Kilcullen featured in heritage presentation
A number of Kilcullen locations featured in a presentation of illustrations representing the history of Kildare at the Riverbank Arts Centre. The event last night was part of National Heritage Week, and involved the Kildare Archeological Society in its first midweek and evening meeting in modern times.
The slides, compiled and narrated by Mario Corrigan of the County Kildare Library, all came from Volumes I and II of the Journal of the Society.
The Kilcullen-related illustrations included an old map showing 'Ailline Cill Chuilinn', the Portlester Monument in New Abbey Graveyard, details of sculpting on the Celtic Crosses of Old Kilcullen, and a woodcut of Old Kilcullen Church and Round Tower.
Prior to the presentation, a number of members of the Kildare Archeological Society spoke about aspects of its work and history. They were introduced by the current President of the Society, Elisabeth Connolly (above).
Eamon Kane, the present Editor of the Journal discussed the opening meeting of the Society as detailed in the first issue. The first President was the Eighth Duke of Leinster, Gerald Fitzgerald.
"The membership represented the main 'elite' of County Kildare, and the Society's formation was against the background of a time when archeology was being accepted as the forensics of history," Eamon Kane said.
He also spoke about St David's Church in Naas, which was the subject of an article in the first issue of the Journal.
Secretary of the Society Mary Glennon gave details of the Lord Walter Fitzgerald Prize for Research, which will be awarded next in 2007. The closing date for the submission of an essay of length between 5,000-7,000 words, on any aspect of the archeology or history of County Kildare, is September 2006. The award comprises a medal and €500.
Henry McDowell gave a short dissertation on Armorial Crests and Coats of Arms, including a note on the the crest of the La Touche family of Harristown among other notable families in Kildare -- the Bartons of Straffan, the Wolfes of Forenaughts, and the De Burghs of Oldtown.
Retired army officer and noted local historian Con Costelloe, who has been a member for more than 40 years, recalled his first excursion with the Society. "It was a visit to a graveyard, and the membership was composed of the 'gentry and the rest'," he said. "And there was no communication between them. My father was a doctor, and he'd only get a nod from some of them."
But today it is a different Society. "The fact that we have a lady President is an indication of great steps forward, and we now also have younger people in the Society and a larger membership and I predict a great future for it."
The Vice President, Michael Dempsey, recalled from the archives various excursion meetings undertaken by the Society, including the first one to Naas and Killashee (recalled in the Journal above), which 'probably caused the first traffic jam in Naas' as the members came by train and carriage.
A list of those early excursions included one in 1898 to Old Kilcullen, Knockaulin, New Abbey and Castlemartin.
"These weren't mere social occasions. The members went out because they wanted to be there, to see and talk about things. And the basic work of the Society hasn't changed since: it's getting out there in a field and figuring what was going on."
He concluded by saying that sites 'have to be seen, have to be walked on'. "So that people will be encouraged to protect them."
Brian Byrne.
