The early history of Athy's Workhouse (2)
The first meeting of the Board of Guardians of the Athy Union was held in the Courthouse, Athy on Thursday, 29thApril 1841 (the Court room at that time was located in the Town Hall). Present at that...
View ArticleAthy Board of Guardians (2)
The story of Athy’s Workhouse is revealed in the minutiae of administrative details written into the minute books of the Board of Guardians, which I had the opportunity of studying before their recent...
View ArticleAthy Board of Guardians (3)
As the construction work on Athy Workhouse neared completion the Board of Guardians advertised for the supply of Whitehaven coal, oatmeal, best cup potatoes ‘free from clay or hazards’, buttermilk,...
View ArticlePhotos of Athy Dominican Church
Another year is about to pass and with it mixed memories of times, sometimes enjoyable, sometimes sad, sometimes memorable, but for the most part quite ordinary. One event out of the ordinary and one...
View ArticleMichael Wall and Tom Flood
The Swiss philosopher Amiel wrote “ To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living”. One man who excelled in the art of living...
View ArticleAthy Sinn Fein Club 1917
With the passing of the old year and the ending of the 1916 centenary commemorations thoughts now turn in this decade of centenaries, to 1917. It was a year which witnessed the first Sinn Fein...
View ArticleA brief history of the Sinn Fein foundation of 1905
Last week’s article in which I suggested a century commemoration of the founding of Athy’s Sinn Fein club evoked a number of responses. A few readers were concerned lest my reference to the Sinn Fein...
View ArticleWayne O'Neill and a funeral mass in the Parish Church of Clogh
The death of a young man, especially someone leaving behind a wife and a young son, is a sad event and a family tragedy. Last week Wayne O’Neill, a young man from Clogh, Co. Kilkenny tragically lost...
View ArticleThe Athy Wolfhill Railway Line (1)
Work on the building of the railway line from Athy to Wolfhill colliery started in April 1917. It was first proposed in June 1912 when the colliery owner, Mr. Parkinson, came before the members of...
View ArticleThe Athy Wolfhill Railway Line (2)
On the 18th of June 1917 the property agent to the War Department in Ireland advertised that the lands required for the construction of the railway line between Athy and Wolfhill “are taken under the...
View ArticleJohnny Day and emigration
The English accents intermingled with the Irish accents during the prayers of the faithful spoke of family lives separated by the Irish Sea and of a time when emigration scarred previous generations of...
View ArticleAthy in 1932
March 1932 saw a change in the political leadership of this country. The Cumann na Gaedheal government in place since the founding of the State was replaced by a Fianna Fail government led by Eamon de...
View ArticleThe future for Athy
Athy has been slumbering for a decade or more. The town which over the centuries has gone through many cyclical booms and depressions is, I believe, on the cusp of a major revival as it repositions...
View ArticleWhites Castle and its recent owners
Last week’s article was written before I received an email from America telling me that Whites Castle was about to be put on the market for sale. You will recall that under the headline, ‘Athy Awakes...
View ArticleSome Athy notes in the Nationalist newspaper July-September 1957
Local newspapers are papers of record insofar as local events and local personalities are concerned. The minutiae of town and country life is to be found amongst the pages of the local papers and like...
View ArticleThe Visit of the Welsh Brythoniaid choir to Athy
My family’s belief that I am a Kilkenny man exiled in Kildare stems from my passionate interest in Kilkenny hurling. If they went back in history perhaps they might well believe that I am a Welsh man...
View ArticleAthy's local bands, musicians and singers
I got a phone call during the week from a local man who no doubt prompted by last weeks Eye on the Welsh Male Voice Choir Concert on Saturday spoke of Athy’s musical heritage and how it could be...
View ArticleOrphan Emigrant Scheme participant Rosanna Fleming of Ballyadams and Athy...
Jeff Kildea, an Australian historian, lecturer and author, will be in Ireland later this month for the launch of the first volume of his two-volume biography of ‘Hugh Mahon, Patriot, Pressman,...
View ArticleR.I.C. members killed during the War of Independence and I.R.A. men who...
Between January 1919 and July 1921 425 members of the Royal Irish Constabulary were killed and another 725 members wounded in attacks by members of the Irish Republican Army. Fifteen R.I.C. men were...
View ArticleKevin Brady and Sister Anne Guinan
During the past week two members of our community passed away. Sister Anne Guinan and Kevin Brady were members of two Irish institutions which in recent times have come in for criticism. Kevin was a...
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