Barrow workers get fitting historical record by Kildare group

THE RICH heritage of the Barrowline is recorded and celebrated in a new book Lock Keepers and Barge Men of the Barrow Line which was launched last week in Athy Library.

“Myself, Clem Roche, James Mahon, Martin Thompson and Mark Wall helped out with it, but Anne is the real lady behind it, who pulled it all together,” offered Cliff Reid, so we went straight to that horse’s mouth.

The Anne he spoke about is Dr Anne Murphy, Professor of Local History, now at TUD but formerly of MU, who literally has alpha and omega skin in this game.

“I was born at the 7th Lock on the Ballinamore-Ballyconnell Canal (now the Shannon-Erne Waterway) and we used to jump in and out of the lock as children,” she remembered. Now, I live in Ard Riogh, right at the end of the Barrow Line, so it is in the blood,” said Dr Murphy.

So, apart from that, what else was the impetus behind the book?

“Back in 2001 we did the Annals of Athy, and as there had been several foundries in the town we began with the story of iron and brick,” she explained.

“This then led to agriculture, with malt and sugar – it all tied up – and then into sport, but we deliberately didn’t do the Barrow or the canal at that time because of the size of those stories.

“I always said we’d do it some time in the future, the growth of the Blueway grew interest, and as the older people were beginning to die out, we decided to do it before the history died along with them.

“This book could have been three times the size it is, because we got great help from local lock families, and there was a lot of intermarriage between them. The barge families were very similar, and we got great contacts at Minches, but the town was a large transport hub.

“’Griffith’s Valuation’ (a type of local census in the 1840s) was a great start, and we were able to track the barge families and canal worker forward to the Census in 1901. All this data is included in the book.”

Lock Keepers and Barge Men of the Barrow Lineis only available for sale from JM Computers on Stanhope Street, as proprietor James Mahon as chair of the Photographic Society was a large contributor to the book. Three copies are also available for borrowing from Athy Library.