Athy's Tenants Defence Association

The passing of the Land Act in 1870 was the first success of the Irish tenant farmers in their long struggle against Irish landlordism. This Gladstonian enactment gave the tenant farmers the right to be compensated in the event of eviction and for improvements carried out during their tenancy. However it did not secure for these hard pressed people the security of tenure which they had so long sought. Moreover the much heralded Land Act enabled Landlords to contract out of its provisions, thereby leaving their tenants without even the limited benefits of Gladstone’s measure. The Athy and County Kildare landlord, the Duke of Leinster, was amongst the first of the Irish landlords to attempt to defeat his tenants’ rights under the 1870 Act. The Leinster Lease, as it became known, a model of legal ingenuity was presented by the Duke’s agents to his various tenants. Prepared with the Duke’s interest in mind, it totally and cruelly side-stepped the 1870 Act which the tenant farmers had so recently welcomed. Local opposition to the terms of the Leinster Lease saw the foundation of the Tenants’ Defence Association in Athy. This was the first such association formed in Ireland after the original Tenant’s Defence association declined following the passing of the 1870 Land Act of Isaac Butt’s Tenant League of 1868. The Athy Tenants’ Association held its first meeting on Tuesday, 19 November 1872 with Captain Morgan of Rahinderry in the chair. Local man Thomas P. Kynsey J.P. acted as Secretary to the meeting. In the years immediately following the foundation of the Tenants’ Defence Association in Athy, the Duke of Leinster succeeded in overcoming local opposition to the terms of the Leinster Lease. Some of the Association’s leaders were themselves to accept the terms of the Lease, undoubtedly under the threat of eviction. One such signatory was James Leahy, Chairman of Athy Town Commissioners, who admitted signing the Leinster Lease for his farm at Ardscull. In 1878 the Duke submitted the Lease to Athy Board of Guardians in respect of some land held by them as tenants of the Leinster estate. At a special Board meeting on 1 January 1879, the Guardians declined to execute the Lease indicating “that this Board, as the representatives of the people decline to give their signatories to a document directly opposed to the provisions of the Land Act of 1870.” Opposition to the Leinster Lease was maintained at a low key throughout 1879 and 1880 but evictions in September 1880 of tenants of the Verschoyle Estate prompted the formation of a local branch of the Land League. Public agitation in Athy took on a new and more fervent pitch under the guidance of local land league organiser Michael Boyton. On Sunday, 10 October 1880, the first Land League meeting was held in Athy. Addressed by Michael Boyton, the assembled crowd was told that he had come to Athy “commissioned by Charles Stewart Parnell to establish the Athy branch of the Land League.” The Athy Land League had Dr. Patrick O’Neill as Vice President, Timothy Byrne as Treasurer and John Cantwell as Secretary. On 8 January 1881 The Kildare Observer reported a Land League meeting in the Market Square, Athy during which Michael Boyton burnt a copy of the Leinster Lease. However, within a few weeks local public support for the Land League was seriously undermined by a clerical instigated tenants’ agreement to accept a 20% rent reduction offered by the Duke of Leinster. The Land League was not mentioned at the meeting chaired by Rev. Dr. Kavanagh which accepted the new rents and Dr. Patrick O’Neill, the League’s Vice President, resigned because “the acceptance of the Duke’s offer had broken the backbone of the local Land League.” During the period of the Tenants’ Defence Association and the Land League one finds no evidence in the minutes of Athy Town Commissioners of support for the tenant farmers. The Commissioners silence probably owed much to the servile attitude adopted by successive Commissioners over many years to the town’s landlord – the Duke of Leinster. The first indication of their deviation from the subservience of their predecessors was the passing of a resolution on 6 June 1881, requesting the extension of the provisions of the Land Bill to Leaseholders as well as yearly tenants. This innocuous enough request was to be followed on 2 January, 1882 by support for Charles Stewart Parnell in a resolution which called on the Government to release Parnell “and the other prisoners confined under the Coercion Act.” Further evidence of the more independent and nationalistic line adopted by Athy Town Commissioners was given on Sunday, 5 Jul 1885 with the presentation to Michael Davitt of an address by the Commissioners Chairman, Michael Doyle, on the occasion of Davitt’s visit to Athy. While Land League activity throughout the country went on a pace throughout the 1880’s, Athy, which in 1872 had given Ireland the first of the new wave Tenants’ Defence Associations, was little concerned with the nation’s struggle. All was to change with the advent of land problems in the little village of Luggacurran in 1886.

Concrete Bridge across River Barrow

Foundations for what was the then longest reinforced concrete bridge in Ireland were laid in June 1917. It was part of the work on the Athy Wolfhill railway line which had been authorised by the British government under the 1871 Defence of the Realm Act to relieve wartime scarcity of fuel. Work had started on extending the railway line to the Wolfhill coalmines from months previously. Men from Dublin and Belfast were brought to Athy to join the local workers with the promise of 30 shillings per week and free bed for a 60 hour week. The Dubliners soon went on strike, seeking a wage increase of 8 shillings per week and a reduction in the working hours. The Athy men did not join the strike which was eventually settled when the workmen agreed to terms of 5 shillings and 6 pence per day, with some reduction in the work hours. By September 1917 with so many local men, encouraged by the generous separation allowances, having enlisted in the British Army, the local Urban District Council petitioned the chief engineer on the railway project to release 200 men for a short period to help farmers during the harvest. The bridge across the River Barrow was nearing completion in January 1918 but as the entire railway line extension project neared completion on 14th February 1918 the workers went on strike again. Up to 200 men marched through Athy in what was an unsuccessful attempt to get the Athy workers to join the strike. Following the intervention of Denis Kilbride M.P. and his colleague P.J. Meehan of Portlaoise the strike was called off in order to allow the Board of Trade to decide on the workers’ demands. The work continued in time for the Athy Wolfhill line to be opened on 24th September 1918. Operated by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company, the Wolfhill line was in constant use for only a few months as the 10 mile long railway line gave access to the coal pits at Gracefield and Modubeagh. With the end of the Great War the anthracite from the Wolfhill pits and from the Deerpark colliery in Castlecomer, which latter coalmine was served by a newly built railway line from Kilkenny became less commercial to mine. The Castlecomer railway line which opened approximately one year after the Wolfhill line, was the last substantial standard gauge branch line to be built in Ireland. Both railway lines were in charge of the English Board of Works until 1921 when British Government control of the Irish railways ended. In 1924 the Irish Free State government required the different Irish railway companies to amalgamate and the Great Southern and Western railway company which operated the Dublin Waterford line and its various branches became the largest partner in the newly formed Great Southern railway. The railway line to Wolfhill was taken out of use on 12th July 1930, while rail services to Ballylinan continued until 1st April 1963. With the opening of the cement factory in Mullery’s field in 1936 a small branch line was opened to serve the factory which was supplied with material from its sister factory in Drogheda. This branch line closed a few years ago on a date which I would like any of my readers to confirm. Last week the new bridge over the River Barrow as part of the outer relief road began to take shape. Two massive steel girders were moved into place on the south side of the old railway bridge 104 years after the workmen of 1919 had completed their work. It created an enormous amount of interest, with photographs and videos appearing on Facebook and elsewhere recording what is a local historic event. It made me think back to the Planning Appeal hearing in March 2005 to consider objections to Kildare County Council’s plan to erect a bridge across the River Barrow at the rear of the Courthouse as part of the inner relief road project. I engaged with the Planning Inspector and the County Council’s expert witnesses for more than a week during the hearing as I presented a case for the outer relief road, rather than the inner relief road planned by the Council. The County Council inner relief road proposal was to many people in Athy, but not to all, a hopeless attempt to solve the increasingly difficult traffic problems in the town. The outer relief road was the preferred option of the majority of people in Athy, but the County Council would not listen to the local people and with the assistance of a slim majority on the Urban District Council insisted on pressing ahead with a road which would have left all traffic including huge HGV’s travelling through the centre of our town. An Bord Pleanala accepted the strength of the arguments regarding the preference for the outer relief road and for the first time in planning history rejected a local authority’s road plan. It has taken almost 50 years to get the relief road in place and with it comes an opportunity for local businesses to make Athy’s town centre an attractive place to visit and to shop. Writing of bridges reminds me that it is almost 30 years since the issue of a pedestrian bridge from Woodstock across the Barrow to its east side was first raised. Since then the Athy schools on the east side have increased to include all the schools, primary and secondary, in the town. There is an urgent pressing need for a pedestrian bridge to be put in place. Can we look forward to having this essential structure put in place before too long.

Anna Edith Duthie

Anna Breakey was 24 years old when she came to live and work in Athy 74 years ago. She was a native of Ballybay, Co. Monaghan, the third of four children born to farmer James Breakey and his wife Edith. Anna would spend all but the last three years of her life in the south Kildare town. She arrived in Athy three years after the ending of World War II to work in Shaws Department store in Duke Street and lived over the store with the other female assistants until she married in 1953. She had met local man, Albert Duthie, whose late father, William Thomas Duthie, had taken over the watchmaking and jewellery business of William O’Connor in 1905. That business, located at 30 Leinster Street, would continue to operate under the name W.T. Duthie & Son until Anna Duthie, formerly Anna Breakey, retired in 2013. One of my many treasured memories of Athy in the 1950s was the nodding Santa Claus figure high up in Albert Duthie’s shop window in the weeks prior to Christmas. As youngsters my friends and I approached the window in the darkening gloom of winter evenings to bask in the simple belief that anything we asked for would somehow magically appear on Christmas morning. As we grew older and innocent beliefs disappeared, the nodding Santa Claus still attracted our attention, but now as a reminder of the forthcoming Christmas festivities and the school holidays which we looked forward to with eager anticipation. I left Athy in January 1961, spending years in several different towns including Monaghan town, not too far away from Ballybay. I found Monaghan folk to be friendly and helpful and on my return to Athy 21 years later I found Mrs. Anna Duthie displaying the same qualities. During the 1960s and the 1970s I returned to Athy on a regular basis and got to know Anna’s husband Albert. I shared with him an appreciation of all that is good in Athy and Albert shared with me his efforts to highlight the story of his native town. He did this by frequently photographing events and buildings in Athy and also by commissioning the town’s coat of arms which he used on various items sold in his shop. Albert sadly passed away in 1979 at 54 years of age and Anna who had celebrated with him their silver wedding jubilee a year previously would spend the next 45 years without her loving partner. Anna Duthie, like her late husband Albert, always exhibited a great interest in and appreciation of all things Athy. She was a wonderful help to me in relation to unravelling the history of the Presbyterian Church in Athy and always displayed a willingness to share with me information on different aspects of Athy’s story in which generations of the Duthie family once played a prominent part. Anna was particularly helpful in the making of arrangements which saw the first performance of John MacKenna’s Oratorio ‘Still and Distant Voices’ in the Presbyterian Church in the early 1990s. This work which remembered and commemorated the young Athy men who died in World War I was perhaps one of the first times that this long-forgotten aspect of Athy’s history was brought to the public’s attention. Following her husband’s untimely passing Anna Duthie continued the business at 30 Leinster Street. Duthie’s, as it was known by the local people, was an important part of the commercial streetscape of Athy, presided over by the ever friendly and kind lady behind the counter. Anna Duthie continued in business until she retired in 2013 at 89 years of age. I believe that the Duthie family name first appeared in Athy when William Thomas Duthie’s parents arrived here from Perthshire, Scotland with other Scottish families in the early 1850s. It was William Thomas Duthie’s brother James who partnered with Harry Large of Rheban to establish the firm of Duthie Larges. That firm, once a substantial employer in Athy, is no more and the final Duthie link with Athy has now been severed with the sad passing of Anna Edith Duthie. Last Tuesday family and friends gathered in the Presbyterian Church on the Dublin Road for Anna’s funeral service conducted by Rev. Stephen Rea. Anna’s son Alistair and daughter Heather spoke fondly of their mother and father reminding us of a happy family life and Anna’s passion for nature, especially flowers. Anna Duthie and her husband Albert will be remembered with fondness, especially by the older generations in Athy until as John Ellerton wrote ‘The day you gave us, Lord, is ended’.

Rev. Nicholas Ashe and Athy in time of Rebellion 1798

In August 1782, the Irish antiquarian Austin Cooper, following a visit to Athy, wrote “Athy is a small town situated on the River Barrow over which there is a bridge of arches with a small square castle adjoining on the east side. Here is a market house, church and county Courthouse, nothing remarkable in elegance of building. On the north west side of the town is a plain horse barracks and near it another castle”. Two hundred and forty years later all that remains of the buildings mentioned by Cooper is a much altered town hall (then the courthouse) Whites Castle and Woodstock Castle. Also gone are the many small private schools which were a common feature of Irish towns in the 18th and early 19th centuries. One such school was that of Nicholas Ashe where we find a mention in 1791 of one of his pupils, Thomas Lefroy, who would become the Lord Chief Justice of Ireland. Nicholas Ashe was a Church of England Minister who served as Sovereign of Athy following his election to that position in 1797. I am uncertain as to whether Ashe was a member of Athy Borough Council in 1792 when a measure of relief for Irish Catholics from some elements of the penal laws was proposed in the Irish Parliament. Those measures which eventually culminated in the Catholic Relief Act of 1793 were supported by the Duke of Leinster which prompted the Protestant members of Athy Borough Council to instruct their two parliamentary representatives to oppose the relief Bill. Rev. Nicholas Ashe appears from all accounts to have been a man of peace who found himself the subject of harsh treatment by the local yeomanry. Local yeomanry corps were formed after 1796 with membership confined almost exclusively to Protestants. Athy had two yeomanry units, the infantry and the cavalry. The Athy cavalry was formed in 1796 and was officered by Thomas Fitzgerald, a Catholic from Geraldine House, Athy although the corps was largely comprised of local Protestant gentry. The cavalry unit was disbanded in 1798 following the arrest of Thomas Fitzgerald and a humiliating standing down ceremony in Emily Square. This was done during Nicholas Ashe’s time as the town Sovereign. Some months earlier in January 1798 Ashe had written to the Duke of Leinster expressing his concerns at a possible rebel outbreak following claims of an ammunition plot. He expressed the hope that Athy would not be proclaimed and reported how he had liberated boat men arrested and detained by the local army commander. He wrote “Athy proved it’s loyalty last year by entertaining 1100 men over night and giving them money and provisions to assist them on their march to Bantry”. In that same letter Ashe recounted some of the acts of terrorism by members of the 9th Dragoons who were stationed in the local calvary barracks and also by the Cork Loyal Militia who had recently arrived in the town. A few weeks later Ashe forwarded a further letter to the Duke of Leinster expressing shame that while standing alone “against a most virulent party I suffer more than I can express”. In his attempts as town Sovereign not to have Athy proclaimed he had directed that all shops were to shut at 9.00pm. However a Mr. Willock who he claimed “pretended great loyalty to the King and aversion to papists kept his shop open in defiance”. He expressed annoyance at Willock’s action and that of his co religionist Carey – “two Protestants I never saw in church”. Ashe having discovered that Willock sold without licence had him committed to the local jail whereupon Willock hung out his hat with a paper on it which read “Willock was put in jail for his loyalty”. Ashe was extremely upset at what he described as the atrocities committed by the soldiers and having complained about their behaviour found himself “a victim to their malice”. The Duke of Leinster passed on Ashe’s complaint to Sir Ralph Abercromby, Commandeering Chief of the army, who promised to send another regiment into County Kildare. In the meantime Nicholas Ashe complained that his school was destroyed but despite this he continued to seek a peaceful resolution to the ongoing conflict between the authorities and the Irish rebels. Because he was successful in securing the surrender of a large number of pikes in the Athy area the local army commander felt that Ashe must have had links with the rebels and so quartered sixty soldiers with him. As a result the Reverend gentleman was so impoverished that the Duke of Leinster claimed “Ashe was obliged to do his duty as the magistrate in the streets in his slippers”. The brutal and systematic suppression of the people of Athy during 1798 was not confined to one religious group. Reverend Nicholas Ashe, Anglican churchman, first citizen of Athy in 1798 and a man of peace was victimised by local loyalists because of his attempts to advance what he described in his letters as “truth and humanity”. FRANK TAAFFE

Quakers and the Quaker Meeting House in Athy

This year we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the civic guards later named the Garda Siochana. The new Irish police force was founded following the disbandment of the Royal Irish Constabulary and in its early years by and large followed the RIC organisational structure. Like the RIC the early civic guards were armed. On the 17th of August 1922 the last RIC men left Dublin Castle to be replaced by civic guards. The first recruits to the civic guards were paid three pounds and three shillings per week and even as they entered the service they were regarded with suspicion by the anti treaty side. Indeed Austin Stack, the former minister for home affairs stated that the setting up of the force was not calculated to promote order but rather suspicion, discontent and disorder. Recruits to the civic guards had to have specific height and chest measurements and most significantly had to have a reference from a clergy man. This latter requirement must have continued for some years as my father, a farmers son from north County Longford when he joined the gardai in 1925 did so on foot of a reference given by his Parish priest, Fr. . By 1924 they were 6,300 members of the force which by virtue of the Garda Siochana (temporary provisions) Act 1923 were now officially called “Garda Siochana”. When the first contingent of the newly appointed civic guards arrived in Athy was until recent times uncertain. The late Sergeant John Shaw who joined the civic guards on the 17th of August 1922 wrote to me from Portarlington in September 1980. In that letter he wrote that on the 15th of August 1922 civic guards were sent to Portarlington, Monasterevin, Rathanagan and as far as he knew Athy in order to protect the railway lines and the canal routes to Dublin. He also referenced an incident in Athy on the 26th of August of that year when armed civil guards disarmed C.I.D. men in the town. Another piece of information he passed on to me in that letter was that Sergeant Duggan, who was then the local Sergeant charged three men in a special Court on the 23rd of September. The nature of the offence was not stated but it may have arisen as a result of an armed attack on the premises which was then occupied by the civic guards. I also have a copy letter written by the same Sergeant William Duggan in 1950 which confirms that the civic guards took up duty in Athy on the 15th of August 1922 but he also explains that prior to that a party of 16 armed civic guards were stationed at a protection post in Bert. This I assume resulted from ongoing land disputes in the area resulting from evictions on the versicle estate. Sergeant Duggan’s letter names the 16 men as Michael O’Connor, Peter Curley, Thomas Concannon, Joseph Walton, John Kelly, Joseph McNamara, John Ryan, Michael Summers, Patrick Fitzgerald, John O’Neill, James Dwyer, John Hanley, Peter Tracey, Thomas Kirwan, Michael Hassett and Sergeant William Duggan. The police records once retained at divisional level at An Garda Siochana showed that the first Sergeant in Athy was Coriolanus Lillis who was replaced by Sergeant Ed. O’Loughlin on the 1st of May 1924 who in turn was replaced by Sergeant William Duggan (the letter writer) on the 1st of August 1924. When the civic guards first arrived in Athy they were accommodated in the Town Hall before transferring to the old RIC barracks off in Barrack Lane after it was vacated by the free state army. When the barracks was attacked and damaged during the civil war the police men moved to a hotel in Leinster Street. Sergeant Duggan claimed that it was the Leinster Arms Hotel. However I have a note of being informed many years ago that the hotel in question was the Hibernian Hotel which is now Bradbury’s premises. This year the centenary of the founding of An Garda Siochana is being marked by various events throughout the country. Athy’s Art Centre will be the venue for a lecture on the history of An Garda Siochana with particular reference to Athy as part of a history lecture series which starts on Tuesday, 20th September. Details of that lecture will be published later. The first lecture on the 20th of September will be given by Nessa O’Mara Cardiff on the Barrowhouse ambush in which James Connor and William Lacey lost their lives. This lecture and all the future lectures are free and will be held in the Arts Centre at Woodstock Street.

Early years of Garda Siochana in Athy

This year we celebrate the centenary of the establishment of the Civic Guards later named the Garda Siochana. The new Irish police force was founded following the disbandment of the Royal Irish Constabulary and in it’s early years by and large followed the RIC organisational structure. Like the R.I.C. the early Civic Guards were armed. On the 17th of August 1922 the last R.I.C. men left Dublin Castle to be replaced by the newly appointed Irish police men. The first recruits to the Civic Guards were paid three pounds and three shillings per week and even as they entered the service they were regarded with suspicion by the anti treaty side. Indeed Austin Stack, the former Minister for Home Affairs stated that the setting up of the force was not calculated to promote order but rather suspicion, discontent and disorder. Recruits to the Civic Guards had to have specific height and chest measurements and most significantly had to have a reference from a clergy man. This latter requirement must have continued for some years as my father, a farmers son from north County Longford when he joined the gardai in 1925 did so on foot of a reference given by his Parish priest, Fr. E. Mahon. By 1924 they were 6,300 members of the force which by virtue of the Garda Siochana (Temporary Provisions) Act 1923 were now officially called “Garda Siochana”. When the first contingent of the newly appointed Civic Guards arrived in Athy is still uncertain. The late Sergeant John Shaw who joined the force on the 17th of August 1922 wrote to me from Portarlington in September 1980. In that letter he wrote that on the 15th of August 1922 Civic Guards were sent to Portarlington, Monasterevin, Rathanagan and as far as he knew Athy in order to protect the railway lines and the canal routes to Dublin. He also referenced an incident in Athy on the 26th of August of that year when armed Civic Guards disarmed C.I.D. men in the town. Another piece of information he passed on to me in that letter was that Sergeant Duggan, whom he claimed was then the Athy Sergeant charged three men in a special Court on the 23rd of September. The nature of the offence was not stated but it may have arisen as a result of an armed attack on the premises which was then occupied by the Civic Guards. I also have a copy letter written by the same Sergeant William Duggan in 1950 which confirms that the Civic Guards took up duty in Athy on the 15th of August 1922 but he also explains that prior to that a party of 16 armed Civic Guards were stationed at a protection post in Bert. This I assume was because of ongoing land disputes in the area resulting from evictions on the Verschoyle estate. Sergeant Duggan’s letter names the 16 men as Michael O’Connor, Peter Curley, Thomas Concannon, Joseph Walton, John Kelly, Joseph McNamara, John Ryan, Michael Somers, Patrick Fitzgerald, John O’Neill, James Dwyer, John Hanley, Peter Tracey, Thomas Kirwan, Michael Hassett and himself. The police records once retained at divisional level in the An Garda Siochana showed that the first Sergeant in Athy was Cornelius Lillis who was replaced by Sergeant Ed. O’Loughlin on the 1st of May 1924 and who in turn was replaced by Sergeant William Duggan (the letter writer) on the 1st of August 1924. Sergeant Lillis was accompanied by Civic Guards John Hanley, John Kelly, Patrick Fitzgerald and Joseph McNamara. The records retained by the Garda Siochana, particularly relating to its early years are not as complete as one might expect. The records from which I gleaned the information relating to Sergeant Lillis and his successors were compiled in 1930. When the civic guards first arrived in Athy I understand they were accommodated in the Town Hall before transferring to the old RIC barracks off in Barrack Lane after it was vacated by the Free State army. It has been claimed that the policemen left the old R.I.C. barracks after it had been attacked by anti-treaty forces. I have been unable to verify this although I have an unverified note of an I.R.A. active service unit being caught up in crossfire in August 1922 during an attack on the police barracks in Athy. The police men later moved to a hotel in Leinster Street. Sergeant Duggan claimed that it was the Leinster Arms Hotel. However I have a note of being informed many years ago that the hotel in question was the Hibernian Hotel which is now Bradbury’s premises. This year the centenary of the founding of An Garda Siochana is being marked by various events throughout the country. Athy’s Art Centre will be the venue for a lecture on the history of An Garda Siochana with particular reference to Athy as part of a history lecture series which starts on Tuesday, 20th September at 8pm. Details of the Garda Siochana lecture will be published later. The first lecture on the 20th of September will be given by Nessa O’Mara Cardiff on the Barrowhouse ambush in which James Connor and William Lacey lost their lifes. This lecture and all the future lectures are free and will be held in the Arts Centre at Woodstock Street. FRANK TAAFFE

Grave Memorials in St. Michael's Cemetery Athy

It’s almost 40 years ago when with the assistance of FAS, the Industrial Training Authority, I organised a project intended to record all the headstones and grave memorials in the original St. Michael’s Cemetery. Regretfully it was a project which was not completed until many years later. The mammoth task of recording and mapping all the memorials in St. Michael’s Cemetery was eventually done by Michael Donovan, who is one of the unsung heroes of Athy and South Kildare. Michael has devoted many years of his life to recording cemetery memorials, not only in and around the immediate environs of Athy, but also further afield. To date he has completed 42 graveyard surveys, the results of which will be handed over to Kildare County Council to be made available to the general public. For many years tombstone inscriptions were an untapped source of Irish genealogy. They were largely unnoticed, except by those looking for obituary details. The work of copying tombstone inscriptions requires patience and attention to detail and Michael Donovan has spent years in recording memorial inscriptions and by doing so preserving for future generations details of families whose names are no longer familiar to us. He has also photographed the memorials and to date for the 42 cemeteries surveyed he has amassed a collection of almost 6,000 photographs. These, together with the mapping and numbering of graves in the cemetery surveys, ensure the ready identification of the location of every memorial. Grave memorials are an important part of a community’s heritage. They record lives from the past and the various types of monuments or memorials represent in many cases Irish folk art which has survived over the years. A headstone is the only piece of sculpture that most people will ever commission. In Victorian times cemeteries for the rich were gardens of stone, while the buried poor were seldom marked or noted. The local iron foundries provided metal crosses, many of which can still be seen in St. Michael’s Cemetery. The most common iron memorial comprised a cross within a circle with space for a painted inscription. Unfortunately these memorials tend to lose their painted inscription after some years. St. Mary’s Cemetery, where the remains of Workhouse inmates were laid, had quite a number of metal crosses, all of which regrettably were in recent years removed from the graves they marked. In St. Michael’s Cemetery and St. John’s Cemetery, which Michael has also surveyed, there are many fine examples of altar tombs and chest tombs. In St. John’s Cemetery he discovered a small gravestone, previously unrecorded, marking the grave of William Watson who died in 1637. Tankardstown graveyard, which surrounds the original Tankardstown Parish Church, has two 17th century memorials. Throughout St. Michael’s Cemetery can be found many elaborate monuments, mostly the work of 19th century carvers and stone masons. The practice of erecting headstone memorials did not develop until the latter part of the 18th century. Before that many graves were not marked, or if they were it was by footstones, so called as they were small plain stones placed at the bottom of graves. The Shackleton Museum holds two medieval grave slabs, believed to be of the 14th century, which were removed from St. Michael’s Cemetery for safekeeping some years ago. Monumental inscriptions to be found in St. Michael’s cemetery are generally of the genealogical epitaph type where family relationships and dates of birth are outlined. Michael has also recorded interesting supplementary details, generally quotations of a religious nature. One interesting grave memorial located within the medieval church, known locally as ‘the Crickeen’, reads:- ‘This venerable and justly loved Christian died in the 82nd year on 25th November 1849. She closed her edifying life by the fervent practice of those religious duties that ever marked her holy career. Her remains were accompanied to this earthly dwelling by an immense number of every class and creed of the entire neighbourhood which she so long adorned by her eminent and unostentatious virtue. She expired, consoled by her cherished text, from the 6th chap. 55th V of St. John. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood had everlasting life and I will raise him up on the last day.’ In addition to his survey and recording work Michael Donovan, together with Clem Roche, have just completed recording the names of the 3,891 inmates who died in Athy Workhouse or the Fever Hospital between 1871 and 1921. Theirs is a work of great importance, rivalled only by Michael’s extraordinary solitary work in mapping and recording so many cemetery memorials in and around this area. Michael Donovan’s plans for this year are to survey cemeteries in Ballybracken, Kileen Cormac, Kildangan, Timogue, Harristown and Crookstown.

Henry Hosie and Irish Aviation

I have made reference in previous Eye on the Pasts to Henry Hosie, founder of Industrial Vehicles Ireland Limited known locally as I.V.I. in or about 1932 with Freddie Thompson of Carlow. His other commercial venture was the opening of Athy Picture Palace in Offaly Street some years earlier. He was then known as Captain Hosie having joined the English army in response to Kitchener’s call for recruits at the start of World War 1. He was sent to France in 1914 and was invalided back to Ireland in 1916. He later returned to army duties and was based in Scotland where he became Officer in Charge of machinery at the Scottish area forage Department. He was promoted to the rank of Captain during that time. He also served in World War II and was promoted to the rank of Major. In 1947 he relinquished his commission having passed the age limit for reserves and was granted the rank of Colonel. He was known thereafter as Colonel Hosie. His son Terence, who served in the Royal Engineers was killed in action in Italy on the 23rd November 1941 aged 26 year Following my references to Henry Hosie in previous Eye on the Pasts, I received a few years ago a very detailed email from a John King of London in relation to Hosie’s involvement with Irish Aviation and the part he played in the attempt to establish an airline company providing flights from Dublin to England. Hosie joined the Irish Aero Club which was formed in 1928 and four years later, he was responsible for organising an Irish Aero Club’s event in Cardenton, Athy. In the afternoon of Sunday, 14th August 1932, aeroplanes arrived for the first time in Athy landing in a field owned by the Minch family. Several hundred attended including the Lord Mayor of Dublin, the legendary Alfie Byrne, who had been flown from Baldonnel by the Chief Instructor of the Aero Club. There were three planes at the event which was reported as follows by the Kildare Observer, “ There were several events including crazy flying and the balloon bursting competition” …. The report noted “An amusing and exciting interlude when an old woman was seen to enter one of the planes and while the pilot (Captain Hosie) was getting his helmet adjusted, the machine was seen to stagger across the field and rise off the ground missing the hedge by inches. The spectators were then treated to an exhibition of crazy flying and after one or two attempts, the machine was brought back to terra firma”. On the 23rd September 1932, the weekly magazine “Flight” noted that Hosie’s company had been appointed agent in Ireland for the de Havilland company in Ireland. Three days later, Hosie was elected to the management committee of the Irish Aero Club. In March of the following year, he wrote on I.V.I. headed notepaper to the Department of Industry and Commerce enquiring about the availability of Collinstown, a disused pre-war military aerodrome, for use as commercial air service. The reply from the Department was not helpful . For several weeks from April 1933, Hosie was busy trying to make arrangements for the airline company Midland and Scottish to use the aerodrome at Cobh. The Cork Evening Echo recorded how Captain Hosie and the chief instructor of the Irish Aero Club played a flying visit to Cobh in one of the Club’s Gypsy Moth aircraft which landed at Ballincollig at 10.00 a.m. having left Athy at little over one and a half hours earlier. The newspaper report indicated that Hosie had arrived in Cork to inspect possible sites for a southern airport. He made a further visit to Cork, flying again to Ballincollig with officials from the UK to inspect possible sites for a Cork airport. They inspected sites at Ballincollig, Lakelands and near Cobh and had discussions with the Cork City Manager, Philip Monahan. Following this latest visit, Hosie was described in the Nationalist and Leinster Times as “well known in County Kildare and an esteemed Athy resident” asserting “that he deserved much credit for his work in the interest of aviation in Ireland”. That same month, Hosie was elected to the committee of the Irish Aero Club. By July 1933, Hosie was instrumental in completing arrangements for the Midland and Scottish Airline Company to open a twice daily air service from Cork to Dublin with a link to Brittain. The flight which lasted one hour and fifteen minutes cost one pound ten shillings on the 15th August 1933. This was the first attempt by an Irish citizen to give the country a regular air service. Not long afterwards, Hosie’s influence in the developing Irish air service began to be eclipsed by fellow member of the Irish Aero Club and Solicitor, Sean Ó’hUadhaigh. The latter had important political contacts which Hosie did not have. Ó’hUadhaigh would become Chairman of the Aero Club in 1935 and Chairman of Aer Lingus when it was formed in 1936. Hosie appears to have thereafter given more attention to his I.V.I. business for in August 1933, following correspondence in the Evening Herald regarding the value of pneumatic tyres to farm carts, he wrote a letter supporting the use of such tyres claiming that there had been no improvement for farm carts for the previous fifty years. Within four months, the Irish Times reported that rubber tyred farm carts were being built by the I.V.I. Company in Athy. He later disposed of his interest in the Athy Picture Palace to Holmes of Portlaoise who in turn sold out to the Roscrea Cinema company. The early years of the I.V.I. seemed to have concentrated on the supply of industrial vehicles and would appear to have developed the foundry business during the early years of the second world war. Colonel Hosie, who was a very important employer in Athy, died on the 26th October 1967.

Athy's Wallboard factory

One of my earliest memories is of walking with my older brothers to the huge fire which broke out at the Wallboard factory in April 1949. I was a month short of my seventh birthday when like so many other Athy folk we all gathered on the roadside at Barrowford to watch ricks of straw on fire. The Athy Fire Station master made the following entry in the station records; ‘I received a call to fire at Wallboard Factory on 14th April 1949. All members of the Brigade were present. When we arrived we discovered three ricks of straw on fire. We remained working until Saturday 16th May. The Curragh and Carlow Brigades were also there.’ A later entry for the month of May listed as fire members R. Webster, P. Delahunt, Thomas Fleming, Jas Fleming, J. Webster, P. Cowman and P. Doyle who attended a fire at Mrs. Quinn’s house in St. John’s Lane. The Wallboard Mills were located on a 17 acre site approximately one mile north of Athy. Irish Wallboard Co. Ltd. had been formed in 1939 to manufacture hardboard from straw but did not commence production until 1949. Two years later it began to use native timber as the basic raw material for the manufacture of the oil tempered hardboard which was marketed under the trade name ‘Lignatex’. The Irish company had become closely associated with the Bowater organisation in 1950. The timber used in the manufacturing process consisted of forest thinning, while steam power was generated by machine won turf supplied by Bord na Mona. Over 12,000 tons of turf was used each year while 3 or 4 weeks turf supply was always kept in reserve. A major expansion programme in 1957 increased the mill’s production capacity by almost 60% and a further expansion scheme, completed in 1966, trebled the capacity of the Wallboard factory in the space of fifteen years. A report in the Nationalist and Leinster Times of 15th January 1949 noted that while equipment installation work in the new factory was nearing completion two local men, Pat Doyle and Ed Hicks, spent some days at Clondalkin Paper Mills studying the working of the various machines in preparation for their duties at Athy’s new factory. I am uncertain as to whether the factory was in production when the fire started on 14th April 1949. Despite that early setback, with the use of timber rather than straw, and the expansion programmes initiated in 1957 the factory was able to produce 60 million square feet of board annually. Two thirds of the factory output was exported. A press report of the 1960s outlined the steps taken at the Wallboard factory to ensure the production of a high-quality product. The factory laboratory where samples from every part of the production process were tested was managed by Jim Flanagan, assisted by John Murphy, Terry Doyle and many others. Three quality controllers were constantly sampling during every stage of the manufacturing process. This was a responsibility of Pat Daly, John Murphy and Michael Ahern, while Kevin McNulty kept an eye on the quality of the turf and the finished board. In the chemical mixing department Arthur Kavanagh was employed in the preparation of approximately ten tons of aluminium sulphate solution each week. Another laboratory man was George Robinson who assisted the chief chemist Jim Flanagan in research and development. The first manager of the Wallboard factory was Richard Shackleton, while the initial production managers employed were Swedish, the fifth production manager was Andy Coughlan whom I understand was a former RAF flight engineer. With many other local factories the Wallboard staff participated in the annual parochial variety festivals which were initiated by the local curate, Fr. Joe Corbett. In 1964 the Wallboard Variety Show was reported in the local press as ‘a pleasant and colourful presentation which won loud applause from the audience.’ The performers included Ena, Joan and Frances Coughlan, Connie Stafford, M. Dooley, P. Dunleavy, N. Wright, M. Holohan, K. McNulty, T. Dooley, S. Fanning, P.J. Loughman, Tim Ryan, M. Rainsford, F. Ryan, S. Finnerty, B. Finnerty and B. Robinson. The laughter, songs and work stopped in December 1978 when the Wallboard factory closed down. Approximately 220 workers were made redundant when production of wallboard transferred to Sweden where it is today still carried on. When corresponding with my good friend Liam Kenny, doyen of Kildare local historians, I invariably refer to Athy as being in the deep south of the county. For a change this Eye comes from the deep south of the island of Ireland to where I have travelled to greet my latest grandchild, Hannah Rose, born just a few days ago in Cork city. Hannah was the name of her maternal great grandmother who was born and reared in Doneraile, Co. Cork. The circle has now been completed.

A look back over the past 1500 Eyes on the Past

It is close on 29 years ago that I penned my first Eye on the Past. This week the 1500th article is printed and I want to take the opportunity to reflect on past articles, the people and events that formed the subject of those articles and to acknowledge the help given to me by so many people over the years. The first article was a short piece of approximately 400 words in which I mentioned the publics growing interest in local history and the opening of what I referred to as “the new vastly improved library service in the Town Hall”. Subsequent articles grew in wordage to 800 words then 1,200 words and that latter figure was maintained until the Kildare Nationalist changed to tabloid form. Prior to my first article I had been researching the history of Athy and 29 years later that research is still ongoing and my long promised history of the town is still not ready for publication. As a “blow in” to Athy from just down the road in Castlecomer but having all my remembered youthful life experiences here in Athy it is understandable that my interest in history should be centred on Athy. It was an interest first encouraged by my teachers in the local Christian Brothers school, especially the late Bill Ryan who was a gentleman, a scholar and an encourager. While I was out of Athy for 22 years my interest in history saw me researching Athy’s past. That research opened up many unknown and some forgotten elements of the town’s story. Even while I had attended the local secondary school and studied history for my Leaving Certificate I had never encountered any significant references to Athy’s involvement in Irish national events. Nothing was ever related to me or my school mates of how the Great Famine affected the local people. We learned of the famine tragedies of the West and the South West of Ireland such as that reported in the United Irishmen newspaper of the 19th of February 1848 which quoting a correspondent of the Mayo Constitution claiming “we had been informed that within the last week upwards of 20 deaths have taken place from starvation in Ballintubbert”. We now know that our local workhouse was the last place of residence for hundreds of local men, women and children who died during the famine and whose remains were brought by cart across Lennons Bridge to be buried in paupers graves in St. Mary’s cemetery. As students we never learned of the young men from Athy who enlisted to fight overseas in World War or the great number of those men whose broken bodies disappeared into the blood-soaked soil of France and Flanders. I had never heard of John Vincent Holland whose act of bravery during that same war resulted in him being awarded the Victoria Cross. These were some of the towns past stories which had escaped the memory of later generations, and which were awaiting to be discovered, for without these stories and the many other stories of local events and local men and women our community’s shared past would be incomplete. In my first article I wrote “Eye on the Past will each week deal with a topic of interest from the history of South Kildare when we will delve into the rich vein of local history which remains to be discovered”. I didn’t know then what an overwhelming rich vein of history awaited to be discovered. I have been fortunate to be contacted personally, by phone, by letter and in more recent times via email by hundreds of persons interested in Athy’s history. Many have sought information of ancestors who once lived in the town or South Kildare while others had generously shared memories and knowledge of past events with me. Eithne Wall who first joined my office in 1982 has typed, with very few exceptions, the Eyes since 1992 and Noreen Day has provided the proof reading necessary to correct my mistakes. The availability of the Eyes on the Past on the internet has led to enquiries from many countries particularly America, Australia, New Zealand and as might be expected Great Britain. Those enquiries have brought home to me how generations of Athy folk can spread throughout the world and how information regarding the past of such a small town as Athy can be gleaned from sources throughout the globe. Our local history mirrors in many ways the national events of the time and we can get a better understanding of our country’s own history by knowing the history of the generations who have gone before us. I am pleased to acknowledge that today Athy people have a better understanding of their own history and this is reflected in a cultural reawakening which was not readily observable a few decades ago. We have a proud history whether it is recounting the men, women and events of the War of Independence or the story of those who went to war overseas during 1914/18. Part of that history is knowing that an international figure such as Polar Explorer Ernest Shackleton was born in nearby Kilkea and undoubtedly walked the same streets we walk today. But above all our towns history is the story of the local men and women, many of whom lived in the back streets and alleyways in Athy in houses which were demolished during the slum clearance programmes of the 1930’s. They were the workers in the brickyards and the foundries and the farm labourers who with their wives and children gave life to the Anglo Norman town founded over 800 years ago. I was privileged to have been able to share some of their stories even if at times I might have unintentionally offended someone’s delicate sensibilities. Yes, there had been a few occasions over the past 29 years when someone has objected to something I wrote or made a point of seeking a correction when none was justified. I remember one reader who sought to correct my research findings regarding the location of the Quaker Meeting House in Meeting Lane on the basis that her mother told her it was elsewhere. I couldn’t persuade her otherwise or indeed ameliorate the fury of the woman who felt I had insulted the former tenants of the soldiers houses in the Bleach by reciting the accommodation details as outlined in the War Office files of the 1920s. However it was not all conflict. The readers have been more than complimentary and I am ever grateful for the continued help afforded to me by so many with my research. A special thanks to one individual who has been writing to me for years with the most beautiful handwriting always drawing my attention to items or persons of interest. He has constantly provided me with additional information but always on the strict understanding that his name is never mentioned. I started off by stating my intention to reflect on past articles but my pen has galloped away without doing what I intended. I hope you have enjoyed the past 1,500 Eyes on the Past and here is hoping that time will be given to me to write some more Eyes and more importantly finish and publish my long promised history of Athy.

When Athy was the largest town in County Kildare

In 1841 Athy had the largest population of any town in County Kildare. With 4,980 persons living within the town boundaries, it exceeded the population of Naas by over 300. Newbridge was only a sizeable village with a population of 1,177 while nearby Portlaoise fell short of Athy’s population with 3,702 inhabitants. Ten years later Athy’s population had increased to 5,263 as a result of the workhouse numbers which masked an actual fall in the towns native population over the course of the Great Famine. Naas in the meantime had begun to match Athy in terms of population numbers with 5,184 inhabitants. Both towns were to show substantial population losses by 1911 when Athy was recorded with 3,535 inhabitants with Naas overtaking Athy as the largest town in the County with 3,842. In fact, the first time Naas showed a higher population figure than Athy was in 1871 with approximately 100 more residents than the South Kildare town. The ups and downs of urban population figures no doubt were reflected in the range and extent of local commercial activity. Here in Athy, we have witnessed even within the past two or three years several businesses which have changed hands or gone out of business. As I write this article, I can only recall two local business still operating in Athy as they were 100 years ago. Indeed, O’Brien’s of Emily Square was the name over the shop as early as two or three decades before the new century arrived, while Doyle’s of Woodstock Street opened many years later. Both pubs operated at a time when Athy with less than half the population it has today, was home to 44 public houses. One of their commercial colleagues at that time was A. Duncan & Son, Drapers and Outfitters of Duke Street which business was bought out by Sam Shaw in or about 1914 and which business is still the anchor tenant in Athy’s main shopping street. Many other firms now long forgotten once traded in our town. Who remembers James Reid & Son, Family Grocers and Publicans of Leinster Street or William Triston, Solicitor of Duke Street. Both carried on business in Athy in 1916 as did Henry Hannon & Sons, Millers of Duke Street and Columb Geraghty, Grocer and Publican of Market Square. Thomas Lumley merchant tailor worked in his workshop in Athy until he retired on the 23th July 1917. Amongst those who continued in business for some time after that were P.J. Corcoran, principal of the Athy Auctioneering Company and Daniel Toomey, Builder and Contractor. Many of today’s older generation will recall Glespens Carriage Builders who carried on business in 1917 and much later. In the 1950’s Glespens occupied premises in Duke Street but has anyone heard of John P. Glespen who in 1917 advertised himself as “Carriage Builder and Designer, Wheelwright, Harness Maker and Motor Car and Cycle Agent” with premises in Nelson Street and Offaly Street. Edward Vernal was plying his trade as a General Smith and Horseshoer in Leinster Street in 1907. The Vernal forge was located in St. John’s Lane immediately behind Mrs. Haslem’s house when I was attending the Christian Brothers School in the 1950’s John Blanchfield operated out of 26 Leinster Street as a pork butcher and sausage maker in 1916. Was he, I wonder, related to the saw milling Blanchfield family at the top end of Leinster Street. A business not previously known to me was that of the Miley Brothers who had the General Supply Store in Duke Street in 1916. Names still remembered today and found over business premises in Athy over 100 years ago include Duthies of Leinster Street. W.T. Duthie, Watchmaker, Jeweller and Optician had been in business for several years prior to 1917 and his son, Albert, would later take over the business. On the far side of Crom a Boo Bridge in 1917 was the Grocery Tea, Wine and Spirits Stores of Cantwell’s of Duke Street while George Dillon of 19 Leinster Street advertised Spiced Beef as a speciality to order. Michael Murphy carried on business in the Commercial House facing the Market Square as a Clothier, Hatter offering “ boots and shoes in great variety”. Around the corner in Stanhope Street was another Murphy, this time with the forename Patrick who ran a General Grocery and Provision Business. David Walsh, Family Grocer, Hardware, Seed and General Merchant “with a variety of Guns and Ammunition always in stock” had his premises at the corner of Chapel Lane and Leinster Street. Other businesses in Athy in the early years of the 20th century included Athy Gas Company, Hibernian Bank, Duthie Large Foundry and Iron Works, Leinster Arms Hotel, D&J Carbery Builders and Athy Tile and Brick Company. These firms are no longer in Athy and their absence reminds us that the ever changing needs of new generations require new and improved commercial outlets to serve their needs. 100 years ago the market town of Athy with a population of less that 4,000 boasted of 44 public houses. Today our main streets show a monopoly of hairdressing salons, betting shops, charity shops and fast food outlets. Times indeed are a changing.

Athy in the 1840s

The worst effects of the famine which had ravaged Ireland following the failure of the potato crop in 1845 had abated by the time 1853 arrived. William Byrne was then station master in Athy, a position he held for the previous four years and where he would remain for the next six years. Athy boasted many trades in 1853, including a Fack and Hook Maker, a trade practiced by Michael Cushian who found himself on the wrong side of the law on assault charges. Julia Bradley, dressmaker, was summoned by her mistress, Mrs. O’Neill, for leaving her indentures without fulfilling her term. She was ordered by the Court to return to her ‘master’, otherwise she would be jailed for the remainder of her apprenticeship. Also in trouble were the four paupers brought before the local petty sessions by the Master of the workhouse for refusing to work and disobeying the Master’s orders. They each got one month’s imprisonment with hard labour. Early in the year eight locals were summoned by order of the Town Commissioners for exhibiting turf for sale in a place other than that designated for such sales by the town fathers. Athy resident Mrs. Walsh was one of sixty passengers who drowned when the steamer, ‘Queen Victoria’, sank in Dublin Bay on Tuesday 15th February of that year. Forty passengers survived, including her husband. The Presbyterian families who had arrived the previous year from Perthshire Scotland to take up tenancies of the Duke of Leinster’s lands in the Athy area, gave public notice that their meeting house was a place of religious worship and registered for solemnising marriages. Controversy arose when the vacant position of Coroner for South Kildare prompted an advertisement to be inserted in the Leinster Express expressing ‘regret that the election of Coroner has endeavoured to be made a political and religious question’. The contest was between James Butler who although an Anglican had the support of the Roman Catholic voters and Dr. Carter, another Anglican, who was eventually appointed. Two years after the abolition of Athy Borough Council the newly elected Town Commissioners for Athy, numbering 21 in all, whose numbers included the Catholic Parish Priest Fr. John Lawler and the Anglican Rector, Rev. Frederick Trench, agreed to have a certain number of Catholics and Protestants as Town Commissioners and to have a Catholic and Protestant chairman on alternate years. Michael Lawler, who was Chairman of the Town Commissioners in 1853, wrote to the press in July 1858 stating that ‘we have never deviated from our original compact’. Michael Lawler was one of the 21 Town Commissioners who was sworn into office before Lord Downes and John Butler on 18th February 1842 at a ceremony held in Athy’s Courthouse which was then part of the Town Hall. During his long service as a Town Commissioner he was elected Chairman on three occasions, 1853, 1876 and 1890. Lawler who died on 20th October 1900 and was buried in Barrowhouse, started in business in Athy in and around 1840. He had a licenced premises in Leinster Street immediately adjoining Whites Castle which was subsequently purchased by Edward T. Mulhall in November 1900 for £500. Edward Mulhall was described in the press reports of the time as having worked in Lawlers licenced premises as ‘the foreman and manager’. Michael Lawler gave what the local press described as ‘a sumptuous entertainment to upwards of 60 persons on the advent of his inauguration to the chairmanship of the Town Commissioners. The dinner was given in a spacious room in Mr. Lawler’s private residence.’ Michael Lawler lived at Park House in Duke Street which was later acquired by McHugh’s chemist. Alexander Duncan, a local trader, in a speech to the dinner guests said ‘those gentlemen who had but lately seen the town, could not well appreciate the progress it had made in the last 20 years. If they were to know the sanitary conditions then and compare it with the present appearance, they would in the fullest acceptance of the word admit that Athy had progressed.’ Four months later an extraordinary meeting of Athy Dispensary Committee was held to consider the medical officers report regarding the filthy state of the town. It was an issue which Michael Lawler returned to the following October when he claimed ‘Athy is a different town to what it was 21 years ago. Then the streets were in ruts, the homes were falling, the best streets were interspersed with thatched houses ….. now we have a flourishing town ….. the houses and establishments second to none to any inland town in Ireland.’ Twenty years later an editorial in the Leinster Express under the heading ‘The water supply of Athy’ noted ‘we are now paying for our past neglect and for the carelessness of former generations ….. the water we have been consuming all our lives turns out to be polluted ….. our dwellings have been constructed without any regard to the health of the inhabitants ….. the sanitary conditions of the town are very bad.’ The editorial noted that a special meeting of the sanitary committee had been convened for that day to consider whether a pure water supply could be brought from a distance into the town by means of pipes. Thirty years were to elapse before a piped water supply was provided for the people of Athy. By comparison fifty-five years have passed since Athy’s outer relief road was first suggested in a consultants report presented to Athy U.D.C.

Boat trip to Levitstown Mill

The redevelopment of Emily Square has received unqualified praise and has given the people of Athy enormous pride in their town. I have never before noted such widespread praise as greeted the re-opening of the town’s square. Well done to everybody involved in this major project. During the week I took a trip on the Barrow line as far as Levitstown Mill with members of my extended family. We were on Cliff Reid’s boat which started on the three-hour trip at Athy harbour and made its way in the direction of the Horse Bridge. As we travelled at approximately 5mph I was reminded of the history of the Canal and of the tremendous improvements, economically and socially, it once brought to the town of Athy. The canal was extended to Athy in 1791, just seven years before the armed rebellion which witnessed the killing of thousands of Irish men and women. Our boat travelled under the Horse bridge, which is the only such bridge in Ireland and was constructed to allow horses pulling the early canal boats to cross from the Grand Canal to the River Barrow. We then entered the Ardreigh Canal which is approximately 250 yards long, passing on the right the weir which connects two separate parts of Lords Island. The island which has all the attributes of a nature reserve has yet to be so designated in the County Kildare Development Plan. I have previously submitted a request to Kildare County Council to do so, without success. Hopefully the Council’s next draft County Development Plan will include a proposal to include Lords Island as a nature reserve. I saw somewhere recently a claim that Lords Island was so named as a result of some religious connection. In fact, the island was named after its owner in the 19th century who was a local solicitor and an agent for the Duke of Leinster. Before exiting the Ardreigh Canal we passed under the handsome drawbridge which once gave access to Haughton’s Mill, later owned by the Hannon family on the island. The mill workers produced the Lilywhite flour which was sold in white bags and is believed to have given the Kildare County Gaelic football team the nickname ‘the Lilywhites’. As we exited Ardreigh lock the canal and the River Barrow rejoin each other for the next one and a half miles. Afterwards both separated again for approximately two miles before reaching the Levitstown canal. On the way we passed Bunberry’s weir, a favourite swimming place in my school days, although truth to tell I didn’t learn to swim until I was in my 30’s and living in Sutton, Dublin. Work on the Barrow navigation started in 1759 and was completed on reaching Athy in 1791. It is only in recent years that the recreational amenity value of the canal on either side of Athy has been appreciated by the general public. I was conscious of this as Cliff Reid gave an excellent commentary on different aspects of the canal flora and fauna. I recalled the local fishermen led by the late Nicholas Cahill and John Shaughnessy who established fishing stands on the River Barrow. The pike, perch, roach and eel which populate the Barrow, were most sought-after water trophies. As our boat almost silently cut through the canal water I was vividly reminded of the canal’s flora. The canal cuttings made by the hands of men almost 250 years ago have largely due to limited use become evergreen with reeds and bull rushes. The boating channel has become narrower and requires attention. I understand that the canal section extending into County Carlow is the subject of a planning appeal by Waterways Ireland because of objections relating to the development of the canal towpath. The canal’s fauna passed me by almost unnoticed except for the pair of swans with their young cygnets sitting on their nest just past Bunberry’s weir. The stately elders and their youngsters were not disturbed by the slowly passing boat, proof if required that the sacred birds of the Children of Lir have lived in the same spot for quite some time. Athy men played an important part in the development of the canal system with several bye traders boats owned by Athy families. The last such boat which carried the prefix B was built for James Hughes of Athy in 1937. It carried the number 113B. Athy Harbour, I always understood, was the Grand Canal’s hotel but I am now informed that it was a private hotel. The original owner has not yet been identified. It was from here that passenger boats set off for Dublin at 5 o’clock in the morning on a thirteen-hour journey. The boat for Athy left Dublin at 5am and reached the south Kildare town at 6pm. The cost of a state cabin per passenger on the canal passenger boats in the early years was 8 shillings and 1½ pence, while what is called the common cabin cost 4 shillings and 5½ pence per passenger. Our trip of almost three hours finished as we disembarked at what was once known as Athy Harbour which lies directly behind the Courthouse. It was a wonderfully peaceful trip enlivened by Cliff Reid’s informative commentary on different aspects of canal and River Barrow life. The boat which had been idle for almost two years while in the ownership of Kildare County Council is now owned by local man Cliff who has a similar boating business in Kilkenny city. The Athy boat trip can be an important recreational asset for locals and visitors alike and especially so when the Shackleton Museum opens. Best of luck to Cliff and his team who deserve every support which can possibly be afforded by the people of Athy. After all a boat trip on the Barrow line affords blissful peace in placid surroundings. I was saddened to learn of the death of another classmate of mine following so soon after Billy Browne’s death. Reggie Lalor was a classmate in the local Christian Brothers School until he left to join as a boarder student the Carmelite College in Moate, Co. Westmeath. Tributes to Reggie on Facebook all describe him as a gentleman. That indeed he was. He visited me in Naas Hospital during one of my many recent confinements in the former County hospital. Reggie’s public face, in more recent years, was as a member of the volunteers who assisted the Catholic clergy in services in St. Michael’s Parish Church. His work and that of his fellow volunteers might not have always received the thanks and appreciation of the local parishioners. Reggie will be sadly missed by his wife Liz and sons Derek and Aiden and extended family. To his family and friends I extend my sincere sympathies. Ar dhéis Dé go raibh a anam.

Co. Kildare's victory in the Tailteann Cup / Death of Billy Browne

Sunday was a great day for the Kildare footballers who defeated Limerick in this year’s final of the Tailteann Cup. The after-match speech by the Kildare captain, Kevin Feely, was excellent. Was this, I wondered, the first time an Athy club footballer received a senior team winning cup from the hands of a G.A.A. President and then proceeded to give the winning captain’s speech from the Hogan stand? The last occasion that possibility could have happened was in 1935 when Paul Matthews captained the Kildare senior team in the All-Ireland final which was lost to Cavan. Paul was a barman in Athy when he captained Athy Gaelic Football Club to win the County Senior Football Championship in 1934. The All-Ireland final against Cavan also featured Athy player Tommy Mulhall, Jim Byrne from Ballitore, Paddy Martin and Paddy Byrne from Castledermot. Patrick ‘Cuddy’ Chanders of the Athy club was among the substitutes. He was the regular goalkeeper for the Athy club and the county goalkeeper for Kildare for several matches prior to the All-Ireland final. However, he was unexpectedly replaced by a Naas man for the final. It was a controversial decision which brought forward all sorts of conspiracy theories, including the oft repeated claim that Kildare replaced the ‘labourer’ with a ‘suited office man’ in preparation for the anticipated U.S.A. trip which awaited the expected Kildare All Ireland victory. ‘Cuddy’ strangely soon enough returned to the county team as first choice goalkeeper following Kildare’s unexpected defeat by Cavan. To return to Sunday’s Tailteann final, it provided me with the greatest measure of pleasure I have experienced watching Gaelic football in recent years. I must admit that I am not an admirer of the modern game as I prefer the unique catch and kick version of Gaelic football as perfected by the great Mick O’Connell. Kevin Feely is one of the great practitioners of the soaring overhead catch, a skill which he displayed again on Sunday. He is a talented player whose leadership, whether as a mid-fielder or a full-forward, effectively leads his teammates through difficult times. My congratulations to the Kildare County team players and especially the other Athy players who featured on Sunday, James McGrath and Dave Hyland, with Niall Kelly who was a substitute. The joy experienced on Sunday was offset by the sorrowful news I received on Monday that my old classmate and friend Billy Browne had died in Naas Hospital the previous day. Billy and I shared the same birthday, 12th May 1942, and as we grew older, we exchanged birthday greetings each year on the 12th. Billy was born in Ardreigh cottage and educated in the local Christian Brothers School. Like so many of his classmates he did not sit the Leaving Certificate but left school to take up employment with the L&N shop in Emily Square. There he worked with Alo Gallagher and Brian O’Hara in what was then the busiest grocery shop in Athy. He subsequently worked for Des Perry in his Duke Street premises and later still at his Leinster Street shop. Billy was known far and wide as the person who kept alive the spirit and idealism of Aontas Ogra, a youth organisation previously known as ‘Cara’. When originally founded it was an Irish language club, first organised by Kerry born Michael O’Neill when I was in second year. Michael was a Gaelic speaker and his idea of an Irish language club was enthusiastically received by his fellow students. Our early attempts at promoting the Irish language were less than successful. The modules of Irish culture were in time pushed out to encourage dancing, not necessarily confined to the ‘Walls of Limerick’ or the ‘High Cauled Cap’. Truth to tell, we did start out with Irish dancing classes in the Town Hall, which necessitated the readily obtained co-operation of our female colleagues in St. Mary’s Convent School. We were really keen on extending the frontiers of Irish culture, even if it meant stepping over the accepted line between the gael and the gall. Whatever the qualities of our dancing, our interpersonal skills were nicely honed as we intermingled with the girls from St. Marys. The club continued for some years until it became separated from the school as we left and Michael O’Neill emigrated to England. ‘Cara’ continued in a piecemeal fashion until Billy Browne, then working, got involved. A refreshed organisation emerged with the name changed to Aontas Ogra, using the Athy scout’s premises in St. John’s Lane. This subsequently changed to premises adjoining the former Dreamland ballroom, from where the club still operates. Billy was a gentleman, a caring person who devoted himself to the club he headed up for decades. Billy displayed the commitment, dedication and support which everyone in our community should give to worthwhile community activities. He was honoured in the past by Athy Town Council and Athy Lions Club for his work in Aontas Ogra. Billy will be sadly missed. Another recent death I was sorry to learn about was that of Annie Wright who died in England. Annie lived in the Town Hall when her father was the caretaker. She was a good friend of mine in our young days. It has been a strange week with the death of two friends and the success of the Kildare County team in Croke Park.

Penal Laws in Athy

Despite difficulties posed by Cromwellians forces the economic recovery of the latter part of the 17th Century had its beginning in the 1650’’s . Unfortunately for the Catholic Irish they were not to share in this development. The Cromwellian plantations although not as successful as planned nevertheless brought great changes in the ownership of property as between Protestants and Catholics. The Catholics who managed to remain in Irish towns had no power and little control, if any, over the creation of wealth. While encouragement was given to the setting up of manufacturing processes in Irish towns, the ownership of these generally iron works and cloth manufacturing rested with protestant proprietors. Daniel Hutchinson, a prominent follower of Oliver Cromwell established a cloth manufacture in Athy around this time. As parliamentary control increased, Ministers were appointed and paid by the exchequer to preach the State religion. In September 1653, we find Murdo McKenzy being directed to preach in Irish as well as in English in the precincts of Athy. On the 3rd March 1655, the Commissioners in Dublin Castle ordered that James Carey was to preach in Irish at Brides Parish, once every Sunday and that he was to occasionally go to Trim and Athy to preach for which he was allowed a salary of £60 per annum. James Carey was a former Catholic Priest whose ministry proved unacceptable to the Irish. In August 1655, he complained that the members of his congregation were very remiss in coming to hear him preach and that they rather preferred to spend the hours appointed for church service in “frequenting ale houses or indulging in unwarranted exercises” Whatever about the lack of Church attendance, there appears to have been some Catholics in Athy who conformed to the state religion. The sincerity of the conformists was however doubted for in July 1654 an order was issued to John Murcit to examine the conversion of the Irish about Athy who for that reason had not been transplanted. The subsequent report bore witness to the unsatisfactory nature of the conversions for in the civil list of 1655, the words “to preach in Irish” written after McKenzy’s name was erased suggesting that preaching in that language ceased. Despite Murdo McKenzy’s failure, conformity to the state religion was pursued with some vigor in the period 1660 to 1690 but not as vigorously as in the penal laws period. It is not known where the services of the church of England were held following the Reformation. St. Michael’s Church, the ruins of which stand today in the grounds of St. Michael’s Cemetery was possibly used but the church which formed part of the Dominican Friary was also available despite the damage suffered during the Confederate war. In 1682 a bell was provided for what was believed to be a new church built on open ground next to the site of the former Dominican Friary. Around the rim of the bell was the following inscription “This bell was made in the yeare 1682 for the church of Athy, Robert Somerton and Anchor Willis Chirch RWD”. The bell was bought by Athy’s Town Commissioners following the construction of the present St. Michael’s Church on the Carlow Road. Today the bell hangs on the Town Hall. In 1657 the first of several acts was passed which required Catholic’s to renounce the Pope’s spiritual and temporal authority, catholic doctrine and the claim of the Stuart pretender to the English throne. The education of the children of the protestant settlers was not neglected for about 1660 onwards, a Latin school was maintained in Athy initially by one Issac Dalton. He was a proprietor of the school for over forty years and was succeeded by John Garnet. In 1659, the population of Athy numbered 565 of which 83 were English and 482 Irish. The population of Naas that same year was 303 inhabitants. In the townland of Athy there were 273 Irish and 61 English, in St. John’s there were 93 Irish and 4 English and in St. Dominic’s Abbey, there were 86 Irish and 6 English. In Woodstock, there were 113 Irish and 12 English. The above details relating to the town of Athy are taken from Penders “Census of Ireland 1659”. In 1662, William Weldon of St. John’s, a member of parliament for Athy from 1661 writing of Athy stated that two priests names Fitzgerald and Carroll daily frequented the town and “lately said mass in the middle of the town several times”. On a particular Sunday, Weldon wrote, Fitzgerald was found “at his devotions” attended by about 500 persons. Being arrested the Priest was rescued four times by the people but was eventually taken prisoner by the soldiers. Around this time, Fr. Raymond Moore, Prior of Athy’s Dominican Friary in 1651-52 and again from 1661-62 was arrested and imprisoned in Dublin where he died in 1665. He was yet another of Athy’s martyrs as Fr. Richard Oventon sub prior of Athy had been murdered by Cromwell’s soldiers in Drogheda inn 1649. After the first years of the Cromwellian’s plantation, the Irish Catholics began to move back into the towns and to regain some of their previous prominence. Alarmed at the development, the protestant settlers demanded tougher measures to curtail the catholic populations. Under the Test Act of 1673 Catholics were barred from all civil, judicial and military offices. In 1678 following the Titus Oates plot all regional and secular catholic clergy were banished from Ireland. Despite the religious prosecution which followed the Titus Oates plot, Ireland was relatively peaceful while religious prosecutions accelerated following the Battle of the Boyne. We leave Athy with Sir. William Petty’s description of the town in 1682, “A corporate town on the River Barrow everyway commodious for trade, but no manufacture being driven, poor”.

Unveiling of Made of Athy Plaque in Offaly Street

A big thank you to everyone who attended the Offaly Street ‘Made of Athy’ plaque unveiling last Sunday week. A special thanks to Colm Walsh, founder of Athy’s public tribute and to John MacKenna, author and Aoife Breslin, Chairperson of Athy Municipal Council. My gratitude for their kind words. While speaking at the plaque unveiling I was standing outside the window of what as a young fellow I knew as the Taaffe household dining room. Truth to tell it was used as a dining room only on Christmas Day, while for the remainder of the year it was the room in which I listened to Radio Luxembourg. I recall a Sunday in the early 1950s when my father and I were listening to a Micheal O’Hehir commentary on an All-Ireland Football Final involving Kerry. Standing outside on the footpath we saw a man who was clearly trying to hear the commentary. I remember my father inviting the stranger into the room to listen to the football match. He turned out to be a Spailpín Fánach, a travelling farm worker from Kerry. My father’s kindness left a huge impression on me and gave me a valuable never to be forgotten lesson, how even strangers should be treated with kindness and consideration. My father’s involvement with various local organisations, including the Geraldine Park Development Committee and Athy’s Swimming Pool Committee, where he was treasurer for both, indicated a commitment to community activism which was passed on to me. On Sunday I spoke of the activities of Joe O’Neill, the Delahunty and Fleming brothers and others, all from St. Joseph’s Terrace, who in the 1940s and 1950s displayed a sense of community activism not before noticed amongst the various communities making up the town of Athy. These men were the first that I know of who came together to help neighbours and who trained young persons in music playing and subsequently formed at different times two youth marching bands. Their last neighbourly contribution was the erection of the Marian shrine in 1954. One man who brought together several more volunteers to form the Athy Swimming Pool Committee was Rexi Rowan, a community activist way ahead of his time. The committee formed I think in the mid-1950s, collected money and held draws for over a decade before approaching Kildare County Council with sufficient funds to encourage the Council to build its first public swimming pool in Athy. Community activism is today a common feature of the many communities which make up the larger population of the town of Athy. Each working on their own and with the assistance of Kildare County Council for the greater good of their neighbourhood. The County Council role in helping local communities can never be ignored. We are dependent so much on the County Council that we must always acknowledge the part the County Council plays in improving our lives and the town in which we live. I have been critical of the Council in the past, and again last Sunday week. The latest criticism arose from the Council’s failure, extending over three years, to agree to the continuation of arrangements for the Community Arts Centre in Woodstock Street which has been run by volunteers for the last 14 years. Let’s hope that this important cultural facility is restored without further lengthy delay. At the start of my short talk ??? on Sunday I mentioned the need for the Council members to review the Council’s car parking policy. I understand the Council budget for 2025 is €160 million and that a payment of approximately €1.2 million is first collected by the parking enforcement company and paid to the Council, while that company retains all subsequent monies collected. While Chairman of Athy U.D.C. I led the opposition to the County Manager’s application to have parking fees introduced in Athy. He claimed it was for the purpose of ‘good traffic management’. A later Council agreed to introduce parking fees and these fees undoubtedly act as a deterrent to car owners who might be willing to park for a short time while shopping. Our main streets are littered with vacant business premises and while Kildare County Council have introduced a Business Premises Regeneration Scheme I feel it should also do whatever is necessary to encourage traffic to stop in the town. I noticed some time ago that several County Cork towns have 2 hour free parking, which was undoubtedly helpful in encouraging shoppers. How fair do members of Kildare County Council think it is to require businesspeople to pay income tax, County Council rates and County Council property tax, while the County Council policy deters traffic passing through the town from stopping in Athy. Additional parking spaces will be required now that Emily Square has been converted into a traffic free plaza. The grounds of the former Abbey are I believe for sale and should be immediately snapped up by the Council for town centre parking and as a site for the Tuesday market. My dream of Whites Castle being in public ownership and developed as a Fitzgerald Museum is something which I would ask Kildare County Council to keep in mind. Nothing can be done about this without the consent of the castle’s owner who is keenly interested in the protection and preservation of historic buildings. I am hoping that both the owner and Kildare County Council can get together before too long to see what could be agreed. During the unveiling ceremony my son Seamus was given a present for me which turned out to be a plaque inscribed with the following words: ‘Frank Taaffe 29th June 2025 in recognition of your time and effort in remembering the Famine dead and in keeping the memory alive when others have forgotten.’ Seamus did not know the man and I am understandably anxious to contact the kind thoughtful person in question. Can you help me?

The Great Famine and Athy

Due to illness I missed the Famine Commemoration Ceremony in St. Mary’s Cemetery on the third Sunday of May. I understand it was well attended and I want to thank Fr. Liam Rigney and Rev. Conor O’Reilly for leading the prayers at the ceremony. I am reminded that approximately four years ago I approached the then County Council Chairman, Mark Stafford, regarding the desirability of installing a memorial in St. Mary’s Cemetery to those who died in the Athy Workhouse during the Great Famine. He agreed and I understand the County Council members also approved. However, so far nothing has happened but in the meantime Clem Roche has done superb work in identifying the names of the children, women and men who died in the Workhouse and are buried in unmarked graves in St. Mary’s. It strikes me that Clem and Eddie Lawler and their colleagues who did such a good job of erecting a superb World War 1 memorial in St. Michael’s Cemetery would take up the challenge of erecting a similar type of memorial in St. Mary’s Cemetery. What better way of commemorating those who died in the Famine than to use Clem Roche’s research to list their names on the cemetery memorial. I have spoken with Clem who is the current Chairman of Athy Historical Society, and he has agreed to undertake the task. In December 1843 work on the workhouse in Athy was completed. The first inmates were admitted to the workhouse on 9th January 1844. The admission records showed that 5 men, 4 women, 10 boys, 5 girls and 1 infant were categorised as paupers on their admission. A week later a further 6 men, 15 women, 13 boys, 5 girls and 2 infants were admitted to the workhouse. Admissions 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. For adult inmates, whether men or women who were more than 15 years of age, breakfast consisted of 7oz of oatmeal and one pint of milk. Dinner consisted of 3½ lb. of potatoes and one pint of buttermilk. Children between 3-15 years of age were provided with a breakfast of 4oz of oatmeal and a half a pint of sweet milk. Dinner for them consisted of 2 pounds of potatoes, with a half pint of buttermilk. For supper they received a ¼ lb. bread and a half pint of buttermilk. Infants under 3 years of age received 4oz of oatmeal at breakfast time, with a half-pound of bread and one pint of sweet milk. In November 1846 the Society of Friends established a Central Relief Committee which was involved in the opening of food kitchens throughout the country. Fr. Thomas Greene, C.C. Athy, received a grant of £15 from the Quaker Committee for the poor of Athy. In January 1847 Dr. Thomas Kynsey, Medical Officer of the workhouse, advised that 652 inmates were accommodated in the building which had been constructed to house 600. In December 1846, 18 inmates died in the workhouse. The following month 60 inmates died, even though the total inmate population had not increased. In February 1847 the Board of Guardians advised that it had provided additional accommodation for 30 inmates by fitting up sheds, once used as straw and turf stores. One month later accommodation for a further 50 inmates was provided by appropriating sheds in the boys and girls wards for use by children under four years of age. On 10th April 34 additional inmate places were provided increasing the workhouse accommodation limit to 714. Within 7 days the inmate intake exceeded 700 and that same week 10 persons died in Athy Workhouse. During the first four months of 1847 the total number of workhouse inmates varied between 583 and 704 and deaths averaged 10 per week. On 26th February 1847 the legislation which provided for the operation of soup kitchens in Ireland, was passed. Within the Athy Poor Law Union area soup kitchens were operated in 12 of the 14 electoral divisions. The local Relief Committee which managed the soup kitchens consisted of local members of the Board of Guardians and in Athy included the local Parish Priest Fr. James Lalor and the Church of Ireland Rector Rev. Frederick Trench. The food dispensed from the local soup kitchen was strictly rationed. Adults received 1 lb. of bread or 1 lb. of biscuits or 1 lb. of meal or flour. If a boiler was available to the local Relief Committee one quart of soup with a portion of meal was provided with 6 oz. of bread, biscuit or meal. Children under 9 years of age received half the adult ration. In July 1847 it was announced that the soup kitchens would be discontinued in August. When the soup kitchens in the Athy Poor Law Union area operated the highest numbers of persons supplied with food in any one day was 16,365, which represented 34% of the total population of the area. Within the Poor Law Union area the highest percentage dependency on soup kitchen rations was in the Ballyadams electoral area where it was almost 100%. In the Athy electoral division, which included the town of Athy, the highest recorded number to receive help in the soup kitchens in any one day represented 22.1% of the population. During the autumn of 1847 two ancillary workhouses were opened in Athy due to overcrowding in the workhouse. Workhouse inmates in February 1848 totalled 1254. The potato failure had its greatest effect on families with young children. As a result the majority of the workhouse inmates in Athy were children. During the Great Famine a total of 1,205 persons died in Athy Workhouse and the adjoining fever hospital. They lie buried in unmarked graves in St. Mary’s Cemetery. A memorial recording the names of our famine dead would be a dignified response to decades of neglect. We must remember them.

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’?