Athy
Town in County Kildare, Ireland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Town in County Kildare, Ireland From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Athy (/əˈθaɪ/ ə-THY;[2] Irish: Baile Átha Í, meaning '[town of the] ford of Ae'[3]) is a market town at the meeting of the River Barrow and the Grand Canal in south-west County Kildare, Ireland, 72 kilometres southwest of Dublin. A population of 11,035 (as of the 2022 census) made it the sixth largest town in Kildare and the 45th largest in the Republic of Ireland, a growth of 82% since the 2002 census.[1]
Athy
Baile Átha Í | |
---|---|
Town | |
Coordinates: 52.99197°N 6.98698°W | |
Country | Ireland |
Province | Leinster |
County | County Kildare |
Elevation | 71 m (233 ft) |
Population | |
• Total | 11,035 |
Time zone | UTC0 (WET) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
Eircode | R14 |
Telephone area code | 059 |
Irish Grid Reference | S680939 |
Website | www |
Athy or Baile Átha Í is named after a 2nd-century Celtic chieftain, Ae, who is said to have been killed on the river crossing, thus giving the town its name "the town of Ae's ford".[4][3]
The Letters of the Ordnance Survey (1837) note that "The town is now called by the few old people who speak Irish there and in the Queen's County [Laois], "baile átha Aoi", pronounced Blahéé", where éé stands for English 'ee' [i:] as clarified by a note written in pencil in Irish as Blá thí.[5]
According to Elizabethan historian William Camden, Ptolemy's map of Ireland circa 150 AD names the Rheban district along the River Barrow as Ῥαίβα.[6] Modern cartography, however, dismisses the claim by using triangulation and flocking algorithms. This method establishes that Ptolemy's Ῥαίβα was actually located at Rathcroghan, the traditional capital of the Connachta.[7]
A castle existed at Rheban from the Norman period onward.
The town at Athy developed from a 12th-century Anglo-Norman settlement to an important stronghold on the local estates of the FitzGerald earls of Kildare, who built and owned the town for centuries.
Athy Priory, a Dominican monastery, was founded in 1253.
The Confederate Wars of the 1640s were played out in many arenas throughout Ireland, and Athy—for a period of eight years—was one of the centres of war involving the Royalists, Parliamentarians and the Confederates. The town was bombarded by cannon fire many times and the Dominican Monastery, the local castles and the town's bridge (dating from 1417) all succumbed to the destructive forces of the cannonball. The current bridge, the Crom-a-Boo Bridge, was built in 1796,[8] with the foundation stone laid by the Duke of Leinster.[9]
The first town charter dates from 1515 and Athy Town Hall was constructed in around 1745.[10] The completion of the Grand Canal in 1791, linking here with the River Barrow, and the arrival of the railway in 1846, illustrate the importance of the town as a commercial centre. From early on in its history Athy was a garrison town loyal to the Crown. English garrisons stayed in the barracks in Barrack Lane after the Crimean War and contributed greatly to the town's commerce. Home for centuries to English soldiers, Athy gave more volunteer soldiers to the Great War of 1914–18 than any other town of similar size in Ireland.
Athy has evolved as a centre for Hiberno-English, the mix of the Irish and English language traditions. A dialect starting with old Irish beginnings, evolved through Norman and English influences, dominated by a church whose first language was Latin and educated through Irish. Athy in particular was a mixing pot of languages that led to modern Hiberno-English. Positioned at the edge of the Pale, sandwiched between the Irish and English speaking partitions, Athy traded language between the landed gentry, the middle class merchants, the English working class garrison soldiers and the local peasantry. Many locals words borrow from the Irish tradition, such as "bokety", "fooster" or "sleeveen", while words like "kip", "cop-on" or even "grinds" have their origins in Old or Middle English.
This tradition of spoken word led to a lyrical approach to composition and perhaps explains the disproportionate number of writers Athy has produced. Athy becomes subject and object of creative endeavours – the traditional folk song, "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye", is a prime example. Other songs in this tradition include "Lanigan's Ball" and "Maid of Athy".[11] Another song of note from the area is called "The Curragh Of Kildare", the first song collected by Robbie Burns.[12] Athy is also the surname of a minor character in James Joyce's Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who tells Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist, that they both have strange surnames and makes a joke about County Kildare being like a pair of breeches because it has Athy in it. Patrick Kavanagh alludes to Athy in his poem Lines Written on a Seat on the Grand Canal, Dublin: "And look! a barge comes bringing from Athy / And other far-flung towns mythologies."[13]
On 2 July 1903, the Gordon Bennett Cup race routed through Athy. It was the first international motor race to be held in Britain or Ireland. The Automobile Club of Great Britain and Ireland wanted the race to be hosted in the British Isles, and Ireland was suggested as the venue because racing was illegal on British public roads. After some lobbying and changes to local laws, County Kildare was chosen, partly because the straightness of the roads would be a safety benefit. As a compliment to Ireland the British team chose to race in Shamrock green which thus became known as British racing green.[14][15][16][17][18] The route consisted of several loops of a circuit that passed-through Kilcullen, The Curragh, Kildare, Monasterevin, Stradbally and Athy, followed by another loop through Castledermot, Carlow and Athy again. The 328-mile (528 km) race was won by the Belgian racer Camille Jenatzy, driving a Mercedes.[14][19]
Athy was the largest town in Kildare from the first official records in 1813 (population 3,192) until 1891 (population 4,886), and again between 1926 and 1946 and between 1951 and 1961. In 1837 the population was 4,494.[31] The 2022 census established the population of Athy at 11,035.[1]
Year | Pop. | ±% |
---|---|---|
1813 | 3,192 | — |
1821 | 3,693 | +15.7% |
1831 | 4,494 | +21.7% |
1841 | 4,698 | +4.5% |
1851 | 3,873 | −17.6% |
1861 | 4,124 | +6.5% |
1871 | 4,510 | +9.4% |
1881 | 4,181 | −7.3% |
1891 | 4,886 | +16.9% |
1901 | 3,599 | −26.3% |
1911 | 3,535 | −1.8% |
1926 | 3,460 | −2.1% |
1936 | 3,628 | +4.9% |
1946 | 3,639 | +0.3% |
1951 | 3,752 | +3.1% |
1956 | 3,948 | +5.2% |
1961 | 3,842 | −2.7% |
1966 | 4,069 | +5.9% |
1971 | 4,654 | +14.4% |
1979 | 4,755 | +2.2% |
1981 | 5,565 | +17.0% |
1986 | 5,449 | −2.1% |
1991 | 5,204 | −4.5% |
1996 | 5,306 | +2.0% |
2002 | 6,058 | +14.2% |
2006 | 7,943 | +31.1% |
2011 | 9,587 | +20.7% |
2016 | 9,677 | +0.9% |
2022 | 11,035 | +14.0% |
[32][33][34][35][36][37][38][1] |
The town is located on the N78 national secondary road where it crosses the R417 regional road. In 2010 the N78 was re-aligned so that it no longer heads from Athy towards Kilcullen and Dublin via Ardscull, but now connects with the M9 motorway near Mullamast. The old Athy-Kilcullen section of the road previously known as the N78 is now the R418.
As in December 2021, the N78 Athy Southern Distributor Road (Bypass) has been awarded tender, and is about to go to construction. This should be open to traffic by the end of 2023, and will take up to 8000 vehicles a day out of the town centre.[citation needed]
Athy is connected to the Irish rail network via the Dublin–Waterford main line. Athy railway station opened on 4 August 1846 and closed for goods traffic on 6 September 1976.[39] There is a disused siding to the Tegral Slate factory (formerly Asbestos Cement factory). This is all that is left of the former branch to Wolfhill colliery. This side line was built by the United Kingdom government in 1918 due to wartime shortage of coal in Ireland. The concrete bridge over the River Barrow on this branch is one of the earliest concrete railway under-bridges in Ireland.
JJ Kavanagh's route 717[40] and Go-Ahead Ireland's route 130 and 130a[41] serves the town frequently. South Kildare Community Transport also operates two routes from the town serving outlying villages and rural areas.[42]
Line '897' Kilkenny – Castlecomer – Carlow – Athy connects the town with Kilkenny.[43]
Athy GAA was formed in 1887, and its playing pitches in the early days changed several times until 1905. In 1905 the club rented a field at the Dublin road from the South Kildare Agricultural Society—the present day Geraldine Park. The club had the initiative in those early days to erect a paling around the pitch and was the first club in Leinster to do so. This initiative and the club's effort were rewarded when the All-Ireland finals were played in Athy in 1906.
Athy Rugby Club was founded in 1880 and is a five-time winner of the Leinster Towns Cup.
Athy Golf Club was formed in 1906 as a nine-hole course and was extended to 18 holes in 1993. The course had a par of 71 and it extended to 6,400 yards from the medal tees. It is situated at Geraldine, a mile from town on the Kildare Road.[44]
Among the longer-standing sports clubs in the area is Athy Cricket Club, which was founded in 1872 and was one of the first cricket clubs in Kildare.[45]
Tri-Athy is a triathlon event held in Athy on the June Bank Holiday weekend.[46]
Other sports clubs serving the area include Athy Tennis Club,[47] and Athy Town AFC.[48] the club was formed in 1948 and is the main association football club in the town, it has now over 450 members with teams ranging from u4s to two senior adult teams, the junior teams play in the Kildare and District underage league with the senior teams playing in the leinster senior league and the carlow District football league respectively. The club celebrated its 75th birthday in 2023 making it one of the oldest soccer teams in leinster. The club play their games in Aldridge park which is situated in the showgrounds with Athy GAA and Athy Rugby club.
In 2004, the town was twinned with the French town of Grandvilliers in the Oise-Picardy département.[49] The French twinning committee is named "La Balad'Irlandaise",[50] and official visits take place every two years, while musical and student exchanges take place more regularly.[citation needed]
This section needs additional citations for verification. (October 2021) |
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