Dominicans and Athy
The announcement of the intended departure of the Dominicans from Athy fills me with sadness. Although a ‘Parish man’ I am conscious and highly appreciative of what the Dominican Order means to the...
View ArticleAthy's Photographic Club
In the early 1980s a few enthusiasts sharing a common interest in photography came together to form the town’s first modern day photographic club. There is a possibility that an earlier photographic...
View ArticleThe 14th Shackleton Autumn School
The October Bank Holiday weekend will see many overseas visitors arriving in Athy to attend the 14th Ernest Shackleton Autumn School. The school has become such an important feature in the calendar of...
View ArticleJohn MacKenna, Brian Hughes and the Musical 'Endurance'
When literature and music are brought together one is almost always assured of a performance not to be missed. Such were my thoughts when John MacKenna, prize winning author and Brian Hughes, a first...
View ArticleRemembering Athy's World War I Dead - 'Still and Distant Voices'
The Great War of 1914-1918 had a profound and lasting impact on the town of Athy and its hinterland. Research indicates that upwards of 213 men from Athy and outlying districts died in what was...
View ArticleRemembrance Sunday 2014
November is the month we remember the dead, not only those of a recent generation but even more particularly the dead of World War 1. The war which started in August 1914 and was expected to end by...
View ArticleEdward Darby and New Mexico resident Maisy McDarby Stanovich
On 21st August 1886 the Kildare Observer under the headline ‘Fatal Accident near Athy’ reported the death of 30 year old Edward McDarby who was killed when the horse and cart in which he was travelling...
View ArticleMapping the Manor of Athy
James Fitzgerald, 20thEarl of Kildare and later 1st Duke of Leinster, commissioned the Anglo French cartographer John Rocques to survey his estates in County Kildare soon after Rocques came to Dublin...
View ArticleAthy's Penny Bank
Banking administration in Ireland has changed, and not for the better, within the last few years. Long standing bank customers are now faced with extraordinary and ridiculous requests for passports,...
View ArticleAn Ecumenical Remembrance of Athy's World War 1 dead
Last Sunday in St. Michael’s Church of Ireland at the top of Offaly Street an ecumenical service was held to remember the men from Athy and district who died in the 1914-18 war. This was the first...
View ArticleCarmel Day and Day family concert
‘Soldiering is in the Athy blood’ was an oft repeated comment of 19th century observers of the South Kildare town whose men folk were to be found in large numbers amongst the ranks of the English army...
View ArticleErnest Shackleton's Christmases
Christmas is a time for home and hearth when we welcome back to our shores those of our extended families whom live abroad. But we should give a moment’s pause to those of our country men and women...
View ArticleMelvin Jones Awards for four Lions Club stalwarts
In May 1971 twenty four young men gathered for a meeting in the Leinster Arms Hotel at the corner of Leinster Street and Emily Square. They were there at the request of local pharmacist Des McHugh who...
View ArticleSome Catholic clerics of St. Michael's Parish
Fr. Anthony Gaughan, author of several well researched and well written books on Irish historical figures and places has written a four volume account of the Archbishops and priests who served in the...
View ArticleAthy entries in the Irish Bulletin July 1919 to May 1920
Two years ago Aubane Historical Society reprinted in book form as Volume 1 Reports from the Irish Bulletin for the period 12th July 1919 to the 1stMay 1920. Earlier this year Volume 2 was published by...
View ArticleMichael J. Doyle of Athy and the Philo Celtic Society of New York
During the week I finished reading Eileen Gough’s biography of a forgotten Irish patriot, Diarmuid Lynch. He was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood [IRB] and reputedly the last person to...
View ArticleAthy of Yesteryear
I recently came across a press cutting in which reference was made to Athy, described as ‘a thriving market and business centre set amid rich fields’. The Dublin based journalist, writing in what I...
View ArticleEamon Kane's Diseart Diarmada
It was Thomas Hardy who wrote: ‘It is better to know a little bit of the world remarkably well than to know a great part remarkably little.’ I was prompted to remember these words on reading Eamon...
View ArticleMedieval Warfare in and around Athy
Some years ago I came across a pamphlet published in 1641 by Mr. Hierome, described as ‘Minister of God’s word at Athigh in Ireland’ with the title ‘Treason in Ireland’ and subtitled ‘For the blowing...
View ArticleThe Greenhills Magazine
Athy’s literary legacy is to be found in a large number of publications starting with the Athy Literary Magazine which was to have a longer life than later publishing ventures based in Athy. On sale...
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