Athy Civic Trust will aim to acquire heritage sites

THE formation of a Civic Trust to help protect the built heritage of Athy will be on the agenda of the AGM of the Historical Society on 24 September in the Community Centre.

This is according to the driving force behind this movement – our very own columnist Frank Taaffe Mr Taaffe raised the prospect in his recent ‘Eye on the Past’ column, where he first flew the idea to establish such a Trust, in the wake of a recent report from the UK that suggested the best way to aid a town’s failing economy was “to invest in its cultural past”.

“We would like to lay the groundwork, and if something should happen we would have the preparation in place,” he said.

He was speaking in terms of the two castles within the curtilage of the town – Woodstock and the White.

“The county council owns Woodstock Castle, but it had the opportunity on three occasions in the last 30 years to purchase the White Castle, but hasn’t shown interest,” he said.

However, he did want to stress that “I am not aware of any intention to sell , so the Civic Trust would only be preparing the ground in the event that it might come up”.