The names on Athy's War Memorial
On next Sunday, 17th November at 2.45pm Athy’s war memorial commemorating the men from Athy who died in the Great War will be unveiled in St. Michael’s Cemetery. The memorial will record the names of...
View ArticleThe unveiling of Athy's War Memorial
More than 100 years after the end of the war in which 131 young persons from Athy died the people of south Kildare witnessed the unveiling of a war memorial in their memory. The memorial unveiled on...
View ArticleLocal History - Once an overlooked part of the nation's history
Athy towns story and that of the people who have walked its streets in the past comprise an ever ending and compelling narrative. It’s a story which was largely overlooked and ignored for many years....
View ArticleLaunch of Vol. 4 Eye on Athy's Past
This evening the 4th volume of ‘Eye on Athy’s Past’ will be launched in the Shackleton Museum, Town Hall, Athy at 8.00 p.m. Liam Kenny, Naas historian and writer, will launch the book which consists of...
View ArticleAthy's Burial Committee of 1925 and St. Michael's Cemetery
The Nationalist and Leinster Times of 12th September 1925 carried a report submitted to the meeting of Athy Urban District Council by the Athy Burial Committee. The report provided under Michael...
View ArticleIndustry in Athy
The industrial landscape of Athy and south Kildare has seen many changes over the years. Full time employment was largely dependent on Minch Nortons and farm work, with a modest amount of employment...
View ArticleAthy Quiz (1)
This week and next week I am devoting the ‘Eye on the Past’ to a series of questions relating to Athy, its people, its buildings and events of the past. I am offering copies of my recent book to the...
View ArticleGarda Commissioner Patrick Carroll / Johnny Mulhall
Solicitors of a certain age were once familiar with the Garda Siochana Guide, a solid reference book of law relating to practice in the District Courts. It was first published in 1934 and ran to...
View ArticleJohn W. Kehoe
At an Athy Urban District Council meeting in November 1969 the local Councillors discussed a press report of the Councillors’ previous criticism of the failure of the County Kildare GAA Board to secure...
View ArticleAthy's Technical Schools
Those of us who remember the Catholic Young Men’s Society premises at the corner of Stanhope Street and Stanhope Place which was demolished in the early 1960s to make way for the building of St....
View ArticleMarket rights in Athy
When the Commissioners appointed to enquire into the state of the Fairs and Markets in Ireland held its hearing in Athy on 18th December 1852 the Town Clerk, Henry Sheil, came before the Commissioners...
View ArticlePaul Dempsey former C.B.S. Athy pupil and new Bishop of Achonry and other...
It was announced last week that Fr. Paul Dempsey, Parish Priest of Newbridge and former pupil of the Christian Brothers School Athy is to be appointed Bishop of Achonry. Having mentioned in recent Eyes...
View ArticleWillie Doody and Mick Murphy
Last Sunday’s Parish newsletter included amongst the list of the dead two Athy men who died in England. Seventy year old Willie Doody died a short time after his older sister Teresa passed away in...
View ArticleThe Birth and Early Years of Sinn Fein
It was in April 1907 that the political grouping known as Sinn Féin emerged from a combination of the Dungannon clubs founded two years earlier by Bulmer Hobson and Cumann na nGaedheal founded in 1900...
View ArticleDominican Choir Athy
When the Dominicans departed from Athy on 22nd November 2015 they left us with a historical legacy stretching back to the early days of the foundation of the Anglo Norman village of Ath Ae. They also...
View ArticleAthy's Band Tradition
Athy’s documented musical legacy stretches back to the 1880s with an extant account which records the existence of a band attached to the local branch of the Catholic Young Men’s Society. The first...
View ArticleCatholic Clergy Associate with St. Michael's Parish Athy
The earliest record we have of a catholic clergyman in Athy is that relating to Fr. John Fitzsimons who was ordained in 1673 by Bishop Oliver Plunkett and who was noted as the Parish Priest of Athy in...
View Article19th century Schism in Callan
‘During the course of this year most Rev. Dr. Moran Bishop of Ossory applied for a branch of the community for Callan Co. Kilkenny’. Behind that simple entry in the Annals of the Sisters of Mercy, Athy...
View ArticleExtracts from Michael Carey's Diary 1823 - 1867
Michael Carey, a resident of Athy in the first half of the 19th century, kept a journal in which he made short entries noting events of interest in the town. The first entry was dated 14th May 1823 and...
View ArticleThe Railway comes to Athy [1]
The first railway line in Ireland was opened on 17th December 1834 when a steam powered train travelled from Westland Row to Kingstown (now Dun Laoghaire), carrying the railway company directors and...
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