Kildare pair go international to promote local history

A LOCAL historian has been internationally busy recently, marking moments in Kildare history in both New York and Naas – one which required the help of his wife.

During a recent visit to Boston, Larry Breen made a trip to New York at the invitation of the Aisling Irish Community and Culture Centre in Yonkers to talk about the life and times of Wolfe Tone’s wife, Matilda Tone.

The Tone family spent some time in America, initially in Pennsylvania and then in Washington.

Matilda lived there for over 30 years, died there in 1849, and is buried in the famous Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

Larry gave his talk, ‘The Rebel’s Wife’ to a large and attentive audience at the Aisling Centre emphasising the important connection the Tone family had with Kildare, particularly Clane, Blackhall, Castlesize, Bodenstown and Naas.

“The audience were mainly Irish or Irish American and it proved a small world when a member of the audience turned out to have relations living in Hollywood Park in Naas,” noted Larry.

He then made a special framed photo presentation to Stephanie Messing, the Aisling Centre’s cultural events manager, to mark the occasion of his visit.

Having researched and lectured on the subject of Matilda Tone for many years, Larry also got the opportunity to finally fulfil a long-time wish and visit her grave in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn (see picture).

Meanwhile, back in his home town, of which he has written extensively about his history, Larry teamed up with his wife, local councillor Anne, to re-establish a bit of local history to the newly restored Naas Town Hall.

“There was a major reconstruction job carried out on the façade of the then Naas Town Hall in 1904 by James Ecaret which changed the front of the building to what it is today,” said Larry.

“This development was commemorated by an inscription carved on the right-hand side of the front of the building, but when the Town Hall was recently renovated to provide the new library the inscription was covered up by the addition of the new front steps,” he pointed out.

Cllr Breen then requested the council to restore the inscription so it was visible to the public and to acknowledge the major reconstruction work carried out in 1904.

This was agreed upon by the council, and in doing so, cllr Breen would like to sincerely thank the council “for the wonderful job they have done on the new inscription which will help keep this event in the minds of the public”.