Category: Archival collections

• The Groome Family of Knockdrin and Garr in the Heart of Uíbh Fhailí. ByPadráig Groome. Blog no. 807, 24 July 2026.

  The Groome Family of Knockdrin and Garr in the Heart of Uíbh Fhailí

  

  

  Introduction

  Nestled on the frontier of the ancient kingdom of Uíbh Fhailí, beneath the shadow of Croghan Hill, lies the historic townland of Knockdrin—a place long known as the “Hill of Conflict.” For centuries, this landscape formed part of the heartland of Gaelic Offaly, where kings ruled, battles were fought, and generations of ordinary families worked the land and built their lives.

  Like many Irish families, the history of the Groomes was preserved through seanchas, the ancient Irish tradition of storytelling. Long before history was written in books, it was carried in memory. Stories of ancestors, local events, victories, hardships and family life were passed from one generation to the next around the warmth of the turf fire by the seanchaí (traditional storyteller), ensuring that the history of a family and its community would never be forgotten.

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  July 24, 2026

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• Tullamore Town Park and its historic associations: a walk in the park on Saturday 18 July 2026, 10 30 a.m. to 12 noon. Blog no. 806 in the Offaly History Series, 16.7.2026. By Michael Byrne

  The second guided town walk on 18 July 2026 is alongside Tullamore River to the town park and Cormac Street. We start from Bridge House Hotel on Distillery Lane at 10 30 a.m. on Saturday 18 July and make our way through a part of the old Water Lane (now Main Street) taking the path along the river to Lloyd Town Park while reflecting on its historical features and change in the landscape of the area and the town of Tullamore since the 1700s. All are welcome and the tour is free. Michael Byrne is your guide for the morning. Richard Jack will talk about the town park and its trees.

  In the park close to what is now the filling station can be seen the remains of a corn mill of c. 1800 and where Daniel E. Williams of Tullamore DEW fame started work as a young man in the mid-1860s. He lived nearby in the miller’s house (now demolished) until Dew Park was completed in 1900. Beside the corn mill was a flour mill demolished in the early 1990s to facilitate the Bridge Centre and new apartments. It was known as Cooke’s Mill and was said to be haunted by ‘old Ned Cooke’.

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  July 16, 2026

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• Buildings and housing of the Tullamore Workhouse, 1839-1852. By J.J. Reilly. Blog no. 804 3 July 2026 in the Offaly History Blog Series

  The first meeting of the Tullamore Board of Guardians took place on Tuesday, the 26 November 1839, with 21 guardians present.[i] There were 24 elected members from 15 electoral divisions. The Union comprised an area of 246 square miles, covering 13 electoral divisions in King’s County and two in County Westmeath, with a total population of 53,905.[ii] It was headed by a chairman, John Hussey Walsh, with Charles Bagot as vice-chairman and John O’Brien deputy vice-chairman.

  

  Figure 1 Tullamore Union Workhouse (Ordnance Survey, 1889)

  The workhouse was situated on a 6.5 acre plot of land north of the Grand Canal on Emmet Road, or better known as Ardan Road. George Wilkinson, an Englishman, was the architect who followed similar designs to other poor houses built according to his designs in the years following the passage of the Irish poor laws Act. The Workhouse opened to inmates on the 9 June 1842. The workhouse cost £5,950 to build and a further £1,265 for fittings and furnish, bringing a total cost of 7,215.[iii]

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  July 3, 2026

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• A new study of Offaly’s two Great Houses at Birr and Charleville, Tullamore Blog no. 802 in the Offaly History Series, 18 June 2026.

  A new study of Offaly’s two Great Houses at Birr and Charleville, Tullamore just published

  Two of the great houses of Ireland, are here in County Offaly at Birr and Tullamore. Both regularly feature in articles and magazine stories. Birr Castle much more so as it has been the family home of the Parsons family, earls of Rosse, since the 1620s. The present earl and his wife from the death of the sixth earl in 1979, have worked for almost fifty years to promote the castle and gardens for the benefit for tourism and build on the enthusiasm of the sixth earl to create a science museum commemorating the work of the third and fourth earls and that of Charles Parsons, the engineer who helped win the First World War. Both earls worked tirelessly for the gardens at Birr Castle.

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  June 18, 2026

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• Portarlington market house: a place of many uses and now restored. By John Stocks Powell. Blog no. 801 in the Offaly History Blog Series, 12 June 2026

  On Thursday 23^rd April 2026 the new, changed, developed, market house in Portarlington’s square was formally opened, following over a year’s work on the structure to commence a new chapter in its long history.  The new occupier is the Portarlington Community Development Association, and the building has become available, for gatherings, conferences, presentations.  There is no doubt this is a construction for specific purposes.

  And the building has two names: market house, though there is no longer a market; and tholsel, a name given to municipal buildings in Ireland where tolls and dues were collected.  Tholsels had an authority in a town, and usually hosted corporation bodies.  Notable examples of tholsels in Ireland may be found at Carlingford, Clonmel, Kilkenny and Youghal.  In other locations tholsels have been changed into other uses, or gone to demolition, such as that in Mountrath.

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  June 12, 2026

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• The long and eventful life of the Book of Durrow. By Rachel Moss. Blog no. 799 in the Offaly History Series. 29 May 2026

  In the lead up to the feast day of Saint Colm Cille on 9 June we are glad to have this article thanks to Rachel Moss, Professor in the History of Art and Architecture, Trinity College, Dublin and author of The Book of Durrow, London, Thames and Hudson (2018), Blog Editor.

  The long and eventful life of the Book of Durrow. By Rachel Moss. Blog no. 799, http://www.offalyhistoryblog. The Book of Durrow, a 1,300-year-old manuscript of the four gospels associated with the ancient monastic site at Durrow Co. Offaly, is special for many reasons. It is the earliest surviving complete gospel book in northwest Europe; it contains exquisite full-pages of ornament that demonstrate knowledge of current art styles in Ireland, Britain, Roman Europe and Coptic Egypt; it is one of the earliest examples of perfectly executed ‘Insular’ script that was to become the hallmark of Irish art for the following centuries and it is thought to be the work of a single scribe. Most significant of all, is the fact that it has survived, in near perfect condition, for such a long time

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  May 29, 2026

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• Shannonbridge, a village, and a fortified military station in 1846. Tour on Sat. 23 May 2026 with Declan Ryan. Lecture Fri 22 May on Armstrong family. Offaly History Blog 797, 20/5/2026

  The first summer tour of 2026 is to Shannonbridge

  23 May 2026 Saturday, Tour of Shannonbridge depart at 10 a.m. from Offaly History Centre (let us know if you can share or need a lift). To meet at Shannonbridge at the Old Fort across the Bridge at 11 a.m. Our guide is Declan Ryan. Starting with coffee, followed by tours of the forts, the river and the town. To conclude about 1.30 p.m. with lunch at Killeen’s (you need to book this yourself). This is an excellent venue so why not make it a day out and bring the family and friends.  Declan will be an excellent guide Note Sturdy Footwear required for uneven ground and long wet grass. And on Friday evening in Banagher….

  TALK ON ARMSTRONG FAMILY HISTORY 22 May 5 p.m by Eduardo M. Garcia Fernandez Saenz from Buenos Aires

  Local history enthusiasts are in for a real treat next week when Eduardo M. Garcia Fernandez Saenz from Buenos Aires will give an important talk on his Armstrong ancestors, in particular Thomas St. George Armstrong who was born in Garrycastle, Banagher, in 1797. At the early age of twenty Thomas went to Argentina and between then and his death in 1875 he became a very successful businessman, married into aristocratic society and also became an adviser to the rulers of Argentina. The talk will be held in Crank House, Lower Main Street, Banagher at 5 p.m. on Friday 22nd May.  The event is organised by Offaly History and all are welcome. Enquiries to James Scully  at 085 710 7569.

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  May 20, 2026

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• Henry Robinson in conversation with Sandra Robinson about his life at Belmont and working with the Grand Canal Company from the 1930s. Part 2 (concluded). No. 794 in the Offaly History Blog Series, 1 May 2026.

  Down in the Jetty. In your early childhood? Yeah. What form of lighting was used down there?

  Hurricane lamps. All the time. All the time

  There was always a few hurricane lamps here and you’d light up and walk down with this hurricane lamp hanging out of you and, you know,

  And that was in the office and in the store.

  Oh, yeah. No other light only paraffin oil, hurricane lamps. During the time that the boats were traveling night and day, they always had a red light up in the stern of the boat.

  That’s up on the front of the boat?

  Yes. Just as one board could see another.

  And what? These lamps. What fueled the lamps?

  Just an ordinary pony and trap lamp, you see, with a candle in it. And that’s all just red surround. Well, that was before the all night traffic stopped. There was a big strike, and there were several boats tied up here.

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  May 1, 2026

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• The Goodbodys of Birr. By Michael Goodbody. Blog no. 793 in the Offaly History Blog Series, 24.4.2026

  The Goodbody family is widely associated with the prosperous Quaker industrial dynasty that emerged in Clara and Tullamore during the nineteenth century. However, this article focuses on a lesser-known and far less successful branch of the family: the descendants of Thomas Goodbody (1783–1848), brother of the prominent miller Robert Goodbody (1781–1860). While Robert’s line flourished, Thomas’s life and that of his children was marked by repeated financial failure, instability, and eventual decline, culminating in the disappearance of the Goodbody name from Birr by the early twentieth century.

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  April 24, 2026

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• Henry Robinson in conversation with Sandra Robinson about his life at Belmont from the 1930s and working with the Grand Canal Company. Offaly History blog Series, no. 791, 17 Apr. 2026

  Introduction

  My grandfather, Henry Robinson, was born on the 18th of November 1920 and lived his entire life in the countryside between the villages of Belmont and Cloghan in County Offaly in Ireland. He grew up on a small strip of land between the River Brosna and the Grand Canal.

  It was on the Grand Canal where his own father, G.R. worked on the local jetty, unloading goods and acting as an agent for Guinness. The Grand Canal to Shannon Harbour was opened in 1804, and for some 150 years was a vital industrial thoroughfare linking Dublin with Limerick.

  The canal ran from the centre of Dublin and through the Irish Midlands until it met the River Shannon. Barges would travel along the canal and then down the Shannon and across the waters of Lough Derg, until they reached the city of Limerick.

  Over the course of several months in 2003, my aunt Sandra Robinson sat down with her father, my grandfather, and recorded some 24 hours’ worth of material on cassette tapes detailing his life and his knowledge of farming, milling, the canal trade and the history of the Belmont area of West Offaly. I have digitised and remastered these recordings in order that they be preserved for posterity. Here I present some 35 minutes of cut together with  material detailing my grandfather and great grandfather’s experiences working on the Grand Canal.

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  April 17, 2026

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