Co. Kildare Online Electronic History Journal

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a time when people called it “Robbers’ Gulch”, a stretch some couple of hundred yards long at Mullaghmast on the Athy-Ballitore road. It was cut through a hill, the bank rose high on either side, and there was scarcely enough width for two large vehicles to pass each other safely.

It was an ideal stretch for a hold-up, and in the early days of the State bandits used it for that purpose. It was there that they held up the car conveying bank officials from Athy to Ballitore sub-office and robbed them. No longer is it a narrow, forbidding stretch. At a cost of about £30,000, Kildare Co. Council has removed the high bank on one side and widened the carriageway to modern standards.

 

 

1921 Celbridge resident Art O’Connor TD becomes Minister for Agriculture in the second Dáil (Aug 16)

 
 

 

 

TERRIER-RACING IN KILCULLEN

 

For the first time, terrier-racing, so popular in certain parts of Munster, is to be introduced in Leinster. May 3^rd is the official “off” day, when Kilcullen Boxing Club will sponsor a series of Sunday afternoon races to be held on a course quite near the town.

[The] Idea behind the plan is the raising of funds for the building of a new athletic club premises in the town. The site for the club has been cleared.

Trials have already been held on the course, appropriately named “Mongrel Park”. The response from dog owners has been very heartening. [The] Man behind the project, Mr. J.J. Byrne, jun., states that there are plenty of runners available and that main problem is to get them to chase the quarry, a stuffed hare-skin.

 

GRADING ENTERIES

The racing is open to all dogs other than greyhounds and whippets. Dogs will be classed on height to shoulder and will do timed trials for the purposes of grading.

The sport has proved extremely popular in West Cork and Limerick, where meetings attracts large crowds. Kilcullen, being centre of a large sporting area, should be an ideal location for the introduction of the racing in Leinster.

[Spelling and grammar retained as original]

 

 

           A  KILDARE TRIUMPH FOR THE MODERN ARTISTS OF IRELAND

 

By Rev. P. J. BROPHY

 

The new church on the Curragh speaks well for Ireland-1959.   Buildings tell us about the people who design and use them, especially churches.  A French cathedral as that at Chartres spreaks for the Christian builders of the thirteenth century who poured their heart and Faith into its making.
St. Brigid’s garrison church on the Curragh training camp is a building of genuine religious significance.  It does credit to the talents of the Irish artists who have collaborated towards its harmonious completion.  This is a frankly twentieth century church.  It shows no ambition to imitate gothic or Romanesque models.  Its sincerity and modernity command respect. Up-to-date materials and techniques unite to give us a house where worshippers of the 1960’s will feel at home.
The site was so well chosen that a striking architectural landmark now dominates the Kildare plain.  Your eyes fasten on the slender campanile which does not conflict but blends with the water tower close at hand.  Red brick was the obvious material to harmonise with one architectural feature of the camp.  The Marian close and the carefully preserved pines set off the new church admirably.  It seems to belong here with its surroundings.
 
                                                         ST. BRIGID'S STATUE

 

Oisin Kelly’s statue of St. Brigid dominates the façade. This larger-than-life-size figure in teak represents the patroness surrounded with children who are enfolded by her cloak.  It was a happy thought to incorporate the St. Brigid cross so successfully into the main design. 
The interior is spacious, lofty, well-lit.  there is no doubt about the centre of interest, the lovely open high alter.  The table and supports are of green marble.  The alter stands at eye-level to the worshipper in the pews.  The communion rails, also of marble, are at once seen to derive from the table of sacrifice.  The chancel wall, richly panelled in mahogany, soars up above the nave as if to funnel up the prayers of the congregation heaven-wards.
Very pleasing is the baldachin suspended over the altar.  It is surmounted by a painted crucifix.  This reverent but unfamiliar work of Patrick Pye recalls illuminations from the Book of Kells and byzantine frescoes.  Sanctuary lamp, crucifix and six candlesticks in copper for the high alter are notably successful.  Altogether this sanctuary is a magnificent setting for the ceremonies for the liturgy. 
Space, decorum, quality characterise the final result.  It is a worthy sounding-board to echo with the prayer of the church and the sonorous chants of the Mass.
There is comfortable seating for 1,500 people.  Everybody has an uninterrupted view of the altar and the pulpit.  The arrangement for heating, lighting, ventilation and sound diffusion are excellent. 
Only five of the stations of the cross are yet in place.  They are modern in an honest sense.  Not content to say what has been too often repeated in a traditional way, they express deep emotion in modern idiom.  One should reserve judgement until one had studied them humbly a few times.  A real artist ponders long over his work.  It is sheer impertinence on our part to dismiss the fruit of serious effort after a momentary glance.

 

DOZEN ARTISTS

 

A dozen Irish artists are represented in this church of our National Army.  Good taste has prevailed in restricting the decorative features.  The stained glass window which frames in the organ – an admirable instrument, I am informed – is a beautiful handling of the theme of Christ as the Alpha and the Omega.  From God has come all, and to God all must return.  The Twelve Tribes of Israel and the Twelve Apostles sent by Our Lord symbolises the channels through which God’s loving mercy flows out to men.
The traditional cruciform shape has been retained externally with the sacristies and meeting rooms as arms.  Baptistery and mortuary chapel are important parts of the church.  Their treatment here shows careful consideration for their purpose.  Through one we are brought into the Church, through the other we are carried out at life’s end, fortified with the Church’s prayer for the road ahead.

The Curragh Camp now has a real house of God.  It is as worthy as possible a place of prayer as the combined efforts of a group of sincere Irish artists could produce.  There is no sham ornamentation here, no confusion of ideas.  There is nothing to distract attention from the main thing - the alter and the tabernacle.

 

 

 

 

The death is announced this week of Mr. John Devoy, of New York, the great Fenian Leader of 1867. He was the Editor of “The Gaelic American” newspaper. His ancestors belonged to Leix.  Michael Devoy, a grand uncle of the late Mr. John Devoy, wrote a history of Athy, which he sent to the “Irish Magazine” in March 1809. The volume of the “Irish Magazine” in which the article appears was picked up at Mendoza’s Old Book Store, at Anne Street, New York, by Mr. Frank Richardson, a native of Athy, and handed to the Editor of “The Gaelic American”. The full title of the publication iis “The Irish Magazine and Monthly Asylum for Neglected Biography” and the editor and publisher was the notorious Matty Cox.

The father of Michael Devoy, the writer of the history, was born in 1713 and died in 1815; so that he was alive six years after that article was written in 1809. He spoke no English until he was twenty-five years of age. His son, when writing the article had the benefit of his father’s long and intimate knowledge of the town of Athy, as well as access to books and manuscripts that are now extant. He was a Captain of the Rebels in the Kildare Insurrection of 1798, and had to leave the neighbourhood of Athy on that account. He settled in Kill in 1805, became a prosperous contractor, and superintended the construction of a large part of the Grand Canal. He died about 1841 or 1842.

Michael Devoy, the writer of the history was born at The Heath, a farm on the estate of the Duke of Leinster, and situated in the parish of Athy, but moved to Kill in the early part of the nineteenth century. Many families of the name resided in the neighbourhood of Athy for several generations after the Massacre of Mullaghmast, where the Chief of the Clan was butchered with Rory O’Moore and many others by the Earl of Essex, in 1578. The proper name for the family is O’Duibhidh. A history of the family is given in the late Canon O’Hanlon’s “History of the Queen’s County”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE FUNERAL OF THE REV. GEORGE D. BLACKER MAYNOOTH. – There seldom has occurred such a demonstration of all classes and creeds in showing their appreciation of worth and benevolence as took place on Saturday morning last at the funeral of the above named reverend gentleman, in the town of Maynooth, county Kildare. The hearse and four horses had to proceed in advance without its customary burden, for the parishioners and friends of the deceased would carry his remains themselves all around the town, and to his honoured grave, followed by a long line of sorrowing relatives, and the carriages of the nobility and gentry, who themselves largely attended, and walked in the procession, the various public schools and educational institutions, in which the deceased was so much interested bringing up the rear. A considerable number of clergy of all denominations also attended, headed by the Very Rev. the Dean of St. Patrick’s Dublin, in which Cathedral the deceased held a prebendal stall. The solemn service was most impressively read by the Rev. George Studdert, rector of Ardee, a relative of the deceased assisted by the Rev. Mr.Fussell, curate of the parish, and the remains were deposited in the family vault of the Duke of Leinster, and at his urgent affectionate request his Grace thus closing a life-long series  of most cordial acts to a loved friend and school fellow, whose worth he so long appreciated. His Grace from indisposition was unable to attend, but the Marquis of Kildare followed the cortege, and joined in the service. The Leinster Mausoleum adjoins the church, of which the upper tower, an ancient portion of the Castle of the Geraldines, covered with luxuriant ivy, forms the belfry, while the lower story contains the vault.- Daily Express

 

 

 

 

Passing Of Great Footballer

 

The Late Mr. Joseph Rafferty, Naas

 

The tragic death last week of Joe Rafferty (76) one of Kildare’s greatest football heroes, came as a great shock to Gaels not only in County Kildare but all over the whole country. Strangely enough Joe was not born in Kildare, but in Lambay Island off the coast of Dublin, where his father was employed at the time, before coming to a job in Osberstown, Naas.
    Joe, it is stated, was not christened for six weeks due to the difficulty of reaching the mainland owing to storms.
   From his earliest years Joe Rafferty took a keen interest in athletics, and he was only fourteen years when he took up Gaelic football. The first team he played with was Sallins, known as “John Manderville’s” at that time, but it wasn’t very long until Clane then ruling the roost in Kildare football heard about his abilities and had him enrolled. They did not regret their decision as Joe won three county championships with Clane; incidentally it was Joe’s habit to walk from Osberstown to Clane weekly either for a match or practice.
     Speaking to a well-known Gael and sportsman, Mr. Jack Lawler, Obserstown, Naas, who knew the late Mr. Rafferty very well and recalled playing football against him, he mentioned some prominent teams that Joe played against including Mountrice then known as “The Blunts,” “Crom Abus” from Maynooth, and the “Sons of Rest.”
   Before going to Kilcock he played for a time with “The Rags” a Kilcullen team. He have trojan service to Kilcock where that evergreen Gael Tommy Kelly too him under his wing and he was with Kilcock for years and won a championship with them.
   He never played football with Naas and his last game was about 1921 when Naas just promoted from junior ranks defeated his adopted team.
   Of course Joe’s fame as a footballer went far beyond the confines of Kildare, and even the youngest boy in the county speaks with both awe and respect of that grand old warrior of the playing fields of half a century ago. He led Kildare (Clane) to their first Leinster title in 1903, and it was he who captained the All-Whites in their three memorable clashes with Kerry (Mitchel’s) in the All-Ireland Final of that year before the Kingdom won their first game.
   Two years later Joe achieved the great prize for which all footballers yearn-an All-Ireland medal-when Kildare (Roseberry) overcame the same Kerry Mitchel’s in the All-Ireland Final. Joe’s contemporaries at that time included Bill Bracken, “Joyce” Conlon, “Steel” Losty, Jim Wright, Willie Merriman, “Hussey” Cribben and Eddie Kennedy.
    Apart from the memorable games with Kerry, Joe had fond recollections of the great games with Louth in the Leinster Championship which he was of the opinion made Kildare the peers of the football world at that time. Substitutes were then unknown and the All-Whites played the same seventeen players in their three matches against Kerry and Louth.
     The late Joe Rafferty usually played at midfield, but if required could play in any position with distinction and could use both feet with equal accuracy. He had a powerful kick, a Gael who watched him in many matches told a Leinster Leader Representative, and he knew where he was placing the ball. He had a great admiration for the Kerry men and the Jubilee dinner which the “Kingdom” celebrated after their 1953 All-Ireland triumph he was the honoured guest and those veteran Kerry footballers of other days vied with one another in making him feel at home. “Kerry,” he used to say, “were the most honourable lads I ever met. They would give and take and they never whimpered. I never saw one of them say a word to a referee.”
     Of latter years Joe who was in the best of health lived quietly near Naas, honoured and respected by all. An amiable good-natured man he had a kind greeting for everyone, and his popularity was lasting.
   His wife died about twelve years ago he is survived by two sons and three daughters. His tragic passing will be sincerely mourned.
    There was a very large attendance at the removal of the remains to the Church of Our Lady and St. David on Friday evening and to Dean’s Grange Cemetery on Saturday last. Included amongst the Gaels in attendance were Larry Stanley, Mick Buckley, Tom Keogh, “Gus” Fitzpatrick, Jack and Tom Lawler, Tim Clarke, Secretary of the Kildare County Board of the G.A.A. Eddie Marum, T. Kelly.
      The chief mourners were Joseph and John Rafferty (sons); Mrs. Mary Kealy, Mrs. Rose O’Sullivan and Mrs. Nancy McDonald (daughter) and other relatives.
     At the meeting of the Naas Urban Council on Tuesday night sincere sympathy was voted to the family and relatives of the late Mr. Rafferty, and many tributes were paid to his sterling qualities as a Gael and patriotic Irishman.