Renewing your subscription to Offaly History (Offaly Historical and Archaeological Society) for 2024: a gentle reminder to Canon Stubbs, the Regius Professor of Modern History at Oxford, in regard to his membership subscription due to the Hellenic Society, in 1882. Joining OHAS in 2024.

A recent purchase by a ,member of Offaly History of the Letters of William Stubbs (1825-1901), edited by W.H. Hutton included an original letter from the Hon. Secretary of the London-based Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies sending a gentle reminder to the  learned and revered historian that his subscription was outstanding for four years. i.e. from when that society was formed in 1879. This sometimes happens in Offaly History too, when perhaps a distinguished member will forget to renew and one would not have the temerity to send a reminder. Not so the Hellenic Society.

46-47, Grand Canal Townlands East to West: Ballindrinan to Cornalaur No 46-47 in the Grand Canal Offaly Series. By Philomena Bracken, Offaly History

Rahan, Civil Parish is situated in the ancient O’Molloy territory of Fear Ceall meaning Men of the Woods or Men of the Churches. It is bounded on its north west side by the Brosna River. Its bedrock is Limestone and it has deposits of brick and clay along the Grand Canal.

The townlands from Ballydrohid, Tullamore to Cornalaur

Ballindrinan Townland/ Image Source Townlands.ie

Its best know archaeological site is the Rahan Monastic Centre which was an area of great importance in the early Christian Period.

Townland: Ballindrinan is in the Electoral Division of Rahan, in Civil Parish of Rahan, in the Barony of Ballycowan, in the County of Offaly.

The Irish name for Ballindrinan is Baile an Draighneáin meaning land of the blackthorns.

The Boarding School in Ferbane and the impact of the sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny on the Midlands of Ireland. By Mary Delaney

The sisters of Saint Joseph of Cluny first arrived in Ferbane on the 12^th of May 1896. Their arrival and the arrival of those who followed in their footsteps were to have a significant impact on the community of Ferbane and to the education of young women in the midlands of Ireland.

The order of Saint Joseph of Cluny was founded in France in 1807 by Blessed Anne-Marie Javouhey. Having grown up in the aftermath of the French Revolution, her dictum was “to love the children” and make a great effort to improve their education to as high a degree as possible”.

“We have been asked to go to Ireland, to teach the poor and the well to do. I have been assured that we could do much good there. If such be the will of God, I agree to this foundation with all my heart”.[1]

Blessed Anne Marie wrote the above in 1850. However, it was ten years before four sisters, led by Mother Callixte Pichet, arrived in Dublin, and set up residence in a former Carmelite monastery in Blanchardstown. The congregation grew and within a year, twenty-three Irish girls had joined the order. The community continued to expand and in 1864 the sisters established their first secondary school for girls at Mount Sackville, situated in the idyllic location above the valley of the river Liffey adjoining Dublin’s Phoenix Park.

Mount Sackville would take its place among the leading secondary schools in Ireland and continues to be synonymous with the education of young women 160 years later.

45 The landscape of east Offaly: Croghan Hill and Clonsast. Frank Mitchell describes the landscape of east Offaly taking in Croghan Hill and Clonsast bog. No. 45 in the Grand Canal Offaly series

Frank Mitchell (1912–97) was a distinguished but unassuming academic, environmental historian, archaeologist and geologist. While he had many academic writings his best known book was The Irish Landscape (1976) about which he was typically modest. In 1990 Mitchell published ‘a semi-autobiography’ The way that I followed. The title was a play on Robert Lloyd Praeger’s, The way that I went (Dublin, 1937). Praeger in his peregrinations was less kind to Laois and Offaly than Mitchell with Praeger’s observation that neither county need detain us long (p. 235) and ‘there is not much of special interest’ (p. 237). Westmeath he found to be more hospitable than Offaly having less than half of the amount of bog in Offaly and more pasture. We may look at the Praeger account in another blog

AN AWKWARD SITE- The Building and Rebuilding of the Church of the Assumption of Our Blessed Lady, Tullamore. By Fergal MacCabe

A New Church

Towards the end of the 19th century the 1840 Mercy Convent with its frontage to the landscaped banks of the Grand Canal, was the most prominent symbol of the increasing importance of the Catholic Church in the spiritual life of the people of Tullamore. In contrast, the almost one hundred year old St Mary’s Parish Church, which had a capacity for 500 worshippers at most, was of a modest character. Located on a backland site behind Harbour Street on lands gifted by Lord Charleville it shared its cramped accommodation with the Parochial House.

The old church of 1802 to 1903-4

As Michael Byrne records in his comprehensive historical survey of Tullamore Catholic Parish, the question of repairing the old church arose in 1897 but on the advice of the influential businessman and local politician Henry Egan, it was felt that building an entirely new church would be a better option.

No time was lost and on the 16th January 1898 a preliminary meeting of a Parish Council to plan for the new Church was assembled and six days later appointed the Cavan based architect William Hague whose brief was to provide a 1,600 seat structure with additional space for 500 more on special occasions.

Swimming pool opened in Tullamore in 1938 together with O’Molloy Street housing scheme. Damien Byrne

Thursday May 19^th 1938 was a big day in Tullamore. The occasion was the opening of 146 new houses on O’Molloy Street and the opening of a new outdoor Swimming Pool by the Tánaiste and Minister of Local Government and Public Health Mr. Sean T. O’Kelly. By Damien Byrne

The local newspapers of the day describe the town as being “profusely decorated with flags and bunting” with O’Molloy Street being “richly festooned with the Tricolour being strongly in evidence”.

The Tánaiste on his arrival at Tullamore, at 12:15 p.m., passed through a guard of honour of Civic Guards, drawn up outside Hayes Hotel. He was met at the door of the hotel by the members of the Council and public officials, and proceeded at once through Patrick St., Kilbride St., and Clara Bridge, where his arrival at O’Molloy Street was awaited by many clergy of all denominations and representatives of the laity. Along the route large numbers of people had gathered, and the Tánaiste smilingly bowed his acknowledgements of their greetings.

43-44 Grand Canal Townlands East to West: Kilgortin/Killina/ Loughroe. No 43-44 in the Grand Canal Offaly Series by Offaly History

Kilgortin is in the Electoral Division of Rahan, in Civil Parish of Rahan, this parish is situated in the ancient O’Molloy territory of Fear Ceall meaning the mem of the woods or men of the churches. If you look closely along the line in this area you will see deposits of brick clays along the Grand Canal between Ballycowan and Rahan, this was the source of an energetic brick industry in the past.  In this part of Rahan you will find the site of Rahan Monastic Centre, this is the most famous archaeological site in this location. It was a very important aspect of Early Christian period.

42 The Way that I followed, Frank Mitchell (1990). In this extract Mitchell describes the landscape of west Offaly taking in the Shannon and the eskers. No. 42 in the Grand Canal Offaly series

Frank Mitchell (1912–97) was a distinguished but unassuming academic, environmental historian, archaeologist and geologist. While he had many academic writings his best known book was The Irish Landscape (1976) about which he was typically modest. In 1990 Mitchell published ‘a semi-autobiography’ The way that I followed. The title was a play on Robert Lloyd Praeger’s, The way that I went (Dublin, 1937). A delightful exercise in ‘topographical autobiography’. Praeger in his peregrinations was less kind to Laois and Offaly than Mitchell with Praeger’s observation that ‘neither county need detain us long’ (p. 235) and ‘there is not much of special interest’ (p. 237). Westmeath he found to be more hospitable than Offaly having less than half of the amount of bog in Offaly and more pasture. We may look at the Praeger account in another blog. Suffice to say that bogs were not flavour of the month with the visitors from the 1800s to the 1930s and who wrote up accounts of their tours. Mitchell did not follow that century old prescription.

Someone who Mitchell would have known (at TCD) and admired was T.W. Freeman. The latter’s Ireland a general and regional geography (1950, third edition, 1963) provided a useful account of the boglands east of the Shannon and the eskers of the Central Lowland with a brief disquisition on the market towns ‘that differ so strangely in their material prosperity’. Freeman was fascinated by the unexpected and haphazard nature of economic life in some of the towns – he seems to have had in mind Tullamore and Clara.

In any case let us go back to look at what Mitchell wrote of the terrain east of the Shannon as part of this Grand Canal series.

Offaly and the Battle of Gettysburg. Michael Bennett, James Campbell and the Edenderry connection. By Kevin Guing

Was it chance and circumstances that led fourteen Offaly men to be present in early July 1863 on the fields, hills, and laneways of Gettysburg in what was, and still is to this day, the single most important battle in American history?

Chance:  the absence of any cause of events that can be predicted, understood, or controlled

Circumstances:  a condition, fact, or event accompanying, conditioning, or determining another

On reading any account of the single most pivotal battle in American History it quickly becomes obvious to even those with zero knowledge of battlefield tactics and military history that the main factors that decided the final outcome came about as a result of chance and circumstances, good and bad luck, decisions that only after the dust settled on the fields of Pennsylvania in early July 1863 were deemed correct and, fatally, one single decision made by a seemingly invincible General Robert E. Lee that doomed his Confederate Army to defeat and almost by accident won a victory for a Union Army commanded by a seemingly hesitant General George Meade. The margin of victory for the Union army, in the opinion of most military historians, was so tight that small and snap decisions were the deciding factor and not brilliant military tactics.  It seems that in the late evening of the 3^rd of July 1863 it was chance and circumstances that had played the most important role in the outcome of the battle.

40-41 Grand Canal Townlands East to West: Carton West/ Kilbride/Ballycowan No 40-41 in the Grand Canal Offaly Series. Offaly History

Coming into Carton West, a small townland east of Tullamore that can be found in the Kilbride civil parish, this parish following the division of the original parish, is distinct from a second civil parish of the same name (Clara). The landscape in this area is mainly woodland, with a bedrock of dark Limestone, as in in the Ballyduff Quarries, this was used in the 19^th century Tullamore buildings.

Ballycowan castle in view, about 1958.

This parish lies in the ancient O’Molloy territory of Fir Ceall or Men of the Churches or Men of the Woods. Here you will find many archaeological sites, which some have been destroyed or taken back by nature.

Carton West is in the Electoral Division of Silverbrook, in Civil Parish of Kilbride, in the Barony of Ballycowan, in the County of Offaly The Irish name for Carton West is An Cartrún Thiar meaning the West Carton (land Measure). This is an old measure of land.