The Railway comes to Athy [2]
John Lord Solicitor in his letter to the Railway Company on 30th May 1846 wrote:- ‘The Town Commissioners hereby require you to make or construct the high road which runs over the railroad in Athy...
View ArticleKilkea Castle Auction Catalogue 7th December 1947
The sale of the entire contents of Kilkea Castle took place over four days starting on Wednesday, 5th December 1945. Advertised as an executor’s sale the auctioneers were Greene Bros. and Duthie Large...
View ArticleSome books from my shelves
During the Covid 19 lockdown I had the opportunity of re-acquainting myself with some of the books I acquired over the years. Many of those books, long unnoticed, had interesting provenances indicated...
View ArticleAn Garda Siochana
The shocking murder of Garda Horkan while he was on patrol in the County Roscommon town of Castlerea is a grim reminder of the dangers that face all members of the Garda Siochana as they go about their...
View ArticleGeorge Wyndham and the Fitzgerald Connection
The extraordinary connections in Irish history were brought home to me as I read the ‘Life and Letters of George Wyndham’ who served as Chief Secretary of Ireland for five years from 1900. Wyndham,...
View ArticleFr. Mathews Temperance Campaign Medals and Ballylinan Carnival prize medal
In a recent Eye on the Past I made reference to Fr. Mathew’s Temperance Campaign and his visits to Athy in 1840 and 1842. The earlier visit had been noted in the diary of local man, Michael Cleary,...
View ArticleCar owners in Athy 1911/'12
The Gordan Bennett race of July 1903 made Ireland, for a short time at least, the epicentre of the motoring world. The race took place seven years after the speed limit on public roads was increased to...
View ArticleThe early years of Athy's Museum
Thirty-seven years have passed since Athy Museum Society was founded following a public meeting in the local Courthouse. The building which accommodated that meeting and several subsequent meetings has...
View ArticleThe 150th Anniversary Celebration of Irish Christian Brothers in Athy
On 24th February 1994 seven local men and women met in Athy to discuss ways of marking the 150th anniversary of the death of Edmund Ignatius Rice, founder of the Irish Christian Brothers. At a...
View ArticleMike Robinson's account of leaving Athy in 1960
Mike Robinson, born in this parish 77 years ago and now a long-time resident in Australia, sent me an email on 7th June which read:- ‘Today is the 60th anniversary of my daring escape from Athy in June...
View ArticleDominicans in Athy
The ceremony of thanksgiving held in the Church of the Priory of St. Dominic’s on Sunday, 22nd November 2015 was the last Mass celebrated by a Dominican priest in the town of Athy. The first Mass by...
View ArticleThe old laneways, alleyways and courtyards of Athy
It all started with a query concerning Carrs Court, a small courtyard of houses at the back of Leinster Street with an entrance off Mount Hawkins. Who was Carr was the question which prompted me to...
View ArticleAn Tostal Athy 1953
It was reported in the local press as one of the biggest parades and pageants seen in Athy in living memory. The occasion was the inaugural An Tostal Festival which was held throughout Ireland between...
View ArticleAthy in the 1860s
The Leinster Express reported in September 1861 that Athy had 44 public houses. The town population that year was 4,113 housed in 745 houses which gave a ratio of a public house for every 17 private...
View ArticleSoccer Clubs in Athy
The game of soccer in Athy has a history dating back to the mid 1920s. The first club, known as ‘The Barrow Rovers’, was started by men working on the Barrow Drainage Scheme which had its headquarters...
View ArticleJ.J. Bergin
A name which regularly appears whenever I research events of the past 100 years is that of John James Bergin, known by all as J.J. Bergin. Today he is remembered as the founder of the National...
View ArticleAthy Markets
I never fully appreciated the large number of markets in Athy of old and the range of goods for sale at those markets. That all changed when I came across the market byelaws passed by Athy Urban...
View ArticleSchools in Athy
On a recent visit to Ardscoil na Tríonóide I was reminded of my old school in St. John’s Lane and how secondary schooling in Ireland has changed in the intervening years. In my secondary school days...
View ArticleAthy G.A.A. Club
Michael Cusack, a Clare man, and proprietor of an academy at Gardiner’s Place Dublin, wrote to several prominent Irish men in 1884 inviting them to a meeting in Hayes’s Hotel Thurles to consider...
View ArticleAthy Senior Football Champions
In years to come it may be described as the Covid 19 Final, in much the same way as the weather disrupted All Ireland Hurling Final of 1939 is known as the ‘thunder and lightning final’. Last weeks...
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