Category: Obituaries

• Noel MacMahon, Former Principal of Shinrone, Co. Offaly. An Educator and an Historian.An appreciation article by Offaly History. Presented by Aidan Barry. Blog no. 786, 17.3.2026.

  Introduction:
  Noel MacMahon passed away on 4^th March 2026. Noel was born in Shinrone, Co. Offaly, in 1934, into a family where education was the primary vocation. He attended primary school in Shinrone where his parents were principals of the local boys’ and girls’ schools. He attended St Flannan’s secondary school in Ennis and later attended University College Galway (UCG), earning a B.Comm. He entered national teaching somewhat “on the spur of the moment” in 1952 when a new rule allowed graduates to qualify with one year at St. Patrick’s College of Education, Dublin. Following his graduation and after three years as principal in Coolderry, he returned to Shinrone in 1959 to succeed his retiring father. Noel retired from teaching in 1997 but continued to contribute to parish life by publishing a number of books on the history of the area.

  Oral Historian:
  Starting in 1994, Noel recorded interviews with 31 local residents of Shinrone, including blacksmiths and estate workers, to preserve their knowledge before it was lost. These interviews are now available on “Voices of Offaly” which can be accessed from the homepage of the Offaly History website (www.offalyhistory.com)

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  March 17, 2026

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• The Bulfin Bulletin: The Path to Publication. By Timothy Moloney. 10 10 2025. No. 22 in the 2025 Offaly History anniversaries series. Blog No 754, 10th 2025 

  In February 2025 William Bulfin’s travelogue Rambles in Eirinn was reissued in a new edition by Merrion Press. I had been working on the Bulfin legacy over the previous twelve years, and this publication had emerged out of those efforts.                                                  

  I started researching a biography of William Bulfin in the autumn of 2013. Arriving at the National Library Reading Room in Dublin in September that year, I observed that it looked the same as it did decades ago. There was one major change: books and document references were now accessed initially via computer, though requests for books could still be made on paper slips and the enormous ledgers with entries pasted in by hand were still there on the left as one entered.                                               

  The next day I acquired an ID and requested Rambles in Eirinn and Tales of the Pampas, Bulfin’s two classic works, which I browsed through with enjoyment.

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  October 10, 2025

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• The firefighting Foley family of Ferbane and the supreme sacrifice at 9/11 New York. By Aidan Doyle. A contribution to the Commemorations Series 2025. Blog No 744, 6th Sept 2025

  The 1920’s saw high levels emigration to the United States from Ireland. Among those crossing the Atlantic Ocean was James Foley from Endrim near Ferbane. James was 21 when he boarded the RMS Cedric at Cobh enroute to New York in March 1927.

  His brother Peter had arrived in the Big Apple a year earlier. In 1929 the Wall Street Crash heralded the end of the Roaring Twenties and the beginning of the Great Depression. Offalians in the city found mutual support in the Offalyman’s Association, an organisation in which the Foley family were closely associated.

  James was living on Milton Street in the Greenpoint district of Brooklyn when he applied for US citizenship in 1933. After his marriage to Mary Egan, the daughter of Mr & Mrs Lawerence Egan from Kilcormac, the couple lived at Inwood on Manhathan and later in the Bronx.

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  September 6, 2025

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• Brisk walking tours of Tullamore town on 5 July and 12 July 2025. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. Some notes for the 90 minute tours. Please print off this piece or bring your phone. Blog No 727, 2nd July 2025

  This year for the walking tours we move to Patrick Street and Church Street on Saturday 5 July, and to the ‘canal quarter’ on 12 July taking in Harbour Street, Store Street, St Brigid’s Place, the Harbour and O’Carroll Street. All are welcome. Admission is free. Wear high viz is helpful. The details are as follows:

  5 July, Saturday morning from 11 to 12 30 p.m.  Walking tour of Tullamore town: Patrick Street and Church Street with Michael Byrne. Explore the history of these old streets dating back to the 1700s, from the military barracks of 1716 to the church of 1726, county hospital of 1788, the Methodist chapels (4) and the families and shops over 250 years. Find out what is left of the old barracks; where was Swaddling Lane and Pike’s Lane, the linen factory. Who was the Henry in Henry Street – and so much more.

  We can meet outside Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay (beside Old Bonded Warehouse restaurant) for ease of parking from 10 45 a.m. All are welcome and the tour is free. Teas/Coffee and bathrooms available from Offaly History Centre from 10. 30 a.m. A big welcome to Birr IGS members who are planning to join the tour.

  12 July Saturday morning from 11 to 12 30 p.m.Walk around Harbour Street, Store Street, St Brigid’s Place, the Harbour and O’Carroll Street with Michael Byrne. We can meet outside Offaly History Centre for ease of parking from 10 45 a.m. All are welcome and the tour is free. Coffee and bathrooms available from Offaly History Centre from 10. 30 a.m. Tea and scones available.

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  July 2, 2025

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• Christopher Maye of Tullamore and Mullingar: a man for others and loved by all. An appreciation Article , Offaly History. Blog No 717, 31st May 2025

  It is rare that it can be said of a businessman that he was loved by all. In the case of Christy Maye it is true he held the loyalty, respect and love of all who came to know him, whether as an employee, customer, supplier or competitor. He was a successful businessman, builder, hotelier but above all an entertainer. And more than that he was a great leader in the Tullamore community without ever wanting thanks or recognition. This was best exhibited in his championing and leading the Tullamore Show since he largely founded it in 1991, inspired at the time by the Mullingar Show. He was a member of the Tullamore Lions Club since it started in Tullamore fifty years ago.

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  May 31, 2025

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• Fr Paddy Kelly, Tullamore and the Battle of Manila in 1945. By Mairead O’Brien. No 13 in 2025 Anniversaries Series. Blog No 712, 7th may 2025

  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.

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  May 7, 2025

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• Vice Admiral Arthur Craig Waller of Tullamore and the Royal Navy (1872–1943). By Michael Byrne. No. 6 in the Offaly Anniversaries Series 2025. Blog No 695, 22nd Feb 2025

  The recently announced  sale on 11 March 2025 by Noonans of Mayfair of the Jutland medals of Tullamore man Arthur Craig (assumed Waller in 1920 on inheritance) is a reminder of the fact that despite being an inland county Offaly (King’s County up to 1920) has a significant association with the Royal Navy through the celebrated achievements of Birr-born Charles Parsons (1854–1951), of Dreadnought fame; Birr-born Sir Frederick Charles Dreyer (1878–1956), the expert in naval gunnery; and Tullamore-born Alexander Percival McMullen (1885–1916) who was killed at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. The Birr men could have lost the war in an afternoon! Both McMullen and Craig were associated with St Catherine’s, Tullamore – the first of an old Tullamore family who emigrated to Canada in 1910, and Craig as a son of the rector of the parish from 1869 to 1902. His brother succeeded in 1902 and was parish rector up to his death in 1929.

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  February 22, 2025

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• Banagher Brontë Group Book Launch, Blog No 677, 5th Dec 2024

  AND WREATH LAYING THIS WEEKEND

  BOOK LAUNCH

  The Banagher Brontë Group will round off a great inaugural year with two events this coming weekend. On Saturday 7^th December the group will launch Martina Devlin’s Charlotte at 2.30 p.m. in the Crank House, Banagher. The book will be launched by Nigel West whose ancestors lived in Hill House, (now Charlotte’s Way, a well-appointed guesthouse), until 1959 when it was sold to the local Church of Ireland community.

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  December 5, 2024

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• Remembering Josephine Warren of ‘Tay’ Lane and Marian Place, Tullamore. By Cecilia Warren with a transcript of a 2006 recording of Josephine Warren talking about life at Tay Lane/officially called O’Connell Street, Tullamore. Blog No 673, 27th Nov 2024

  The recording of my mother Josephine was made in 2006 as part of my research on local history and my mother’s interpretation of it. At the time, little did I know the significance that it would have, not just from a local history record perspective but also in a deeply personal context.

  Our family connection here in Tullamore began in 1923, when a young Dublin native, Josephine Moore came to work at McCann’s as a housekeeper. This building later became the Tullamore Enterprise board ( now occupied by Jigsaw) Cormac Street. She married William Gorman, a local man.  My mother, also called Josephine, was born in 1928.  Mum left school aged 14 and she would have been the first to admit that she lacked a proper education. In those unkinder days, walking to school barefoot and being put to clean up in the home economics room by the nuns after the wealthier girls had cooked was all too often a regularity. She would have liked to have had a career as a nurse she often said. 

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  November 27, 2024

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• No 3 Cormac Street, Acres Hall, ‘the best house in Tullamore’, now Tullamore Town Hall: the home of the Acres family (1786­–1839), Acres Pierce family (1839–91) and the Egan family (1891–1968) thereafter leased, and Tullamore Town Council 1985– in progress). A contribution to the Living in Towns series supported by the Heritage Council. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. Blog No 635, 27th July 2024

  This handsome house was built in 1786 by Thomas Acres and is set well in from the street. The valuer of 1843 wrote: ‘This has always been considered the best house in Tullamore – it is well situate – extensive pleasure grounds in front and rear, and well walled garden.’^[1] Acres Hall, the town hall since 1992, is a five-bay, two-storey house with a limestone ashlar façade. In this respect it bears comparison with the house of Dr Wilson of 1789 (now Farrellys) in High Street and was built at the same time.

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  July 27, 2024

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