Goodbye Offaly Street

Seventy years ago Offaly Street was a vibrant family friendly street. Today the same street is unrecognisable from that of its predecessor. The families of the 1950s have died out or moved elsewhere, while the commercial heart of the street represented by the cinema, John W. Kehoe’s pub, Kitty Webster’s and Mona Sylvester’s sweet shops have closed. Offaly Street today is not so much a street as a traffic route out of Athy leading to an extended southern suburb which has developed over the years. The young families that once brought life and enjoyment to the street are no longer there. It was in Offaly Street that I was reared and where I and my young friends and neighbours lived our lives of exploration and enquiry before entering the adult world. The families living in Offaly Street were a community even before we were able to identify ourselves as a smaller component of the larger community which represented the entire town of Athy. Offaly Street may well have been known as the ‘Peelers’ Street of Athy for it housed the families of three members of the local police force. Garda James Kelly and Garda Mick Tuohy lived opposite the house of my father, who was the local Garda Sergeant. Garda Johnny McMahon and Garda Mick O’Connell passed through Offaly Street on their way home to St. Patrick’s Avenue. It was a friendly street at a time when housewives were exactly that, the only wage earner generally being the male partner. Traffic wise, it was a very quiet street. The only local cars I recall were that of Dr. Joe O’Neill and Canon McGinley, the Church of Ireland Rector. Football was regularly played by the Offaly Street boys on the street with little or no interruption by passing traffic. We referred to ourselves as the Offaly Street gang, to differentiate ourselves from the St. Patrick’s Avenue youngsters of the same age and the Leinster Street fellows. The term gang does not indicate any criminal background and indeed the only activity that could be questionable was the summertime orchard robberies in which we indulged. Mona Sylvester’s orchard at the top of Butler’s Row was our principal target. I have recounted previously the occasion when my younger brother Seamus was caught by Mona as he was unable to clear the orchard wall while his friends scrambled to safety. Mona held him by the collar and walked him down Butler’s Row to 5 Offaly Street to confront my mother with the apple thief. It was a very lucky day for Seamus for our Aunt Mary from County Mayo had just arrived for a short visit and whatever punishment might have been expected never materialised. Friendships forged in my young days brought a lifelong friendship with Teddy Kelly, my best friend in those years. Mylie Cash, Basil and Andrew White, Leopold Kelly, Willie Moore and Tom Webster were all part of the Offaly Street gang with Leopold, who was later ordained a priest for the American Diocese, as the leader. He was a wonderful sportsman, and I had the opportunity to serve his last Mass in the Dominican Church a very short time before he died. All but Willie Moore and myself have passed on and while Willie and myself have health issues, I expect to join my long departed young friends before too long. Our favourite playground was the Peoples Park donated in the 1840s by the Duke of Leinster to the people of Athy. We were lords of the manor insofar as the park was concerned and, under the leadership of Leopold Kelly, we once built a wooden hut in the park. It lasted two or three days before the Duke of Leinster had it removed. The grass in the park was cut once a year and the grass left on the ground for a few days provided one of the highlights of our time in the park. Ours was a simple life, but an enjoyable one. One of our great pleasures was to attend matinees in the local cinema which was managed by Bob Webster who lived at the top of Offaly Street. Bob was the nearest to an upper class person living in our humble street. This was, I believe, because he was regularly visited by the Parish Priest, Fr. McDonnell, whose car parked outside Bob’s house told of his arrival. The Rev. Father did not visit any other household in Offaly Street. Bob Webster was once subjected to stone throwing by our gang as he walked by the unfinished building site at the end of Offaly Street and he banned us, the Offaly gang, from attending future matinees. It was a desperate time for us as we enjoyed sitting in the ‘God’s’ to watch the latest film release. The ban continued for some time until we decided to make an apology for the attack. We got back to the matinees again where Mattie Brennan always gave us a bench seat in front of the screen. Offaly Street housed a number of persons whose important past I was not aware of until they had passed away. My next door neighbour Joe Murphy, a worker on the railway, was an old IRA man. Garda Mick Tuohy, whose involvement with the old IRA in County Clare, was another man whose story I did not get. Garda James Kelly, a member of a County Mayo old IRA regiment, had like many other IRA members joined the Gardai on the establishment of the Free State. Paddy Garrett, a resident of number 1 Offaly Street was, like John Murphy in Number 4, a great footballer who won championship medals with Athy. Theirs were many of the stories I missed during my young days while living in Offaly Street. Goodbye Offaly Street.

Athy's Hurling Club

‘A Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare’ is a phrase I have used on many occasions to explain my background, but never have I had the opportunity to share the joy of Kildare and Kilkenny hurling matches in Croke Park on the same day. The Kildare/Laois and Kilkenny/Galway hurling finals were a joyful occasion for me. I must confess I had not previously seen the Kildare senior hurlers at play. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of their hurling. The Kildare/Laois match was most enjoyable insofar as I was concerned, far more enjoyable than the Cork/Limerick match the previous day. That in my view was a brutalised form of hurling where the player catching the ball aloft found himself when back on ground surrounded by three or four opponents with encircling arms and hurleys, making him a prisoner. Why is it not a foul against the players using their arms and hurleys in this way is something which puzzles me? Two great results gave me much joy on Sunday and irrespective of what happens to Kildare in the coming weekend, the skill and sportsmanship of the Kildare team members will stay with me forever. Athy is not regarded as a hurling town, but records show that as early as 1887 a hurling club was formed in the town and Dan Whelan of Fontstown was making hurleys for the club. An Athy hurling team played a Rathdowney selection in 1898 and suffered defeat on a score of 3-13 to no score. A previous reference I came across in relation to hurling in Athy was a match played in 1890. Athy’s first hurling club would appear to have faded away for I next find in 1906 the Catholic Young Men’s Society establishing Athy’s C.Y.M.S. hurling and football club. The present G.A.A. grounds in Geraldine Park were first used by the club for club games and inter county games after 1906. It would appear the C.Y.M.S. Hurling and Football Club was subsequently replaced by a town-based club whose first major success was in the 1928 County Senior Hurling Final when Athy defeated Johnstown Bridge. Athy contested the county final the following year but lost to McDonagh Barracks of the Curragh. Athy defeated Broadford to win the 1936 Senior Championship. The same team reached the County Final the following year but lost by 2 points to Maynooth. That same year an Athy junior team won the Junior County Championship following the lodgment of an objection against Kill who had defeated Athy 6-4 to 1-4 in the final. The local Christian Brothers School organised a hurling team in 1934 on the arrival of Brother P.P. Farrell to Athy. Success arrived two years later when Athy C.B.S. defeated Kilkenny C.B.S. in the first round of the Leinster College Junior Championship. The Athy school team went on to defeat O’Connell school Dublin in Croke Park that same year. The team comprised all local young lads including Des Hurley, Tadhg Brennan, Dinny Fox, Jim Malone, Joe Gibbons, Paddy Garrett, Joe O’Neill, Lal Murray, Eddie Purcell, Jack Dunne, John Gannon, Frank Kelly, Pat Smyth, Noel Blanchfield, Dick Davis and Munsie Purcell. The Athy Club junior hurlers were crowned champions in 1950 but the club appears to have gone into decline until revived in 1957 by John Dooley of St. Patrick’s Avenue. John, a native of Paulstown, Co. Kilkenny, came to Athy in 1930. A keen and ardent follower of hurling, he was one of the driving forces behind the club for many years. He was a playing member until 1937 and won a senior hurling championship medal with the club in 1936. Under his guidance hurling in Athy flourished. In 1934 John was Chairman of the Kildare Hurling Board and he represented Athy at the Kildare conventions and County Board meetings. He retired from administrative duties with the Athy club in 1968. I remember John’s enthusiasm for hurling and his encouragement to youngsters like myself who in the mid-1950s practiced their hurling in the fields at Chanterlands. My hurling career was shortened by the engagement of a hurley to my forehead during one of the Chanterlands practice matches. A lack of skill on my part resulted in a split forehead, courtesy of a hurley yielded by my friend Mick Rowan and a rush to the local doctor who stitched the wound. My retirement from hurling was inevitable. Athy senior team were defeated in a county final in 1964 and the club now has an under 16 hurling team which was promoted from the 15-year age group last year. A county junior championship was won in 1989 which resulted in the club being promoted to senior level. The club with such a glorious history is now operating at junior level. Tadhg Brennan drew up a constitution for Athy Hurling and Football Club in 1945 and I have a leaflet from a later date headed ‘Geraldine Hurling and Football Club’. I am told that hurling and football are no longer operated under the same club name, but operate as separate clubs. Why is it that the Gaelic teams of hurling and football should not come under the same club name, ‘Geraldine Hurling and Football Club’?

World War II and Lowly Maher

A simple ceremony enacted in a canvas tent on the heath at Lüneburg in Germany in May 1945 marked the end of World War II in Europe where Germany formally surrendered to the allied forces. Back in neutral Ireland the Irish people went about their business as usual. In the coalmining town of Castlecomer a young Garda sergeant and his family were preparing to move house yet again. He had done this four times since getting married, but this was to be the last occasion of packing furniture and belongings into a hired lorry to journey to a new town. The Garda sergeant was my father, John Taaffe, who in May 1945 brought my mother Kathleen and her five young sons to Athy. The transfer was at his request, as he could get his sons into a secondary school where none were supposed to be had in Castlecomer. The short journey to Athy ended at No. 6 Offaly Street in a two up two down terraced house rented from Myles Whelan, and it was not until 1954 that the Taaffes moved into No. 5 Offaly Street. May 1945 of course was more momentous for those men of Athy who found themselves scattered across the world, fighting in the war. Among them was Joe ‘Lowly’ Walsh from Barrack Street, Athy. The son of master tailor Joseph Walsh and Teresa Byrne, at the outbreak of World War II Joe ‘Lowly’, like many Athy men, called to the local Garda Station to enlist in the Irish Army. When I interviewed him almost 30 years ago, his abiding memory of the three years he spent in the Irish Army was what he recalled was ‘the scandalous army food’. Conditions in the Army were so bad that there was almost wholesale desertion by many disenchanted recruits who travelled by train to Belfast to join the British Army. ‘Lowly’ followed that same path and in 1942 he joined the R.A.F. He served in France, Belgium and Holland as a member of Motor Transport Light Repair Unit. He passed through Caen where he recalled that even the graveyards had been destroyed by bombing. He eventually ended up in Berlin where he stayed two weeks in the city which had hosted the Olympic Games in 1936. He also recalled visiting the Reich Chancellery where Hitler had committed suicide in his bunker in May 1945. Other Athy men were further afield such as Dr. Gerry O’Neill, the third son of Dr. Jeremiah O’Neill of Mount Offaly House, Athy. Gerry was serving as a Major in the British Army in Malaya when in January 1942 the Japanese invaded. After being cut off from his unit with five other British soldiers, Gerry spent almost three and a half months trekking through 2,000 miles of dense undergrowth and dangerous jungle trying to reach the British lines at Singapore. Captured by the Japanese, Gerry subsequently spent three and a half years incarcerated in appalling conditions, with his incarceration only ending in August 1945 with the surrender of Japan. His story is one of enormous courage, barely hinted at in the headlines of the local newspapers on his return to Athy following his release - ‘Back from the Grave – Athy man’s terrible ordeal.’ Not all those who went to war returned. Two grandsons of John Holland of Model Farm, Athy were lost. Major Nigel Holland, fighting with the 4th/5th Maharatta Light infantry, Indian Army, was killed in Burma in June 1944 at the age of 25 years, while Sergeant William Holland served in the Royal Air Force, dying in Italy at the age of 19 years of age in 1945. Both are commemorated in St. Michael’s Cemetery, Athy. Another Athy man, Terence H.K. Hosie of the Royal Engineers, was killed in action in Italy in 1943 and he is remembered in the Presbyterian Church on the Dublin Road, opposite Old St. Michael’s Cemetery. It is unfortunate that the service of the Athy men in World War Two is little recorded and I have yet to come across a published account of any Athy man’s service in the war. The closest thing we have to that is the ‘Wings on the Cross’, published by Fr. Philip Pollock. Fr. Pollock was instrumental as a Dominican Father, based in Athy, in the commissioning, design and construction of the modern architectural gem, St. Dominics (now the town library). Prior to coming to Athy he had served as a chaplain, with the Royal Air Force in England, North Africa, Sicily and Italy recounting his war experiences in his bestselling book. For Pollock the end of the war was a time of reflection. In his final chapter he wrote: ‘The horrors of the North African campaign came back vividly to his mind as he thought of the wounded lying in military hospitals. They would not be celebrating V.E (Victory in Europe) night but would be remembering the day they were wounded. Yes, V.E night was a night of memories’

Changes in the Town Hall as the Shackleton Museum develops

I was privileged during the week to have a guided tour of the interior of the future Shackleton Museum. What I saw was very impressive and indicated the quality of workmanship which I am afraid did not appear in the ancient building I was so familiar with over the years. I cannot remember when I first saw the interior of the Town Hall, but it was I believe sometime in the mid-1950s when Paddy Wright, Teddy Kelly and I gained access to an upper floor room, while a dance was in its early stages in the ballroom. Denis Cogan, the former County Architect for Kildare, writing in the Kildare Archaeological Society Journal of 1991, suggested that Athy Town Hall may have been the first of the Palladian style civic style buildings built in Ireland. The original Town Hall was built in the second or third decade of the 18th century. Bishop Pococke on his tour of Ireland in 1752 made reference to the ‘new market house in Athy’. Rocque’s map of Athy prepared for the Earl of Kildare four years after Pococke’s visit to Athy, shows a T shaped building which Denis Cogan believes was an open cross vaulted market house on the ground floor, with a courtroom and assembly rooms overhead. Nicholas Sheaff, Director of the Irish Architectural Archives, in his report of 1984 stated his belief that the square in front of the Town Hall was laid out at the same time as the Town Hall’s construction, with the Town Hall designed as the architectural focus. The style of the building reflected, according to Sheaff, a sophisticated Palladian classicalism on the part of the designer, suggesting that the design came from the offices of Richard Cassels, the leading Irish Palladian architect of the 18th century. The Town Hall has been much altered over the years, with extensions both in front and rear of the original building. The mid-19th century extension to the front of the building was the most important extension and consisted of rubble masonry walls, with tooled limestone string course. In 1913 a further alteration was made to the Town Hall when the earlier extension to the front of the building was raised by a storey, as was the 18th century centre section, making the entire façade three stories high. The much-altered building was again the subject of building work when in 1969 the central part of the ground floor was adopted for use as a fire station. With the building of the new Town Council offices in Rathstewart in 1985 the Town Hall became vacant and fell into a derelict state. Kildare County Council, which had earlier purchased the property from the Duke of Leinster, subsequently restored the building under an AnCO training scheme which was completed in May 1990. One of the oldest elements of the Town Hall is a bell which originally hung from a frame which stood in the roof of the two-storey centre section before it was heightened in the mid-18th century. The bell came from the Church of Ireland Parish Church which stood in the rear square behind the Town Hall before it was demolished following the building of St. Michael’s Church at the top of Offaly Street in 1840. Macra na Feirme, which was established by local men Paddy Kehoe, Stephen Cullinane, Juan Greene, E. Minch and A. Spiers, established its headquarters in the Town Hall room vacated by the Athy Mechanics Institute in 1947. The first library in the town of Athy opened in the Town Hall on 1st December 1927. It was operated by Kildare County Council. A local Library Committee was set up and was intended to comprise the local Parish Priest Canon Mackey, his three curates, Rev. Dunlop of the Church of Ireland and the Reverend Meek of the Presbyterian Church. The six clerics and its fellow committee members, five local Urban District Councillors and the Town Clarke, James Lawler who acted as the library secretary, made up the Committee By the time I became aware of the local building amongst which I played on a daily basis, the Town Hall’s ground floor was still used as a market place. To the rear of the building was a weighing scales, managed by Jim Dempsey who lived in Offaly Street. His offices were still at use until the Fire Brigade moved into the ground floor of the Town Hall There were many uses of the Town Hall over the centuries, including the location of the Free Masons Club in the building over many decades. The Parish School, operated by the Church of Ireland, was reported in 1824 to have 157 pupils on its roll, with an average attendance of 50 boys and 35 girls. Located in the Town Hall the headmaster of the school was James Hunter and the headmistress Lydia Hunter. In February 1917 Athy Hibernian Players put on a play in the Town Hall and the subsequent press reports give the names of those involved whom it is said stood to attention for the singing of ‘A Nation Once Again’. Those named were the first publicly identified Nationalist sympathisers in Athy and many of them figured prominently in the local Sinn Fein Club which was formed in June 1917. On 19th July 1917 Athy’s newly established Sinn Fein Club organised a concert in the Town Hall in aid of the families of those killed in the Easter Rising. The audience was addressed by Arthur Griffith, the founder of Sinn Fein. Another famous visitor to the Town Hall was Charles Stewart Parnell who arrived in Athy in 1880 to chair the parliamentary nomination for the upcoming election. James Leahy, a farmer from Ardscull and one time Chairman of Athy Town Commissioners, was nominated despite Parnell’s early objection as he felt that Leahy: ‘this fat man will be of no use, he will fall asleep in the House’. Having cross examined the prospective candidate, Parnell was apparently satisfied and allowed the nomination to go ahead. Leahy was to have a constant if unspectacular presence in the House of Commons until 1895. The story of Athy’s Town Hall tells us more of the history of the organisations and the people who used the Town Hall over the years. Their story will hopefully be told on another day, but in the meantime we welcome the adoption of the Town Hall for use exclusively as a Shackleton Museum.

Athy's Building Enhancement Financial Scheme

Revitalise, rejuvenate, redevelop, refurbish. These were some of the words in the ether in the Clanard Court hotel on Tuesday last. The hotel was the venue for the launch, by Kildare County Council, of the ‘Athy Building Enhancement Financial Scheme’. While I normally have an aversion to ‘buzz words and grandiloquent project titles the County Council’s plans for the ongoing development and improvement of Athy are impressive and heartening. The evening began with a three-minute montage video produced by the Council focusing on the town and its attributes narrated by our own Jack L. It was a timely reminder of the many attractions of the town and the significant development that has occurred here in the last ten to fifteen years. There was a natural focus on the now to be named ‘Shackleton Experience’ (formerly the Shackleton Museum) which I understand will be opening at the end of the summer. The projected visitors for the first year are 30,000 per year, rising to 60,000 per year over the next few years. The video was followed by a presentation by a Simon Wall who is a senior architect with Mayo County Council. He has been to the forefront of the rejuvenation of Westport over the past 25 years and his presentation was an informative insight into the targeted, yet holistic, approach to improving the built environment in a small country town, making it more attractive for both visitors and for the community who live there. There is no doubt that the enhanced works currently taking place in Emily Square and the refurbishment of the museum are going to lift the town in both a social, cultural and economic sense. It was heartening to see such a significant representation of local businesses at the presentations and clearly there is a ‘buy in’ from the local business community. It does however behove all the business owners to meet the challenges of the development of the town with purpose and innovation. We can’t rely entirely on Kildare County Council to give the town the much-needed economic fillip which these enhancements can help deliver. A lot of the enhancements now being proposed/promoted by Kildare County Council build on the regeneration strategy that was initiated in 2015 with the support of local bodies such as the Athy Lions Club, the Leader Partnership, Athy Enterprise Centre and Kildare Chamber of Commerce. A key part of any development strategy has to be the provision of residential properties in the heart of the town. I understand that a government grant is on the way in relation to assisting shop owners to redevelop the upper stories of their town centre properties to provide residential accommodation. This is a much-needed addition to the depleted housing stock in the town. As recently as the 1980’s many shop owners lived above their premises, and this is an under-utilised resource which needs to be accessed. All these improvements will be driven by a partnership between our local authority and the town community. Improvements have always driven Athy’s development. We take for granted the provision of water in our domestic settings, but Athy only received its first piped water scheme in 1907. Work on the scheme commenced in October 1906 and was completed in April 1907. How many modern infrastructural projects can boast such a short time frame! Following the successful completion of Athy’s first water scheme the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association presented two troughs to the town in 1907, one placed in Woodstock Street opposite Higginson’s Lane, the other in Leinster Street (where it remains to today). At the same time the Duke of Leinster presented a fountain for the use of the people of Athy which was positioned at the front of Emily Square and that self-same fountain was temporarily removed from the square during the current improvement works, but as I understand it will be returning to its original position with the completion of the works in or about June of this year. Horse troughs met a basic but very necessary need for the many horses which passed through the streets of Athy in the 19th century. The Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association, the equivalent of the modern S.P.C.A., provided water troughs at the roadsides for use by horses, cattle and other animals. Charles Dickens Junior, in his Dickens’ Dictionary of London in 1879, wrote of the fountains provided by the Association in London that a single trough supplied the wants of 1,800 horses in one period of 24 hours. Horses are long gone from our streets but their replacement, the motor vehicle, has for too long dominated our public spaces and the re-ordering of Emily Square marks a welcome return to its proper purpose as a civic space and amenity to be enjoyed by all.

Senator Bernie Sanders' visit to Athy and the song 'Johnny I hardly knew you'

I was unable to attend the recent events in Athy held to honour the visit of Senator Bernie Sanders and his wife, Dr. Jane Sanders, but by all accounts it was a resounding success. The United States Senator from the State of Vermont received a warm and fulsome greeting from the people of Athy. Events commenced in the Athy Library in the former Dominican Church where local musicians Jack L and Joe Byrne treated the visitors to renditions of both ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye’ and ‘The Curragh of Kildare’. I understand that the State flag of Vermont flew proudly in Emily Square and the Senator even had an opportunity to meet former residents of Vermont, now living in Athy, who had voted for him in the senatorial elections! After the conclusion of the events in the library the main feature of the day was the unveiling of the ‘Made of Athy’ plaque to the anti-war song ‘Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye’. There was a substantial crowd at the war memorial in Old St. Michael’s Cemetery to witness the unveiling, blessed somewhat by the brief outbreak of sunshine between the showers on Sunday afternoon. The plaque itself is finely worded and gives an interesting context to the song and its place in our culture. The song seems to have been composed sometime around the 1800s or possibly earlier. The song itself refers to soldiers’ service in Ceylon, modern day Sri Lanka, and indeed it seems possible to place some men from Athy who served in the army in Ceylon in and around the 1790s. In the early summer of 1796 the troops of the First Madras European Regiment landed on the shores of Ceylon. This Regiment formed part of the East India company’s private army. The company was established in London in the early 1600s to exploit the commercial opportunities which India appeared to offer to the fledging British empire. In advancing it’s aggressive commercial expansion in India and the Far East the company founded it’s own private army to protect and advance it’s interests. The regiments in this army, particularly the Madras European Regiment, had a strong Irish presence in it’s ranks, particularly in the lower ranks. At the time the regiment was garrisoned in Ceylon we know that at least two Athy men were in the regiment’s ranks, James Byrnes and John Eustace. We know little about these two men but for the fact that they are both originally from Athy and they both enjoyed an unusual long army service. James Byrnes would serve with various regiments of the East Indian and British Army and he was discharged in 1823 at the age of 56, while John Eustace would leave the army in 1811 at the age of 53. They were the exceptions. The attrition rates amongst troops serving in India and Ceylon to disease and death were appalling and few survived the rigours of foreign service as long as Byrnes and Eustace did. The song itself marks the return of a soldier to his home town of Athy after the vicissitudes of military service and it is quite visceral in its description of the damage wrought by the war on the body of the returning soldier. ‘Ye haven’t an arm and you haven’t a leg, Ye’re an eyeless, boneless, chickenless, egg, Ye’ll have to be left with a bowl to beg.’ The song’s ultimate origins are obscured by its longevity and popularity during the centuries. To Americans it is known as ‘When Johnny Comes Marching Home’ or ‘Johnny Fill Up the Bowl’ and during the American Civil War it was one of the most popular songs sung by the Union troops. Perhaps the ultimate recognition of its acceptance into the pantheon of American martial music was the adaption of the song’s title for a Hollywood movie directed by the Irish American director, John Ford, called ‘When Willie Comes Marching Home’, a story about the experience of a callow American youth at war. While I did not have the opportunity of meeting Senator Bernie Sanders last week, it did remind me of my first trip to the United States in 1981 when my path crossed with President Richard Nixon, then in retirement. Nixon had previously visited his ancestral home in Timahoe, Counry Kildare in 1970 possibly with an eye on the Irish-American voters for the 1972 presidential elections. My cousin was then working for Nixon in his private office and I returned home with a signed copy of his memoirs and a signed photograph which hangs in my study to this day. Perhaps the closest an American President, sitting or otherwise, will ever get to Athy!

Launch of David Butler's book 'Tom Crean, Irish Antarctic Hero'

Kildare Town Library last Saturday afternoon was the setting for the launch of Kildare native, David Butler’s new graphic novel – ‘Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero’. With text by Michael Smith (the author of the iconic biography of Tom Crean – ‘An Unsung Hero’) and lettering by Louise McSharry, it is published by the O’Brien Press. Butler, who previously illustrated the novel, ‘Shackleton: the Voyage of the James Caird’, spoke at the launch of his novel of his inspiration drawn from the life stories of Ernest Shackleton and Tom Crean. The graphic novel is a medium with which I am not terribly familiar. As a young fellow I eagerly perused the shelves of my local library in search of the latest unread detective novel. In my youth my voracious appetite for reading was easily satisfied and a weekly novel coupled with my daily diet of comics was the extent of my young aspirations for literary appreciation. The local library of the 1950's was a small affair compared to the information emporiums they are today. The Athy library, then based in a small room in the Town Hall, was to my young eyes more than adequate to meet the town's thirst for knowledge. After all it took me ages to decide what book to borrow from the packed shelves which were to be found at the top of the darkened stairs which led from the street directly opposite Mrs. Meehan's chemist shop. The staircase may not indeed have been dark at all but since the local Freemasons Lodge met in a room at the top of the same stairs you can appreciate how a young fellow fed on stories of the secret and "demonic" activities of the brotherhood might well feel that the stairs too was a dark and sinister place. The modern library in Kildare, like that in Athy, is a bright welcoming space and while the book launch was being held there was a buzz about the place as many young children sought out reading materials for the week. Ivan O’Brien, the Managing Director of the O’Brien Press, who published the book, spoke about his publishing house’s own journey into first publishing graphic novels fifteen years ago. It was to him a different way of telling a story and trying to find a perfect balance between text and graphics. He paid tribute to both David Butler and Michael Smith in distilling the story of Tom Crean’s life into a graphic novel, while at the same time maintaining a pace which would engage readers of all ages. He told the audience that books were competing with other media and in reading a graphic novel you are effectively creating a cinema in your own head. The book was launched by Kevin Kenny, a Naas native, who has been prominent in the development of the Shackleton Museum in Athy over the last twenty years. Kevin reminded the audience of the many Kildare connections to Tom Crean’s Polar story, including of course that of Ernest Shackleton who served alongside Crean on Captain Scott’s 1901-1904 Discovery expedition to the Antarctic. Kevin pointed out another Kildare connection to the polar narrative. In 1899 the Naas born Royal Naval Officer John de Robeck was in the running to be appointed leader of the Discovery expedition. Sir Clements Markham, then President of the Royal Geographical Society who was instrumental in organising the expedition, had shortlisted de Robeck describing him as ‘hard as nails, lots of nerve, an excellent mess mate’. However Captain Robert Falcon Scott was appointed and among the men he would take to the Antarctic would be the young merchant marine officer Ernest Shackleton for his first trip to the polar regions. De Robeck would go on to have a distinguished career in the Royal Navy and was a prominent naval commander at the Gallipoli landings in Turkey in 1915 during World War I. In tandem with the book launch at the Library in Kildare there was a fine carefully curated exhibition of early photography on display, with the title ‘All the Queen’s Men and All the Queen’s Women: the portrait photographs of camp photographer James Frankham Church of the Curragh Camp 1858-1898’. Curated by Michael Rowley, Curragh based himself, it provides a fascinating insight into early Victorian photography and life around the Curragh Camp in the early Victorian period. It is well worth a visit and runs at the Kildare Library until 30th May while David Butler’s Tom Crean: Irish Antarctic Hero’ is now available in bookshops.

Duthie Larges and Jack Murphy

The urban streetscape of the town of Athy is ever changing. I was reminded of this recently when I came across some ephemeral items which related to Duthie Large & Co. Ltd. They were issued by the company in the early 1900s to promote its business. Shown here are two of these attractive pieces, probably issued at the height of the Edwardian period. The plain undecorated reverse sides are for use as ink blotters. For those of a younger ‘ink blotters’ may be a bit of a mystery. Blotting paper is a thick paper especially made to absorb excess ink when writing with a fountain pen. For my generation the ink pot was accompanied by a fountain pen and a blotter was always close at hand. I am often struck, when receiving correspondence from my peers, of the quality of the penmanship from people who are now well into their eighties. The ‘blotter’ would have been handed out free to customers of the business, and presumably the company ordered these ink blotters in bulk. The blotters were printed in New York and the two examples illustrated here are under the titles ‘When the Airship Flies’ and ‘When the polite man gives up his seat’. Duthie Larges had an extensive premises fronting onto Leinster Street, as well as commodious buildings extending back up Chapel Lane. An early article published in the Nationalist just before Christmas 1900 described Christmas shopping in Athy, writing of the company as doing ‘a big business in the foundry and ironworks trade’, they have in stock a great variety of every class of agricultural implements. They also have on hand all classes of machinery and agricultural implements which would well repay inspection by the farming community’. I was fortunate in the early years of the ‘Eye on the Past’ to interview Jack Murphy of Convent View, Athy who spent much of his working life in Duthie Larges. When I interviewed Jack, almost 30 years ago, he was already in his 10th decade. Jack first started working for Duthie Larges as a bicycle mechanic in or about 1919. After a while he moved to work with Jackson Brothers when they started their garage and bicycle business on Leinster Street. He lost a finger as a result of an accident at work and to add insult to injury it also cost him his job, resulting in his ultimate return to Duthie Larges. In the 1920s and onwards Duthie Larges was an important employer in South Kildare at a time when the only alternative to such employment was in brick yards or Minch Nortons. The busy workshops turned out machinery and farm equipment while the supply and repair of bicycles was an activity as busy, even if not as lucrative as the modern-day sale and repair of motor vehicles. A moulding department, carpentry shop, garage and bicycle shops were some of the main departments to be found in Duthie Larges in those days. Skills abounded with bicycle mechanics, garage mechanics, blacksmiths and pattern moulders working side by side in the huge Duthie Large complex. Prior to the coming to Athy of the Asbestos Factory in 1936 Duthie Larges was the largest employer in the Athy area. Perhaps a lesser-known fact of the history of the firm is that Duthie Larges cast in iron the Garda Station plaques which were placed above the entrance doors of each new Garda Station after 1922. The plaque, derived from the cap badge of the Garda Siochana, was designed by John Francis Maxwell, an art teacher in the Blackrock and Dun Laoghaire Technical School, while Herbert Painting, the assistant principal of Athy Technical School and a teacher of art, made the mould from which the castings were made. By the time Jack left his work bench, retiring in 1979, neither the Large nor Duthie families were still involved in the business, even though the name remained a landmark on the commercial scene of Athy until its closure in the early 1980s The next time you see a vintage tractor, or a piece of antique farming equipment, cast a quick look and you might be rewarded with the sight of an old Duthie Large badge proudly displayed.

Athy born Thomas Condon, first President of Irish Tourist Board

The Anniversary of the outbreak of the Easter 1916 Rising passed with little fanfare this year. If the commemoration seemed more muted than previous years, it was probably a reflection of an element of cultural exhaustion. The State funded and promoted Decade of Commemorations 2013 to 2023 brought a renewed vigour to the study of the revolutionary period but a downturn in interest was bound to follow given the plethora of publications and events over those ten years. By 1925 the nascent Irish Free State faced into an economic depression with food shortages across the country. There was no official Declaration of any national crisis, but times were difficult enough that the Free State Government allocated £250,00 in relief funds that same year. The year prior, 1924 the Irish Tourist Association was formed with a view “ to promoting tourism to the benefit of the nation”. This tourism body was brought to my attention when I recently acquired a pamphlet (published by the ITA) titled “Irish Curiosities – A collection of Strange, Fascinating, Puzzling or Picturesque Oddities of Ireland’. Despite the intriguing title, much of the “curiosities” featured there were the standard tourist fare you could expect to find at the time in the country. Among the Kildare antiquities was featured was what was described as the ‘Earl’s Table’. This is the famous rent table, of the Earls of Kildare originally at Maynooth Castle and later at Kilkea Castle which will be a star exhibit in the Shackleton Museum which opens at end of the summer. The Irish Tourist Association was subsequently taken over by the State and relaunched as the Irish Tourist Board in 1939. Its first chairperson was the Athy born Thomas Condon. Condon was born in Athy on the 16th May 1883, the son of Thomas Condon, a Sergeant in the Royal Irish Constabulary. He was one of eight children of Thomas Condon and his wife Helena, Sergeant Condon spent most of his later service in the R.I.C. in Laois and Kildare. The family would suffer tragedy with the loss of their daughter Helena who died in the Police Barracks in Graigue in County Laois at the age of three months while in 1885 their daughter Mary died at the age of fourteen in Ballylinan. Thomas’s father died at Ballylinan in August 1883, 3 months after his son’s birth, at the age of forty-four and the family later moved to Waterford. With his schooling completed Thomas joined the Civil Service in Dublin and later married Margaret Maguire, a teacher from Co. Leitrim. Thomas had six children, one of whom was Colm Condon, would become the Attorney General of Ireland under the governments of Sean Lemass and Jack Lynch At some point Thomas became involved in the nationalist revolutionary movement as a member of the Irish Volunteers. He was one of the sixty or so men involved in the assault on the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks in Ashbourne led by Thomas Ashe during the Easter Rising of 1916. It was one of the few successful actions by the Irish Volunteers. Thomas was subsequently imprisoned in Wandsworth in London. The men of 1916 shared their prison with conscientious objectors to the Great War and serving British soldiers who had fallen foul of the army authorities. Thomas had an older brother David born in 1877. David enlisted in the Royal Engineers in the British Army in 1901 but left the army in 1908. On the outbreak of the Great War, he was recalled to the colours and served as a Company Quarter Master with the Royal Dublin Fusiliers going to France in December 1915. After being wounded, he was transferred to the Labour Corp and was discharged from the army at the end of the war as a company sergeant major. He is commemorated on the Newtownards and District War Memorial as a war casualty as his death, in 1922, was attributed to war related causes. The paths trod by Thomas Condon and his brother David where quite different and reflected the divisions in Irish families during the revolutionary period. This was not unusual. Kevin O’Higgins, the Stradbally born, Minister for Justice from 1922 until his assassination in 1927, had two brothers, Jack and Michael, both serving in the British Army during the First Word War, one of whom Michael was killed. It is a reminder that our shared histories remain complicated and challenging but none the less one of the by products of the decade of commemorations was the new maturity applied to the studies of both sides in the revolutionary era. After his release from prison Thomas spent much of his life in County Meath where he sat as a County Councillor on Meath County Council from 1934 to 1954. He was also an independent member of Seanad Eireann from 1938 to 1944. In 1939 he was appointed the First President of the Irish Tourist Board, the successor to the Irish Tourist Association. He died in Ashbourne, County Meath on the 12th of September 1963

We have recovered our local history

When I returned to Athy in June 1982 after an absence of twenty-one years, I found the town in much the same state as it was in the 1950’s. Its population had not seen any significant change in over one hundred years and it persistently stood in the mid four thousand’s. Today that figure has increased to almost eleven thousand as more and more people move out of Dublin aware of the availability of less costly housing in South Kildare. They bring with them a change of attitude to how the town is viewed. In the past, the natives of Athy and other ‘blow ins’ “of pre 1960’s had no understanding or appreciation of the town’s history or heritage. Athy was never referred to as a heritage town or historic town for the simple reason that we did not have an understanding of it either as applied to the place we lived. Having gone through the education system at both primary and secondary level in the local CBS School, I knew little or nothing of the town’s history. Even though I passed the White Castle at least four times every day while attending school in St. John’s Lane, I was not aware of the significant part it played in the Confederate wars of the 1640’s. I learned of the Great Famine and the sad times in West Cork and Mayo during the 1840’s but not of the effect that the famine had on the people of the Poor Law Union of Athy and the deaths in Athy’s workhouse. Irish history finished in 1916 so as far as the Irish education system was concerned but even this did not extend to learning about the 1798 rebellion in our home town. Knowledge of the six local men marched out of White’s Castle and hanged at the Grand Canal basin was lost to memory. Maybe the beheading of two of these six young men and the subsequent display of their severed heads on Crom a Boo bridge, which we pass over every day in 2025, was the reason the events of ’98 were lost in time. We have revived our local history in recent years and honoured the dead of the Rebellion in ’98 with a monument in Emily Square which was officially unveiled in 2010. The workhouse inmates who died during the famine and whose bodies were committed to St. Mary’s Cemetery to be buried in unmarked graves are remembered on the National Famine Commemoration Day in a ceremony in St. Mary’s. We have recovered our history, and the recovery is marked by the number of people who are on Facebook and other social media platforms showing their pride in the historic Town of Athy. I get the feeling that most of these people are new additions to the town who appreciate the historical background rather more than the town natives. For too many decades, Athy families were haunted by the deaths of local men who died during World War 1 and the shameful disregard for those men who returned from the bloodied fields of France and Flanders. This was an unrecognised part of Irish history and it was only with the holding of the first Remembrance Sunday events in St. Michael’s Cemetery about thirty years ago that a gradual acceptance of that part of our local history was noted. Not only do we now have a bigger attendance at our annual remembrance ceremony but St. Michael’s cemetery has one of the finest and World War 1 memorials remembering the Athy men and wwoman whodied in the War. Times have changed not only in terms of our knowledge and understanding of what was once a lost history but also the forms of the cultural heritage of the town. Not only is Athy referred to as a historic town, but the term heritage town is often commonly used when it emerged that Athy was granted heritage status by Bord Failte in the late 1990’s. It brought to play various elements of Athy’s heritage and made us realise the importance of the cultural heritage which for so long was generated and protected by community effort. Who can doubt the enormous cultural heritage of song, dance and drama which was created by the Musical and Dramatic Society in the 1940’s, the Social Club players and subsequent drama societies, the local bands nurtured by Joe O’Neill and his colleagues of St. Joseph’s Terrace. The first, band I have noted was that of the CYMS (Catholic Young Mens Society) in the 1890’s, while the Churchtown Pipe Band helped create a lasting musical heritage. The built heritage of the Town represented by White’s Castle, Woodstock Castle, The Town Hall, The Courthouse and many other buildings gives us a sense of antiquity which was not always appreciated in the absence of the history behind these buildings. Those prize buildings were largely ignored to a shameful extent that in the 1950’s when stone was taken from Woodstock Castle in order to help restore other buildings in Nelson Street. We have now come to realise the importance of the different strands of our Heritage and in many ways I feel we may have to look to the new arrivals to Athy to thank them for our changing attitudes to Athy’s heritage and history Please remember the official opening of Denise Curtin’s exhibition ‘Ó Mhná by the Athy novelist Niamh Boyce in the Art House, Leinster Street on Saturday 26th April.

Great Famine and Athy's Workhouse

Some years ago the Government nominated the third Sunday of May as the Irish Famine National Commemoration Day. This year it falls on May 18th and Athy folk, as they have done for many years past, will participate in a commemoration service in St. Mary’s Cemetery at 3pm that day. By December 1843 work on the Workhouse in Athy was completed. Just three months previously the clerk of the Board of Guardians announced his resignation. At a subsequent meeting Jeremiah Dunne was appointed clerk of the Workhouse. On 9th January 1844 the Board of Guardians agreed the diet for the Workhouse inmates. For adults of both sexes above 15 years of age breakfast would consist of 7ozs. of oatmeal made into stirabout and 1 pint of milk. Dinner would consist of 3 ½ lbs. of potatoes and 1 pint of buttermilk. Young persons from 3 to 15 years of age were to be provided with a breakfast of 4 ozs. of oatmeal made into stirabout and half a pint of sweet milk. Dinner to consist of 2lbs. of potatoes, with half a pint of buttermilk. For supper the youngsters received a quarter of a pound of bread and a half a pint of buttermilk. Infants from one to three years of age received 4 ozs. of oatmeal at breakfast, together with a half-pound of bread and one pint of sweet milk. The Workhouse, which was built to accommodate 360 adults and 240 children, admitted the first paupers on 9th January 1844. On that day five men, four women, ten boys, five girls and one infant were categorised as paupers on their admission to the Workhouse. A week later a further six men, fifteen women, thirteen boys, five girls and two infants were admitted to the Workhouse. Just a few years previously in a letter to Athy Literary Magazine, an unidentified letter writer wrote how ‘sickness and starvation visited the able bodied and the aged poor’ of the South Kildare town of Athy. No surprise therefore to find that within ten months of the opening of the Workhouse it was home to 297 paupers. On 9th September 1845 the Dublin Evening Post reported the appearance of potato blight in Ireland. On 19th September the Athy constabulary indicated that there was no appearance of potato blight in the Athy area. Within one month a further report from Athy constabulary confirmed that the disease had appeared in several fields. On 10th November 1845 Dublin Corporation sent an address to Queen Victoria seeking relief. Within days the Relief Commission had met and agreed to purchase Indian meal in America for shipment to Cork Harbour where it arrived in January 1846. Food depots were established around the country and Athy was one of the centres providing relief for the midlands. The food depots were closed the following August. Athy Workhouse had slightly fewer inmates in November 1845 than it had 12 months previously. The failure of the 1845 potato crop would appear to have less of an impact in County Kildare than elsewhere in Ireland. This may have been due not only to the low rate of dependency on the potato diet by people in the County of Kildare where the potato crop was the smallest of all the Irish counties but may have also been due in part to the building of the railway line in Carlow. This major project gave much needed employment in the Athy area throughout 1845 and during the first half of 1846. On 3rd June 1846 the potato blight was again noted in County Cork. It was not until August that it became clear that the blight was more severe than that experienced the previous year. Delays in bringing forward a relief work scheme caused problems in the Athy area as the local constabulary reported that the people of Athy had ‘pawned everything and cannot bear it much longer.’ Returns from the two local pawn shops showed that 49,953 items were pawned in 1845 and the following year 75,545 were pawned. Clearly the level of hardship and distress of the local people had increased dramatically over that 12-month period. Admissions to the local Workhouse increased during 1846 and in the last week of November 616 inmates were registered. In the weekend of 5th December 1846 three inmates died. Seven more inmates died the following week when the inmate numbers in the Workhouse had reached 652. In November 1846 the Society of Friends, commonly called ‘Quakers’, established their Central Relief Committee which concentrated its fund and energies on the opening of food kitchens throughout the country. Fr. Thomas Greene, C.C. Athy, received a grant from the Central Relief Committee for the poor of Athy town. In February 1847 Athy Board of Guardians advised that it provided accommodation for additional inmates by fitting up sheds formerly used as straw and turf stores to accommodate fever patients. One month later additional accommodation for 50 more inmates was provided by appropriating sheds in the boys and girls wards for use by children under 4 years of age. In April 1847 the Workhouse accommodation had increased to 714 inmates. Within a week ten persons died in the Workhouse and during the first four months of 1847 the Workhouse inmates in Athy varied between 583 and 704 and deaths averaged ten per week. The ever-increasing death toll and the need to provide coffins for internments created demands on the finances of the Board of Guardians. This resulted in the Poor Law Commissioners directing that coffins for outdoor relief recipients should not be provided by the Athy Board. Instead, they were financed by the local Church of Ireland wardens. In Athy for many years prior to the Famine the local select vestry had provided ten pounds each year for parish coffins. However, no such provision was made after 1838. It is not unreasonable to assume that many who died outside the Workhouse during the Famine were buried without coffins. During the Famine period a total of 1,205 paupers died in Athy Workhouse and the local Fever Hospital. They lie buried in unmarked graves in St. Mary’s Cemetery where services are held each Famine Commemoration Day to honour the memory of those unfortunate men, women and children. At the same time the population of Athy is estimated to have fallen by an estimated 1036 persons and many of those losses may have been related to Famine deaths or disease. In my ‘Eye’ last week dealing with Denise Curtin’s exhibition, I incorrectly stated that it was to be opened by novelist Niamh Boyce on 19th April. In fact the exhibition will open on 19th April, but will not be officially opened by Niamh Boyce until Saturday 26th April at 3pm. Do come along and support both Denise and Niamh, two of our most valuable members of Athy’s literary heritage.

Denise Curtin's poetic Exhibition in Athy Art Shop

‘Where Hazel Darling Taps every known Irish Dance into tiny feet. A musty hall Reels with the shoes And the echoes Of swing and Dance. Our baby steps March with history.’ Do you remember the above lines which you might have seen attached to the wall in the Town Hall as you approached the first landing while walking the stairs to the Town Library on the first floor? They were taken from Denise Curtin’s book of poetry, ‘Heartland’. Denise, a native of Athy, is married and has lived in Portlaoise for many years. She has not lost her love for the town of her birth and Athy and its people have featured in her poetry for many years. Her work has appeared in the Irish Times, Poetry Ireland, The Sunday Tribune and many other journals and her work achieved on at least two occasions nominations for the Hennessy Literary Award. The reason Denise is featured in this week’s ‘Eye’ is because her Exhibition ‘O’Mhna’ will open in the Art House, Leinster Street, Athy on Easter Saturday, 19th April at 3.00pm. It will run for at least two weeks, with opening times from 11am-1pm (Monday) and 11am-3pm (Wed. and Thurs.) and otherwise by appointment (email haughey.anthony@gmail.com). Admission Free. The Art House is two doors from Bradbury’s restaurant. The ‘O’Mhna’ exhibition is a celebration of women who have made a difference and was opened in the Arts House, Stradbally on Women’s International Day 2025. The poet dedicated the exhibition to her great grandmother Catherine O’Brien Delaney [1889-1969], who lived in Stradbally and Denise wrote ‘whether it concerns knitting wraps for babies or conflict zones, creating a tiny museum in a community hospital, working as an inspirational teacher or a volunteer with the homeless, this exhibition celebrates the difference these women have made to the lives of others.’ Amongst those featured in the Exhibition are a number of Athy women including the late Mary O’Murchú who worked as a teacher in Scoil Mhuire, Athy and who taught Denise. She is remembered in the poem ‘Modern English’, the final verse of which reads: ‘You could have been the centre-piece Of any Yeats’s poems, Or Shakespeare’s flower, Instead you were the length and breadth Of great words; true to you We remain their guardians.’ Another Athy woman remembered in the Exhibition is the late Mrs. Hughes of Leinster Street whom the poet reminds us: ‘Mrs. Hughes and her assistants Know you better than you know yourself They’ve dressed your mother, Aunts, Cousins and Grandmothers. They’ll figure you out. Between all of them.’ But perhaps the fondest tribute was paid by Denise to her mother, the former Lal Malone, once of St. Patrick’s Avenue, who is still happily with us and now living for some time past in Portlaoise. ‘She always seemed so happy, Designing and creating For us and our dolls, we felt so proud of her without knowing it, as we learned from her the craft of love.’ Many of my readers may not know that the Art House, recently opened, is intended to stimulate interest in the visual arts which is regarded as a vital part of Athy’s heritage. The visual arts share with music, literary work and many other elements of Athy’s cultural heritage, give the historic town an enhanced background to its growth over the generations. We are presently short of literary figures in Athy so the opportunity to bring Denise’s work to her home town where the exhibition will be opened by Athy novelist Niamh Boyce, is a welcome treat for readers. Do come along on Easter Saturday, 19th April at 3.00pm and give your support to Denise Curtin, poet and Niamh Boyce, novelist in what is their home town.

Athy family and early medieval village of Athy

The name ‘Athy’ is commonly believed to have come to us as the anglicized form of the ancient Irish place name Ath Ae. Woulfe in his book “Irish names and placenames” writes that “at the time of the Norman invasion, surnames were still far from universal in England and many of the first settlers came to this country with only single names. Some of these took surnames on Irish soil after the Norman fashion, from the places where they settled.” So it was that one of the first families to settle in and around South Kildare took their surname from the ancient Irish placename “Ath Ae” which was anglicised as “Athy”. The Athy family did not stay long in South Kildare. After a short stay they moved to Galway where tradition relates one of the Athy family erected the first stone house or castle in that area. The Athy family was later to become one of the 14 ancient tribes of Galway. There is no evidence of a fortress or settlement at Ath Ae in ancient times and so to Norman influence must be credited the first riverside settlement in the post 1169 period. Under the Normans, most of the province of Leinster passed into the hands of Richard de Clare, Earl of Pembroke, better known as Strongbow. Orpen in his pioneering work “Ireland under the Normans” stated that the Barony of Rheban was probably granted by Strongbow to Robert de St. Michael. This must have occurred prior to 1176, the year of Strongbow’s death. Land allocation was generally followed by the construction of military fortresses in localities selected for their strategic importance. Such precautions were necessary against the dispossessed Irish who had been driven from the lands. The river Barrow was traversed at both Ath Ae and Rheban by fords, the control of which were vital to the Normans in maintaining supremacy over the Irish in the area. It is therefore reasonable to assume that Rheban Castle and Woodstock Castle or the earlier wooden structures which they might have replaced, were built soon after the arrival of the Normans. Many previous writers on Athy have ascribed the building of Rheban Castle to Richard de St. Michael. Richard was the son and heir of David de St. Michael and the grandson of the original grantee of the lands Robert de St. Michael. We know that David de St. Michael granted the Church of Rheban to the Abbey of St. Mary’s in Dublin before the end of 1200, a grant which was subsequently confirmed by his son Richard in 1215. It is highly probable that the Church of Rheban came into existence after the erection of a Castle in the same locality, this being the usual sequence in a hostile country. Rheban Castle is therefore most likely of pre-1200 construction. On the other hand Woodstock Castle is universally accepted to have been built by Richard de St. Michael who succeeded to his father’s property and title sometime before the confirmation of the gift of the Church of Rheban in 1215. There is no agreement amongst the many writers on Athy as to the year of the Castle’s construction. In “Residences and Castles of the Duke of Leinster” the year 1190 is claimed, but not substantiated, as the year in which Woodstock Castle was built. In Anthologica Hibernica it is written that Woodstock was built about the time of the foundation of St. John’s Abbey by Richard de St. Michael as an appendage to the Palatinate of Dunamaes. St. John’s Abbey was founded by Richard during the reign of King John who died in 1216. All the evidence points to the erection of Woodstock Castle in 1215 or thereabouts and as such the Castle and St. John’s priory represent the earliest buildings of what we now know as Athy, with the Castle as the probable first building. The Castle’s location, with the River Barrow to its rear and an extensive wood to the front, made the fortress almost impregnable and well sited to protect the ford over which it was to stand for many years. The catholic invaders of a catholic people who spoke a different language from that of the natives, and whose customs and traditions were also different, as far as possible made their settlements self-sufficient. Religious settlements played an important part in Anglo Norman life as they had done in ancient Ireland. One may assume that the desire to make the everyday lives of the early settlers at Woodstock as Anglo Norman as possible prompted the Baron of Rheban, Richard de St. Michael, to invite the Order of Crouched Friars or Friars of the Holy Cross to come to the area. The Friars of the Holy Cross were so called because of an embroidered cross worn on the habits of community members. Their Monastery was established under the invocation of St. John and its domain consisted of an island in the river Barrow and the adjacent fields as far as the former Barrack yard in Barrack Street. It included that part of the town now called St. John’s and St. John’s Lane. For the first 40 years or so of its life, the settlement on the western bank of the ford of Ae consisted of Woodstock Castle, with the Monastery of St. John’s in its shadow and the huts of the Anglo Norman settlers who came in the wake of Strongbow’s army.

Rev. Samuel Cotton (Part 1)

Samuel George Cotton was born at 2 St. George’s Place, Bray in 1823. His father was a well-known Dublin Surgeon. Cotton was educated privately and attended Trinity College Divinity School, before being ordained a Deacon in Christ Church Cathedral Dublin in August 1847. He was appointed curate to the Athy Parish and was first noted as reading at St. Michael’s Church on the 29th September 1847 when he read to a congregation of two hundred and seventy in the morning and preached to seventy parishioners in the evening. The Preachers book for St. Michael’s shows his final homily for the Athy Parishioners was delivered on the evening of the 2nd July 1848. Two weeks earlier, he was ordained a Vicar in Tuam Cathedral and shortly thereafter was appointed Vicar of Kilberry Parish in succession to Rev. William Warburton. Rev. Cotton’s early years in Kilberry were uncontroversial even if his opinions of parishioners and Kilberry natives alike, which he wrote in his Visiting Book in 1853, painted a character likely to fall foul of third parties. He visited his Kilberry parishioners in their homes during a period of four months commencing April 1853 making notes on individual parishioners. These notes were generally critical of his parishioners, one of whom he described as ‘a great humbug of note if anything a Romanist.’ Another was described as ‘a great drunkard, never been to church nor seen at communion.’ It was interesting to note the number of parishioners whom he described as former Roman Catholics. It was not long before the Rev. Cotton fell out with many of his parishioners which resulted in the following letter issuing on behalf of his dissatisfied parishioners to the Archbishop of Dublin. ‘May it please your Grace, we the undersigned parishioners of Kilberry Parish humbly request that your Grace will be kind enough to cause an enquiry to be made into the conduct of the Rev. S. G. Cotton, Vicar of this parish. His almost total neglect of the parish during weekdays, he more than once neglected to attend the church on Sunday and consequently the parishioners were obliged to return home without church service.’ There were further complaints in the letter which was signed by A.G. Judge and George J. Phipps as well as ten church wardens. The letter was supported by Lord Downes of Bert House who wrote to the Archbishop on the 7th April 1855 claiming that the conduct of the Rev. S.G. Cotton had for some time past been of an extraordinary nature and that many of his parishioners had ceased to attend his church. The Archbishop is not recorded as having dealt with the parishioners’ complaints and what was described in the Leinster Express as ‘The Church and the Kilberry Controversy’ continued into the following year with many letters from Rev. Cotton featuring in the newspaper. In March 1857, Rev. Cotton found himself before the Magistrates at Athy Petty Sessions charged with assault and facing a civil claim for wages due to the former sexton of Kilberry Church. The Magistrates found in favour of the Plaintiff and awarded a Decree for nine shillings and ten pence including costs against Rev. Cotton. The evidence in relation to the assault charge concerned the former sexton, a female who satisfied the court that Rev. Cotton pulled a chair from under her and attempted to pull her out of the local school. The Vicar received the first of many convictions which he would receive during his clerical career with a fine of one pound and two shillings and six pence costs. Rev. Cotton then went to war against the Leinster Express which reported the Petty Sessions hearing claiming that the newspaper was biased in its reporting Many letters from the cleric were dealt with by the Leinster Express Editor who on one occasion wrote ‘Mr. Cotton appears to think we entertain an unkind disposition towards him and that we have used language calculated to do him injury. We must disclaim any such feeling …. while we have every right to express our dissent from his views’. The Rev. Vicar’s letters continued and were published in the Leinster Express. The Editor was then moved to write ‘it is a matter of much regret to us that our columns should be so frequently occupied with this Rev. gentleman’s affairs, and it is with difficulty that we can maintain the proper bounds of newspaper discussion. In our last edition Mr. Lefroy an old and respected Magistrate was accused by Mr. Cotton of bias in the discharge of his duties and has deemed it necessary to repel in indignant terms the imputation.’ Rev. Cotton also fell out with Rev. F.S. Trench, Rector of Athy whom he had called upon to intervene in the row between the Kilberry Parishioners and himself. Rev. Trench apparently did not intervene and subsequently was the subject of a letter of complaint from his Kilberry counterpart. A further complaint from Messrs Judge and Phipps that monies collected for the local church were misused by Rev. Cotton was the subject of an enquiry by two former church wardens. They were satisfied that all monies collected since 1847 had been distributed in the same way as Rev. Cotton’s predecessor Rev. Warburton. The second part of Rev. Cotton’s extraordinary story will appear next week.

Athy's Social Club Players

Last week I wrote of the many vacant, sometimes derelict shop premises on Athy’s main streets and questioned why Kildare County Council had not put in place some form of financial incentives such as a rates or property tax abatement scheme to encourage the occupation and use of vacant premises. I was delighted to read in the same newspaper an advertisement by Kildare County Council announcing a Commercial Rates Incentive Grants Scheme whereby a business premises vacant for at least two years can get a three-year grant to encourage the reoccupation of a vacant premises. This is a good start to the planned regeneration of Athy’s main street, but only if the Enterprise Department of the same Council works hand in hand with prospective independent shop owners who are interested in re-occupying existing vacant premises. My article last week commenced with the question if one could remember the differences of life in Athy in the 1950s and today. It was during the course of my own memory recall that I remembered the town’s Social Club Players. They were a dramatic group based in the Social Club in St. John’s Lane. My first memory of the Social Club Players stems from a performance in the Town Hall to which I was brought by my brother Jack in February 1953 when I was not yet 11 years old. I cannot remember any details of the play. All I can recall after 72 years was where we were sitting, approximately halfway down the hall on the right hand side. The subsequent press report on the play ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street’ described it as ‘the Society’s most ambitious production to date.’ Veteran actors such as Liam Ryan, Tadhg Brennan, Tommy Walsh, Ken Reynolds, Tom Fox, Florrie Lawler, May Fenelon and Nellie Fox impressed the newspaper reporter immensely in their various roles. The Social Club Players’ first production, so far as I am aware, was ‘Cupboard Love’, performed in the Town Hall in April 1943. I have originals or copies of 16 programmes of plays put on by the Social Club Players between 1943 and 1959. How many programs I am missing I cannot say, but if there is anyone out there who has Social Club Players programmes I would welcome the opportunity of getting photocopies of same. Looking through the programmes I have, it is sad to think that all of the men and women who performed on the local stage so many years ago are no longer with us. Jo Lawler, May Fenelon, Claire Moore, Maureen Walsh, Florrie Lawler, Christy Burke, Nellie Fox, Frances Fenelon, Kitty McLaughlin, May Ward and Betty May were the actresses who participated in several of the Society’s productions over the years. The actors included Liam Ryan, Tadhg Brennan, Pat Mulhall, Ken Reynolds, D.S. Walsh, Freddie Moore, Tommy Walsh, Tommy Fleming, Johnny Mee, Tommy Doyle, Joe Martin, John Dolan, James O’Doherty, Tom Fox, Fergus Hayden and Patsy O’Neill. These were the men and women who gave of their time and talents to entertain their fellow community members over a 16-year period. Their legacy was captured in programmes and photographs of cast members of various plays in which they participated. The plays included ‘Cupboard Love’ (April 1943), ‘Paul Twyning’ (December 1943), ‘Look at the Heffernans’ (March 1945), ‘The Far Off Hills’ (April 1947), ‘They got what they wanted’ (1948), ‘The Righteous are Bold’ (1949), ‘The White Steed’ (April 1950), ‘The White Headed Boy’ (January 1951), ‘The Shop at Sly Corner’ (1952), ‘The Barretts of Wimpole Street’ (February 1953), ‘The Far Off Hills’ (1954), ‘The Righteous are Bold’ (1954) , ‘The Clock Ticks Dusk’ (1955), ‘Twenty Years Awooing’ (1955-’56), ‘The Devil came from Dublin’ (1956), ‘My Wife’s Family’ (1956), ‘The Devil came from Dublin’ (November 1956), ‘Mungo’s Mansion’ (March 1958), ‘The Turn of the Wheel’ (February 1959). I was intrigued to come across a copy of the Society’s accounts for ‘Look at the Heffernans’ which was performed in the Town Hall in March 1945. The sum of thirteen shillings and six pence was paid to John Eaton for ‘bill posting and bell’. This was a time when local events and shows were publicised by the local bell man who walked through the main streets ringing a bell and announcing, as in this case, the upcoming performance of the Society’s play. I have listed the actors and actresses of the Social Club Players so that any future local historian/researcher can easily access what I hope can be regarded as a local archive devoted to the forgotten people of Athy. For the same reason I set out the plays which the Social Club Players put on in the Town Hall insofar as I can verify them between 1943 and 1959. I wonder if there could be a revival of the theatrical tradition of the past which was once such an important part of the social fabric of Athy? The recent death of Kieran Hickey brought back memories of over sixty years ago when I joined Kildare County Council as a clerical officer. On joining the Council I learned that Kieran and Joe Gavin, both of whom were clerical officers like myself, were attending the final year of a three year B. Comm. degree course at nighttime in U.C.D. Motivated by what they were doing I attended the same degree course the following year with the benefit of a ‘lift to Dublin’ after work and bussing to the Naas Road to ‘thumb’ a lift back to Naas after the lectures. My brother Jack, who was also a clerical officer in Kildare County Council at the time, on seeing my involvement with U.C.D. decided to study for various diplomas. The studies stood Joe, Kieran and my brother Jack in good stead as all ended up at the top of their professions, Joe Gavin as County Manager in Monaghan, Jack Taaffe as County Manager in Westmeath and Kieran Hickey as C.E.O. of the Eastern Health Board. Many of the people I worked with in Kildare County Council over five years in the 1960s are now dead. Like the members of Athy Social Club Players they are the forgotten people of an earlier generation whose memories deserve remembrance by later generations.

Athy business life in the 1950s compared to today

Do you remember Athy of the 1950s? How does it compare to Athy of 2025? Despite the fact that the town’s population has more than doubled in the meantime, Athy’s commercial life has deteriorated to a disappointing level. I cannot recall any vacant shop premises in Athy in the 1950s. On Offaly Street where I lived there were a number of shops, all of which are now closed. Kehoe’s Public House has not opened for several years, while Kitty Webster’s and Mona Sylvester’s sweet shops, both closed for years, have now been redeveloped as apartments. The cinema on the same street, once so popular many years ago, is no more. Public houses, of which there was so many in the town, have closed up and like Michael Noonan’s in Stanhope Street and Barney Dunne’s in Duke Street are forlorn reminders of happy days. In the 1920s, there were forty or more licenced premises in Athy catering for a population of about 4,000 people. Today with the population of 10,000 or more, the public houses still serving the public come to less than ten. The explanation may in part lie in the operation of Off Licences and the strict application of drink driving legislation. The grocery shops in the 1950s have disappeared following the emergence of Supermarkets and the subsequent centralisation of the grocery trade. Do you remember the shop assistants of seventy years ago who dressed in their light brown shop coats took your order and presented the groceries on the counter? Groceries which included sugar, flour and many other food stuffs had to be weighed and bagged earlier in the day by the shop assistant. Here today in Athy, the entire groceries trade once spread over 20 or more shops is now centred on four supermarkets. In many cases the former grocery shop premises today lie vacant in some cases for many years past given the towns streetscape a sad impression of dereliction. How much worse our main streets would be if we did not have today so many hairdressing businesses, nail bars, coffee shops and restaurants which were not to be found in Athy of the 1950s. Today our main streets have a surfeit of empty shop premises which creates a bad image for the town once regarded as the best market town in Leinster. Saturday evening shopping in the 1950s was a boom time for local shops as the country people came, particularly to Shaws, which remained opened until late that evening. Shaws created a huge footfall in the 1950s which benefitted other shops in the town. Its influence in that regard is today less apparent given the present-day high volume of car ownership and local shoppers’ willingness to drive to other towns to do their shopping. The 1950s was a really good time for the shoppers of Athy. Theft from shops was a rare crime those days, while the local Gardai were busy raiding pubs for after hour drinking and prosecuting cyclists for using their bikes without lights after sunset. It was a simple way of life but one which was marked by poverty for many families in the absence of employment. The result in emigration, principally to Britain, saw young families without fathers for months on end. It was not just fathers who left their home town but also boys and girls who could not get gainful employment at home. The boys had a better chance than the girls in obtaining gainful employment locally as the boys, even before their fourteenth birthday, were able to take up employment in the Asbestos factory or the IVI Foundry. The present drabness of the town’s main streets and side streets prompts me to ask what, if anything, is being done or planned by the appropriate authorities to improve Athy’s streetscape? I am conscious as a taxpayer, a rate payer and a property tax payer that Kildare County Council should be more proactive in tackling the issue of vacant and sometimes derelict shop premises in the town. Financial incentives such as rates and property tax abatement schemes may be required to encourage the opening of more independent shops. Having written the above on Wednesday morning, I found the following on Facebook some hours later: ‘Kildare County Council have been awarded €998,800 under the Department of Rural and Community Development Fund to revitalise the famous Athy Christian Brother’s School into a state-of-the-art centre for circular economy and regenerative business activity.’ I understand that the Grant is the result of an initiative by Councillor Brian Dooley who some months ago approached the owners of the building and the local Enterprise Department of Kildare County Council regarding the purchase of the school to be used for apprentice training. The reference to ‘a state-of-the art centre for circular economy’ puzzles me as I don’t understand what it means. However, given its context I am sure that it is intended to help the ancient town of Athy which for too long has been exposed to unwelcome commercial and economic deprivation. We need more independent shops along our main streets and hopefully the announcement of the Community Development Grant can be the start of a new era for the regeneration of business in Athy.

Athy Lions Book Shop

Athy Lions Club will host the first of this year’s Book Fairs on Saturday, 8th March commencing at 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. in the Athy Recreational Community Hall on the Kilkenny Road. Those of my age will know the venue as Dreamland Ballroom, home of happy youthful memories. We started the Book Fair just over two years ago as part of my ambition to make Athy a more friendly book town than it was when I was growing up in the 1950’s. I remember going to the small town library one evening every week. It was located in what was a tiny room in the Town Hall at the top of the stairs which were accessed through the door which today remains locked and positioned almost opposite the Chinese restaurant. How little traffic passed by the doorway is easily imagined given that you stepped onto the road as you left the library building. There were few children’s books available in those days and indeed in the absence of any books apart from school books in the Taaffe household, I haunted the local library seeking detective novels. It was memories of those days that prompted my suggestion to the Lions Club to offer free books to young children from the Lions Book Shop in the weeks leading up to last Christmas. It has now been decided to extend the free book scheme for the rest of this year. Children are encouraged with their parents to call to the Book Shop and pick up a book free of charge to bring home to read and to keep. I am very conscious that there are many children who like myself as a youngster did not have books to read at home and the whole purpose of the children’s free book scheme is to give these children the opportunity to make their lives richer by reading books. The Lions Bookshop has been operating for more than fifteen years. It was an attempt to replicate the small beginning of the book town of Hay-On-Wye, the Welsh town which the late Richard Booth re-energised when he opened his first bookshop. With a population of less than two thousand, it presently has twenty three second hand bookshops and prior to the internet, it had many more. It is still the centre of the second hand book world and is a wonderful place which I have been visiting every year for the last forty years. In the early weeks of the Lions Bookshop it opened on Saturdays only until I was approached by a lady offering her help in running the shop. Alice Rowan, who is now an Honorary Lions Club Member, has been the front of house person in the Bookshop from Tuesday to Saturday inclusive every week for the last fifteen years or so. As a volunteer, her services to the Lions Club and to the local community have brought huge benefits for both. Alice is one of the great community heroes who unasked has done so much for the people of Athy. I am very conscious that many of the children in our local community are unable either because of parental indifference or deprivation, to access books to read. Even the presence of a local library does not apparently encourage many such parents to allow their children to use the library facilities. A home without books is like a house without windows. Children learn to read and to see the world through the writings of others by being in the presence of books. That is why the Lions Club wants to assist the children of bookless homes to build their own small libraries by taking up the invitation to collect a book a month from the Lions Bookshop. I realise that many of the children who would benefit from the free book scheme may not call to the Lions Book Shop. Perhaps local teachers and indeed members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society might be in a good position to offer advice regarding the distribution of children’s books. If so, I would like to hear from either. Looking back over more than sixty years of reading, I find that my own reading habits have changed. The detective novels of almost seventy years ago have given way after a few years of limited, if any reading, to novels and short stories of Irish writers. I once collected all of what I refer to as the “Classical” Irish Novelists of the Irish literary scene such as Liam O’Flaherty, Sean O’Faolain, Francis Stuart and such like, whose works I still retain even though I no longer read fiction. Indeed, I haven’t done so for over forty years, my interests having passed on to Irish History, British Social History and English Politics. It was George Crabbe who wrote “My books have changed, I now prefer the truth To the light reading of unsettled youth”.

The naming of Athy's streets

Emily Square named after Emily Duchess of Kildare is undergoing for the second time in recent years a major redevelopment. There is uncertainty as to how it will turn out, if the comments regarding the recent tree planted in the front of the square is anything to go by. Athy’s main streets all bear the names of an earlier Duke of Leinster’s family members. I am uncertain when the street names were changed, a process which was carried out by Athy’s Borough Council sometime before it was abolished in 1830. I am fairly confident that Augustus Bridge over the Canal built in 1790/91 was named after Augustus Fitzgerald, the first child of William, 2nd Duke of Leinster who officially opened the bridge. The 2nd Duke was to have his name forever remembered when the main streets running through Athy were renamed William Street, Duke Street and Leinster Street. When that was done, I can only speculate. Perhaps soon after his death in October 1804 when his earlier mentioned first son became Duke of Leinster. Duke Street was previously known as St. John’s Street while Leinster Street was called High Street. Interestingly, St. John’s Lane which was linked with St. John’s Street still retains its pre medieval name. Preston’s Gate was renamed Offaly Street as within the Fitzgerald extended family, the name Lord Offaly was a common feature since Gerald Fitzmaurice was succeeded in that title by Maurice Fitzgerald in the 13th Century. James, the 1st Duke of Leinster, was known as Lord Offaly before he was raised to the Dukedom. On the opposite side of the main street lies Stanhope Street, possibly named after the family name of the wife of the 2nd Duke. Athy’s Plaza is known as Emily Square in memory of Emily, Duchess of Kildare who married James, the 1st Duke of Leinster in 1747 when she was aged 15 years and 4 months. Emily was the goddaughter of George II. She was the second of seven surviving children of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond an illegitimate descendant of King Charles II. Her mother was Sarah, daughter of Earl Cadogan. James the 1st Duke of Leinster contracted to build Carton House before he married and when the work was incomplete as he brought his young English bride to Ireland, the couple lived for a few weeks at Leinster Lodge, Athy. During her married life, Emily also lived in Carton House, Frescati House in Blackrock and in Leinster House where the 1st Duke died in 1773. During their married life, Emily gave birth to 19 children including Edward Fitzgerald, the Irish Patriot. Emily’s last child of the 19 was generally believed to have been fathered by her lover, the children’s tutor William Ogilvie. When her husband died, Emily married Ogilvie the following year and had three more children with him. She died in London in March 1814. I am speculating when I put forward the 3rd Duke of Leinster as the person who with the cooperation of Athy Borough Council prompted the renaming of Athy’s main street and the town’s plaza. Emily was the 3rd Duke’s grandmother and there may have been a conscious effort to delete Lord Edward Fitzgerald from popular memory by highlighting the names of those who were faithful to the crown. I do not have documentary evidence to hand to back up my speculative claim as unfortunately I cannot presently access my archival records. However, I cannot recall any reference to street name changes in the Athy Borough minute books which I examined many years ago. Our local history was for centuries bound up with that of the Earls of Kildare and the Dukes of Leinster and as they were proprietors of our town, it was inevitable that the people’s allegiances followed those of the occupiers of the great castles of Kildare. Times have changed and Athy people are now more intensely aware of their history and appreciative of those local men and women who played their part in helping to secure some measure of freedom for our country. Should they be remembered by a further renaming of Athy’s streets? As I ask that question, I am reminded of an attempt some years ago by a member of Athy Urban District Council to have Emily Square renamed Mandela Square following Nelson Mandella’s release from a South African prison. Congratulations to David Daly on his election as Chairman of Athy Photographic Society. David, a dedicated and skilful photographer, is wished well as he heads up one of Athy’s important cultural societies.

The naming of Athy's streets

Emily Square named after Emily Duchess of Kildare is undergoing for the second time in recent years a major redevelopment. There is uncertainty as to how it will turn out, if the comments regarding the recent tree planted in the front of the square is anything to go by. Athy’s main streets all bear the names of an earlier Duke of Leinster’s family members. I am uncertain when the street names were changed, a process which was carried out by Athy’s Borough Council sometime before it was abolished in 1830. I am fairly confident that Augustus Bridge over the Canal built in 1790/91 was named after Augustus Fitzgerald, the first child of William, 2nd Duke of Leinster who officially opened the bridge. The 2nd Duke was to have his name forever remembered when the main streets running through Athy were renamed William Street, Duke Street and Leinster Street. When that was done, I can only speculate. Perhaps soon after his death in October 1804 when his earlier mentioned first son became Duke of Leinster. Duke Street was previously known as St. John’s Street while Leinster Street was called High Street. Interestingly, St. John’s Lane which was linked with St. John’s Street still retains its pre medieval name. Preston’s Gate was renamed Offaly Street as within the Fitzgerald extended family, the name Lord Offaly was a common feature since Gerald Fitzmaurice was succeeded in that title by Maurice Fitzgerald in the 13th Century. James, the 1st Duke of Leinster, was known as Lord Offaly before he was raised to the Dukedom. On the opposite side of the main street lies Stanhope Street, possibly named after the family name of the wife of the 2nd Duke. Athy’s Plaza is known as Emily Square in memory of Emily, Duchess of Kildare who married James, the 1st Duke of Leinster in 1747 when she was aged 15 years and 4 months. Emily was the goddaughter of George II. She was the second of seven surviving children of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond an illegitimate descendant of King Charles II. Her mother was Sarah, daughter of Earl Cadogan. James the 1st Duke of Leinster contracted to build Carton House before he married and when the work was incomplete as he brought his young English bride to Ireland, the couple lived for a few weeks at Leinster Lodge, Athy. During her married life, Emily also lived in Carton House, Frescati House in Blackrock and in Leinster House where the 1st Duke died in 1773. During their married life, Emily gave birth to 19 children including Edward Fitzgerald, the Irish Patriot. Emily’s last child of the 19 was generally believed to have been fathered by her lover, the children’s tutor William Ogilvie. When her husband died, Emily married Ogilvie the following year and had three more children with him. She died in London in March 1814. I am speculating when I put forward the 3rd Duke of Leinster as the person who with the cooperation of Athy Borough Council prompted the renaming of Athy’s main street and the town’s plaza. Emily was the 3rd Duke’s grandmother and there may have been a conscious effort to delete Lord Edward Fitzgerald from popular memory by highlighting the names of those who were faithful to the crown. I do not have documentary evidence to hand to back up my speculative claim as unfortunately I cannot presently access my archival records. However, I cannot recall any reference to street name changes in the Athy Borough minute books which I examined many years ago. Our local history was for centuries bound up with that of the Earls of Kildare and the Dukes of Leinster and as they were proprietors of our town, it was inevitable that the people’s allegiances followed those of the occupiers of the great castles of Kildare. Times have changed and Athy people are now more intensely aware of their history and appreciative of those local men and women who played their part in helping to secure some measure of freedom for our country. Should they be remembered by a further renaming of Athy’s streets? As I ask that question, I am reminded of an attempt some years ago by a member of Athy Urban District Council to have Emily Square renamed Mandela Square following Nelson Mandella’s release from a South African prison.

County Home Athy

‘The first phase of the construction of the 92-bed nursing unit for St. Vincent’s Hospital Athy is set for early 2025’. So announced the HSE almost a year ago. The first phase of the construction work aims to deliver 48 beds with subsequent phases to follow. Detailed design work was, in February of last year, underway for the proposed nursing units. We were advised that efforts were focussed on finalising tender packages to be presented to the market for contractors’ selection. Construction activities for the project were then anticipated to commence in the first quarter of 2025. The last time additional accommodation was provided at the former County Home was in 1969, almost twenty years after an interdepartmental committee’s recommendations were adopted by the Irish Government. The committee set up in 1949 to examine the future of County Homes found that many of the former workhouses including Athy’s was still accommodating the chronically sick, the aged and mentally unstable while lacking appropriate accommodation. However, the report recognised that the old workhouse buildings could be refurbished to provide accommodation for the aged and chronically sick while the mentally unstable, unmarried mothers and their children should be accommodated in separate institutions. The Report’s recommendations were accepted by the government in 1951, but it was not until 1969 that Kildare County Council approved a scheme of improvement for Athy’s County Home by replacing patient accommodation then located on the ground floor and the first floor of the original workhouse building. The County Architect, Niall Meagher, was responsible for the planning, design and construction of the new buildings assisted by Eric Wallace, staff member in the County Architect’s Department working closely with the Department of Health Architect Cecil Dowdall. The administration of the project and commissioning, equipping and staffing of the new building involved the then Matron, Sr. Dominic. Work on the construction of the new building by Bantile Limited of Banagher commenced on the 27th July 1966 and took almost three years to complete. The new hospital buildings which cost €250,000 contained two hospital blocks for 100 female patients, three hospital blocks for 168 male patients and 14 maternity unit and delivery rooms. The new building was occupied on the 3rd April 1969, 125 years after the workhouse was first opened. In 1971 the newly established Eastern Health Board took over responsibility for the County Home and they named it St. Vincent’s Hospital. The first visiting committee of the Board under the chairmanship of Councillor Paddy Hickey met in the hospital on the 20th May 1971. The following year, the Department of Health gave approval for the construction of a new convent building, a nurses’ home and a mortuary. The Sisters of Mercy had retained a presence in the former workhouse since 1874 and on their first arrival they had occupied rooms at the back of the main building. Later they moved to the front of the building occupying rooms on the first floor and where they remained until they moved into the new convent. The contractors for the new building were Messrs. M. Turley and Co. and in late 1974 the work was completed with buildings officially opened on the 25th June 1975. In the 1940s, the County Home employed three Sisters of Mercy and three nurses and in 1952 the first attendants were employed. In 2002, despite a reduction in the number of patients in the hospital compared to 50 years previously, the staff employed included seventy-three nurses, ninety-seven attendants and ten administrative and support staff. The Sisters of Mercy who first arrived in Athy in 1851 to teach in the newly opened convent school soon arranged weekly visits to the workhouse and were eventually invited by the Board of Guardians in 1874 to provide nursing sisters for the workhouse. Thus commenced the Sisters of Mercy’s work in the workhouse, later the County Home and then St. Vincent’s Hospital. Several members of the Sisters of Mercy were appointed Matrons of the County Home/St. Vincent’s Hospital. Many of us will remember with fondness the legendary Sr. Dominic who was appointed Matron in 1957 and succeeded in that position by Sr. Peg in 1981. Sr. Peg was the last Sister of Mercy to be Matron and the last Sister of Mercy to work as a nurse in St. Vincent’s Hospital was Sr. Catherine who retired on the 31st March 2002. The dark forbidding building which George Wilkinson had designed in the 1840s has changed beyond recognition in the intervening years. The corridors which once echoed to the shuffling sounds of bare footed men, women and children, have been replaced by modern wards where the elderly and the sick are comforted and cared for with compassion and skill.

Big Wind of 1839

Storm Éowyn has come and gone, leaving behind a devastated countryside. So far as records show Éowyn was the biggest wind storm ever to cross this country and surpassed the generally accepted ‘Night of the Big Wind’ of 6th January 1839. The winds of 1839 brought a different type of devastation on the Irish people of that time. While there was less destruction of buildings than one might expect following the recent wind storm, the misery experienced as a result of electricity outages and the absence of water supply is shared by many thousands of households. On the Monday three days after the storm 240,000 houses remained without electricity, while about 109,000 customers were without water supply and a further 126,000 households were classified as ‘at risk’. The big winds of 1839 destroyed thousands of the poorly constructed dwellings occupied by cottagers and unemployed labourers. Fire was a particular hazard because of the prevalence of thatched roofs. In Loughrea it was reported that 103 houses were destroyed, of which 71 were burned to the ground. This was a common enough occurrence, particularly along the Western seaboard. Near Athenry in County Galway a house collapsed and went on fire, resulting in the tragic death of the mother of the house and four of her children. Subsequent reports in the local Press gave details of the wind storm destruction across the country. The ‘Galway Weekly Adviser’ claimed that Portarlington suffered more than any other town for its size. That same newspaper reported that large ricks of corn and hay were blown away a mile from the haggards and that rivers and lakes were full of corn and straw. The ‘Dublin Evening Post’ confirmed this when it reported that many farmers whose haggards were full with unthrashed corn the day before the storm found themselves without a sheaf of grain in the morning. While the ‘Clonmel Herald’ reported ‘upwards of 300 lives were lost in Ireland by the late hurricane’, it is generally accepted that this was an over estimation. The actual figures for those who died was nearer 100 and included 12 men of the Roundstone Coast Guard who were drowned during the storm. I cannot access my archival material at this time but so far as I can remember I never came across any Athy references in relation to the 1839 wind storm. There is no reason to believe Athy escaped the ravages of the storm, but the lack of reporting in the minute books of the Borough Council is surprising. Perhaps not so surprising when one considers the composition of the Council and its obvious lack of interest in the town. The 1839 wind storm came to the forefront when the English Chancellor Lloyd George introduced the Old Age Pension Act of 1908. This introduced a non-contributory pension of thirteen pounds a year for eligible persons aged 70 years and older. Many Irish applicants had no documental evidence of their date of birth as the registration of births, marriages and deaths did not become a statutory requirement until much later. Catholic Parish Priests were in many cases compiling baptismal records for several years prior to 1839 and if I remember correctly baptismal records in St. Michael’s, Athy, were compiled from some time in the middle of the 18th century. In the absence of such records the Old Age Pension Committees charged with implementing the Pension Act, decided that the claimants’ pension application would be approved if he or she remembered the night of the Big Wind. Last week’s storm, stronger than any previous storm, caused less structural damage than that of 1839. However, it created huge difficulties for so many households without electricity and without water. The electricity network team have been working hard since the storm and deserve our gratitude without criticism. The lady who tackled the Taoiseach some days ago in relation to the alleged failure of the electricity company would no doubt be surprised to read that in 1985 the Jansen Report on the ESB found that the semi-state body was overstaffed to the tune of 3,000 workers. I am not sure if the water treatment authority, Uisce Eireann, which failed to provide a safe and secure water service following the storm cannot be criticised. Surely every water treatment plant dependent on electricity should have a backup turbine system in place. The absence of turbines meant that with electricity cut off water could not be supplied. The remedy is straightforward. It is not only Uisce Eireann who fell down on the job for last week when writing of Athy’s Gaelic Football Club players who captained the Kildare county senior team I omitted to mention Colm Moran and David Hyland. Colm was captain of the Kildare county senior team in 1988 following Athy’s victory in the 1987 Kildare Championship final. David was captain of the Kildare senior team in 2020 and 2021. Colm and David were therefore the second and third Athy players to captain the senior county team, the previous player being Paul Matthews who captained the Kildare All-Ireland losing team of 1935. As mentioned in last week’s article Paul Matthews and Kevin Feeley, like myself, are not Athy natives, while Colm Moran and David Hyland are. They are therefore the first Athy natives to captain the Kildare senior football team for more than one game.