Many gems await display in new Athy museum

There was a good turnout at the AGM of the Athy Historical Society held at the Arts Centre in Woodstock Street last Tuesday night 24 September.

The AGM was followed by a meeting to discuss the establishment of a civic trust for Athy of which I have written recently in this very column. While there were many seasoned campaigners amongst the audience it was good to see a number of new faces which is a testament to the enduring power of the culture and heritage of the town which the civic trust seek to preserve, enhance and promote over the next number of years.

While discussions ranged about the possible uses of White Castle it made me reflect on those monuments that have been lost to the town and district over the centuries.

Our town is very much defined, not only by its people, but also by its built heritage and there are many buildings which we pass on a daily basis without a second thought such as Woodstock Castle, White Castle, the Town Hall, the Dominican Church and the Model School.

These are the relics or remnants of many centuries of building by our predecessors but it is interesting to pick through the archives and to find out about those structures which are long lost to the town and even to memory.

In 1540 in the townland of Glassealy, Narraghmore was recorded a strong “castrum” (castle) or ‘fortilgaum’ strong house. This said castle was still standing by 1655 but thereafter seems to be lost to time.

Also in Narraghmore an earlier castle was granted to Robert Fitzgerald in 1182 and the castle seems to have survived the ravages of many centuries when by 1485 a grant of £10 was made to Edmond Wellesley to help him raise a castle for the defence of the area because it stood in the frontier of the march and as the write recorded ‘had no help, save the Lord’ but by 1654 the castle was described as ruinous.

There was a castle recorded at Nicholastown, Kilkea in 1441 where it has been described as being held by William Scryvner. The self-same Scryvner was the constable of the castle of Athy from 1422 to 1426. His appointment followed on from the repairs on the bridge and castle in Athy in around 1417 under the supervision of Sir John Talbot and in 1431 it was described as the ‘greatest fortress’ in a key town in the region.

By 1515 the castle was in such poor state of repair that Patrick Finglas writing in ***The Decay of Ireland*** suggested that the castle bridge in Athy should have been given to an Englishman!

Like many of us in the town I have found myself gazing in admiration at the ongoing restoration works of the Town Hall and like many of us I am also eager to see the results when the works are completed.

While the focus of much of the building works on the museum itself is on what will be the Shackleton story the museum will also contain a significant display devoted to the town’s history.

While the Shackleton museum will be a paid experience the displays in relation to Athy will be free to all visitors. I have no doubt that the visitors will be impressed by the many artifacts which will tell the history of the town over the last eight centuries.

Perhaps the most important artifact will be the rent table from Kilkea. The rent table has a chequered history and many of us will remember it located in the Rose Garden in Kilkea Castle up until the 1980s.

It has been the subject of a meticulous restoration by Conservation Letterfrack, which is also responsible for the restoration of Shackleton’s cabin from his ship, ***Quest***. The rent table will be a key exhibit in the Athy display.

It is a spectacular example of renaissance sculpture which is believed to date from about 1533 and in terms of sophistication and artistry it rivals any sculpture you will find in a medieval Italian town.

It is one of the many gems we can look forward to seeing in the new museum opening next summer.

Writing in Eye on the Past No 617 published in August 2004, I welcomed into my family our first grandchild, Rachel. I am amused to note at the time that I even went as far as recording her weight as being 7lb 15 ounces! I wrote at the time “the birth of a baby is a wonderous miracle, no matter how frequently it occurs. A birth touches everyone in some form or other.

“We are either fathers or mothers, aunts or uncles, grandfathers or grandmothers, the last category tending to have an elevated position in the hierarchy of affection for young children”.

Twenty years later Rachel embarks on a new adventure this week as a student in the University of Warsaw studying veterinary medicine. It is hard to believe that so much time has passed but to her and to all students going to third level education for the first time, far from home, I say “Go n-eìri an bòthar leat”.