Athy Eye On The Past

The 60^th anniversary of the founding of Cara, since renamed Aontas Ogra, will be marked with a birthday celebration in the club premises which was formally part of the old Dreamland Ballroom on Saturday, 23^rd September at 8.00 p.m. It promises to be a night of joyful celebration for its current members, while for past members, including those of us who were founder members, it will be a nostalgic night as we remember past events and friends and colleagues, many of whom have since passed away.

Twenty years ago after celebrations for the 40^thanniversary of its foundation I wrote the following.

‘There will be a meeting in the lower classroom after school which you should all attend." Brother Brett, Headmaster of the Christian Brothers School in Athy, taciturn as ever, addressed his remarks to eager third year pupils. The year was 1957. Later that day the noisy gathering of schoolboys was addressed by a fellow student, Michael O'Neill, who had obtained Brother Brett's permission to hold the meeting. Michael was from Kerry and arrived in Athy about one and a half years previously when his father took up work as a farm steward with Shaws of Cardenton. His rich mellifluous Kerry accent soon earned Michael the nickname "Aru". As he stood before his schoolmates that day he spoke firstly in Irish and then in English.

Michael, a native Irish speaker, wanted to start an Athy branch of an Irish youth organisation which up to then had only one other branch in Ireland. "Cara" or Friends of the Irish Language sought to bring the Irish language and culture to the forefront and Michael was anxious to enrol his school mates as club members. As far as I can recall Pat Flinter, a classmate of mine, was one of Michael's acolytes that afternoon and so must share with him the honour of founding the organisation which was later to become Aontas Ogra.

Our early attempts at promoting the speaking of Irish was less than successful. The margins of Irish culture were in time pushed out to encompass dancing, not necessarily confined to the walls of Limerick or the high caul cap. Truth to tell we did start out with Irish dancing classes which of course necessitated the readily obtained co-operation of our female colleagues from St. Mary's Convent School. Margo Clandillon, Sheila Kehoe, Betty Clancy, Catherine Millar, Josie Murphy, Claire Bracken and Olga Rowan were just some of the names which immediately come to mind when I recall Sunday afternoon spent in St. John's Hall or the Town Hall struggling through the intricacies of Irish dancing. Whatever the quality of our dancing our interpersonal skills were being nicely honed, from the intermingling with the girls from St. Mary's.’ Frank English, Eddie Hearns, Pat Timpson, Mick Robinson, George Robinson, Anthony Prendergast and many others had occasion to remember with some pleasure those innocent days.

A Club outing to the Rock of Dunamaise on a hot Sunday afternoon is remembered as boys and girls, each with a bicycle walked in formation down the hill into Stradbally whistling the theme tune from the Bridge on the River Kwai. Several trips to the only other Cara group then in Dublin with club premises in the basement of Molesworth Street was also a welcome diversion from school and the narrow confines of provincial life of the late 1950's. Another highlight in those young days was a trip to the Scalp, a part of outer Dublin never before known to us but where we stored up enough memories to last a lifetime.’

At a more recent birthday celebration of a former member of Aontas Ogra photographs of some of our youthful Aontas Ogra outings were eagerly poured over. They included coverage of the trip to the Rock of Dunamaise (which I can still vividly recall) and a pageant in St. John’s Hall (which I cannot recall at all). Once familiar faces captured on film all those years ago in some instances did not immediately bring names to mind, while others were instantly and unmistakably recognised.

Everything comes to an end and for those who attended the initial meeting in 1957 this meant that by June 1960 we had passed out of the secondary school system. With many of those involved leaving Athy to take up employment in Dublin and elsewhere Cara was to continue with new members but with one person who throughout the years has been the lynchpin in the organisation. Billy Browne is still associated with the Club, carrying on a proud tradition going back sixty years. Honoured in the past by the Town Council and by the Lions Club International for his contribution to the youth affairs in Athy, Billy and all the other leaders involved with the club over the years epitomise the commitment, dedication and support which marks the continuing success of the organisation founded in Athy sixty years ago. Past members and partners are invited to the 60^th birthday celebration on Saturday 23^rd September.

As conditions slowly began to improve following Ireland’s Great Famine of the 1840s, thirty-four young orphan girls who had been inmates of Athy’s workhouse were sent to Australia as part of the British Government’s Orphan Emigration Scheme. The Scheme was intended to alleviate overcrowding in Irish Workhouses, while at the same time hopefully lessen the gender imbalance in the Australian population. Amongst the young girls sent out from Athy Workhouse was Rosanna Fleming, 19 years old, from Ballyadams. She was one of the oldest girls sent to Australia from Athy’s workhouse.

A few months ago I met Jeff Kildea, an Australian historian who was in Ireland for the launch of his most recent book ‘A Biography of Hugh Mahon’. Jeff is the great great grandson of Rosanna Fleming and I was pleased to bring him to the former workhouse and afterwards to Ballyadams, visiting places associated with his ancestor. Since then Jeff was invited to address the 18^th annual gathering at the Irish Famine Monument at Sydney’s Hyde Park Barracks. Of all the distinguished men and women who had addressed previous gatherings at the Irish Famine Monument, Jeff Kildea was the first descendent of a Famine orphan who landed in Sydney to do so. He spoke of Rosanna Fleming, the former inmate of Athy Workhouse, who on 3^rd July 1849 arrived in Australia on the passenger ship ‘Lady Peel’with 17 other young girls from Athy’s workhouse. Author, Evelyn Conlon, whom I also met during Jeff Kildea’s visit to Athy in her novel ‘Not the same sky’ closely followed the known historical facts surrounding the Orphan Emigration Scheme girls. Some of those girls did well, others did not.

Rosanna, who subsequently led a sad and tragic life in Australia, died at the age of 71 years. She married James Clarke, a native of County Westmeath, just four months after landing in Australia and over the following 17 years they had 9 children.

By a strange coincidence soon after Jeff Kildea’s visit to Athy I became aware of a joint venture between the Committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims and the Arbour Hill prison authorities. They came together to undertake a project called ‘Famine Travel Boxes’. Travel boxes or trunks were given to each of the young girls who participated in the Orphan Emigration Scheme. In each trunk was clothing, a needle and thread, a Douay Bible, a Certificate of good character and a Certificate of good health. The Famine Commemoration Committee engaged with the Arbour Hill authorities to have replica travel trunks made and some of those trunks have been presented to President Michael D. Higgins, the United Nations in New York and two museums in Australia.

The two groups when approached by me generously agreed to make a travel trunk for presentation to Athy Heritage Centre. The trunk bearing the name Rosanna Fleming will be formally presented to the Heritage Centre on Tuesday, 26^thSeptember at 7.30 p.m.

It is fitting that Athy Heritage Centre is to be the recipient of a Famine travel trunk as here in Athy we have participated in the National Famine Day’s commemorations with a ceremony each year in St. Mary’s famine cemetery. The National Famine Commemoration Day was first approved by the Irish government in 2015 following a campaign led by Michael Blanch who was responsible for the setting up of the committee for the Commemoration of Irish Famine Victims. Michael Blanch will be at Athy Heritage Centre for the formal presentation on 26^th September.

The Rosanna Fleming travel box will form part of Athy’s permanent local history exhibition in the Heritage Centre to remind visitors of the terrible effect that the Great Famine of 1845-1849 had on the people of Ireland and especially on the people of this part of the country. Everyone is invited to attend the presentation in the Heritage Centre commencing at 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 26^thSeptember.

During the past week the formal establishment of a local history society in Athy was finalised and Athy Historical Society is now open for membership. If you would like to engage with others in research, recording and learning local history, archaeology, folklife or folklore, why not join the society. A membership fee of €10 per annum is all that is required to participate in the society’s activities which will start with a series of lectures, the first of which will take place in the Heritage Centre on Thursday 12^th October at 7.30 p.m. Further details will issue shortly. Contact Athy’s Heritage Centre on Ph. (059)8633075 or Seamus Hughes, the society’s honorary treasurer at shughes856@gmail.com if you would like to become a member of Athy’s Historical Society.

Death marks our lives, whether as family members or members of a community, by its inevitability and its regularity. As we grow older we cannot but realise the sense of loss as relations, friends and acquaintances pass to the other side, sometimes not having reached the biblical three score and ten. During the past week I attended the funerals of several persons who as members of our local community have in their own way contributed to the life of Athy and its people. Maureen Kelly, formerly Maureen Moloney, died at 88 years of age and shared with me and three of her siblings, the birth date of May 12^th. Maureen came from an old Athy family with connections by marriage to other old Athy families, the Perses, the Kellys and the Phillips’. The eldest of 4 sons and 6 daughters of Richard Moloney and Mary Perse, her mother’s brother Edward (Ned) Perse was the father of 21 children. Her brother Brendan was a school mate of mine in the local Christian Brothers School and her eldest son Richard is the past Captain of Athy Golf Club where he has been one of the club’s most skilful golfers in recent years.

Maureen was a well-known and well-liked member of the local community who was widowed 17 years ago following the death of her husband Dick Kelly. Dick was the brother of Dolly Phillips who died recently at 92 years of age. The Moloney, Phillips, Kelly and Perse families are part of the community fabric of the South Kildare area for decades past and the passing of another member of that extended family group is a sad loss for us all.

Our community is ever changing, death not being the only factor in that regard. As a settlement extending back over 800 years the town of Athy has witnessed over the years the arrival and the departure of families who settled here. I am reminded as I write these lines that I am myself one such settler, the Taaffe family having arrived here in 1945. St. Michael’s Cemetery is the final resting place of my father, mother and brother Seamus and it is the resting place, as is St. John’s, Ardreigh and Geraldine cemeteries, of many of those native and non-natives of Athy, who were part of our community in the past.

Albert Rotherham, a native son of Belfast, who arrived in Athy almost forty years ago with his wife Mary, died last week. He was buried in St. Michael’s cemetery alongside Paddy Begley, a former workmate of his in Borden, who also passed away that same week. Both men were part of that great life exchange which sees some young persons born and educated in Athy migrate to other parts of the country or emigrate overseas while the town welcomes strangers who in time become an integral part of our local community. Such were Albert and Paddy and my neighbour in Ardreigh, the County Clare born Maureen Cunnane, who passed away recently. The life blood of any community is constantly being revived and renewed as the movement of persons inspired by the the search for employment brings new faces to our town while other once familiar faces disappear. Albert Rotherham and Paddy Begley worked together in Borden and were members of the Borden basketball team in the 1980s. Albert played a prominent role with Brother Joseph Quinn and Leon Kenny in the formation of Athy’s Basketball Club. He was at different times Secretary, Chairman and Treasurer of the club and was particularly proud of having trained Athy’s under 16 basketball team which won a national title at the Community Games held in Mosney.

Athy as an urban settlement owes its origins to French speaking Anglo Normans of the 12^th century. Over the succeeding centuries it has been home to an ever-changing community of men, women and children, many of whom were settlers from overseas. All of them in their own way, good or bad, contributed to the sense of community and wellbeing of a people who live together in what was a small provincial town.

The ever-changing pattern of life in Athy continues to be reflected in the changing population which saw Albert Rotherham, Pat Begley and Maureen Cunnane become members of a community where the Kelly, Perse, Moloney and Phillips families have been ensconced for generations past. Our lives are entwined and no matter from where we came, the place where we chose to pitch our last tent is home and it is from there that we make our final journey.

October brings with it a greyness in our morning skies and also unremitting rain. It is also the month that sees the return of the Shackleton Autumn School to the town of Athy. This year marks the 17^th year of the school which has been a great success since its inception in 2001.

This year the school will feature lecturers from Ireland, Britain, Norway, Canada, Australia and the US. The diverse range of events planned by the Autumn School Committee will appeal to many different interests. The Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland, Ambassador Else Berit Eikeland, will be talking about the importance of polar history to the establishment of the Norwegian National Identity. Ambassador Eikeland took up office in September 2016 after a career in the Norwegian Foreign Service, laterally as the Polar Ambassador for the Arctic and Antarctica where she represented Norway’s interests in these regions. Her fellow Norwegian, Anne Melgård, a Curator at the National Library of Norway, will be talking about Norway’s great polar hero, Roald Amundsen, the first man to lead an expedition to the South Pole in December 1911.

Irish interest will not be neglected as the Galwegian, Enda O’Cioneen, now residing in Kildare, will talk about his exploits on the high seas over the last thirty years. Many of us will remember when Enda first came to prominence in the early 1980s when he attempted to cross the Atlantic singlehandedly in a 16ft. dinghy, albeit unsuccessfully when he capsized 300 miles short of the west coast of Ireland, but undaunted he completed the trip a few years later as a world first.

A particular feature of this year will be the involvement of the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Centre from Ohio University, Columbus, United States. This is the premier Polar institution in the United States and its involvement is a notable first for the Athy-Heritage Centre Museum. As I write this article a crate of artefacts is winging its way from America to Ireland to form the nucleus of an exhibition about the great American polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd. Byrd’s exploits in the Antarctica in the late 1920s and early 1930s were pioneering in their scale and their ambition. They effectively paved the way for the scientific research stations and bases which now are located all over the Antarctic continent. An exhibition dedicated to Byrd’s exploits with the title ‘Ushering in the Age of Mechanical Exploration: Richard E. Byrd’s First and Second Expeditions to Antarctica’ will be opened on the night of 27th October by Miss Laura Kissel, the Polar Curator for the Byrd Polar and Climate Research Centre Archival Program.

There is a welcome return to the Shackleton Autumn School for another Galway man, the actor Aidan Dooley. I can well remember a stormy night in Athy in October 2002 when I sat transfixed by the extraordinary performance of Aidan in his one man show ‘Tom Crean – Antarctic Explorer’. To use that old theatrical cliché, ‘he held the audience in the palm of his hand’. Little did I know that many years later when he came to write a book about his experiences in performing as Tom Crean he was extremely concerned that the polar experts in the audience would not be convinced by his performance!

Since that date he has criss-crossed the world performing the show to huge acclaim. The performance, which will begin at 8.30 p.m. on the night of Sunday 29th October in the Athy Church of Ireland Community Centre, is bound to be a sell-out event and whether you have an interest in polar history or not you cannot but be enthralled by the drama of the life story of the Kerryman, Tom Crean.

There are a variety of lectures and events which should have some appeal to all of us and I would encourage the people of the town to attend as many events as they possibly can. As well as the lecturers themselves, there is a wonderful array of nationalities who come and stay in the town for the four days of the Shackleton School and there is a universally positive response to the town and its people from these visitors, which sees many of the same visitors return year after year after year. The Shackleton Autumn School has been pivotal in establishing Athy as the centre of the commemoration and celebration of the life of the Kildare-born explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton and it has been a catalyst in the plans for the re-development of the Museum which will gather pace once the Athy Library moves to its new site in the Dominican Church. There is no doubt that the success of the Shackleton Autumn School will be a source of pride for the people of Athy for many years yet to come. The Shackleton Autumn School runs over the weekend of 27^th-30^th October and details of all events can be found on the school’s website, www.shackletonmuseum.com.

On Friday next, the 17^th Shackleton Autumn School will be officially opened. The very first Autumn School was launched with enthusiasm, some little knowledge and lots of ambition but with little realisation of what would be achieved over the following years. The School has grown to become a truly international event regarded by Polar experts and enthusiasts as the worlds foremost annual Polar gathering. A relatively small Irish provincial town previously largely known outside the island of Ireland is now known far and wide as a centre for its annual Polar get together.

Looking back over the years and reviewing the visitors books in the Heritage Centre I have identified visitors to the Autumn School from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Chile, America as well as France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain, Norway and all regions of Great Britain. The Autumn School had received as guests, Ambassadors from Japan, Norway and Australia and this year we had hoped for the American Ambassador to Ireland to open the School but unfortunately the ambassadorial appointment is still awaited.

For me one of the highlights of past years was the attendance of President Michael D. Higgins to open the 2012 Shackleton Autumn School. This was a great honour for Athy and the local Heritage Centre and confirmed, if such was needed, that the Shackleton Autumn School had become an important national cultural event. There has been a great variety of national figures who have come to Athy over the last weekend of October since the first school was opened. One of the early school’s was opened by Brian Keenan, the Northern Ireland writer who was a hostage for several years in the Lebanon with Terry Waite and John McCarthy. His visit aroused enormous interest and his address in the library of the Town Hall did not disappoint. David Norris, Joycean scholar was a colourful and highly entertaining guest of honour on the opening night a few years ago. Another guest on opening night was Fintan O’Toole, Irish Times journalist and writer who gave a thoughtful and incisive exposition of Ireland’s social and political development on the fringe of the European Community. One of my favourites was Kevin Myers whose address to the audience was followed up by a question and answer session which gave rise to a contribution from the floor making an uncomplimentary mark regarding Kevin’s writing ability. I must say how disappointed I am that such a wonderful writer as Kevin Myers is deprived of a readership because of the reaction to the very last article he wrote for the Sunday Times.

The Shackleton Autumn School is not just a series of lectures for every programme includes either a musical or a dramatic presentation which always proves an attractive addition to the weekend’s events. One of the early Autumn Schools featured Aidan Dooley’s dramatic presentation of the Tom Crean story and he returned the following year with the Ernest Shackleton one man show. Since then Aidan Dooley has presented his shows in London, New York, Dublin and many other venues and we are delighted to welcome him back this year for a further presentation of his Tom Crean show. It takes place in the Church of Ireland community hall on Sunday starting at 8.30pm. Tickets costing €10 can be purchased in the local Heritage Centre or at the Church of Ireland Hall on the night.

John MacKenna, author, whose latest book of poetry is now on sale has been a wonderful friend of the Autumn School having acted in several of his own dramatic presentations over the years. Perhaps his best known contribution was to the “Shackleton Endurance” a musical journey through the story of the Endurance expedition of 1914 - 1917. John scripted that wonderful story while Brian Hughes composed the music. Both John and Brian with others put on a wonderful performance in the Visual Arts Centre, Carlow which at the time was the only venue in this area which could cater for the numbers attending. Brian Hughes whose latest album “This Day Twenty Years” celebrating 20 years of music making was launched last week, also performed during previous Autumn Schools. One such performance was in Frank O’Brien’s Pub recognised as the School’s Clubroom during the Autumn School weekend, when Brian on the tin whistle teamed up with the late Michael Delaney of Kilkea and Dun Chaoin, Co Kerry whose rendition of local ballads, some written by Michael himself, proved a great hit with visitors and locals alike. Brian performed on another Shackleton weekend as did the Clancy group of Irish musicians which included Toss Quinn, Martin Cooney, Seamus Byrne and Conor O’Carroll. Mention must also be made of Jacinta O’Donnell who charmed the overseas visitors when she performed at an Autumn School dinner in the Clanard Court Hotel a few years ago.

The official opening of the 17^th Ernest Shackleton Autumn School takes place in Athy’s Heritage Centre at 7.30pm on Friday, 27^th of October. Come along and join the visitors from overseas and from elsewhere in Ireland in celebration of one of the premier events hosted each year in Athy.

I was privileged to interview a number of former employees of Shaws over the last two years while working on a history of that firm. One of those interviewed was a lady who started to work in Shaws of Athy as World War II entered its final phase. Her story was typical of anyone employed away from their home town or village in those war-torn years. The memory of those difficult times is now fading, but accounts such as that of the County Tipperary lass brings home to later generations what life was like in Ireland of the 1940s. Seventy-two years have passed since my interviewee spoke of her journey home on Christmas Eve 1945 but let her take up her story.

‘I left my home in Co. Tipperary in 1944 to take up my apprenticeship with Shaws in Athy. Being the war years there were no trains, no petrol for cars, so I set off on my high nelly bike for the neighbouring town from where I continued my journey by bus to Naas with my bicycle safely on top. I reached Naas at 3 p.m. with a ten shilling note in my pocket. By this time I was hungry but could not afford to spend money on food, as my ten shillings had to last a long long time. I would need money for a stamp to write home each week, and a penny for church on Sunday mornings and another penny for the Methodist Church on Sunday evenings, which as a staff member of Shaws I had to attend. I had to wait in Naas ‘til 6 p.m. in order to continue my journey to Athy on the Dublin bus. Alas, when the bus did arrive, it was full up. A man who had seen me waiting there for so long, came and told me that a hackney was coming to Naas from Athy to collect some people and he would ask the owner if he had room for me. The man was Tommy Stynes who kindly brought me to Athy, and I didn’t have to give him any money.

My first Christmas 1945 I worked ‘til 10 p.m. as some customers seemed to get joy from coming in five minutes before closing time. Between chatting and browsing, they wouldn’t leave til near 10 p.m., never giving a thought as to how far the staff would have to cycle home. As I worked in the cash desk, I would be almost the last to leave, so it would be 11 p.m. before I could start my journey home. As it was the war years street lights and directions on sign posts were not allowed, in case of a German invasion. The roads were not tarred, except the main roads from Dublin to Cork and Dublin to Limerick. I knew I had to cycle through Maryborough (as it was known then), Mountrath, Borris in Ossory, Roscrea, Dunkevin and then home. In Mountrath, I turned right, instead of left and went on to Ballyfin, where I met a man “full of Christmas cheer.” He told me to go back to Mountrath and turn right after the church. On reaching Roscrea I was so tired I lay on the frosty grass for a while, and then walked ‘til the numbness left my legs. I arrived home on Christmas morning at 7.30 a.m., spent Christmas Day at home and then cycled back to Athy on Saint Stephen’s Day. Oh was I tired? Some of the staff cycled to Gorey, some to Inistioge, and others to different destinations, just to be home for Christmas. We had no other option. For three years this was the way we had to go if we were to see “Home Sweet Home”.

It is understandably difficult for anyone accustomed to modern motorways and motorised travel to imagine how important a bicycle was in the life of Irish folk during the war and indeed for many years after it ended. I remember my father cycling to Tullow, Co. Carlow where he was temporarily filling in for a local sergeant who was indisposed. Those were the days when the bicycle was the only mode of transport for most people as car ownership was the preserve of the rich and the professional classes.

Last week when writing of past Shackleton Autumn Schools I overlooked the contribution of Liam O’Flynn, Ireland’s foremost piper who performed at two Autumn Schools. Another omission was the absence of any reference to the Autumn School journal, ‘Nimrod’ which has been produced every year and this year reaches its eleventh edition.

Books have always interested me. I am the antithesis of the person who when asked if he wanted a book as a birthday present replied ‘no thanks, I have one already’. As a long-forgotten philosopher once claimed ‘a good book is the best of friends, the same today and forever.’

I have always measured a town’s cultural strength by the number of bookshops it harbours within its boundaries. You might think therefore that Athy would not figure large on the cultural graph, but in reality, the town is hugely supportive of a variety of cultural activities. As for a dedicated bookshop the absence of one is in part compensated by the efforts of The Gem and Winkles to supply a limited stock of newly published works. The Lions Book Shop opened some years ago in a premises owned by Shaws has proved a popular venue for book lovers. It is a decidedly welcome asset for the people of Athy and district.

The members of Athy Lions Club which was established in 1971 have been involved in many projects over the years, helping organisations and individuals alike. Two of the many projects undertaken by the club members were the Sheltered Housing Scheme in the grounds of St. Vincent’s Hospital and the provision of an ambulance for the local Knights of Malta.

Many other worthwhile projects have been completed by the Lions Club but perhaps the opening of the book shop in Duke Street has given the organisation its most prominent and noticeable presence within the Athy community. In the first few months of its opening the book shop’s opening hours were limited to Saturday only, with Lions members sharing duties as a provincial town’s second hand bookseller for a few hours each week. Keeping the shop open even for those limited number of hours every Saturday was a difficult task. The Lions Club was extremely fortunate then to welcome Alice Rowan who volunteered her services to keep the shop open five days a week. Alice, who had some time previously retired and returned from abroad, has continued in her voluntary role on behalf of the Lions Club for the past six years. Her huge contribution to the Lions Club work amongst the people of Athy was marked last year with the award to her of honorary life membership of Lions Club International. That recognition for Alice was the first time in the history of Athy Lions Club that an honorary membership was awarded. Without the generosity of Shaws Department stores in allowing the Lions Club to use their vacant premises as a book store the project would not have hoped to succeed.

The book shop receives gifts of books and CDs and by selling them at very reasonable prices undoubtedly helps to encourage many people, who might not otherwise be able to do so, to keep good company by reading the best authors on a variety of subjects. Books can hold a fascination for many people, and if truth be told, no one could possibly disagreed with Decartes opinion that ‘the reading of a good book is like a conversation with the finest person.’

I have been buying and reading books for a long time but my interest in Irish history and English social history has prevented me from devoting any time to reading fiction other than the works of local writer, John MacKenna. Looking through my books there are two books which because of my interest in local history have proved of particular importance to me over the years. The first is Byrnes ‘Dictionary of Irish Local History’ published by Mercier Press in 2004. In the Irish context it is surely the most authoritative reference book for local historians. It was written by a Joseph Byrne, of whom I have no knowledge, but I would love to meet the man who wrote what is a superb dictionary of local history terms.

The other book which I bought in London some years ago was Charles Arnold – Baker’s ‘The Companion to British History’. This is a large tome running to 1,386 pages with thousands of facts and opinion pieces on everything relating to British history. It was written during his spare time over a period of 30 years by Baker who was a Barrister and not a professional historian.

These are two books which I have to say will not in my lifetime leave my bookshelves for the Lions book shop. However, if any of my readers have books or CDs which they would like to donate for charity Alice in the book shop in Duke Street will be delighted to receive them.

The English and the Irish nations have had an uneasy relationship for centuries but mercifully the appalling ‘No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs’ boarding house notices of a few decades past are no more. However, the partnership which could and should mark the relationship between neighbouring islands is held back by politicians and historical baggage foisted on us as a result of the Boundary Commission of 1924.

My thoughts on the otherwise amicable relationship between the people of Great Britain and ourselves were prompted by my visit last week for a funeral in West Sussex. I have been a frequent visitor across the Irish Sea and I have always been impressed by the pleasant and courteous manner in which the English and Welsh people meet and greet the Irish. Everywhere one goes on the British mainland there is evidence of Irish connections. I was attending a funeral service in St. Andrew’s Church, Bishopstone, a small church dating from Saxon times with 12^th century Norman additions. The Church of England service was an engaging reminder of the ever-slight differences in the services in our own St. Michael’s Church. The Minister in charge was a Sligo man, now retired from his own parish and acting as priest in charge of the church where miniature sized Stations of the Cross and candlesticks spoke of a High Church following, or as the Rev. Minister later put it to me ‘High Churchish’.

I was there to honour the memory of my daughter’s father-in-law who passed away recently. Tim Harward, born in Madras, India where his father was an army Colonel was educated in England and attended Trinity College Dublin in the 1950s. His was an interesting life which saw him work for a time as a theatre critic for the Times, and after service with the 2^nd Gurka Rifles in Malaya he worked for several years as an archaeologist in Nepal. I was particularly interested to find that his first book was published in 1964 by Liam Miller’s Dolmen Press and his most recent book on pillar stones in west Nepal was published in Central Malaya 48 years later.

Tim Harward’s connection with Ireland reflected in reverse the links which many Irish men and women have with Great Britain. There are very few Irish families who do not have a family member working or living in retirement on the British mainland. Once such was my friend Eddie Wall who was born in Ardreigh and like me went to school in the local Christian Brothers. Shortly after the funeral service in Bishopstone I received a text from Eddie’s daughter, Helen Hives, telling me that her father had died some days previously. Eddie left school at an early age to work in Andersons and Conroys pubs. He subsequently emigrated to England where he married Evelyn Barrett from Belmullet, county Mayo and it was in Luton that they reared their family.

Eddie had a great love for his native place which he never lost, despite the many years he spent in England. He was delighted to attend the 40th school reunion organised in September 2002 where he renewed acquaintances with men whose faces and ages had changed enormously since last seen as young boys in the Christian Brothers. Eddie kept in touch with me for a number of years after that and I was very saddened to hear of his passing.

The connections between Eddie’s country of birth and the land where his remains will now lie are so many and so varied it is impossible to untangle the two. Even on my short trip last week I met and talked to several strangers, all elderly, many still conversing with the soft lilt of an Irish brogue which they brought with them so many years ago from Ireland. You cannot travel anywhere in England or Wales without meeting an Irish exile who has made his or her home there. The Irish exile has proved to be a trustworthy, hardworking and genial person, becoming in time an integral part of the local community overseas.

Tim Harward and Eddie Wall came from entirely different backgrounds but somehow their lives enshrined, for me at least, an understanding of those transferable qualities which allow the English and the Irish to live in harmony. How I wish those qualities could be utilised to solve the difficulties which still mark relationships on the island of Ireland and which have their origin in the shambolic political settlement of almost 100 years ago.

[I wrote the above lines on Thursday morning and later that afternoon I received a telephone call to say that Tim Harward’s wife Paula, who had spoken so eloquently at his funeral service a few days previously, had tragically died following a road traffic accident earlier in the day.]

The light reflected in the window of the parochial house in Stanhope Place which I noticed earlier in the week had all the significance of a beacon of revival. Sadly the parochial house, once one of the focal points for the parish of St. Michael’s, had been unoccupied in recent years while the Parish Priest who also had responsibility for Narraghmore and Moone parishes, resided in the rural tranquillity of Crookstown. Our new Parish Priest has now occupied the early 19^th century stone fronted parochial house and by this very act has reaffirmed the importance of the Parish Priest living amongst the people he serves. This is not to say that the parishioners of Narraghmore and Moone. deserve any less consideration but in terms of population numbers the parish of St. Michael’s must be seen as the first amongst equals in this part of the diocese.

The parish of St. Michael’s was established I am told in 1670 and the only extant records relating to the priests in the parish record Fr. John Fitzsimons who was ordained a priest in 1673 at 23 years of age. He had the distinction of being ordained by the then Archbishop of Dublin Oliver Plunkett and was appointed Parish Priest of St. Michael’s 24 years later. It is interesting to note that his designation as Parish Priest referred to St. Michael’s, St. John’s, Churchtown, Kilberry and Nicholastown. He was shown in government records as residing in Athy in 1704.

The next recorded Parish Priest was Fr. Daniel Fitzpatrick who was in charge of the parish in 1744 while living over the border in Queens County [now County Laois]. Fr. James Neill or Nele, was Parish Priest of St. Michael’s from 1771 until his death on 28^th October 1789. Fr. Maurice Keegan was a curate in Athy for 7 years from 1780 and transferred to nearby Castledermot as Parish Priest where he remained until 1789. He returned that year to St. Michael’s as the Parish Priest and served in that capacity until 26th October 1825. It was during his stewardship of the parish that the Parish Church, then located in Chapel Lane, was torched and burned to the ground. It happened on the night of 7^th March, 1800 and was one of a number of Catholic churches in this area and throughout Ireland which were similarly burned out following the 1798 Rebellion. Fr. Fitzpatrick lodged a claim for compensation with the Dublin Castle authorities and those proceeds and presumably further local funding financed the building of St. Michael’s Church, familiar to older residents of the parish which was demolished in 1960.

Following Fr. Fitzpatrick’s death in 1825 I have counted 18 Parish Priests who succeeded him, including the recently appointed Fr. Liam Rigney. Amongst them was Fr. Andrew Quinn who was Parish Priest from 1853-1879. A native of Eadestown, Naas, his brothers were Bishop James Quinn of Brisbane and Bishop Matthew Quinn of Bathurst. Two other Parish Priests who in my young days were remembered in Athy were Canon James Germaine who presided over the parish for 13 years up to 1905. Canon Mackey was another well remembered holder of the office from 1909-1928. Both died in office and both are buried in St. Michael’s Cemetery.

Canon Patrick McDonnell, after whom McDonnell Drive was named, was Parish Priest from 1928-1956. He was the old-style leader of his parish who to a youngster like me attending confessions in the early 1950s was a cross, contrary individual who was unable to deal kindly with the awkward silences of a dumb struck youngster. My tale of woe has been told in a previous Eye, however now that I am approaching Canon McDonnell’s age I can understand and forgive him.

Amongst the Parish Priests of the past we have had a number of priests with interesting backgrounds. Canon Owen Sweeney, who was a dynamic Parish Priest for 5 years from 1980, was the former president of Clonliffe College. Fr. Gerard Tanham, Parish Priest from 2010, was director of the Dublin Institute of Adult Education for 10 years from 1981. Both left their mark on the parish of St. Michael’s and are remembered with great fondness.

In any lookback at the Parish Priests of our parish it would be remiss of me not to mention Fr. Philip Dennehy who first came to Athy as a curate in 1963. He served for 10 years before returning as a Parish Priest in 1985, retiring 21 years later. Now aged 86 years he remains in the parish as Parish Priest Emeritus, a much-loved pastor who has devoted the majority of his ordained life to the parishioners of the Parish of St. Michael’s.

The parish has gone through difficult times since the departure of Monsignor John Wilson in 2009 and the widening of the pastoral responsibility of the Parish Priest for the outlying parishes has increased the difficulties facing the present incumbent. His decision to occupy the Parochial House in Stanhope Place goes a long way to reassuring his parishioners that the regeneration of St. Michael’s parish as a relevant and important part of community life in the area can be expected.

Part of the joy in researching and writing local history is making connections between people and places. The re-imagining and re-assessment of historical figures is an important part of this process. The Royal Irish Academy has been prominent in publishing new studies of major historical figures such as Eamon de Valera and its most recent publication, authored by Fintan O’Toole, ‘Judging Shaw’. This an interesting book which the author regards as a re-introduction to George Bernard Shaw. He states that Shaw, as a contemporary figure, has much more in common with musicians such as Bob Dylan and David Bowie than with the great Victorians, William Gladstone or Anthony Trollope. He observes that Bob Dylan in 2016 became the first artist since Bernard Shaw to achieve the unique distinction of receiving both an Oscar and a Nobel prize. Neither Athy nor Kildare can make any claims to associations with Shaw. Carlow town has that honour with the generous bequests made by the Shaw family over the last century, the shining light of which is that great cultural treasure, the Visual Centre for Contemporary Arts Centre and the George Bernard Shaw Theatre built in the grounds of St. Patrick’s College in Carlow.

I was however intrigued to come across a reference to a meeting between George Bernard Shaw and the Kilkea-born explorer, Ernest Shackleton. After Shackleton’s death in 1922 his brother-in-law, Charles Sarolea published in the Journal, ‘The Contemporary Review’ an article titled ‘Sir Ernest Shackleton a Study in personality’. Sarolea was a Professor of French in Edinburgh University and was also married to Julia Dorman, Shackleton’s sister-in-law. Sarolea describes a lunch date shared with Bernard Shaw and Shackleton where he observed two men who had much in common. Both had a quick and ready wit and though in their temperament and outlook in life they were different both were Irishmen who had established their reputations after leaving these shores. The lunch was marked by a continuous flow of stories and quips between the men which Sarolea described as a ‘continuous firework of story and anecdotes.’

Another great figure of that time was Sir Harry Lauder, the famous music hall singer and comedian. His was a name and a voice that would resonate with my late father’s generation and he enjoyed an extraordinary long career from the end of the Victorian age right into the 1930's.

It is not clear when Harry Lauder first ran into Ernest Shackleton, but certainly by 1909 when Shackleton had returned from the Antarctic they appeared to be moving in the same social circles. At a dinner hosted by a wealthy friend of Shackleton's, Lauder performed a series of songs. It was a lavish affair whereby the table was transformed into a picture of the Antarctic, with artificial snow and real ice, where a large model of Shackleton’s ship ‘Nimrod’was placed at the edge of an ice barrier thickly populated by penguins with menu cards specially created by the artist, George Marston.

Lauder would go on to celebrate this friendship by releasing a song called ‘The Bounding Bounder’ or'On the Bounding Sea' in late 1910 which was a comic tale of a joint expedition to the Antarctic involving Harry Lauder and Ernest Shackleton as regaled by Lauder. The recording was released on an Edison wax cylinder and such was the success that it was later released on a 78 record and was still available for sale as late as 1921. It appears that Lauder and Shackleton’s paths frequently crossed and an article in the Cork Examiner of 17^thDecember 1912 reported that both men were embarking upon the Lusitania sailing from Cobh to the United States. Shackleton was heading to America on private business with the intention of delivering lectures about his Nimrod expedition, while Lauder had just completed a series of engagements in London and was to begin a tour of the United States for nine weeks, of mostly major cities such as New York and Chicago.

When the Great War broke out in 1914 it would find Shackleton in the Antarctic again on the ship ‘Endurance’, while Lauder was touring Australia. The war brought great sadness on Lauder’s family, with the loss of his only child, his son John, killed in action while serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders on the Somme in 1916. Lauder spent much of the war years in organising concerts and fundraising appeals, particularly for the charity he established, the Harry Lauder Million Pound Fund for injured Scottish soldiers and sailors for which he received a knighthood in 1919. The death of his son also inspired the writing of the song called ‘The End of the Road’.

Shackleton would find an early death on his expedition to the Antarctic in January ’22, while Lauder would live until February 1950 only fully retiring after World War II during which he made a number of broadcasts with the BBC.

Athy was the place to be on Monday of last week. The Taoiseach was in town to open Martin Heydon’s constituency office in Leinster Street and later met some local people in the Clanard Court Hotel. On the same day President Michael D. Higgins was on a private visit to Athy, while the assistant Garda Commissioner Fintan Fanning was carrying out his annual inspection at the local Garda Station.

The Taoiseach’s visit was undoubtedly a boost for the local Fine Gael party members and it must be acknowledged was also a very welcome visit to Athy by the country’s most important political figure. In addressing those assembled in the local hotel the Taoiseach acknowledged the urgent need for progressing the outer relief road for which planning permission issued recently. In recounting his own personal experiences of driving through Athy in the past the Taoiseach reassured his listeners, if such reassurance was needed, that the forty year old saga of Athy’s relief road will soon be at an end. The cost of building the road will not, according to the Taoiseach, be an issue and everything now depends on how quickly Kildare County Council and the National Road Authority push ahead with the project.

During the course of his address the Taoiseach paid a special tribute to Moira Finnegan, a staunch Fine Gael member for many years, whom I am told held at one time or another every officer position in the local branch of the party. Due to her sterling work and those of her colleagues, the party flag was kept afloat in this part of the Kildare constituency during many years of Fianna Fail dominance in government.

Moira, who is a native of Mullinalaghta, Co. Longford came to Athy in 1972 to teach in the local Vocational school. Tom O’Donnell was the headmaster in those days and he must have been particularly impressed by the young girl who, as a former CIE official working in Galway, transferred to Dublin so that she could graduate with a university degree. Moira, like myself, attended university at night-time, both of us graduating from UCD, Moira with a B.A., yours truly with a Commerce Degree. Daytime university attendance for our generation was very much limited to the well off and the professional classes so Moira’s attendance at evening classes after a days work was a clear indication of the drive and initiative which was regularly featured in her later role as a branch officer of the Fine Gael party. Moira, who retired from her teacher’s position in Athy Community College ten years ago after 35 years as an Irish, English and Economics teacher, has now retired to live in her native County Longford.

I was intrigued to find that her native place, Mullinalaghta is in the Lough Gowna Valley just up the road from my late father’s homeplace of Legga. Both Mullinalaghta and Legga are not too far from Ballinalee and Granard, two places forever identified with the Irish War of Independence. Not only with that War but also the subsequent Civil War and it is no coincidence that two of the men who figured largely on the Treaty side of that conflict are forever associated with County Longford. Michael Collins’ fiancée Kitty Kirwan was a native of Granard, while the blacksmith of Ballinalee Seán Mac Eoin was, as the name indicates, a native of the Longford village of Ballinalee. Both men, as advocates of the Treaty of 1922, were part of the movement which in time gave us Cumann na nGaedheal and the Fine Gael party. The current Taoiseach’s kind remarks concerning Moira’s long involvement with the Fine Gael party were received with applause and her many friends in Athy wish her well on her retirement back in her native County Longford.

On the day before Athy played host to so many august visitors the members of St. Michael’s branch of O.N.E. played a significant part in the Remembrance Sunday ceremony held in St. Michael’s cemetery. There, a colour party consisting of O.N.E. members, paraded prior to a wreath laying ceremony at the memorial to Athy men who died in war. The prayer service which took place before, during and at the end of the annual Remembrance Sunday ceremony, was conducted by Rev. Olive Donohoe, the local Church of Ireland rector. Thanks must go to the O.N.E. members, Rev. Olive and all those in attendance for keeping alive the town of Athy’s remembrance of the young men from this area who died during the 1914/’18 war. It is particularly important that Athy folk do not forget that ‘lost generation’ because it was the town’s leaders and church leaders of the day who actively encouraged the largely unemployed young men of Athy and district to enlist during the course of that war.

Sunday also witnessed the Lions Cycle Rally with cyclists young and old setting off at 10 a.m. from Geraldine Park. They followed a 24km route through Ballyroe, stopping at Kilkea Castle for refreshments before continuing the journey back to Athy’s GAA Club. Well done to everyone involved.

One of the great pleasures of visiting other countries is the occasional opportunity of meeting people from or in some way connected with Athy. It is almost 30 years since I was first invited to the annual dinner of the Kildare Men’s Association in Manchester. There I met many born in the shortgrass county who for a variety of reasons left Ireland to make a life in the industrial cities of Britain. One such person was Sarah Allen, formerly Sarah Bolger, born in what she described to me as ‘an old house’ off Meeting Lane, Athy in 1932. Her father was Stephen Bolger who worked as a canal boatman towards the latter part of his working life and who was married to Nora Lawler of Ardreigh. Nora’s father, John Lawler, was one of the many local men who fought and died in the First World War. He was a reservist in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers having served in South Africa during the Boer War. He is one of six World War I soldiers who died during that war and are buried in St. Michael’s cemetery, Athy.

Sarah Allen, who has lived in Manchester for many years, has fond memories of youthful days spent in Athy. She recalls picking mushrooms with her mother in Hendy’s field at Ardreigh and being carried in her mother’s arms to see her father while he was working on the sewerage scheme under construction for the houses at Rathstewart. Sadly her mother died when Sarah was five years old, after which she went to live with her grandmother Lizzie Lawler in Ardreigh.

Sarah, whom I met earlier in the summer when she returned to Athy for her step brother’s birthday celebration, spoke to me of Athy’s past and her abiding memories of bygone years. Her memories and those of older generations of Athy folk, whether or not now living in Athy, are the stuff of local history. Their recounted lives and the attendant folk stories allow us to view from a distance the life and lore of past generations which hugely differ from that of the present.

Sarah spent one season working in the local pea factory in Rathstewart before leaving at 15 years of age for London. She was met by her aunt at Euston Station and after a short while got work as a chamber maid in the Royal Hotel, Russel Square. There she remained for two years, earning 22 shilling per week all found. Even then Sarah’s sense of responsibility and duty saw her sending home £1 per week to her father who was then out of work. It was a pattern repeated by so many Irish men and women working and living in England during that post war period. Lack of employment opportunities in Ireland separated families, while the Irish emigrants of London, Manchester and other industrial centres of Great Britain forged an uneasy and sometimes unwelcoming relationship with the war-torn communities on the British mainland.

Sarah endowed with a social conscience and marked with an admirable sense of responsibility paid a prominent role amongst the Irish community in Manchester for many years. The Kildare Men’s Association and the Irish Centre in Manchester were but two of the many organisations with which Sarah was associated with over the years. Now at 85 years of age Sarah has retired from voluntary community work and has time to think back on her life which started in Garden Lane, off Meeting Lane, Athy, extended over some years in Ardreigh before her life experiences were strengthened in the cosmopolitan cities of London and Manchester.

Sarah has proved herself as one of Athy’s finest, bringing as she did to her voluntary work in Manchester the cheerfulness, kindness and wisdom of a girl who first saw the light of day in the town of Athy in the south of Co. Kildare.

Last week marked the 50^thanniversary of the death of trade unionist and social activist Christy Supple and his anniversary mass in St. Michael’s Parish Church was attended by his sons Joe and Tommy. I have written previously of Christy and his involvement in the agricultural labourers strike of the early 1920s. Christy encouraged by William O’Brien of the Dublin based Transport Union, set out early in 1918 to unionise the workers of south Kildare. The agricultural workers strike of 1922/’23 was an acrimonious affair and attacks on property resulted in Free State troops having to be billeted in the Town Hall, Athy for 8 months from March 1923. Christy was himself arrested in January of that year and held in Carlow prison for several months. In 1925 he was elected as a member of Athy Urban District Council, but like so many other men and women had to emigrate to England in later years where he died in November 1967, aged 69 years.

Christy Supple’s story is one of courage and commitment to the workers cause but his role in the defence of the agricultural labourers strike of south Kildare is a story which has yet to be written and remembered in his native town.

This coming weekend the Lions Club Christmas Food Appeal will take place in Athy’s local supermarkets. Members of the local Lions Club, helped by friends and family members, will man the collection boxes on Thursday, Friday and Saturday next to receive donations so that local families in need can be helped over the festive season. It is called the Food Appeal as the charitable intervention started many years ago with a call for the donation of non-perishable food items for distribution at Christmas time. A few years ago, because of the logistical difficulties of handling and distributing donated food stuffs, it was decided to seek cash donations instead. The net effect is the same as all the monies collected are used entirely and solely for the purchase of necessary food stuffs for local families in need.

At a time when we have a well-developed welfare system it is regrettably true that many needy families, either in temporary distress or experiencing long term difficulties, can be left isolated and in desperate need. There are not however, within our community at least, the awful tragedies recorded in the minute book of Athy Urban District Council on 5^thJanuary 1931. The Council at its meeting was compelled to pass a motion in the following terms. ‘That in view of the statements made and beliefs held by the people of Athy, that two recent deaths in the town were the result of starvation, we beg to point out to the Department of Local Government in the interests of truth and of the poor of the town and in the interests of the Home Help Officer that a sworn enquiry into the deaths of Denis K……of Woodstock Street and Thomas G….. of Meeting Lane, Athy is desirable and generally into the way the Home Help is administered.’

Reading that motion, even 86 years after the death of these two local men, is a chilling reminder of the hardships experienced at that time by some members of the local community. As far back as March 1907 Thomas Plewman, a member of the Urban District Council, drew his fellow Councillors attention to the ‘want of employment and consequent distress amongst the labouring classes in the town of Athy.’ Following a subsequent Council meeting to consider the matter the Councillors agreed to hire extra men for street cleaning for a couple of weeks.

Seven years later the Council decided to appoint a representative committee for the purpose of dealing with ‘any distress that might arise in the urban district in consequence of the war’. The 1914-’18 war is generally believed to have resulted in greater financial benefits for the families of men who enlisted but nevertheless the Council in January 1915 felt it necessary to direct the relieving officer to ‘the dire distress at present prevailing amongst the poor people in Rathstewart and to ask her to distribute some coal amongst the families for the purpose of airing their houses’. The same Council noted that ‘about 60 children attending National Schools in Athy are unable by reason of lack of food to take full advantage of the education provided.’

The difficulties posed for the poor of the town were again referenced in the Council minute book of September 1922 when the Kildare County Board of Health appointed the Council and the local Trade Union organiser Christy Supple to deal with all applications for home help in the Athy urban area. The poor economic circumstances of those years were surprisingly not helped by the failure of local people to take up the Council’s offers of allotments. The first time allotments were offered was during the Food Production Programme of 1917. Council land at Gallowshill was on offer for ‘wage earners to till’ but there were no applications in January. Readvertised in March there were only two applications and the Town Councillors decided not to proceed with the scheme for workers allotments.

A School Meals Committee was established for Athy in 1929, following which breakfasts were provided for necessitous children attending the local Sisters of Mercy School during the winter months. This was the same year the Council again agreed to employ extra men in the week before Christmas in what was a distress relief measure. Twenty men were employed to work on the roads and in the local gravel pit at five shillings per day, with three extra carters employed at seven shillings per day.

Reading of the measures taken by the local Council to relieve stress and hardship amongst the poor of Athy reminds us that poverty is everywhere to be found in every year of our lives. Despite the measures put in place by State agencies to help those in need there are many families who this Christmas and throughout the year need the help of members of the local community. The Lions Club Christmas Food Appeal is your opportunity to give that help.

‘While Shepherds Watched’, a musical extravaganza for Christmas, will take place in St. Michael’s Parish Church on Tuesday, 19^thDecember starting at 8p.m. This year’s performance will be the 25^th year of this annual Christmas celebration which was first staged in the Dominican Church in December 1992. The late Paul Stafford directed that first ‘While Shepherds Watched’, with Ann Marie Heskins as musical director and Eileen Doyle as choir conductor. For the following 22 years the show was put on in the Dominican Church and it was only in 2015 that the Christmas show transferred to the east bank of the Barrow and St. Michael’s Parish Church.

Athy has a long tradition of music making. When next you visit the Carlow County Museum you can see a poster from the early part of the last century advertising a concert in Carlow town which featured members of Athy’s musical society. Many of the locals involved were no doubt members of the Moonbeam Entertainment Group which put on shows in Athy during the first World War years. Hanging on the wall of my office is a large poster for a ‘Grand Concert in aid of the Red Cross Fund’ which took place in the Town Hall on Thursday, 18^thJanuary 1918. The entertainers included the Misses Cranwell, Ashmore, Fennell, Nolan, Mr. R. Evans, Rev. P. Kellett, Rev. A.C. Lockett and Mr. Wilson Kelly humourist. The Moonbeam entertainers put on shows throughout 1921 and 1922 in the local Town Hall and in 1923 in the Comrades Hall. Those taking part in those latter shows included Mr. and Mrs. Painting, Miss Hosie, Mr. McElwee, Miss Cecil, Miss Toomey and Mr. R. Youell.

Several other musical societies have brightened up the local cultural scene here in Athy over the last 100 years or so. The Athy Musical Society, founded in the last year of the Second World War, was particularly active during the latter part of the 1940s. The annual show put on in the Town Hall brought together a wide range of talents supported by a large cast of local men and women. The participants in those early shows were captured in black and white photographs which today are a reminder of the great musical performances of the 1940s. The older readers of this column would remember the musicals ‘White Bread and Apple Sauce’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Dick Whittington’, ‘Easter Parade’ and ‘Orchards and Onions’. Names associated with those great shows include May Ward, May Fenelon, Paddy Timpson, Tom Whyte, Peggy Glynn, Dan Meany, Veronica Keane, Betty May, Barney Davis and Jim Dargan. There were so many other Athy locals who appeared on the Town Hall stage as members of the Athy Musical Society but space does not allow me to add their names to this list.

1963 saw the emergence of another musical society in Athy, the South Kildare Choral Society. Under the direction of Captain Denis Mellerick of the Army School of Music, that society staged several musicals in the Grove Cinema including ‘The Mikado’and ‘The Arcadian’. In 1984 the Athy Musical and Dramatic Society was formed and its first stage show was ‘Happy Days are here again’. This was followed by ‘Annie Get Your Gun’ in 1987, ‘Carousel’ the following year, ‘Oklahoma’ in 1989 and ‘My Fair Lady’ in 1990. Later still the Society featured ‘Guys and Dolls’ and ‘Brigadoon’, in addition to a number of dramas including ‘Juno and the Paycock’and ‘The Year of the Hiker’. Now 33 years after its foundation Athy’s Musical and Dramatic Society will stage ‘While Shepherds Watched’ on Tuesday 19^th December. It promises to be an enjoyable evening’s entertainment, with the net proceeds from the evenings show going to Pieta House charity.

The musical tradition of the South Kildare Region also found a champion in Brian Lawler who was sadly laid to rest in his native Kilmead last weekend. As founder and leader of the Ardellis Ceili band his contribution to Irish traditional music was widely recognised and the band’s popularity during the late 1950s matched that of the legendary Gallowglass Ceili band. Indeed both bands featured many times on Radio Eireann. The South Kildare townland of Ardellis will be forever associated with Irish traditional music thanks to the late Brian Lawler.

On Thursday 14^thDecember the recently formed Athy Historical Society will host a lecture by Dr. Sharon Greene who was recently appointed editor of the Archaeology Ireland Journal. The topic is ‘Kathleen Shackleton, artist, illustrator, artic traveller and Blackfoot Indian’. The lecture for which there is no charge starts at 7.30 p.m. in the Heritage Centre. Anyone interested in becoming a member of Athy’s newly formed historical society can join on the night, or do so by calling into the Heritage Centre.

Coming out of the recent recession its instructive to look back at times past and see how previous generations were affected by business closures. At the turn of the last century employment opportunities in Athy and South Kildare were largely to be found in the agricultural sector and during the summer months in the local brick making factories. The tied farm labourer, provided with a cottage by his farmer employer, worked six days a week. The temporary or part time farm worker, usually from the town of Athy was employed, if at all, during the sowing and harvesting seasons. For many, however, there was little opportunity of earning an honest shilling. The call to arms in August 1914 represented a welcome opportunity for many unemployed young men to travel abroad and more importantly to earn a regular wage with quite substantial weekly separation allowances payable to wives and children left at home.

Carriage makers and blacksmiths were an important part of the average Irish provincial towns employment before, during, and for a short time after World War I. Here in Athy Duke Street was the location of John Glespen’s carriage works, while Hannon’s Mills at Ardreigh and at Crom a Boo bridge were substantial employers in what was a long-established milling business. The malting of barley has a long tradition in Athy with many small malting houses once to be found throughout the town. The old cinema in Offaly Street was the location of one of those malting houses when, unlike today’s operation, malting was very labour intensive.

Duthie Larges was the most successful business in Athy in the 1920s. At the height of the Irish War of Independence, the firm had to let off 40 men because of a military imposed motor restriction order. That same month, March 1921, saw the imposition of a curfew in Athy. It followed the execution of six Irishmen in Mountjoy Jail on the 14^th of March. Those executed included Frank Flood, whose brother Tom would later carry on business in the Railway Hotel in Leinster Street and Patrick Moran who had worked for a time as a barman in Athy.

Duthie Large’s would recover in the years following the Civil War, while the long-established malting business of Minch Norton’s which at one time had malting houses at Stanhope Street as well as at the Grand Canal, would survive and prosper in peacetime.

In the early years of the newly established Irish Free State, Urban Council workers were obliged to take a 2 shilling and 6 pence reduction in their weekly wage of 40 shillings. Around the same time, the Hannon milling business first established by the Haughton family closed. The workers who lost their jobs looked to the Barrow Drainage Scheme for work while others, encouraged by the local Council’s support for the project, placed their employment hopes on the possibility of a sugar beet factory opening in Athy. The Council workers who had already seen a reduction in their weekly wage packet in May 1925 found themselves losing another 2 and 6 pence per week five months later. Their reduced wage was 35 shillings per week but even that was not enough to balance the Council’s budget and two workmen, John Ryan and Thomas Donohoe, were let go.

The 1920s was also the start of Henry Hosie’s involvement in the regeneration of Athy’s economic fortunes. He was the prime mover in the opening up of the Picture Palace in Offaly Street in or around 1925. I have found a reference to a Cinema Hall in Duke Street in April 1922 but I don’t know if Henry Hosie was involved. Hosie was also responsible for establishing Industrial Vehicles Ireland Limited, better known as the I.V.I. He first wrote to the Urban District Council in May 1929 requesting an interview with the members regarding his proposed purchase of part of the Pound Field. The Council agreed the sale to ‘Captain Hosie as the town is in much need of employment’. The I.V.I. foundry was the first major factory in Athy and would be followed in 1936 by the Asbestos factory and in 1946 by the Wallboard factory. All three factories made a huge contribution to the industrialisation of Athy and for a time made industry the main source of employment for the majority of local workers.

I’m reminded of the contribution that Hosie made to the improvements of the town’s fortunes every day as I pass down Offaly Street. That street was home to a vibrant community in the 1950s and is now a pale shadow of its past. Kitty Webster’s shop is empty and almost derelict, while the adjoining public house is closed with broken front windows protected by timber planks. The conversion of Guard Tuohy’s house into a shop premises is unfinished, and the unfinished work adds to the miserable state of the once proud street, which misery is compounded by the nearby vacant former cinema premises.

Athy needs a modern-day Henry Hosie to advance the regeneration plan announced with much enthusiasm two years ago, if our town is to retain its former position as a vibrant business town.

A happy Christmas and a healthy and prosperous New Year to all readers of the Eye.

The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Athy on 10^th October 1852 to take charge of the newly built convent of St. Michael’s. The convent was constructed between 1843 and 1852 on a site adjoining the Parish Church. The foundation stone was laid by the Parish Priest of Castledermot, Fr. Dunne, two years before the start of the Great Famine. Over the years the Sisters of Mercy caused a number of booklets to be published including a series of annual Year Books in the 1950s. The Year Books were supported by local business people with a variety of advertisements and perusing the 1953/’54 year book provides a fascinating insight into the changes in the local business world over the last 63 years.

‘Tosh’Doyle advertised cars for hire from 15 Patrick’s Avenue, while he undertook cycle repairs at Meeting Lane. O’Rourke Glynns, with the telephone number Athy 45, had a wide range of items for sale from ices and fruits to stationery, toys and dolls. I was intrigued by the claim that O’Rourke Glynn’s bread was ‘often buttered but never bettered’ as I don’t recall O’Rourke Glynns having any bread making facilities. Martin Brophy at 27 Duke Street operated one of the many family grocery businesses in Athy, as well as being a tea, wine and spirit merchant. S. O’Brien of the Square was similarly engaged, as was M. O’Brien of the Nags Head Inn. J.P. Dillons of Barrow Quay proudly claimed to be a ‘shop with a growing reputation’ andin addition to being a green grocer its proprietor was also a poulterer. J. O’Brien of the Railway Bar was another grocer and spirit merchant who also offered trade in ‘coal, corn, linseed meal and general feeding stuffs’.

Something different was offered by Candys of 15 Leinster St. who claimed to stock ‘everything from a needle to an anchor’. At 4 Duke Street pork butcher and sausage maker E. Herterich offered ‘cooked meats and puddings’ guaranteeing ‘fresh daily, finest quality only.’ Another car hire business was operated at 5 Meeting Lane by Peter Fitzsimons, while not too far away at 42 Leinster Street M. O’Connor, M.P.S.I. advertised ‘pure medical, toilet and veterinary preparations and high-class cosmetics.’

An interesting advertisement for M.A. James of 12 Duke Street offered a printing service for wedding invitations, while also acting as an agent for Allied Libraries Limited. J.W. Kehoe at Offaly Street declared his business motto as ‘courtesy, service, value’ while advertising his tea, wine, spirit and coal business. M. Bradley carried on business as a newsagent, stationer and tobacconist at 34 Duke Street, while just up the road at William Street Purcell Bros. were family grocers and butter exporters. The enterprising brothers also carried on a butchering business at Duke Street.

J.J. Stafford of 43 Duke Street had a radio and electrical shop offering sales, service and repairs. For your fresh daily milk you could rely on Floods of Stanhope Street who also traded in meal and bran, as well as hardware goods. One advertiser whom I cannot remember was Cash of 62 Leinster St. who offered sweets, cigarettes, confectionary and minerals. Two doors away at No. 60 was the sweet and confectionery shop advertised under the name ‘Bergin’ without any elaboration on the name.

Two of the biggest employers on the towns main street were Duthie Large Ltd. and Industrial Vehicles (Ireland) Ltd. The former as agricultural and water engineers offered for sale cars, trucks, tractors and cycles. Their business enterprise also extended to offering manures and seeds with hardware and radio repairs. The I.V.I., as it was commonly known, had a Morris car dealership and were also dealers for McCormick International Tractors covering the counties of Kildare and Carlow. No mention was made of its foundry work but in addition to car, truck and tractor repairs it offered ‘a petrol service from 8.30 a.m. in the morning’. Michael Finn advertised his garage at Woodstock offering repairs, sales, battery charging and a ‘filling station’. Who remembers the Vogue Beauty Parlour at 11 William Street, operated by Rose Cullen who offered amongst other services ‘Devon Cold Wave Perms?’ Tullys will be remembered as travel agents, but in 1954 they were general drapers. Another advertiser was Michael Kelly of 17 Leinster Street who in addition to being a tea, wine and spirit merchant was also a merchant in timber, iron and seeds.

The change in the shopping landscape of Athy is evidenced in the disappearance of many of the businesses advertised 63 years ago. Amongst those businesses still with us are Shaws, Doyles of Woodstock St., Clancys, O’Briens of the Nags Head Inn and O’Briens of Emily Square. Even the Sisters of Mercy Convent has been transformed into a hotel (now temporarily vacant), while the town of Athy welcomes new businesses as the old gives way to the new.

His right hand reached out as the coffined remains of his neighbour approached near where he stood at the side of the nave central aisle. He touched the top of the polished oak coffin in a gesture of affection, acknowledging a neighbourly friendship extending back many years. It was the second time in 18 months that Ned came to St. Michael’s Parish Church to pay his respects to a deceased next-door neighbour. The previous occasion was the funeral mass for Danny Kane and now it was Danny’s wife Dell who was about to make her final journey to join Danny in St. Michael’s cemetery.

The neighbour’s final farewell was for many in St. Michael’s Church that day an unseen poignant moment in a ceremony marked by a beautifully worded and delivered eulogy given by our new Parish Priest. His presence at parishioner’s funerals together with that of our beloved past pastor, Fr. Philip Dennehy, confirms and reaffirms the re-emergence of the Parish of St. Michael’s as an important part of family and community life in this part of south Kildare.

Fidelma Kane was one of the fifteen members of the Blanchfield family, an old Athy family with roots extending back for generations. The Blanchfields for decades lived at the top of Leinster Street from where the head of the family once operated a sawmill. Fidelma married Danny Kane of Glassealy in 1972 and they had 8 children, 5 boys and 3 girls. At the funeral Mass their eldest son Gavin spoke with feeling and eloquence of his mother. His words resonated with me and I was prompted to recall my own mother who died 22 years ago. My mother and Dell Kane shared qualities which we have come to associate with the best type of Irish motherhood. Gavin’s address was a wonderful tribute to a mother whom he described as the Kane family glue and the lynchpin for the extended Blanchfield family. The funeral brought together members of many of the old Athy families who came to remember a well liked woman and her family connections with Athy which stretched back through the generations.

Another death which sadly occurred over the Christmas period was that of Eileen McKenna, whose husband Tom predeceased her by a few short months. Both Tom and Eileen were regular attendants in St. Michael’s Cemetery for the annual Remembrance Day commemoration for Athy victims of war, particularly those of World War I. Eileen’s maternal uncle, Michael Byrne, like so many young Athy men who enlisted during the 1914-18 war, died in 1918. He was one of six World War I soldiers who died during that war and who are buried in the town’s local cemetery. It was a fate denied to many other Athy men who lost their lives during the Great War, some of whom lie buried in marked graves overseas. Sadly the remains of many more of their former colleagues and former townsmen were never recovered and deprived of a Christian burial they lie where they died in a strange land undiscovered, unknown and largely forgotten.

The lives of these men, no matter how short or how uneventful they may have been within their own community, deserve to be remembered. This is why in the local Heritage Centre we have sought to highlight the importance of local history, being the history of our local people. The local is what makes history and it’s the lives of people like Dell Kane and Eileen McKenna which makes Athy what it is today. Many lives seem ordinary but on closer examination the ordinary can become extraordinary and it is those lives that help shape the character of our local community. There is always a danger of overlooking the ordinary stories of everyday life, but without those ordinary stories and those ordinary lives we cannot hope to understand how our community has come together with shared experiences and common goals.

The simple gesture of the neighbour touching the coffin as it was brought down the nave of St. Michael’s Church brought home to me the importance of community ties established and strengthened by shared experiences. Athy for all its problems, actual or perceived, is a town where neighbourliness is to the fore and where family life can be enjoyed for the most part in a safe and secure environment.

Over the Christmas period we also lost from our local community Paddy Whelan of Gallowshill, Donal Flanagan of Ardscull, Alice Lawler of Kilberry, Jimmy Connell of St. Joseph’s Terrace, Liam Hyland of Rosebran and Patrick Hayes of Kilcrow. Our sympathy goes to their families, relatives and friends.

Kildare Archaeological Society Journal for 2016/2017 was published recently. The Journal which has now reached Part I of Volume 21 has developed over the last 25 years under the editorship of Professor Raymond Gillespie of Maynooth University to become one of the finest journals of its type in Ireland.

The Archaeological Society was founded at a meeting in Palmerstown House on Saturday 25^th April 1891. The Society’s purpose was ‘the promotion of study and knowledge of the antiquities and objects of interest in the county of Kildare and surrounding districts.’ In its first year the Society organised what was described as its ‘first annual excursion meeting’ which took place on Thursday, 3^rd September 1891. A subsequent report of that meeting recounted how ‘the town of Naas was rendered lively in the morning by the constant stream of vehicles passing through on their way to Killashee where the members assembled at 11.30a.m.’

An inspection of the subterranean passages in Killashee grounds guided by Rev. Denis Murphy was followed by a talk by the same learned Jesuit in the nearby Killashee Church. The Society members then returned to Naas where another cleric, this time Archdeacon de Burgh, gave a guided tour of St. David’s Church and the nearby rectory. The Town Hall in Naas was the venue for lunch and afterwards visits to the nearby north Moat and finally to Jigginstown Castle completed the day’s outing. A note in the subsequent reports of the outing recorded that the railway company issued return tickets to members at single fares and of course those members in 1891 were able to disembark at the railway station in Naas town.

The rules of the Society adapted at the initial meeting in April 1891 stipulated that ‘a journal of the society be published annually’. The first journal of the County Kildare Archaeological Society was published in 1892 and it continued to be published continuously over the following 125 years. That first journal comprising 44 pages included a number of notes by Lord Walter Fitzgerald of Kilkea Castle who for the remaining 31 years of his life would play an important role in antiquarian research with particular reference to County Kildare.

The second issue of the journal came to 154 pages and included a number of articles relating to Athy, as well as a report on the Society’s second annual excursion to Athy on 15^th September 1892. Rev. J. Carroll, previously a curate in Athy, brought the visitors to St. Michael’s medieval Church where he delivered a talk on the 14^thcentury ruin. From there the Society members and friends walked to Whites Castle where Dr. Comerford, Coadjutor Bishop of Kildare and Loughlin, gave a talk on the history of Athy. The Chairman of Athy Town Commissioners had arranged a display of records relating to Athy Borough Council which was abolished in 1840 following which the visitors proceeded to Woodstock Castle where Fr. Carroll gave a talk on its history. The Journal reported, ‘the company then made the first real use of the brakes and carriages which the society had provided ….. and betook themselves in a long stream of vehicles to the charming residence of Lord and Lady Seaton at Bert.’ There lunch was provided for 150 guests and afterwards Rheban Castle was visited. Some of the Society members travelled to the Castle by coach across Milltown Bridge, while others walked to the banks of the River Barrow where large boats were ready to bring them to the other side. There Lord Walter Fitzgerald read a paper on Rheban Castle, following which a majority of the visitors had to return to Athy railway station to catch the ‘evening up train’.

Some sixty of the Society members and friends continued to Grangemellon where they were received by Sir Anthony and Lady Weldon who had invited them to tea at Kilmoroney. The members were particularly interested in what was described as the ‘wonderful military bridge’ built across the River Barrow by Colonel Weldon. Sir Anthony Weldon also displayed some of his family treasures including a pair of small tankards presented to Captain William Weldon by the Irish Parliament in 1631 and a watch which once belonged to King Charles I and which came into the Weldon family possession through Bishop William Juxon. The one-time Bishop of London served as the King’s Chaplain and ministered to Charles I on the scaffold prior to the King’s execution in January 1649.

The current Journal has a wide range of interesting articles, including contributions by Castledermot residents Eamon Kane and Dr. Sharon Greene, who was recently appointed editor of ‘Archaeology Ireland’. Incidentally the objectives of the Archaeological Society have been broadened since its 1891 foundation to include ‘The promotion and knowledge of history, archaeology and antiquities of the county and the surrounding countryside.’ Membership is open to all and persons wishing to join the Society should contact Greg Connelly at Newington House, Christianstown, Co. Kildare.

Youthful memories came to mind when I learned of the death last week in Dublin of John Murphy. The Murphy family lived in St. Michael’s Terrace and Sean, as he was then called, attended school in the local Christian Brothers. He was a few years younger than myself but Sean, a naturally gregarious youngster, and a wonderful musician, forged friendships which crossed age differences and district divides. He came into his own when he finished school and got a job in the laboratory of Bowaters (Wallboard) Factory at Tomard. There under the supervision of Jim Flanagan, the laboratory chemist, he worked with George Robinson, Pat Daly, Tom Flood and many others.

A good musician, adept at playing the piano and guitar, Sean a few times joined his work colleague George Robinson as an occasional member of Paddens Murphy’s Sorrento Dance Band. I recall Frank English and myself on a day trip to Tramore meeting up with Sean and some of his Leinster Street friends in a local hostelry. There was Sean, his tall lanky frame bent over a piano which he played while standing up, his hands moving rhythmically across the keys, while his head and shoulders bobbed in unison to the music. His was a magical performance as the tunes tumbled out without a pause, each piece taking on a foot tapping life of its own, filling the room with a seamless sound of honky tonk music. That was Sean Murphy in his element as he went through the entire musical repertoire of Fats Domino, finishing with his own particular favourite ‘I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill’. That was an exciting musical performance I never forgot.

I subsequently met Sean around the time of his retirement from the Garda Siochana. A welcome greeting in the Jervis Street shopping centre in Dublin brought us together for the first time in almost 40 years and allowed us to renew acquaintances. Sean later shared with me many photographs of the variety shows put on by the local factories in St. John’s Hall in the 1960s, in some of which he had featured. Many of these photographs featured in past Eyes on the Past. Sean had been a member of the Garda Siochana in Raheny for a number of years and it was from there that he retired, continuing to live in the locality where he died last week. He was the second member of the Murphy family to join the Garda Siochana, his brother Des being a Sergeant, based I believe, in Co. Westmeath, where he died.

Youthful memories were also brought to the fore with the passing of Nora Walsh who died during the week at 88 years of age. Nora, like myself, was a native of the black and amber county and she came to Athy in 1953 to work in Jim Clancy’s Bar on Leinster Street. In 1957 she married Tommy Walsh who was a shop assistant in M.G. Nolan’s drapery shop, now Moore’s chemist shop, in Duke Street. With his father Dave Tommy was a member of St. John’s Social Club and both were noted members of the Social Club’s Dramatic Society and featured in many of the plays put on in the Town Hall and St. John’s Hall throughout the late 1940s and the 1950s.

I was a very young school boy when Tommy Walsh and Nora Kenna first crossed my horizon. They were a young glamorous couple who many of my age and older will remember were active members of the Social Club in St. John’s lane for many years. The Social Club and that much older local organisation, the C.Y.M.S., one catering for mixed membership, the other exclusively male, in the 1950’s and earlier played important roles in the social life of Athy.

Writing of people and places of 50 years ago I am conscious of the many changes which have taken place in Athy during that period. The Murphy family have now all gone and the only permanent reminder we have of their time in Athy is the skilled work of their father Joe who built the fine cut stone entrance to the former Dominican Church at the end of Convent Lane. M.G. Nolan’s drapery store, once a long-established business on Duke Street, is no more, while M.G. himself, who for decades was a County Councillor and an Urban Councillor, is but a memory for an older generation. The C.Y.M.S. and the Social Club have disappeared from the local community scene, while the Wallboard factory was yet another loss in the everchanging panorama of life in Athy.

The passing of Sean Murphy and Nora Walsh creates more vacant spaces in the line up of youthful memories. Our sympathies are extended to their families.

The recently formed Athy Historical Society has arranged a spring lecture series to commence with a lecture on Thursday 8^thFebruary. The lectures will be held in the Heritage Centre on the second Thursday of each month at 7.30 p.m. Admission to all lectures is free.

The first lecture in the series will be given by Marc Guernon under the title ‘No field is innocent’ - the hidden archaeology of South Kildare’. Marc was part of the archaeological team which excavated the medieval village of Ardreigh prior to the re-alignment of the Carlow Road some years ago. The second lecture which will take place on Thursday 8^th March will deal with ‘Athy and the Great War’. The lecturer, Clem Roche, published his book ‘Athy and District World War I Roll of Honour 1914-1918’ last year and copies are for sale in the Heritage Centre. The final lecture scheduled for Thursday 12^th April will feature Colm Flynn whose talk under the title ‘Where are you coming from and where are you going?’ will give a detailed exposition of the old roads of South Kildare. Colm’s book ‘A Tie to the Land’ is available for sale in the Gem.

The developing interest in local history and family history has witnessed the release of an ever-increasing list of publications on the subjects, while regretfully much research at local level remains largely unpublished. I was particularly pleased to receive some time ago a copy of a dissertation researched and written by local man, Seamus Hughes, as part of his studies in Carlow College. His subject was the Grand Canal which is of particular relevance to someone bearing the Hughes name as several generations of that family were bargemen on the Grand Canal and the Barrow Line over the years.

Seamus noted that work on the construction of the canal between Monasterevin and Athy commenced in 1789. The canal from Dublin to Monasterevin had been completed in 1785 and the intention was to enter the River Barrow at Monasterevin and continue the journey downstream towards Athy and beyond. However, the river between the two south Kildare towns proved to be shallow at various points and the decision was taken to extend the canal to Athy. Work on the new stretch of the canal was undertaken by a number of private contractors, all of whom were allocated sections of approximately one mile in length to work on. The engineer in charge was Richard Evans, assisted by William Rhodes, James Oates and Archibold Miller. Evans’s involvement with other projects which he was reluctant to give up led to him being relieved of his duties and his three assistants took over responsibility for overseeing the work of the various contractors. By April 1790 Archibold Miller had taken on the role of head engineer to the Grand Canal Company.

Seamus discloses that in April 1790 3,944 men were working on the canal construction works between Monasterevin and Athy. By March of the following year the canal was open to trade and passenger boats as far as Athy, although final work on the canal locks was still being undertaken.

The extension of the canal to Athy brought the possibility of huge changes to the south Kildare town. Canal transport offered tremendous commercial opportunities which were to some extent hampered or delayed by the 1798 rebellion. The uprising in and around Athy was the subject of local man Patrick O’Kelly’s book on 1798 and the savagery with which the rebels attempt to secure religious and parliamentary freedom was met militated against the possibility of maximising the commercial benefits which should have flowed from the new canal transport system. In the post 1798 period the country remained unsettled and while the Grand Canal company operated a passenger boat service linking Athy and Dublin it could not hope to compete with the railway company when the railway line was extended to Athy in 1847. Passenger boat services on the Grand Canal ceased in 1852, while the transport of commercial cargo continued fitfully until 1960. Seamus Hughes concluded his study by acknowledging that the Grand Canal was of vital importance in the commercialisation of towns, including Athy, which were connected to Dublin by the work of 18^th century labourers.

Today the Grand Canal and the Barrow line have taken on a different role. Passenger traffic and the transport of cargo have been replaced by leisure boating. Athy’s town centre harbour is now home to a variety of boats bringing life back to the ancient river which had not seen much activity for decades past. The proposed development of the Barrow Blueway between Lowtown and St. Mullins with a possible waterway hub in Athy offers huge potential for Athy similar in many ways to that which followed the coming of the Grand Canal in 1791 and the arrival of the railway in 1847.

Cara formerly Aontas Ogra

Rosanna Fleming's Orphan Emigration Scheme Travel Box

Article 10

17th Annual Shackleton Autumn School 2017

Shackleton Autumn Schools of past years

A Shaws shop assistant's story

Lions Book Shop, a measure of Athy's cultural strength

Tim Harward / Eddie Wall

Parish Priests of St. Michael's Parish

Ernest Shackleton meets G.B. Shaw and Harry Lauder

Moira Finnegan

Sarah Allen

Lions Club Christmas Food Appeal and poverty in Athy

'While Shepherds Watch' and Athy's Musical Heritage

Athy's Commercial Life of the 1920s

Advertisers in the Sisters of Mercy Year Book 1953/'54

Dell Kane, Eileen McKenna

Kildare Archaeological Society's first outing 3rd September, 1891

John Murphy and Nora Walsh

Athy#s Historical Society and Seamus Hughes' dissertation on the Grant Canal