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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Thomas Lalor Cooke the Mr ‘B’ of Birr with his Dublin Penny Journal article of 1834 on Seir Kieran. No. 16 in the 2025 Offaly History Anniversaries Series. Blog No 715, 28th may 2025
John O’Donovan was in Birr in early 1838 and having obtained a copy of The Picture (1826) by Thomas Lalor Cooke thought better of him as a scholar, but one subject to some foolish ideas after the school of Charles Vallancey. O’Donovan identified Cooke as ‘B’ in the Penny Journal articles he wrote and one of these was on the monastery of Seir Kieran at Clareen. It is interesting to compare the article in the 1834 issue of the DublinPenny Journal with that in the 1875 publication. Also of interest is to take into account the manuscript annotations to the Picture of 1826, now in Birr Castle Archives. And if that was not enough Cooke has letters and other MS sources in the RIA, NLI and the National Archives. In his letters of 1850 to the Cork antiquarian, John Windle (now in RIA) he tells Windle that he was the author under the pseudonym ‘B’ of articles in the Penny Journal and under his own initials of articles in the Dublin Evening Post. Despite the published work of George Petrie on the Round Towers (1833 and 1845) Cooke continued to put forward the Vallancey-style notion that the origin of the round towers lay in early times and were temples of fire.
Read more: Thomas Lalor Cooke the Mr ‘B’ of Birr with his Dublin Penny Journal article of 1834 on Seir Kieran. No. 16 in the 2025 Offaly History Anniversaries Series. Blog No 715, 28th may 2025 (more…)
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Thomas Lalor Cooke (TLC) ‘the only antiquarian now living’ according to John O’Donovan in letters from Birr in 1838. The first in a series of articles to mark Cooke anniversaries. No. 15 in the 2025 Anniversaries Series from Offaly History. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 714, 21st May 2025
Thomas Lalor Cooke’s Picture of Parsonstown was first published in 1826 and a revised edition by his son William Antisell Cooke in 1875. So this year marks the 150th anniversary of the revised issue and in 2026 we mark the 200th anniversary of T.L. Cooke’s first and now rare book, the Picture of Parsonstown. A reprint of the 1875 greatly expanded history was issued by Esker Press in 1989 with a new introduction by Margaret Hogan. It is now also out of print. A reissue of the 1826 book is now under active consideration.
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‘No Entry’ The Inaccessibility of Two Important Amenity Sites in Offaly (Durrow Abbey and Tullamore Harbour). By Fergal MacCabe. Blog No 706, 5th April 2025
How often have we seen relatively small scale and cheap solutions deferred in the expectation that more ambitious longer-term projects will arrive at some future date to solve everything? Frequently the costs of the more grandiose schemes balloon over time and their implementation indefinitely deferred or even abandoned. Meanwhile the problem gets progressively worse – often to the point that any solution becomes unrealistic.
While the making of good long-term plans must always be pursued, the delivery of shorter term and achievable remedies should not be easily dismissed. Two high profile projects in the Tullamore area offer classic examples of the dilemma.
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Durrow Monastic Site and High Cross, County Offaly: Stopford Green, the OPW, the loss of public access, and the lost opportunities in endless delays. By Michael Byrne. Blog No 703, 22nd March 2025
Research by Angus Mitchell into the life and work of Alice Stopford Green (1847–1929), ‘the passionate historian’ as R.B. McDowell called her, brought Mitchell to Durrow, Tullamore, County Offaly in March 2024 to explore a monastic site that Green had visited in the company of the solicitor, antiquarian and nationalist, Francis Joseph Bigger (1863–1926) in September 1912. Green and Bigger would have shared cultural interests in the Celtic Revival. As the DIB contributor, Joseph McBrinn noted, Bigger saw his role as ‘promoting all things Irish including numerous processions, pageants, ceilidhs and feiseanna’. Angus Mitchell will be speaking on Durrow in 1914 at Offaly History Centre, Bury Quay, Tullamore on Monday 24 March at 7 30 p.m. and you are welcome to attend. See his blog in this series earlier this week.
Today, 113 years on, the same story is playing out about Durrow and is ‘ongoing’ for the past 35 years. Now there is no access to Durrow high cross and neither is the public right of way to the site adhered to by the OPW and this after a spend of €5 million to protect and promote the monastic site.
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Sacred Space and Historical Controversy: the Durrow Abbey Dispute of 1914. By Angus Mitchell. offalyhistoryblog.com series. Blog No 702, 19th March 2025
In early 1914, a controversy erupted over public access to Durrow Abbey that illuminates broader tensions regarding cultural heritage, religious identity, and national monuments in pre-independence Ireland. The dispute began when the Local Government Board ordered the closure of Durrow’s graveyard, citing “insanitary conditions.” This administrative decision catalyzed a remarkable public debate that revealed deep fissures in how Ireland’s sacred spaces were controlled, preserved, and accessed.
On Monday, 24 March. at 7 30 p.m. (please note the earlier time) Angus Mitchell will speak at Offaly History Centre, Tullamore. All are welcome. The public lecture is titled:
Sacred Space and Public Access: The Durrow Abbey Controversy of 1914
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The 1914 controversy over public access to Durrow Abbey serves as a compelling lens through which to examine broader questions of cultural heritage, national identity, and preservation rights in pre-independence Ireland. When historian Alice Stopford Green published her indignant letter about restricted access to this ancient monastic site, she ignited a significant public debate that transcended local boundaries. The ensuing discourse, played out in Ireland’s leading newspapers, revealed deep tensions about proprietorial rights, Protestant privilege, and the role of local authorities in monument preservation. This controversy emerged at a crucial moment when sacred spaces were being reimagined as vital coordinates in Ireland’s cultural landscape. The debate highlighted a fundamental disparity in how ancient monuments were protected under British law in Ireland compared to Britain itself, raising questions about cultural sovereignty that would resonate well beyond independence. Though the immediate controversy lasted only weeks, its implications for heritage management and public access endured well past 1922. That Durrow Abbey remains largely inaccessible to the public in 2025 invites reflection on the persistent challenges of balancing preservation, private property rights, and public cultural access. This lecture examines how historical controversies about sacred spaces shaped, and continue to shape, dialogues about cultural identity and heritage management in Ireland.
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Medieval Lynally (600-1600) A millennial Church. By Rory Masterson. No 1 in the Offaly History Monastic Series 2025 with two lectures and a tour to follow in March-June. Offaly History Blog No 698, 5th March 2025
The origin of Lynally as a religious centre can be traced to Colmán who founded a monastery here in the seventh century. His death is recorded in 611. Colmán himself was from Connor in modern day county Antrim. His family were of the Dál Sailni clan who ruled the area around Connor. According to an early Latin life of Colmán, it was St. Columcille who requested that a site be granted to Colmán for a monastery and as a result Aed Sláine (d.604) granted him Lynally.
Three ‘Lives’ of St. Colmán have come down to us, two in Latin and one in Irish. It should be pointed out that these so called ‘Lives’ are not biographies. Written long after the saint’s death the so called lives are in fact glorified fictional accounts of the saint’s life designed to justify property claims or political allegiances of his foundation by linking them to purported events in the founder’s life. Thus the close relationship between Lynally and St. Columcille’s foundation at Durrow is depicted in the lives by tales of friendly encounters between Colmán and Columcille. We have already seen how the early life of Colmán credits the founding donation of the site of Lynally to the request of Columcille while a later Irish Life even claims that Columcille’s sister was Colman’s aunt.
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Holy Wells in County Offaly: the search is on ‘Do you know about your local holy well, do you visit it, can you share your knowledge and experiences’. Under the current Offaly Heritage Plan we are carrying out research and keen to hear from you – email heritage@offalycoco.ie . Blog No 694, 19th Feb 2025
There are more than sixty Holy Wells in County Offaly along with springs, mineral spas and local wells. Their setting varies from directly on the roadside such as St Finan’s at Cumber East, to the middle of a field (St Molua’s Well, Roscomroe).
They can be associated with a neighbouring church (St Lugna’s Well, Letter), or remain isolated from a religious setting in some cases located in the middle of agricultural land (St Brigid’s Well or Toberneera, Castlearmstrong).
Many of the wells have an associated patron saint, the spelling of which may have changed many times across verbal, mapping and literary references, while in some cases the name changed entirely to a different saint.
While difficult to date, most are recorded monuments, an early reference is noted by Thomas Lalor Cooke (Cooke’s History of Birr), quoting from the Annals of Clonmacnoise that ‘a person named torbaid was comorban of St Patrick previous to the year 758, when his son Gorman died on a pilgrimage at the well of St Fineen at Clonmacnoise’.
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Mapping the Past, Shaping the Future: the Changing Story of Ireland’s Boglands. Blog No 692, 12th Feb 2025
News of a temporary exhibition at NLI Kildare Street, Dublin for February only
A new temporary exhibition at the National Library of Ireland explores the history of the Irish Bogs Commission and how its 19th-century maps are now shaping the future of Ireland’s peatlands.
Peatlands are among the world’s most vital carbon stores and play a crucial role in climate regulation. But when they’re drained, they lose their carbon sink potential and unique biodiversity and contribute to climate change. In Ireland, peatland drainage for agriculture and industry has shaped the landscape for centuries. Now, as part of national efforts to combat climate change, restoration of these ecosystems is a top priority.
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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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