offalyhistoryblog

Birr Courthouse, 1803-2013, part 2.Blog No 41, 05 August 2017.

This is the second part of the article on Birr courthhouse. It was held over from last week to allow for an article on the 100th anniversary of de Valera’s visit to the county.

We welcome blogs. An article can reach from a few hundred to 10,000 people. Please email us at info@offalyhistory.com should you want to contribute to this series. We publish every Saturday at 12 noon. To receive notification by email of issue of the blog subscribe to our free newsletter at http://www.offalyhistory.com. Better still join the society and make life-long friends. (more…)

August 5, 2017

Journalism, Legal history
Eamon de Valera made his first visit to Tullamore on 29 July 1917. Blog No 40, 29 July 2017.

‘England will give nothing to Ireland out of justice or righteousness. They will concede you your liberties when they must.’ T.M. Russell quoting C.S. Parnell

by Cosney Molloy

Intimations of the change of mood in Ireland were, of course, obvious from May 1916 and none more so than a year later when de Valera visited Tullamore on 29 July 1917, shortly after his win in the famous Clare by-election. (more…)

July 29, 2017

1917 Clare by-election, Eamon de Valera, O’Connor Park, Seamus O’Brennan, T. M. Russell
The Birr Courthouse: From Cooke to Courts Service 1803-2013, Part 1. Blog No 39, 22 July 2017.

The Birr courthouse has been in the news again lately in the context of its being used as an arts school for painters and others. It would be good to find a use for it that ensures the conservation of the building. Some years ago the idea was put forward that Birr should be considered the Bath of Ireland because it has such fine terraces, good shops in its narrow streets, fine churches, a Pugin convent (now the Birr library), the workhouse, John’s Hall, Oxmantown Hall, the Crotty church, maltings, a distillery and more. (more…)

July 22, 2017

Birr Courthouse, John Wright, Picture of Parsonstown, Thomas Lalor Cooke
What happened to Nancy Delaney of Moneygall? By Dr Liz Rushen. Blog No 38, 15 July 2017.

On 4 April 1836, Bidy (Bridget) and Nancy (Anne) Delaney wrote to the Lord Lieutenant in Dublin from their home at Moneygall, requesting information about emigrating to Van Diemen’s Land. The letter was well-written and the language used indicated that the sisters were responding to the newspaper notices and posters which had recently advertised the sailing of female emigrant ships to the Australian colonies: (more…)

July 15, 2017

Amelia Thompson, Bridget Delaney, Emigration, Lt. Charles Friend, Moneygall, Nancy Delaney, Tasmania, Van Dieman’s Land
The Tribune generations: from broadsheet to compact edition. Blog No 37, 08 July 2017.

The Midland Tribune and Tullamore Tribune went to a new compact edition in June 2017 after a broadsheet format in the case of the Midland since 1881 and that of Tullamore since 1978. A few whimsical reflections are ‘posted’ here on happenings since 1881, derived from many hours spent looking at the old files of both newspapers. (more…)

July 8, 2017

D. E. Williams, Durrow High Cross, Michael Scott, Midland Tribune, Tullamore DEW, Tullamore Regional Hospital, Tullamore Tribune
James I. Fanning, editor of the Midland Tribune, 1947-89. Blog No 36, 01 July 2017.

‘Father of Slieve Bloom’ and ‘Patron of the Tullamore Regional Hospital’

This blog is published to mark the new compact edition of the Midland Tribune and Tullamore Tribune (from 15 June 2017) and to reflect on the history of the Tribune since 1881. One who contributed much to the newspaper and to County Offaly was editor proprietor James I. Fanning of Birr who died in 1990. (more…)

July 1, 2017

James I. Fanning, Midland Tribune, Slieve Bloom, Tullamore Regional Hospital, Tullamore Tribune
The families and streets of Birr in 1821. Blog No 35, 23 June 2017.

While many are now familiar with the value of the 1901 and 1911 censuses for family history, less use has been made of these documents for social history and population studies. Great excitement was created when the censuses were made available free online through the good offices of the Irish government and the people of Mumbai in India who transcribed them for us at no great expense. Now the department of heritage proposes to make the 1926 census available by again outsourcing the work to a far country. However, we will have to wait until 2026. How much more excitement there is for some places where the 1821 census survives. This is the case with Birr and the entire barony of Ballybritt.

(more…)

June 23, 2017

1821 Census, Ballybritt, Birr, Thomas Lalor Cooke
From Edenderry to the Cape of Good Hope: The Story of the Right Rev. Bishop John Rooney, Vicar Apostolic of the Western Cape. By Maurice Egan. Blog No 34, 17 June 2017.

‘I found him’ I declared to my wife.

You see, as a child his was the Consecration Cross above my mother and father’s bed. On enquiring the significance of the cross, my mother would dismissively direct ‘Ask your father’. So, the story went that the cross came all the way back from Cape Town, South Africa to Tullamore, County Offaly, Ireland and was the Consecration Cross of the late Bishop John Rooney, Vicar Apostolic of the Western Cape Vicariate of the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa.

Bishop Rooney died 90 years ago in 1927. (more…)

June 17, 2017

Bishop John Rooney, P. & H. Egan
Burial Grounds of Birr, by Stephen Callaghan. Blog No 33, 09 June 2017.

Birr is well known for its Georgian streetscape, mighty telescope and castle, however it might be a surprise to learn of the number of burial grounds to be found in and around the town. A total of nine burial grounds can be found within a short distance of the town.

While this blog post does not claim to contain the definitive history of each burial ground, as such a work would be several volumes of books, it does however hope to make the reader aware of the number of burial grounds in the town and give some interesting information about each. (more…)

June 9, 2017

Birr, Birr Military Cemetery, Birr Workhouse, Bully’s Acre, Cemeteries, Clonoghill, Crotty’s Church, Graveyards
The Egan Brothers and the Battle of Messines, 7-14 June 1917, a precursor to the 3rd Battle of Ypres, by Maurice Egan. Blog No 32, 20 May 2017.

The battle was an offensive planned by the Allied forces on the western front, taking place from the 7^th to the 14^th June 1917. British, Canadian and ANZAC forces were actively involved in the objective of taking the German, heavily fortified and ‘impregnable’ 15kms long, Messines Ridge in western Belgium. The New Zealand division was assigned the task of attacking the southern bastion of the German defences upon the ridge. The Irish 16^th Division, including the Royal Irish Regiment were assigned the task of attacking the north eastern fortified ridge. (more…)

May 30, 2017

Battle of Messines, World War 1

‘Father of Slieve Bloom’ and ‘Patron of the Tullamore Regional Hospital’