In the history of the GAA, Inter Provincial competitions have had three distinct phases. The first was known as the Railway Shield and began in 1905 when the Great South and Western Railway Company provided two shields for the winners of the competition. A rather strange rule included in the competition was that the first team to win the shield in two consecutive years, or three times in total, would be deemed the outright holder of the trophy. Not surprisingly, the football version only lasted three years in total as Munster won the 1906 and 1907 deciders after Leinster had captured the inaugural title in 1905. The hurling title lasted a little longer and resulted in a play-off to decide the outright winners in 1908 which Leinster won.
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The first public elections by secret ballot in King’s County/Offaly were held in Birr and Tullamore in October 1872. Offaly History Anniversaries Series, no. 1 of 2025. Blog No 687, 8th January 2025
The year 2024 saw the local and general elections held and, of course, voting was by secret ballot. The polling centres of 2024 were remarkably quiet as if one were attending confession in a quiet corner of a church. Long gone were the days when a glass of Birr or Banagher or Bernie Daly’s Tullamore whiskey would be proffered by candidates or their agents to thirsty voters. The right of secret ballot extends back to 1872 and the Ballot Act. Before that time voting was in public and held in the towns in Offaly of Tullamore, Birr and Philipstown (Daingean).The Birr-based Chronicle newspaper had thought to describe the polling booth as the voter having to go ‘behind a screen, a la Punch and Judy mode, and there make the sign of the cross with a pencil on the voting paper opposite the names of the favourite men’. This was 50 years before the STV (single transferable vote was used in parliamentary elections in 1922 (see note 5 below) The Chronicle had noted in 1872 the emergence of the polling districts and the practice before 1872 in parliamentary elections:
Formerly, [before 1800] the county sent six members to the Irish Parliament, two for the county at large, and two for each of the boroughs, Philipstown and Banagher; but since the Union its representation has been limited to the two members for the county, and in 1836 the number of registered votes amounted to 1700. The election under the new Ballot Act will, of necessity, assume a different form, and will not be confined to Tullamore, Parsonstown and Philipstown.
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The changing face of Tea (‘Tay’) Lane/O’Connell Street and Tullamore town centre shopping. Blog No 685, 30th Dec 2024
Much has been written about the changing face of Offaly towns in the 1900-23 period and the same can be said for the period from the mid-1990s to 2007. For towns such as Tullamore the recession lasted up to about 2017 and since then building has improved. The former Tea/ ‘Tay’ Lane, later called O’Connell St (from Stella Press to the canal bank), saw change in the 1950s with the demolition of the old Tea Lane houses. Next came the new wine warehouse for D.E. Williams (now Offaly History Centre, also in the early 1950s), followed by the new Irish Mist warehouses in the early 1970s and early 1980s. This was followed in 1982 by the opening of the Quinnsworth supermarket on part of the Williams ‘yard’ behind the head office of that company. Three years later, in 1985 the Irish Mist bottling facility was sold to C&C and the business transferred to Clonmel with the loss of up to 75 local jobs. Urban renewal tax relief in the late 1980s and early 1990s saw two blocks built close to the lane and off Kilbride Street by M/s Forrestal and Walsh for use as shops and apartments. (Chipland, florist etc).
In a departure from the Gibney plan the town council sold sites in nearby St Kyran Street for offices and apartments as part of the urban renewal scheme. About 1994 the large carpark was developed by the council from lands that had been set aside for the Kilbride park and playground. The year 1995 saw the conversion of the 1929 large Williams oats store to a department store by Tom McNamara. By 2007 the entire area was sold to an investment company for about €50 million with full planning for a supermarket and shops granted in 2009. Alas it was too late as the recession was developing and Ireland (outside of Dublin) did not recover for up to ten years. It was a case of ten years of plenty (the Tiger Years) followed by ten desperately lean years. Covid came next in 2020—21 and it was 2022–3 before the kettle was on the boil again in Tea Lane. Aldi demolished the Irish Mist warehouses and, at a cost of perhaps €1 million. the old 1929 store and former Texas shop that had been opened to great fanfare in 1995.
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New books on Offaly History in 2024: another good crop. Blog No 681, 15th Dec 2024
The year 2024 was another good year for publications on Offaly history with overviews of County Offaly towns, books on Tullamore, Birr and a musician from Killeigh who acquired fame in the United States. We also had Cloneygowan, canals, peat, a Feehan bibliography and natural history.
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Commemorating Offaly’s rocky road to its first All-Ireland success 100 years ago. A big day for the men of Kinnitty, Drumcullen, Coolderry and Birr. By Sean McEvoy. No 24 in the Anniversaries Series posted by Offaly History. Blog No 679, 11th Dec 2024
On the morning of Sunday October 12th 1924, two excursion trains from Birr and Tullamore bringing approximately 1000 Offaly supporters left the county for Croke Park in Dublin. As the Birr train pulled into Ballybrophy, a large train full of Cork supporters was seen in waiting. However, as the Offaly train was placed in front of its Cork counterpart for departure, one excited Faithful supporter prophetically exclaimed, ‘Gosh we’re ahead of Cork, we’ll be that way all day’. His enthusiasm was greeted with the response ‘we hope so’, as the Midland Tribune (MT) reporter who witnessed the event noted the contrast in the Cork supporters who seemed unable for a moment to countenance ‘the idea of defeat’, while the Offaly supporters were travelling more ‘in hope’ of victory but with the knowledge that their team which had come through a long campaign ‘were determined to fight in every ounce of their strength’ to land the county’s first national title.
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Tullamore in the Sixties launch – pictures capturing the period. Blog No 678, 7th Dec 2024
Tullamore in the Sixties was launched to great acclaim on 6 December. Most of the contributors living in Ireland participated in the proceedings with three to five minute talks. The book was launched by architect, town planner and artist Fergal MacCabe. A few of his own watercolours grace the contents of this 450 page book with extensive essays (from 18 writers) and 350 pictures. The book is available from Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore and Midland Books and the pop up at Bridge Centre. It can also be ordered on line.
Some of the contributors to Tullamore in the Sixties Some of the pictures capture the period:
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‘Let Lemass lead on’ and ‘Lets Back Jack’ – politics in Offaly in the 1960s when three new TDs were returned in 1969 – just 55 years ago. A General Election special from Ballynagh South. Blog No 675, 30th Nov 2024
As we wait the outcome of the General Election today (30 Nov. 2024) we could look back to 1969 when Offaly returned three TDs in the five-seater Laois Offaly Constituency.[1]
How many in Offaly did not vote yesterday? We should recall that between 1885 and 1922 there was no opportunity to vote in North Offaly save in the Adams- Graham by-election of 1914 when Graham won by 79 votes as an unofficial candidate not backed by the Irish Parliamentary Party.
For the 1969 general election the slogan was ‘Let’s back Jack’. It was a campaign in which Fianna Fáil ran five candidates and secured three seats in Laois-Offaly. Tom Enright of Fine Gael picked up the O’Higgins seat. None of the winning candidates was from Tullamore. It was a reflection of the fact that Fianna Fáil (F.F.) back to the late 1920s, was strongest in Clara, Ferbane and west Offaly. In the event Offaly secured three new TDs and a first for the towns of Clara and Birr where Ber Cowen (F.F.) and Tom Enright (F.G.) were elected while Ger Connolly of Bracknagh was elected for F.F., having been added to the ticket. Fianna Fáil, with the help of some adroit redrawing of boundaries, secured two more seats than they had in 1965, and Labour had set itself against a coalition. Fianna Fáil won 51.7 of the seats with 45.7 per cent of the votes.[2]
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The Education Inquiry 1824-26, – its Context and its findings for Killoughey, County Offaly. By Damian White. No 23 in the Offaly Anniversaries Series. Blog No 672, 23rd Nov 2024
The 1824 Survey of Irish schools and the reason it was carried out must be put in context. That context probably can be traced back to the Gavelkind Act, enacted in the Protestant Irish Parliament 120 years earlier in 1704. This act brought into force what became known infamously as the Penal Laws.
The Penal Laws were intended to protect the interests of the Protestant Ascendency from any future threat from the Catholic majority. Amongst these laws was one stating that “No Catholic may attend a university, keep a school, or send his children to be educated abroad. £10 reward is offered for the discovery of a Roman catholic teacher.”
These laws were severe, but as time went by, were more observed in the breach. Teachers, many of whom lived an itinerant lifestyle for fear of discovery and arrest, moved around the country, being sheltered by families in the areas where they would provide lessons for local children, often in outdoor, secluded areas, protected from view by hedges and the alert observations of a well-positioned look-out. This led to the use of the term ‘hedge school’, the convenor of which was known as the ‘Hedge School Master’.
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Up Offaly: Offaly’s Day at the Heritage Council Heritage Week Awards in Dublin on 15 November 2024. ‘Well that Beats Banagher’ and Ballycumber, Lemanaghan and Shinrone. Blog No 670, 16th Nov 2024
It was a big day for Offaly at the Heritage Week Awards held in the wonderful Royal Hospital Kilmainham on Friday 15 November 2024. As Amanda Pedlow, the Offaly Council Heritage Officer noted:
It was Offaly’s day at The Heritage Council Heritage Week Awards in Kilmainham today. James Scully is the well-deserved winner of the national Heritage Hero Award.
Ballycumber Tidy Towns Group won the Water Heritage Day award with their ‘Folly Tales and Treasure Trails’ event; The Heritage Boat Association and Inland Waterways Association with Waterways Ireland were runners up in this category with their ‘A Boatman’s Journey: Navigating the heritage of the Grand Canal’ held in Tullamore.
Lemanaghan Bog Heritage and Conservation Group were runners up in the Intangible Cultural Heritage Award (The Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh Award) for their project recording traditions and folklore of Lemanaghan.
Shinrone Heritage Group won the County Award for their Shinrone Gown project.
Well done to all the winners and to the 70+ organisers of events for this year’s Heritage Week in Offaly.
The big cheer was for the win by James Scully of the 2024 Heritage Hero award.
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