Category: Agriculture

• 45 The landscape of east Offaly: Croghan Hill and Clonsast. Frank Mitchell describes the landscape of east Offaly taking in Croghan Hill and Clonsast bog. No. 45  in the Grand Canal Offaly series. Blog No 600, 17th April 2024

  

  Frank Mitchell (1912–97) was a distinguished but unassuming academic, environmental historian, archaeologist and geologist. While he had many academic writings his best known book was The Irish Landscape (1976) about which he was typically modest. In 1990 Mitchell published ‘a semi-autobiography’ The way that I followed. The title was a play on Robert Lloyd Praeger’s, The way that I went (Dublin, 1937). Praeger in his peregrinations was less kind to Laois and Offaly than Mitchell with Praeger’s observation that neither county need detain us long (p. 235) and ‘there is not much of special interest’ (p. 237). Westmeath he found to be more hospitable than Offaly having less than half of the amount of bog in Offaly and more pasture. We may look at the Praeger account in another blog

  (more…)

  April 17, 2024

  ---

• 26-27 Vallancey’s account of the north Offaly towns in 1771 and the improvements that were expected to follow canal navigation. No 26-27 in the Grand Canal Offaly series featuring Edenderry, Daingean, Tullamore, Clara and Ferbane, County Offaly. Blog No 581, 2nd March 2024

  

  This article looks at the north Offaly towns featured in Major (later general) Vallancey’s report carried out in 1771 and designed to support the construction of the new Grand Canal line to Tullamore and the Shannon.  Vallancey was then a young engineer, employed to report to the Commissioners of Inland Navigation and his findings were published in,  A Report on the Grand Canal or Southern Line (Dublin 1771).[1] This report is useful as a window on some of the north King’s County (hereafter generally referred to as Offaly) towns and villages.[2] 

  (more…)

  March 2, 2024

  ---

• Down the Decades – The journey with  George Griffith of Clonshanny, Clara, Ireland. By Tom  Minnock. Blog No 563, 10th Jan 2024

  Down the Decades was launched in Rahan Hall in November 2023 with a large audience and since then the new book by Tom Minnock has proved to be extremely popular with more copies printed to meet the demand. We asked Tom Minnock to tell us in this blog article about how the book came about. Born in 1922, the life of George Griffith tracked the life of the new Irish State, down through the decades. George never left his native Clonshanny giving him a local perspective on community life in the area during a fascinating period in the history of Ireland and the world. George Griffith died in March 2022.

  Tom’s book is a collection of George’s reflections on that century up to 2022. Tom has set the context both locally and globally for each decade.

  Tom Minnock writes:

  The book is out there now and it is a peculiar feeling that is hard to put into words as something that you have spent countless hours living with takes wings.  A few random words sketched out on a large note book and transferred on to a computer screen had grown and grown over time.  How did this come about and why do I think it was important to publish it and expose myself to my community to be judged? I would like to share the journey and in doing so challenge you all reading this to consider writing or sharing your stories with somebody who will set them down for a future generation to ponder and continue the process.

  (more…)

  January 10, 2024

  ---

• 2 The background to the development of the towns on the Grand Canal in County Offaly. ‘The man-made features of the Irish landscape, urban and rural, were created within little more than a century before the 1840s and remained largely unchanged till the 1950s.’[1]  Prepared by Offaly History. Blog No 558, 27th Dec 2023

  

  This week we look at the background to the Vallancey report on the Offaly towns carried out in 1771  to  facilitate the construction of the new Grand Canal line from Dublin to the Shannon.  Vallancey was then a young engineer, employed to report to the Commissioners of Inland Navigation and his findings were published in a little known and very scarce pamphlet, A Report on the Grand Canal or Southern Line (Dublin 1771).[2] This report is useful as a window on some of the north King’s County (hereafter generally referred to as Offaly) towns and villages and all the more so because of the scarcity of published accounts of the midland towns prior to 1800.[3]   The report was published in the same year as that of John Trail who was at the time employed by Dublin Corporation.[4]  Vallancey was writing with a mission.  He was being paid to spin the story of the benefits that would come from inland navigation and to highlight the difficulties with road transport and its adverse impact on competition and pricing of commodities so as to bolster the arguments in favour of canal construction and satisfy those who were paying his consultancy fees.

  Why not contribute to our series of blog articles on the Grand Canal in Offaly – info@offalyhistory.com.

  (more…)

  December 27, 2023

  ---

• When turkeys could fly: Irish Christmases in England. By Sylvia Turner. Blog No 556, 20th Dec 2023

  

  During the twentieth century a tradition arose of a Christmas bird, usually a turkey, being sent from Ireland to extended members of the family who had emigrated to the Britain.  They arrived in a canvas bag packed in straw. The Second World War disrupted the tradition. It did not resume immediately after the War as the British Government thought that birds would be traded on the black market in contravention of food rationing as explained by the New Ross Standard 22^nd October 22^nd 1948.

  (more…)

  December 20, 2023

  ---

• Soccer, Rugby and Dancing at Spollanstown, Tullamore, County Offaly. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 538, 28th Oct 28th 2023

  The growth of the soccer club and the rugby club from the mid-1960s led to increased pressure on the grounds such that from time-to-time fixture lists had to be substantially revised so that a pitch would be available. The soccer club enjoyed a tremendous burst of success right through the 1960s while the rugby club was fielding a 2nd XV from the mid-1960s. It was this pressure on the resources at Spollanstown that, more than anything else, led to the dissolution of the Sports Club in 1971. But a secondary factor was the collapse of the carnivals and marquee dancing as a profitable venture from 1966. Thereafter for some five years substantial revenue was earned from Saturday night dancing. These Saturday night hops were largely the responsibility of the rugby club and the profits generated made the argument for independence irresistible. In January 1968 the rugby committee noted that the Sports Club had had a disastrous year financially and would be down £300 but for the profit of £540 from the Saturday night dances. The view of the meeting was that the rugby club wanted a home of its own even if this meant leaving Spollanstown. Soon after the Sports Club met and agreed to dispose of the bungalow built for the caretaker adjacent to the grounds for the sum of £2,650 to pay off the liabilities of the trustees.

  

  (more…)

  October 28, 2023

  ---

• History of transport – a County Offaly, Ireland perspective: bogs, canals, rail, steam and petrol fuelled  motors. By Sylvia Turner. A contribution to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 526, 23rd Sept 2023

  As evidence of the climate crisis increases across the world, the need to find alternative forms of energy to fossil fuels has intensified. According to the Sustainable Energy Authority, Ireland imports a little over 70% of the energy used with the EU average, being 58%. Ireland’s. Transport accounts for the most demand, with over 95% of transport energy coming from fossil fuels. Other than environmental factors, being dependent on importation of fossil fuels has led to concern about energy security due to the geo-political climate, specifically today, the Russian Ukraine War.

  As a country without its own oil and a limited supply of gas and coal, peat has historically been an important fossil fuel for Ireland, providing it with some energy self-sufficiency.(Geological Survey Ireland) In recent decades,  however, there is growing recognition that burning peat for fuel is not sustainable as not only is it a highly carbon inefficient fuel, intact peatlands are an efficient carbon sink, whereas damaged peatlands are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. “. . . Ireland has more than half the European Union’s remaining area of a type of peatland known as raised bog, one of the world’s rarest habitats and, scientists say, the most effective land form on earth for sequestering carbon . . (New York Times 4 October 2022)

  (more…)

  September 23, 2023

  ---

• The Tullamore and County Offaly Agricultural Show: part of the heritage of the county and now a national event. Contributed by Offaly History to the Decade of Centenaries. Blog No 514, 13th August 2023

  The Tullamore and County Offaly Agricultural Show may be described as a unique cross urban/rural community undertaking and a traditional family day out attracting up to 60,000 people to the show. The Tullamore show was rekindled in 1991 by a small group of local people representing urban and rural communities. The Tullamore and Co. Offaly Agricultural Show Society Ltd was founded in 1990 and since its inception the Tullamore Show has grown to become one of Ireland’s largest and finest one day shows with entries from the 32 counties. In the early years of the 1990s the Tullamore Show was held in the grounds of Charleville demesne and castle in the month of August.

  

  (more…)

  August 13, 2023

  ---

• Traditional Architecture in Offaly: History, Materials and Furniture, 1800 to Present Day. Blog No 444, 3rd Dec 2022

  Kitchen, parlour and bedroom – transforming a house into a home

  Traditional Architecture in Offaly: History, Materials and Furniture by Rachel McKenna (Offaly County Council, 2022) is a wonderful new addition to the growing collection of quality publications on the county of Offaly and its place in Irish heritage. For long neglected by the travel writers who took the coastal route the county has made up for that oversight since the late 1970s with a whole series of publications. The writer is the county architect and well placed to observe the changing scene and to appreciate what was distinctive about the habitations of the ordinary people (the third and fourth class housing of the 1841-61 censuses) and what has survived to the present day. As the CE of Offaly County Council has written in the Preface

  (more…)

  December 3, 2022

  ---

• The Irish Land Commission Records, 1881-1992: the most important state body operating out of rural Ireland. When will it be open for research? Blog No 438, 12th Nov 2022

  First established under the 1881 Land Act, the Irish Land Commission began as a regulator of fair rents, but soon evolved into the great facilitator of land transfer. However, over emphasis on these aspects of its work can sometimes camouflage its equal significance as the main instigator and architect of rural reform. There is no doubt that for most of its existence from 1881 to 1992 the Land Commission was the most important state body operating out of rural Ireland where its long tentacles spread into every nook and cranny.  [Come to Professor Dooley’s lecture on Monday in Tullamore – see details below.

  (more…)

  November 12, 2022

  ---