The first meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Athy Union was held in the Courthouse, Athy on Thursday, 29^thApril 1841 (the Court room at that time was located in the Town Hall). Present at that meeting were Lord Downes of Bert House, Sir E.H. Walsh of Ballykilcavan, Sir Anthony Weldon of Rahinderry, W.H. Cole of Moore Abbey, Monasterevin, Benjamin Lefroy of Cardenton and Edward Bagot of Kildoon. They were ex officio members of the Board, as was B.A. Yates of Moone Abbey and George Evans of Farmhill who were not present at that meeting.

Those attending also included the following guardians who had been elected to the position. Patrick Cummins, Athy; Gerald Dunne, Snugboro; P.C. Doran, Castlemitchell; John Butler, Athy; Thomas Fitzgerald, Kilberry; Robert Cassidy, Monasterevin; Edward Conlan, Monasterevin; John Hyland, Ballitore; Patrick Maher, Kilrush; William Pelan, Ballindrum; James Caulfield, Pilsworth, Castledermot; Joseph Lyons, Moyanna, Stradbally; Thomas Budd, Timogue, Stradbally; Michael Dowling, Inch, Stradbally; Francis Roberts, Stradbally; Thomas Kilbride, Luggacurran; John Hovenden, Modubeagh and John Kehoe of Ballylinan. Elected guardians who were absent included Daniel Browne, Ashgrove, Monasterevin; John Dowling, Kildangan; Andrew Dunne, Dollardstown; William Caulfield, Levitstown; Major E.H. Pope, Carlow and William Tarleton, Stradbally [the last two representing Ballyadams].

At that first meeting of the Board George Evans was elected Chairman, William Caulfield Vice Chairman while Patrick Dunne was elected Clerk to the Board at a salary of €40 per year. Arrangements were made for the Union area to be surveyed and valued for the purpose of fixing rates to finance the running of the Workhouse which would open in Athy in January 1844.

At its next meeting on 27^thMay it was agreed to admit the press to board meetings and to divide the union area into eight vaccination districts, with vaccination stations located at Athy, Castledermot, Monasterevin, Stradbally, Luggacurran, Nurney, Ballylinan and Moone.

On 20^th July 1841 the Board received an order from the Poor Law Commissioners directing it to raise or borrow the sum of £6,700 for the building and fitting out of a workhouse in Athy.

On 10^th March 1842 the Board met to decide applications from persons claiming the right to vote at the annual election for members of Athy Board of Guardians scheduled for 26^thMarch. The only change following that election was the replacement of John Butler by John Peppard. The outgoing chairman, George Evans, retained his position following the first meeting of the newly elected Board when defeating Sir Anthony Weldon by one vote. However, his name is absent from the record of all subsequent meetings and on 11^th October 1842 the Board unanimously agreed to elect Sir Anthony Weldon as Chairman of the Board of Guardians on the proposal of Lord Downes, seconded by Captain Lefroy.

In July 1842 the salaries for the various officers of the workhouse were fixed by the Board. The Workhouse Master was to be paid £40 per year with furnished apartments, fuel and candles and a limited quantity of house provisions. The Matron was to receive £20 a year, with similar allowances, while the workhouse porter was granted £10 a year and allowances. The workhouse schoolmaster and mistress were to be paid £20 and £15 respectively in addition to the earlier mentioned allowances. Their duties were to include ‘assisting the master in the management of the workhouse.’ The medical attendant’s salary was fixed at £50 a year and his duties included the ‘compounding of all necessary medicines.’ A ‘nurse teacher’ was to receive £10 a year with the agreed allowances. However, the Poor Law Commissioners took issue with the Board of Guardians decisions and directed that the fixing of salaries was premature and consequently refused to sanction any appointments.

The dispute between the Board and the Commissioners was eventually resolved and on 7^th February 1843 the Board proceeded with appointments of various officials to Athy Workhouse. William Bryan was appointed Workhouse master, with Elizabeth Quinn as Workhouse mistress and James Butler as the porter. The appointment of the Workhouse medical attendant appears to have been the only appointment which necessitated a vote, even though there were several applicants for each position. Dr. Ferris, Dr. Kynsey and Dr. Clayton submitted their applications and the position went to Dr. Kynsey who received 16 votes to 13 votes cast for Dr. Clayton. The hapless Dr. Ferris received no votes.

A rate of five pence in the pound was levied on all rateable properties in the Athy Poor Law Union area to fund the operation of the local Workhouse and John Mulhall was appointed to collect the poor rate in the Athy and Kilberry districts. Collectors were also appointed to the other areas of the union. As the opening of the Workhouse in January 1844 approached the preceding months were taken up with arrangements to purchase equipment, clothing and food products for which local businesses were asked to tender.

……………………………………….TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..

The story of Athy’s Workhouse is revealed in the minutiae of administrative details written into the minute books of the Board of Guardians, which I had the opportunity of studying before their recent transfer to the County Library in Newbridge. In the months preceding the opening of the Workhouse the Board of Guardians were engaged in making arrangements for furnishing the building and entering into contracts for the supply of provisions. The clerk was directed to advertise ‘for the different articles of clothing used by Gorey Workhouse paupers’ patterns for which had earlier been received and examined by the Athy Guardians. The members of the Board, while dissatisfied with the quality of the clothing, were nevertheless impressed with the clothing design or what the minute books describes as the ‘kind of clothing’.

Tenders for bed clothing for the Workhouse comprising blankets, sheets, coverlets, bolsters and bed ticks were approved by the Board and contracts awarded to Miss Kenny Scott, Mr. Potter and a Mr. Patrick Cosgrove. Kenny Scott was also the successful tender for 75 frieze jackets for men in three sizes at an average cost of 9 shillings and 11 pence each. Local shopkeeper, Mr. Duncan, successfully contracted for the supply of 50 suits in three sizes for boys at an average cost of 3 shillings and 6 pence. Shirts, petticoats, bed gowns, frocks, men’s caps and men’s and women’s shoes were just a few of the assortment of wearing apparel purchased by the Board of Guardians. For local shopkeepers, the opening of the Workhouse in Athy must have provided business opportunities never before experienced.

The list of utensils acquired for the Workhouse makes interesting reading. Heading that list were 100 chamber utensils for which the Board of Guardians paid 3 shillings and 6 pence per dozen. 12 lamps and burners, 4 one quart ladles for stirabout, with two larger ladles with one pint capacity were also required. A stirabout scraper was purchased for 5 shillings and for 2½ pence each 100 quart tins were purchased with a similar number of pint tins for which 2¼ pence each was paid. Indicative of the work which the male inmates were expected to face was the purchase of 24 stone hammers.

At its meeting on 2^nd May 1843 in anticipation of what the minute book noted as a ‘collision between the ratepayers and the collectors’ it was resolved that the landlords should be made primarily responsible for the Workhouse rates, while giving them power to recover from the occupiers, their proportion of the rates, as was the case with the rent charge. Later in the month of May the Board directed the newly appointed master and porter to take up residence in the Workhouse, although the workhouse mistress was not yet required to do so.

On 4^th June the Board of Guardians accepted tenders for furniture for their boardroom. John Ryan of Carlow supplied the boardroom table with 36 chairs, one armchair ‘with brackets’ and a metal fender and fire irons. At the same time furniture was required for the clerk’s room, the master’s apartment, the porter’s room and the hall. The earlier mentioned John Ryan was also commissioned to build an altar for the Workhouse. Interestingly the clerk and the porter got deal furniture for their rooms, while the master of the Workhouse got American birch chairs for his apartment, as well as a mahogany table and other pieces of furniture.

On 12^th September Miss Goold’s tender to supply ‘sweet milk at the rate of 7 pence per gallon’ was accepted. Miss Goold later emerged as one of the principal organisers of the movement to bring the Sisters of Mercy to Athy. The Mercy Sisters came to the town 8 years after her opening of the local Workhouse. She was also a generous benefactor to the Parish of St. Michaels, leaving some property to the parish on her death.

The eight ex officio members of the Board of Guardians were elected annually by local magistrates. On 29^th September 1843 with Captain Lefroy in the chair, local magistrates Lord Downes, Sir Anthony Weldon and W.D. Frazier elected the ex officio Poor Law Guardians. Not surprisingly those elected included the aforementioned gentlemen in addition to John Butler, Edward Bagot, B.A. Yates and E.H. Cole. The remaining 24 guardians were elected each year by the ratepayers of the union area.

The appointment of a rate collector for the various districts in the Poor Law Union of Athy occupied almost every meeting of the Board of Guardians. Reasons were seldom given for the frequent changes in the rate collectors, although it might well have been prompted by the reluctance of the rate payers to pay for the operation of the Workhouse which in 1843 was still in the course of construction. The contract price for the building of the Workhouse was exceeded during the year, resulting in the assistant Poor Law Commissioner laying before the Board the accounts of the building contractor which indicated that a further £150 was required to defray extra costs incurred and an additional £150 to build boundary fences around the Workhouse. ……………….TO BE CONTINUED NEXT WEEK………………..

As the construction work on Athy Workhouse neared completion the Board of Guardians advertised for the supply of Whitehaven coal, oatmeal, best cup potatoes ‘free from clay or hazards’, buttermilk, straw, beef and mutton. What I wonder was meant by the description ‘potatoes free from hazards’? Three months before the Workhouse opened the clerk announced his intention to resign. At a subsequent meeting Jeremiah Dunne was appointed clerk, defeating Mr. Goodwin for the position by one vote. The suppliers to the Workhouse appointed in November 1843 included family names well known in the business life of Athy up to recent years. Mr. Cross supplied Whitehaven coal at nineteen shillings a ton, Mr. Dillon beef at 3¾ pence a pound and Mr. Keating straw at one pound five shillings a ton. In November the medical officer was instructed to fit up the Workhouse surgery and to procure the necessary appliances and drugs at a cost not to exceed £25.

In December 1843 work on the Workhouse was completed. The Board approved payments to the following craftsmen and traders. Samuel Sherlock, painter - three pounds. Thomas Blanc, carpenter - twenty pounds (I assume his full name was Blanchfield). Patrick O’Neill, basket maker - six pound two shillings. James Doyle, shoemaker - fifteen pounds. John Ryan, furniture maker - thirty pounds, with small amounts paid to Daniel Twomey, slater and Patrick English, smith worker. It was decided to open the Workhouse ‘for the reception of paupers’ on 20^th December 1843, with posters advertising this fact to be got at the Leinster Express office. At the same time the Rev. J. Lawler was authorised ‘to provide requisites for celebration of Roman Catholic worship at an expense not exceeding ten pounds.’ At its meeting of 19^thDecember the Board of Guardians postponed the planned opening of the Workhouse because the small amount of lodgements made by poor rate collectors left the Guardians without adequate funds.

On 9^th January 1844 the Board agreed on the diet for the Workhouse inmates. For adults of both sexes above 15 years of age breakfast would consist of 7 oz. of oatmeal made into stirabout and one pint of mixed milk. Dinner would consist of 3½ lbs. of potatoes and one pint of buttermilk.

Young persons from 3 to 15 years of age were to be provided with a breakfast of 4 oz. of oatmeal made into stirabout and half a pint of sweet milk. Dinner would consist of 2 lbs. of potatoes with half a pint of buttermilk. For supper they received a quarter of a pound of bread and a half pint of buttermilk.

Infants from 1 – 3 years of age received 4 ozs. of oatmeal made into stirabout at breakfast together with half a pound of bread and one pint of sweet milk. Women nursing infants were to receive one pint of sweet milk every night in addition to their ordinary diet. Infants having no mothers in the Workhouse were to receive half a pound of bread and one quarter of sweet milk until they were one year old.

Adults were to have their breakfast at half past nine and dinner at four o’clock. Children got their breakfast at 9 o’clock, dinner at 2 o’clock and supper at 7 o’clock. The final decision of the Board of Guardians before the Workhouse was opened that day was to appoint Thomas Prendergast as contractor to build the boundary wall and gate piers in front of the Workhouse.

On the first day of admission five men, four women, ten boys, five girls and one infant were formally categorised as paupers on their admission to the newly opened Workhouse. A week later a further six men, fifteen women, thirteen boys, five girls and two infants were admitted to the Workhouse.

Just six years previously a letter in the Athy Literary Magazine of March 1838 referred to Athy as ‘completely neglected’. The unidentified letter writer notes how ‘during the late and present inclement weather ….. sickness and starvation visited alike the able bodied and the aged poor’ of the South Kildare town. No surprise therefore to find that within ten months of its opening the Workhouse was home to 297 paupers. The failure of the potato crop first noticed in the Athy area in October 1845 was to lead to widespread hardship in the local area. The construction of the railway line from Dublin to Carlow provided much needed employment for local men ‘who had never (previously) handled a pike or a shovel, never wheeled a barrow and never made a nearer approach to work than to turn over a potato field with a clumsy hoe’. That work ceased when the Dublin Carlow railway line opened on 4^th August 1846 and many local families had no option but to enter the Workhouse. At one time towards the end of the famine period the Athy Workhouse system was home to 1528 starving family members, who were accommodated in the original Workhouse and two auxiliary Workhouses in the town.

The Great Famine witnessed the death of 1205 inmates of Athy’s Workhouse. They lie buried in unmarked graves in the cemetery where in recent years on National Famine Commemoration Day, services are held to honour the memory of those unfortunate men, women and children, all of whom were neighbours in Athy town and the wider Poor Law Union Area of Athy.

Another year is about to pass and with it mixed memories of times, sometimes enjoyable, sometimes sad, sometimes memorable, but for the most part quite ordinary. One event out of the ordinary and one which brought an end to an ancient association stretching back centuries was the departure of the Dominican Order from Athy just before the year started. Dominican priests had been celebrating mass in the town of Athy since 1257. On Sunday, 22^nd November 2015 the Dominican church at the end of Convent Lane was the scene of the last mass to be celebrated by a member of the Dominican Order in the town of Athy.

The Dominican Church which opened on St. Patrick’s Day 1965 represented a significant development in Irish Church Architecture. Now deconsecrated, it will in the coming year house the town library and as such will continue to contribute to the cultural heritage of the area.

The first photograph shows the Dominican Church which was replaced in 1965 and the Dominican Priory which as Riversdale House , the private residence of the Mansergh Family, was purchased by the Dominicans in 1846 and adapted for us by the Dominican Order between 1846 and 1850. The second photograph is of the interior of the Church which was replaced in 1965.

The Swiss philosopher Amiel wrote “ To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living”. One man who excelled in the art of living was Michael Wall of Chanterlands who died on Christmas Eve, having reached 96 years of age. He was born on the 9^th September 1920 in the second year of the Irish War of Independence. A native of Ballywalter, near to the Mayo town of Ballinrobe, he once recounted to me how his baby cot concealed a revolver from a search party of Black and Tans who raided his parents home. Michael was very proud of Mayo’s involvement in the War of Independence and of his father’s role in that struggle.

It is probably a misleading word to apply to that conflict, implying as it does one army fighting against another. The Independence struggle of the Irish Republicans which is deemed to have commenced with the killing of two Irish born R.I.C. men at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary on the 21^st January 1919 is probably more accurately termed “Guerilla Warfare”.

Michael’s attachment to his native County of Mayo never palled despite the fact that his family migrated to County Laois in 1929 following his parents purchase of a farm in the midland county. Michael was the eldest of four sons and two daughters born to Patrick and Mary Wall. His father was at one time Clerk to the Sinn Fein Court which sat in Claremorris presided over by local solicitor Conor Maguire. Conor Maguire would later become the Irish Chief Justice and by happy coincidence his son Bryan on becoming a dispensary doctor in County Kildare, came to live in the same neighbourhood of Athy as the Mayo born Michael Wall.

I was privileged to know Michael Wall since 1982 when I returned to live in Athy after an absence of 21 years. Michael himself came to Athy in 1963 when he took up the position of Horticultural Instructor in nearby County Laois. He had attended Albert College in Dublin from where he had qualified as a Horticulturalist. He was one of the earliest members of Athy Lions Club and served for almost 40 years as an officer and a member of that charitable organisation. A founder member of Athy Gymnastics Club, Michael was also involved with Jerry Carbery and Des Perry in setting up one of Athy’s earliest canoe clubs.

Apart from our common interest in Irish history, Michael and myself shared an interest in Irish politics. Our own politics were at opposite ends of the political scale. His being Fine Gael as against my support for Fianna Fail. Michael often chided me failing to understand how “an intelligent man could be a member of Fianna Fail”. It was a moot point, particularly when discussions settled on the deValera governments’ disgraceful treatment of Leitrim’s Jimmy Gralton and the deValera sleight of hand in transferring Irish Americans financial donations for the Irish Republican cause to the since failed newspaper empire which continues to be controlled by a deValera.

Michael, as I always told him, remained my favourite “blueshirt” given that on the two occasions I stood for election as a Fianna Fail candidate, he voted for the only times in his life, for a candidate whose political views he did not share. In case anyone reading this takes offence to my use of the term “blueshirt”, note that Michael never did, as we both had a well grounded understanding of the history of Irish political parties.

Michael was blessed with 31 happy years of retirement which he devoted to his family and his beloved garden. I benefitted on many occasions from his horticultural advice and his love of plants and I recall his friendship with admiration and deepest satisfaction. To his wife Moya and to his children I extend my deepest sympathy realising that his legacy remains in the wonderful children Moya and Michael raised to adulthood and of which both were justifiably proud.

The Christmas period just ended and also saw the passing of Tom Flood of Church Road whose father and uncles played a very prominent part in the struggle for Irish Independence. Tom was earlier in the year predeceased by his older brother Danny who will be remembered as one of the Kildare footballing heroes of the 1950’s. Their father, Tom Flood and his brothers, all natives of Dublin City were prominent members of the Dublin Brigade old I.R.A. An uncle, Frank Flood, who was executed on the 14^th day of March 1921 was one of the “forgotten ten” whose bodies were removed from Mountjoy Jail on 14^thOctober 2001for burial in Glasnevin Cemetery. Liam Callan of Ardreigh, like Michael Wall, died after a long life as did Ettie O’Brien of Fontstown and her sister Peggy Molloy of Booleigh. Also lost to us in recent days were Mary Gray of Ardreigh and Veronica Bradley of Foxhill.

Our sympathies go to all those who were bereaved over the Christmas period.

With the passing of the old year and the ending of the 1916 centenary commemorations thoughts now turn in this decade of centenaries, to 1917. It was a year which witnessed the first Sinn Fein bye-election victory with the election of Count Plunkett at the expense of the Home Rule candidate in the Roscommon north constituency. His election was a harbinger of what was to follow in the Longford bye-election where another Sinn Fein candidate, Joseph McGuinness, by then a prisoner in Lewes jail was elected with the slogan, ‘Put him in to get him out’. This was the start of the upsurge in popularity for Sinn Fein which in the general election of December 1918 led to the collapse of the Home Rule party.

Here in Athy the first indication of the existence of a group of Sinn Fein sympathisers in the town was the holding of a concert in the Town Hall on 18^th January 1917 to raise funds for the families of men arrested and imprisoned following the Easter Rising. The following month ‘Athy Hibernian Players’ performed a play, ‘The O’Carolan’ in the same Town Hall at the end of which the actors and their supporters stood to attention to sing ‘A Nation Once Again’.

Two months later in June 1917 a local newspaper, named for the first time the Athy men who had come together to form a Sinn Fein club. Their names are worthy of recording 100 years later and perhaps later in the year we will have an opportunity to commemorate their patriotism and courage in promoting the drive for Irish independence. Their names are John Coleman, Joseph Murphy, J.B. Maher, Michael May, Joseph May, Joseph Walsh, W.G. Doyle, T. Corcoran, Robert Webster, J. Webster and C. Walsh. Some of those named cannot be identified with any degree of certainty and I would welcome hearing from anyone who can help me to positively identify the men in question.

Another interesting development in 1917, but one without any political overtones, was the arrival of tractors in the South Kildare area. The Irish Times reported a tractor demonstration arranged by the local firm of Duthie Larges on the lands of C.W. Taylor at Forest. ‘It was for all the world like watching the tanks go into action with the townies behind to observe the two Overtime farm tractors at work’ reported the newspaper. Taylors apparently had owned a tractor for the previous three years and the experience had taught them that a tractor could plough 3½ acres in a day while a good man with a pair of horses could only plough half an acre in the same time. The arrival of the tractor was timely as local farmers had difficulty in replacing farm labourers who continued to enlist in large numbers during the 1914/18 war.

Another difficulty facing the general public in 1917 was the government restrictions imposed in March of that year on the output of beers and spirits. Concerned at the effect drinking habits had on production in munition factories and shipyards the British Government sought to control drink consumption in a variety of ways. Athy in 1917 with a population of 3535 had 40 public houses and between 40 and 50 men employed in the local malting industry. As a result of the restrictions on the brewing of beer and the malting of barley, malting works in Stanhope Street, Offaly Street and Nelson Street had to close temporarily. By May 1917 restrictions on the sale of liquor caused many of the local public houses to run out of supplies.

On Thursday 19^th July 1917 the local Sinn Fein Club organised a concert in the Town Hall, again for the families of the 1916 prisoners. Arthur Griffith, President of Sinn Fein, who was making his first visit to Athy, addressed the Town Hall audience. Before the end of 1917 Eamon de Valera made what was his first visit to the town. He was accompanied by Arthur Griffith and both spoke from a platform in front of the Town Hall before a large audience which included members of Sinn Fein clubs from Athy, Bert, Milltown, Barrowhouse, Ballitore and Castledermot. De Valera’s visit was marked with the presentation to him of addresses of welcome by Athy Urban District Council and the local Board of Guardians. It was the same Board of Guardians which in May 1916 had condemned ‘the revolution in Dublin’.

Another important event which is worth commemorating in 2017 is the construction of the White Castle on the bridge of Athy 600 years ago. It was the Lord Luitent for Ireland Sir John Talbot who on behalf of King Henry V of England commissioned the erection of the fortified townhouse as part of the towns defences against the marauding O’Mores of Laois who attacked and burnt the town of Athy on several occasions. Until recent times it was generally accepted that the White Castle was built in 1417 but recent research by archaeologist Ben Murtagh raises unresolved questions as to the date of its erection. What is clear however is that its proper name is not Whites Castle but the White Castle from the white appearance of the exterior lime rendered walls which were lime washed. The White Castle located for strategic reasons on the bridge of Athy still holds sway as the most important building in the modern towns street scape.

Let us celebrate during 2017 the centenary of Athy’s Sinn Fein club and the six centuries of the White Castle of Athy.

Last week’s article in which I suggested a century commemoration of the founding of Athy’s Sinn Fein club evoked a number of responses. A few readers were concerned lest my reference to the Sinn Fein group of 1917 might be seen in someway a support for the current Sinn Fein party. The links between the party of 1917 and today’s party are not at all clear and historians generally accept that the use of the same name does not necessarily indicate a direct link between the two groups.

Sinn Fein was a political movement founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith to pursue the policy enunciated by Griffith “to make England take one hand from Ireland’s throat and the other hand out of Ireland’s pocket”. It was a radical organisation formed in the aftermath of the Boer war and as a non-militaristic organisation sought to achieve economic and cultural independence from England. In fact, Sinn Fein initially sought to become an equal party in a dual monarchy under the English crown.

Arthur Griffith edited the party’s newspaper for eight years from 1906 and in April 1907 Sinn Fein absorbed the National Council which had been formed four years previously to protest against the proposed visit of the English King to Ireland. The National Council had originally been formed in 1900 by Arthur Griffith as Cumann na nGaedheal to co-ordinate smaller societies opposed to England’s occupation of Ireland. Another nationalist group which also merged with Sinn Fein was the Dungannon Club founded by Bulmer Hobson and Denis McCullagh in March 1905.

The enlarged Sinn Fein party was not very successful in the early years and played second fiddle to the Irish Parliamentary Party. It contested the North Leitrim parliamentary bye-election in February 1905 and suffered an overwhelming defeat at the hands of the Parliamentary Party. It was the Easter Rising and its aftermath which propelled Sinn Fein to the forefront of Irish political life. John Redmond had warned in the House of Commons that the execution of the leaders of the Rising would alienat many who had not supported the rebels. Sinn Fein as an organisation had not taken part in the Rising but the British government wrongly apportioned responsibility to Sinn Fein. This association with the 1916 Rising gave the Sinn Fein organisation the mass support it had not previously enjoyed. Here in Athy in early 1917 a Sinn Fein club was formed and last week I gave the names of those local men who formed that first republican club.

At the 10^th Sinn Fein convention held in Dublin in October 1917 Eamon de Valera was elected President after Griffith stood down in favour of the only surviving commandant of the 1916 Rising. At that convention the original Sinn Fein members regarded as moderate nationalists were joined by radical nationalists who had participated in the 1916 Rising. The convention voted to secure international recognition for an independent Irish Republic and the withdrawal of Irish members from the British parliament.

In March 1917 the British government considered imposing conscription on young Irish men as a quid pro quo for home rule. It was opposed by the Catholic hierarchy and gave Sinn Fein a platform which saw the new emerging political group leading anti-conscription demonstrations throughout Ireland.

In May 1918 the British government ordered the arrest of Sinn Fein leaders on the grounds of an alleged German plot. This added to the parties further popularity amongst Irish people. In the general election of December 1918 Sinn Fein was able to seize political power from the Irish parliamentary party winning 73 seats while the other party could only retain 6 seats.

The elected Sinn Fein members formed the First Dail. The subsequent War of Independence led to the Treaty and a split in Sinn Fein. Those in favour of the Treaty then formed Cumann na nGaedheal while the anti treaty side retained the name Sinn Fein. As an organisation Sinn Fein became dormant in 1922 but was subsequently revived only for a second split to occur in 1926 with the departure of de Valera and the setting up of Fianna Fail. In the June 1927 general election Sinn Fein only secured five seats and lost them in another election in September.

As to the continuity of the link between Arthur Griffith’s Sinn Fein of 1917 and the party of the same name today there are arguments and counter-arguments on both sides. In this centenary year of the founding of Athy’s Sinn Fein club the suggestion I made last week is that we commemorate those courageous local men who came together 100 years ago to help reshape the political life of Ireland and by doing so influenced the political thinking of their local community.

The death of a young man, especially someone leaving behind a wife and a young son, is a sad event and a family tragedy. Last week Wayne O’Neill, a young man from Clogh, Co. Kilkenny tragically lost his life in a road traffic accident on the Athy/Castlecomer Road near Crettyard.

The Irish tradition of community wide involvement in funerals, unlike the custom in other countries, is a wonderful throwback to a time when family difficulties brought together neighbours and friends in a concerted effort to help the family in need. The community in action brings with it comfort and solace in time of grief and nowhere was this better exemplified than in the funeral of the young Clogh native, Wayne O’Neill.

I journeyed down to the North Kilkenny village and for the first time visited the Church built a few years after the passing of Catholic Emancipation. It stands proud at the end of a lengthy avenue; a simple country Church surrounded on several sides by the last resting place of parishioners of past generations. A typically Irish scene developed as the congregation gathered favouring the back of the Church while a few seats on the Gospel side of the nave remained largely unused. The parish choir presented what was for me a unique composition in that the vast majority of its members were male. Usually parish choirs owe much of their musicality and talent to the presence of female singers but here in Clogh the reverse was true. What was equally surprising was the advanced age of the choir members who despite this or perhaps because of their years, offered pleasantly harmonious renditions of various hymns during the funeral Mass. Their singing was excellent and added enormously to the dignity of the occasion.

I gather that the Parish of Clogh, which includes Moneenroe, was created a Parish separate from the Parish of Castlecomer around the time the Church of St. Patrick’s was built in Clogh. The Parish now has two Churches as the local miners helped build another Church at Moneenroe, which was consecreted in 1930 as the Church of the Sacred Heart. I believe it was in that latter Church that Bishop Collier preached against the miners and the Miners Union started by the great Nixie Boran, an old IRA man and convicted communist after he returned from a visit to Russia in 1930. The union was officially launched in December 1930 in Moneenroe in the Parish of Clogh, which is in the heart of the Kilkenny mining district. Not too far away is the site of the Coolbawn ambush where two IRA men John Hartley and Nicholas Mullins were killed on the 14^th of June 1921.

These were the historical connections that I made as I exited from the Parish Church in Clogh to follow the funeral cortege on its last journey to St. Michael’s Cemetery here in Athy. I was thinking also of the many links between the Counties of Kilkenny and Kildare which were brought into sharp focus by the Clogh Parish Priest Fr. Tobin at the end of his Mass, as he described for us the funeral journey from the “Black and Amber County to the Lilywhite County.” I could not but smile reflecting on my own life journey which commenced in nearby Castlecomer and came to rest in the County Kildare town of Athy where the young Kilkenny man, Wayne O’Neill, would soon lie in his young wife’s family grave.

The funeral prayers at the end of the burial ceremony concluded with the release of four balloons bearing the black and amber colours of Wayne’s beloved Kilkenny. It was a telling gesture for and from a Kilkenny community which had witnessed the loss of one of it’s members and his relocation in death in the adjoining short grass county.

Our sympathy goes to the families of the late Wayne O’Neill and at this sad time we especially remember our work colleague Lisa Walsh and her young son Cian.

At 7.30 p.m. on Saturday the 4^th of February an important meeting will be held in the local GAA Clubhouse to announce plans for the future development of the playing facilities enjoyed by members of Athy Gaelic Football Club. The Club officials have extended an invitation to past and present members to attend the meeting which non-members with an interest in Gaelic games are also very welcome to attend.

Work on the building of the railway line from Athy to Wolfhill colliery started in April 1917. It was first proposed in June 1912 when the colliery owner, Mr. Parkinson, came before the members of Kildare County Council seeking sanction for the project insofar as it related to the southern part of County Kildare. At a subsequent meeting of Athy Urban District Council, chaired by James Deegan, Mr. Thomas Reddy Manager of the Gracefield colliery explained that it was intended to run the line beside the road from Wolfhill to Athy. The mining company he said was prepared to run the trains early in the morning or late at night and so avoid any possible danger to the public. The company was also willing to drop off passengers outside the town of Athy on market and fair days. The money to build the railway was to come from the promoters of the scheme. In return the Urban Council were asked to provide housing accommodation in the town for between 300 and 500 miners. Both the proposal and the request met with the unanimous approval of the Council members with John Duncan J.P. proposing acceptance, seconded by Thomas Plewman J.P. who claimed that 95% of the people of Athy favoured the project.

The Kildare Observer in a subsequent editorial praised the Urban District Council stating “the time has come for the making of a steady and determined endeavour towards our industrial regeneration.” The editor expressed the hope “that this new enterprise will bring to Athy and the surrounding country all the advantages of an extensive industrial development.”

The meeting of Kildare County Council saw legal representatives of the colliery owner, the County Council and the Great Southern and Western Railway Company make detailed submissions in connection with the railway project. The Councillors were informed that the proposed light railway between Athy and the collieries at Gracefield and Modubeagh would extend for 10 miles, 1 furlong and 1.4 chains with 3 miles, 4 furlongs and 6 chains in County Kildare. It was proposed to have the rail lines laid on a raised track placed on the left hand side of the road going from Athy to Ballylinan, the level of the rails to be 6 inches over the level of the centre of the road. The county surveyor, Edward Glover, pointed out where work on railways had been commenced but not completed and while not expecting anything of that kind to occur in relation to the Wolfhill line, nevertheless he advised that in the case of abandonment the County Council should seek reinstatement of all roads and public services affected by the work.

The colliery owner, James Parkinson, advised the Council that he had purchased the mining rights of 10,500 acres for £20,000 and hoped in the near future to increase coal productivity each day to 1,000 tonnes in Modubeagh and 500 tonnes in Gracefield. He pointed out that Modubeagh coalfield had coal supplies for about 60 years and confirmed that the estimated cost of laying the railway line was £70,725. When asked if he anticipated any difficulty employing labourers when work was started, Mr. Parkinson replied “None whatever, we can easily get Connemara labourers.”

Despite the unanimous support of Kildare County Council and Athy Urban District Council an application had to be submitted to, and approved by, the Lord Lieutenant under the Tramways Acts to allow the construction work to proceed. By the time war was declared in August 1914 no progress had been made in relation to the Athy Wolfhill railway line.

During the winter of 1916/17 the Chief Secretary travelled from Dublin Castle to Wolfhill to investigate the railway proposal and John O’Connor M.P. made a submission outlining how and why the railway line could be provided as a war measure. Coal became scarce and very expensive during the war and he claimed that an increased quantity could be secured in Wolfhill and shipped to England if the railway line was put in place. Mr. O’Connor went so far as the suggest that 1,000 soldiers out of the 4,000 based in the Curragh camp could be employed in building the railway line in three to four weeks.

The Board of Works eventually approved the scheme and J.J. Bergin by then Manager of the Wolfhill colliery, indicated to the local press on the 31s of March 1917 that “fourteen engineers are marking out the course.” The same newspaper reported “work in connection with the new railway commenced this week when a good deal of local labour was engaged under the engineers attached to the Great Southern and Western Railway Company”. To discourage farm labourers from applying to work on the railway project where a weekly wage of twenty seven shillings was paid, only men engaged in national service and registered for such work were employed.

To be continued…

On the 18^th of June 1917 the property agent to the War Department in Ireland advertised that the lands required for the construction of the railway line between Athy and Wolfhill “are taken under the powers contained in the Defence of the Realm Regulations.” By the 5^th of May the Nationalist and Leinster Times reported that “the railway works have caused crowding and congestion in Athy. The influx of workers has caused overcrowding.” A further report indicated that the railway line had been extended as far as the River Barrow and that work on the bridge was to start. In fact the foundations for the bridge were laid in June 1917. In early July a large number of men arrived from Dublin to work on the railway. Their arrival prompted the local Medical Officer, Dr. Kilbride, to warn the Urban District Council of “overcrowding in the lanes of Athy.” The overcrowding was alleviated somewhat by the erection of large structures, akin to field hospitals, on the outskirts of Athy and Ballylinan to accommodate the workers.

During the year fifty Dublin men, previously unemployed, who were brought to Athy with a promise of 30 shillings per week wages and free bed and equipment returned to Dublin soon after their arrival. Apparently their demands of a wage increase of 8 shillings per week and a reduction of working hours from 60 to 58 hours per week was not accepted. The local newspaper noted that the Dublin men had a spokesman “who like the agitator Larkin was a bit of a stump orator however he did not succeed in fooling the local workers who remained at work.” A later newspaper report indicated that about 300 workers went on strike for a few days in August 1917 demanding an increase in the wages of 6 pence per hour for a 60 hour week. The strike was called off when the workers agreed to terms of 5 shillings and 6 pence per day with a slight reduction in the working hours.

The air of prosperity about Wolfhill noted by the local newspapers, which was absent in previous years, prompted a claim of overcharging by some railway workers. Not so, claimed John Meier of Simmons Mills who wrote to the papers on the 27^th of August 1917 outlining the prices he charged the miners for various food stuffs. His prices of 3½ pence for a loaf of bread, 1/8 for a pound of smoked bacon, 3/6 for a pound of tea and sugar at 7 pence a pound did not represent over charging he asserted.

By September 1917 with so many farm workers having enlisted in the British Army the Town Clerk, J.A. Lawler, met Mr. Waller the chief Engineer on the railway project to secure the release of men to help with local harvesting work. Waller agreed to the release of 200 men for a short period and guaranteed to keep their jobs open for them.

The bridge across the river Barrow was nearing completion in January 1918 and work on the railway was expected to be finished in two to three months thereafter. As the project neared completion on the 14^th of February 1918 the workers went on strike again. 200 men marched into Athy in what would appear to have been an unsuccessful attempt to get Athy men to join the strike. It was noted in the local press that “tradesmen engaged on the bridge and other skilled work was not affected”. However, a week later skilled workers were compelled to stop work on the railway line while the railway strikers sought to increase their wages from 5 shillings and 6 pence to 7 shillings and 6 pence per week. The strikers returned to work following intervention by Denis Kilbride M.P., P.J. Meehan M.P. and Fr. W. Wilson a curate in Luggacurran. It was agreed to wait for the decision of the Board of Trade regarding the workers demands. The intervention by a Catholic curate was indicative of the importance of Church figures in Irish society at the time. It can also be seen as a service to a neighbouring cleric, Rev. James Parkinson P.P. of Ballyadams, whose brother was proprietor of the Wolfhill colliery.

In September 1918 work commenced on taking up the second railway line between Athy and Cherryville, Kildare to be used as the new line between Castlecomer and Kilkenny. The double line from Athy to Carlow had earlier been reduced to a single line and the lifted rail used to construct the branch line to Wolfhill. The Railway Bridge across the river Barrow forming part of the Athy Wolfhill line was the first recorded reinforced concrete railway bridge constructed in Ireland.

The Athy Wolfhill railway line opened on the 24^thof Sep 1918 and while it was operated by the Great Southern and Western Railway Company in remained in the ownership of the British Government until it passed to the Irish Free State following the Treaty. In 1929 the Great Southern Railway leased the Athy/Wolfhill rail line from the Irish Government for 999 years. It was one of the few Irish railway lines never privately owned. As for the Wolfhill colliery, it’s operating company went into receivership in the summer of 1925 and was later liquidated.

The English accents intermingled with the Irish accents during the prayers of the faithful spoke of family lives separated by the Irish Sea and of a time when emigration scarred previous generations of Irish people. Athy’s Church of St. Michael’s was the scene of the funeral mass for Johnny Day who passed away last week aged 89 years. Johnny emigrated to England in 1952 when 25 years of age, having already spent 12 years working at a variety of jobs in his home town. He was just 13 years of age and a schoolboy in the local Christian Brothers School when he took up his first job in Vernals forge in St. John’s Lane.

The son of Owen Day and the former Margaret Ryan, Johnny was born in Meeting Lane in a house which formed part of a row of houses, some of which were thatched. They were destroyed by fire in 1930. With the opening of the Michael Dooley’s housing scheme in 1932 the Day family was allocated the tenancy of No. 44 and it was to there that Johnny returned to live 13 years ago after living for 51 years in England.

Athy in the 1940s and 1950s was, like many other Irish provincial towns, a place where emigration marked the lives of the majority of local families. The Day family were no different in that regard than many others. Johnny’s brother Paddy spent some years in England where he married Vivienne before returning to live in St. Dominic’s Park. Paddy has since died. Another family member who emigrated to England and who returned to her hometown of Athy was Johnny’s sister Maisie who married the late Ken Sale. She now lives in Graysland. Brothers Michael and Peter Day emigrated to Bedford where Michael died at 55 years of age and where Peter still lives. Johnny’s youngest brother Joe who was a classmate of mine in the local Christian Brothers School died while living in Athy at a relatively young age. Sister Gretta and brother Oweny continue to live in Athy.

Irish emigrants in the immediate post World War II years were by and large drawn to England rather than America to where a previous generation went in the years immediately following the Irish War of Independence. This despite the fact that Athy in the 1950s witnessed somewhat of an industrial revival. Athy had once enjoyed a long history of industrial activity, ranging from the tanneries of the 18^th century to malting and brick building. However, Athy’s once extensive brick making industry disappeared with the closure of the Athy Tile & Brick Company in the early 1930s. It was the last of the brickyards which from the middle of the 19^th century brought much needed employment to the south Kildare region.

The setting up of the Asbestos factory in 1937 and opening of the Wallboard factory in 1947 brought new hope and added to the employment potential of the town which up to then relied heavily on local foundries. Foundry work was a local trade craft which developed in Athy and the experienced foundry skills nurtured in the many small foundries in and around Athy prompted the setting up of the Irish Vehicle Industry (I.V.I.) by Colonel Hosie in the 1920s. Johnny Day worked for some years in Matt and Mick McHugh’s foundry in Meeting Lane and from 1947 to 1952 in the I.V.I. foundry.

If the early 1950s gave hope for sustained industrial development in Athy those hopes were not realised and the emigration trend set in the previous decades continued apace. In the last decade or so we have often been reminded of the impact emigration has had on family life in Athy and elsewhere in Ireland with announcements at Sunday masses of the death abroad of one time residents of the town. During the summer, I attended my brother in law’s funeral in Greenford, London. A Connemara man who had emigrated to England in the early 1960’s, his final resting place, like so many Irish men and women who took the emigrant boat, was in English soil. On the day of his funeral I walked part of the extensive Greenford Cemetery noting the Irish names recorded on memorials and the county flags occasionally standing side by side at gravesides with the Irish Tricolour. Both are a common sight on Irish emigrant graves in London.

Over the centuries Irish history has been marked by a constant flow of emigration from its towns and villages. To the loss of a generation of young Athy men in World War I must be added the silent haemorrhaging over many decades of a potential workforce whose needs could not be met in their native land. The story of the Irish diaspora is made up of the individual life stories of men and women such as those of my Connemara brother in law Padraig Spellman and Johnny Day of Athy. Johnny returned to his home town to live out his remaining years while the Connemara man, born in the heart of the Connemara countryside, ended his days in the sprawling cityscape of London

March 1932 saw a change in the political leadership of this country. The Cumann na Gaedheal government in place since the founding of the State was replaced by a Fianna Fail government led by Eamon de Valera. On the day following the setting up of the new government I.R.A. members imprisoned by the tribunal, set up by the previous government, as a result of attacks on members of the Garda Siochana were released. De Valera had visited Athy earlier in February and addressed farmers at the town fair for what the local newspapers reported was two hours. He was cheered when he announced to the farmers ‘we will not pay the annuities’. ‘De Valera Abu’ badges were handed out while the local Cumann na Gaedheal candidate Sidney Minch had posters displaying ‘Vote for Minch and vote for peace’.

The local Urban District Councillors’ attempt to have the old fever hospital re-opened as a district hospital was still ongoing. Councillor Bridget Darby, with the support of Councillor Tom Carbery and the Council members, called on the government for a special grant of £25,000 ‘for the relief of unemployment in Athy as there is no part of the county of Kildare suffering so much on account of grave unemployment.’ The unemployment crisis was largely due to the failure of the beet crop the previous year and the uncertainty around the agricultural industry at that time. Later in the year a group called the Fianna Fail Workers Protection Club addressed the meeting of the Urban District Council on behalf of the unemployed Barrow workers. The deputation complained that Laois men were preferred for employment on the Barrow Scheme in advance of Kildare men. The chairman of the club was Tom Carbery and with a membership of 66 it claimed to ‘look after the interests of workers generally and investigate any complaints of harshness.’

Athy Courthouse was the venue for the County Kildare G.A.A. convention held in early February. The Athy delegates at the convention were Fintan Brennan, Willie Mahon and E. Lawler. 1932 saw the setting up of Athy’s new hurling club, while local girls were involved with Athy’s camogie club called ‘Clann Brighde’ which fielded senior and junior teams. Mrs. Minch was responsible for organising a children’s hockey team, while another new local venture was the newly formed St. Patrick’s fife and drum band in Bert. The local Councillor Bridget Darby, who was a national school teacher in Churchtown, presented the band members with green and gold sashes.

Arrangements were still being made for the opening of a library in the town. The latest of many holdups stemmed from the County Library Committee’s order that no books could be supplied for an Athy library until the Urban Council guaranteed that any books lost or stolen would be replaced at the Council’s expense. When the library eventually opened on Tuesday 19^th July 1932 Miss M. Gibbons of Woodstock Street was appointed librarian at a salary of £10 a year.

In May Dr. Kilbride submitted yet another report to the local Council regarding the ‘wretched living conditions in the urban area’. His report eventually led to the Slum Clearance Programme which saw the demolition of houses in Kellys Lane, Garden Lane, New Row, Janeville Lane, Chapel Lane, Nelson Street, Shrewleen Lane, St. John’s Lane and James Place.

In July the county Kildare V.E.C. applied to purchase part of the People’s Park as a site for a new technical school. A letter signed by nearly 200 residents and rate payers protesting against the sale was handed into the Council offices, as was another letter signed by locals who were in favour of the proposal. The Councillors refused to sell part of the Park and the new technical school was eventually built on a site on the Carlow Road.

Having received a grant of £5,000 for road works in the town the Council advertised for ‘stone breakers and carters’. The carters appointed were named as Robert Reid of Woodstock Street, Arthur Lawler, Clonmullin, John Rigney, Blackparks, James Connell, Geraldine and James Birney, Chapel Hill, all of whom were employed at seven shillings a day. At the same time the Council employed ten stone breakers.

The big event of the year was the Eucharistic Congress held in Dublin between 22^ndand 26^th June. The front of the Town Hall was decorated for the Congress, while the decorations in the different streets of the town were reported as having ‘excelled each other, the ideas and design show some brilliant minds and the artistic touch simply holds one in wonder.’ Midnight mass was celebrated in St. Michael’s Parish Church, which was so crowded that the Sisters of Mercy who had charge of the music for the high mass ‘had difficulty in making their way to the organ.’ The Picture Palace in Offaly Street was closed on Sunday during the Congress, while a set of loudspeakers was put in the People’s Park and chairs placed around the trees so that the immense crowd which gathered in the Park could hear the Congress ceremonies transmitted over the radio.

1932 witnessed the start of the Economic War which in the lead up to World War II brought untold hardship to rural and urban communities alike.

Athy has been slumbering for a decade or more. The town which over the centuries has gone through many cyclical booms and depressions is, I believe, on the cusp of a major revival as it repositions itself in the ever-expanding Irish tourist market. As the County Kildare town with the most attractive town centre it is about to witness a makeover courtesy of the ongoing Emily Square Redevelopment Scheme. This comes in advance of a major restructuring of the local Heritage Centre which last year was granted full museum status by the Irish Heritage Council.

The foresight shown by Kildare County Council in acquiring the Dominican church for redevelopment as a town library releases the entire early 18^thcentury Town Hall for use as a museum of national, if not international importance. The latter status will in time accrue as the Shackleton exhibits added to over the years bring the story of the Kilkea-born polar explorer to a wider audience. The rejuvenated town square will add enormously to the attractiveness of the Shackleton Museum in much the same way as the recently erected Shackleton statue has done.

Athy in the past was never developed or promoted as a tourist destination but with the development of the museum and the plans for the Barrow Blueway along the canal towpath the time has come to look anew at tourism as a key addition to the revival of the town’s fortunes. The tourist boat for hire, berthed at the former town harbour, is a welcome tourist related initiative under the recent Town Regeneration Plan.

The acquisition by Kildare County Council of the Dominican property on the west bank of the River Barrow affords a unique opportunity to use the Dominican riverside field as a facility in connection with the Barrow Blueway. Walkers, cyclists, fishermen and boaters will undoubtedly make greater use than ever before of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal once the Blueway development is finished. It is important therefore that here in Athy we are ready to provide for these visitors and what better way than to develop Blueway orientated facilities at or near the location where the only river and canal juncture in Ireland occurs. Athy, to its advantage, could so easily be developed as an attractive and key stopover on the Barrow Blueway.

The southern bypass or outer relief road is planned to be in place within the next 4 or 5 years. When it comes, it will make a huge difference in terms of town centre traffic. The removal of through traffic especially HGVs and lorries will permit the creation of more pedestrian friendly shopping streets from Augustus bridge to the Railway bridge. Many English towns are witnessing a revival of fortunes with the reopening of independent shops supported by customers who have become disenchanted with the sameness of multinational chain stores. The future for provincial towns, whether in England or in Ireland lies, I believe, in a sensible mixture of independent shops and larger stores, each complimenting each other in town centre locations rather than in out of town shopping centres.

Here in Athy we have an excellent range of parking facilities positioned around the town which if properly managed could support and promote an active retailing town centre. While there is some concern regarding the proposal to remove car parking from the front of Emily Square, such car parking spaces that will be lost can be readily replaced. Why not, I suggest, develop part of the derelict Abbey site as a car park facility, leaving that part of the site adjoining the River Barrow for retail or apartment development? If we hope to develop the tourist potential of the town we must provide adequate car parking facilities which brings me to the contentious issues of car parking fees. It is accepted that the revenue generated by parking fees is one of the many funding sources needed by Kildare County Council and must therefore be retained. However I would hope for a more imaginative and shopping friendly system of parking fees. Shopkeepers pay rates and their customers deserve some consideration in terms of parking facilities. Why not allow the first hour parking to be free and while doing so encourage more people to shop in the town centre and by doing so support the independent shopkeepers.

Retailing is the heartbeat of a town centre. It must be encouraged in much the same way as tourists coming into or through Athy have to be encouraged to stop and share the local experiences. The Barrow Blueway, the Shackleton Museum, and could I hope to dream, the development of a Fitzgerald Museum in the White Castle could catapult Athy into the forefront of the tourism industry in County Kildare.

Last week’s article was written before I received an email from America telling me that Whites Castle was about to be put on the market for sale. You will recall that under the headline, ‘Athy Awakes from Slumber’. I had advanced the case that Athy was about to reposition itself in the drive for tourist development on the basis of several projects currently planned for the town. The announcement that for the third time in twelve years Whites Castle is for sale presents the local community and Kildare County Council with a huge challenge. When the castle first went on the market in 2005 half-hearted attempts by Athy Town Council to acquire the property were quickly dashed by the successful bid at auction of Gabriel Dooley. Gabriel’s ownership of the castle saw the 15^thcentury fortress opened to the public for the very first time. As a native of Athy but with business interests in County Wicklow and elsewhere Gabriel went to great lengths to bring the story of the castle and its involvement in our national and local history to a wider audience. He expended substantial funds in replacing the roof of the castle and in carrying out remedial works under the supervision of an archaeologist and with the agreement of Kildare County Council.

Gabriel Dooley’s ownership of the castle gave Athy locals the first ever opportunity to see the interior of the building which with the adjoining Crom a Boo bridge provides the iconic image which is commonly associated with the town of Athy. Sadly Gabriel, who had wonderful creative plans for community engagement and participation in the use of the castle, had to release his ownership of the property. This resulted in the sale of the castle in 2012 when it was purchased for a much smaller figure than that realized some years previously. Again, to the dismay of many locals the then Town Council failed to step up to the plate and buy the castle, even though the price achieved was less than the price of an average four bedroomed semi-detached house.

Athy Town Council has since been dissolved and our local authority is now Kildare County Council. That Council has brought forward many worthwhile schemes and projects, some of which I alluded to in last week’s Eye on the Past. As a former Council official I am acutely aware of the many demands which are continuously made on public funds at local and national level. Those demands need to be prioritised and it is that process which can sometimes push particular projects to the end of the line, never again to be resurrected.

Is the purchase of Whites Castle such a project? I suggest not, since the iconic building is for Athy people, a part of what we are. It is our history and so we should ensure that we preserve for the future the building, which in itself is important, but which can be developed and used as a part of the tourist regeneration drive about which I wrote last week.

With the recent departure of the Dominicans from Athy we have lost a link with our history stretching back 760 years or so. Whites Castle, built perhaps 150 years after the Dominicans arrived in Athy is with Woodstock Castle the most visible reminders we have of our past history. That history can also be noted in Athy’s street names which record the connection going back hundreds of years between successive generations of the Fitzgerald families and the town of Athy founded by the Anglo Normans soon after their arrival in Ireland in 1169. The development of Whites Castle as a Fitzgerald Museum would be a meaningful attraction in this area and would represent an appropriate use of a former Fitzgerald stronghold.

Many years ago during the late Joe Bermingham’s time as the Minister for State for responsibility for the Office of Public Works I wrote to Joe asking if he would have Whites Castle designated as a national monument. Joe unfortunately was either unwilling or unable to accede to the request and so a great opportunity was missed then by a local government minister to protect Whites Castle. Another opportunity now arises to put the castle into public ownership and so ensure its preservation and further utilisation by and on behalf of the local community. Could I suggest that Kildare Co. Co. and the local community here in Athy come together to see what can be done in that regard?

Local newspapers are papers of record insofar as local events and local personalities are concerned. The minutiae of town and country life is to be found amongst the pages of the local papers and like the weekly newspaper is quickly discarded and sometimes disappears from public memory without trace. I was reminded of this when reading notes extracted by me some years from the pages of the Nationalist and Leinster Times relating to Athy between July and September 1953. The paper reported on 28^thJuly that the Kildare Men’s Association in Dublin was formed following a meeting in Mountjoy Square on the previous Tuesday evening. Johnny McEvoy, Athy was elected chairman of the association, with Ned O’Neill, also of Athy, as vice chairman and R. Fleming of Ballitore as secretary. I wonder if the Johnny McEvoy mentioned was the man originally from Woodstock Street whom I had the great pleasure of meeting many years ago. Johnny of my acquaintance was a retired Garda who in his young days played for Athy Gaelic Football Club and the Kildare senior county team as an outstanding goalkeeper.

The same paper reported the death at 68 years of age of John ‘Skurt’ Doyle who passed away unexpectedly at his home on the previous Saturday. ‘Skurt’ was a very popular and well known man in Athy. He served in the British Army during World War I and was imprisoned for a time by the Germans. On his retirement from the Army he worked for a number of years for C.I.E. and for three or four years prior to his death was caretaker of the C.Y.M.S. hall in Stanhope Street. ‘Skurt’was an all-around sportsman and played soccer, rugby, Gaelic football and hockey while in the British Army. He played senior Gaelic football for Kildare county, as well as rugby for Athy Rugby Football Club. He was survived by his widow and his step brother Issac who was a member of the postal staff in Tullow.

St. John’s Hall, formerly the Comrades Hall and in the 1950s known as the Social Club, was the venue for the Asbestos factory G.A.A. club first annual social on Friday 31^st July 1953. Joe O’Neill and his ‘new electric organ’ with the Stardust band and vocalist Maureen were providing the music. I wonder was that Maureen Ryan, formerly Maureen Clandillon? An interesting report of 15^th August referred to a contingent of Athy ‘pikemen’, accompanied by Irish dancers and St. Joseph’s Boys band who were to participate in the unveiling of a memorial to Fr. Murphy of 1798 fame in Ferns on the following Sunday. The memorial was to be unveiled by the President of Ireland, Sean T. O’Ceallaigh. I have in recent years come across a photograph of St. Joseph’s Boys band attending what I believe was that particular event.

The harsh economic times of the 1950s were reflected in the report that tradesmen and skilled workers ‘in large numbers have left Athy for employment in England during the last couple of weeks’. Three who ventured further afield were Michael Purcell, son of Jacob Purcell, whom we were informed had emigrated to Canada, as had Tommy and Con O’Riordan, two brothers originally from Kildare town who worked as shop assistants for Michael Kelly of Leinster Street. The paper also reported that May Sunderland of Offaly Street, a popular usherette in the Savoy cinema for the previous 22 years had left Athy to take up an appointment in England.

In September the Nationalist reported that an increasing number of young men and women were leaving Athy for work in England. ‘This weeks departure included three whole families. Unemployment is not the sole cause as several men have left good jobs to cross the waters.’ I wonder if that comment was accurate. Two sisters who emigrated to America in September 1953 were Finola and Patsy McNamara, daughters of Joseph and the late Kathleen McNamara of Stanhope Street. Finola had taken part in the pantomime presented by Athy Musical Society in the previous year.

Mick Gould of 21 Emily Square was proud to advertise his ‘modern electric chimney cleaning service’, claiming ‘no dust – no dirt’. Apparently the Urban District Council were also keeping up with modern methods as it announced retirement of ‘Neddy’, the Council’s horse, which had pulled the scavenging cart for years. The Parish Church building fund opened twenty months had accumulated £12,000 up to September 1953. The fund raising would continue for another 20 years or so, long after the new church was built and consecrated in 1964.

St. Joseph’s Welfare Club was granted a licence at Athy District Court to hold seven ‘long’ dances and three ‘short’ dances in a marquee during a carnival on the Carlow Road site between 25^th September and 11^thOctober. The carnival site is now home to houses in Chanterlands. The description of the dances as ‘long’ or ‘short’ is a quaint one, harking back no doubt to a time when church approval was required for any engagement after dark between male and female persons. Do you have memories of 1953?

My family’s belief that I am a Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare stems from my passionate interest in Kilkenny hurling. If they went back in history perhaps they might well believe that I am a Welsh man living in exile in Ireland. For you see the first warrior with the Taaffe name came from Wales with the Anglo Normans in the 12^th century, leaving behind the Taff river and the Taff valley, two notable landmarks in the Welsh landscape.

I was reminded of the family’s historic past when Athy Lions Club announced a Welsh male voice choir performance in the Church of Ireland Church, Offaly Street on Saturday 8^th April. The world famous Brythoniaid choir from the town of Blaenau Ffestiniog in North Wales are coming to Ireland to give a one night performance in Athy before passing on to Kilkenny.

Blaenau Ffestiniog, like Athy, is a town which has seen many changes over the years and indeed both the Welsh town and Athy are presently benefitting from town regeneration plans. For the town, located in the mountains of Snowdonia with a current population of about five thousand, once had a thriving slate industry and a population of twelve thousand. The slate industry has long disappeared, but there remains the Llechnwedd slate caverns which are a great tourist draw and reputed to be amongst the top five tourist attractions in Wales.

Blaenau Ffestiniog has other interests for the Irish for it was there that the Land League campaigner Michael Davitt spoke at a Land League meeting in 1885. Not too far distant from the town is the tiny hamlet of Frongoch where hundreds of Irish men were interned following the Easter Rebellion of 1916. A former distillery previously abandoned and used as an internment camp for captured German soldiers was vacated and made ready to receive the first Irish internees on 14^th June 1916.

Amongst those internees was Athy man Mark Wilson who had fought under the command of Edward Daly in the Four Courts/Church St. area of Dublin during the Rising. Another internee was Seamus Malone who was later a teacher in the Christian Brothers school in Athy. Seamus, whose memoirs first published in Irish under the title ‘B’fhiú an Braon Fola’ and later in English as ‘Worth a drop of blood’, taught here in Athy in the 1920s and was actively involved in the local G.A.A. club.

Two other internees in Frangoch were James Corrigan and William Corrigan of Ballitore. Were they I wonder brothers or father and son? I don’t have any information on the Corrigans but would like to hear from anyone who can help me in that regard. Also in Frongoch internment camp, but not as an internee but as Catholic chaplain to the prisoners, was Fr. Laurence Stafford who was later parish priest of Crookstown.

I am told that Blaenau Ffestiniog is predominantly a Welsh speaking community and despite claims that it is known as the town with the highest rainfall in Wales, Welsh voices are still raised in song as they were by the Irish internees one hundred years ago. Singing and performing was a part of the internee’s life in Frongoch, with concerts held every Sunday night and on special occasions such as the 118^thanniversary of Wolfe Tone’s death on 25^th June 1916.

The Brythoniaid male voice choir was founded in 1964 and competed in the Welsh National Eisteddfed for the first time five years later. Since then the choir has won Wales’ biggest choral competition ‘The National Eisteddfod’ eight times and was runner up on several occasions. The choir has won many other awards over the years and has travelled far afield, including a memorable trip to Russia where the choir was awarded a diploma from the Russian Academy of Culture. Several television appearances have been made by the choir, with some of the finest performers in the world including Shirley Bassey, Harry Secombe, Willard White and the great Welsh tenor Bryn Terfel.

The performance in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland church will commence at 8pm on Saturday 8^th April and promises to be a unique and memorable occasion. Featuring with the Welsh choir on the night will be the Scoil Mhichil Naofa choir and our own music legend Brian Hughes. Tickets at €10 each can be bought in The Gem, Winkles, from any member of the Lions Club and at the door on the night. However, you would be advised to get tickets early as I expect a big attendance on the night.

I got a phone call during the week from a local man who no doubt prompted by last weeks Eye on the Welsh Male Voice Choir Concert on Saturday spoke of Athy’s musical heritage and how it could be represented in our local Heritage Centre. His call prompted me to reflect on the subject of local bands, musicians and singers

I have in previous Eyes made reference to many pipe bands which were once to be found in and around the South Kildare area. One of those bands was St. Brigid’s Pipe Band which was formed some time before World War I. It had a band room in the premises of the Ancient Order of Hibernians in Duke Street. When the Garda barracks was later opened in that premises, the band moved to Killart, the area in which the majority of the band members lived. Other local pipe bands were the Churchtown Pipe Band and the Kilberry Pipe Band which I understand were formed following the break up of the local L.S.F. Band following World War II. Long before pipe bands were formed, Athy and district was home to several Fife and Drum bands. One such band was attached to the C.Y.M.S branch in Athy in the 1880’s while Kilberry had its own Fife and Drum Band based in the Coke around the same time.

It wasn’t just bands which gave Athy its strong musical tradition. Musical Societies have been a prominent part of the social life of the town as far back as the beginning of the last century. The 1940’s saw the emergence of Athy Musical Society and happily there exists a considerable photographic record of the shows put on by the Society members in the Town Hall. Emigration probably caused the Society to go out of existence but in the early 1960’s another Musical Society came into being and flourished for a few years. It too was to go the way of its predecessors but yet again a Musical and Dramatic Society was formed in 1984 and happily that society still carries on the tradition of community involvement in the arts.

Recently I came across an L.P. of the late Abbey actor, Harry Brogan, reciting the works of some Irish poets which had issued in America in the 1950’s. I was intrigued to find that Dominion Records which produced the L.P. had also produced an L.P. of Irish ballads by Athy singer Maisie Dooley. I am sure copies of that L.P. must be in several Irish homes and I would welcome the opportunity of acquiring a copy for Athy’s Heritage Centre. A similar request is made in relation to a record made in Dublin by the late Ernest O’Rourke Glynn in the late 1930’s. Another local man, local in so far as he was born in Athy in 1922, was John Breen who also recorded ballads for Dominion Records. John’s singing career took off when he participated in the BBC radio programme “In Town Tonight” and he subsequently featured on Radio Eireann’s programme, “Take the Floor”. He sang in New York’s Carnegie Hall and after living in America for a number of years returned to Kildare Town where he died in May of last year.

Nearer to our own time there is a wealth of recorded music and song featuring musicians and singers from the South Kildare area. Amongst Ireland’s leading artists is Jack Lukeman, a singer of unparalleled quality and musician par excellence Brian Hughes. Brian will be on stage during the Welsh Male Voice Choir on Saturday for what promises to be a unique Celtic occasion.

The great tradition of music and music making in South Kildare was captured in the music of the Ardellis Ceile Band formed in 1957 by Fontstown born, Brian Lawler. Perhaps the greatest exponent of Irish traditional music today is Uilleann piper Liam O’Flynn who for a number of years past has been living in the South Kildare area. We can be proud of having two first class musicians in the persons of Liam O’Flynn and Brian Hughes living in the area where the legendary piper Johnny Doran drew his last breath in 1950.

The musical heritage of this area is not just measured in terms of Irish traditional music but extends to Bluegrass Music whose exponents include excellent musicians such as Martin Cooney, Tony O’Brien, Clem O’Brien,Nicola O’Brien, Liam Wright, Paddy and Robert Chanders. In any review of our musical past, it would be remiss to overlook the contributions made by local bands and musicians such as Joe O’Neill and the Stardust Band and Paddens Murphy and the Sorrento Band. They operated during the 1940’s and 50’s and were followed by a number of Showbands, the longest lasting of which were “The Spotlights” led by Christy Dunne.

In recent years Athy's Shane Sullivan has established himself as a singer/songwriter while the upcoming Athy band 'Picture This' have virtually sold out an Irish and UK tour this year.

Athy’s musical tradition was developed not just by those named but also by countless others who could not be named in this short article. It’s a subject I will return to again but in the meantime don’t forget Saturday’s concert in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland when the visiting Welsh Male Voice Choir will be joined by Brian Hughes for a unique night of music reflecting the Welsh and Irish sides of the Celtic music tradition.

Jeff Kildea, an Australian historian, lecturer and author, will be in Ireland later this month for the launch of the first volume of his two-volume biography of ‘Hugh Mahon, Patriot, Pressman, Politician’. Mahon was a native of County Offaly and who on emigrating to Australia became one of the most controversial politicians of his time. A former Land League activist while in Ireland Hugh Mahon was imprisoned with Charles Stewart Parnell in 1881. In Australia he served as Minister for External Affairs during World War 1 but was later expelled from parliament as a result of his aggressive campaigning for Irish independence.

The Irish novelist Evelyn Conlon contacted me through a mutual friend regarding Jeff Kildea’s Irish visit and his wish to visit Athy, and especially Ballyadams, where his great great grandmother was born in and around 1830. The contact was fortuitous because I had written of Kildea’s relative who was one of the young girls sent out from the Athy Workhouse as part of the Orphan Emigration Scheme in 1849. Indeed Jeff Kildea had picked up my article on the internet and included some references to it in an extensive article he wrote on his great great grandmother, Rosanna Flemming.

Rosanna was 19 years old when she joined 17 other girls from Athy Workhouse on the ship ‘Lady Peel’ which arrived in Sydney on 3^rd July 1849. A second group comprising 16 young female former inmates of the local workhouse would arrive in Sydney on the ship ‘Maria’on 1^st August 1850. The Athy Workhouse records indicated that Rosanna Flemming’s mother Mary was living in Ballyadams and that she came from a Catholic family. Of the 35 young girls sent to Australia from the local Athy Workhouse under the Orphan Emigration Scheme all but one were Roman Catholics.

Jeff Kildea in his article which he titled ‘The Grim Life of Roseanna Clarke (nee Flemming)’ explained how Roseanna and her companions were each provided with a trunk by the workhouse authorities in which were clothing, needle and thread, a Douay Bible, a Certificate of good character and a Certificate of good health. By happy coincidence, just weeks before I was contacted regarding Jeff’s visit, I had discovered that the Committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims and the Irish Prison Service came together to produce travel boxes or trunks replicating those provided for the young girls sent to Australia after the Great Famine. One such trunk was recently presented to President O’Higgins, while another two trunks were sent to Perth, Australia for presentation to museums in Dardanup and Bunbury, two towns just outside Perth. The Committee and the Prison Service have kindly agreed to make a similar trunk for presentation to Athy’s Heritage Centre.

Shortly after arriving in Sydney Rosanna Flemming was employed as a kitchen maid by Dr. John Dickson. Her placement was for a period of 12 months but the arrangement was terminated on 26^thOctober 1849. Three weeks later Rosanna married James Clarke, a native of County Westmeath, who had arrived in Australia shortly before Rosanna. They were to have 9 children between 1852 and 1869, the last of whom, also named Rosanna, died in 1948 aged 90 years.

Unfortunately Rosanna, the former workhouse inmate, had several brushes with Australian police and magistrates, usually resulting from being drunk in public places. Rosanna, who could not read or write, served short periods of imprisonment for antisocial behaviour. Her sad and tragic life ended on 29^thJune 1901 when she died of natural causes. Little is known of Rosanna’s children other than that of her eldest daughter Mary who at 17 years of age married Maurice Collins, a native of Clonakilty. Mary and Maurice had 12 children, the second youngest of whom, born in 1895, was Jeff Kildea’s grandmother.

The story of Rosanna Flemming, the young girl from Ballyadams, an inmate of Athy Workhouse who sailed to Australia as part of the Orphan Emigration Scheme of 1849, is a poignant reminder of the poverty and hardship experienced by many Irish families during a difficult time in our Irish history. Rosanna passed out of our shared history as she embarked on the ‘Lady Peel’ just as former workhouse inmates did when disease and hunger brought their sad lives to an end.

The Workhouse cemetery at St. Mary’s Athy, for so long overlooked and forgotten, holds the remains of many young girls who unlike Rosanna Flemming had no opportunity to live a life outside the Workhouse walls. Rosanna, despite her tragic and difficult life, had the opportunity, if not necessarily the means or the capability, of reordering her life after leaving Athy’s Workhouse. She survived, living a somewhat precarious life at the other side of the world, while lying in unmarked plots in the shadow of the former Workhouse are the remains of those forgotten men, women, boys and girls whose last moments in this world were spend behind the grim walls of Athy’s workhouse.

Is it perhaps too much to expect that anyone would know where in Ballyadams the Flemming family, headed up by Patrick and Mary Flemming, lived in the 1830s and the 1840s?

Between January 1919 and July 1921 425 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were killed and another 725 members wounded in attacks by members of the Irish Republican Army. Fifteen R.I.C. men were killed in 1919, the first casualties being Constables James McDonnell and Patrick O’Connell who were shot dead at Soloheadbeg, Co. Tipperary on 21^stJanuary as they escorted three cases of gelignite carried in a horse and cart from Tipperary Military Barracks to Soloheadbeg quarry. McDonnell was a 57 year old married man from Belmullet, Co. Mayo, while O’Connell was a 39 year old single man from Coachford, Co. Cork.

178 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were killed by the I.R.A. during 1920 and the following year the I.R.A. killed 241 R.I.C. men of whom 235 had lost their lives by the time the truce came into effect on 11^th July 1921. The disbandment of the R.I.C. commenced on 7^th January 1922 and ended on 31^st August of that year. Another 59 R.I.C. men would die before the violence came to an end.

Among those killed were Joseph Hughes and Edward Doran. Joseph Hughes of Wolfhill, an R.I.C. Sergeant based in Maynooth, was part of a patrol attacked as it approached the local church in Maynooth on 21^st February 1921. He died the following day in Dr. Steeven’s Hospital, Dublin. Aged 34 years he had served in the R.I.C. for twelve years, having been previously employed as a postman. The Leinster Leader of 5^th March 1921 carried this report, ‘The funeral of Sergeant Hughes to Wolfhill passed through Athy where all shops were closed ….. police with reversed arms marched behind the coffin. A mourning coach covered with wreaths covered the hearse. Fr. Byrne officiated. There was an immense crowd present at the funeral.’

Edward Doran of Athy was 24 years of age when he was killed with his colleague John Dunne as they served jurors summonses in Kinnity, Co. Offaly on 17^thMay 1921. He had worked as a gardener for Minches prior to joining the Royal Irish Constabulary.

While the disbandment of the R.I.C. which commenced on 7^th January 1922 was still ongoing, the Civic Guards were formed on the 21^st of February 1922 and were formally reconstituted as the Garda Siochana on 8^thAugust 1923. Former members of the I.R.A. joined the new police force in large numbers and amongst those were several men who subsequently served in Athy as members of the Garda Siochana.

Garda James Kelly of 27 Offaly Street served as a member of the 5^thBattalion West Mayo Brigade I.R.A.

Garda John McMahon of St. Patrick’s Avenue served as a member of the West Mayo Brigade.

Garda Michael Tuohy of Offaly Street served as a member of E. Company 4^thBattalion Clare Brigade.

Garda John O’Connell of 18 St. Patrick’s Avenue served as a member of H. Company 8^thBattalion 3^rd Tipperary Brigade.

Garda Robert Hayes of 6 St. Michael’s Terrace served as a member of F. Company 1^stBattalion 3^rd Cork Brigade.

As a young lad growing up in Athy I knew Garda Kelly, Tuohy, McMahon and O’Connell. They were long serving members of the Garda Siochana, having been based in Athy for decades. I was not aware, nor I imagine were many others, of the part they played as young men in the War of Independence. While they all received service medals, otherwise known as Black and Tan medals, it is rather a pity that the community in which they lived did not recognise or appreciate the role they played in a turbulent period of Irish history.

For their part the members of the Royal Irish Constabulary, for the most part Irishmen who had joined the force in more peaceful times, bore the brunt of the Republican drive for independence. After the Sinn Fein election victory of 1918, Sinn Fein, and later the I.R.A., set out to isolate the R.I.C. members who up to then were highly respected within the communities they peaceably served. The upshot of the War of Independence was the virtual breakdown of law and order in Ireland. It marked a dark period in Irish history but happily in recent times members and ex members of the Garda Siochana arranged to honour the memory of deceased R.I.C. men. They too, like the I.R.A. men killed in action, are an honourable part of the story of Irish independence and its martyrs.

The killing and injuring of Irishmen serving as members of the R.I.C. by fellow Irishmen is one of the tragic elements of the Irish War of Independence. When we come to commemorate the War of Independence we should not only honour those who fought on the side of the republican movement, but also commemorate with respect those policemen who lost their lives in the same struggle.

During the past week two members of our community passed away. Sister Anne Guinan and Kevin Brady were members of two Irish institutions which in recent times have come in for criticism. Kevin was a retired member of An Garda Siochana and Sister Anne was a Sister of Mercy. Both the Garda Siochana and the Sisters of Mercy have recently suffered loss of esteem and respect which was their due following years of dedicated service in local communities throughout Ireland.

For the Garda Siochana, established on the setting up of the Free State in 1922 the recent controversies overshadow the excellent work which members of the force have carried out in their communities over many decades. Men like Kevin Brady, who as a young man arrived as a uniformed Garda in Athy in 1971. He retired in 1997, having occupied the role of Station Detective for the previous twenty years. He was part of a generation of police officers who lived amongst the community they served and whose service was evident in the effective policing methods they adopted. Chief amongst those was street patrolling which has now disappeared. Kevin was a first-class police officer who fulfilled his role with integrity and a deep sense of commitment. Like so many other members of the Garda Siochana he gave of his best throughout his career, honouring the commitment to enforce the law without fear or favour.

Sister Anne, one of the most pleasant persons one could hope to meet, was a member of the local Sisters of Mercy. She entered the convent in 1961 and gave a lifetime of service, not only to the religious community, but also to the wider community of Athy. In that regard she was following in the long established traditions of the Sisters of Mercy founded by Catherine McAuley in 1831. Since the first Sisters of Mercy arrived in Athy in 1852 successive generations of religious nuns devoted their lives and energies to educating the young people of Athy. They arrived here at a time when there were little educational opportunities for the vast majority of the young people of the town. It was due to the devoted work of the Sisters of Mercy and that of the Christian Brothers that generations of girls and boys from the ‘garrison town’ were given the opportunity to better their lives.

Now that the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers are no longer involved in the local schools we tend to forget the priceless contribution that the religious orders made to Irish education. It is not only in the educational field that the Sisters of Mercy were prominent. Here in Athy there are untold accounts of the charity of the local Sisters of Mercy. They were ever generous in helping the less well-off members of our local community, a role which today has fallen largely to be filled by the Athy branch of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.

The death of St. Anne reduces the number of the Athy Sisters of Mercy still living amongst us following the closure of the Convent of Mercy some years ago. The Sisters of Mercy burial plot at St. Michael’s new cemetery was the scene of a poignant parting ceremony as Sisters of Mercy from the south and central Province joined their Athy sisters in religion in singing the Regina Coeli. It was a scene we have witnessed all too often in recent years as the aging Sisters of Mercy after a lifetime of service to our local community depart this life. They do so at a time when criticism is levelled at them for faults and failures, real and imagined, incurred generations ago, but measured by the standards of today. We can all find fault, not just with the Sisters of Mercy or the Garda Siochana, but we should not at the same time ignore the great good that both were responsible for over many years.

The likes of Kevin Brady and Sister Anne represented all that is good in an institution of the State and a religious body and with their passing we mourn the loss of two good people who enriched our lives and that of their local community.

The early history of Athy's Workhouse (2)

Athy Board of Guardians (2)

Athy Board of Guardians (3)

Photos of Athy Dominican Church

Michael Wall and Tom Flood

Athy Sinn Fein Club 1917

A brief history of the Sinn Fein foundation of 1905

Wayne O'Neill and a funeral mass in the Parish Church of Clogh

The Athy Wolfhill Railway Line (1)

To be continued…

The Athy Wolfhill Railway Line (2)

Johnny Day and emigration

Athy in 1932

The future for Athy

Whites Castle and its recent owners

Some Athy notes in the Nationalist newspaper July-September 1957

The Visit of the Welsh Brythoniaid choir to Athy

Athy's local bands, musicians and singers

Orphan Emigrant Scheme participant Rosanna Fleming of Ballyadams and Athy Workhouse

R.I.C. members killed during the War of Independence and I.R.A. men who joined the Garda Siochana and served in Athy

Kevin Brady and Sister Anne Guinan