Outer Relief Road v. Inner Reliefr Road
Last week local newspapers carried several pages advertising Kildare County Council’s Compulsory Purchase Notice relating to lands to be acquired for the Outer Relief Road on the south side of Athy....
View ArticleAthy's links with the Crimean War
Amongst my papers is a letter sent from Athy to Dublin on 4th December 1857. The letter sent, to a now unknown correspondent, was written by a man called John McElwain. In the letter he requested...
View ArticleAthy men who served with the Anzacs during World War I
A week or so ago I had the privilege of meeting the Australian author Jeff Kildea who stopped off in Athy on his journey home following the launch of his latest book in Tullamore. As I mentioned in a...
View ArticleA tour of interesting parts of Athy and South Kildare
I adopted the role of an out of town visitor during the past week as I brought a Galway friend around some of the many interesting parts of south Kildare. The starting point was Athy’s Heritage Centre...
View ArticleHelen Dreelan Matron St. Vincent's Hospital
A nursing career which includes six years spent as an outpost nurse in a nursing station catering for the people of Northern Newfoundland and Labrador comes to an end shortly when Helen Dreelan retires...
View ArticleAthy casualties at Messines 1917 / Cumann na mBan members Athy July 1927
In the third year of World War I Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Forces on the Western Front planned a military offensive in Flanders to commence on 7th June 1917. This offensive which lasted...
View ArticleCyril Osborne
As a young lad growing up in Offaly Street my sporting activities were largely confined to the playing of Gaelic football, with an occasional clumsy foray into the classiest of all team sports,...
View ArticleMaurice Shortt and K.A.R.E.
It started with a phone call to the Garda Station, then located as it had been for decades in Duke Street, Athy. The caller was Mary O’Donovan, a housewife from Newbridge and her call was put through...
View ArticleMaurice Shortt and K.A.R.E.
It started with a phone call to the Garda Station, then located as it had been for decades in Duke Street, Athy. The caller was Mary O’Donovan, a housewife from Newbridge and her call was put through...
View ArticleLt. Col. Anthony Weldon
Anthony Weldon of Kilmoroney was commanding officer of the military forces stationed in Limerick during the Easter Rising. Having joined the militia in 1885 he was subsequently appointed as an...
View ArticleBill Ryan Teacher - John Macdougald Doctor
This week I am writing of two men, a generation apart, both of whom made a huge contribution to the local community here in Athy. While both lived for many years in the town, neither were natives of...
View ArticleEdward Grainger Army Surgeon
Edward Grainger, a surgeon in Birmingham, published in 1815 an account of his working life under the title ‘Medical and Surgical Remarks, including a description of a simple and effective method of...
View ArticleSisters of Mercy Athy
Successive generations of young Athy people have benefited from the educational work of the Sisters of Mercy since Mother Vincent Whitty and her two companions travelled from the Baggot St. convent in...
View ArticleAn 18th century gold ring and reflections on Athy of that time
A gentleman’s gold wedding ring was gifted to the local Heritage Centre during the last week by Maisie Sale. Her late husband Ken was a good friend of the local Museum Society and played a big part in...
View ArticleKilkea Castle and some of its occupants
A few weeks ago I wrote of my visit with a west of Ireland friend to places in and around south Kildare which I claimed could make an interesting trip as part of Ireland’s Ancient East. The recent...
View ArticleAthy Dragon Boat Club
Athy’s Heritage Centre was the venue for a crowded gathering of dragon boaters and friends on Friday evening last when ‘The Big Barrow Splash Family Day’ was announced. Hosted by Athy Dragon Boat Club,...
View ArticleMunicipal Reform and Anti Tithe activities
Under the headline “Athy Anti Tithe Meeting”, the Leinster Express of the 20th May 1836 reported. “For several days in the town of Athy and surrounding country, unusual exertions were made to assemble...
View ArticleAthy Heritage Centre and Heritage Week 2017
It was in 1983 that Athy Museum Society was formed with the stated objective of developing a local museum here in Athy. Since then the Society’s volunteers, with the financial support and good will of...
View ArticleRev. Frederick Trench and the Oxford Movement
Preparing to conduct a tour through some parts of the history of Athy for Heritage Week I re-read some of the notes I wrote over the years to remind myself of people and events which have long gone...
View ArticleAthy in the early decades of the 19th century
Sporadic outbursts of ribbonmen activity in and around the south Kildare area was a common enough feature of life in the early part of the 19th century. The burning of the Athy residence of Chief...
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