David Beers Quinn’s collaboration and lifelong friendship with Robert Dudley Edwards is described in Telling the Truth is Dangerous, one of the first biographies of a modern Irish historian. Author Neasa MacErlean, Edwards’s granddaughter, looks at a relationship that helped modernise the study of Irish history.
Two local historians have collaborated to create a new lavishly illustrated book exploring the meaning behind the regularly used phrase ‘That Beats Banagher! and Banagher Beats the Devil! The book was written by Kieran Keenaghan, a retired businessman and engineer living in Banagher and James Scully, a retired primary school teacher originally from Tullamore and now living just outside of Banagher in Clonfert, Eyrecourt, County Galway.
The book, designed and printed by the Guinan Brothers, Ciarán and Diarmuid, at Brosna Press, Ferbane, explores the Banagher phrase that dates back to 1787 and how history formed the saying which became a humorous expression of amazement used since all around the country, throughout Britain and across several continents.
Thomas Lalor Cooke’s Picture of Parsonstown was first published in 1826 and a revised edition by his son William Antisell Cooke in 1875. So this year marks the 150th anniversary of the revised issue and in 2026 we mark the 200th anniversary of T.L. Cooke’s first and now rare book, the Picture of Parsonstown. A reprint of the 1875 greatly expanded history was issued by Esker Press in 1989 with a new introduction by Margaret Hogan. It is now also out of print. A reissue of the 1826 book is now under active consideration.
Hopefully Clara will soon honour Anne Jellicoe with a street name. Susan M. Parkes, the author of a history of Alexandra College, Dublin contributed a valuable short life of Anne Jellicoe to the Dictionary of Irish Jellicoe (now online) was a pioneer in establishing a craft industry in Clara during her ten years there in 1848–58. The early 1850s was a time when many craft industries were established by boards of guardians and convents. Some such as that connected with the Mercy convent schools, Tullamore lasted less than five years. That at Clara was also to have a short life. Michael Goodbody in his The Goodbodys (Dublin, 2011) noted that John Jellicoe, a quaker miller from Monasterevan leased the Erry, Clara mill from John Dugdale in 1848. The mill was destroyed by fire in 1849 and rebuilt, and after Jellicoe’s time was worked by the Perrys. It was in 1850 Goodbody states that John Jellicoe’s wife Anne started a lace making school in Clara to provide work for local girls. She also began to teach embroidery, an idea taken from Mountmellick. By 1854 the craft school was in trouble because ‘the new priest beat the work girls from Anne Jellicoe’s school to make them attend his own’. The source of the row may have been religious instruction (Goodbody, 2011, 216). By 1856 the contents of the lace school were auctioned off. Clara would have more trouble with its parish priest and bishop in the 1890s. The Jellicoes left Clara in 1858. There are further references to the Jellicoes in the diary of Lydia Goodbody published in 2021 under the title 100 years of Clara history: a Goodbody family perspective.Anne Jellicoe would be a fitting inspiration in the event of new housing state in Clara needing a name. Dead over 100 years now there could hardly been an objection from Offaly County Council.
February marked the 80th anniversary of the Battle of Manila. Fought in the closing months of World War II, the operation to liberate the Philippine capital from Japanese tyranny turned into a massive slaughter of 100,000 non-combatants and the destruction of that beautiful city. Not widely known is that among those killed were five Irish Columban fathers who were based in the parish of Malate in Manila. One of them was Fr. Patrick Kelly from William Street in Tullamore. The others were Regional Superior, Fr. John Henaghan from Louisburgh, Co. Mayo; Fr. John Lalor from Cork; Fr. Peter Fallon from Dunmore, Co. Galway; and Fr. Joseph Monaghan from Banbridge, Co. Down.
On December 8th, 1941, just hours after they bombed Pearl Harbour in Hawaii, Japanese troops invaded the Philippine Islands. The defending forces, under General Douglas MacArthur, consisted of American and Filipino troops. Inexperienced and ill-prepared for battle, they retreated to the Bataan Peninsula, leaving Manila, the capital, undefended. By January 2nd, 1942, an advance column of Japanese soldiers had entered the city. Thus began a brutal three-year occupation of the islands.
When I was eleven I spent a long Easter weekend in the County Hospital in Tullamore. I don’t know what was wrong with me but it can’t have been anything serious and I remember it as a most enjoyable and stimulating experience.
The nurses and the nuns were kind and caring, the ward was spacious and sunlit with a lovely view across O’Connor Park to the Slieve Blooms, while the food was a lot more varied than I was accustomed to at home. My friends and neighbours visited with gifts of Easter eggs and sweets. I particularly remember getting little furry yellow chicks in one egg and kept them as a souvenir for many years after.
I think that my stay in that icon of Irish Modernist architecture, must have instilled my future love of good buildings but it was the glimpses of the large colourful painting in the entrance hall that really stuck in my mind. In the years to come, when visiting my mother or sick friends, I always stopped for a while to look at it again.
Its installation in the entrance of the new County Hospital, which opened in 1942 and of which the town was so proud, was the inspiration of the architect Michael Scott.
The Scott building Midlands Regional Hospital, Tullamore, erected 1938-42(more…)
Do come to the lecture and musical event on 12 April, 3 p.m. Saturday at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore (beside New Aldi and Old Warehouse)
Bernard Delaney (1854-1923) – Offaly piper conquers America
Bernard Delaney was an extraordinary man, a superb musician and above all a survivor. Birr Historical Society presented the story of piper Bernard (Barney) Delaney in January and we are glad to confirm a further lecture and musical afternoon to recall his life and contribution to Irish traditional music. This time in his home town of Tullamore. Delaney suffered the loss of three of his four children and his wife in the late 1870s and was forced to leave his country in search of hope and a better life in the New World. Delaney was a master of the Uileann Pipes. The Talk will focus on his life, the story behind his enrolment into the elite Irish Music Club of the Chicago Police Department and his legacy.
Short presentations will be given by both Frank Kelly and Seamus Kelly.
Delaney’s musical heritage will be played at the event by Frank Kelly and musical friends.
Frank Kelly is from Lusmagh and has written articles about Delaney for the Fleadh Cheoil Clár and the Comhaltas magazine Treoir.
Seamus Kelly is from Kildare with Birr connections. He has researched Barney’s life and written the book Bernard ‘Barney’ Delaney (1854-1923) Offaly and Chicago Piper. Copies available from Offaly History Centre.
Bernard Delaney, Source: Francis O’Neill, Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913)
‘We are more or less indebted to Bernard Delaney for the introduction of many fine tunes to our community. His well-deserved reputation as an Irish piper did much to spread the local knowledge of his music among local musicians, as well as to promote the popularity of Irish music in general.’ Source: Francis O’ Neill, Irish Folk Music (1910)
Ahead of Fleadh Cheoil ns h-Éireann 2009, I researched the life of Bernard (Barney) Delaney of Killeigh so as to publish a piece on him in the Fleadh brochure. Offaly has a rich Traditional-Music Heritage and a multitude of All-Ireland champions since modern competitions began in Fleadhanna in the 1950s. However, our folklore is filled with records in the oral and written traditions of musicians dating back to the courts of our Gaelic Chieftains, our famed monastic settlements and music even has filtered through to us from the Celtic mists of ancient Ireland.
Due to the devastating famines of the 1840s and the following poverty in the 1860s and 70s when the people’s main motivation was pure survival, our musical heritage fell away among the general population. It fell to the immigrant classes to carry their music and song with them to the far-flung places where they could find work and sustenance.
Bernard Delaney of Killeigh was typical of these survivors. Unlike many of his fellow immigrants, he had a “magic wand” in his pocket in the form of a penny whistle and all the melodies that instrument could conjure up. Melodies that would provide his sorry Irish comrades with hope, joy, and the happier memories they may have associated with these tunes.
Following my meagre scraping of the surface in 2009, a hero emerged in the form of Seamus Kelly of County Kildare who dug deeper Delaney’s life. Then, with the backing of Attracta Brady; the soon-to-be Uachtarán of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, local researcher, Brendan Berry and Seamus’ own team of sleuths, the life of Bernard or Barney Delaney was uncovered. Before the launch of this delightful publication, few in Offaly or Killeigh would have known much of the life of the once-celebrated uilleann piper of Chicago and American fame. Now, it’s about time Barney was given the recognition he truly deserves. The following are a few snippets of background from Seamus Kelly.
Frank Kelly
The musicians at the Birr Historical Society event in January 2025.Courtesy Bantry Historical Society
Seamus:
Frank Kelly’s article in Treoir outlined some of Barney’s background and early life in Ireland. Without Frank Kelly, and his many Offaly contacts, my publication would not have seen the light of day. The support of Attracta Brady, now President of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Eireann (CCE), was also crucial.
The Offaly Independent (18 September 1992 stated that Offaly has a tradition of excellence in music and added that ‘Offaly can also boast one of the great Irish pipers in Barney Delaney who was born in the Tullamore area about 1860…’. He was, in fact, born there in 1854.
The book was brought to fruition by three Kellys – Seamus, Frank and Michael. Michael Kelly and Brendan Berry’s pioneering work in following up on Delaney’s family in Ireland has made a real difference to our knowledge of the ‘Offaly piper’. An article by John Ennis in The Gael magazine (February 1902) also provided us with a wonderful photo of Delaney.
Francis O’Neill wrote in 1910 that he was delighted that Bernard Delaney brought himself and his tunes from Offaly ‘Here, indeed was a prize and what a repertory of unfamiliar tunes he had from Tullamore, his native place! Chief O’Neill, mentioned that Barney was from around Tullamore. Well, could we be more specific? Yes, we can.
Finding out that his father’s name was Patrick (from Bernard’s passport application in 1919) was a start. Frank Kelly’s article entitled ‘The Offaly-Chicago connection from Scrubb, Killeigh, to Ocean Springs, Mississippi’ (Treoir, 2009, 2020) tried to identify Barney Delaney’s birthplace. Brendan Berry was able to pinpoint Patrick Delaney’s plot to Meelaghans instead of Scrubb.
The Killeigh Co. Offaly Delaney connection was further confirmed by the excellent research of Michael Kelly. Aileen Saunders accessed the transcript of Bernard Delaney’s baptismal record. It informs us that Bernard was from the Parish of Killeigh, just south of Tullamore. The name was misspelt ‘Delay’ on this electronic record which was unhelpful. It gives us Bernard’s mother’s name as Eliza Dinn (possibly Elizabeth Dunne). It also gives the date of his baptism, in Killeigh, as the 25 May 1854.That date is reliable although it conflicts with other records. For example, in the 1900 US Census Barney gave his birth date as August 1852. His police record says he was born on 24 March 1854.
Bernard had a family of his own, in Offaly, before he emigrated to America in the early 1880s. Aileen Saunders noted from US Census records that Bernard Delaney had a daughter Elizabeth. Barney was around 20 years old when he married Mary Farrell on the 23rd October 1874. Bernard’s age was given as 20 while Mary was 24. They were married in Tullamore. Mary Farrell, from Tullamore, worked as a servant and was the daughter of Charles Farrell who was a carpenter. Bernard’s father Patrick had died before the wedding. Throughout this period (1876–1882) Bernard Delaney is described as a labourer. The children of Mary and Barney Delaney:
Thanks to Michael Kelly’s research we know when the Delaney children were born and when they died. Bernard and Mary lived in Charleville Road, Tullamore but mostly after that they were in Distillery Lane until at least May 1882. Their first child Patrick was born on 25 March 1875 at Charleville Road in Tullamore. Soon after they moved to Distillery Lane in Tullamore where most of the children were born. Second son John was born there on 6 September 1876. Their first daughter Mary arrived in April 1879 followed by Elizabeth on 2 July 1880. Their last child, Ellen was born in February 1880. Five children in five years!
Note: ‘The Tullamore Piper’ title is still accurate in the sense that he lived as a young married man in Tullamore though he was a native of and was baptised in Killeigh; RC parish. A tune in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland (1903) (Number 1773) is called The Tullamore piper. The title can only refer to one man!
Tragically, all of the Delaney children, except Elizabeth, died young between 1879 and 1882. Patrick died from typhoid fever on 1 March 1877, aged 2. Mary died (aged 1 year), John died (aged 6) and Ellen (aged 3 months). Barney’s wife Mary Farrell died from measles, pneumonia and heart disease in Tullamore Union Workhouse or the infirmary attached to it, on 21 May 1882, aged 30.
Their youngest child Ellen had died the day before. Mary died 8 days after her son John died from measles.
The family struggles must have been traumatic. Mary Delaney must have suffered terribly. The losses of his wife and four of his children must have taken its toll on Bernard. These very harsh family circumstances probably influenced his very rapid decision to emigrate, and may have impacted on him later in life.
The full publication is available in the Offaly Historical Society book shop on Bury Quay.
Frank Kelly
Venue for the Saturday lecture and music session, Bury Quay (beside New Aldi and Old Warehouse restaurant).
Published as part of the County Offaly 2025 Commemorative Programme with the support of Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
Research by Angus Mitchell into the life and work of Alice Stopford Green (1847–1929), ‘the passionate historian’ as R.B. McDowell called her, brought Mitchell to Durrow, Tullamore, County Offaly in March 2024 to explore a monastic site that Green had visited in the company of the solicitor, antiquarian and nationalist, Francis Joseph Bigger (1863–1926) in September 1912. Green and Bigger would have shared cultural interests in the Celtic Revival. As the DIB contributor, Joseph McBrinn noted, Bigger saw his role as ‘promoting all things Irish including numerous processions, pageants, ceilidhs and feiseanna’. Angus Mitchell will be speaking on Durrow in 1914 at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore on Monday 24 March at 7 30 p.m. and you are welcome to attend. See his blog in this series earlier this week.
Today, 113 years on, the same story is playing out about Durrow and is ‘ongoing’ for the past 35 years. Now there is no access to Durrow high cross and neither is the public right of way to the site adhered to by the OPW and this after a spend of €5 million to protect and promote the monastic site.
Between 1849 and 1867 a nationwide network of almost thirty Model Schools was established by the Board of National Education. These schools were under the exclusive control of the Board and it was expected that attendance would be drawn from the various denominations to be found in the area of each school’s location. The primary aim of these institutions was to provide a regulated system of training for candidate teachers. Due to a growing reluctance on the part of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and clergy to be associated with these institutions where they had no input into management, the establishments were decidedly skewed towards Ulster. This became even more pronounced when a scheme for the establishment of those schools termed Minor Model Schools – as opposed to the more prestigious District Model Schools – was put in train. Of the seven such schools, only one – Parsonstown Minor Model School – was located outside of Ulster. As such it was an exotic.
The first indication that Birr/ Parsonstown (as often called in the 19th cent.) had used gas to illuminate the town during the dark winter months was an editorial comment that appeared in the King’s County Chronicle of January 9 1850[1] that extolled how the use of portable gas had made the town safer to move around at night.
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