Walk & Talk: Laurence Gate

Old Drogheda Society

This evening, Wednesday June 29th.

The first of this season's Old Drogheda Society "Walk & Talks" takes place, starting from St Laurence's Gate at 7.30 pm.

Brendan Matthews shall outline the history of Drogheda's only medieval gate that still remains intact.

The gate has been in the news a lot recently and Brendan has uncovered some very interesting facts that were not generally known.

The walk will proceed down Laurence Street with Brendan speaking on the various buildings with particular emphasis on the former Franciscan Church (now the Highlanes Gallery) and the former Methodist Church.

There is no charge but small donations to Drogheda Cultural Services will be welcome.

Please note as there is a limit to the number of people that can be accommodated, places should be pre-booked by phoning Drogheda Museum Millmount on 041-9833097.

Alternatively e-mail info@droghedamuseum.ie

Drogheda Museum Millmount,

History, Archaeology & Heritage, 

Governor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda,

Co. Louth, Ireland,

0419833097

Brendan Matthews Interviewed By A New York Radio Station

Old Drogheda Society

John McDonagh (John) interview historian Brendan Matthews (Brendan) via telephone from Drogheda, Co. Louth about the importance of New York City in the 1916 Rising.


Radio Free Éireann
WBAI 99.5FM Pacifica Radio
New York City
23 April 2016 

(begins time stamp ~ 27:25)

Drogheda in 1847: Brendan Matthews Book Launch Tonight

Old Drogheda Society

 

 

The launch of the eagerly awaited book  Drogheda & The Ottoman Empire Ships of 1847 by Community Historian, Brendan Matthews will take place on Wednesday December 3rd at the Governors House Millmount at 8pm.

 

The work tackles unravelling the tale of the social conditions in Drogheda during the Great famine year of 1847 and the `supposed` food-aid delivered to the port of that town by the Ottoman Empire`.

Brendan has researched this subject for a number of years and his findings make very interesting reading.  
 

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage

Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Book Launch: Drogheda & The Ottoman Empire Ships of 1847

Old Drogheda Society

 

The launch of the eagerly awaited book  Drogheda & The Ottoman Empire Ships of 1847 by Community Historian, Brendan Matthews, will take place on Wednesday December 3rd at the Governors House Millmount at 8pm.

 

Unravelling the tale of the social conditions in Drogheda during the Great famine year of 1847 and the "supposed" food-aid delivered to the port of that town by the Ottoman Empire.

Brendan has researched this subject for a number of years and his findings make very interesting reading.  

 

 

 

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage

Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

 

 

Building Ireland: The Boyne Viaduct

Old Drogheda Society

 

Tonight RTE's  Building Ireland visits Drogheda and the documentary will feature the Boyne Viaduct, regarded my many as it has the finest railway bridge ever constructed in the country, It will also feature the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge.

Engineer Tim Joyce investigates the construction of the Boyne Viaduct and its reputation as one of Ireland's greatest examples of Victorian industrial engineering. Architect Orla Murphy discovers the design of a 21st century bridge over the Boyne and Geographer Susan Hegarty explores 8,000 years of human settlement in the area.

Drogheda's iconic Viaduct was completed in 1865 to link by rail Dublin and Belfast. Constructing a railway viaduct in iron and stone over the 540 metre distance was full of problems and controversies. Nothing like it anywhere had ever been attempted. 

The project faced challenges of an immense scale from day one and there were powerful forces at work on site as local historian Brenden Matthews highlights in the programme.

Sir John McNeill who was the great engineer of the day, a native of Dundalk in County Louth. He’d seen ideas. There had been many bridges of similar construction especially in America built of wood, there had been five or six other bridges built across the world and this was the 7th bridge of its type to be constructed. And then of course there was the contractor William Evans from Bristol, who actually undertook the construction of the bridge itself.

William Evans began to construct his soaring stone arches on the north side of the river. Working inwards from the riverbank towards the embankments his scaffolding dominated the landscape overshadowing the town. Just two free standing stone piers in the riverbed would be needed to lay the way for the iron superstructure.

The best and brightest Irish engineers of the day were associated with the project and their correspondence in the archives of Drogheda Harbour Commissioners, details their expert opinions - and disagreements as Tim Joyce finds out in the programme.

Famous railway engineer William Dargan guided the route and Bindon Blood Stoney pioneered the testing of iron for the bridge. In terms of its scale and complexity, the construction of the Boyne viaduct was a showpiece of Victorian engineering. But a year into the build, it was running behind schedule, faced technical problems and industrial disputes. It was all bad news for the building contractor, William Evans as Brenden Matthews explains:

Evans began this work in 1852 and by early 1853 he had already got the arches done on the north side and at the same time he had his men working in the river constructing the two piers 13 and 14.

But these free-standing piers had to be built on solid bedrock. Inside a cofferdam, the workers kept digging down through the mud and silt of the riverbed – 20, 30, 40 feet down and still no luck.

Brendan Matthews continues:

boreholes had been done prior to the construction of the bridge and it was thought that they would hit solid ground beneath the bed of the river at this point. But unfortunately for Evans it didn't work out.

To add to his problems, a storm on Christmas Day 1852 brought two cranes crashing down into the Boyne. Evans couldn’t sustain the financial pressure and he was declared bankrupt. Despite the series of disasters, Evans committed to stay with the project until foundations for the pier were reached. And the digging continued. So just how did they finish this structure?

Bridging the Boyne has always been a design challenge as Architect Orla Murphy is discovering with rare access inside the Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge.A familiar landmark on the Dublin-Belfast route the inverted Y central pylon and the cable stay design is very contemporary, simple and elegant.

Murphy highlights how:

The single pylon gives it a light structural form with minimal interference to the protected and sensitive landscape below. But to achieve this deft architectural balance between form and function, complicated structures and materials support this bridge.

The Boyne Valley we know was created recently - in geological terms accroding to geographer Susan Hegarty. During the last ice age massive sheets of ice scrapped along flattening the land and depositing debris. As the ice recedes, the meltwater forms channels – like the river Boyne. Hegarty says:

Around 15,000 years ago at the end of the last glaciation, the river Boyne was carrying the meltwater from the ice-sheets of all the midlands of Ireland. You’ve got to imagine a river flowing through here that was probably the size of the Amazon, if not bigger.

According to Hegarty:

the result was a glaciated valley, an open landscape with a river, fertile soil, and forest on the upland areas at the edge. The Boyne Valley was perfect territory for Ireland’s early farmer-settlers and their constructions are important achievements of European civilisation.

In the early 1930s it was realised that a few modifications to strengthen the Viaduct wouldn’t be enough for the demands of the 20th century. Complete reconstruction would be necessary. And the engineers now had steel to work with. New designs were prepared and once again, work began constructing the long metal spans. Nine months were allocated to the rebirth of the Viaduct in steel and the removal of the old wrought iron structure.

During refurbishment they avoided disruption to the rail service with a really clever engineering solution as Tim Joyce explains:

the new steel structure was built inside the original iron frame, leaving the bridge intact. This brilliant idea allowed trains to continue running throughout the renewal process. The frame of the section grew out from the top of the piers reaching out using the engineer’s technique of the cantilever - a bridge building technique still in use today.

Big engineering projects of the 21st century or of the industrial age are very special markers of human achievement in our landscape. Tim Joyce highlights how:

Ireland just doesn’t have as many big engineering projects as other European countries for practical as well as economic reasons. There just aren’t that many mountain ranges to bore through or valleys to cross between our large population centres. But that is all the more reason to treasure it. The engineers of the Boyne Viaduct didn’t design this bridge just for their day but for future generations like us.

On Sunday next the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland will be running their Annual Drogheda to Skerries Steam Train Shuttle. The steam engine being used is the 461 locomotive which was featured in a number of films including Angela's Ashes, Durango, Rebel Heart and Her Own Rules.

The engine was delivered in 1922, when Ireland was in the grip of a civil war. The railways frequently came under attack and many engines and other rolling stock were destroyed. Rather than send their brand new engine into this danger the DSER negotiated with the Great Northern Railway (Ireland) to have it stored in the Adelaide shed in Belfast, until after the hostilities ceased. 

There will be two runs with the first departinf McBride Station, Drogheda at 12.10 pm arriving back at 1.52 pm with the second train departing at .2.42 pm and returning at 4.12 pm.

Tickets are on sale from Drogheda Tourist Office, The Thosel, West Street . Fares Adult €12 Children ( under 16) €6 . The office opens Monday to Saturday 9.30 am - 5.30 pm

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage

Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Echoes of 1916

Old Drogheda Society

Declan Mallon from Upstate Theatre Company announces a new history project.

Echoes of 1916 Introductory Workshops

History is often, and necessarily, mediated to us. Someone writes that history choosing what we need to know and what we don’t. Only through personal intervention can we prevent our individual histories being lost. But where do we start?

Echoes of 1916 is attempting to create, in Louth, a large community action research project which seeks to empower individuals, young and old, to research their own personal background and try to find out where their own ancestors may have been in 1916. The project is inclusive and is not tied to the 1916 Rising in Ireland or indeed to being Irish. It may well be that your roots extend as far away as Africa, Europe or other parts of the world and these histories are equally as valid in the context of this project.

The project is delivered by Upstate Theatre Project in conjunction with Drogheda Local Voices.


This is a Major Community Research Project


Week 1 Workshop : A strange Kind of Glory - 1916 in County Louth

With Conor McNamara

Begins Wednesday 28th May

7.30pm Barlow House

Booking Tel: 041 9844227 Email: dmallon@upstate.ie

NOT JUST A HISTORY PROJECT


The project is free of charge

Who should get involved?

Anyone who cares to begin to research their family history and lend their research to the project for artistic interpretation further down the line.

What is happning?

The initial workshops are designed from a historical research perspective (the art comes later in the project). Local historian Brendan Matthews and Conor McNamara of Notre Dame University will deliver the series giving background to the era and tips on how to begin to research. The intention is to first interest people in the idea of research and secondly to empower individuals to begin to research their own family histories by illustrating the initial stages of genealogical research particular to the period in question. There will also be online support.

How?

People can join by emailing dmallon@upstate.ie - or by phoning the company at 041 9844227 and providing email address

Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage

Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Echoes of 1916

Old Drogheda Society

Upstate Theatre Project in conjunction with Drogheda Local Voices Oral History Project will launch a new project Echoes of 1916 on Thursday next, May 15th in the Governor's House, Millmount at 8pm.

The Echoes programme will initiate a community research project to investigate the whereabouts of people’s ancestors in 1916. It is hoped that this open-ended question will result in the exploration of a variety of family histories and in turn present a broad portrait of the community in 1916. As well as people with ancestors in Ireland during 1916, it is also hoped that new communities in Drogheda will join the programme and present their own personal histories from the period, no matter which country they hail from.

The project will host a number of local experts, historian Brendan Matthews and Sean Corcoran of Drogheda Museum Millmount and Drogheda Local Voices, alongside Notre Dame’s Conor McNamara and Upstate Theatre Project’s Chairman, Dr. Matthew Stout. While the initial phase of the project will have a distinctly historical research edge, Upstate will later work to develop the material using the latest mobile technology, turning it into an artistic experience.

What happened in Ireland between 1912 and 1922 happened in a global context, a period that was a very turbulent time in human history. Through this project we hope to begin to uncover this period of commemoration and explore the humanity of our shared histories.

The launch night on May 15th is an opportunity for people to learn more about the project and register for future workshops in the programme. The programme will be intergenerational in nature, and everyone from 15 to 115 is welcome to take part. Thanks to the PEACE III Programme, participation will be free, and no experience is necessary – just commitment and interest!

This project is delivered by Upstate Theatre Project and is supported by the European Union’s European Regional Development Fund, through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation PEACE III Programme manage

Drogheda Museum

Millmount Governor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

Whatever happened to the `Bullring`?

Old Drogheda Society

Community Historian Brendan Matthews regales ODS readers and guests another little gem plucked from the archives.

The Bullring, a well known place-name in Drogheda, situated south of St. Mary’s bridge at the bottom of Shop St, dissected by John St. and the Marsh Road and bounded on the south and west by James’s St. and the dual carriageway.

Welcome to `Collier Country`.

Old Drogheda Society

Community Historian Brendan Matthews with another in a run of his stories that bring local history to life.


Throughout the summer months of 1796, the following notice was posted up within the town of Drogheda, along with appearing in the Drogheda Journal newspaper.

I have received information on oath, that John Bynge, alias George Mortimer was one of the persons concerned in robbing his majesty’s mail and that he is lurking in the suburbs of this town. Bynge, alias Mortimer is about 5ft 6in tall, with sandy hair, fair complexion and lightly built. When last seen, he was wearing a brown overcoat, blue body coat, red waistcoat, corduroy breeches and white stockings.

The notice was signed by the Mayor of Drogheda, George Evans and it carried a reward of 30 guineas. At the time this highwayman was, `lurking in the suburbs of Drogheda`, a young 16 year old lad, by the name of Michael Collier was about to embark on a similar conquest of highway robbery.

Michael Collier was born at Lisdornan, Co. Meath, less than 5 miles south west of Drogheda in 1780 and he became the last of the great highwaymen of Ireland in the later 18th and early 19th century. Loved, feared and respected, Collier was a man of the poor and stories of his exploits abound. He died of the dreaded cholera disease in 1849 and was laid to rest in the Cord burial ground in Drogheda.

Michael Collier however, was not the only member of his family to take to the highways in such a daring fashion. His younger brother, Richard, was also charged with the highway robbery of a farmer named Patrick Downey, just outside Drogheda in January 1834. In an attempt to protect his property, Patrick Downey used a pitchfork, which he reportedly thrust into the hat of Richard Collier.

Collier was eventually arrested on the Platten road and the hat he was wearing when he was apprehended was perforated with holes, such as Downey previously described he had made. On Tuesday 25th February, 1834, Richard Collier was found guilty of highway robbery and received a sentence of `transportation for life`.

The original Collier homestead at Lisdornan was situated overlooking beautiful green pastures that now forms part of the M1 motorway and within sight of an area that is now known as the Drogheda Toll Booth.

In the days of Michael and Richard Collier and indeed John Bynge, alias George Mortimer, a similar toll was paid on major highways that were known as `Turnpike` or toll roads, which were in use from 1729 until 1856. Often when the `Gentry had paid the road toll they would be met with yet another tax, in the form of a highwayman, who would gladly relieve them of more booty, thus making the rest of their journey a little lighter; although perhaps with a heavy heart.

The majority of motorists who pay through the Drogheda toll booths today would be unaware that they are travelling through the ancient townland of Lisdornan, home of the Collier brothers. And a commemorative statue of Michael Collier would perhaps have been a more suitable piece of Art along the M1, than the, “disappearing lights” at nearby Kilsharvan!

Stop and deliver to the Drogheda toll booth doesn’t have the same appeal or romanticism as, “Stand and deliver to Collier” either, but at least if you were to encounter the latter, in his day, he had the decency to wear a mask.


Welcome to Collier Country.

Drogheda Museum

MillmountGovernor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

Miss Parnell - The Uncrowned Queen of Ireland.

Community Historian Brendan Matthews with another of his illuminating local history pieces that bring to life our past.

Sunday morning, 8th May 1881 and the final touches are being put in place throughout the streets of Drogheda in preparation for the arrival of Miss Anna Parnell, president of the National Ladies Land League and sister of Charles Stuart Parnell.

The principal streets were highly decorated with the flowers of early summer, while a large number of banners from the various guilds of the town were arched over the streets.

Charles Stuart Parnell had advised his sister to set up the Ladies National Land League a couple of months earlier, when he and his fellow men realised that their own movement was to be suppressed and imprisonment was imminent.

By the time Miss Parnell arrived by train, the streets of Drogheda were thronged with thousands of people from the town and countryside, to honour this great woman and to show their support for her fight against the unjust treatment of the labouring tenants of Ireland by an alien establishment and dominant landlordism.

Shortly before lunchtime, Miss Parnell stepped off the train and was greeted by the people amidst loud cheering and applause. The West gate, Greenhills and the Marsh Fife and Drum bands were also in attendance and played a selection of Irish Airs.

Miss Kirk, president of the Drogheda Ladies Land League then stepped forward and presented Miss Parnell with a bouquet of flowers, before the long procession left the railway station for West Street, led by the various trade bodies with their beautiful banners, which were reported to have been the, `richest and most artistically painted in Ireland.`

After Miss Parnell had lunched at the White Horse Hotel she made her way among the ever swelling crowd to the Mall on the North Quay. She had come to Drogheda to address a meeting of the executive of the ladies land league in Mayoralty House, but before going into the meeting she did address the huge crowd briefly and, in thanking the people of Drogheda for their support, she stated that she would be staying the night in Drogheda, as she was attending an eviction of a tenant family at Gormanston the next day.

Among the local women who also attended the executive meeting were, the Misses Johnson, Miss Malone, Mrs. Burke, the Misses Elcock, Miss Smith and Miss Tighe.

Anna Parnell became such a driving force behind the Land League movement, with strong militant tendencies, that by the end of the summer of 1881 the British Government began to panic and viewed the women as a threat in a growing rebellion.

Irish politicians also saw the Ladies Land League as a danger to their plans and, after the "Kilmainham Treaty" Charles Stuart Parnell agreed to suppress the Land League as a whole and in 1882 it was dissolved.

Anna Parnell was furious with her brother and they never spoke to each other again.

She retreated to Cornwall and lived under an assumed name until her death in 1911 in a swimming accident, and her death went unnoticed, due to her false identity.

In 1904 she had written an account of what happened in 1881-82, which she titled, The Great Sham, in which she slammed the male leaguers of the movement and this manuscript lay undetected until 1986.

Many of her brother’s close associates also secretly revealed that, 'Anna Parnell would have worked the revolution to a much better conclusion than her brother.`!

We should never forget the `uncrowned Queen of Ireland`.

Drogheda Museum

MillmountGovernor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

The Body Snatchers

Community Historian Brendan Matthews snatching something eerie from Drogheda's past

On Monday evening, March 1st 1875, a group of Fishermen were hauling their nets in from the north bank of the River Boyne, just to the east or downstream of Green hills in Drogheda, when one of them tripped over a piece of wood that was protruding from the river bank.

The fisherman proceeded to pull the wood out from the bank and, finding it a little difficult to remove, he began to clear away some of the marl that surrounded it, only to find to his astonishment, that the outline of a coffin appeared.

With the help of the other fishermen the coffin was taken from the bank, which was described by the Drogheda Argus newspaper as being `very roughly made with thin boards and, presumably placed in this secret ghostly grave in haste.'

Sergeant Collum was at the scene in a short time and when the coffin was opened it was found to contain the skeletal remains of an adult.

Dr. T. J. Moore, Louth County Coroner, who later attended the scene, said that the remains were that of a young adult male, who had died within the last twenty years or so. The police began to make enquiries locally about the mysterious find and the following story emerged.

According to the people of Drogheda, the body was that of a local man who was highly suspected of being involved in Body Snatching back in the 1850`s and who suddenly disappeared from the town. They also said that this same man was shot whilst attempting to retrieve a body from a grave in Newtown cemetery, which is only a short distance from where the skeletal remains were found at Green Hills.

From the late 18th Century right through the 19th Century the interest in anatomy had grown and the number of bodies legally allowed to anatomists was insufficient and so dead bodies became a commodity, where people were paid to exhume them from their resting place in the dead of night.

Watchmen were frequently employed to guard the grave plots of loved ones who had recently passed away and, quite often; it was the poorer graves that were plundered, with many of them containing more than one body.

Women were often also paid to pose as relatives and claim bodies from the Workhouses, while vagrants and beggars also disappeared without trace.

The people who carried out the body snatching were hated and, if and when they were caught, they often met with horrific deaths themselves, particularly if they were caught by the relatives of the deceased. The body snatcher or snatchers would then be buried in a make-shift coffin and placed in unconsecrated ground, in the belief that they would never make it to the afterlife.

The remains of the man found at Green Hills, if indeed he was a body snatcher, did not necessitate an enquiry, according to Dr. Moore and it was subsequently interred in the Drogheda Workhouse burial ground.

Next time you pay a visit to some of the older cemeteries, take a look at some of the grave plots that are surrounded by high iron railings and perhaps a locked gate: the original reason for this may not necessarily have been for ornamental purposes!

Drogheda Museum

MillmountGovernor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

Night of the Big Wind.

Community Historian Brendan Matthews taking us back over the centuries to the days when the weather was just like ... it is now


On Sunday 6th January 1839, a strong wind began to whistle through the streets of Drogheda, which was accompanied by heavy rain. By 11pm, on that, Little Christmas, day, a hurricane was lashing through the town which was to last until 6am the following morning. Almost every building within the town suffered some structural damage, with hundreds of houses having their roofs blown away, along with chimney stacks, slates and other debris toppling over onto the streets.

Such was the damage caused to the roofs of the buildings, that the Slaters of the district refused to work for less than ten shillings a day following the storm.

In the suburbs of Drogheda many of the wretched cabins of the poor were burned as a result of tily lamps falling over and chimneys collapsing, setting the thatch ablaze.

Amazingly, it was reported that few of the ships on the Boyne River suffered any material damage, but there was grave concerns for those unfortunate enough to be out at sea. Large quantities of agricultural produce, such as flax, hay and corn were also blown away from their respective stack-yards in the vicinity of the town and scattered across the streets, roads and fields of the neighbourhood.

The `Newry Lark` coach also had to return to Drogheda late on the Sunday evening having proceeded on it’s way to Dublin only to make it as far as Julianstown, where the road became impassable due to fallen trees on the road.

The roof over the home of Mr. Robert Algar Esq. of Laurence’s St. came crashing in as the large chimney stack collapsed. At the time, Mr. Algar, his wife and two infant children, along with a nurse, were all huddled together in the nursery room and while the tall ceilings fell in around them their, cries for help were heard by people on the street, who placed their own lives at risk and brought the five occupants to safety.

The roof of the Mayoralty House was also extensively damaged, as was the extensive stores of Mr. Ennis in Scholes`s lane, Mrs. McDonnell’s in West St., the infirmary at the West gate, McCann’s mills on the Quays, the premises of Messrs. Smith & Smyth and the many flax, linen, cotton and other manufactories throughout the town were also badly damaged as a result of the horrific storm.

Hundreds of mature trees were also destroyed in the Ballsgrove demesne, while the damage estimated to have been caused on the Oldbridge estate was put at a whopping £2000 and the structural damage to Beaulieu House was put at £500, along with hundreds of mature trees having been uprooted. Hundreds of mature trees were also blown down on the estate of Viscount Gormanstown in east Meath.

After the storm had abated on Monday 7th January, it was feared that the price of food, which had already been steadily increasing beyond the means of many, would now increase even further, due to the huge destruction of the agricultural crop.

The hurricane had left untold damage, not only across Ireland, but also throughout much of Wales and England.

In the years that followed, it was often believed that, the demise and disappearance of many of the humble little cabins was due to the effects of the great famine and the `callous landlord.` Although there is much truth in this, it must also be remembered that, during the first week in January 1839, hundreds if not indeed thousands of homesteads were wiped from the landscape during the `Night of the big wind`.
 

• Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Local Sporting and Community Legends

Community historian Brendan Matthews with another retrieval from Drogheda's past.

At an Executive meeting of the GAA, held in Thurles, in 1886, two Drogheda delegates who attended the meeting expressed their concerns about the games not being extended to the counties of the north. And the Drogheda men, not only flew the flag of the Boynesiders, but were also greatly responsible for the initial extension of the Gaelic games into Ulster.

The delegates who attended the meeting were, Francis Wade and James Weldon and the first thing Mr. Weldon complained about was the inconvenience of delegates coming from the Boyneside all the way to Thurles, and he asked the Executive to consider holding future meetings nearer Dublin.

Mr. Wade then proposed that:

Ulster should be given two vice-presidents. And as Drogheda was the gap of the North and the first to take up the Gaelic cause, he would move that it be given one of the vice-presidents and that Alderman Mangan, who was the most popular man in that part of the country, be elected to the honorary position of vice-president.

The people in the North and in the district that he represented were of the opinion that you here in the South want to keep the Gaelic Association amongst yourselves and that you did not wish to give the North a look in at all. By giving two vice-presidents to Ulster it would show that you were not actuated by selfish motives and it would be a strong inducement to Ulster to join the association.

Mr. Bracken, a member of the Executive, denied this statement by Wade, saying that:

When they started the association in the South, Ulster refused to join and, not only did they stand idly by, but sneered at the movement and under that circumstances he would oppose the election of the vice-president for Ulster. 

Mr. J. O`Crowley, another member of the Executive, took exception to the remark made by Mr. Bracken, stating that:

As far as Drogheda was concerned, they had joined the association in early 1885. Drogheda had taken up the movement earnestly and never in any town in the South did he see so much enthusiasm displayed for the success of the Gaelic as that which he witnessed amongst the people of Drogheda`.

Mr. Weldon said that:

It was all very well for Mr. Bracken to talk of the great headway that had been made in the South; they had matters there pretty much their own way. They had no enemy to fight in the South, as they had in the North and they had many difficulties to contend with in Drogheda. The Gaelic association never intended that it should be a provincial association and, to make it a national association, they should endeavour to win over Ulster; it was a country worth fighting for (hear, hear). There was as good Irishmen in Ulster as in any part of the country. He believed that if the vice-presidents were elected for Ulster it would be the means of bringing all Ulster into the association. 

Mr. O`Crowley said that:

The men of Drogheda had firmly planted the association along the Boyne and that the movement in Drogheda was making gigantic strides in the North, while the fact that two delegates had come all the way from the Boyne to attend the convention was a strong argument that the people of Drogheda had thrown themselves heart and soul into the movement. 

Several other delegates then expressed themselves in favour of conceding two vice-presidents to Ulster; however, the proposal was then deferred until the annual general meeting at the end of the year. As a result of this meeting, the seeds of the G.A.A. had now been planted in Ulster. But what would have happened if the two Drogheda men hadn’t made that faithful trip to Thurles in September 1886 and stated the case for their fellow countrymen in the North?

Raise a glass to the memory of Mr. Francis Wade and Mr. James Weldon.
 

• Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

Dirty Old Town.

Community Historian Brendan Matthews showing 19th Century Drogheda through the eyes of an English visitor.

In August 1842, an Englishman, by the name of William Makepiece Thackeray, (writer of Vanity fair), made a visiting tour of Ireland and he made the following observations of Drogheda.

"As the coach arrives near Drogheda and, in the boulevards of this town, all resemblance to England is lost. Up hill and down, we pass low rows of filthy cabins in dirty undulations. Parents are at the cabin doors dressing the hair of ragged children; shock-heads of girls peer out from the black circumference of smoke and children, inconceivably, filthy, yell wildly and vociferously as the coach passes by.

One little ragged savage rushed furiously up the hill, speculating upon permission to put on the drag-chain at descending and hoping for a halfpenny reward. He put on the chain, but the guard did not give him a halfpenny.

I flung him one and the boy rushed wildly after the carriage, holding it up with joy. `The man inside has given me one,` says he, holding it up exultingly to the guard. I flung out another (by the by and without any prejudice, the halfpence in Ireland are smaller than those of England), but when the child got this halfpenny, small as it was, it seemed to overpower him — the little man’s look of gratitude was worth a great deal more than the biggest penny ever struck.

The town itself is smoky, dirty and lively. There was a great bustle in the black main street and several good shops; though some of the houses were in a half state of ruin and battered shutters closed many of the windows.

The quays were grimy with the discharge of the coal vessels that lay alongside them and the numerous factories and chimneys were vomiting huge clouds of black smoke. Of one part of its manufactures, every traveller must speak with gratitude – of the ale namely, which is as good as the best brewed in the sister kingdom.

Drogheda ale is to be drunk all over Ireland in the bottled state: candour calls for the acknowledgement, that it is equally praiseworthy in draught. And while satisfying himself of this fact, the philosophic observer cannot but ask, why ale should not be as good elsewhere as at Drogheda: is the water of the Boyne the only water in Ireland whereof ale can be made?

Three boys were running past the Linen hall with a mouse tied to a string and a dog galloping after.

Two little children were paddling down the street, one saying to the other, `Once I had a halfpenny and bought apples with it`.

There is a very large and ugly Roman Catholic chapel in the town and a smaller one of better construction: it was so crowded, however, although on a weekday, that we could not pass beyond the chapel yard; where were great crowds of people, some praying, some talking, some buying and selling.

There were two or three stalls in the yard, presided over by old women, with a store of little brass crucifixes and beads for the faithful to purchase.

By this time, that exceedingly slow coach, the Newry Lark, had arrived at that exceedingly filthy inn, where the mail had dropped us an hour before.

An enormous Englishman was holding a vain combat of wit with a brawny grinning beggar-woman at the door. `There’s a clever gentleman, says the beggar-woman; `sure he’ll give me something`. `How much should you like? `, says the Englishman with playful jocularity. `Musha, `says she, `many a littler man nor you has given me a shilling`.

The coach drives away: the lady had clearly the best of the joking match: but I did not see, for all that, the Englishman gave her a single farthing."

•  Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

'When is a Martello Tower not a Martello Tower?'

In the recently published 2013 Journal of the Old Drogheda Society there is an errata at the back which mentions that in a previously published article all mentions of Millmount Tower as a Martello Tower were removed. The local paper the Drogheda Independent picked up on this and published their own article questioning "when is a Martello Tower not a Martello Tower?" wondering what indeed was the difference.

image (c.) r&c ardill

Our Community Historian & editor of the Journal Brendan Matthews wrote an incisive response to the newspaper to clarify the tower's history which is reprinted here.

"There has always been controversy on whether the Richmond Fort at Millmount was ever indeed a true Martello tower built under Britain's National Defence Act of 1804 in anticipation of a Napoleonic invasion of these islands.

From the late 18th century Martello 'type' towers were being constructed around the British Isles and were known under different names such as coastal-batteries, beacons, watchtowers, gun-batteries, coastal-forts, citadels, redoubts and round-towers. Subsequently, the name 'Martello' was then applied as a universal term for any round defensive tower and although the towers were built to 'type plans', there was local variation depending on the contractors employed along with the materials that would have been available locally and so the towers often varied considerably in their construction as a result.

It also appears that the Martello type tower at Millmount may have been deliberately constructed here by reason that Drogheda at this time was a very important garrison town of the British Empire, thus protecting, not only the estuary of an important river, but also the town and its inhabitants from any further domestic trouble which had arisen during and after the Irish Rebellion of 1798. The sight of the tower would also have been a strong military statement by the British, dominating as it did the surrounding town, countryside and river estuary.

It is also clear from the records that during this period the Corporation of Drogheda was seeking to establish a permanent military barracks within the town and with the coming of the new Viceroy, Charles Lennox the 4th Duke of Richmond, to Ireland in 1807, with his experience of such towers and fighting the French, along with a threat from Irish insurgents, the timing was right for such an undertaking in Drogheda. Interestingly the tower at Millmount was also known as the 'Richmond Fort' in honour of the 4th Duke of Richmond and this name was also applied to this fortress up to recent times.

The majority of the towers also had their guns placed on their roofs, but at Drogheda the two nine-pounder cannon guns were placed on a circular movable platform placed on either side of the tower. The reason for this may have been that the tower was already sitting on top of a great mound and, being very much higher than any of the rest in Britain or Ireland, placing the guns on the roof of the tower would not have been of any great benefit. The majority of the towers were also protecting coastal areas, acting as beacons for a proposed threat. The tower at Drogheda was in fact protecting a garrison and a prosperous town; a jewel in the crown of Britain's policy in Ireland after the Act of Union less than a decade earlier.

The topography of Drogheda and the surrounding area, including a major route-way to the north and south also made Drogheda a 'key player' in these troubled times of the British Empire. It is clear that the tower at Millmount was not just erected as another 'Martello tower' as a result of a proposed Napoleonic invasion, but rather that it was erected as a back-up for the coastal watchtowers and that its line of defence was therefore the protection of the north-east territory and guarding one of the most important trading routes; that of the estuary, which, if fallen into the French hands, would have been detrimental to Britain.

Records also show that the Duke of Richmond was very much anti Catholic and a strong advocate of oppressive measures to subdue the populace after the rising of 1798 and the follow-up executions of Robert Emmett in 1803, the construction of the Richmond Fort in Drogheda was then erected as yet another symbol of oppression in Ireland. The erection of such a magnificent tower on top of the great mound also reflected a symbol of great strength to any future insurgency against the town, which again, as the historical records show, was a hotbed of rebel activities during and following the rising of 1798.

At a meeting held on the 16th July 1813, the Drogheda Corporation addressed a letter to the Duke of Richmond on the eve of his departure expressing their grateful thanks and acknowledging the great work he had done for Drogheda at a time of great trouble and strife in the country. This is surely a further indication that the 4th Duke of Richmond was primarily acting on suppressing the domestic problem in Ireland during his period here, namely his war against the Croppies and not because he had ordered the erection of the 'Martello type' tower at Millmount in anticipation of a proposed French invasion.

Yours,
Brendan Matthews"


Brendan has also published, through the Old Drogheda Society, a very interesting history of the tower complex itself from prehistory through to the present day called 'Tower of Strength" which can be purchased through Eason's Drogheda or directly in Drogheda Millmount Museum. (ISBN 978-0-9546658-3-8)

• Old Drogheda Society - History, Archaeology & Heritage Millmount, Drogheda, Co. Louth, Ireland. Tel. 041-9833097

1867 & the sad fate of Rose Rogers of Wallace’s Row.

Community Historian Brendan Matthews with a poignant story on the lonely death of Rose Rogers.


Back in the 19th century there was an extensive village of wretched mud cabin houses named Wallace’s Row, which was situated about one and a half miles outside of Drogheda on the Ballymakenny Road.

Griffiths Valuation of rateable property in the 1850`s shows that there was around 64 houses here and that the majority of the families living here were that of Hand-Loom Weavers. The wretched little homes were constructed in order to create a number of 40 shilling Freeholders at the beginning of the 19th century and the residents here played a key role in many of the Parliamentary Elections of that period.

The village got its name from a man named Thomas Wallace who actually contested one such election in the 1830`s.

On Friday January 18th 1867 an old woman named Rose Rogers was found dead from the want of food and warmth in one these mud cabins by some of her neighbours. Later that same day Rose Rogers was interred in the Cord Cemetery in what was termed at the time, 'in the poorest of wood coffins'. There was no Mass, no funeral service and no priest in attendance.

The County Coroner, Dr. Moore, then ordered the body to be exhumed for a proper post mortem and this was carried out on Monday January 21st with several witnesses in attendance from the Coroners Court. These witnesses later on told the inquest that, 'there was a red blush in Rose Rogers’s face when the lid of the coffin was raised such as they had never seen while she was alive' and that, 'she was warmer in the soil of the ground surrounding her flimsy coffin than she had been in her cold and damp house.'

The inquest heard from many of the old woman’s neighbours who stated that:

her house was in a terrible condition with holes and gaps everywhere and that the recent snow had fallen through her roof and that there was a few boards along the wall of the cabin with some pieces of straw which acted as her bed, but that the straw was so few that the pieces could be counted.

The Coroner was also told that there was no clothes in the house other than the ones Rose had on her, there was no coal, no wood and no food except for two small pieces of stale oaten bread. One neighbour stated that, 'there wasn’t enough straw in the cabin that would make a nest for a hen.' The court also heard that, from time to time, Mr Whitworth would provide the residents here with some coal.

A Doctor Ellis also gave evidence of carrying out a post mortem on the body and he said that, in his opinion death was due to the effects of cold and want and that on examination he found that there was no food whatsoever in the old woman’s stomach and that he had never in all of his life seen a corpse so placid in expression.

Neighbours who attended the Coroners Court included Anne Farrell, Catherine Byrne, Jemmy Duffy and Betsy Carragher.



Drogheda Museum

MillmountGovernor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097

The Hawker-Woman and her Soldier Husband.

Community Historian, Brendan Matthews with another of his short but fine pieces that reveal so much about the past life of Drogheda and its people. 

Back in the summer months of 1875 an old woman by the name of Mrs Dwyer was a regular visitor to the town of Drogheda. Apparently Mrs Dwyer had some kind of a lodging house in Balbriggan. However, due to her being a Hawker who lived by travelling throughout the countryside and from town to town selling goods from a basket around her neck, she was seldom seen at her residence in Balbriggan during the long and bright summer days.

On a sunny Saturday in the month of July 1875 Mrs Dwyer was in Drogheda selling her wares and fancy goods when she became ill on the street and was subsequently removed to the Workhouse Infirmary on the Dublin Road. A few days then passed but Mrs Dwyer, who was an elderly lady, didn’t recover from her sudden illness and died within the Workhouse and was laid to rest in the nearby Bully`s Acre burial ground.

Some two months later, on Saturday 11^th Septembe 1875, an elderly man by the name of Thomas Dwyer arrived in Drogheda and went to a lodging house in Trinity Street which was owned by a woman named Mrs Halloran. Thomas Dwyer was also from Balbriggan and apparently he had often stayed at this lodging house in Drogheda and was familiar to Mrs Halloran.

It transpired that Thomas Dwyer was in fact the husband of the late Mrs Dwyer, the hawker-woman who had passed away in the Drogheda Workhouse a couple of months previously. When Thomas Dwyer was informed that his wife had died some two months earlier he broke down in the lodging house in Trinity Street and sobbed his heart out. He was overcome with grief as he sat by the fire in the house and began to sup some whiskey which he had with him in a carrier bag.

He told Mrs Halloran that he was an old soldier and that he was nearly 100 years old and that he had walked to Drogheda to look for his wife when he hadn’t heard from her in a few weeks. Thomas Dwyer then took some kind of a small inventory from inside his pocket and it contained a long list of the fancy goods and items that his hawker-lady woman used to sell to the general public and included items such as penknives, dolls, scissors, books, trotter-oil, beads, holy pictures, etc.

The following morning, Sunday September 12^th 1875, Thomas Dwyer continued to sit in front of the fire at the lodging house in Trinity Street. For most of the day, according to Mrs Halloran the landlady, he continued to drink whiskey to ease the pain of his grief and the only other nourishment he took was a naggin of Hollands Gin and refusing to eat. On Monday September 13^th, Mr Dwyer went to lie down on his bed at the lodging house. After some hours when he didn’t return downstairs, Mrs Halloran went up to his room to check on him and discovered that the aged man had quietly passed away in his sleep.

Found among his personal items and clothing following his death was some papers that showed that Thomas Dwyer was admitted as an out-pensioner at Chelsea, at 6 pennies a day in 1841 and also that he had enlisted in the British Army at Carrick-on-Suir in the year 1825.

 

 Drogheda Museum 

MillmountGovernor's House,

Millmount,

Drogheda

0419833097