunday afternoon with an exceptionally finely delivered lecture by Michael Smith, a London journalist and recent biographer of Tom Crean. Understandably his subject was Tom Crean, the Annascaul, Co. Kerry man who had accompanied Shackleton on a number of his expeditions and whose story remained untold until taken up in Michael Smith’s recently released book.
The Ernest Shackleton Autumn School was a unique event representing the first time that the Kilkea-born explorer was honoured in this way in his own country. Everyone who attended had nothing but kind words to speak of Athy, a town which many of them had never previously visited. It is obvious that this is a venture which can and should be repeated in the future years. In the meantime congratulations are due and are extended to Margaret O'Riordan, Manager of the Heritage Centre who put an enormous amount of work into organising the event. Well done also to the local businesses and associations who provided sponsorship for the weekend.
Next Sunday, November 11th, is Remembrance Sunday, the one day which each year is set aside to remember the dead of World War I. No doubt you will recall my many previous references to the men of Athy and District who died tragically and needlessly in the bloody conflict which changed the world order. What did a man like James Dunne who lived with his father Peter Dunne at 3 Offaly Street, Athy expect to achieve when he enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers. He went to France and died aged 20 years on Monday, 13th November 1916. His name is to be found on the Thiepval Memorial at the Somme in France which is a memorial to the missing soldiers of the Battle of the Somme and includes the names of more than 72,000 officers and men who have no known grave.
What did Frank Fanning of Convent Lane hope to achieve when he enlisted in the Dublin Fusiliers to fight in the war described as ‘the war to end all wars’. He took part in the landing at Cape Helles on 25th and 26th April 1915. He died on 12th July 1915 and is buried in Twelve Three Copse Cemetery which was opened at the end of the war when remains were brought in from isolated burial sites and small burial grounds on the neighbouring battle fields. There are 3,360 World War I soldiers buried or commemorated in the cemetery, but sadly 2,226 of those burials are unidentified.
These are two of the many local men who were destined never to return to their homes at the end of World War I. James Dunne and Frank Fanning have no known graves, unlike their six colleagues who are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery. Michael Byrne, James Dwyer, Thomas Flynn, Martin Hyland, John Lawler and Michael O’Brien in a sense represent the 188 men from Athy and District who died during the 1914-1918 War. Next Sunday at 3.00pm we can pay our respects to the forgotten men of another time who once walked the same roads we now travel.
Another man who lived in Athy during the 1930’s and 1940’s died last week in England. He was Br. John Keane of the Christian Brothers who taught in the local CBS from 1935 to 1948. He was last in Athy in September 1994 when the townspeople celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Edmund Rice, which celebration coincided with the departure of the Christian Brothers from Athy after a period of 132 years. Br. Keane who was based in Strawberry Hill, Twickenham came back to Athy for the celebrations and renewed acquaintances with some of his former pupils including Cha Chanders and Denis Smith. His death severs another link between the Irish Christian Brothers and the town of Athy.
Thursday, October 25, 2001
Local Authority Housing in Athy
I had intended this week to write of a young man from our town who was recently ordained to the Priesthood but the time and opportunity to do so has eluded me but I will return to this story in the near future. Instead I will pass onto other mundane matters in the not so recent past. In particular Dr. Kilbride who on the 3rd November 1906 reported to the Urban District Council on the sanitary condition of the “houses of the working classes” in Athy. He was now about to embark on his second social campaign to improve the lot of the people living in Athy. In his report he stated:
The floors in many houses are lower than the laneway in front and the fall of the yard is to the back door, consequently the floors are wet and sodden in rainy weather and frequently are flooded. In the yards are found underground drains choked in most cases and quite ineffective. In less than a dozen cases was there found any sanitary accommodation … in some rooms the only light admitted is through a few (sometimes only one) small pane of glass found in the wall, sufficient light or air cannot find entrance to these rooms … there are many houses in more than one lane that if the poor people had other houses to go to should be closed as unfit for human habitation in their present condition… there is no main sewer in the west end of the town beyond Keating’s Lane… the Order of the Council with regard to the removal of manure heaps is not in force. In some yards there were accumulations for the greater part of the year.
Having started on the Water Supply Scheme for Athy just one month previously, the Urban Councillors probably felt justified in leaving Dr. Kilbride’s report aside without taking any further action. Instead, the Council renewed its efforts to persuade the Inspector General of the R.I.C. to have the local police barracks restored to the centre of the town, as it was felt that the old military barracks at Barrack Lane, to which the R.I.C. were relocated, was too far away. Their efforts were in vain and the local police were to continue to occupy the military barracks until the end of the British rule in Ireland.
Dr. Kilbride’s concern for the public health of the townspeople was supported by Lady Weldon of Kilmoroney who was instrumental in the formation of an Athy Branch of the Women’s Health Association in November 1907. A Tuberculosis Committee was also formed and a series of health lectures organised for the Town Hall. In December 1907, a Tuberculosis Exhibition was held in the same hall at which members of the Tuberculosis Committee were on hand to explain the various exhibits to the general public who were summoned to attend by the local Bellman. On 24th July, 1908, Lady Aberdeen, the Viceroy’s wife, visited the town to formally launch the newly-established Womans National Health Association for Athy. The Leinster Street Band met her at the railway station and paraded to the Town Hall where Lady Aberdeen was presented with an address of welcome.
By 1909 the Urban Council was in a position to address the need for housing in the town and appointed a committee to recommend an appropriate scheme under the Housing of the Working Classes Act. This committee when it met on the 26th February split into two groups to select suitable sites for housing in the east urban and the west urban of Athy. Within a month sites had been selected and the Council agreed to build three different classes of houses to be let at rents ranging from 2/= to 3/6 per week. The selected sites were at Matthew’s Lane (off Leinster Street), Meeting Lane and Woodstock Street. Public advertisements for plans for suitable houses for Athy elicited ten submissions and James F. Reade, already well known in Athy as the architect of the Water Supply Scheme, won the five guineas prize for the best design.
Within twelve months the Councillors were re-thinking the original house plans and decided to build “eleven better class houses” on the Matthew’s Lane site, five, “better class houses” at Woodstock Street and five “labourers houses” at Meeting Lane. A public enquiry was held in the Town Hall on 15th February, 1911 under the auspices of J. F. MacCabe, a Local Government Inspector to consider the Council’s proposed compulsory acquisition of lands for housing in Athy. Following that enquiry, an advertisement was placed in the local newspapers inviting tenders for the construction of twenty one Council houses - ten at Matthew’s Lane, five at Meeting Lane and six at Kelly’s field off Woodstock Street. The successful tender was received from H.A. Hamilton of Thomas St., Waterford, but when it was not acted upon after the lapse of ten months Mr. Hamilton withdrew. The Council re-advertised on 26th June, 1912, but not before Michael Malone, Secretary of Athy’s Town Tenants League had written to the Town Council protesting against “its inactivity in relation to house building”. Within a month Dr. James Kilbride had resigned as medical officer on health grounds.
It would be remiss of me not to bring to your attention the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School which is to take place in the Town Hall, Athy over next weekend. The Shackleton story of Antarctic Exploration between 1901 and 1922 is known to most people and especially those who live in the Kilkea area where he was born 125 years ago. The Shackleton Autumn School is organised by the local Heritage Company to celebrate the achievements of a man who lived his early life within a few miles of Athy. The lecturers for the weekend Seminar are of an extremely high calibre and include Jonathan Shackleton a direct descendent of the Explorer, Dr. Robert Headland of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, Frank Nugent who was part of the team which re-enacted in 1997 the heroic voyage of the James Caird and Michael Smith the recent biographer of Tom Crean. I would urge everyone with an interest in the subject to come to all or some of the Lectures over the weekend.
As part of the weekend festivities, there will be a Concert in the Dominican Hall on Saturday, 27th October at 9.00 p.m. Liam O’Flynn and the Pipers Call Band will provide the musical entertainment and tickets can be obtained from the Heritage Centre or at the door on the night. However, early booking is advisable as this is the first Concert to be given by Liam O’Flynn in Athy and promises to be a sell out. Also entertaining those attending the Earnest Shackleton Summer School on Friday night will be Brian Hughes whose CD, “Whistle Stop” which issued some time ago by Gael Linn was a huge success. He is joining forces with Michael Delaney who will be singing some of the old forgotten ballads of Kilkea and South Kildare area which he has collected over the years.
See you there.
The floors in many houses are lower than the laneway in front and the fall of the yard is to the back door, consequently the floors are wet and sodden in rainy weather and frequently are flooded. In the yards are found underground drains choked in most cases and quite ineffective. In less than a dozen cases was there found any sanitary accommodation … in some rooms the only light admitted is through a few (sometimes only one) small pane of glass found in the wall, sufficient light or air cannot find entrance to these rooms … there are many houses in more than one lane that if the poor people had other houses to go to should be closed as unfit for human habitation in their present condition… there is no main sewer in the west end of the town beyond Keating’s Lane… the Order of the Council with regard to the removal of manure heaps is not in force. In some yards there were accumulations for the greater part of the year.
Having started on the Water Supply Scheme for Athy just one month previously, the Urban Councillors probably felt justified in leaving Dr. Kilbride’s report aside without taking any further action. Instead, the Council renewed its efforts to persuade the Inspector General of the R.I.C. to have the local police barracks restored to the centre of the town, as it was felt that the old military barracks at Barrack Lane, to which the R.I.C. were relocated, was too far away. Their efforts were in vain and the local police were to continue to occupy the military barracks until the end of the British rule in Ireland.
Dr. Kilbride’s concern for the public health of the townspeople was supported by Lady Weldon of Kilmoroney who was instrumental in the formation of an Athy Branch of the Women’s Health Association in November 1907. A Tuberculosis Committee was also formed and a series of health lectures organised for the Town Hall. In December 1907, a Tuberculosis Exhibition was held in the same hall at which members of the Tuberculosis Committee were on hand to explain the various exhibits to the general public who were summoned to attend by the local Bellman. On 24th July, 1908, Lady Aberdeen, the Viceroy’s wife, visited the town to formally launch the newly-established Womans National Health Association for Athy. The Leinster Street Band met her at the railway station and paraded to the Town Hall where Lady Aberdeen was presented with an address of welcome.
By 1909 the Urban Council was in a position to address the need for housing in the town and appointed a committee to recommend an appropriate scheme under the Housing of the Working Classes Act. This committee when it met on the 26th February split into two groups to select suitable sites for housing in the east urban and the west urban of Athy. Within a month sites had been selected and the Council agreed to build three different classes of houses to be let at rents ranging from 2/= to 3/6 per week. The selected sites were at Matthew’s Lane (off Leinster Street), Meeting Lane and Woodstock Street. Public advertisements for plans for suitable houses for Athy elicited ten submissions and James F. Reade, already well known in Athy as the architect of the Water Supply Scheme, won the five guineas prize for the best design.
Within twelve months the Councillors were re-thinking the original house plans and decided to build “eleven better class houses” on the Matthew’s Lane site, five, “better class houses” at Woodstock Street and five “labourers houses” at Meeting Lane. A public enquiry was held in the Town Hall on 15th February, 1911 under the auspices of J. F. MacCabe, a Local Government Inspector to consider the Council’s proposed compulsory acquisition of lands for housing in Athy. Following that enquiry, an advertisement was placed in the local newspapers inviting tenders for the construction of twenty one Council houses - ten at Matthew’s Lane, five at Meeting Lane and six at Kelly’s field off Woodstock Street. The successful tender was received from H.A. Hamilton of Thomas St., Waterford, but when it was not acted upon after the lapse of ten months Mr. Hamilton withdrew. The Council re-advertised on 26th June, 1912, but not before Michael Malone, Secretary of Athy’s Town Tenants League had written to the Town Council protesting against “its inactivity in relation to house building”. Within a month Dr. James Kilbride had resigned as medical officer on health grounds.
It would be remiss of me not to bring to your attention the Ernest Shackleton Autumn School which is to take place in the Town Hall, Athy over next weekend. The Shackleton story of Antarctic Exploration between 1901 and 1922 is known to most people and especially those who live in the Kilkea area where he was born 125 years ago. The Shackleton Autumn School is organised by the local Heritage Company to celebrate the achievements of a man who lived his early life within a few miles of Athy. The lecturers for the weekend Seminar are of an extremely high calibre and include Jonathan Shackleton a direct descendent of the Explorer, Dr. Robert Headland of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge, Frank Nugent who was part of the team which re-enacted in 1997 the heroic voyage of the James Caird and Michael Smith the recent biographer of Tom Crean. I would urge everyone with an interest in the subject to come to all or some of the Lectures over the weekend.
As part of the weekend festivities, there will be a Concert in the Dominican Hall on Saturday, 27th October at 9.00 p.m. Liam O’Flynn and the Pipers Call Band will provide the musical entertainment and tickets can be obtained from the Heritage Centre or at the door on the night. However, early booking is advisable as this is the first Concert to be given by Liam O’Flynn in Athy and promises to be a sell out. Also entertaining those attending the Earnest Shackleton Summer School on Friday night will be Brian Hughes whose CD, “Whistle Stop” which issued some time ago by Gael Linn was a huge success. He is joining forces with Michael Delaney who will be singing some of the old forgotten ballads of Kilkea and South Kildare area which he has collected over the years.
See you there.
Thursday, October 18, 2001
Reburial of Kevin Barry / Frank Flood and Others
I wonder if those who watched the State funerals of the men executed in Mountjoy Jail realised that two Athy families were represented among the pallbearers. Peter Maher was one of the men who carried the remains of his grand-uncle, Kevin Barry, while Danny Flood helped to shoulder the remains of his uncle, Frank Flood.
Kevin Barry, the eighteen year old medical student from Fleet Street in Dublin and with family ties in Tombeagh, Hacketstown, Co. Carlow was the first person since 1916 to be executed by the British under the Martial Law Regulations. Despite worldwide appeals for clemency he was hanged on 1st November, 1920. Frank Flood from Summerhill Parade, Dublin who was also an active member of the Republican Movement was court martialled following his arrest and hanged in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March, 1921. Both Kevin Barry and Frank Flood had attended O’Connell Schools in Dublin and were believed to be friends. At the time of their execution both were university students and so far as I can ascertain they were the only students executed by the British during that period.
The late Todd Andrews in his autobiography, “Dublin Made Me”, published by Mercier Press in 1979 knew both Barry and Flood as students in University College Dublin and recounted how Kevin Barry’s execution after an intense campaign to save his life aroused bitter anti-British feelings throughout the country. He noted somewhat sadly however that “whilst Kevin Barry’s death passed into the Nation’s mythology, Frank Flood’s name is scarcely remembered”.
Both young men were from Dublin and the links forged between them as schoolmates and later as members of the republican movement were strengthened when members of their respective families came to live in Athy some years after their executions.
Kevin Barry was a good friend of Athy’s Bapty Maher, and several letters from Barry to Maher have survived to this day. In one of those letters quoted in Donal O’Donovan’s book, “Kevin Barry and his times”, reference is made to a visit which Barry and his older sister Kathleen attempted to make on Eamon Malone from Barrowhouse while he was a prisoner in Mountjoy Jail. Malone who later married Miss Dooley of Duke Street, Athy was the effective leader of the Irish Republican Army in the Athy and Barrowhouse area. Bapty Maher to whom Kevin Barry wrote that letter was an Athy man whose mother operated an undertaking business in Leinster Street. He was later to marry Kevin Barry’s sister Sheila and their grandson Peter Maher was one of the pallbearers for the removal of Kevin Barry’s remains last Sunday.
Frank Flood was a lieutenant in the Dublin Brigade and a former classmate of Kevin Barrys while both were attending O’Connell’s School in Dublin. Several of his brothers were also involved in the republican movement. Frank Flood was captured at Clonturk Park while attempting to leave the scene of an IRA ambush. He was subsequently court martialled and sentenced to death. The Court Order was carried out at Mountjoy on 14th March, 1921. One of his brothers, Tom Flood, was captured following the burning of the Custom House, Dublin on 25th May, 1921. Fortunately for him he suffered an acute appendicitis on the eve of his trial as a result of which it had to be postponed. A truce was declared some days before the date fixed for his trial and as a result Tom Flood escaped the fate which befell his younger brother Frank just months previously.
Tom Flood was later a Commandant in the Free State Army during the Civil War and played a very prominent part in military actions in the Munster area during the 1922/1923 period. He subsequently married and settled in Athy acquiring licensed premises from Mrs. Eileen Butler in March 1926. In the June 1934 local elections Thomas Flood was elected a member of Athy Urban District Council and was re-elected in 1942 and again in 1950. I have not found his name listed in the Minute Books of the Urban Council following the June 1945 Election but as I have only been able to locate the names of eight Councillors it is quite possible that Tom Flood was also re-elected that year. He died on 9th October 1950.
It was surely a happy coincidence which saw family members of Kevin Barry and Frank Flood living in the same town, long after the two patriots had passed on to their eternal reward.
During the week Kevin Myers wrote in his usual eloquent manner in the Irishman’s Diary in the Irish Times decrying the decision to grant a State Funeral to the ten men hanged in Mountjoy Jail over more than eighty years ago. He saw the ceremony as reviving the “myth of single-sided Nationhood” which failed to recognise the suffering and losses of the opposing side. During the course of the moving ceremony on Sunday last, Cardinal Cathal Daly acknowledged the double-sided nature of war when he prayed for the young British soldiers who were killed during the Irish War of Independence. This was I feel an honest acknowledgment that we Irish do not have a monopoly of suffering resulting from armed conflict and helped in a small way to address the feelings of those who might believe that we think otherwise.
Returning to the paths which brought Barry and Flood together both before and since their deaths, one cannot but be struck by the courage which marked their involvement in the fight against the greatest military power in the world. Britain had come through the first World War having suffered huge casualties but having at the same time revitalised and reshaped its military operations so as to better face future conflicts. Frank Flood and Kevin Barry and their colleagues in the Irish Republican Army showed enormous courage and bravery in opposing the British Army of the time.
Another brave man if in a strictly non military sense who died in 1922 was Kilkea born Ernest Shackleton, the great polar explorer. His exploits in the Antarctic during several expeditions beginning with Scott’s expedition of 1901 and ending with his own death at South Georgia in 1922 marked him out as a man of extraordinary courage. The Heritage Centre in Athy has been fortunate to have on display material and artifacts relating to Shackleton’s exploits and to have acquired even further Shackleton material in recent weeks. The weekend of 26th to 28th October will see the opening of an Ernest Shackleton Autumn School in Athy during the course of which a series of lectures will be given by a number of eminent speakers. Programme details are available in the Heritage Centre and I would strongly urge anyone interested in all aspects of our history to take the opportunity to attend the Autumn School which will be held in the Town Hall.
William Nolan wrote to me recently from England but unfortunately omitted to give his address. As I know he reads my column I would ask if he would contact me again.
Kevin Barry, the eighteen year old medical student from Fleet Street in Dublin and with family ties in Tombeagh, Hacketstown, Co. Carlow was the first person since 1916 to be executed by the British under the Martial Law Regulations. Despite worldwide appeals for clemency he was hanged on 1st November, 1920. Frank Flood from Summerhill Parade, Dublin who was also an active member of the Republican Movement was court martialled following his arrest and hanged in Mountjoy Jail on 14th March, 1921. Both Kevin Barry and Frank Flood had attended O’Connell Schools in Dublin and were believed to be friends. At the time of their execution both were university students and so far as I can ascertain they were the only students executed by the British during that period.
The late Todd Andrews in his autobiography, “Dublin Made Me”, published by Mercier Press in 1979 knew both Barry and Flood as students in University College Dublin and recounted how Kevin Barry’s execution after an intense campaign to save his life aroused bitter anti-British feelings throughout the country. He noted somewhat sadly however that “whilst Kevin Barry’s death passed into the Nation’s mythology, Frank Flood’s name is scarcely remembered”.
Both young men were from Dublin and the links forged between them as schoolmates and later as members of the republican movement were strengthened when members of their respective families came to live in Athy some years after their executions.
Kevin Barry was a good friend of Athy’s Bapty Maher, and several letters from Barry to Maher have survived to this day. In one of those letters quoted in Donal O’Donovan’s book, “Kevin Barry and his times”, reference is made to a visit which Barry and his older sister Kathleen attempted to make on Eamon Malone from Barrowhouse while he was a prisoner in Mountjoy Jail. Malone who later married Miss Dooley of Duke Street, Athy was the effective leader of the Irish Republican Army in the Athy and Barrowhouse area. Bapty Maher to whom Kevin Barry wrote that letter was an Athy man whose mother operated an undertaking business in Leinster Street. He was later to marry Kevin Barry’s sister Sheila and their grandson Peter Maher was one of the pallbearers for the removal of Kevin Barry’s remains last Sunday.
Frank Flood was a lieutenant in the Dublin Brigade and a former classmate of Kevin Barrys while both were attending O’Connell’s School in Dublin. Several of his brothers were also involved in the republican movement. Frank Flood was captured at Clonturk Park while attempting to leave the scene of an IRA ambush. He was subsequently court martialled and sentenced to death. The Court Order was carried out at Mountjoy on 14th March, 1921. One of his brothers, Tom Flood, was captured following the burning of the Custom House, Dublin on 25th May, 1921. Fortunately for him he suffered an acute appendicitis on the eve of his trial as a result of which it had to be postponed. A truce was declared some days before the date fixed for his trial and as a result Tom Flood escaped the fate which befell his younger brother Frank just months previously.
Tom Flood was later a Commandant in the Free State Army during the Civil War and played a very prominent part in military actions in the Munster area during the 1922/1923 period. He subsequently married and settled in Athy acquiring licensed premises from Mrs. Eileen Butler in March 1926. In the June 1934 local elections Thomas Flood was elected a member of Athy Urban District Council and was re-elected in 1942 and again in 1950. I have not found his name listed in the Minute Books of the Urban Council following the June 1945 Election but as I have only been able to locate the names of eight Councillors it is quite possible that Tom Flood was also re-elected that year. He died on 9th October 1950.
It was surely a happy coincidence which saw family members of Kevin Barry and Frank Flood living in the same town, long after the two patriots had passed on to their eternal reward.
During the week Kevin Myers wrote in his usual eloquent manner in the Irishman’s Diary in the Irish Times decrying the decision to grant a State Funeral to the ten men hanged in Mountjoy Jail over more than eighty years ago. He saw the ceremony as reviving the “myth of single-sided Nationhood” which failed to recognise the suffering and losses of the opposing side. During the course of the moving ceremony on Sunday last, Cardinal Cathal Daly acknowledged the double-sided nature of war when he prayed for the young British soldiers who were killed during the Irish War of Independence. This was I feel an honest acknowledgment that we Irish do not have a monopoly of suffering resulting from armed conflict and helped in a small way to address the feelings of those who might believe that we think otherwise.
Returning to the paths which brought Barry and Flood together both before and since their deaths, one cannot but be struck by the courage which marked their involvement in the fight against the greatest military power in the world. Britain had come through the first World War having suffered huge casualties but having at the same time revitalised and reshaped its military operations so as to better face future conflicts. Frank Flood and Kevin Barry and their colleagues in the Irish Republican Army showed enormous courage and bravery in opposing the British Army of the time.
Another brave man if in a strictly non military sense who died in 1922 was Kilkea born Ernest Shackleton, the great polar explorer. His exploits in the Antarctic during several expeditions beginning with Scott’s expedition of 1901 and ending with his own death at South Georgia in 1922 marked him out as a man of extraordinary courage. The Heritage Centre in Athy has been fortunate to have on display material and artifacts relating to Shackleton’s exploits and to have acquired even further Shackleton material in recent weeks. The weekend of 26th to 28th October will see the opening of an Ernest Shackleton Autumn School in Athy during the course of which a series of lectures will be given by a number of eminent speakers. Programme details are available in the Heritage Centre and I would strongly urge anyone interested in all aspects of our history to take the opportunity to attend the Autumn School which will be held in the Town Hall.
William Nolan wrote to me recently from England but unfortunately omitted to give his address. As I know he reads my column I would ask if he would contact me again.
Thursday, October 11, 2001
Athy's Military Barracks
Standing at the junction of Woodstock Street and William Street is a simple stone arch. This forlorn structure, close to Tully’s travel agents, is all that remains of the military barracks built in Athy in the 1700’s. The arch does not, however, stand in its original location. It was re-erected by Athy Urban District Council after languishing for many years in the Council’s yard. The barracks formerly stood in the area now occupied by part of the Greenhills estate and gave Woodstock Street its original name Barrack Street. The name was only changed in the late nineteenth century when the Town Commissioners, concerned with the streets association with “Ladies of the night”, who plied their trade near the barracks, re-named the Street Woodstock in an attempt to improve the areas image.
Permanent barracks for troops were established in Ireland, earlier than in Britain, from the late seventeenth century onward. This was a consequence of the instability of the country in the aftermath of the Williamite Wars and a desire by Parliament to provide centres for troops to aid the civil authorities in dealing with disorder particularly of a agrarian nature.
The actual date of the barracks construction in Athy is unknown but the Princess Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards are recorded as being stationed there as early as 1716. This regiment of cavalry would serve on a regular basis in Athy for the next 150 years. The earliest surviving description of the barracks is contained in a survey of the barracks of Ireland in 1729 completed by Major-General Honeywood. It noted that a troop of Lieutenant General McCartneys’ Regiment were in occupation of the Athy Barracks. The barracks were run down at the time as the report went on to describe its roof as being “out of repair” while the stables were considered to be “bad”. Otherwise the remaining buildings, which were not described, were in good repair.
A more complete description of the barracks was provided by Carleton Whitelock. He was commissioned by the British Government to complete a survey of its barracks in the south-west of Ireland. Arriving in Athy in the Summer of 1759 he found the barracks were “one of the oldest in the kingdom”. It consisted of three rooms for officers, one for quartermaster, four for privates, and one corporals room. Evidently the room occupied by the corporals had been adapted from a store. The barracks was completed by its square around which were grouped the remaining rooms such as the kitchen, infirmary, straw house and stables. The stables though stoutly constructed, were the oldest part of the building and in need of replacement. Whitelock found that its floors were worn out with its windows and their frames so dilapidated that their replacement was necessary. His recommendation in his report to Parliament was that the stables should be rebuilt while the total works to the barracks, he estimated, would cost £59.4s7¼d.
The barrack was important not only in military but also in economic terms to the town. The stabling of horse guaranteed a constant demand for forage. Though the horses were put out to grass from June to November they were stabled in the barracks for the winter months. The merchants of the town would also have sold provisions to the army including foodstuffs, clothing, leather, candles and all the supplies necessary to maintain man and beast.
Life within the barracks was ordered and regimented and for each horse soldier the care of his horse and the maintenance of his saddlery would have been his primary responsibility. The accommodation for the men was frugal and sometimes little better than that of the horses. The barrack regulations in the mid 18th century laid down that each man should have a minimum space of 450 cubic feet. This compared unfavourably with that of a prison inmate who could expect to have a minimum of 1,000. A map by Alexander Taylor of the military establishments of Ireland in 1790 noted the presence of only 36 soldiers in the barracks. But it was not unusual for the barracks in Athy to hold more than one hundred men at a time which was in excess of its intended capacity. A return for the barrack in 1811 listed its permanent occupants as 4 officers, 60 cavalry troopers and 52 horses while it also housed, temporarily, 86 infantry soldiers. This overcrowding would have resulted in squalid and cramped conditions in the accommodation in the barracks. One officer recalled the conditions in winter.
“The men would block up the ventilation with old sacking and when I had to visit the rooms in the morning the atmosphere was so nauseating that I felt disinclined to touch my breakfast afterwards”.
In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars many temporary barracks which had sprung up around the country in anticipation of an unrealised invasion were closed. Athy retained its permanent status. It was the home for troops from a multitude of regiments in the 18th and 19th centuries including the 15th Hussars, 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, 1st Royal Guards, 1st Royal Dragoons, Prince Alberts’ Own Hussars and Prince Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards. By the middle of the nineteenth century the barracks were not in permanent use. The Curragh became the focus for much of the army during the Summer months. However in winter many of the regiments moved into winter quarters. The 15th Hussars spread themselves in a number of different locations in the winter of 1863 including Kilkenny, Newbridge, Carlow and Athy. Although the barracks were not in constant use they were maintained by a skeleton staff at times. In 1846 the buildings were under the command of the Barrack Master, Major Peter Brown who was assisted by the Barrack Keeper Joseph Caher. The barracks also kept a fire engine which was used to assist the towns authorities at different times. Indeed, it was only when the military withdrew from the barracks that the Town Commissioners established a permanent voluntary fire service in the town in 1881. The last troops to serve in Athy in 1877 were the Princess Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards who were back in the barracks they first occupied 150 years previously. By 1889 the barracks had fallen into disuse and the Royal Irish Constabulary which had been based in Whites Castle moved to the barracks. This move was precipitated by a government report which had condemned the accommodation in Whites Castle as insanitary. The sum of £500 was spent on renovating the neglected barracks to house the seven married and four single men who were members of the local constabulary. The RIC occupied the barracks up until 1922 when it was taken over by the local IRA. Thereafter the Athy UDC housed some of its tenants there until it was finally demolished about thirty five years ago.
Permanent barracks for troops were established in Ireland, earlier than in Britain, from the late seventeenth century onward. This was a consequence of the instability of the country in the aftermath of the Williamite Wars and a desire by Parliament to provide centres for troops to aid the civil authorities in dealing with disorder particularly of a agrarian nature.
The actual date of the barracks construction in Athy is unknown but the Princess Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards are recorded as being stationed there as early as 1716. This regiment of cavalry would serve on a regular basis in Athy for the next 150 years. The earliest surviving description of the barracks is contained in a survey of the barracks of Ireland in 1729 completed by Major-General Honeywood. It noted that a troop of Lieutenant General McCartneys’ Regiment were in occupation of the Athy Barracks. The barracks were run down at the time as the report went on to describe its roof as being “out of repair” while the stables were considered to be “bad”. Otherwise the remaining buildings, which were not described, were in good repair.
A more complete description of the barracks was provided by Carleton Whitelock. He was commissioned by the British Government to complete a survey of its barracks in the south-west of Ireland. Arriving in Athy in the Summer of 1759 he found the barracks were “one of the oldest in the kingdom”. It consisted of three rooms for officers, one for quartermaster, four for privates, and one corporals room. Evidently the room occupied by the corporals had been adapted from a store. The barracks was completed by its square around which were grouped the remaining rooms such as the kitchen, infirmary, straw house and stables. The stables though stoutly constructed, were the oldest part of the building and in need of replacement. Whitelock found that its floors were worn out with its windows and their frames so dilapidated that their replacement was necessary. His recommendation in his report to Parliament was that the stables should be rebuilt while the total works to the barracks, he estimated, would cost £59.4s7¼d.
The barrack was important not only in military but also in economic terms to the town. The stabling of horse guaranteed a constant demand for forage. Though the horses were put out to grass from June to November they were stabled in the barracks for the winter months. The merchants of the town would also have sold provisions to the army including foodstuffs, clothing, leather, candles and all the supplies necessary to maintain man and beast.
Life within the barracks was ordered and regimented and for each horse soldier the care of his horse and the maintenance of his saddlery would have been his primary responsibility. The accommodation for the men was frugal and sometimes little better than that of the horses. The barrack regulations in the mid 18th century laid down that each man should have a minimum space of 450 cubic feet. This compared unfavourably with that of a prison inmate who could expect to have a minimum of 1,000. A map by Alexander Taylor of the military establishments of Ireland in 1790 noted the presence of only 36 soldiers in the barracks. But it was not unusual for the barracks in Athy to hold more than one hundred men at a time which was in excess of its intended capacity. A return for the barrack in 1811 listed its permanent occupants as 4 officers, 60 cavalry troopers and 52 horses while it also housed, temporarily, 86 infantry soldiers. This overcrowding would have resulted in squalid and cramped conditions in the accommodation in the barracks. One officer recalled the conditions in winter.
“The men would block up the ventilation with old sacking and when I had to visit the rooms in the morning the atmosphere was so nauseating that I felt disinclined to touch my breakfast afterwards”.
In the aftermath of the Napoleonic wars many temporary barracks which had sprung up around the country in anticipation of an unrealised invasion were closed. Athy retained its permanent status. It was the home for troops from a multitude of regiments in the 18th and 19th centuries including the 15th Hussars, 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, 1st Royal Guards, 1st Royal Dragoons, Prince Alberts’ Own Hussars and Prince Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards. By the middle of the nineteenth century the barracks were not in permanent use. The Curragh became the focus for much of the army during the Summer months. However in winter many of the regiments moved into winter quarters. The 15th Hussars spread themselves in a number of different locations in the winter of 1863 including Kilkenny, Newbridge, Carlow and Athy. Although the barracks were not in constant use they were maintained by a skeleton staff at times. In 1846 the buildings were under the command of the Barrack Master, Major Peter Brown who was assisted by the Barrack Keeper Joseph Caher. The barracks also kept a fire engine which was used to assist the towns authorities at different times. Indeed, it was only when the military withdrew from the barracks that the Town Commissioners established a permanent voluntary fire service in the town in 1881. The last troops to serve in Athy in 1877 were the Princess Charlotte of Wales Dragoon Guards who were back in the barracks they first occupied 150 years previously. By 1889 the barracks had fallen into disuse and the Royal Irish Constabulary which had been based in Whites Castle moved to the barracks. This move was precipitated by a government report which had condemned the accommodation in Whites Castle as insanitary. The sum of £500 was spent on renovating the neglected barracks to house the seven married and four single men who were members of the local constabulary. The RIC occupied the barracks up until 1922 when it was taken over by the local IRA. Thereafter the Athy UDC housed some of its tenants there until it was finally demolished about thirty five years ago.
Thursday, October 4, 2001
Athy Regattas 1856-1861
Sport has always been an important element in the social life of Athy. For most of us, this encapsulated in the annual pilgrimages to Croke Park to follow the fortunes of the Lilywhites in Gaelic Football. However, in the mid Nineteenth Century before the establishment of the G.A.A., the people of the town found distraction in other public spectacles such as rowing and steeple chasing.
On Friday 15th August, 1856, the Athy Regatta, revived after a lapse of some years, took place on the River Barrow with six races. The important race for the Silver Challenge Cup was for 2 oared boats, the property of persons residing at least 1 year within the town boundary, to be rowed and steered by residents. With an entrance fee of 10/= per boat, clearly it was a gentleman’s sport! A press report of the 1858 Regatta noted that “the embarkments presented a thronged and animated appearance”. while the Athy Regatta Ball for 1859 advertised single tickets at 7/6, the patrons to be entertained by a sting band from 9.30 p.m. with Mr. Doyle, professor of Dancing, Baltinglass, as the Master of Ceremonies. As the Leinster Express of 30th July, 1859 with reference to the Ball stated;
“There is not in Ireland an inland town that can boast of more public
spirit than Athy or among whose inhabitants so many friendly
and social reunions are reciprocated”.
The public spirit so apparent in 1859 quickly dissipated when the Stewards of Athy Regatta procrastinated throughout the summer of 1861 with no prospect of the Regatta taking place that year. Much annoyed by this were local oarsmen Daniel Cobbe and Francis Dillon who had won the Silver Challenge Cup renamed the Corporation Challenge Cup the previous year.
Popular feeling apparently ran in favour of Cobbe and Dillon as evidenced by a ballad sheet printed and circulated in Athy during November and December 1861 titled “Athy Regatta Rhymes.” One such ballad ran :-
Oh! Remember, remember,
The Nineteenth of November
Frustrates a contemptible “do”;
I do not see why
The ONE sport of Athy
Should be stopped by the “whims or mean
schemes of A FEW.
The two local oarsmen inserted an advertisement in the Leinster Express on 9th November 1861 in which they announced the holding of the Athy Regatta on Tuesday 19th November “two challenges having been sent to the Secretary and the Committee not wishing to act in the manner we the present holders of the cups hereby appoint the above day. The cups have to be won 3 times successively and if successful we will claim this as our second year”. The intrepid oarsman duly won the race. Faced with the same official reluctance in 1862 Cobbe and Dillon acted as before. Challenged on this occasion by Delaney and Keefe, victory went yet again to Cobbe and Dillon in what was to be the last of the once popular Athy Regattas.
On 7 May, 1857, steeplechase racing was revived in Athy after a lapse of many years. Four races were held on the Bray course which attracted a total entry of 19 horses, a matter of some satisfaction to the Stewards, Thomas Fitzgerald, J.P., Thomas H. Pope J.P. Anthony Weldon, Hugh Maguire, Joseph Butler and A. Kavanagh, Race Treasurer. The local Newspaper Report catches the excitement of that day.
“Such a sensation was never yet seen in the quiet and unexcitable district of Athy and its vicinity as the dawning of this eventful day created.
………. the roads leading to the race course were speedily thronged with a motley crew of thimble riggers, card setters, trick a loop men, followed by the no less accomplished creed of roulette and shooting gallery proprietors, musicians and all those who imbued with a mercantile and enterprising spirit sought the most eligible position for their forthcoming avocations ……. the proceedings and amusements of the day came off satisfactorily ………. the racing was throughout contested with the greatest spirit.”
Even the local horse racing was not long in resurrecting its critics. On 27 March, 1858, a local correspondent with the name de Plume “short grass” drew critical comparison between the races of 1843 and the previous years’ races implying the reason in his comment “but always in those days the right men were in the right place.” In 1858 the races were held once again during which “disturbances occurred s with subsequent action taken against one of the stewards, he was fined.” The races were not held in 1859. In 1860 Thomas Fitzgerald J.P. was instrumental in reviving the races which were held on Friday evening, 20 April over the Bray course. About 1,000 people attended the meeting and enjoyed the main race for the Athy Cup over a three mile course. The 1862 meeting was run over “a small but well laid out course about 10 minutes walk from the town” but despite Fitzgeralds best efforts, Athy’s tenous claim to racing fame had slipped away.
On Friday 15th August, 1856, the Athy Regatta, revived after a lapse of some years, took place on the River Barrow with six races. The important race for the Silver Challenge Cup was for 2 oared boats, the property of persons residing at least 1 year within the town boundary, to be rowed and steered by residents. With an entrance fee of 10/= per boat, clearly it was a gentleman’s sport! A press report of the 1858 Regatta noted that “the embarkments presented a thronged and animated appearance”. while the Athy Regatta Ball for 1859 advertised single tickets at 7/6, the patrons to be entertained by a sting band from 9.30 p.m. with Mr. Doyle, professor of Dancing, Baltinglass, as the Master of Ceremonies. As the Leinster Express of 30th July, 1859 with reference to the Ball stated;
“There is not in Ireland an inland town that can boast of more public
spirit than Athy or among whose inhabitants so many friendly
and social reunions are reciprocated”.
The public spirit so apparent in 1859 quickly dissipated when the Stewards of Athy Regatta procrastinated throughout the summer of 1861 with no prospect of the Regatta taking place that year. Much annoyed by this were local oarsmen Daniel Cobbe and Francis Dillon who had won the Silver Challenge Cup renamed the Corporation Challenge Cup the previous year.
Popular feeling apparently ran in favour of Cobbe and Dillon as evidenced by a ballad sheet printed and circulated in Athy during November and December 1861 titled “Athy Regatta Rhymes.” One such ballad ran :-
Oh! Remember, remember,
The Nineteenth of November
Frustrates a contemptible “do”;
I do not see why
The ONE sport of Athy
Should be stopped by the “whims or mean
schemes of A FEW.
The two local oarsmen inserted an advertisement in the Leinster Express on 9th November 1861 in which they announced the holding of the Athy Regatta on Tuesday 19th November “two challenges having been sent to the Secretary and the Committee not wishing to act in the manner we the present holders of the cups hereby appoint the above day. The cups have to be won 3 times successively and if successful we will claim this as our second year”. The intrepid oarsman duly won the race. Faced with the same official reluctance in 1862 Cobbe and Dillon acted as before. Challenged on this occasion by Delaney and Keefe, victory went yet again to Cobbe and Dillon in what was to be the last of the once popular Athy Regattas.
On 7 May, 1857, steeplechase racing was revived in Athy after a lapse of many years. Four races were held on the Bray course which attracted a total entry of 19 horses, a matter of some satisfaction to the Stewards, Thomas Fitzgerald, J.P., Thomas H. Pope J.P. Anthony Weldon, Hugh Maguire, Joseph Butler and A. Kavanagh, Race Treasurer. The local Newspaper Report catches the excitement of that day.
“Such a sensation was never yet seen in the quiet and unexcitable district of Athy and its vicinity as the dawning of this eventful day created.
………. the roads leading to the race course were speedily thronged with a motley crew of thimble riggers, card setters, trick a loop men, followed by the no less accomplished creed of roulette and shooting gallery proprietors, musicians and all those who imbued with a mercantile and enterprising spirit sought the most eligible position for their forthcoming avocations ……. the proceedings and amusements of the day came off satisfactorily ………. the racing was throughout contested with the greatest spirit.”
Even the local horse racing was not long in resurrecting its critics. On 27 March, 1858, a local correspondent with the name de Plume “short grass” drew critical comparison between the races of 1843 and the previous years’ races implying the reason in his comment “but always in those days the right men were in the right place.” In 1858 the races were held once again during which “disturbances occurred s with subsequent action taken against one of the stewards, he was fined.” The races were not held in 1859. In 1860 Thomas Fitzgerald J.P. was instrumental in reviving the races which were held on Friday evening, 20 April over the Bray course. About 1,000 people attended the meeting and enjoyed the main race for the Athy Cup over a three mile course. The 1862 meeting was run over “a small but well laid out course about 10 minutes walk from the town” but despite Fitzgeralds best efforts, Athy’s tenous claim to racing fame had slipped away.
Thursday, September 27, 2001
The Hand / Sleaty's Row
More today about “The Hand” and Sleaty’s Row. Several locals have contacted me during the week to confirm, what we now know, was the location of “The Hand” at the junction of the Bleach and Kilkenny road. Mick Grufferty was one of the callers and he pin-pointed the area by reference to Johnny Fox’s house at the corner of Beggar’s End. He remembers “The Hand” as a well-known land mark, especially for Barrowhouse folk who passed through the junction on their way into Athy. Amongst Mick’s recollections were memories of Mrs. Dan Howe, a widow, later married to Johnny Stynes, who earned for herself the nick-name “Alright from Ballylinan” because of her well-known habit of peering around the corner of “The Hand” from the passenger seat of a neighbours car and informing the driver that it was ‘alright’ to drive on. I gather Mrs. Howe lived in what I believe was the house in which Monsignor Boylan was born. She was for many years the sacristan in Barrowhouse Chapel and I gather her family subsequently emigrated to England.
A few other callers from the other side of the town brought to my attention the existence of a second “hand” located on the Stradbally road. Josie Moran of Churchtown was first with this information which was later confirmed by Esther Mulhall of St. Dominic’s Park. Esther recalls as a young girl walking with her mother on a regular basis to what her mother always referred to as “The Hand” . Again, like “The Hand” at the Bleach it was a road junction formed by the side road to Churchtown off the Stradbally road. The mother and daughter regularly walked from Dooley’s Terrace to “The Hand” and sat on the stone wall just beyond the Canal Bridge. I was intrigued to hear Esther recounting the death on that same stretch of road of a Mrs. Ramsbottom and of the cross which she said in her young days marked the spot where Mrs. Ramsbottom’s horse and cart overturned, resulting in her death. I later passed that way and found to my surprise that the iron cross had been replaced by a small stone cross, apparently erected not too long ago, and as evidenced from flowers at the memorial, the deceased, Fanny Ramsbottom, was still remembered. The surprising thing was that she died 85 years ago on 7th June, 1916.
Returning to Mike Grufferty’s call he brought to my attention something I had never heard of before. The area on which the Plewman Terrace houses were built by the Urban District Council was according to Mick the site of a tannery and known to generations of old people as the Tanners Yard. During the 18th century and into the early decades of the following century Athy, like many other Irish provincial towns, had a tanning industry and the present Church lane leading to the Dominican Church was once called Tanyard Lane. It was so-called because the lane led to George Daker’s tanyard sited in the area where the Council’s pumping station is presently located. That tanyard which was the largest in the area closed down following George Daker’s death, but several smaller tanneries continue to operate in and around Athy well into the 19th century.
As regard the Tanner’s Yard at Beggar’s End [to use the name by which the area was once known] I do recall that behind the Plewman’s Terrace houses some years ago there was a small pond which might have been a left over from the tanning pits of years ago. I had not previously heard of the area being referred to as Tanner’s Yard and wonder if any of my readers did.
Another caller following the recent article was Joss Hendy who also confirmed the existence of “The Hand” at the junction of the Churchtown road. It was while talking to Joss that I realised how the placename “The Hand” came to be used to describe two junctions heading into Athy. The answer lies in the old direction signs which depicted a hand pointing in the direction of the side road. Obviously, locals, when giving directions, could do so by reference to the signpost and hence the expression “turn at the hand”. All the road signs including these finger posts were removed during the Second World War to ensure maximum confusion for any invading army bold enough to ignore our neutrality.
As for Sleaty’s Row and the Gulch which I referred to in recent weeks Eileen Doyle of Castlerheban wrote me a hugely informative letter concerning her young days in the Rathstewart area. She recalls the Gulch as just a nick-name given to the ruins of houses in Sleaty Row thought up by the youngsters as they played Cowboys and Indians after the Sunday matinee in the Picture Palace in Offaly Street. The entrance to Sleaty Row she remembers as just about between the UDC offices and the entrance to the Secondary School. The original tenants, as I mentioned in my Eye on the Past, got first choice of the newly-built houses in Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace and Eileen Doyle was able to recall all of them in her letter.
I was fascinated to read of the number of families from Sleaty’s Row who had family members involved in World War I. Patrick Leonard was killed in the War, as was Tommy Alcock, and …………..I was in error recently when I referred to “Tut” Alcock as Tommy. John Davis and James Kavanagh also fought in the War and Davis was invalided home, suffering from gas poisoning. Patsy Delahunt was another World War Veteran who lived near to Mrs. Ned Keogh, an elderly woman whose son was killed in that War. These are just some of the men from the Sleaty Row area who fought during the Great War and gives some indication of the high rate of enlistment from the town of Athy during that conflict.
If the Gulch was a favoured playing ground for the make-believe Cowboys and Indians from St. Joseph’s Terrace, no doubt the nuns orchard which was nearby was often raided by the same happy warriors.
Incidentally when writing of Sheila Mulhall sometime ago, I mentioned that she was a daughter of “Hocker” Mulhall, one of the three Mulhall brothers who were barbers in Athy a generation or two ago. Sheila was in fact a daughter of Bill Brogan whom many of my readers will remember worked for his uncle Tom Brogan at his blacksmith works. “Hocker’s” daughter was Eileen Doyle who wrote to me last week recounting the wonderful times spent in St. Joseph’s Terrace where the Gulch provided the rough but ready-made playground for the local children of the 1930’s.
A few other callers from the other side of the town brought to my attention the existence of a second “hand” located on the Stradbally road. Josie Moran of Churchtown was first with this information which was later confirmed by Esther Mulhall of St. Dominic’s Park. Esther recalls as a young girl walking with her mother on a regular basis to what her mother always referred to as “The Hand” . Again, like “The Hand” at the Bleach it was a road junction formed by the side road to Churchtown off the Stradbally road. The mother and daughter regularly walked from Dooley’s Terrace to “The Hand” and sat on the stone wall just beyond the Canal Bridge. I was intrigued to hear Esther recounting the death on that same stretch of road of a Mrs. Ramsbottom and of the cross which she said in her young days marked the spot where Mrs. Ramsbottom’s horse and cart overturned, resulting in her death. I later passed that way and found to my surprise that the iron cross had been replaced by a small stone cross, apparently erected not too long ago, and as evidenced from flowers at the memorial, the deceased, Fanny Ramsbottom, was still remembered. The surprising thing was that she died 85 years ago on 7th June, 1916.
Returning to Mike Grufferty’s call he brought to my attention something I had never heard of before. The area on which the Plewman Terrace houses were built by the Urban District Council was according to Mick the site of a tannery and known to generations of old people as the Tanners Yard. During the 18th century and into the early decades of the following century Athy, like many other Irish provincial towns, had a tanning industry and the present Church lane leading to the Dominican Church was once called Tanyard Lane. It was so-called because the lane led to George Daker’s tanyard sited in the area where the Council’s pumping station is presently located. That tanyard which was the largest in the area closed down following George Daker’s death, but several smaller tanneries continue to operate in and around Athy well into the 19th century.
As regard the Tanner’s Yard at Beggar’s End [to use the name by which the area was once known] I do recall that behind the Plewman’s Terrace houses some years ago there was a small pond which might have been a left over from the tanning pits of years ago. I had not previously heard of the area being referred to as Tanner’s Yard and wonder if any of my readers did.
Another caller following the recent article was Joss Hendy who also confirmed the existence of “The Hand” at the junction of the Churchtown road. It was while talking to Joss that I realised how the placename “The Hand” came to be used to describe two junctions heading into Athy. The answer lies in the old direction signs which depicted a hand pointing in the direction of the side road. Obviously, locals, when giving directions, could do so by reference to the signpost and hence the expression “turn at the hand”. All the road signs including these finger posts were removed during the Second World War to ensure maximum confusion for any invading army bold enough to ignore our neutrality.
As for Sleaty’s Row and the Gulch which I referred to in recent weeks Eileen Doyle of Castlerheban wrote me a hugely informative letter concerning her young days in the Rathstewart area. She recalls the Gulch as just a nick-name given to the ruins of houses in Sleaty Row thought up by the youngsters as they played Cowboys and Indians after the Sunday matinee in the Picture Palace in Offaly Street. The entrance to Sleaty Row she remembers as just about between the UDC offices and the entrance to the Secondary School. The original tenants, as I mentioned in my Eye on the Past, got first choice of the newly-built houses in Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace and Eileen Doyle was able to recall all of them in her letter.
I was fascinated to read of the number of families from Sleaty’s Row who had family members involved in World War I. Patrick Leonard was killed in the War, as was Tommy Alcock, and …………..I was in error recently when I referred to “Tut” Alcock as Tommy. John Davis and James Kavanagh also fought in the War and Davis was invalided home, suffering from gas poisoning. Patsy Delahunt was another World War Veteran who lived near to Mrs. Ned Keogh, an elderly woman whose son was killed in that War. These are just some of the men from the Sleaty Row area who fought during the Great War and gives some indication of the high rate of enlistment from the town of Athy during that conflict.
If the Gulch was a favoured playing ground for the make-believe Cowboys and Indians from St. Joseph’s Terrace, no doubt the nuns orchard which was nearby was often raided by the same happy warriors.
Incidentally when writing of Sheila Mulhall sometime ago, I mentioned that she was a daughter of “Hocker” Mulhall, one of the three Mulhall brothers who were barbers in Athy a generation or two ago. Sheila was in fact a daughter of Bill Brogan whom many of my readers will remember worked for his uncle Tom Brogan at his blacksmith works. “Hocker’s” daughter was Eileen Doyle who wrote to me last week recounting the wonderful times spent in St. Joseph’s Terrace where the Gulch provided the rough but ready-made playground for the local children of the 1930’s.
Thursday, August 16, 2001
Public Houses in Ballylinan
I received quite a few phone calls following last weeks article concerning the whereabouts of “the Hand”. I had not heard of the locality referred to by that name until the previous week. The first person to phone me was Dom Brennan of Barrowhouse who told me that “the Hand” was well known by the older people in the Barrowhouse area. It was the junction of the Bleach and the main Kilkenny road. He first heard the expression from his late mother, and told me that Barrowhouse folk still refer to “the Hand” when speaking of that locality. Interestingly enough Dom, on reading my article, asked a couple of his workmates in Tegral, including some who live in the Bleach where “the Hand” was and more of them had never heard of the local placename.
There is obviously a good explanation as to how or why that name came to be given to the locality, but neither I nor any of my contacts know what it is. Is there anyone who can say why the junction at the Bleach cottages came to be known as “the Hand?”
While I’m on the Kilkenny road, I’ve decided this week to press out a little further and enter into the borderlands of what the Land Registry in Dublin still refer to as the “Queen’s County”. Ballylinan, although in county Laois, is rightly regarded as part and parcel of Athy’s hinterland and over the years many links have been forged between the town and village. Some weeks ago I wrote of the public houses in Athy in 1924 and I thought it might bring back a few memories if I tried to trace back the history of some local public houses in the Ballylinan area.
In 1899 there were eleven licenced premises in and around Ballylinan, taking in Killabban, Ballylehane Upper and Lower and Crossard. The village itself had five public houses 102 years ago, one of which was a thatched house owned by Patrick Lacey. It had an ordinary 7 day licence as did the other four public houses in the village. Patrick Lacey’s continued in business until 1910 when the licence was transferred to Elizabeth Murphy and transferred in turn six years later to John Murphy. The latter was still running the public house in 1926.
The other village pubs were in 1899 owned by Johanna Delaney, William Fleming, James Quigley and Michael Shortall. Delaney’s changed hands on several occasions, firstly to John Cleary in 1904, to John Troy in 1914 and to John O’Byrne in Timahoe in 1918 before Michael Nolan took over in 1923.
William Fleming died in 1903 after which his widow Anne took over the business and she was still operating the pub in 1926. James Quigley’s public house was licensed to himself until 1917 when Anne Quigley took over and she later transferred the business to Elizabeth Lacey who was still in charge in 1926.
Michael Shortall’s public house business in Ballylinan was augmented when he took over Anne Nolan’s pub in Ballylehane Lower in 1903. This latter pub was a thatched house and both pubs passed to Kate Shortall in 1915 and she was still proprietress eleven years later. However in 1927 the Ballylehane Lower pub was taken over by Edward Hogan.
In Ballylehane Upper there were two pubs. Jeremiah Keeffe had a six day licence which in 1920 was taken over by Mary Keeffe, before she in turn transferred it to her daughter Mary in 1923. James Hughes had a 7 day licence for his pub also in Ballylehane Upper which passed on to John Hughes in 1902 and to James Hughes in 1916. Ten years later James Hughes who was perhaps a grandson of the first named James Hughes was still running the business.
Crossard, Ballylinan also boasted two licensing premises in 1899, although only one of them was a public house in the strict sense of the word. The pub was owned by Elizabeth McGrath and in 1915 by William Byrne. Three years later the proprietor was Michael Leech and he was still running the business in 1926. The second licensed premises in Crossard was owned by Michael Knowles who had a Spirit Grocers Licence only. He was entitled to sell spirits for consumption off the premises and could not sell beer or porter. On his death the business went to his son Michael (Jnr.) and he was still in charge of the premises in 1926.
Killabban was the location of a thatched public house owned in 1899 by Thomas Deegan which passed to Margaret Dooley in 1907 and two years later to Michael Ryan. He was still in business in 1926.
I wonder how many of these public houses can you identify, and how many of the businesses are still in the same family ownership as 75 years ago.
I had intended last week to pass on good wishes to a former class mate of mine who retired recently. Pat Flinter, originally from just around the corner from “the Hand” was a brilliant student in the C.B.S. who went on to achieve remarkable success in his working life. He worked locally, after leaving secondary school and became in time a Director of Tegral Metal Forming Ltd. As far as I know, he is the only local man ever to be promoted to the Board of a company within the Tegral Group of companies. Its never easy for anyone to attain success in their home town but Pat Flinter’s achievements in fashioning Tegral Metal Forming into one of the most soundly-based manufacturing companies in Athy is a remarkable achievement.
Enjoy your retirement Pat and while I’m at it may I extend good wishes to another school mate of mine, Seamus Ryan, who last week tied the knot, yet again, this time in Beijing, China. It must be something in the Chinese air, which encourages our class mate to go on the merry-go-around a second time when Pat Flinter, Ted Kelly, myself and the rest of the class of 1960 can hardly muster up the energy to stand up straight.
There is obviously a good explanation as to how or why that name came to be given to the locality, but neither I nor any of my contacts know what it is. Is there anyone who can say why the junction at the Bleach cottages came to be known as “the Hand?”
While I’m on the Kilkenny road, I’ve decided this week to press out a little further and enter into the borderlands of what the Land Registry in Dublin still refer to as the “Queen’s County”. Ballylinan, although in county Laois, is rightly regarded as part and parcel of Athy’s hinterland and over the years many links have been forged between the town and village. Some weeks ago I wrote of the public houses in Athy in 1924 and I thought it might bring back a few memories if I tried to trace back the history of some local public houses in the Ballylinan area.
In 1899 there were eleven licenced premises in and around Ballylinan, taking in Killabban, Ballylehane Upper and Lower and Crossard. The village itself had five public houses 102 years ago, one of which was a thatched house owned by Patrick Lacey. It had an ordinary 7 day licence as did the other four public houses in the village. Patrick Lacey’s continued in business until 1910 when the licence was transferred to Elizabeth Murphy and transferred in turn six years later to John Murphy. The latter was still running the public house in 1926.
The other village pubs were in 1899 owned by Johanna Delaney, William Fleming, James Quigley and Michael Shortall. Delaney’s changed hands on several occasions, firstly to John Cleary in 1904, to John Troy in 1914 and to John O’Byrne in Timahoe in 1918 before Michael Nolan took over in 1923.
William Fleming died in 1903 after which his widow Anne took over the business and she was still operating the pub in 1926. James Quigley’s public house was licensed to himself until 1917 when Anne Quigley took over and she later transferred the business to Elizabeth Lacey who was still in charge in 1926.
Michael Shortall’s public house business in Ballylinan was augmented when he took over Anne Nolan’s pub in Ballylehane Lower in 1903. This latter pub was a thatched house and both pubs passed to Kate Shortall in 1915 and she was still proprietress eleven years later. However in 1927 the Ballylehane Lower pub was taken over by Edward Hogan.
In Ballylehane Upper there were two pubs. Jeremiah Keeffe had a six day licence which in 1920 was taken over by Mary Keeffe, before she in turn transferred it to her daughter Mary in 1923. James Hughes had a 7 day licence for his pub also in Ballylehane Upper which passed on to John Hughes in 1902 and to James Hughes in 1916. Ten years later James Hughes who was perhaps a grandson of the first named James Hughes was still running the business.
Crossard, Ballylinan also boasted two licensing premises in 1899, although only one of them was a public house in the strict sense of the word. The pub was owned by Elizabeth McGrath and in 1915 by William Byrne. Three years later the proprietor was Michael Leech and he was still running the business in 1926. The second licensed premises in Crossard was owned by Michael Knowles who had a Spirit Grocers Licence only. He was entitled to sell spirits for consumption off the premises and could not sell beer or porter. On his death the business went to his son Michael (Jnr.) and he was still in charge of the premises in 1926.
Killabban was the location of a thatched public house owned in 1899 by Thomas Deegan which passed to Margaret Dooley in 1907 and two years later to Michael Ryan. He was still in business in 1926.
I wonder how many of these public houses can you identify, and how many of the businesses are still in the same family ownership as 75 years ago.
I had intended last week to pass on good wishes to a former class mate of mine who retired recently. Pat Flinter, originally from just around the corner from “the Hand” was a brilliant student in the C.B.S. who went on to achieve remarkable success in his working life. He worked locally, after leaving secondary school and became in time a Director of Tegral Metal Forming Ltd. As far as I know, he is the only local man ever to be promoted to the Board of a company within the Tegral Group of companies. Its never easy for anyone to attain success in their home town but Pat Flinter’s achievements in fashioning Tegral Metal Forming into one of the most soundly-based manufacturing companies in Athy is a remarkable achievement.
Enjoy your retirement Pat and while I’m at it may I extend good wishes to another school mate of mine, Seamus Ryan, who last week tied the knot, yet again, this time in Beijing, China. It must be something in the Chinese air, which encourages our class mate to go on the merry-go-around a second time when Pat Flinter, Ted Kelly, myself and the rest of the class of 1960 can hardly muster up the energy to stand up straight.
Thursday, August 9, 2001
Rathstewart and Sleaty's Row
I met an old resident of Athy in the Heritage Centre last Sunday when I dropped in on Jerry Carbery’s woodturning exhibition. Old in the sense that it was many years ago since he lived here, and not in any way a reference to his age. Although, on second thoughts, one must necessarily reflect the other, and so perhaps the word old is not necessarily misplaced. He has lived in England for a long time but recalls as a very young boy, days spent in Sleaty Row. I had never previously heard of Sleaty Row, or if I had, the reference has been quite lost to me. I was intrigued to hear of the place name and got my informant to draw a sketch of the area which I was later able to compare with an Ordnance Survey map of 1872. His memory of the layout of what he called Sleaty Row was excellent, as the map prepared 129 years previously was to prove.
Just beyond Rathstewart Bridge and on the right hand side of the road were six two-storey houses which were knocked down in the early 1980’s. They were then demolished to make way for Athy’s Urban District Council Offices. Immediately beyond and adjoining them were two single storey cabins facing the river Barrow, with an entrance into the courtyard of Sleaty’s Row separating the row of houses from another two cabins on the far side of the entrance. As you entered the courtyard there was a small back lane running at the rere of the two river-facing cabins on your right, and on the far side of that small lane entrance were three two-storey houses making up the right hand side of the courtyard. Facing you as you stood at the entrance to Sleaty Row was a single storey house, which I understand was referred to as the garden house. It formed the back of the courtyard and the fourth side of the complex comprised the rear of four houses which were accessed by another entrance off Rathstewart, just beyond Sleaty Row.
I suspect, although I am open to correction, that the adjoining Sleaty Row cul-de-sac which consisted of eight houses on the right, a house at the end and six houses on the left was called the Gulch. The last mentioned six houses had rear yards, as did the house standing alone at the end of the cul-de-sac, but the other eight houses had no outside facilities.
It was as a young man in the early 1930’s that my friend remembered Sleaty Row, and that must have been before St. Joseph’s Terrace housing scheme was build in 1933/34. Indeed the records show that the new tenants of the houses in Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace and those in numbers 1 to 17 Upper St. Joseph’s Terrace received the keys to their new homes on the 2nd of March 1934. Several of the new tenants were re-housed from addresses in Rathstewart and many, if not all, were presumably tenants of Sleaty Row or the Gulch.
These former tenants of Rathstewart are mentioned in the Urban Council Minute Books as M. Keogh: W. Leonard: T. Alcock: James Neill: Patrick Neill: E. Rainsford: John Rainsford: M. Mulhall: C. Kelly: John Chanders: C. Dunne and Patrick Murphy. I suspect that the Council records may not always accurately record the correct names of the people involved as for instance in the case of James Neill and Patrick Neill who were in fact O’Neill. The others recorded in the Council records were Mick Keogh, Mrs. Leonard, Tommy Alcock (known as “Tut”), James otherwise Jim O’Neill, his son Paddy O’Neill, Eddie Rainsford, his brother Johnny Rainsford, “Hocker” Mulhall, “Messcock” Kelly, John Chanders, Christy Dunne and Patrick Murphy.
After writing the above I re-read an article I which wrote on Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace in the Eye on the Past series some five years ago and appended thereto was a note of a telephone call which I received afterwards from Mrs. Sheila Mulhall of Ballylinan, a daughter of “Hocker” Mulhall. She brought me up to date on some of the old residents of St. Joseph’s Terrace and in the course of that phone call I noted her as saying “Sleaty Row was the name of the area where Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace was built, while the Gulch was where the Urban District Council offices were put up”. So I had heard of Sleaty Row before last Sunday but quite obviously forgot about it. Now that I have identified with the aid of the Ordinance Survey map of 1873 three distinct types of houses at Rathstewart, I wonder to which of them the place-names Sleaty Row and the Gulch applied. Is it the six two-storey houses facing onto the street and adjoining St. Joseph’s boys school, or the courtyard just beyond, or the cul-de-sac beyond that again? Can anyone help me to positively identify the locations of the Gulch and Sleaty Row, as unfortunately the old town map does not give them these place-names.
While I’m at it, can I set another poser for the older generation. If travelling into Athy from a certain direction I would have to turn at “the Hand” to get onto the main road. Where was “the Hand”? I never heard of it until last Sunday when the wife of the good man who brought Sleaty Row to my attention mentioned how her mother always referred to a certain part of the town as “the Hand”. I’d like to hear from anyone who knows where it is.
The Chairman of Athy Urban District Council, Councilor Séan Cunnane, will launch the book “Athy Urban District Council - A brief overview of its first 100 years” in the Council Chamber on Thursday, 20th September at 7.30pm. The book is published as part of the centenary celebration of the Council and is by and large based on material culled from the Minute Books of the Council over the past 100 years. I understand that the Town Clerk, Tommy Maddock, who will shortly be resigning to take up a new position with Kildare County Council, is offering a glass of wine to anyone brave enough to come to the Book Launch. See you there.
Just beyond Rathstewart Bridge and on the right hand side of the road were six two-storey houses which were knocked down in the early 1980’s. They were then demolished to make way for Athy’s Urban District Council Offices. Immediately beyond and adjoining them were two single storey cabins facing the river Barrow, with an entrance into the courtyard of Sleaty’s Row separating the row of houses from another two cabins on the far side of the entrance. As you entered the courtyard there was a small back lane running at the rere of the two river-facing cabins on your right, and on the far side of that small lane entrance were three two-storey houses making up the right hand side of the courtyard. Facing you as you stood at the entrance to Sleaty Row was a single storey house, which I understand was referred to as the garden house. It formed the back of the courtyard and the fourth side of the complex comprised the rear of four houses which were accessed by another entrance off Rathstewart, just beyond Sleaty Row.
I suspect, although I am open to correction, that the adjoining Sleaty Row cul-de-sac which consisted of eight houses on the right, a house at the end and six houses on the left was called the Gulch. The last mentioned six houses had rear yards, as did the house standing alone at the end of the cul-de-sac, but the other eight houses had no outside facilities.
It was as a young man in the early 1930’s that my friend remembered Sleaty Row, and that must have been before St. Joseph’s Terrace housing scheme was build in 1933/34. Indeed the records show that the new tenants of the houses in Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace and those in numbers 1 to 17 Upper St. Joseph’s Terrace received the keys to their new homes on the 2nd of March 1934. Several of the new tenants were re-housed from addresses in Rathstewart and many, if not all, were presumably tenants of Sleaty Row or the Gulch.
These former tenants of Rathstewart are mentioned in the Urban Council Minute Books as M. Keogh: W. Leonard: T. Alcock: James Neill: Patrick Neill: E. Rainsford: John Rainsford: M. Mulhall: C. Kelly: John Chanders: C. Dunne and Patrick Murphy. I suspect that the Council records may not always accurately record the correct names of the people involved as for instance in the case of James Neill and Patrick Neill who were in fact O’Neill. The others recorded in the Council records were Mick Keogh, Mrs. Leonard, Tommy Alcock (known as “Tut”), James otherwise Jim O’Neill, his son Paddy O’Neill, Eddie Rainsford, his brother Johnny Rainsford, “Hocker” Mulhall, “Messcock” Kelly, John Chanders, Christy Dunne and Patrick Murphy.
After writing the above I re-read an article I which wrote on Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace in the Eye on the Past series some five years ago and appended thereto was a note of a telephone call which I received afterwards from Mrs. Sheila Mulhall of Ballylinan, a daughter of “Hocker” Mulhall. She brought me up to date on some of the old residents of St. Joseph’s Terrace and in the course of that phone call I noted her as saying “Sleaty Row was the name of the area where Lower St. Joseph’s Terrace was built, while the Gulch was where the Urban District Council offices were put up”. So I had heard of Sleaty Row before last Sunday but quite obviously forgot about it. Now that I have identified with the aid of the Ordinance Survey map of 1873 three distinct types of houses at Rathstewart, I wonder to which of them the place-names Sleaty Row and the Gulch applied. Is it the six two-storey houses facing onto the street and adjoining St. Joseph’s boys school, or the courtyard just beyond, or the cul-de-sac beyond that again? Can anyone help me to positively identify the locations of the Gulch and Sleaty Row, as unfortunately the old town map does not give them these place-names.
While I’m at it, can I set another poser for the older generation. If travelling into Athy from a certain direction I would have to turn at “the Hand” to get onto the main road. Where was “the Hand”? I never heard of it until last Sunday when the wife of the good man who brought Sleaty Row to my attention mentioned how her mother always referred to a certain part of the town as “the Hand”. I’d like to hear from anyone who knows where it is.
The Chairman of Athy Urban District Council, Councilor Séan Cunnane, will launch the book “Athy Urban District Council - A brief overview of its first 100 years” in the Council Chamber on Thursday, 20th September at 7.30pm. The book is published as part of the centenary celebration of the Council and is by and large based on material culled from the Minute Books of the Council over the past 100 years. I understand that the Town Clerk, Tommy Maddock, who will shortly be resigning to take up a new position with Kildare County Council, is offering a glass of wine to anyone brave enough to come to the Book Launch. See you there.
Thursday, August 2, 2001
Jim Flood Fontstown
It’s over a year since I had a most pleasant interview with Jim Flood of Fontstown, a man of 87 years of age with an extraordinary memory for the people and events of the past. Jim lives with his daughter Nuala and her family in the house where he was born and into which his parents first moved in 1913 as tenants of Kildare County Council. It was provided by the Council as part of a scheme of isolated cottages then being built for agricultural labourers in the County. Jim’s father was the first tenant of the house and it gave him an independence which he had not enjoyed when he previously lived in tied accommodation provided by farmers for whom he worked.
Jim went to school in Skerries during the War of Independence and walked four miles to school and back home again each day of the school year. School numbers at primary school level in those days were particularly high due to the large family sizes of the time and the two-roomed school house at Skerries catered for in excess of one hundred children. He recalls his first teacher, Miss Pender, whose father was a coachman in Kildangan Stud and who rode a horse each day from Kildangan to the Skerries School. Even as a very young school boy with a daily round journey of eight miles to walk Jim still found time to work on the local Dobbyn farm, initially doing small odd jobs around the place. He was 13 or 14 years of age when he left school for the last time and took up full time work with Dobbyns, working all hours of the day and night. He recalls the enjoyment of travelling to Athy by ass and cart to collect “messages” for the Dobbyns. This required stop offs at various shops including Brid Lawlers, Scully’s and O’Brien’s and occasionally a visit to the Railway Station to collect goods sent from Dublin. After two years or so Jim got a temporary job working in Blackwood Forest from T.J. Bodley, the local Welfare Officer of Leinster Street and spent some time there before moving on again.
He was soon to find work in his own area when he was taken on by Colonel Barry who lived in the Manor House in Fontstown. Colonel Barry lived in a fine three storey over basement house which was once the home of Canon Bagot, a powerful Church of Ireland Minister whose influence extended far beyond the rural district of Fontstown. The Manor House which is no longer standing was located just beyond Fontstown Church near to the entrance to Mervyn Stanley’s former home. Canon Bagot’s daughters later moved to Athy and lived in Shamrock Lodge on the Kildare Road. Colonel Barry with whom Jim Flood worked for five or six years was a veteran of the Boer War and his sister lived with him in the Manor House.
From the late 1930’s Jim worked for the Barrow Drainage Board on the stretch of the river from Jamestown Monasterevin to Athy. Within a few years he took up employment on the Lambe Brothers fruit farm in Fontstown where he worked in one capacity or another for almost forty years. Lambe’s started up in Fontstown in 1943 and the business was then managed by Alo Lawler, Dermot’s father, until it closed down in 1975. Thereafter the fruit farm was owned and operated by the former manager, and later still, and to this day, by his son Dermot.
One of Jim Flood’s greatest interests throughout his long life was ballroom dancing. He attended dances everywhere, as often as time and his resources allowed. He thought little of cycling to Dublin on the half day he got off each month while working with Colonel Barry, to attend dances in one of the many ballrooms in the city. The Machusla in Amiens Street, the National Ballroom and what he refers to as “The Bakers Place” were some of the favoured venues attended by Jim over the years. After each dance the journey by bicycle was retraced with the tired but happy young man reaching home as the dawn broke. He was invariably just in time to start his days work but as he says “once you had a craze for something you didn’t mind”. And it was a craze he continued after he got married. With his late wife Louie he attended dances in Crookstown, Castledermot, Athy and indeed anywhere the passion for dancing could be fulfilled. He recalls dancing in Dreamland Ballroom when it opened in 1961. Despite his age Jim retains the lightness of step of a dancer and still loves to get out on the dance floor for a quickstep or a foxtrot whenever the opportunity arises.
Jim has a great recall for the history of his native Fontstown and he remembers the Kilmead Fife and Drum Band which Ned Kelly, the tailor of Kilmead, was in charge of for so long. Folk memory has it that the band marched and played a welcome for Colonel Barry when he first arrived to live at Fontstown Manor at the early part of the century. The band practiced in the open air at “The Piers” which Jim explained were the gate piers to Youngstown House on the side road leading from Kilmead to Booleigh. They were known locally as “The Grand Piers” and the road leading down and beyond them was always referred to by the locals of old as “Piers Road”. Kilmead Fife and Drum Band broke up about sixty years ago when a similar band started up in nearby Mullaghmast.
Jim remembers the great political meetings in the Square in Athy where the likes of Eamon de Valera and Mary McSwiney, sister of the martyred Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSwiney addressed the crowds. These great gatherings were always preceded by the arrival of one of the local bands parading from the Railway Bridge on the Dublin Road. The interruptions and heckling generated by those opposed to the views of the platform party always provided an interesting aside to the evenings proceedings. Interestingly enough the Fianna Fail gatherings were always met with a phalanx, of what Jim refers to, as “the Minch’s crowd”, who were well-known Cumann na nGael supporters. The period of the Blue Shirt movement was an interesting time for a young onlooker such as Jim and many a story he has to recount of that time. The story of the movement in Athy and the outlining districts of South Kildare is another story for another day.
I leave the final word to Jim who recalls a time over 70 years ago:
“When I was going to school I remember them making the first road, steam rolling it here in the 1920’s. Then there was only one car on the road and when we were kids of a Thursday we would be listening to hear the approach of Captain Hone’s motor car. You would hear it when it was at the Seven Stars, with old Captain Hone driving down to Kilmead with money to pay his workers”.
Jim went to school in Skerries during the War of Independence and walked four miles to school and back home again each day of the school year. School numbers at primary school level in those days were particularly high due to the large family sizes of the time and the two-roomed school house at Skerries catered for in excess of one hundred children. He recalls his first teacher, Miss Pender, whose father was a coachman in Kildangan Stud and who rode a horse each day from Kildangan to the Skerries School. Even as a very young school boy with a daily round journey of eight miles to walk Jim still found time to work on the local Dobbyn farm, initially doing small odd jobs around the place. He was 13 or 14 years of age when he left school for the last time and took up full time work with Dobbyns, working all hours of the day and night. He recalls the enjoyment of travelling to Athy by ass and cart to collect “messages” for the Dobbyns. This required stop offs at various shops including Brid Lawlers, Scully’s and O’Brien’s and occasionally a visit to the Railway Station to collect goods sent from Dublin. After two years or so Jim got a temporary job working in Blackwood Forest from T.J. Bodley, the local Welfare Officer of Leinster Street and spent some time there before moving on again.
He was soon to find work in his own area when he was taken on by Colonel Barry who lived in the Manor House in Fontstown. Colonel Barry lived in a fine three storey over basement house which was once the home of Canon Bagot, a powerful Church of Ireland Minister whose influence extended far beyond the rural district of Fontstown. The Manor House which is no longer standing was located just beyond Fontstown Church near to the entrance to Mervyn Stanley’s former home. Canon Bagot’s daughters later moved to Athy and lived in Shamrock Lodge on the Kildare Road. Colonel Barry with whom Jim Flood worked for five or six years was a veteran of the Boer War and his sister lived with him in the Manor House.
From the late 1930’s Jim worked for the Barrow Drainage Board on the stretch of the river from Jamestown Monasterevin to Athy. Within a few years he took up employment on the Lambe Brothers fruit farm in Fontstown where he worked in one capacity or another for almost forty years. Lambe’s started up in Fontstown in 1943 and the business was then managed by Alo Lawler, Dermot’s father, until it closed down in 1975. Thereafter the fruit farm was owned and operated by the former manager, and later still, and to this day, by his son Dermot.
One of Jim Flood’s greatest interests throughout his long life was ballroom dancing. He attended dances everywhere, as often as time and his resources allowed. He thought little of cycling to Dublin on the half day he got off each month while working with Colonel Barry, to attend dances in one of the many ballrooms in the city. The Machusla in Amiens Street, the National Ballroom and what he refers to as “The Bakers Place” were some of the favoured venues attended by Jim over the years. After each dance the journey by bicycle was retraced with the tired but happy young man reaching home as the dawn broke. He was invariably just in time to start his days work but as he says “once you had a craze for something you didn’t mind”. And it was a craze he continued after he got married. With his late wife Louie he attended dances in Crookstown, Castledermot, Athy and indeed anywhere the passion for dancing could be fulfilled. He recalls dancing in Dreamland Ballroom when it opened in 1961. Despite his age Jim retains the lightness of step of a dancer and still loves to get out on the dance floor for a quickstep or a foxtrot whenever the opportunity arises.
Jim has a great recall for the history of his native Fontstown and he remembers the Kilmead Fife and Drum Band which Ned Kelly, the tailor of Kilmead, was in charge of for so long. Folk memory has it that the band marched and played a welcome for Colonel Barry when he first arrived to live at Fontstown Manor at the early part of the century. The band practiced in the open air at “The Piers” which Jim explained were the gate piers to Youngstown House on the side road leading from Kilmead to Booleigh. They were known locally as “The Grand Piers” and the road leading down and beyond them was always referred to by the locals of old as “Piers Road”. Kilmead Fife and Drum Band broke up about sixty years ago when a similar band started up in nearby Mullaghmast.
Jim remembers the great political meetings in the Square in Athy where the likes of Eamon de Valera and Mary McSwiney, sister of the martyred Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence McSwiney addressed the crowds. These great gatherings were always preceded by the arrival of one of the local bands parading from the Railway Bridge on the Dublin Road. The interruptions and heckling generated by those opposed to the views of the platform party always provided an interesting aside to the evenings proceedings. Interestingly enough the Fianna Fail gatherings were always met with a phalanx, of what Jim refers to, as “the Minch’s crowd”, who were well-known Cumann na nGael supporters. The period of the Blue Shirt movement was an interesting time for a young onlooker such as Jim and many a story he has to recount of that time. The story of the movement in Athy and the outlining districts of South Kildare is another story for another day.
I leave the final word to Jim who recalls a time over 70 years ago:
“When I was going to school I remember them making the first road, steam rolling it here in the 1920’s. Then there was only one car on the road and when we were kids of a Thursday we would be listening to hear the approach of Captain Hone’s motor car. You would hear it when it was at the Seven Stars, with old Captain Hone driving down to Kilmead with money to pay his workers”.
Thursday, July 26, 2001
Michael 'Icecream' Kavanagh
Strange are the coincidences which brought me face to face with the image of Charlie Doyle, a local worker on the railway, now long dead and which days later saw me enquiring about Mickey “Icecream” Kavanagh. Charlie’s image was captured in a photograph which graced the London home of Pat Aldridge and his wife Josie with whom I grew up in Offaly Street many years ago. Josie Murphy as she then was, lived directly opposite No. 5 Offaly Street in what was even then a small house next to Kehoe’s pub. The one time Murphy home was a few years ago made even smaller to allow the entrance to the pub yard to be widened. But I digress.
Charlie Doyle was married to Lizzie Morrin and they had two children, Paddy and Polly, the latter being the mother of the talented Murphy family who lived in Offaly Street up to the 1960’s. Charlie died following an accident on the railway and Lizzie remarried Danny Kavanagh and reared seven more children, all of whom are now dead. Danny Kavanagh was a brother of James Kavanagh, batman to Lieutenant John Vincent Holland during World War I and the man whom some locals claim won the Victoria Cross which however was awarded to Holland in 1916.
Three days after meeting Pat and Josie Aldridge in London and becoming acquainted for the first time with the story of their Kavanagh connections I had a caller to my office. Frank Kavanagh, whose father Michael had died earlier that day in Kilkenny at 87 years of age, was urgently seeking information on his father’s Athy background. For Michael Kavanagh was a native of Meeting Lane and lived and worked in Athy until he left for Kilkenny at 27 years of age as a member of the 39th Infantry Battalion in 1941. He married two years later and served as a member of the Fire Brigade staff in Kilkenny city for 37 years.
Frank who is employed in Kilkenny Castle knew something of his father’s background but was anxious to find out before the funeral service as much as possible about his father’s connections with Athy. A few phone calls and visits to St. Joseph’s Terrace and to St. Michael’s old cemetery unearthed details of Michael Kavanagh’s parents. They were Michael and Margaret Kavanagh of Meeting Lane who died in 1946 and 1928 respectively. Michael Senior worked in the Barrow Yard for the Board of Works. Buried with his parents was their son William, known locally as a talented artist and gifted cartoonist who died of TB in February 1943, aged 23 years.
But what of their eldest son named after his father Michael. Even though he left Athy 60 years ago he was still remembered by a number of the locals as “Micky Icecream”. For you see the young Michael Kavanagh worked as an icecream salesman for Tom Flood of Leinster Street whose icecream was a particular favourite with Athy children in the 1930’s. Mickey Kavanagh was employed to sell the icecream from an icebox mounted on a large tricycle. Always turned out in a white coat and cap his call of “icecream, icecream, anyone for icecream?” as he cycled around the town made him a popular figure. Thus was Michael Kavanagh remembered in Athy but he also had another name “Switzer” Kavanagh which one of my local informants could recall. This was a nickname he had before he went to live in Kilkenny and its the name by which he was commonly known in the Marble City.
Michael Kavanagh had a brother Jimmy who also left Athy to live in Kilkenny and there is mention of another brother Myles, about whom I have been unable to get any information. Certainly the name Myles was a well known name amongst the Kavanagh families in Athy over the years and many will remember “Queenie” Kavanagh’s son of that name who died some years ago. He was brother of Paddy, Peter, Eamon and Rose Kavanagh and they were cousins to Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh and like him once lived in Meeting Lane before moving to St. Joseph’s Terrace.
Frank Kavanagh was delighted to unearth some background details on his father’s family and I was left wondering at the strange coincidence which brought two strands of the Kavanagh family story together drawn from places as far apart as London and Kilkenny. For you see Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh was a cousin of the Danny Kavanagh who married Lizzie Doyle, widow of the man whose photograph I saw in London just days previously.
It is only when you visit Athy people living away from their own home that you realise the depth of affections which is held in people’s heart for their own place. Athy has not only been the easiest place in which to live and work over the years but no matter what difficulties were met those early experiences in our home town provide the touchstone against which all other experiences are measured and assessed. It is a place where once familiar since forgotten faces can help to recall mislaid memories of places and people. Such was my feeling when I saw photographs of Charlie Doyle and his daughter Polly who with her husband Paddy Murphy reared a family of eight in No. 24 Offaly Street all those years ago.
While I was away last week Catherine Bergin passed away, just a few weeks after her sister Brigid Bolger died. They were inseparable in life and so it proved also in death. I remember Brigid and Catherine when they lived in Leinster Street and while Brigid was working with I.V.I. Foundry Limited. The I.V.I. was a place of substantial employment for decades from the late 1920’s before it succumbed to market forces and competition in the 1980’s. Men reared families on the hard earned wage packets which were handed out at the I.V.I. each Friday afternoon. Working in the Foundry wasn’t easy but in the 1930’s and up to and including the 1950’s there were few other job opportunities in Athy. It’s no wonder that so many Athy men and women had to emigrate as did so many members of the different Kavanagh families who lived during the 1920’s and the 1930’s in Meeting Lane.
Josie Murphy and her near neighbour Mary Tuohy whom I had also hoped to meet last week are some of the emigrants of the 1960’s who have made their homes and reared their families on the far side of the Irish Sea. Some like Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh were fortunate to find employment in their own country, even if that employment was not to be had in their native town. The common thread linking the emigrant and the migrant of yesteryear is the place where they first saw the light of day and the place from where they set out on the journey of life, bringing with them the memories and mementos of a time that could never again be re-lived. For all its apparent obstinacy and persistent failure to keep pace with the advances of the Celtic Tiger those of us who live here and those who once lived here can still be proud of our home town.
Charlie Doyle was married to Lizzie Morrin and they had two children, Paddy and Polly, the latter being the mother of the talented Murphy family who lived in Offaly Street up to the 1960’s. Charlie died following an accident on the railway and Lizzie remarried Danny Kavanagh and reared seven more children, all of whom are now dead. Danny Kavanagh was a brother of James Kavanagh, batman to Lieutenant John Vincent Holland during World War I and the man whom some locals claim won the Victoria Cross which however was awarded to Holland in 1916.
Three days after meeting Pat and Josie Aldridge in London and becoming acquainted for the first time with the story of their Kavanagh connections I had a caller to my office. Frank Kavanagh, whose father Michael had died earlier that day in Kilkenny at 87 years of age, was urgently seeking information on his father’s Athy background. For Michael Kavanagh was a native of Meeting Lane and lived and worked in Athy until he left for Kilkenny at 27 years of age as a member of the 39th Infantry Battalion in 1941. He married two years later and served as a member of the Fire Brigade staff in Kilkenny city for 37 years.
Frank who is employed in Kilkenny Castle knew something of his father’s background but was anxious to find out before the funeral service as much as possible about his father’s connections with Athy. A few phone calls and visits to St. Joseph’s Terrace and to St. Michael’s old cemetery unearthed details of Michael Kavanagh’s parents. They were Michael and Margaret Kavanagh of Meeting Lane who died in 1946 and 1928 respectively. Michael Senior worked in the Barrow Yard for the Board of Works. Buried with his parents was their son William, known locally as a talented artist and gifted cartoonist who died of TB in February 1943, aged 23 years.
But what of their eldest son named after his father Michael. Even though he left Athy 60 years ago he was still remembered by a number of the locals as “Micky Icecream”. For you see the young Michael Kavanagh worked as an icecream salesman for Tom Flood of Leinster Street whose icecream was a particular favourite with Athy children in the 1930’s. Mickey Kavanagh was employed to sell the icecream from an icebox mounted on a large tricycle. Always turned out in a white coat and cap his call of “icecream, icecream, anyone for icecream?” as he cycled around the town made him a popular figure. Thus was Michael Kavanagh remembered in Athy but he also had another name “Switzer” Kavanagh which one of my local informants could recall. This was a nickname he had before he went to live in Kilkenny and its the name by which he was commonly known in the Marble City.
Michael Kavanagh had a brother Jimmy who also left Athy to live in Kilkenny and there is mention of another brother Myles, about whom I have been unable to get any information. Certainly the name Myles was a well known name amongst the Kavanagh families in Athy over the years and many will remember “Queenie” Kavanagh’s son of that name who died some years ago. He was brother of Paddy, Peter, Eamon and Rose Kavanagh and they were cousins to Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh and like him once lived in Meeting Lane before moving to St. Joseph’s Terrace.
Frank Kavanagh was delighted to unearth some background details on his father’s family and I was left wondering at the strange coincidence which brought two strands of the Kavanagh family story together drawn from places as far apart as London and Kilkenny. For you see Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh was a cousin of the Danny Kavanagh who married Lizzie Doyle, widow of the man whose photograph I saw in London just days previously.
It is only when you visit Athy people living away from their own home that you realise the depth of affections which is held in people’s heart for their own place. Athy has not only been the easiest place in which to live and work over the years but no matter what difficulties were met those early experiences in our home town provide the touchstone against which all other experiences are measured and assessed. It is a place where once familiar since forgotten faces can help to recall mislaid memories of places and people. Such was my feeling when I saw photographs of Charlie Doyle and his daughter Polly who with her husband Paddy Murphy reared a family of eight in No. 24 Offaly Street all those years ago.
While I was away last week Catherine Bergin passed away, just a few weeks after her sister Brigid Bolger died. They were inseparable in life and so it proved also in death. I remember Brigid and Catherine when they lived in Leinster Street and while Brigid was working with I.V.I. Foundry Limited. The I.V.I. was a place of substantial employment for decades from the late 1920’s before it succumbed to market forces and competition in the 1980’s. Men reared families on the hard earned wage packets which were handed out at the I.V.I. each Friday afternoon. Working in the Foundry wasn’t easy but in the 1930’s and up to and including the 1950’s there were few other job opportunities in Athy. It’s no wonder that so many Athy men and women had to emigrate as did so many members of the different Kavanagh families who lived during the 1920’s and the 1930’s in Meeting Lane.
Josie Murphy and her near neighbour Mary Tuohy whom I had also hoped to meet last week are some of the emigrants of the 1960’s who have made their homes and reared their families on the far side of the Irish Sea. Some like Michael “Switzer” Kavanagh were fortunate to find employment in their own country, even if that employment was not to be had in their native town. The common thread linking the emigrant and the migrant of yesteryear is the place where they first saw the light of day and the place from where they set out on the journey of life, bringing with them the memories and mementos of a time that could never again be re-lived. For all its apparent obstinacy and persistent failure to keep pace with the advances of the Celtic Tiger those of us who live here and those who once lived here can still be proud of our home town.
Thursday, July 19, 2001
Athy 1670-1698
Athy in the 1670’s was apparently a distressful place in which to live as evidenced by Dalton in his History of Drogheda in which he wrote that two aldermen
“were appointed to receive the benevolence of the inhabitants of the town for the relief of those of Athy who had suffered greatly in the late wars, and the major and aldermen were empowered to add what they thought fit out of the town purse, to make the sum of value”.
After the first years of the Cromwellian plantation, the Irish and the descendants of Anglo Norman settlers began to move back into the towns and to regain some of their previous prominence. Alarmed at this development the Protestant settlers demanded new tougher measures to curtail the Catholics. Under the Test Act passed in 1673, Catholics were barred from all civil, judicial and military offices. In 1678 there arose the “Popish Plot” following which it was decided to banish all regular and secular clergy from Ireland by November 20th.
On 2nd December 1678 the Council of State wrote as follows to the Sovereign of Athy:-
“We have received information that on Sunday the 24th of November last there was a great concourse of people in and near Athy and there were about 1300 persons assembled there to hear Mass. We require you to inform yourself of the number so assembled and their condition and qualities and the names of some few of the principals”.
The Sovereign in his reply stated that only 300 persons were present, mostly parishioners, including Edmund Dunn, Priest, William Smith, Michael Smith, Richard Hoey and another member of the Corporation. It was further reported that the size of the congregation was due to the fear that Mass would become scarce “and so nobody would omit it while it was to be had”.
The Council wrote again on 9th December 1678:-
“We find by your letters of the 5th inst. an account of the late concourse of people in which letters you mention that you heard that the Parish Priest there hath displast priests and divided parishes thereabout. We require you to inform yourself of that matter and discover the names of the priests removed and the names of the priests who were put in their places and whether the Parish Priest hath any authority and from whom, upon all which you will make return to us”.
The Parish Priest referred to was in fact Dr. Mark Forrestal, Bishop of Kildare who was captured in February 1681 and imprisoned until his death in 1683.
As is evidenced by the clerical activity in Athy during November and December 1678, few clergy obeyed the order of banishment and on 4 April 1679 we find the Council writing to the Mayors and Sovereigns of all cities and towns:-
“We are informed that contrary to the Proclamation of 20 November 1678 great and unusual number of the Popish religion do meet and assemble themselves within divers of the cities and towns corporate of this Kingdom, to exercise their religion, we require you to take care that such meetings within the walls and liberties thereof be dispersed and dissolved and that you do not permit any popish services to be publicly celebrated within the said towns, cities or liberties or suburbs thereof.”
In 1680 James Geoghegan, a defrocked Franciscan was instructed to proceed to Ireland for the purpose of searching out priests. On December 12th of that year he came to the house of James FitzGerald of Maddenstown after arriving from Athy with a priest Thomas Archbold under arrest. Having enquired if FitzGerald would enter into bonds for the priest, Archbold was released on paying 32/6 to Geoghegan. It was also reported by the same FitzGerald that Geoghegan took a horse, with saddle and bridle on December 16th and sold them to a horseman in Athy for one guinea.
The Protestant settlers alarmed at the Catholic resurgence under Charles II were further alarmed by the accession of James II in 1685 and by his subsequent appointment of the Catholic Richard Talbot in charge of Ireland. That year witnessed an exodus of Protestant merchants from Ireland in the face of the readmission of Catholics into military and judicial office. Cities and towns were required to surrender their charters and accept new ones granted by the King under which Catholics were not to be excluded. Athy was granted a new charter by James II on 4 July 1688, which owing to subsequent events was never acted upon.
The result of King James’ attempt to bring the Catholics back into positions of power culminated in the Battle of the Boyne, after which Protestant rule of a Catholic majority was assured. The position of the Protestant minority was reinforced by the application of an English Act of 1691 which required members of both houses of the Irish Parliament to subscribe to a declaration against Catholic doctrine. The Parliament summoned for 1692 in which Athy Borough was represented by Richard Locke and Raphael Hunt, pressed for measures against the Catholics. So began the penal laws which were to remain in force for many years to the detriment of the native Catholics.
One of the first victims in the Athy area was the Titular Archbishop of Dublin Dr. Patrick Russell who with two priests sought refuge in a cave near Ardreigh in 1692. It is said that their hiding place was known only to a man named Bailey and his immediate family, all members of the established church, but who nevertheless daily supplied the fugitives with food and drink. A Catholic servant woman named Devoy was entrusted to carry provisions to the cave. Questioned by the Authorities she was induced to pinpoint the hiding place which she did by leaving a trail of seed in her wake on her next visit to the cave. When she had returned to her masters house the Authorities had no difficulty in arresting the Archbishop and his companions. Sent as a prisoner to Dublin Bishop Russell appears to have suffered the ultimate penalty as his Bishopric was vacant within 6 months.
Local tradition translates the story to Derryvullagh Bog where a small piece of arable land in the middle of the bog approached only by a narrow path is supposed to be the place where Dominican Fathers from Athy Friary hid from Cromwells soldiers. A local man who supplied the soldiers with flour, marked the pathway to the Friars hiding place with flour. Captured by the soldiers the priests, according to tradition, were executed.
In 1697 the Irish Parliament passed an act banishing all “papists exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction and all regulars of the popish clergy” from Ireland before 1 May 1698. Punishment for failure to leave was imprisonment and transportation. Persons sheltering priests were liable to a £20 fine for the first offence, £40 for the second offence and liable to forfeit their entire property for a third offence. The second dissolution of the Dominican Monastery in Athy dates from this time, and a further 30 years were to pass before the Dominicans returned to Athy. Official reports furnished to Rome in 1736 indicated that all Dominican houses except Naas, Aghaboe and Youghal had priors, thereby indicating the revival of the Athy monastery sometime after 1730 when the state of Popery Returns show no friars for Athy.
“were appointed to receive the benevolence of the inhabitants of the town for the relief of those of Athy who had suffered greatly in the late wars, and the major and aldermen were empowered to add what they thought fit out of the town purse, to make the sum of value”.
After the first years of the Cromwellian plantation, the Irish and the descendants of Anglo Norman settlers began to move back into the towns and to regain some of their previous prominence. Alarmed at this development the Protestant settlers demanded new tougher measures to curtail the Catholics. Under the Test Act passed in 1673, Catholics were barred from all civil, judicial and military offices. In 1678 there arose the “Popish Plot” following which it was decided to banish all regular and secular clergy from Ireland by November 20th.
On 2nd December 1678 the Council of State wrote as follows to the Sovereign of Athy:-
“We have received information that on Sunday the 24th of November last there was a great concourse of people in and near Athy and there were about 1300 persons assembled there to hear Mass. We require you to inform yourself of the number so assembled and their condition and qualities and the names of some few of the principals”.
The Sovereign in his reply stated that only 300 persons were present, mostly parishioners, including Edmund Dunn, Priest, William Smith, Michael Smith, Richard Hoey and another member of the Corporation. It was further reported that the size of the congregation was due to the fear that Mass would become scarce “and so nobody would omit it while it was to be had”.
The Council wrote again on 9th December 1678:-
“We find by your letters of the 5th inst. an account of the late concourse of people in which letters you mention that you heard that the Parish Priest there hath displast priests and divided parishes thereabout. We require you to inform yourself of that matter and discover the names of the priests removed and the names of the priests who were put in their places and whether the Parish Priest hath any authority and from whom, upon all which you will make return to us”.
The Parish Priest referred to was in fact Dr. Mark Forrestal, Bishop of Kildare who was captured in February 1681 and imprisoned until his death in 1683.
As is evidenced by the clerical activity in Athy during November and December 1678, few clergy obeyed the order of banishment and on 4 April 1679 we find the Council writing to the Mayors and Sovereigns of all cities and towns:-
“We are informed that contrary to the Proclamation of 20 November 1678 great and unusual number of the Popish religion do meet and assemble themselves within divers of the cities and towns corporate of this Kingdom, to exercise their religion, we require you to take care that such meetings within the walls and liberties thereof be dispersed and dissolved and that you do not permit any popish services to be publicly celebrated within the said towns, cities or liberties or suburbs thereof.”
In 1680 James Geoghegan, a defrocked Franciscan was instructed to proceed to Ireland for the purpose of searching out priests. On December 12th of that year he came to the house of James FitzGerald of Maddenstown after arriving from Athy with a priest Thomas Archbold under arrest. Having enquired if FitzGerald would enter into bonds for the priest, Archbold was released on paying 32/6 to Geoghegan. It was also reported by the same FitzGerald that Geoghegan took a horse, with saddle and bridle on December 16th and sold them to a horseman in Athy for one guinea.
The Protestant settlers alarmed at the Catholic resurgence under Charles II were further alarmed by the accession of James II in 1685 and by his subsequent appointment of the Catholic Richard Talbot in charge of Ireland. That year witnessed an exodus of Protestant merchants from Ireland in the face of the readmission of Catholics into military and judicial office. Cities and towns were required to surrender their charters and accept new ones granted by the King under which Catholics were not to be excluded. Athy was granted a new charter by James II on 4 July 1688, which owing to subsequent events was never acted upon.
The result of King James’ attempt to bring the Catholics back into positions of power culminated in the Battle of the Boyne, after which Protestant rule of a Catholic majority was assured. The position of the Protestant minority was reinforced by the application of an English Act of 1691 which required members of both houses of the Irish Parliament to subscribe to a declaration against Catholic doctrine. The Parliament summoned for 1692 in which Athy Borough was represented by Richard Locke and Raphael Hunt, pressed for measures against the Catholics. So began the penal laws which were to remain in force for many years to the detriment of the native Catholics.
One of the first victims in the Athy area was the Titular Archbishop of Dublin Dr. Patrick Russell who with two priests sought refuge in a cave near Ardreigh in 1692. It is said that their hiding place was known only to a man named Bailey and his immediate family, all members of the established church, but who nevertheless daily supplied the fugitives with food and drink. A Catholic servant woman named Devoy was entrusted to carry provisions to the cave. Questioned by the Authorities she was induced to pinpoint the hiding place which she did by leaving a trail of seed in her wake on her next visit to the cave. When she had returned to her masters house the Authorities had no difficulty in arresting the Archbishop and his companions. Sent as a prisoner to Dublin Bishop Russell appears to have suffered the ultimate penalty as his Bishopric was vacant within 6 months.
Local tradition translates the story to Derryvullagh Bog where a small piece of arable land in the middle of the bog approached only by a narrow path is supposed to be the place where Dominican Fathers from Athy Friary hid from Cromwells soldiers. A local man who supplied the soldiers with flour, marked the pathway to the Friars hiding place with flour. Captured by the soldiers the priests, according to tradition, were executed.
In 1697 the Irish Parliament passed an act banishing all “papists exercising any ecclesiastical jurisdiction and all regulars of the popish clergy” from Ireland before 1 May 1698. Punishment for failure to leave was imprisonment and transportation. Persons sheltering priests were liable to a £20 fine for the first offence, £40 for the second offence and liable to forfeit their entire property for a third offence. The second dissolution of the Dominican Monastery in Athy dates from this time, and a further 30 years were to pass before the Dominicans returned to Athy. Official reports furnished to Rome in 1736 indicated that all Dominican houses except Naas, Aghaboe and Youghal had priors, thereby indicating the revival of the Athy monastery sometime after 1730 when the state of Popery Returns show no friars for Athy.
Thursday, July 12, 2001
Extracts from Minute Books - Athy U.D.C. Contd.
This week we continue with some extracts from the Minute Books of Athy Urban District Council during the 1930’s and 1940’s.
5TH MAY, 1930
A new lighting system came into operation in Athy in September 1930. It consisted of fifty 200 watt lamps, ten of which were pilot lamps. The pilot lamps were lit from dusk to dawn, the remaining lamps one hour after sunset to midnight. The total cost for the year was estimated to be £170.00.
2ND JANUARY, 1931
The Urban District Council agreed that in future the poor people of Athy would be allowed to have graves opened at their own expense under the supervision of the Cemetery Caretaker, Mr. P. Hyland.
5TH OCTOBER, 1931
Reference was made to the fatal accident at St. Michael’s Cemetery on 25th September when Mr. B. Bolger died. The local Councillors agreed that a railing should be erected on the wall where the accident occurred.
21ST MARCH, 1932
The Duke of Leinster’s Agent offered a room adjoining the Leinster Estate Office in the Town Hall to be used as a local library at a rent of £1.00 per year.
22ND SEPTEMBER, 1932
Miss M. Gibbons, Local Librarian was allowed to open the Library on Tuesday nights instead of Thursday nights as practice dances were being held in the Town Hall on Thursdays.
27TH FEBRUARY, 1933
A special meeting of Athy Urban District Council was held to meet a deputation from the local St. Vincent de Paul Society to discuss the distress prevailing amongst the poor of Athy caused by the bad weather. The Vincent de Paul Society was represented by T.J. Brennan, D. Carbery and Fintan Brennan. It was agreed to set up a Distress Committee consisting of the members of the Urban District Council and representatives of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The Town Clerk and Fintan Brennan were appointed Secretaries to the Committee.
6TH MAY, 1935
The Urban District Council passed a Motion proposed by J.C. Reynolds and seconded by Tom Carbery “that the Council consider the construction of a Swimming Pool and sanction preliminary expenses not exceeding £5.00 to have plans prepared and estimates of costs made with a view to applying for a Grant for same.”
18TH MAY, 1936
It was reported to the Urban District Council that John Farrell “one of the Councils oldest workmen” was unable to resume work due to illness. He had over forty years service and the Council agreed to write to the Department of Local Government seeking for approval to pay him a small gratuity. The Department subsequently replied that there was no statutory basis for any such payment.
2ND NOVEMBER, 1936
Mr. L. Doyle sought the Urban Council’s support for a request to the proprietor of the local cinema for a free night show to provide boots for the poor children of Athy.
1936
In 1936 a Council tenant in the newly built Dooley’s Terrace Scheme came to the Council to get permission to change his house for a house in “one of the condemned areas”. The tenant was in arrears with his rent and he was given two weeks to find someone who was willing to exchange houses with him and to pay the outstanding arrears. At the same time a tenant from St. Joseph’s Terrace who was also in arrears with his rent wrote to the Council informing it that he was going to England to seek employment and would pay off his rent arrears as soon as possible. This was accepted by the Urban Council.
31ST MAY, 1937
The Urban District Council presented an address of welcome to Sean Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce on the occasion of his visit to the town to officially open the Asbestos factory on 31st May, 1937.
5TH AUGUST, 1937
Athy Urban District Council agreed to give a yearly grant of £50.00 to the Athy District Nursing Fund for the part time services of a nurse for infant welfare, half of the amount to be recouped from the Central Fund.
18TH MARCH, 1942
At the Council meeting on 18th March, 1942 reference was made to a fire at Levitstown Mill on the previous Saturday night at 10.30 p.m. A quantity of petrol on reserve plus thirty eight gallons supplied by Mr. Minch were used in the fire fighting operations which lasted intermittently from Saturday night until Tuesday morning. On Monday and Tuesday mornings the Fire Brigade were called out again to deal with small outbreaks of fire from the smouldering material in the Mill. Three extra men were taken on to fight the fire. All firemen were paid at the rate of three shillings per hour. It was agreed that all the costs in connection with the fire fighting operation were to be recouped from Messrs Minch Norton & Company.
2ND OCTOBER, 1944
On the proposal of Tom Carbery it was agreed to recommend to the County Manager that in the next Cinema Licence issued by the Council a condition be inserted prohibiting the admittance of persons under sixteen years of age at any cinema performance terminating later than 8.00 p.m.
4TH MARCH, 1946
At a meeting attended by Garda Sergeant Duggan the Council agreed to ask the Minister for Local Government to have a fifteen mile per hour speed limit in the town of Athy. It was also agreed to have car parks in Blanchfield’s Square in Leinster Street, Woodstock Street, Emily Square and Brogan’s Square in Duke Street.
2ND MARCH, 1947
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on Sunday, 2nd March, 1947 under the auspices of the Urban Council to form a local committee to provide fuel for the poor of Athy. M.G. Nolan and Liam Ryan were appointed to interview Mr. Myles Whelan of Fortbarrington and T.G. Dowling and M. McHugh were asked to interview Miss Geoghegan of Bert House in order to procure sufficient trees for use as firewood.
1ST MARCH, 1948
McNally Cinemas Limited of Dublin wrote to the Council confirming that it was their intention to build a cinema on the Bridge Mill site as soon as legal and other difficulties were overcome.
4TH NOVEMBER, 1948
At it’s meeting on 4th November, 1948 the Council members referred to the tragic drowning of James Bracken during the week and to the gallant efforts of James Dargan of Offaly Street to avert the tragedy.
Someone phoned me following last weeks article asking whatever happened to the Council’s resolution of July 1920 to change the street names of the town for which purpose a committee of the Council was appointed. I’m afraid the Mminute book does not indicate that anything was done with regard to changing the street names. The issue, so far as I’m aware, has not come up since in the Council Chamber. William Duke of Leinster need not be disturbed at the thought that his name might be removed from our principal streets.
5TH MAY, 1930
A new lighting system came into operation in Athy in September 1930. It consisted of fifty 200 watt lamps, ten of which were pilot lamps. The pilot lamps were lit from dusk to dawn, the remaining lamps one hour after sunset to midnight. The total cost for the year was estimated to be £170.00.
2ND JANUARY, 1931
The Urban District Council agreed that in future the poor people of Athy would be allowed to have graves opened at their own expense under the supervision of the Cemetery Caretaker, Mr. P. Hyland.
5TH OCTOBER, 1931
Reference was made to the fatal accident at St. Michael’s Cemetery on 25th September when Mr. B. Bolger died. The local Councillors agreed that a railing should be erected on the wall where the accident occurred.
21ST MARCH, 1932
The Duke of Leinster’s Agent offered a room adjoining the Leinster Estate Office in the Town Hall to be used as a local library at a rent of £1.00 per year.
22ND SEPTEMBER, 1932
Miss M. Gibbons, Local Librarian was allowed to open the Library on Tuesday nights instead of Thursday nights as practice dances were being held in the Town Hall on Thursdays.
27TH FEBRUARY, 1933
A special meeting of Athy Urban District Council was held to meet a deputation from the local St. Vincent de Paul Society to discuss the distress prevailing amongst the poor of Athy caused by the bad weather. The Vincent de Paul Society was represented by T.J. Brennan, D. Carbery and Fintan Brennan. It was agreed to set up a Distress Committee consisting of the members of the Urban District Council and representatives of the St. Vincent de Paul Society. The Town Clerk and Fintan Brennan were appointed Secretaries to the Committee.
6TH MAY, 1935
The Urban District Council passed a Motion proposed by J.C. Reynolds and seconded by Tom Carbery “that the Council consider the construction of a Swimming Pool and sanction preliminary expenses not exceeding £5.00 to have plans prepared and estimates of costs made with a view to applying for a Grant for same.”
18TH MAY, 1936
It was reported to the Urban District Council that John Farrell “one of the Councils oldest workmen” was unable to resume work due to illness. He had over forty years service and the Council agreed to write to the Department of Local Government seeking for approval to pay him a small gratuity. The Department subsequently replied that there was no statutory basis for any such payment.
2ND NOVEMBER, 1936
Mr. L. Doyle sought the Urban Council’s support for a request to the proprietor of the local cinema for a free night show to provide boots for the poor children of Athy.
1936
In 1936 a Council tenant in the newly built Dooley’s Terrace Scheme came to the Council to get permission to change his house for a house in “one of the condemned areas”. The tenant was in arrears with his rent and he was given two weeks to find someone who was willing to exchange houses with him and to pay the outstanding arrears. At the same time a tenant from St. Joseph’s Terrace who was also in arrears with his rent wrote to the Council informing it that he was going to England to seek employment and would pay off his rent arrears as soon as possible. This was accepted by the Urban Council.
31ST MAY, 1937
The Urban District Council presented an address of welcome to Sean Lemass, Minister for Industry and Commerce on the occasion of his visit to the town to officially open the Asbestos factory on 31st May, 1937.
5TH AUGUST, 1937
Athy Urban District Council agreed to give a yearly grant of £50.00 to the Athy District Nursing Fund for the part time services of a nurse for infant welfare, half of the amount to be recouped from the Central Fund.
18TH MARCH, 1942
At the Council meeting on 18th March, 1942 reference was made to a fire at Levitstown Mill on the previous Saturday night at 10.30 p.m. A quantity of petrol on reserve plus thirty eight gallons supplied by Mr. Minch were used in the fire fighting operations which lasted intermittently from Saturday night until Tuesday morning. On Monday and Tuesday mornings the Fire Brigade were called out again to deal with small outbreaks of fire from the smouldering material in the Mill. Three extra men were taken on to fight the fire. All firemen were paid at the rate of three shillings per hour. It was agreed that all the costs in connection with the fire fighting operation were to be recouped from Messrs Minch Norton & Company.
2ND OCTOBER, 1944
On the proposal of Tom Carbery it was agreed to recommend to the County Manager that in the next Cinema Licence issued by the Council a condition be inserted prohibiting the admittance of persons under sixteen years of age at any cinema performance terminating later than 8.00 p.m.
4TH MARCH, 1946
At a meeting attended by Garda Sergeant Duggan the Council agreed to ask the Minister for Local Government to have a fifteen mile per hour speed limit in the town of Athy. It was also agreed to have car parks in Blanchfield’s Square in Leinster Street, Woodstock Street, Emily Square and Brogan’s Square in Duke Street.
2ND MARCH, 1947
A public meeting was held in the Town Hall on Sunday, 2nd March, 1947 under the auspices of the Urban Council to form a local committee to provide fuel for the poor of Athy. M.G. Nolan and Liam Ryan were appointed to interview Mr. Myles Whelan of Fortbarrington and T.G. Dowling and M. McHugh were asked to interview Miss Geoghegan of Bert House in order to procure sufficient trees for use as firewood.
1ST MARCH, 1948
McNally Cinemas Limited of Dublin wrote to the Council confirming that it was their intention to build a cinema on the Bridge Mill site as soon as legal and other difficulties were overcome.
4TH NOVEMBER, 1948
At it’s meeting on 4th November, 1948 the Council members referred to the tragic drowning of James Bracken during the week and to the gallant efforts of James Dargan of Offaly Street to avert the tragedy.
Someone phoned me following last weeks article asking whatever happened to the Council’s resolution of July 1920 to change the street names of the town for which purpose a committee of the Council was appointed. I’m afraid the Mminute book does not indicate that anything was done with regard to changing the street names. The issue, so far as I’m aware, has not come up since in the Council Chamber. William Duke of Leinster need not be disturbed at the thought that his name might be removed from our principal streets.
Thursday, July 5, 2001
Extracts from Minute Books - Athy U.D.C.
A centenary booklet to celebrate 100 years of Athy Urban District Council has just gone to the printers and the following material culled from the Minute Books of the Council for inclusion in the Booklet give an interesting insight into the happenings in Athy during the last two decades of the 20th century.
17TH NOVEMBER 1902
The Council extended congratulations to Patrick Brien of Canalside who saved three children from drowning in the River Barrow at the Horse Bridge on 15th November, 1902.
MARCH 1904
The School Attendance Committee of the Urban Council reported in March 1904 that the average number on rolls in the local Christian Brothers School in 1901 was 291, with an average attendance of 191. The figures for 1904 were 298 and 233. In the Convent Schools the numbers on the rolls in 1901 was 493 with an average attendance of 283 pupils. Three years later the number on the rolls averaged 438, with an average attendance of 207. The 1901 figures for the Model School averaged 62.4 on rolls with average attendance of 42.5 and in 1904 68.4 average on rolls, with an average attendance of 48.
6TH MARCH 1905
The Council Resolved :-
“That in order to constitute St. Patrick’s Day a General Holiday the Urban Council appeals to all the traders of the town to close their houses on that day.”
It was also agreed that posters to this effect be posted throughout the town as they had been done the previous year.
APRIL 1907
In a letter dated 15th April, 1907 James Duthie, Secretary of the Volunteer Fire Brigade for Athy, indicated that it’s membership was 27 which it was hoped to increase to 37. The Urban Council approved the use of the Fire Brigade engine by the newly formed Volunteer Fire Brigade Group.
DECEMBER 1907
It was reported to the Council on 23rd December, 1907 that there were eighteen T.B. cases in the Workhouse and five deaths from T.B. in the town since 12th November. The recently formed Tuberculosis Committee urged the Urban Council to adhere to Dr. Lumsden’s appeal for “dry cleaned drained yards, dry floors, water tight roofs and large windows made to open up and down” in the houses of the poor.
MAY 1908
On 18th May, 1908 the Council agreed that the workmen in the employment of the Council be granted an early leave off at 4.00 o’clock p.m. on every Saturday for the following six months on a trial basis.
16TH JUNE, 1909
The following Resolution was passed by the Urban Council :-
“That the Secretary of the Athy Hurling and Football Club be granted permission to place the necessary number of posts on the Gallowshill Road footpath at the entrance gates of the Showgrounds in connection with the All Ireland Hurling Match between Dublin and Tipperary to be played at Athy on 27th June, 1909. The posts to be removed immediately after the match and the footpath left to the satisfaction of the Town Surveyor. The Football Club to be responsible should any accidents occur.”
2ND MAY, 1910
The Urban Council resolved :-
“That the Irish Automobile Club be requested to have warning posts erected at the main entrances to the town cautioning motorists to drive slowly through the town at a speed not to exceed seven miles per hour.”
7TH NOVEMBER, 1910
The Council noted that on 7th November, 1910 there were twenty-one cow keepers in the town of Athy and two retailers of milk.
1ST MAY, 1912
The Shops Act of 1911 came into operation on 1st May, 1912 under which shop assistants were entitled to a weekly half day holiday. The local traders were balloted by Athy Urban District Council to find out whether :-
1. They were in favour of a half day holiday in the town.
2. If so, whether it should be on Monday or Thursday.
A majority of the local traders opted for the half day holiday on Thursday of each week. The results of the plebiscite showed that 36 publicans, 31 grocers, 16 drapers, 4 hardware merchants, 6 butchers, 3 watchmakers, 2 chemists and 2 hairdressers voted. Interestingly enough this was the second plebiscite held by the Urban District Council within a period of ten years. Following a subsequent request submitted on behalf of 12 local drapers the Council agreed to delay the early closing on Thursdays from 1.00pm to 2.00pm.
21ST JULY, 1913
Lord Frederick Fitzgerald agreed to install a new floor in the Town Hall provided Councillor Michael Malone who originally sought this improvement would give a ball at the opening of the hall. Malone in a letter of 21st July, 1913 declined in favour of the Urban District Council Chairman Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill wrote:-
“In selecting me for the honour of opening the much extended and renovated Town Hall with a ball, his Lordship, not being living amongst us could scarcely be expected to fully understand the storm of resentment which would be evinced by other members of the Council towards myself at being the recipient of such an honour, a storm before which I would have to bow my head.”
28TH MAY, 1914
Urban Council workman James Chanders of Rathstewart, stone breaker, employed at the Gallowshill Gravel Pit, was killed on 28th May, 1914 by a 13ft. high bank falling on him.
21ST JUNE 1915
The Council ordered that a “role of honour” be compiled of the soldiers who had gone to the War from Athy Urban District and also a list of the men who had been killed or wounded and that the Central Recruiting Council in Dublin and the local Recruiting Officer be asked to help in the matter and to supply the necessary forms.
2ND DECEMBER, 1918
Athy Urban District Council resolved :-
“That the action of Mr. T. Hickey J.P., the representative of the Council on the Technical Committee in imposing a fine at the last Petty Sessions on the Teacher of Irish Language in the Technical School for signing his name in Irish be condemned and that Mr. Hickey be called upon to tender his resignation to the Council as their representative on the Technical Committee.”
FEBRUARY 1919
The Urban Council workmen were unionised after the first World War and on the application of the Transport Workers Union in February 1919 their wages were increased. The workmen worked 52 hours a week in summer and 47 hours a week in winter for a wage of 33 shillings per week. This had been increased from 27/6 per week.
19TH JULY 1920
The Urban Council resolved :-
“That the names of the town’s streets be changed and a Committee consisting of the whole Council be appointed to go into the matter, the question to be placed especially on the Agenda for the next meeting.”
1ST NOVEMBER, 1920
The Council meeting of 1st November, 1920 was adjourned as a mark of respect for the late Lord Mayor of Cork and also “to mark our horror and indignation at the sentence passed on the youth Kevin Barry, ruthlessly carried out this morning.”
The centenary booklet which will give a brief overview of the first 100 years of Athy’s Urban District Council will hopefully be available in late September. More about that again.
17TH NOVEMBER 1902
The Council extended congratulations to Patrick Brien of Canalside who saved three children from drowning in the River Barrow at the Horse Bridge on 15th November, 1902.
MARCH 1904
The School Attendance Committee of the Urban Council reported in March 1904 that the average number on rolls in the local Christian Brothers School in 1901 was 291, with an average attendance of 191. The figures for 1904 were 298 and 233. In the Convent Schools the numbers on the rolls in 1901 was 493 with an average attendance of 283 pupils. Three years later the number on the rolls averaged 438, with an average attendance of 207. The 1901 figures for the Model School averaged 62.4 on rolls with average attendance of 42.5 and in 1904 68.4 average on rolls, with an average attendance of 48.
6TH MARCH 1905
The Council Resolved :-
“That in order to constitute St. Patrick’s Day a General Holiday the Urban Council appeals to all the traders of the town to close their houses on that day.”
It was also agreed that posters to this effect be posted throughout the town as they had been done the previous year.
APRIL 1907
In a letter dated 15th April, 1907 James Duthie, Secretary of the Volunteer Fire Brigade for Athy, indicated that it’s membership was 27 which it was hoped to increase to 37. The Urban Council approved the use of the Fire Brigade engine by the newly formed Volunteer Fire Brigade Group.
DECEMBER 1907
It was reported to the Council on 23rd December, 1907 that there were eighteen T.B. cases in the Workhouse and five deaths from T.B. in the town since 12th November. The recently formed Tuberculosis Committee urged the Urban Council to adhere to Dr. Lumsden’s appeal for “dry cleaned drained yards, dry floors, water tight roofs and large windows made to open up and down” in the houses of the poor.
MAY 1908
On 18th May, 1908 the Council agreed that the workmen in the employment of the Council be granted an early leave off at 4.00 o’clock p.m. on every Saturday for the following six months on a trial basis.
16TH JUNE, 1909
The following Resolution was passed by the Urban Council :-
“That the Secretary of the Athy Hurling and Football Club be granted permission to place the necessary number of posts on the Gallowshill Road footpath at the entrance gates of the Showgrounds in connection with the All Ireland Hurling Match between Dublin and Tipperary to be played at Athy on 27th June, 1909. The posts to be removed immediately after the match and the footpath left to the satisfaction of the Town Surveyor. The Football Club to be responsible should any accidents occur.”
2ND MAY, 1910
The Urban Council resolved :-
“That the Irish Automobile Club be requested to have warning posts erected at the main entrances to the town cautioning motorists to drive slowly through the town at a speed not to exceed seven miles per hour.”
7TH NOVEMBER, 1910
The Council noted that on 7th November, 1910 there were twenty-one cow keepers in the town of Athy and two retailers of milk.
1ST MAY, 1912
The Shops Act of 1911 came into operation on 1st May, 1912 under which shop assistants were entitled to a weekly half day holiday. The local traders were balloted by Athy Urban District Council to find out whether :-
1. They were in favour of a half day holiday in the town.
2. If so, whether it should be on Monday or Thursday.
A majority of the local traders opted for the half day holiday on Thursday of each week. The results of the plebiscite showed that 36 publicans, 31 grocers, 16 drapers, 4 hardware merchants, 6 butchers, 3 watchmakers, 2 chemists and 2 hairdressers voted. Interestingly enough this was the second plebiscite held by the Urban District Council within a period of ten years. Following a subsequent request submitted on behalf of 12 local drapers the Council agreed to delay the early closing on Thursdays from 1.00pm to 2.00pm.
21ST JULY, 1913
Lord Frederick Fitzgerald agreed to install a new floor in the Town Hall provided Councillor Michael Malone who originally sought this improvement would give a ball at the opening of the hall. Malone in a letter of 21st July, 1913 declined in favour of the Urban District Council Chairman Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill wrote:-
“In selecting me for the honour of opening the much extended and renovated Town Hall with a ball, his Lordship, not being living amongst us could scarcely be expected to fully understand the storm of resentment which would be evinced by other members of the Council towards myself at being the recipient of such an honour, a storm before which I would have to bow my head.”
28TH MAY, 1914
Urban Council workman James Chanders of Rathstewart, stone breaker, employed at the Gallowshill Gravel Pit, was killed on 28th May, 1914 by a 13ft. high bank falling on him.
21ST JUNE 1915
The Council ordered that a “role of honour” be compiled of the soldiers who had gone to the War from Athy Urban District and also a list of the men who had been killed or wounded and that the Central Recruiting Council in Dublin and the local Recruiting Officer be asked to help in the matter and to supply the necessary forms.
2ND DECEMBER, 1918
Athy Urban District Council resolved :-
“That the action of Mr. T. Hickey J.P., the representative of the Council on the Technical Committee in imposing a fine at the last Petty Sessions on the Teacher of Irish Language in the Technical School for signing his name in Irish be condemned and that Mr. Hickey be called upon to tender his resignation to the Council as their representative on the Technical Committee.”
FEBRUARY 1919
The Urban Council workmen were unionised after the first World War and on the application of the Transport Workers Union in February 1919 their wages were increased. The workmen worked 52 hours a week in summer and 47 hours a week in winter for a wage of 33 shillings per week. This had been increased from 27/6 per week.
19TH JULY 1920
The Urban Council resolved :-
“That the names of the town’s streets be changed and a Committee consisting of the whole Council be appointed to go into the matter, the question to be placed especially on the Agenda for the next meeting.”
1ST NOVEMBER, 1920
The Council meeting of 1st November, 1920 was adjourned as a mark of respect for the late Lord Mayor of Cork and also “to mark our horror and indignation at the sentence passed on the youth Kevin Barry, ruthlessly carried out this morning.”
The centenary booklet which will give a brief overview of the first 100 years of Athy’s Urban District Council will hopefully be available in late September. More about that again.
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