Author: Offaly History

• Visualizing Tullamore and its unique architectural character – A new Capriccio. By  Fergal MacCabe. Blog No 527, 27th Sept 2023

  An Image in my head

  As the town changes and my own perceptions and values alter, the visual image of Tullamore that I hold in my head is continually refined.

  Little by little I have begun to realise that buildings which I dismissed as mundane are more important than I had first considered, while others which I once revered are now probably not all that good after all. There is also the fear that several much-loved landmarks I believed timeless may soon disappear.

  My visits to the town have become more infrequent and I find that when I try to summon up its civic character in my mind in order to make a drawing, it tends to coalesce into an amalgam in which some buildings and landscapes take centre stage while others recede. In this capriccio I have tried to corral my memories into an ensemble which has some underlying unity, but inevitably selection distorts scale and some of the juxtapositions may seem overly bizarre.

  Of late, three particular parts of the town have begun to take a hold of my imagination – two real and one imaginary. The stretch of Cormac Street from the railway station to O’Moore Street gets better on each revisit while O’Connor Square is at last beginning to reveal its potential to be one of the finest urban spaces in the country. On the other hand, the Harbour is as inaccessible and decaying as it ever was. Its unknowable future has always fascinated me –  as I’m sure it does many.

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  September 27, 2023

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• History of transport – a County Offaly, Ireland perspective: bogs, canals, rail, steam and petrol fuelled  motors. By Sylvia Turner. A contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 526, 23rd Sept 2023

  As evidence of the climate crisis increases across the world, the need to find alternative forms of energy to fossil fuels has intensified. According to the Sustainable Energy Authority, Ireland imports a little over 70% of the energy used with the EU average, being 58%. Ireland’s. Transport accounts for the most demand, with over 95% of transport energy coming from fossil fuels. Other than environmental factors, being dependent on importation of fossil fuels has led to concern about energy security due to the geo-political climate, specifically today, the Russian Ukraine War.

  As a country without its own oil and a limited supply of gas and coal, peat has historically been an important fossil fuel for Ireland, providing it with some energy self-sufficiency.(Geological Survey Ireland) In recent decades,  however, there is growing recognition that burning peat for fuel is not sustainable as not only is it a highly carbon inefficient fuel, intact peatlands are an efficient carbon sink, whereas damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. “. . . Ireland has more than half the European Union’s remaining area of a type of peatland known as raised bog, one of the world’s rarest habitats and, scientists say, the most effective land form on earth for sequestering carbon . . (New York Times 4 October 2022)

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  September 23, 2023

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• The Law of the Innocents, Birr 697 AD. By Jim Houlihan. Blog No 525, 20th Sept 2023

             In a time of war in eastern Europe and the coming to an end of the Decade of Centenaries period in Ireland, 1912–23 with the cessation of the civil war, here we today publish the second of two blogs on the protection of innocent people in times of strife. The article is by Jim Houlihan and on Monday 25 Sept. Dr Houlihan will give a lecture on Adomnán’s Law of the Innocents-Birr 697 AD. at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore (and online) at 8 p.m. More details of his talk and online booking for Zoom see our FB post @offalyhistory. Our thanks to John Dolan for the first article and to Jim Houlihan for this article and his forthcoming talk.

  Early in the summer of the year 697, probably in May, a great assembly of kings, bishops and abbots, along with their followers and servants, took place in Birr. It was a joint meeting of kings (rígdál) and of church leaders (synod). They came together to proclaim a law for the protection of women, children, clerics and other people who did not bear arms, in times of conflict. The law was called Cáin Adomnáin or the ‘Law of the Innocents’ (Lex Innocentium) and later referred to in a poem as the ‘Great Law of Bir

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  September 20, 2023

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• After the Break. By Terry Adams. Blog No 524, 16th Sept 2023.

  It was cold, dark and rainy that November 2017 night as we left the Embassy. My mood did not fit the weather. The warm glow of a job well done wrapped itself around my stomach and spread out to envelop my whole being. It was all hard to believe that my scribbling had brought me here.

  I had started to write to commemorate my father way back in 1976, a few poems to inscribe his memory onto paper. The first one was printed in the Midland Tribune on the anniversary of his death in 1977. I was delighted to see my words in print, a feeling that persists to this day! I returned to my university and thought no more about it until I fell in love. That led to more poems, some I laugh at now but some I’m glad I wrote and, who knows, some may even have had an impact on my future wife.

  So forty years later there I was sitting in a restaurant with two of my sisters and one of my daughters, all of whom had flown over for the big event. My wife and other two daughters were abroad, unavailable. The conversation floated by me a little as my mind was back in the embassy room with the Irish Tricolour and the European blue flag forming a backdrop to my poems. The whole situation was a little surreal.

  The words from that beautiful, sad, song by Tommy Sands, ‘There were Roses’, floated unbidden into my mind. ‘It’s little then we realized the tragedy in store’. Now, I admit, ‘tragedy’ may be a little strong, thankfully, to describe the events that were shortly to unfold.

  Five months after my uplifting evening in the Irish Embassy I found myself in the less salubrious surroundings of a psychiatric ward here in Luxembourg city. A crash due to depression had stolen up on me and twisted my mind into such a state that I needed hospitalization. For two weeks I wondered what had happened, how could I exchange the Irish Embassy for a psychiatric bed in a matter of months? How had this happened? What exactly had happened?

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  September 16, 2023

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• The 1923 General Election in Laois-Offaly: Cumann na nGaedheal papers in Offaly Archives. An Offaly History contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 523, 13th Sept 2023

  In the last blog we noted that the August 1923 General Election in Laois-Offaly was remarkably peaceful given that the civil war had only ended in May. Offaly was still strong in support for the Republicans as was clear from the fact they gained two seats, but, of course, were committed to not entering the Dáil. Labour’s William Davin continued to have a strong vote but not nearly so much as in June 1922. Tullamore’ Patrick Egan gained a seat on Labour transfers. Egan polled only 9 per cent of the first preferences.[1] In Laois-Offaly the Republicans outpolled Cumann na nGaedheal, but the latter won the by-election of 1926 created by the disqualification of Republican John or Séan  McGuinness.[2] Overall Cumann na nGaedheal secured 38.9 per cent of the 1923 vote as to anti-Treaty Sinn Féin’s 27.4 per cent.[3] The Sinn Féin vote was secured in difficult circumstances with many still in prison or in hiding. As Joe Lee recorded the outcome was a resounding success for anti-Treaty Sinn Féin and a loss for Labour. Cumann na nGaedheal secured 63 seats, but that was a gain of only five in a Dáil enlarged from 128 to 153 seats. This was the election in which the franchise was extended to all women over the age of 21, thereby expanding the electorate from 1.37 million in 1918 to 1.72 million in 1923.

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  September 13, 2023

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• The Synod of Birr, 697AD. By John Dolan. Blog No 522, 9th Sept 2023

  In a time of war in eastern Europe, and the coming to an end of the Decade of Centenaries period in Ireland, 1912–23 with the cessation of the civil war here, we today publish the first of two blogs on the protection of innocent people in times of strife. The first article is by John Dolan and on 23 September that by Jim Houlihan. On Monday 25 Sept. Dr Jim Houlihan will give a lecture on Adomnán’s Law of the Innocents-Birr 697 AD at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore (and online) at 8 p.m. More details of his talk in our September newsletter which will be posted online soon. Our thanks to John Dolan for this article.

  There was an extraordinary Synod held in Birr in 697AD.  This synod was called by Adomnán, abbot of Iona, who arrived in Birr with the princes of church and state and who produced an edict that fundamentally challenged the way warfare was carried out in Ireland and beyond.

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  September 9, 2023

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• St Catherine’s Church, 1815-2015: central to the heritage of Tullamore. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 521, 6th Sept 2023

  St Catherine’s Church, 1815. This is the second article to mark the successful Heritage Week 2023. The new St Catherine’s Church was designed by Francis Johnston and was built in the Gothic style with a Latin cross plan, side-aisles, a tower in the west and a crypt at the east end for the burial place of the Bury family. Its situation on Hophill makes it an impressive landmark in Tullamore. Hophill is a glacial mound which rises steeply to a height of about fifty feet above the land around it. It is not clear how the mound acquired its name or when. The earliest known reference to the hill occurs in a lease of 1748. There is a local story that the spoil for digging out the new lake at Charleville was used to construct the site for the new church. While this is not true perhaps some materials were used which gave credence to this story. Originally more pointed, the hill is a natural one.

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  September 6, 2023

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• Declan McSweeney reflects on the Laois-Offaly Constituency and its history. Blog No 520, 2nd Sept 2023

  The news that the Laois-Offaly constituency is to come to an end at the next general election, following the recommendations of the Electoral Commission, is an occasion to reflect on its long history.

  Under the Government of Ireland Act of 1920, the constituency was established as King’s County-Queen’s County, a four-member constituency for the House of Commons of Southern Ireland, as it was then known to the British authorities.

  It was first used in the 1921 election for the second Dáil. [ There was no actual polling as all 128 candidates were returned unopposed.] At various stages the constituency name was spelt as Leix-Offaly, Laoighis-Offaly until Laois-Offaly became official.

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  September 2, 2023

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• The 1923 General Election in Laois and Offaly: a remarkable outcome. Tar barrels in O’Connor Square for Pat Egan and a substantial vote for Republicans. An Offaly History contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 519, 30th August 2023

  Laois Offaly is again to be divided into two three-seat constituencies according to the just announced electoral commission report. ‘This would be the first time that the Offaly constituency would fully align with its county boundary.’ For the 2016 General Election Laois and Offaly were divided and to the Offaly constituency was added 24 electoral divisions from North Tipperary. Laois-Offaly was adopted again for the 2020 general election. Now what was it like in the first Free State election in 1923 just 100 years ago? It was remarkable that the 1923 general election held on Monday 27 August 1923 was in general peaceful. It was only in early July 1923 that Ministers Milroy and Blythe spoke at a Cumann na nGaedheal (CnG) meeting in Tullamore in what was described by the Chronicle as scenes of an unprecedented character in the history of public meetings in Tullamore.  The ‘supporters of Mr de Valera’ had posted anti-government posters about the town recalling the executions of Byrne and Geraghty, and also the three young men shot in Birr on a charge of armed robbery. On the office of the state solicitor, James Rogers, in High Street, Tullamore was pasted the words ‘Come inside and see the executioners’.  Rogers would have been known both sides in the civil war as someone who defended Sinn Féin prisoners in the 1917–21 period. The newly appointed civic guards kept the peace between Cumann na Gaedheal supporters and supporters of the Republican IRA.[1]

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  August 30, 2023

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• Statue of St Broghan/Brochan placed at Broghan’s Well, Clonsast, County Offaly on 20 August 2023. The final event in Offaly as part of National Heritage Week 2023 and which 200 attended. Support from the Heritage Council, organised by Bracknagh Heritage Society. Blog No 518, 26th August 2023

  Bracknagh Heritage Society unveiled a statue of Saint Brochan in Saint Brochan’s Well, Clonsast, County Offaly for National Heritage Week. The Blessing was performed by Fr. Gregory Corcoran, P.P and by Reverend Alan Melbourne. Mary Briody on behalf of Bracknagh Heritage Society welcomed a large crowd who gathered at the Holy Well and Monastic site at Clonsast (on farmland) as Frances Cunningham unveiled the statue. Mary Delaney gave a talk on the History of St. Brochan and the 7^th century monastic site. Pat Carey read an “Ode to St.Brochan’s Well”, composed by Mary Crotty.

  The event was accompanied by the local Choir and Ciaran Flood played the pipes. 

  Address from Mary Delaney, local historian and chairperson of Bracknagh Heritage Society

  

  Good afternoon, Fr. Corcoran, Reverend Melbourne, Ladies and Gentlemen

  Today we gather in this sacred place to remember Saint Broghan and to pay tribute to him by placing a statue of the Saint into this holy well. We hope that this will enhance the historical importance of the monastic ruins here in Clonshannon and will provide a valuable resource for future generations.

  From the early 6^th century young men and indeed some young women, as was the case of Saint Brigid, left their homes and families and decided to devote their lives to God in a special way. Some joined monasteries and convents while others like Saint Broghan established their own monasteries. Today, only fragments of the landscape they created survive. Nonetheless they left a legacy that deserves recognition. This legacy is an important part of our historical past.

  The townland of Clonsast or Clúin Sasta is the site of the monastery founded by Saint Broghan in the 7^th century. Monks usually chose isolated locations on which to establish their holy grounds, locations that would be free from distraction. Clonsast translates as “the meadow of tranquility” and would have provided an idyllic refuge in which Saint Broghan and his monks could pray and work. The monastery was built on a section of dry land surrounded by the Bog of Clonsast and the greater Bog of Allen and was in close proximity to Croghan Hill, another important seat of worship.

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  August 26, 2023

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