offalyhistoryblog

Michael Scott: his Midland Connections and Networks. By Fergal MacCabe. No 2 in a series on the paintings and drawings heritage of County Offaly, 1750-2000, explored through the works of artists from or associated with County Offaly. Blog No 705, 2nd April 2025

The Murals Bar Cultural life in 1950s Tullamore centred around ‘The Murals’ bar. This was where us local artists, actors, historians and writers drank, clutching our copies of ‘Ulysses’ in its concealing brown paper cover while engaging in fevered and sparkling debates on cubism, existentialism, atonality and Marxism.

I may be exaggerating somewhat, but ‘The Murals’ really was our Deux Magots, our Cafe de Flore. The bar was the meeting place of what passed for an intelligentsia in Tullamore at a time, which, though it is now regarded as restrictive and obscurantist, I remember as stimulating and progressive. Maybe I was lucky.

The attraction of ‘The Murals’ was its design which was quite unlike any of the more traditional pubs of the town which were usually small, dark and poky. With its high ceiling, stripped down design, timber veneering, bright red stools, it was cool and elegant and above all- modern.
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April 2, 2025
Richard Rothwell the Irish Portrait Artist. By Daniel Byrne-Rothwell. No 1 in a series on the paintings and drawings heritage of County Offaly, 1750-2000 explored through the works of artists from or associated with County Offaly. Blog No 704, 26th March 2025

Richard Rothwell holds a place as Ireland’s foremost portrait painter of the 19th century but there has been much confusion about his identity owing to W.E. Strickland’s biography of him in ‘A Dictionary of Irish Painters’ (1913), which had him born in Athlone, a son of James Rothwell, and a descendent of the Rothwells of Co Meath, none of which was correct. This was repeated by other art historian and in a 1961 family history by his descendant Desmond Rothwell of Montreal, where Desmond wrote that Richard’s grandfather was Thomas Rothwell of Lisdaly, Co. Offaly, and that his father, James Rothwell, married Elizabeth Holmes and had seven children. He states that James fled Ireland in 1798, perhaps to America, after he allowed forces to rest overnight in his barns during the 1798 rebellion. This tradition, however, is not compatible another tradition recorded by Desmond of Richard supposedly being born in Athlone in 1800.
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March 26, 2025
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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March 22, 2025
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

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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March 19, 2025
Parsonstown/Birr Minor Model School.By Joseph Doyle. No 10 in the 2025 Anniversaries Series. Blog No 701, 15th March 2025

Between 1849 and 1867 a nationwide network of almost thirty Model Schools was established by the Board of National Education. These schools were under the exclusive control of the Board and it was expected that attendance would be drawn from the various denominations to be found in the area of each school’s location. The primary aim of these institutions was to provide a regulated system of training for candidate teachers. Due to a growing reluctance on the part of the Roman Catholic hierarchy and clergy to be associated with these institutions where they had no input into management, the establishments were decidedly skewed towards Ulster. This became even more pronounced when a scheme for the establishment of those schools termed Minor Model Schools – as opposed to the more prestigious District Model Schools – was put in train. Of the seven such schools, only one – Parsonstown Minor Model School – was located outside of Ulster. As such it was an exotic.
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March 15, 2025
Airships Over Ireland 740 AD to 2027. By Kevin Reid. Blog No 700, 12th March 2025

According to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA) there are no airships currently registered in Ireland. However, this was not always the case when as far back as 740 AD there were reported sightings of airships over County Offaly and for the duration of World War 1 these hydrogen-filled lighter than air (LTA) craft were a common sight over the coastal regions of Ireland.
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March 12, 2025
The Morrison family, jewellers, creative artists and photographers, Emmet Square, Birr – prominent members of the Birr Methodist community. By Michael Byrne. No 9 in the 2025 Anniversaries Series. Blog No 699, 8th March 2025

The Changing face of Birr in the 1900 to 1920 period will be the focus of a talk arranged by the Birr Historical Society for Monday 10 March at 8 p.m. in the County Arms Hotel. The illustrated lecture will focus on change in that period and the record of it provided by the early photographers and other sources. Once such was George Morrison son of Edward, both were jewellers and in addition George was a trained photographer who had opened a studio in his Birr jewellery shop in 1894. He was grandfather to the now acclaimed documentary artist George Morrison of Mise Éire (1959) fame. Another neighbour, Archie Wright of nearby Cumberland House, Birr, had also trained in photography and would assist his father in producing photographs weekly for the local King’s County Chronicle newspaper from 1885. At the time an innovation in the provincial press.
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March 8, 2025
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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March 5, 2025
The Beginning of the Gas Supply in Birr/Parsonstown. By Martin Hoctor. No. 8 in the Offaly History Anniversaries Series. Blog No 697, 1st March 2025

The first indication that Birr/ Parsonstown (as often called in the 19th cent.) had used gas to illuminate the town during the dark winter months was an editorial comment that appeared in the King’s County Chronicle of January 9 1850^[1] that extolled how the use of portable gas had made the town safer to move around at night.
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March 1, 2025
A short history of the Railway Cup football competition and Offaly players who won Inter Provincial medals. By Sean McEvoy, No 7 in the Anniversaries Series 2025. Blog No 696, 26th Feb 2025

The current success of the Irish rugby side owes much in the opinion of many people to the success of our four provincial sides in the various competitions that are open to them. Yet when one thinks of Inter Provincial competitions, it is the GAA Railway Cups that most older followers of sport remember with great fondness. Sadly these competitions were last played for in 2016, and don’t seem like resuming at any time in the near future. The popularity of the games which were usually played at final stage on St. Patrick’s Day reached a height in 1954 when a crowd of 49,023 attended the final that year in Croke Park. The events were still popular despite lower attendances into the next two decades but a dramatic decline in those travelling to the final took place in the 1980s. A number of reasons can be put forward for this trend including the decision to televise the final from 1962, the growth in popularity of the club championship since 1971, as well as the greater and ever growing emphasis on individual county training regimes over the last 50 years or so.
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February 26, 2025