Out of Town: Learning about Athy
The event was conducted in two parts by local archaeologist originally from the US Marc Guernon, and Honor McCulloch who came back from Scotland to her family’s town of Athy some years ago and restored the St John’s Graveyard.
Both shared their passion for Athy's heritage with what was an unexpectedly large group of us along for the walk.
Marc provided a comprehensive and entertaining account of how Athy developed from the Ford of Ae to become a Norman stronghold town on the strategic River Barrow.
His thoughts on the likely course of the original walls of the town carried an authoritative conviction, underpinned by his caveat that much work still needs to be done in further archaeological surveys.
Starting at the point once known as Preston’s Gate, he noted the beginnings of Athy around two separate mendicant friar groups, the Fratres Cruciferi and the Dominicans. Their priories and hostels for travellers were set up at the ford on the Barrow in the early 13th century. With the subsequent building of a fortified castle nearby, the settlement developed until by the 16th century Athy took over from Castledermot as the pre-eminent Norman town in the area. From being little more than a ‘drover’s road’ it is thought to have become ‘a linchpin of Norman defence’, with a grant raised in 1515 to provide for that security.
The walk continued through Meeting Lane, formerly the location of a Quaker community, and then on by Garter Lane, said to be named for the women who accompanied the soldiers of the castle garrison.
Marc completed his part of the event at White’s Castle, built in 1417 by Sir John Talbot, Viceroy of Ireland. It was later extended to provide accommodation for soldiers who helped keep this part of Ireland loyal to English rule. Subsequently the garrison quarters served as a prison for those engaged in opposing actions.
Crossing the bridge by the castle, many of us no doubt pondered that part of his discourse about the heads of two 1798 rebels which were displayed on the bridge as a deterrent against further local uprising.
“I went to the Council and demanded the keys, on the basis that I had so many members of my family there. Then I gradually cleaned it up — the Council were rather annoyed with me over the amount of rubbish I left for them.”
She pointed out that the current graveyard is actually an artificial hill within the former abbey, in which are buried ‘hundreds’ of people in layers above the original floor, where lie the remains of the original friars. At the current level, the oldest grave is dated 1701.
Other plots — and a vault — reflect families who were key to the importance of Athy in years gone by. They include plots for the Duncans, one of whom fought in the American Civil War. Prior to that he warned his brother Alexander that a conflict was coming, and that cotton and other clothing material would be in short supply. Alexander stockpiled and when the shortage came he did very well, helping to build the family store in Athy to a major business, contributing much to the prosperity of the town. That business subsequently became Shaws when the Duncans left Athy ... the new owner had served his time in the shop with the Duncans.
The vault belongs to the Weldon family, whom Honor said ‘did much for Athy’ in the 19th century, when the town ‘was in its heyday’ largely because of the excellent agricultural lands surrounding it.
She also told a poignant story around the grave of the Plewman family. Eliane Plewman, who had married British Army officer Tom Plewman in England, and subsequently joined the Special Operations Service. was parachuted twice behind enemy lines during WW2 to work with the French Resistance, the second time being betrayed and executed. Honor hopes to have a plaque erected to her memory in the graveyard, to complement others in Dachau, Valencay in France, and the Brookwood Memorial in Surrey, England.
If nothing else, that couple of hours in Athy last weekend was an excellent example of the value of National Heritage Week in helping us know more about our neighbouring communities.
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