End of era as last Curragh blacksmith retires 

A career spanning 45 years as a blacksmith with the board of works on the Curragh Camp ended with the recent retirement of Kilcullen man John Kelly, described by his former employers as a 'third generation musical blacksmith'. 

The event was marked in Kilcullen's McTernan's pub with a gathering of his colleagues, friends and family. Of course, with Kellys involved, there was also music, lots of it.

John had followed his own blacksmith father Joe in 1979 into the forge on the Curragh Camp, today the Defence Forces Training Centre, which he recalls as having a similar population then as Kilcullen has grown to today. 

He told the Kildare Nationalist that the civilian workforce there when he joined numbered around 400, involving all construction trades and helpers. 

"Today, that's down to about 20 or 30," he said. 

At that time the Curragh Camp also was self-sufficient as a community, with a butcher's stall, a chemist, a restaurant and takeaway, two cinemas, an electrical shop, a drapers, a photographer and a barbers. 

"It had five or six other shops, and four handball alleys that were used every day," John added. 

"In our board of works area, there were four sections and each section had its own soccer team, and we also had a football team that used to take part in the factory leagues."

John's father worked for 50 years on the Curragh. John worked with his dad there for eight years before he retired. 

"When my father started there were 28 blacksmiths employed, in part because of the number of horses and also to make and maintain iron items such as railings around the sections of the camp. 

"My father was the second-last blacksmith when he retired, and I'm the last." 

He remembers his first job, with his dad, making a pair of gates and a green and gold crest for the Band Hall. 

"The band is gone, but those gates are still standing and are painted every year, and the hall is still there."

Although well trained in blacksmithing as he grew up, in the family forge in Mile Mill outside Kilcullen, John didn't immediately go into the trade. After leaving school he worked in the famous Kilcullen Berney Bros saddlery. 

"The dust from the wool and leather didn't agree with me as I suffered a bit from asthma. So I went and worked for a few years as a fitter with Renley Engineering in Kilcullen, and then got my start on the Curragh."

Lots of Kilcullen people were employed as civilians in the camp, but the full workforce was a very good mix from around the county, including Newbridge, Athy, Castledermot, Nurney, and Allenwood. 

"They were all grand people, and looking back after 45 years, I had great times on the Curragh. I don't regret a minute of it and I wouldn't change a thing." 

The work wasn't confined to the Curragh, John and his workmates were also regularly detailed to do "make and maintenance" for Army facilities in Kildare town, Naas, Kilkenny, and Wexford. 

John added: "We also worked in Carnew where the FCA Battalion was billeted, and in the Glen of Immal."

With so few residents now in the camp, he says it has become a rather sad place, and he remarks on delays in recent years in sourcing materials to do necessary work. 

"At its height, we had a nail store, a timber store, an iron store, a paint store. All gone now. We even had a store with dozens of Stanley cookers, for installation in the married quarters as needed."

All that is no longer John's concern. He plans to play some more golf, and spend time with grandchildren. Of course, he plans on continuing the music gigs that were reflected in the session at the retirement party in Macs when he and his brothers, Pat and Joe, entertained in their own distinctive way.

His former employers were represented at the event by Cmdt Dominic Noone, and present Curragh board of works foreman Anton Puska.