The publications below are available from Offaly History’s history shop at Bury Quay, Tullamore beside the Old Warehouse restaurant, online 24/7, and open Mon to Fri 9 to 4. 30. We are also in Bridge Centre from 14th to 24 Dec. as in previous years. We look forward to seeing you. All our work is to promote Offaly History on a selfless basis. All the publications below are from authors pro bono, pro deo, pro condado.
Offaly History is delighted to produce another volume of Offaly Heritage which is the twelfth collections of essays and writings on the history of the Faithful County’. The essays in section one reflect the ongoing research in Offaly into aspects of life in Ireland 100 years ago as we come to the end of the Decade of Commemoration (1912-1923). The essays reflect the changing nature of society in Offaly at that time, particularly during the years 1920 to 1923 and readers will enjoy contributions as varied as they end of the Wakely family of Rhode; the final years of the Leinster Regiment at Birr; the Protestant minority in Offaly during the revolutionary period; the courts of assize in King’s County in the years 1914-21; the burning of Tullamore courthouse, jail and barracks in 1922; the story of Belgian refugees in Portarlington, and Offaly claimants in 1916. A series of short lives are presented in this volume, as they were in Offaly 11 and includes entries on individuals as diverse as J.L. Stirling, Averil Deverell. Middleton Biddulph; Robert Hames Goodbody and volunteer Sean Barry. This volume of Offaly Heritage is also strengthened by a wide array of essays on aspects of Offaly history stretching from Colmcille to early soccer activity in Offaly in the late nineteenth century. The editors are particularly pleased to include essays from a number of contributors for the first time. The compilation of writings on Offaly history topics continues in this volume. The volume concludes with information on the Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society, the county’s heritage office and reviews of recent books of Offaly interest.
In the first half of the nineteenth century all of the original buildings in O’Connor Square were three-storey with the exception of the market house and the house where PTSB is now located (GV 8). The finest house was that of Pim/Wilson (GV 7) of c. 1740–48 (demolished 1936) and not unlike the fine houses in the square of the Quaker settlement of Mountmellick where the Pims and Wilsons would have had connections.
Over a series of articles, it is intended to examine the evolution of the ‘market place’, Tullamore to the fine square it is today. It is intended to look first at the evolution of the square over the period from 1713 to 1820 with additional comments on the building history in the last 300 years in the second article. This will be followed with analysis of the return for the 1901 and 1911 censuses and thereafter case studies of two of the houses in the square. Both are public houses, the Brewery Tap and The Phoenix, and business is conducted in the original houses albeit that both have been extended. Both are well known with the Brewery Tap one of the oldest pubs in Tullamore and The Phoenix the newest. The Brewery Tap house can be dated to 1713 and The Phoenix as a house to 1752.
So far we have looked at the 1821 and 1901 censuses for Castle Street, Birr together with traders in the street in the nineteenth century (see previous articles by going to the blog section on http://www.offalyhistory.com.) There were a lot of new families in Castle Street in 1911 when compared with 1901 based on the surname of the occupiers – not always a reliable guide. Families where there was continuity included that of John Wall, James Sammon, Patrick Connors, Laurence Kennedy, Owen Gaffney and Elizabeth Watterson.
In my previous article (Part 4) on the history of the Ballyduff quarries I looked in more detail at one of the Wrafter families involved in stonecutting at far back as at least 1807. In this article I will relate the story of two other Wrafter families of stonecutters. Members of these families are still active in the cutting, carving and sculpting of stone.
Wrafter family #2
This Wrafter family were also from Ballyduff and were heavily involved in the stonecutting trade at least from the 1850’s onwards. Between 1850 and the 1950’s at least 12 men from three generations of this family were stonecutters and most of them had at one time or another lived in Ballyduff and learned their trade at the nearby quarries. The lack of older records makes it impossible for me at present to say to what extent this family, and indeed even the other Wrafter branches, were involved in stoneworking before 1800.
Belonging to the earliest generation of stonecutters were Thomas (b. 1835, d. before 1882) and Patrick (b. ab. 1842, d. 1889). Five sons of Patrick Wrafter and his wife Katherine (nee Walsh) became stonecutters (John, Patrick, Jim, Joseph and Alec). After learning their trade in Tullamore Jim, Joseph and Alec practised their trade for extended periods in Cork and Dublin.
John worked a quarry of his own in Ballyduff in the late 19th – early 20th century. Patrick worked a quarry together with some employees in the neighbouring townland of Arden until at least 1928. Alec returned to Tullamore and also worked part of the Ballyduff quarries up to the 1950’s.
Stonecutters from this Wrafter family worked on the building of the new Catholic Church in Tullamore circa 1906. In 1908, they carved the stone tracery for a new stained-glass window for St Catherine’s Church (Church of Ireland) in Tullamore. Several of the Celtic cross grave monuments at Clonminch cemetery in Tullamore bear the names of John and Patrick Wrafter, and can arguably be considered works of art.
Clonminch, Tullamore 2
Fig. 1. Celtic cross headstones sculpted by John Wrafter (1866-1941). Erected in or around 1910 in Clonminch cemetery, Tullamore. The monument in the photo on the right (2) was made by John for his own family; three of his children and his wife are named on the headstone.
Four of the Wrafter brothers (John, Jim, Alec and Joseph) were active in the Stonecutters’ Union of Ireland, a trade union for stonecutters. The photo below is of representatives of various branches of the Stonecutters’ Union of Ireland, as well as of the union’s central organisation. The picture was taken about 1905. Two of the brothers feature in the photo:
John Wrafter (b 1864), representative for Tullamore and Alec Wrafter (b 1879), representative for Dublin.
Fig 2. Photo of members of the Stonecutters Union of Ireland (obtained from Barry Wrafter). Alec Wrafter (Dublin) back row, 2nd from the left. John Wrafter (Tullamore) back row, 2nd from the right.
James (Jim) Wrafter (b 1872) was Treasurer of the Union (perhaps the Dublin Branch) about 1909.
Joseph Wrafter (b 1882) was elected Annual Auditor of the Stonecutters’ Union of Ireland in 1907. Joseph was not living in Dublin at the time so involvement in the union would have meant regular trips by train to Dublin to attend meetings in Capel St. Several years later Joseph moved to Dublin and by 1932 he had been elected the General Secretary of the Stonecutters’ Union of Ireland. He died in Dublin in 1936.
Among the members of the Tullamore Company of the Irish Volunteers in 1916 were several stonecutters and masons from the Bracken, Wrafter and Molloy families. Joseph Wrafter was an active member and played a big part in the events of 20 March 1916, which became known as the “Tullamore incident”. In a skirmish, shots were fired and a bullet from the gun of Peader Bracken (another stonecutter) hit police sergeant Ahern. Joseph and his fellow volunteers were tried by a military court and ultimately released without conviction. Joseph was the father of the late Sister Oliver, who was a Presentation nun in Rahan and a keen local historian.
Recurring issues at the Union meetings reported by the press were demands for the use of Irish limestone in construction and the employment of Irish stonecutters in quarrying and dressing stone. Another demand was that available jobs should go to trade union stonecutters.
In 1896 stonecutters of the Stonecutter’s Union at the Ballyduff quarries went on strike over demands for higher wages and a half-day on Saturdays. The strike was short-lived as a settlement was promptly reached. Three decades later in 1922, there was another dispute over wages. This time the settlement resulted in a reduction of wages of stonecutters by 5 shillings to £3-10s, and of quarrymen by 2 shillings to £3. This may have reflected a decrease in the demand for quarried stone. In the early years of the 20th century concrete blocks began to replace stone for construction purposes, a development that was much criticized by the Stonecutter’s Union.
Several of the next generation of the Wrafter family entered the stonecutting trade. I will mention just two of them here. Patrick Joseph, born c. 1899, son of James, emigrated to America. He states his occupation as stone carver on his wedding certificate of 1922 in Albany, New York State.
John born 1891, son of John (b 1864), became a stonecutter/sculptor in Tullamore. By the 1930s he had left the stone trade and became a grocer and publican, with premises on Harbour Street (Wrafter’s Harbour Bar).
The latter half of the 20th century saw the continuing decline of the stonecutting trade. The carving of headstones was one of the few activities that survived for the employment of stonecutters. Among the Wrafters of Tullamore the trade died out. Four or five decades passed without a Wrafter putting his signature to a piece of stonework. Then in the late 1990s the Wrafter name appeared once again in connection with stonework. Barry Wrafter, the great-grandson of stonecutter John Wrafter, born 1864, and grandson of John Wrafter of the Harbour Bar, revived the family tradition, and has made a name for himself as a sculptor and stone carver.
Growing up in Ennis, Co Clare, Barry returned to the trade of his forefathers as an outlet for his creative talent. He became interested in stone carving and sculpting after learning about the history of stonecutting in his family. Barry is one of only a few stone carvers using traditional methods and skills operating at the current time in Ireland. Since 1999 he has been commissioned to produce several public works throughout Ireland. His most ambitious work to date is undoubtedly the hurling sculpture in Kilkenny city (Fig 2), which he worked on in 2016-17. Closer to the home of his ancestors is “The Turf Cutter” from 2007, which is to be seen at the entrance to Belvedere House Garden and Park, near Mullingar (Fig 3).
Fig 3. Barry’s major work, the Kilkenny Hurling sculpture in Irish limestone completed in 2017. (Photo: http://www.barrywrafterart.com)
Fig 4. The Turf cutter sculpture at the entrance to Belvedere House and Gardens. (Photo: http://www.mckeonstone.ie)
More recently (in 2022), Barry was employed in the restoration of the Primark store (also called The Bank Buildings) in Belfast. The building, made of red sandstone from Scotland and completed in 1900, was ravaged by a fire in 2018. Some of his work can be seen in the photos below.
Fig 5. Pieces of carved sandstone ready for mounting into place in the Primark department store in Belfast. (Photo: Barry Wrafter)
Fig 6. Part of the facade of the Primark department store in Belfast during restoration. (Photo: Barry Wrafter)
Wrafter family #3
The third Wrafter branch involved in stonecutting may have started with Timothy Wrafter, born about 1804. Timothy, who lived in Aharney (a townland about 6 km northwest of Tullamore), was a stonecutter and farmer. He married Bridget Houghran in 1839 and had a large family; they had at least 11 children between 1840 and 1861.
At least two of the sons became stonecutters. John, born 1840, had settled in Chicago by 1880. He was married to Mary Molloy. He died in Chicago in 1904, age 65, occupation “Stone cutter”.
Another son, Timothy, born in 1849, married Anne Somers in 1877 and emigrated with his wife and two young children to Australia in 1883. They settled in the Brisbane area, where Tim continued his trade as a stonemason. Before leaving Ireland he probably worked for John Molloy at the Ballyduff quarries.
Timothy’s nephew, also called Tim, was a stonecutter according to the 1911 census. He was living with his parents in Ballykillmurray, close to Tullamore and the quarries, according to the same census. A couple of years later, in 1913, Tim made the same journey as his uncle had done 30 years earlier. He arrived in Brisbane, Queensland on 19 December 1913 on the ship Perthshire. Working with his uncle Timothy, the younger Tim learned the ropes of the trade.
Timothy eventually procured the business from his uncle and together with his two sons, Denis and Joseph, who were apprenticed as stonemasons, they founded the firm, T. Wrafter & Sons in Brisbane. It is still owned and run by the Wrafter family. They are the fifth or sixth generation of this Wrafter family involved in stonecutting. The company produces monuments, memorials, public works, and carries out church work, stone artworks and heritage restorations.
One of their most recent works is a 5-meter-tall Celtic cross standing on the grounds of Nudgee College in Brisbane. The monument, erected in August 2021 to mark 130th anniversary of the college, celebrates the school’s Irish Catholic heritage. Peter Wrafter, Company Director and a qualified stonemason, is a former pupil of the school. The material sought after for the cross was one that would exhibit good weathering properties and would have a colour resembling crosses in Ireland. Australian black granite was chosen and after a sandblast finish resembles the colour of Irish limestone. This beautiful work of art is a testament to the legacy of the Ballyduff stonecutters.
Fig 7. A recently erected Celtic cross on the grounds of Nudgee College in Brisbane made by T Wrafter and Sons, Stonemasons. (Photo: https://twstone.com.au)
Fig 8. An example of one of many public works in stone designed and produced by T Wrafter and Sons, Stonemasons., Brisbane. (Photo: https://twstone.com.au)
Given the prevalence of the name Timothy in this family there may be a link with another Timothy Wrafter who died in 1815 and whose headstone can be found in the graveyard of the old Church of St Carthage in Rahan. The tombstone is ornately carved as can be seen below.
Fig 9. The gravestone of Timothy Rafter who died in 1815, aged 33, in the graveyard of the old Church of St. Cartage in Rahan. (Photo: Paul Stafford. From booklet Offaly Tombstone Inscriptions. 1. Rahan Graveyards)
Thomas Wrafter is another Wrafter stonecutter that emigrated to Australia in the 19th century. Thomas ran a quarrying business on the outskirts of Adelaide in South Australia in 1880. He employed several stonecutters. He may be the same Thomas Wrafter that emigrated from Ireland and arrived in Brisbane in 1866. I have not been able to link him to any specific branch of the Wrafters.
Conclusion
In my research into the quarries and stonecutters of Ballyduff and Tullamore a picture has emerged that shows that the limestone quarries of Ballyduff produced some of the finest building and monument stone in Ireland. Moreover, the stonecutters that originated in Tullamore were widely recognized as some of the best in the country, and those that left Ireland (mainly to Australia) found that their skills were highly valued in their new homelands.
Many thanks to John Wrafter for these articles. Great research and we look forward to a printed publication in due course, Ed.
On several walking tours of High Street, Tullamore in 2023 what stuck one was how good the architecture is, the plan of the street, how much has survived, and the extent of reforms and repairs needed to houses that have become dilapidated. This article is about no. 29 High Street, the former Motor Works, and a dwelling or manse for the Presbyterian minister for over thirty years from the early 1900s. The number 29 is derived from that in the first printed Griffith Valuation of 1854.
The former Motor Works, 29 High Street, Tullamore. The signage has now been removed. If the shop fronts were removed, walled area restored and sash windows inserted etc etc.Lived in and looking well will be a good compromise in these times when so many fine town houses are strugglingfor life.The garden once ran to Moore Hall and behind it. The two houses to the left were also built on this generous leasehold. But then what would you not do for your doctor?
No 29 is the first house on the upper east side of High Street and occupies an important visual position when seen from Cormac Street and in the distance from the old road as one walks out of Charleville Demesne. The house is of five bays and three storeys, and has ‘gable-ends with rough cast battered walls and a high pitched, sprocketed roof. The windows are small and have a good rhythm which slows towards the centre. However, they have lost their original glazing-bars. The house has a simple round-headed, architraved doorcase which is probably later in date. (Garner, 1980).
In the Pigot directory of 1824 Birr was described ‘as far the most considerable of any of the towns in the King’s County. Birr was the leading town in the county from the 1620s until the 1840s By the 1820s Birr had new Protestant and Catholic churches (the latter nearing completion at the time of the census and the publishing of the Pigot directory), two Methodist chapels and a Quakers’ meeting house. The charitable institutions of Birr, were a fever hospital and dispensary, supported by county grants and annual subscriptions; a Sunday school for children of all denominations; a free school for boys, and another for girls. Birr had a gaol and a courthouse where the sessions were held four times a year. The prisoners were sent to Philipstown/Daingean which was the county town until 1835 for trial for serious crimes. From 1830 when the new gaol was built in Tullamore Birr prison was more a holding centre only. . One mile from the town were the Barracks, ‘a large and elegant building, capable of holding three regiments of soldiers’. Birr has two large distilleries and two breweries, which, it was said, gave employment to the poor of the town.
The population in 1821 was 5,400. The market day was Saturday and the fairs were four in the year. And that was it. The brief introduction to Birr in the 1820s did not engage in any detail with the census of the town in 1821 other than to produce an abstract.
We need wind energy, but are we to give up on saving the bogs and destroying natural and community amenity in the process? This article looks at the works at Clongawney bog and the real threat to Lemanaghan and the natural heritage of County Offaly. More transparency is needed and more care about what outcomes we intend to have in Offaly in regards to our landscape. Will the area of Lemanaghan be now destroyed? We in Offaly need to revisit this and ensure care is taken and proposed works assessed by independent experts . The works proposed for Lemanaghan need to be scrapped or scaled back to protect what should be a special conservation area. Communities need to know what is happening to their local landscape. What has happened so far at Clongawney?
Clongawney works
It is difficult not to be disturbed and distressed by the images below which shows excavation in progress for a wind turbine base in Clongawney bog. There is an enormous amount of destruction and disruption for a relatively small base. And what makes the situation much worse and even more disturbing is that the turbine is clearly located in bog wetlands. In a few years this area will be covered in vegetation and will be home to a variety of wildlife. And right in the middle will stand a massive turbine with massive blades. The bogs are special places. They have suffered so much over the last 70 years. Ignorance and necessity may be the explanation for what happened. However there is no excuse now. This is permanent destruction of our bogs. How can this be allowed to happen ?
Below are photographs of the works at Clongawney Bog near Banagher and the works which must conflict will all our plans to protect the natural environment.
CLONGAWNEY IS LOST. DERRINLOUGH IS LOST. LEMANAGHAN IS NEXT.
There can be few places in Ireland of more historic importance than Lemanaghan. The image above shows the location of several toghers which have been found on Lemanaghan Bog. Amazingly the largest togher on Lemanaghan can be seen clearly from space! Click on the Google Earth link and be astonished.As can be clearly seen from the map above the bog is criss-crossed with ancient toghers and holds an array of archaeological sites. It would be unthinkable to put wind turbines on the callows or the eskers or the bogs that surround
Links in higher resolution to some of the pictures below.
This is a dramatic way to show this fabulous togher Lemanaghan Togher
The massive dumper which can be seen on this image helps size this extraordinary motorway type junction on Clongawny Bog. This motorway/roadway will only be used once to transport the components for a turbine and then….? To comprehend the scale of what is happening you need to visit to Clongawny.This find took place a few weeks ago on Clongawny Bog, just a mile or so from Banagher. Note wind turbine construction activity in the background. It is piece of timber with at least two square holes worked by human hand, possibly two thousand years ago. The piece is located on the side of a drain about half metre below the bog surface. No doubt there are many more precious archaeological artefacts and sites awaiting discovery in Clongawny and Lemanaghan and in other bogs.This image shows an extensive deposit of bog iron ore also on Clongawny Bog. In the background are tens of thousands of stone are being poured onto the bog surface.
Bord Na Mona Bogs in 2023 A Brief Summary
Peat harvesting ended in 2020 but finished on many bogs more than 20 years earlier. There is at least 1 metre of bog remaining on all bogs and more than 2 metres in most places.
Return to nature
A wide variety of vegetation has become established on many bogs with little interference from anyone with the possible exception of the blocking main drains. Drinagh is now a beautiful area of perhaps 1000 acres with wide expanses of vegetation interspersed with water and inhabited by a variety of wild life.
Rewetting
Extensive ‘rewetting’ has been carried out on a few bogs. This mainly involves the construction of ‘berms’ about 3/4 metres high and up to 7 metres wide thereby dividing the bog into fields a few acres in size. The berms prevent water runoff and hopefully in time will lead to growth of sphagnum moss. This system is totally dependent on rainfall and long dry spells will be a significant test as well as fire risk when berms dry out. Derrinboy bog is a good example and is easily accessed from the Kilcormac- Kinnitty road.
Wind turbines
Wind turbines were erected on Mount Lucas bog a few years ago and are now in progress on Clongawney and Derrinlough bogs. Because of the heavy and sizeable components a grid of motorway type roads have to be constructed on the bogs. These are supported on mats of very heavy duty plastic as bogs are not capable of taking weight. On completion access is secured and controlled by BNM. If Mount Lucas is taken as an example wind turbine farms will not be an attractive place to visit unless cycling or walking on 7 metre wide ‘straights’ can be considered exciting. There is a real fear that at some point in the not too distant future BNM wind farms will be packaged and sold off to international investor funds.
Tracks and Trails
Substantial state funding is now available to help make the 10s of 1000s of acres of post peat harvesting bogs interesting and attractive places to visit for locals and visitors. The management of this fund seems to rest entirely with BNM. There are hundreds of kilometres of bog rail track which can be easily made into walking and cycle ways. All of the bogs have raised headlands where no harvesting took place and these are ideal and save places for cycling or walking. It is important that those playing a role in the design of this project have a familiarity with and sensitivity to the bogs and to the locality.
The rugby grounds at Spollanstown have been used for sporting activity in Tullamore for over 140 years. The establishing of the Spollanstown sports field is rooted in the difficult situation in the 1880s when the land war was at its height, the home rule movement was advancing steadily and, increasingly, sporting activities reflected the deep political and religious divide in the country.
Kilbeggan team in 1927-28. Birr was able to affiliate to IRFU in 1887 and Tullamore in 1937(more…)
Francis Edward Biddulph was born in Congor, County Tipperary, the son of Nicholas Biddulph and Catherine Lucas. His mother died shortly after his birth. Francis was cared for by his aunt, and later by his stepmother Isabella Digges la Touche. He was to have nine half-siblings, many of whom would later live in Birr.
In 1861 he married Annabella Kennedy in Southsea. He was then a lieutenant in the 19th Regiment. They had fourteen children, six of whom survived to adulthood. The family moved from England to Burma and India, and back to England.
Francis and Annabella, Pembroke Dock, 1873. (Private Collection)
Their eldest daughter, Catherine Mary (Kate), had died in Bangalore, India aged 8. On their return to England they lost four more children. They are buried together in Llanion Cemetery, Pembroke Dock, Wales.
On his retirement from the army, Francis and Annabella returned to Ireland with their sons Nicholas, Charles, Hugh and Arthur, and their daughter Amy who had been born in Aldershot in 1875. Another daughter, Alice, died in Kilmainham, in 1877 and is buried in Grangegorman Military Cemetery. They took up residence, first in John’s Mall, and then in a house called St. Kilda’s, in Birr, then known as Parsonstown after the Parsons family who lived in Birr Castle. The two youngest daughters, Beatrice and May, were born in Birr. Arthur was later to die in Congor aged ten.
Francis became a Justice of the Peace. Later he became chairman, when Lord Rosse was away, of the Board of Guardians, and was on the Board. Then, in the church, he was the Rector’s Churchwarden, also teaching in Sunday school. For eleven years he belonged to the Unionist Association, and for the same length of time he was secretary of the tennis club.
Amy, the eldest surviving daughter, described living on John’s Mall as a child, and being taken for walks on Sunday afternoons with Francis and Annabella in the demesne of Birr Castle‘a glorious park, with miles of walks and rivers and a huge lake where water lilies abounded in summer, which I am ashamed to say often came home hidden under our coats as we were not supposed to pick them.’ Here she would play with her friend Emma McSheehy, daughter of the stipendiary magistrate, climbing the big trees, watching the fish in the river and scampering around what was at that time the biggest telescope in the world. Francis and Annabella would be asked to dinner parties and Lord Rosse would take the guests out to look at the stars and moon on a clear night, which they told Amy was a very wonderful sight.
She also gave an account of a terrible accident on the lake at Birr Castle:
In winter the lake froze and when the noble earl considered it safe for skating it was thrown open and there at seven I learned to skate. How I loved it – one part of the lake was not as safe as it was supposed to be and a bad accident happened – two sisters who were skating together happened on the thin part and one went through. The other tried her best to save her but alas, by the time others had come with ropes she had gone under altogether and I don’t think her body was recovered ‘til the ice melted. After that much greater care was taken and next year parts of the lake were roped off. We also used to skate when it wasn’t thought to be safe on some flooded fields near the barracks and that always ended in tea and lovely hot toast swimming butter in the depot mess, before a huge fire.’
In 1883 the family moved from John’s Mall to St. Kilda’s. The house was close to Crinkill barracks where there was always a regiment. The Leinster Regiment had their depot in Crinkill Barracks. Amy went to sleep every night to the sound of the Bugler’s Last Post, and woke to the Morning Reveille.
St Kilda’s, Birr, Co. Offaly (Private collection)
While the older Biddulph boys were away, Nicholas in Egypt with the army in Egypt, Hugh and Charles at boarding school in Aravon House, Bray, County Wicklow, the girls remained at home. Amy and the younger girls received an education from a governess. In Amy’s own words:
‘A governess came daily for a couple of hours to give me and my two sisters lessons. Education wasn’t much thought of for girls. As long as we could read, write a good hand and add up a few sums and have a smattering of history and geography. With me they went a bit further and I had painting lessons in the town and a master for music. The others didn’t get that far except what our governess could teach them.’
All three sisters attended Sunday school in Birr.
Beatrice, Amy and May Biddulph (Private collection)
Amy had dancing lessons in Birr Castle, with the children of Lord Rosse. They also frequently visited nearby Kinnity where their relatives, Assheton Biddulph and his wife Florence, together with their daughters Kathleen, Ierne, Norah and Ethne, and their son Robert, lived in Moneyguyneen, close to Kinnity Castle. Born between 1881 and 1891, the children were close enough in age to be playmates for the two younger Biddulph daughters, May and Bea. Assheton’s brother Middleton Biddulph lived and farmed at the Biddulph family home of Rathrobin with his wife Vera. They had no children.
Francis Biddulph’s younger half siblings Annie, Mary, James and William were all living in Parsonstown at this time. Annie lived at Birr View. There is a memorial window to Annie in Ardcroney church but the church itself is now located in Bunratty Folk Park. Mary and James lived at Bunrevan, Parsonstown.
James Digges La Touche Biddulph was the second son of Nicholas Biddulph, and the first son of his second wife Isabella Digges La Touche. His sister Mary was born the same year of 1842. It seems likely that they were twins but there are no surviving baptismal records. The church records for Ardcroney were destroyed in 1922.
James Biddulph died in Parsonstown in 1895 from general debility according to his death record. He was fifty years old. His sister Mary Biddulph was present at the death.
BIDDULPH – October 14, at Bunraven, Parsonstown, J. Digges la Touche Biddulph, son of the late Nicholas Biddulph, Congor, Borrisokane. Funeral at 9 o’c. tomorrow (Thursday) morning for Congor.
William was a Church of Ireland clergyman and married to Rebecca Clarke.
Amy described St. Kilda’s as her very happy home – ‘there was a large garden at the back of the house and at the end of it large apple and pear trees – one of these which I claimed as my own had very good branches for climbing and many a day when my two young sisters would be off playing their own games I would sit up for hours partly reading and partly watching the lambs which adjoined our place. How they skipped and jumped – she wrote – especially on old roots of trees which abounded – and then suddenly rushed off like mad things when their mothers called them. They were my delight, and also the rabbits, especially the tiny ones when they first came out of their burrows of which there was a lot in our fields.’ Her brothers, however, caught them in traps and shot them. They were a most useful addition to the menu.
‘The avenue which was more than half a mile long, opened off the Barrack Road.
There was a very high hill covered with big trees on one side and a pretty little lake on the other. When my brothers were home for the holidays they made a rustic bridge and a boat – and the island was always a sort of misty place inhabited by fairies and gnomes.’
Among Amy’s childhood memories were some involving her donkey Yankee. She described him as being almost human. ‘When some of the officers would come over from the barracks one of us would jump up on Yankee with just a stick in our hands to guide him, no saddle or bridle, and canter him round and then we would invite one of them to get on which they would do while we stood at its head. Then we’d say ‘Gee-up, Yankee’ and round he would go, kicking and jumping and arching his back ‘til the unlucky victim would fly off. How we trained him to do that trick I don’t know, but it was an unfailing one.’
But while Amy’s life was happy, these were troubled times. From the age of nine Amy began to hear of the Land League. Francis read the newspapers out loud every day for the benefit of Annabella. Just after the shooting of the Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish in the Phoenix Park, her brothers were walking along one of the roads in the town near their house with two policemen walking in front of them. They saw a flash out of one of the houses and one poor young policeman fell dead almost at their feet. There was constant anxiety about Francis. As a J.P., a landlord and an army man he was a marked man. One day he received a letter containing a picture of a coffin with his name on it.
In spite of this, for the three girls growing up in Birr, there was a lively social scene.
On the 1st January 1890, according to an item in the Irish Society (Dublin) of the 11th January 1890, the Countess of Rosse and Lady Muriel Parsons held a children’s fancy dress ball in Birr Castle.
‘Dancing commenced soon after 8 o’clock in the beautiful drawing room of Birr Castle, and was continued throughout the evening with the greatest possible spirit and enjoyment. Supper was served at 11 o’clock in the dining room, which was brilliantly illuminated with electric light.’ Miss Amy Biddulph attended as a Russian Tambourine Girl, Miss May Biddulph, as a Watteau Shepherdess, Miss Beatrice Biddulph, an Ice Queen. Miss Kathleen Biddulph, aged 9, daughter of Assheton Biddulph, was Little Bo-Peep.
As the three sisters grew older they played an active part in the life of the town..
May was a keen cyclist. Her name appears in an account of the Bog of Allen Club Bicycle Gymkhana which took place in July 1897. She was clearly an enthusiast of the bicycling craze which swept America and Europe at this time and promised greater freedom for women.
The Annual Gymkhana, promoted by the Bog of Allen Club, came off successfully at Oldtown, Naas, in tropical weather, and in the presence of a large and fashionable concourse of spectators. The Band of the 5th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers played a fine selection of music during the afternoon, under the baton of Mr. Colvet.
She took part in the Hallow Eve Race (for Pairs) with Rev. L. Fletcher, and also in the Bending Race (for Ladies). Her sister Bea also took part in the Bending Race. The final race of the day was a One-legged Race (Ladies and Gentlemen). It’s not known if either May or Bea took part.
Amy Biddulph and her aunt, Miss Biddulph of Bunrevan, took part in a Birr Barracks Entertainment, an account of which appeared in the Midland Counties Advertiser of the 27th October 1892. Amy was seventeen years old.
‘Miss Biddulph, of Bunrevan House, next contributed a pleasing number ‘Saved from the Wreck’ which was very favourably received…Miss Amy Biddulph, St. Kilda, the eldest of the pretty daughters of Colonel Biddulph was, in the absence of Mrs Frend, requested to furnish a song, and greatly pleased her audience by giving a charming rendering of ‘The old home beyond the hill.’ The youthful vocalist fully sustained the musical reputation of her respected family, and she made a most favourable impression. Possessing a voice of singular power and sweetness and under perfect control, this young lady gives every promise of becoming a valued addition to local musical circles.’
Amy played tennis, sometimes mixed doubles with her brother Charlie, sometimes with Emma McSheehy. One year the annual tennis ball was held in St. Kilda’s. ‘It was a lovely moonlight night high in midsummer and the hay had just been cut and put up in heaps to dry and next day we had a great time discovering hankies and fans etc., at a great distance from the house – even on the island which told a tale! Also we weren’t very pleased to find the haycocks had been flattened.’
However this life couldn’t last. Francis had commuted his pension to fund the purchase of the 50-acre farm. When the farm failed through a combination of the agent’s deliberate mismanagement, Francis’ lack of competency, and the difficulties arising from the agrarian unrest, together with the refusal on the part of one of his half sisters to help him financially, the original entail inheritance having been broken to support his half sisters. He had borrowed money at an exorbitant rate from Joyce the moneylender in Dublin, and he was bankrupt. The family was forced to leave St. Kilda’s. All their horses were rounded up to be taken away and sold, though the donkey Yankee and the old pony Countess were later saved. Amy ran until she came to the wishing well and lay on her face on the mossy bank and cried her heart out. Amy’s brother Charlie helped to save some silver and jewellery by packing them into his uniform cases. Bea and May carried out pictures and hid them in an old derelict lavatory in the bushes. Next day they left St. Kilda’s forever and stayed in lodgings in Birr.
Francis and Annabella moved first to Dalkey in County Dublin. Their youngest daughter Bea, went with them and trained to become a nurse. There was worse to come when Charlie died of typhoid on the 26th of June 1900 in Queenstown, South Africa.
May married Charles Francis Pease in Belfast in 1904. He was ‘a well known Irish cyclist’ and the son of Charles Clifford Pease of Hesslewood, Yorkshire.
Amy travelled to Belfast to become a companion to an elderly relative. She married Surgeon-Captain James Walker in Belfast in 1906. By a strange twist of fate he had served in Crinkill Barracks, in Birr. They had seen each other but had never met. He died of pneumonia 18 months later in Jacobabad, India.
Bea would later marry Archibald Mateer, stepson of John Parnell, whose brother Charles Stewart Parnell had founded the Land League.
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