Category: Agriculture

• The 1835 Poor Law Inquiry in Philipstown/Daingean: the state of Ballycommon and Kilclonfert, part three. No 784 in the Offaly History Blog series, 6 March 2026. By J.J. Reilly

  This is part three of a four-part blog on the 1835 Poor Law Inquiry into the baronies of Philipstown Upper and Lower. The respondents to the questionaries for Philipstown/Daingean were Rev P. Rigney and Roger North. Roger North was a landowner in King’s County. He inherited the Kilduff estate upon the death of his father, Roger North, in 1830. He was involved in estate management, including raising rents, which made him unpopular with local farmers and other landlords.[1] North was shot dead in 1850.

  Transcripts of the Poor Law Reports – Continued The questions raised by the Poor Law Commissioners for the local respondents are in the column on the left

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  March 6, 2026

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• GLORY CLAFFEY! Paddy Claffey, Noggus, Co. Offaly, who has been officially declared the oldest man in Ireland. By Frances Browner. Blog no 783 in the Offaly History Series, 27 Feb. 2026

  Paddy Claffey was born in Noggusboy, Ferbane, on April 17th, 1921, three months before the end of Ireland’s War of Independence. His parents were Sarah (Flaherty) of Gallen and Kieran Claffey, Noggus. The youngest of their ten children, Paddy had six sisters – Maryann, Maggie, Kit, Ellen, Jane, and Sarah – and three brothers – Ned, Kieran, who died aged 27, and Johnny, at birth.

  The siblings attended Gallen NS, where Paddy’s teacher was Master Goodwin. In Brendan Ryan’s book, On Gallen Green, a 1927 school photograph on page 122 shows P.J. Claffey in the front row.

  For his 90th birthday party in the Bridge House Hotel, I had the pleasure of interviewing my granduncle and writing his story. Paddy was a natural storyteller. Recalling his first time away from home for a long spell, he was thirteen and had taken an awful pain. Doctor Maher advised hiring a car to drive him to Tullamore. The hospital was the very same as a big hayshed, Paddy said, with auld lads smoking; they couldn’t see one another with the smoke. His sister, Ellen, cycled in to see him every day, and the woman who owned Lawless’s shop sent her two daughters with books and sweets. He was glad to go home, but couldn’t get used to the small house in Noggus for the longest time.

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  February 27, 2026

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• The 1835 Poor Law Inquiry in Philipstown, part two. No 777 in the Offaly History Blog series, 30 Jan. 2026. By J.J Reilly

  This is part two of a three-part blog on the 1835 Poor Law Inquiry into the baronies of Philipstown Upper and Lower. The respondents to the questionnaires for Philipstown were Rev P. Rigney and Roger North. Roger North was a landowner in King’s County. He inherited the Kilduff estate upon the death of his father, Roger North, in 1830. He was involved in estate management, including raising rents, which made him unpopular with local farmers and other landlords.[i] Roger North was shot dead in September 1850.

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  January 30, 2026

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• Reports from the 1835 Poor Law Inquiry in Daingean/ Philipstown, County Offaly. By J.J. Reilly. Blog No 773, 3rd Jan 2026

  Background to the Poor Law Inquiry

  The Commission of Enquiry into the Poorer Classes in Ireland was the result of the United Kingdom government’s investigation of rapid increases in population living in extreme poverty. From their official reports in the post-Napoleonic period Ireland’s growth-rate had remained high. In the 1831 census Ireland returned a population of 7.8 million up from 6.8 million in 1821. In the year 1831 the population baronies of the Upper and Lower Philipstown was 17,311. The town of Daingean had a population of 1,454.[i] For King’s County in general please see our previous blog.[ii]

  In the baronies of Philipstown Upper and Lower two commissioners were appointed: Jonathan Binns and James O’Hea. It should be noted, previous to the dissolution of the Parliament of Ireland  in 1800, Philipstown returned two members to that legislature.[iii] In 1835 Tullamore became the county town and with that the assizes were moved there from Philipstown.[iv] As the Poor Law Commissioner Jonathan Binns reflected:

  ‘Its trade has disappeared – many of its houses are in ruins – its shops are falling into decay – and its population, as these signs sufficiently indicate, are poor and wretched.’[v]

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  January 3, 2026

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• The ‘King Oak’ of Charleville Demesne, Tullamore. Blog no 772 from Offaly History, 29 Dec. 2025.

  The demesne of Charleville must rank as one of the last unspoilt areas of tranquillity in the vicinity of Tullamore and is much loved by the inhabitants of the town who are proud of the great oaks still surviving after hundreds of years and of the great Gothic mansion of Charleville Forest. The demesne is about one mile south of Tullamore on the Birr Road and encloses some 1,142 acres, most of which is planted with oaks, ash, elms and some conifers.

  Charles William Bury, then Lord Tullamore and soon to be earl of Charleville (1806), commenced building his castle in 1801 and completed the work of fashioning the demesne in the gothic sturm und drang manner by 1812. It was then the romantic period in literature and still is for many who walk in the demesne today. The old pre 1740 name for Charleville was Redwood and the first mansion house of Redwood was erected in 1641. When Charles Moore, Lord Tullamore, purchased the house and demesne in 1740 he called it Charleville. The old house was close to the existing farmhouse with the grotto of 1741 to the rear of the reconfigured river Clodiagh flowing through the demesne.

  

  Perhaps in deference to the oak trees in the vicinity Charles William Bury called his new house ‘not Charleville Castle but Charleville Forest. Already there was one giant tree known as the “King Oak” dominating like a watch tower the carriage drive to the town’. Look at the span of its gigantic arms.  One branch on the right of the photograph stretches 30 yards parallel to the ground.  The Bury family believed that if a branch fell, one of the Burys would die, so they supported the great arms with wooden props.  Of course there was nothing they could do to protect the trunk. In late 1963 a thunderbolt splintered the main trunk from top to bottom.  The tree survived, but the head of the family, Colonel Charles Howard-Bury, then of Belvedere, Mullingar dropped dead a few weeks later.

  

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  December 29, 2025

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• TRANSITION: Irish peatlands in a changing climate. A new photographic study of a landscape in flux. Blog No 769, 20th Dec 2025

  Ireland’s peatlands have long been a defining feature of the country’s landscape and identity—vast, open expanses that have shaped communities, powered homes, and inspired generations. But in recent years, these peatlands have entered a new chapter. TRANSITION, a striking new photographic book, captures this moment of profound change with sensitivity and depth.

  In 2019, a High Court ruling mandated that commercial peat harvesting on bogs over 30 hectares would now require planning permission. This shift accelerated the decline of industrial peat extraction, a process already underway as awareness grew of the ecological importance of peatlands. These landscapes, once seen primarily as fuel sources, are now recognised as vital carbon sinks and havens for biodiversity.

  TRANSITION captures this story through objects in time – each one a tangible link to the past, a marker of the present, or a symbol of the future. Structured in a unique A–Z format, the book presents a curated collection of items that reflect the evolving relationship between people and peatlands. These objects are thoughtfully juxtaposed to highlight the dramatic changes in land use, environmental values, and cultural identity. Each item occupies a liminal space, bridging the industrial legacy of peat harvesting with the emerging ecological renewal.

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  December 20, 2025

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• Change, resilience and imagination at Lough Boora: New Sculptural Works by Kevin O’Dwyer unveiled at Lough Boora Discovery Park. Blog No 763, 29th Nov 2025

  Two new sculptural works by artist Kevin O’Dwyer have been officially launched at Lough Boora Discovery Park, marking the first major additions to the park’s sculpture collection in over a decade. The works, titled Regeneration and Light as a Feather, reflect the park’s evolving story of transformation from industrial peatlands to a landscape of ecological restoration, culture and public enjoyment.

  

  Regeneration draws inspiration from the seed as a symbol of renewal, growth, and cyclical change. Rising vertically from the ground, the work acknowledges the industrial history of the site while pointing toward its continued regeneration.

  

  Light as a Feather offers a contrasting visual language — a suspended, airy form that engages with space, balance, stillness and the quiet expansiveness of Boora’s open horizon.

  “Lough Boora is a place shaped by change, resilience and imagination,” said Kevin O’Dwyer. “These works are rooted in the landscape’s capacity to hold memory while continually becoming something new. O’Dwyer says it has been an honour to contribute to this next chapter in the park’s cultural and environmental renewal.”

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  November 29, 2025

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• The Irish National Stud, 1900-2025: Horses, Politics and Elitism (2025). A new book by Declan Monaghan. Blog No 719, 7th June 2025

  Background

  One Wednesday morning in November 2013, as I painstakingly ascended several flights of stairs to reach the summit of the Offaly Adult Education building in Tullamore to inquire about the Leaving Certificate subjects of History and English, my mind raced at breakneck speed—not out of excitement for the prospect of taking the course, but in search of a plausible excuse to leave the building as soon as possible and avoid any interaction! This was the last place I wanted to be, but relentless pressure from my ex-wife, Orla, forced me to bite the bullet and investigate the prospect of returning to education. Orla displayed foresight as she observed something within me that she believed could thrive in the classroom environment. Unsurprisingly, I disagreed! I was more familiar with the confines of the construction industry! But to appease her, I agreed to ask about the course, with no intention of signing up! Nonetheless, my cunning plan was shattered faster than the speed of light when I was offered a place starting that same Wednesday morning. A sense of shock and horror enveloped me. Firstly, I was six weeks late beginning the course, and secondly, I had to walk into a room of students, most younger than me!

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  June 7, 2025

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• Tullamore in the Sixties. A new book of essays on Tullamore in an eventful decade, just published. Blog No 674, 29th Nov 2024

  This volume of essays brings together the contributions of eighteen people who kept a keen eye on developments in Tullamore in the 1960s. Perhaps none more so than the late Joe Kenny who came to Tullamore in the 1950s as a vocational schoolteacher and was held in high esteem for his sound judgement and abilities as an impartial chairman. In that capacity he was the inaugural president of Tullamore Credit Union in 1963. Fergal MacCabe, as a Tullamore native, with a professional life in architecture and town planning in Dublin, brings a unique contribution by way of his recollections of Tullamore in the 1950s and his review of the first town plan of the 1960s. The same can be said of Vincent Hussey as a planning officer with Offaly County Council with his recollections of Tullamore since the 1960s. Niall Sweeney, an engineer and former Offaly County Manager, takes a close look at the provision of public infrastructure in Tullamore over the period from the 1960s to 2014. The late Jack Taaffe, as town clerk in Tullamore in 1970–72 demonstrates just how underfunded urban authorities were in those years. He went on to become county manager in Westmeath presiding over the progress of the county from 1981 to 1988. Michael Byrne looks at the history of business in Tullamore and sought to cover the principal enterprises of the 1960s in manufacturing, distribution, shopping, entertainment and dancing. Noel Guerin, as a former employee of ‘the bacon factory’, was able to write of a company that employed up to 100 people in Tullamore over forty years and made the name of the town famous for the Tullamore sausage. Ronnie Colton, from his own extensive involvement in the motor business brings a knowledge from the garage floor and sales yard that few others can match.

  

  Alan Mahon, as the grandson of an innovative cinema proprietor, recalls two cinemas in Tullamore whose cultural contribution is perhaps forgotten now but was all important to the people of Tullamore and district over a period of sixty or seventy years, if one takes it from the commencement of the Foresters cinema (later the Grand Central) in 1914.

  Sport, so important to so many, brings us to the essay by Kevin Corrigan who looks at a formative decade leading on to the GAA Senior Football All-Ireland victories in the 1970s. Kevin had the challenging job of reducing to a short essay what could fill twenty books were one to address in detail each of the sporting activities that came to the forefront in the sixties.

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  November 29, 2024

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• Memories of Offaly: celebrating the mix of rural and urban life in the 1960s and 1970s by Killina, Rahan man Aidan Grennan. Blog No 667, 6th Nov 2024

                                     Memories of Offaly can best be described as opening a diary into life in Co Offaly, over the last 50 or 60 years. The author of the book is Aidan Grennan, from Killina, Rahan. Aidan is to be congratulated on his second book. Both books are available from Offaly History Centre and online at http://www.offalyhistory.com

  ‘It is a nostalgic glimpse into the people and events in the county within my own life-time’ said Aidan. He commented: ‘I think it’s important now and then, to take a look-back over the years. I love nostalgia’, though we have to live in the present.

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  November 6, 2024

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