The ‘English Church’ in Portarlington and its role in a ‘French town’

Saint Michael’s Church, the former ‘English Church’ in Portarlington, Co Laois … built in 1694-1696 and rebuilt in 1830 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Saint Michael’s Church, a former Church of Ireland parish church in Portarlington, Co Laois, was once known as the ‘English Church.’ It stands on the east side Market Square, beside the dilapidated former Savoy Cinema, almost hidden behind the former Market House, and diagonally opposite Saint Paul’s, the ‘French Church,’ on the corner of the Square and the town’s main street, French Church Street.

It may seem strange that when Henry Bennet, Earl of Arlington, built his new town of Portarlington on the banks of the River Barrow in 1666, he provided no parish church for the new town.

A small part of the town was in the parish of Clonehorke, King’s County (Offaly), but it was mainly in the parish of Lea, Queen’s County (Laois). The nearest parish church was then in the neighbouring village of Lea, near Lea Castle and 3 km outside Portarlington.

Portarlington straddles the border between Co Laois and Co Offaly. However, the colony founded by Bennet was an economic and political failure, and he sold off his Irish estates before he died in 1685.

But new life came to Portarlington in the 1690s in the wake of the Williamite Wars. The Portarlington estates were confiscated from Sir Patrick Trant, a Jacobite, and granted to Henri de Massue (1648-1720), Marquis de Ruvigny and Earl of Galway.

Henri de Massue was a Huguenot and a former courtier in Versailles who had fled France as a religious refugee after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. He invited other Huguenot refugees to settle on his new estate from 1692.

Lord Galway realised that the parish church in Lea was too far away and that his expanding town needed new places, he set about building not just one but two new churches in Portarlington.

Saint Michael’s Church was built to serve the English-speaking families in late 17th century Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Two churches and two schools were established: one of each for the French-speaking and English-speaking residents. But until the 19th century they remained, officially, chapels of ease to the original parish church 3 km outside Portarlington in the village of Lea.

Samuel Lewis, in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837), noted that the two churches built in Portarlington during the reign of William III were dedicated to Saint Michael and Saint Paul. They were endowed with a rent-charge of £40 late on lands in the area.

Saint Michael’s Church was for the English-speaking families and Saint Paul’s Church was to serve the French and Flemish families; in time, they became known as the ‘English Church’ and the ‘French Church.’

The income of the French Church was augmented with an annual grant of £50 voted by Parliament, while the former Board of First Fruits increased the stipend of the minister of the English Church to £100 per annum.

Portarlington is in the Diocese of Kildare and both churches were in the patronage of the Bishop of Kildare.

The English church, on the east side of the Square, was rebuilt in the late Georgian style ca 1830. Seven years later, Samuel Lewis noted in 1837 that the English Church ‘has a handsome spire.’

Technically, the parish church in Lea remained the Church of Ireland parish in the area, even after it was rebuilt ca 1810. In 1869, the French Church became the parish church in Portarlington in place of the English Church.

However, the perpetual curate since 1838, John Worsley, who was also Dean of Kildare, kept the English Church open, and the two churches maintained separate parochial lives until 1887, when the church schools closed and the two churches were amalgamated.

The English Church was then deconsecrated, and the spire was eventually removed in 1924. The former church is now used as community hall.

The former church has a round-headed door opening with replacement timber panelled door, put in place ca 1980, with an over-panel. Inside, the ceiling has a decorative plaster rosette and the chancel has a decorative plaster arch.

The building has coursed rubble limestone walls with an ashlar plinth, quoins, stringcourse and coping. The round-headed windows have limestone sills, limestone voussoirs and replacement metal-framed casement windows that date from ca 1940.

Lea Parish Church, 3 km outside Portarlington, remains open, but is only used from Easter until October, and then with a twice-monthly service.

Saint Michael’s is also the name of the Roman Catholic parish church at the west end of Portarlington, on the Offaly side of the River Barrow.

The ‘English Church’ is now used as a community hall (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Huguenot heritage of Portarlington, once the ‘Paris of the Midlands’

Arlington House in Portarlington … the former school has been sadly neglected for over 20 years and is on the ‘high risk’ list (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During one of my journeys between Askeaton and Dublin during the Christmas and New Year season, I stopped to see the town of Portarlington, on the banks of the River Barrow and straddling the borders of Co Laois and Co Offaly, once known as Queen’s County and King’s County.

The town has a population of about 8,500 and is divided by the River Barrow, with Co Offaly on the north bank and Co Laois on the south bank of river.

Portarlington is a relatively new town in Ireland. It was founded in 1666 by Sir Henry Bennet (1618-1685), Earl of Arlington, who had been Home Secretary to Charles II, who granted Bennet the former estates of the O’Dempsey family, confiscated after the Irish Rebellion of 1641.

The River Barrow runs through Portarlington, dividing the Laois and Offaly sides of the town (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Bennet was reputed to have found many of the king’s mistresses, and he had been Charles II’s ambassador to Madrid before and after the Caroline restoration in 1690.

Charles II honoured his friend and agent with the titles of Baron Arlington of Harlington in Middlesex (1665) and Earl of Arlington (1672). The town on his new estates in the Irish Midlands was given the name of Port Arlington, or Portarlington, although it is almost as far from the Irish coast as is imaginable and the River Barrow is barely navigable at this point.

His residence in London was Arlington House, built on the site where Buckingham Palace was eventually built.

Lord Arlington’s government posts included Keeper of the Privy Purse (1661-1662), Secretary of State for the Southern Department (1662-1674), Postmaster General (1667-1685) and Lord Chamberlain (1674-1685).

Arlington died in 1685, and his titles and English estates passed to his daughter, Lady Isballa Bennet, who married Charles II’s illegitimate son, Henry FitzRoy (1663-1690), Duke of Grafton. By then, his colony at Portarlington was a failure. But shortly before his death in 1685, Bennet sold his Irish estate to Sir Patrick Trant, a Jacobite whose property was confiscated after the Williamite Wars.

The French Inn and Huguenot House on French Church Street recall the town’s Huguenot and French heritage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Portarlington estate was granted to a leading Huguenot, Henri de Massue (1648-1720), 2nd Marquis de Ruvigny, who had been the last Huguenot representative at the court of Versailles before the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. Following the Treaty of Limerick (1691), Portarlington was re-established with the settlement of Huguenot refugees.

The titles of Earl of Galway (1697), and Viscount Galway (1692) and Baron Portarlington (1692) were given to de Ruvigny, who financed the building of 130-150 new houses for the Huguenot refugees and established two schools, one for the French children and one for the English who had remained from Lord Arlington’s plantation.

An Act of Resumption deprived de Ruvigny of his estate and threw into doubt all the leases he had granted. By 1702, however, the Huguenots’ leases were legitimised and their presence in Portarlington was secured.

When Lord Galway died in 1720, his titles died out. But the Huguenot settlement on his estate remained unique and has been called the ‘Paris of the Midlands.’ It is said that French continued to be used as a language in Portarlington until the 1820s. One of the main streets is French Church Street, and the Church of Ireland parish church, dating from 1694, is known as the French Church.

Portarlington continues to celebrate its Huguenot heritage (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Portarlington sent two MPs to the Irish House of Commons, and in 1785 the title of Earl of Portarlington was given to John Dawson, who had been MP for Portarlington.

After the Act of Union elected one MP, and the 15 members of the town corporation were the sole electors until electoral reforms in the mid-19th century. The MPs for Portarlington included David Ricardo (1819-1824), the first Jewish-born MP elected in Ireland, and various members of the Dawson and Dawson-Damer family from nearby Emo Court and who held the title of Earl of Portarlington.

The borough was finally abolished in 1885.

A pair of restored Georgian houses on Patrick Street, Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Pembroke House and Braemar, two lovingly restored Georgian houses on Patrick Street, are positive examples of how Portarlington’s architectural heritage can be conserved.

However, Arlington House on French Church Street, illustrates the sad neglect of Portarlington in more recent years, and is on the ‘High Risk’ list of historic buildings because of its neglect and its ‘very poor’ state of maintenance.

The building is suffering from major conservation problems. Most of the external fabric remains, but there are obvious signs of deterioration such as slipped slates, vegetation growth, broken windows and vandalism. There is no immediate danger of collapse but the condition is such that unless urgent remedial works are carried out the building will sharply deteriorate.

Arlington House was first built in 1697 by a Huguenot settler, Daniel Le Grand Chevalier Seigneur du Petit Bosc, on land previously known as Cruthley’s Close, and he lived there until his death in 1737.

Arlington House was built in two periods, with the original house to the rear. The front section of the house was built around 1760 in what has become known as the Irish Georgian style, with a pedimented centre piece.

The building was a boarding school during the 19th century. Professor John Pentland Mahaffey of Trinity College Dublin once said, ‘this school stands quite at the head of Irish Schools.’

Past students may have included the Duke of Wellington and certainly included in the 1860s Edward Carson, the Unionist leader who was also the prosecutor at the trial of Oscar Wilde.

Another pupil was Feargus O’Connor (1794-1855) from Cork, whose uncle, Arthur O’Connor, had been a prominent United Irishman. O’Connor was expelled from the school in January 1815 for trying to elope with the headmaster’s daughter. He later became an MP and was one of the leaders of the Chartist movement in England.

Despite its history and importance to the town, Arlington House has stood empty for many decades and is now in a state of near-total ruin. After more than 20 years of dereliction, Arlington House is now a shell. It urgently needs new uses to be identified to prevent further deterioration of its character.

The former Market House in the Square looks sad, neglected and isolated (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Other important, but seemingly neglected buildings in the town include the former Market House on the Square, built ca 1740.

This is a detached three-bay two-storey mid-Georgian building. It was renovated in the 1990s for use as garage and a workshop on the ground floor, with residential accommodation above.

The round-headed carriageways on the ground floor have been blocked up, the original fittings removed, and it looks sad and isolated on the Square, a traffic island in the middle of a car park. It is in need of architectural

My visits to Portarlington’s three churches were different experiences. But more about those visits in later posts.

Huguenot House on French Church Street, Portarlington (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

The Tholsel in New Ross is at the heart of the history of an 800-year-old town

The Tholsel and the 1798 monument in the centre of New Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to New Ross last week, I was looking at a number of churches in the town, including the former Saint Michael’s, now a theatre, the Gothic revival Church of Saint Mary and Michael. New Ross traces its story back to Saint Abban, who built a monastery on the banks of the River Barrow in the sixth century. But the town is said to have been founded in 1207 by Strongbow’s daughter Isabella, wife of William le Mareschal, later Earl of Pembroke.

Like many mediaeval towns in Ireland, New Ross had a number of monastic foundations, but perhaps the one with the most unusual story is the Priory of the Crutched Friars, who arrived in New Ross around 1210.

The Crutched Friars had the right to levy taxes on ships entering the port. But tradition tells of the Friars demanding increased taxes from the town. This led to disputes and in one fight on the quay and on the river, three friars and a townsman were killed or drowned. The enraged people of New Ross then broke into the friary, and the remainder of the friars were run out of town.

As the Crutched Friars left New Ross by boat in 1262, the abbot is said to have stood on deck, raised his arms and cursed the town, commanding the Barrow to take three lives each year as a penalty for the deaths of his three friars. He prayed that the town would decay and fall into ruins and that his curse would remain forever.

In response to the treatment of the friars, the Pope placed New Ross under interdict, the churches were closed, the sacraments were not administered, and Christian burial was prohibited.

This situation did not last long, the site of the Priory of the Crutched Friars was confiscated in 1270, and a new Franciscan friary Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Lord of the Manor in 1276.

New Ross received its first charter from Roger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and Marshal of England, in the reign of Edward I (1272-1307), providing for the election of a provost of Rossponte or Rosspontum. The town’s privileges were confirmed in successive charters, and the town first elected MPs to the Irish Parliament in 1374. New Ross continued to elect two MPs until the Act of Union, when the number of MPs was reduced to one.

On the dissolution of the monastic houses in 1540, the former friary became the first Town Hall in New Ross.

A charter granted by James I became the ruling charter of New Ross. The style of the corporation was ‘the Sovereign and Free Burgesses of New Ross.’ The sovereign or mayor was chosen from among the burgesses. The sovereign and the burgesses elected the new burgesses, who held office for life. The town also had a recorder (judge), two bailiffs, the senior bailiff was known as the Bailiff Receiver, and presided in his own court.

During the Confederate and Civil Wars, the Duke of Ormonde laid siege to the town in 1641, but he was driven back with considerable loss and forced to raise the siege. Later, Ormonde defended the town against Cromwell. During these wars, the old bridge was destroyed in 1643, and the river was crossed by a ferry until the end of the 18th century, when a new bridge was built.

After the restoration of Charles II, the civic offices in New Ross were monopolised by local lading families, particularly the Tottenham family. Legislation in his reign of Charles II stipulated that elections of the chief magistrate, recorder and town clerk should be approved of by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council.

The former friary continued to function as the town hall until 1749, when the Tholsel was built. A plaque on the Tholsel noted that the first stone of the building was laid on the anniversary of the ‘glorious Battle of the Boyne’ in 1690.

The market house or Tholsel was erected by Charles Tottenham, then Sovereign or mayor of New Ross. The Tholsel was designed by William Kent of London and built on the site of the mediaeval market cross.

In the late 18th century, the tidal waters of the Barrow caused the foundations of the Tholsel to subside. The building was taken down stone-by-stone and rebuilt. A date stone records the near-total reconstruction of the market house or Tholsel in 1806 by John Robinson, carpenter and architect.

The architectural features of the Tholsel include its compact rectilinear shape, the workmanship on the honey-coloured granite, the windows that diminish in scale on each floor, and the polygonal cupola on the roof which has a parapet topped with urns. The granite ashlar cupola is on an octagonal plan with a rusticated granite ashlar base.

The Tholsel has had a variety of uses over almost three centuries. When he ground floor was enclosed in the 1860s, reading rooms were opened, and the upper storey became the town-hall.

Opposite the Tholsel, the 1798 monument stands on the corner of North Street and Quay Street. This monument, unveiled in 1907, recalls the rebels ‘who fought and fell in the Battle of Ross’ on 5 June 1798.

The bronze figure of a Pikeman unfurling a flag was designed by the Revd Edward A Foran OSA (1866-1938) is said to be either Captain John Kelly (1776-1798) of Killanne, or Matthew Furlong of Raheen, who was shot while carrying a flag of truce. The monument stands on the spot where the Main Guard’s cannon stood and prevented 20,000 rebels from dislodging the defending garrison from the Tholsel in one of the bloodiest battles of 1798.

The mace of Edward III (1374), the mace of Charles II (1699), the Charter of James II (1688), and the minutes of New Ross Corporation from the mid-17th century are held in the Tholsel. Today, the Tholsel houses the chambers of the local authorities.

Looking across the River Barrow towards Rosbercon from the Quays of New Ross (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Admiring the ruins of Carlow Castle on the banks of the River Barrow

Carlow Castle … overlooking the banks of the River Barrow since the early 13th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

During my rambles through Carlow on Saturday afternoon [15 October 2016], I visited Carlow Castle, now standing ruins near the east bank of the River Barrow.

As a strategic river crossing, Carlow was the scene of a number of important battles and the Anglo Normans recognised its importance when the river was first fortified in the 1180s by Hugh de Lacy followed by building the great Carlow Castle in the early 13th century.

Carlow Castle is thought to be have been built by William de Marshal, Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster, between 1207 and 1213.

At the time, the site of the castle was a small island on the River Barrow. It was a French-style keep with four towers. The design is rare for a castle in Ireland and it may have been copied from western France, then also under Norman control.

The castle was the very first of its kind in Ireland, a towered keep, with a huge rectangular tower was surrounded by four smaller three-quarter-circular towers at the corners of the rectangle. Originally it was a rectangular block, containing the castle’s principle rooms protected by cylindrical towers at its corners.

Historians and archaeologists today doubt that Carlow Castle supported the traditional function of a keep, serving as a refuge of last resort. Instead, it deliberately diverted from the contemporary standard in England and continental Europe. For example, there was no towered curtain, no gate house, and no undivided great hall. Similar castles of the same period were erected in both Ferns and Terryglass.

The inner castle measured 16 by 9.2 metres (52 ft × 30 ft), the towers were15 feet (4.6 m) in diameter, and the walls were 9 feet (2.7 m) thick. The inner castle had three storeys and timber was used for the upper storeys. The long west wall provided stairways and two latrines. The latrines indicate that the space was divided. The entrance door was in the first floor, but this is now broken out.

When William Matrshall died in 1219, his estate was divided between his five daughters. The His eldest daughter Maud inherited the Lordship of Carlow, comprising of all of present-day Co Carlow, along with much of Co Wexford, large parts of Co Laois and the manor of Ballysax in Co Kildare. The title of Earl Marshal and the ownership of Carlow Castle passed to Maud’s eldest son, Roger Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk.

Between 1283 and 1292, the 5th Earl of Norfolk began an extensive restoration of Carlow Castle. Some 12,000 wooden shingles were shipped up the Barrow from Dunleckney woods to cover the roof of the Great Hall. Both floors of the tower containing the Exchequer House were refurbished with 130 timber boards from Tullow. The treasurer’s office and court were at ground level, while the wooden chests of money and records were kept upstairs. The kitchen and castle prison were rebuilt too.

The castle was handed over to the crown in 1306, and in 1312 it was granted to Thomas Plantagenet.

During the 14th century, Carlow grew in importance. In 1361, King Edward III’s son, Prince Lionel, Duke of Clarence, moved the main organs of government from Dublin to Carlow, including the King’s Bench and the Court of Exchequer. The plan was to give the English control of the River Barrow, one of Ireland’s great highways, and enable them to strike at the ‘king’s Irish enemies,’ including the O’Mores, the O’Connors and other families, and for over three decades Carlow was effectively the capital of Ireland.

But Carlow stood on the edge of the Pale, and it was a prime target for attacks. Eventually, the King’s Bench and the Court of Exchequer were moved back to Dublin in 1394.

In the centuries that followed, there were numerous attacks on the castle, including attacks led by Art MacMurrough Kavanagh (1405), Silken Thomas (1534) and Rory Oge O’Moore (1577). However, none of those attacks inflicted anything more than a dent in the castle with walls that were 9 ft wide walls and towers rising to over 60 ft.

Carlow Castle was confiscated by the crown in 1537 because the Earls of Norfolk were absent. James Butler, son of the Earl of Ormond, was appointed Constable of Carlow Castle, and the Butlers would retain the lease of the castle through the rest of the Tudor age until the Earls of Thomond succeeded them in 1604.

Carlow Castle … passed to the Earls of Thomond in the early 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

In 1604, the castle was leased from the crown by Donough O’Brien, 4th Earl of Thomond. The lease from King James I said O’Brien was to hold his ‘estate in fee-simple for ever of the Manor of Catherlogh, at the yearly rent of £23. Reserving and excepting out of the said grant the Castle of Catherlogh. The said Donough and his son and the longer liver of them to have the Constableship of the said Castle of Catherlogh, with all the entertainments as Robert and William Hartpole lately enjoyed.’ However, the king reserved the ownership of the castle for himself and his ‘successors.’

The Earls of Thomond held onto Carlow Castle until the Confederate Wars, when it was attacked by Sir Morgan Kavanagh (1641) and then by General Thomas Preston (1647). The castle was confiscated by the Confederates, but it was captured in 1650 by Cromwell’s Deputy and son-in-law, General Henry Ireton, who released 500 prisoners held captive there. It passed back to the Earl of Thomond, and following the Restoration in 1660, Henry O’Brien, 7th Earl of Thomond, was confirmed in his possession of Carlow Castle.

In 1719, Thomond appointed a Dublin lawyer, James Hamilton, to serve as chief steward of his Irish estates, including Carlow. The 8th and last Earl of Thomond died in 1741 and his Irish estates passed to his nephew by marriage, Percy Wyndham, who adopted the name O’Brien.

Carlow Castle … destroyed in the early hours of Sunday 13 February 1814 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

James Hamilton died in 1771 and was succeeded by his eldest son Hans Hamilton, who was MP for Co Dublin for 30 years. The Hamilton family’s title to the land and Carlow Castle was later confirmed and Carlow Castle was still standing and was largely intact in 1813 when the Hamilton family leased it to Phillip Parry Price Middleton, and English doctor.

Dr Middleton invested £2,000 in rebuilding and remodelling of the castle in an attempt to convert it into a private Maison de Santé or ‘lunatic asylum.’ During his renovations, Middleton believed he could gain valuable extra space by building tunnels under the castle and reducing the thickness of the walls by using blasting powder.

But the results were not as he planned. He placed explosive charges at the base of the castle on Sunday 13 February 1814, and then demolished all but the western wall and two towers.

The castle area was excavated for the first time ever in 1996 by a team of archaeologists under the direction of Dr Kieran O’Conor of the Office of Public Works. He published a summary of his findings in the 1997 Autumn edition of the journal Archaeology Ireland.

Today, two battered towers and the outer face of the west wall are all that remain of Carlow Castle today. Despite this, the castle remains one of the most prominent features on the River Barrow and it is designated a National Monument.

A walk by the Barrow in Carlow at one of Ireland’s oldest rowing clubs

By the banks of the River Barrow at Carlow Rowing Club … one of the oldest rowing clubs in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

During my visit to Carlow on Saturday [15 October 2016], I spent a few hours in the afternoon walking the banks of the River Barrow at Braganza, by the Wellington Bridge that links Carlow and Graiguecullen, and by Carlow Rowing Club at The Quay.

This is one of the oldest rowing clubs in Ireland, dating back to at least 1859. Carlow’s national oarsmen include Jimmy O’Neill, Niall O’Brien and Michael Nolan, who have represented Ireland at World Championships and international regattas. The River Barrow provided an excellent venue for a rowing club, but races and regattas had taken place in private boathouses long before the rowing club was established.

The Barrow is Ireland’s second longest river, with a length of 192 km. It is one of the ‘Three Sisters,’ along with Suir and the Nore. The source of the river is at Glenbarrow in the Slieve Bloom Mountains in Co Laois, and from there on its way to the sea in Waterford, the Barrow passes through Portarlington, Monasterevin, Athy, Carlow and Graiguecullen, Bagenalstown, Graiguenamanagh and New Ross.

The river forms a natural border on its right bank between Co Laois and Co Carlow and the Co Kilkenny and Co Waterford and, on its left bank between Co Carlow and Co Wexford. It is a major part of Ireland’s inland waterways network, providing an inland link between the port of Waterford and the Grand Canal, which in turn connects Dublin to the River Shannon.

There are three sections to the navigation: the tidal River Barrow, with 88 km of tidal river navigation; the non-tidal river navigation featuring 23 locks, continuing 66 km inland from the tidal limit at St Mullin’s to Athy; and the Barrow Line of the Grand Canal connecting to the river at Athy and continuing northwards for a further 45 km with nine locks, connecting to the mainline of the Grand Canal at Lowtown.

In 1703, the Irish House of Commons appointed a committee to bring in a bill to make the Barrow navigable. By 1800, the Barrow Track was completed between St Mullin’s and Athy, establishing a link to the Grand Canal.

There is much speculation of when and how many bridges were built at Carlow before the Wellington Bridge was built over 200 years ago in 1815 linking Carlow and Graigcullen. Although it is known locally as the Graiguecullen Bridge, this five-arched bridge was named in honour of the Dublin-born Duke of Wellington after he defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo that year.

Nearby Governey Square was also known as Wellington Square throughout the 19th century.

The bridge was built across a small island in the river and a house was built on the bridge in the 19th century house. For a time, this house was home to the Poor Clares, who later moved to a convent in Graiguecullen.

When the Poor Clares first came to Carlow, they lived a house built on Wellington Bridge spanning the River Barrow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

For boats, this is the lowest bridge on the River Barrow, and for centuries it represented an important trading link for Carlow. By 1845, 88,000 tons of goods were being transported on the Barrow Navigation. The Grand Canal Company operated commercial boats up and down the Barrow until 1960.

There was has been a bridge at this river crossing since at least 1500. Later in the 16th century, the Lord Deputy, Sir Henry Sidney, built a replacement bridge.

By the 19th century, the River Barrow at this point was dotted with private boats and boathouses, whose owners pooled their resources for local races.

The club claims to date back to 1859, making it one of the oldest rowing clubs in Ireland. The earliest records date from 1860, and refer to a Carlow regatta in 1859. However, it is thought that boat races began long before that date, and the details of this regatta, the type of racing at it and the actual beginnings of the club are all matters of speculation. Carlow Rowing Club was founded in 1859, making it one of the oldest rowing clubs in Ireland.

The Deighton Memorial Hall … as the Corn Exchnage, it was the venue for the first meeting of Carlow Rowing Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The first meeting of what was known as the Carlow Regatta Yard took place in the Corn Exchange, now the Deighton Memorial Hall. It was described as a meeting of the subscribers to the 1859 Carlow Regatta Fund, and James Comerford of 11 Brown Street was among those who attended that early meeting. He was originally from Newtownbarry (Bunclody), Co Wexford, and was the father of Bishop Michael Comerford.

That date is now accepted as the founding date of Carlow Rowing Club. Others present at that early meeting in 1859 included James Bolger, P Bourke and Henry Boake. Darby Henry Cooper of Hanover House was elected Treasurer, and the next regatta was fixed for 18 July 1860. The first colours of the club were blue with white diagonal stripes, but these colours were changed later, and in 1902 the rules prescribed dark green.

Although the early regattas were not national events, the prize money was among the best in Ireland, amounting to £34.10.0 in 1861. The rowing races began at a point know as Sandy Hills, owned by Pat McDonald, and the course extended to the Old Graves. This remains part of the existing 1,500 metre course.

However, this regatta ran at a loss and all proceedings were abandoned until 1864. A regatta was held in 1864, with less valuable prizes and a reduced number of races. The committee did not meet again until 1867 and in the following year, the regatta took place at Cloydagh Pool, a few miles south of Carlow town. The prizes included two cups, the Carlow Challenge and Acton Cup, two gold rings, a breast pin for scullers and a silver paddle awarded to winners of a canoe race. This race was won by F Barnes, who became the first recorded captain of Carlow Rowing Club.

The Acton Cup was presented for this regatta by Sir John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton (1834-1902), later 1st Baron Acton, who was MP for Carlow (1859-1865). Acton is best known for his dictum, ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.’

Ten years after the club was formed, it was agreed unanimously in March 1869 to put the club on a more formal footing. Meetings were held, rules were drawn up and the subscription was fixed at a sovereign, with an additional entrance fee of the same amount – this fee did not change until 1948. Hugh Doyle was elected secretary and JF Lynch was appointed Treasurer. Rules were drawn up and the annual subscription was fixed at one guinea (21 shillings). F Barnes was elected the first captain in April and Mick Hayden was appointed the first boat keeper in June.

The club established a boat house in a shed rented from the Haughton family for £10 a year. The shed at Skinner’s Lane, on the south side of Graiguecullen Bridge by the banks of the Barrow, was close to the ruins of Carlow Castle, and the castle ruins remain part of the club logo.

The ruins of Carlow Castle remain part of the logo of Carlow Rowing Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The first reference to the annual procession of boats from the boathouse to the milestone was in 1869. The annual regatta of 1869 was held in October.

In 1878, the crew of William P Hade, Edward Rodgers, Harold Richardson, Joseph Hare and Cox Richard Wilson had the distinction of winning the Slaney amateur and Islandbridge Regattas – the first victories for a Carlow crew. By 1884, the club had 95 members.

In 1892, Carlow Rowing Club won a legal battle with the Barrow Navigation Company. The company had introduced byelaws that made rowing boats liable to a ‘lockage charge of 1d per boat and 4d if propelled by steam or towed from the banks.’ The club protested to the Board of Trade, which deemed the byelaws interfered with long-established rights. The Board of Trade found in favour of the club and the byelaws were disallowed.

Carlow Rowing Club … one of the oldest rowing clubs in Ireland (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

The club minutes come to an end in 1897 and they are not recorded again until 1916. But the years 1900-1903 were among the best in the club’s history. The names of the crew which rowed together for those four years – Bell, Boake, Duggan and Orr – became household words. They competed regularly in Waterford, Wexford, New Ross and Chapelizod. Their victory at Chapelizod in 1903 was their most famous victory. =

The Acton Cup mysteriously disappeared around this time and was never recovered. It is said that in 1901 or 1902 a Carlow rowing man who was a medical student saw the Acton Cup in a jeweller’s window in Dublin. It was not for sale and to this day, its fate remains a mystery.

At this time, one of Carlow’s strongest supporters was Thomas Kane McClintock-Bunbury (1848–1929), 2nd Baron Rathdonnell. He lived at Lisnavagh House, on the edges of Rathvilly, was a Lord Lieutenant of Carlow, and later a Senator. He was a fine oarsman who had rowed with his brother for Oxford. In 1902, he donated the silver cup that bears his name, now competed for by senior fours. That year, the club rules were updated and they remained the club’s constitution for many years.

The club developed steadily in years before World War I, and when the club records resume in 1916 the committee was content with the strength of club finances and membership.

The first ever women’s boat race in Carlow was in the 1931 petition regatta, when Dolphin Rowing Club was invited to send two crews to race, and the committee in a generous mood waived the entrance fees. A year later, in 1932, Carlow had a senior crew on the water, and the club was represented at Trinity, Waterford and New Ross. Their day of triumph was at Waterford Regatta, but it was also last trophy the club would win for more than 20 years.

But the club finances had dwindled by 1933. No regatta was held that year, nor could a crew be sent elsewhere. It seems racing ceased in the 1930s and 1940s, and the increasing number of pleasure boats on the river stood between the club and extinction, as they provided the sole justification for its continuance.

Faced with mounting dents, the club took some drastic economising measures, even ceasing its affiliation to the IARU and selling its fine and clinker four – although it always refused to sell its trophies.

From its earliest days, the club had a fleet of pleasure boats that seated about six people, and a trip to Knockbeg Weir took about an hour. In the 1920s, the club had a number of family boats and these held 20 people in comfort, and there were regular picnics an island in the river below Milford.

The last fleet of pleasure boats was bought in the 1940s. By 1962, the club had 16 boats that they were tied each night under the third and fourth arches of Graiguecullen Bridge. They lasted until the mid-1960s, when they finally fell apart from old age.

Meanwhile, under the leadership of WL (Billy) Duggan, Bill Fenlon and Jim Oliver, the club refused to die. They decided on a new start, to rebuild the club, to refurnish it and to buy new equipment. By 1952, racing had been revived, a new era began.

A clinker four was fitted and rigged by the Dublin University Boat Club boat-keeper, the Carlow regatta was revived and three cups were available for competition.

The centenary celebrations in 1959 included a special annual general meeting, a centenary dinner and a successful regatta with Senior Eights rowing for the first time in Carlow, followed by the inter-provincial championships, won by Leinster. This was the first time ever that the inter-provincial championship was rowed outside Dublin and it was allocated to Carlow to mark the centenary.

A 125th anniversary souvenir booklet is the source for most information on the early days of Carlow Rowing Club. At the close of the centenary general meeting, it was resolved that that the minutes were to be preserved and read at the 200th celebrations.

Meanwhile, the club remained at the shed on the south side of the bridge until 1962, when it moved a few hundred yards north of the bridge to a building once owned by the Grand Canal Company, which ceased operating in 1960.

The new club house at The Quay was opened on 27 May 1962 by DJ Gourley, President of the Irish Amateur Rowing Union.

Women’s rowing has been part of Carlow Rowling Club since 1964, when the first crew was recruited, and the Carlow women were unbeaten during the1965 season.
By the 1960s, the Carlow regatta had become Ireland’s top regatta, with well-run events, running to schedule and with efficiency. In 1967 the club was presented with a sculling trophy that had been missing for 100 years until it was found in England.

The present clubhouse was redeveloped in the 1970s and reopened on 12 September 1973.

Jesus College Boat Club, Cambridge … a link between Carlow and Cambridge dates back to the boat race in 1876 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Lord Action, who presented the Acton Cup to Carlow Rowing Club, was appointed Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge in 1895. But there is another connection between Carlow and Cambridge through one of the many oars hanging in the clubhouse. This one, with nine names on it and the date is Saturday 8 April 1876, is one of the eight oars used in the Oxford-Cambridge boat race in 1876. The oar was presented to the club in 1973 by Pierre E Gamier of Tankardstown, Tullow, on behalf of his grand uncle and godfather, TE Hockin of Jesus College, Cambridge.

Hockin rowed in the No 6 seat of the Cambridge crew that won the boat race in 1876. Hockin and C Gurdon were also the winners of the Magdalene Pairs that same year, and Hockin was head of the river seven times, a record unlikely to be broken.

Hockin continued rowing for Cambridge for the next four years, dead-heating in 1877, when the bow in the Oxford boat damaged his oar. They lost to Oxford in 1878 but were compensated in 1879 by winning the race again. Hockin continued his association with rowing for many years as a coach in Cambridge.

Carlow Rowing Club celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2009.

The Carlow Regatta remains one of the oldest and best attended regattas in Ireland, with teams travelling from all over the country to compete. The 2016 Carlow Regatta took place this on 4-5 June, with an entry of 340 crews.

Other events held by Carlow Rowing Club include the Head of the Barrow, where members of Carlow Rowing Club compete against each other for the title. Carlow Rowing Club also travels to regattas and other events across Ireland, and the rowing teams continue to be a pleasant sight in Carlow Town when they practice almost every evening.

As I left Carlow late on Saturday, I was reminded of another dictum from the pen of Lord Acton: ‘The knowledge of the past, the record of truths revealed by experience, is eminently practical, as an instrument of action and a power that goes to making the future.’

Saturday afternoon at Carlow Rowing Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)