Athy is an old, heritage-rich town, which is located on south-western corner of Co. Kildare. It is approximately 5 kilometers from Ballylinan Village on the N78, Dublin - Castlecomer road. It is Ballylinan's nearst town, followed by Carlow and then Portlaoise.
Below is a extract about athy from the "Scoil Mhichil Naofa" website. http://www.iol.ie/~schmhna/athy.htm
Athy
The earliest extant record of corporate status for Athy dates back to 7 October 1515 when King Henry VIII granted a charter to the inhabitants. The charter enabled the townspeople ‘to erect, construct, build and strengthen the same town with fosses and walls of stone and lime’. Provision was also made for the annual election of a Town Provost who governed the town and acted as Coroner, Justiciar of Peace, Weights and Measures Inspector and Clerk of the Market. The market is still held every Tuesday in Emily Square, formerly known as Market Square.
A charter of 1613 established the Corporation of Athy; it consisted of a Sovereign, who was a justice of the peace, two bailiffs, twelve burgesses and a recorder. The freemen of the town elected, for life, the burgesses, and from them the sovereign and bailiffs were elected annually. The Sovereign was elected annually on 24 July from amongst the 12 Burgesses of Athy who were nominated for life by the Duke of Leinster. Until the Act of Union the borough returned two members to parliament. Assizes were held in the courthouse and a Court of Record determined pleas within the borough and its liberties, which extended half a mile in each direction from White Castle.
The Borough Council was replaced in 1840 by Town Commissioners who were elected by local rate payers. In 1898, Athy was granted Urban District Status with Urban District Councillors elected by universal franchise.
Within seventy years of the establishment of the corporation a visitor thus described Athy, "another corporate town situate on the river Barrow, very commodious for trade, but no manufacture being driven, poor..."
The corporation was composed of the neighbouring gentry who only appeared "some set days in the year, to receive what their collectors have exacted by the toll and customs for the fairs and markets, so the town seems to be totally neglected, the revenue being never applied. to any public use or general good of the corporation or improvement of the town; no buildings here to be found.....".
But the gentry of the county do not seem to have been always so neglectful; they had responsibility for the Turnpike roads through the county and they were the first in the country, in 1729, to commence this work, for which tolls were collected. From 1756 fairs were held in Athy six times a year. At the end of the l8th century several Volunteer units were based in the town with names such as the Athy Carbiniers and the Athy Rangers; In 1797 the Duke of Leinster was an officer in a yeomanry unit called the Athy Cavalry.
A French traveller in the town in 1790 had "an excellent supper at the inn, two chickens, ham, cabbage and potatoes, for three shillings; no charge for the beds, and half a crown for the horses". He liked the town's people, remarking that "the girls wear very elegant straw hats, unlike anything seen near Dublin". The children greeted the visitor with deep bows and had "very pretty faces with large blue eyes, but were extremely pale and have not the healthy appearance of children in the mountains".
A description of Athy six years later indicates that the town was being improved; the Duke of Leinster gave land for the building of a new catholic church, dedicated to St. Michael, while Mr. Keating of Narraghmore subscribed the funds. Sir James Delahunty, Knight of the Trowel, was the contractor for the building of the handsome new bridge across the river, as an inscription on it proves. The cockpit with its octagonal roof and gallery for spectators, which was recently restored, also dates from the l8th century when there was a special rate of six pence half-penny per stage on the canal boats for game cocks. Early in the l9th century an illicit still was operating in Woodstock Castle. The story is told that in a very severe winter the distiller ran short of fuel; he offered a reward to the first person to reach the castle with a load of fuel and the winner was a man from the bog who brought a creel of turf across the frozen river.
A coloured map of the town, (which was entirely owned by the Duke of Leinster,) dated 1827, shows mills on both sides of the bridge and White Castle in use as a jail. The courthouse fronts on to the market square, with a church behind it and close to Mr. Kennedy's garden that runs to the river.
By 1830 a new jail had been built on the Carlow road, at a cost of £6,000, of which the Duke had given £2,000 and the site. It had a governor's house, matron's room, chapel, exercise yards, work rooms, three solitary and thirty two other cells.
Athy was described as 'pleasantly situated on the river Barrow, on the mail coach road from Dublin to Cork... the surrounding country is remarkably healthy, in 1831. Both the Established Church and the Catholic Church had two parishes, and a new church for the former was about to be built by the duke. There were also Calvinist and Wesleyan Churches, and a Protestant school with 120 pupils in a room behind the courthouse. The Catholics had two schoolrooms, with 400 boys and 100 girls in attendance.
The Duke of Leinster had given the site and £100 for the schools in 1826 and voluntary subscriptions, including £100 from Mrs. Dooley for the girls, school, completed the task. The Duke, and other gentlemen, also subscribed to a dispensary and a charity for the aged and distressed, while his lordship also built a house which he leased to the parish priest at a nominal rent.
Two Dominicans had returned to the environs of their old friary and lived in a modern building where they had a little chapel. The police barracks was in White Castle and there was a military barrack to hold a troop of cavalry. There were 733 houses in 'one long street divided by the river'. A daily fly- boat for passengers operated on the canal. Fairs and markets were held regularly, the latter on Tuesdays and Saturdays when corn, butter, poultry and meat were the principal produce; turf, from the surrounding bogs, was cheap. There was extensive milling of corn on the Barrow, and grain was sent to Dublin by barge. Altogether, the picture of the town painted in these pre-famine years was one of prosperity and progress.
Ford of Ae
The name Athy dates back to the second century when Ae the son of Deargabhail, fosterer of Eochy Finn, was slain in a battle between the men of Munster and the men of Leinster. The battle was fought at a Ford on the river Barrow hence called Ath-Ae, the Ford of Ae, which was later anglicised into Athy.Fords played an important role in ancient Ireland as roads were at best rough tracks and rivers, which were important landmarks, were crossed by fords. Ath-Ae was an important fording point on the river Barrow. This is confirmed by the quantity of archaeological objects retrieved from the bed of the river in the 1920s. These included Neolithic axeheads, Bronze Age swords, spearheads, and a variety of Iron Age tools. There is no evidence, however, of a settlement at the ford until the latter end of the twelfth century.
Anglo-Norman Settlement
Athy initially developed as part of the Anglo-Norman settlement in Ireland. The Anglo-Norman adventurers led by Richard de Clare, better known as Strongbow, landed at Bannow, Co. Wexford in 1169.
Most of the province of Leinster came under Strongbow’s control. He granted lands in the area of Athy to Robert de St. Michael who was created Baron of Rheban. The St Michaels built Woodstock Castle in the early years of the thirteenth century near the ancient river crossing of Ath-Ae and a French speaking settlement sprung up around the castle. The construction of this fortress in a strategic location was a necessary defence against the native Irish who had been dispossessed of their lands by the Anglo-Norman settlers. Fortifications usually consisted of earthen banks topped with palisades but were later replaced by stone walls.
The Friars of the Holy Cross order founded a monastery on the west bank of the river Barrow near Woodstock Castle in the area now known as St. John's. The Dominican order, which had come to Ireland in 1216, established a monastery on the east bank of the river in 1253 in the area known as the Abbey.
Medieval Town
Poor living conditions in the early medieval town made it difficult to attract new villagers. Huts were crowded together and the villagers struggled under the triple terror of plague, early death and attack from the native Irish. Athy’s location on the Marches of Kildare made it particularly vulnerable to attack. The town may have been walled by 1297 as a fortification. Evidence can be found in the Justiciar records where reference was made to Thomas the Janitor of Athy who would have been in charge of the town’s main gate.To attract Anglo-Normans willing to settle in the area, narrow strips of land were offered along with Burgess status and civil liberties. The so-called Burgess plots ran perpendicular to the main street and consisted of a dwelling house facing onto the street with outhouses and a garden at the rear. In 1331, Athy had ten Burgesses who paid a total of 23 shillings and 1/2d to the lord of Athy manor. Corn grinding was carried out at the mill of the manor lord. Fees for corn grinding in the manors of Woodstock and Rheban were paid to the Fitzgeralds, the Earls of Kildare.
The Anglo-Norman settlers in the town of Athy came under frequent attack from the native Irish especially from the O’Moores of Laois. In 1300, provision was made for the building of a fortified castle, a fortalice, at Athy to strengthen the town’s defences. Yet during the fourteenth century Athy was attacked and burned four times by the O’Moores.
Towards the middle of the fourteenth century, the Anglo-Norman settlers began a policy of retrenchment, which focused attention on Athy as a settlement of strategic importance. Athy became a first line of defence against the hostile Irish leading to its development as a military stronghold. In 1417, Sir John Talbot, the Viceroy of Ireland, built a tower housing a garrison to protect the bridge over the river Barrow that is today known as Whites Castle.
In the late sixteenth century, Athy was a vital supply line for the often-beleaguered English settlers of Leix and Offaly and control of its bridges was essential for the continued supply of men, weapons and stores.
The House of Kildare
The Fitzgeralds were one of the most powerful houses in Ireland and ruled as the Earls of Kildare and Dukes of Leinster. They were landlords in Athy town and owned both Woodstock Castle and Whites Castle. Their strong connection with the town lives on in the street names of Athy: William Street, Duke Street, Leinster Street, Offaly Street, Stanhope Street and Emily Square all commemorate members of this family.Lord Edward Fitzgerald, who died for his part in the 1798 Rebellion, represented Athy in the Irish Parliament. Several other members of the Fitzgeralds served as Sovereigns of Athy before the abolition of Athy Borough in 1840.
Henry VIII and the Monasteries
The conversion of King Henry VIII to the Protestant faith and his new role as head of church led to the suppression of all religious houses in Ireland between 1535 and 1540.The Dominican Priory in Athy was confiscated on 19 August 1539 and a jury in Kilkea compiled a list of its property on 27 November. It consisted of a church, bell-tower, chapter house, dormitory, large hall, and three chambers, kitchen, cemetery and an orchard. The land was granted in 1544 to the constable of Athy, Martin Pelles, and in 1588 to Henry, the Earl of Kildare. The Dominicans re-established in Athy in the early eighteenth century.
The Priory of St. Thomas and the Hospital of St. John referred to in 1280 as ‘containing brothers, sisters and sick’, were situated in the area of Athy today known as St. John's. In 1474-5 the Prior of St. Thomas was alleged to have ‘allowed the house and church of the said priory to fall into ruin, and neglected to repair them, so that the ruin of the greater part of buildings is to be feared’. After the confiscation of the lands, the priory of St. John including a church, hall, garden, stable, five cottages and a ruinous tower was granted in 1568 to James Foster. The friars may have also owned the Church of St. Michael which was noted in 1559 as having belonged to ‘the late Hospital of St. John'.
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