Month: June 2023

• Declan McSweeney on the Offaly Express. Blog No 502, 30th June 2023

  The closure in 2012 of Offaly Express, where I served as a staff reporter from 1988 to 2007, marked the end of an era in local journalism.

  When I was a schoolboy, living in Tullamore, the dominant local paper was the Offaly Independent, though the Midland Tribune circulated to a degree from Birr. The growth of Tullamore led to a feeling that a specifically local paper was needed, and in 1978, the Tullamore Tribune was launched, under the editorship of the late Geoff Oakley. He remained in that post until he retired in 1994, when he was succeeded by Ger Scully.

  The Offaly Express emerged as a sister paper of the Portlaoise-based Leinster Express, which began to circulate around Tullamore in 1984, though it already had a presence in Edenderry and the eastern half of Offaly. Much of the credit for the Offaly edition must lie with the late Kevin Farrell, who would surely have enjoyed the irony of the fact that his death in July 2012 took place the very day on which the Offaly Express ceased publication and that it had to hold on to report the sad news of his passing.

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  June 30, 2023

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• Caitlín Kingston Brugha (1879–1959). By Deirdre Stuart. A contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 501, 24th June 2023

  We are drawing to the end of a period of remembrance and reflection on the events that took place during the period 1912–1923 and the emergence of the Irish state as we know it today. These commemorative events have been referred to as the Decade of Centenaries (www.decadeofcentenaries.com)

  As we proceeded through the decade of commemoration, it became apparent that little was known or reported about the many women who were active throughout this period, with some notable exceptions such as Constance Markievicz and Mary MacSwiney, but including thousands of other women. Mary McAuliffe has pointed out that there has been a failure to see the women of 1916 and the subsequent years as historical figures. An additional strand has been added to the Decade of Centenaries online resource. ‘Mná 100’ is an online women’s initiative for the final phase of the Decade of Centenaries Programme and continues to work in highlighting the role of women in the revolutionary period (www.mna100.ie). Caitlín Kingston was one such woman.

  

  Caitlín Kingston was born in Birr, Co Offaly, in 1879 to William Kingston and Catherine Roche. The Kingstons were quite prosperous and owned a large store in Main St, Birr dealing in groceries, spirits and delph. They also owned land outside the town.  Caitlín had two brothers, John was a Holy Ghost priest in Rockwell College and Charles was Offaly County Secretary during the difficult period of 1900 to 1921, steering the county through the minefield that was local government during the transition from British rule to Irish rule. She had two sisters, Máire who went to live with Caitlín and helped her raise her family after the death of her husband, Cathal Brugha, and Hanoria/Nora who joined the Sacred Heart order of nuns in Roscrea. Caitlín herself was educated in Roscrea. On the death of her father William in 1904, Caitlín helped her mother to run the business. However, they sold that business in 1910 and moved to Dublin.

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  June 24, 2023

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• Exploring High Street, Tullamore: no 11 article on High Street in the Living in Towns Series. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 500

  High Street is still the principal street in Tullamore and this has been so for the past two hundred years. It, together with Bridge St., O’Connor Square, O’Moore St., and Cormac St., deserve detailed attention because of the quality of the surviving urban fabric. The same might be said of the terrace in Church St. and Bury Quay/Convent Road Terrace. Patrick St. has a few houses of very high quality. The designation of principal street applies to the quality of the surviving houses and not to extent of business, or the number of those living in the houses as owner occupiers of the original residences. A walking tour of O’Connor Square and High Street, Tullamore organised by Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society on 18 June 2023 has promoted this review of what we have published so far on High Street (see the articles listed in the appendix to part 2 of this article (next week) and all online at http://www.offalyhistory.com). This work is supported by the Heritage Council.

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  June 21, 2023

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• Bracknagh Village, County Offaly, 1900–1930. By Mary Delaney. Blog No 499, 17th June 2023

  Bracknagh a small village in east corner of Co. Offaly, formerly, in the Barony of Coolestown. While originally part of the parish of Clonsast, today it forms part of the parish of Clonbullogue. It borders Co Kildare to the east, lying approximately six kilometres from Rathangan, and borders Co Laois to the west, situated seven kilometres from Portarlington. Geographically it is located on the Figile River and fringes the Bog of Allen.

  While Bracknagh village is the focal point of the settlement, the area of Bracknagh includes the hinterlands of Ardra, Clonsast, Clonshannon, Ballinrahan, Ballinowlart, Ballyshane, Nahana, among others.

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  June 17, 2023

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• John Feehan has collaborated with Birr Castle Demesne to produce a book on meadows with a specific focus on the meadow at Birr Castle, County Offaly. Blog No 498, 14th June 2023

  We are used to hearing of the formal gardens at Birr Castle Demesne and the famous box hedges. The landscape of the demesne has been manicured since the time of Mary, the third Countess of Rosse in the 1840s and 1850s. Later the fifth, sixth and the present seventh earl have devoted much time to demesne improvements. The Illustrated London News in an issue of 1843 was the first periodical with an international circulation to devote space to the demesne (see our earlier blog). In the mid-1960s it was Country Life with the distinguished architectural historian , Mark Girouard, who wrote up three articles on the castle and one on the town of Birr.

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  June 14, 2023

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• ‘Sweet Tullamore’ and Williams’ Red Cup tea, as described ninety years ago by A.K. in the Irish Press. A contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 497, 7th June 2023

  A contribution to Tullamore 400 and the Living in Towns initiative of the Heritage Council. Sit down and have a cup of tea with this blog!

  A visit by an Irish Press journalist to Tullamore in 1933 provided a nice puff for the Williams tea business and its brand Red Cup Tea. At the time Williams provided regular advertising in the Irish Press for its tea and Edmund Williams (d. 1948) was a founder director of Irish Press. D.E. Williams’ interest in tea can be traced back to 1895. In the Chronicle and the rest of the local press for February 1895 advertisements appeared in connection with the opening of a wholesale tea business by Daniel E. Williams. In a comment the Chronicle stated that most of the blending was done in London where D.E.W. had larger stores than hitherto. The draft 1917 accounts for DEW Ltd show sales at £8,324. This had risen to £13,807 by 1923. The business was much expanded in the 1930s led by the blender, a Mr O’Shea.

  

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  June 7, 2023

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• Banking in Tullamore: The Hibernian Bank now part of Bank of Ireland. One of Tullamore’s finest buildings at the junction of Bridge Street and O’Connor Square.  By Michael Byrne. Blog No 495, 3rd June 2023

  A contribution to Tullamore 400 and the Heritage Council’s Historic Towns Initiative.

  The Hibernian Bank opened in Tullamore’s Bridge Street in 1864. The footprint of the original site was the  Ridley leasehold of 1786. In 1948 the bank was extended by the inclusion of the Berrill shop on Bridge Street. About 1970 the Wakefield shop was added to the property portfolio and soon after the second Ridley leasehold in O’Connor Square being the ‘Brick Building’ erected by T.P. & R. Goodbody in 1871. We had a blog article on 12 O’Connor Square in June 2022 under the title The ‘flamboyant three-storey Ruskinian Gothic warehouse’ in Tullamore. Today we are looking at no. 10, 11, and 12 Bridge Street

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  June 3, 2023

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