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Our Place

Gerry Mulhall

Source: Laois Nationalist – 21^st August 1999:

Ballylinan village in the Parish of Arles, is situated on the main Athy / Kilkenny road to the South East of County Laois. The ancient and more proper title for this parish is Killabban.

In the immediate vicinity of this village are the ruins of an ancient church. No remarkable inscriptions are observable in the adjoining graveyard but in June 1786, an earthen urn was dug up in a field beside these ruins, containing a great number of silver coins.

These were probably coined between the years AD. 862 and 870. The inscription on one shows it to be of the O’Mores of Leix——”O’ Laoghis king”—On the reverse “Dunagh-magh-riada” ——i.e., Dunamase. Others belonged to the O’Conors Faly. Some of these coins are now preserved in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin.

To-day inhabitants of Ballylinan are not depending on finds in fields, rather, Ballylinan depends on their own reserve, its people.

Ballylinan currently has a population of 750-800 which is set to change as in the Autumn , 93 new houses will be built. With it’s proximity to Dublin there could very well be a new influx of “Dubs” to enjoy what residents have taken for granted.

Panto in Ballylinan has a long tradition in Ballylinan with this their tenth year. The first weekend in February will see Jack and the Beanstalk staged with a cast of 60 in all. Bernie Dunne has to be the most enthusiastic Producer ever because she finds it easy to motivate a dedicated group every year without fail.

They make all their own costumes. Bernie considers Panto a springboard for The Passion Play. 1998 was a good year for the Panto Group as they came first in the heritage with their 1798, production., and second in Tullow, Tops of the Town.

Champion Irish Dancer Patrick McHugh, Tullamoy, has progressed from performing in Ballylinan to Jury’s Hotel, America, and has just returned from China.

Plans are afoot to extend the present St Anne’s Hall to accommodate dressing room facilities for the cast of the Passion Play according to Tony Lacey, Chairman of the Community Council. The Council are going strong since 1970. They also look after the Tidy Towns and he is a little worried this year as SIPTU objected to the Fas workers working on the roads and with Fas themselves prevented from working on the graveyards things are not going too well.

Once again a committed team with Anna May McHugh, President, Bridie Kaye, Secretary well known Public Health Nurse, Breda Hovendon, as Treasurer and Josephine Leahy, PRO, the community are in good hands.

Three years ago the Wynne Family donated a site to the Community Council with the intention that a park should be provided. With the help of a grant under The Village Renewal Scheme to the value of £20,000 and a lot of voluntary Labour a veritable quarry was transformed into an award winning park. The Park received a special award in ‘98 from Laois County Council.

Irish dancing is looked after by Mary Gohery, Wolfhill who runs the Gohery School of Dancing. Mary has been teaching Irish dancing for over six years in Ballylinan, with pupils from three years of age to 16. Her pupils have been successful at the many Feiseanna they attend with plenty of All Ireland medals to show for their work.

The children also dance for Charities like Crumlin Hospital for sick Children in Dublin, and the refugees in Kosovo. Mary’s daughter Fiona keeps the family tradition going as she also teaches Irish Dancing in Arles.

Ballylinan Ploughing, founded in ‘92, is known as one of the strongest ploughing societies in the County. J.J. Brennan is the Chairman and can depend on the assistance of 30 committed members.

They have a ploughing match in February each year an it is very successful. They are the only one to have a juvenile section.

Pat Brandon from Ballylinan is the reigning County Champion and is one of five locals who will compete in the All Ireland Ploughing Championship in September this year. Joining him will be DJ McHugh, Francis Brennan, Alan Davis and Ann Marie McHugh.

The Ploughing Society are very fortunate to have land offered from local farmers for their Ploughing matches and are very grateful.

The National Ploughing Championship will take place in Cork, September 28-30., and Anna May McHugh is delighted that the event will be held in Ballacolla, Laois for The Millennium.

Ballylinan ICA are in existence since October 1964, and still have three founder Members, Bridie Kaye, Maura Mulhare and Anna May McHugh.

Bridie thinks that ICA is a wonderful organisation which is not appreciated at all. Bridie often thinks what it was like for country women before ICA came along when the only outing women got was to Mass on Sunday. In those days once you married you stayed at home and looked after your children.

The organisation liberated women living in rural Ireland, a member was guaranteed at least one night out a month. Women to day are more spoiled, 35 years ago membership of ICA was valued.

Ballylinan Guild will host the Laois ICA Federation meeting in September so they are still a force to be reckoned with.

Ballylinan can justly lay claim to a very extraordinary woman, Anna May McHugh, Managing Director, National Ploughing Association. Anna May’s career has spanned 25 years as MD. of the National Ploughing Association but her activities are many and varied. She found time to be a founder member of Ballylinan ICA, a main mover in The Passion Play and crowning it all was when Anna received “People of the Year Award, 1998, for her Outstanding Contribution to Society in Ireland”.

The Passion Play has come a long way since it started in ‘92. During the original discussions about staging the play it is rumored that well known local man Tom Whelan said that “one thing was certain that he would not play Christ anyway as the last fellow that did it, got terrible cruel hardship”.

Passion Play 2000, Ballylinan will be staged in April next and is planned as a main feature of The Millennium Celebration in the local Community.

The GAA were established in 1926. Current President J.J. Brennan, Secretary Anne O’Sullivan and Vice Chairman Mattie Leonard were optimistic about football and hurling in Ballylinan.

J.J. Brennan said that football peaked in the 50’s. They won the Minor in 1955,and the Intermediate in ‘57 . At the moment they are into the quarter finals in the senior Championships with Joe Hayden from Eire Óg to train them and will meet The Rock soon. It is 1987 since they contested the senior final

Kieran Kelly captained the All Ireland winning Minor team of ‘97 and Pauraic Leonard and Mark Hovenden also played and received their All Ireland Medals.

1998 saw Ballylinan contest the final in hurling. The team is in a special category Junior C for football areas and will meet Slieve Bloom in the first round. They have contested two County Finals in hurling.

Sheila Graham is Vice Principal of St Patrick’s National School which caters for approximately 120 children. Fran Moloney is Principal and there are five teachers in total. Sheila is very proud of the fact that last year they won The Tidy Towns, Public Building, All Ireland, Award.

The amazing thing was that the staff were totally unaware that the school was entered and it happened that when they were inspected not a paper or a crisp bag was anywhere in evidence.

The Village is made up of many organisations which help to hold a community’s interest and spirit together. One such group of people constitute this requirement and they are the Folk Group who play and sing at Mass and weddings.

The idea of forming a group was Margaret Brennan’s who with her father John Joe is famous for singing as a duo.

There are about 10 members in the group aged from 22 to 55. The talent is good and the group have performed at concerts locally and in Dublin. Current members include Martin Kinsella, Kevin Hovenden, John Bambrick, Shirley and Janet Lenon, Olive Fitzpatrick, Veronica Lattimer, Geraldine Behan, Michelle McLoughlin, George Hutchinson, and Noel Burke. They are always on the lookout for new singers.

Margaret Brennan would like people to know that there is a bereavement Group operating in the village. The group was set up to meet the needs of those who are finding life difficult after the death of a loved one.

They are in existence for the last three months and offer support in an informal environment where people can come and talk about their feelings and how they are coping.

Meetings take place in the Parish office every Thursday at 8pm.

Mary Kehoe always had a dream and that was to promote and teach physical fitness/ aerobics and now she has at last realised that dream. Mary went back to school to study and obtained her NCEF, National, Certificate Exercise and Fitness, in Limerick. Mary is originally from Monaghan but is living in Ballylinan for the past 16 years.

In September every Wednesday Mary will start a body conditioning and toning class. It will not be strenuous and is for all age groups, male and female welcome.

Eugene Davis, Treasurer, St. Anne’s soccer Club said that there is a tremendous interest in the sport in Ballylinan. The Club was formed in 1985 and are in the Carlow and District League. They have progressed to winning the League in the ‘95/’96 season and can feel justly proud of that achievement.

The Club has approximately 55 adult members with four under-age teams, u/11, u/12, u/13, and u/14. At the moment dressing room facilities are a converted container but you can’t do everything as the Club purchased their own field three years ago at a cost of £45,000 which is almost paid for. They levelled it, re-seeded it with a special seed for sports fields, re-graded it and are very appreciative of the help received from Fas who maintain the pitch for them.

The next venture facing Club Chairman, Frank Brennan, Secretary, Eamonn Doyle and their Committee is the prospect of funding their new Clubhouse.

It seems like there are very few organisations that exist without the input of Margaret Brennan. Another group which Margaret is involved in is The Parish Pastoral Group.

This group is made up of representatives from each area in the Parish, Arles, Ballylinan and Killeen. Pastoral work and all the Liturgical celebrations are catered for. Meetings are held in the Parish office on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 8.30pm.

The Passion Play was for Fr. Tommy O’Shea, P.P. a happening in his time in Ballylinan. From Borris, in Carlow, Ballylinan has been home to Fr. O’Shea since 1984.

The Passion Play was a huge undertaking and what Fr. O’Shea liked about it was the fact that it was central to everyone in the Parish. The Play was performed in ‘92 and ‘93 with 139 involved both on stage and behind the scenes and was a tremendous success, with people travelling from all parts of the country to see this unique play.

An open air pageant is planned for the Millennium and will tell the story of “Pentecost”. The venue will be particularly suitable as it will take place amidst the ruins of the Old Court Abbey.

Slieve Margy Way - Towns & Villages

Ballylinan Castle was said to belong to the O'More's but it fell to the Grimes or Grahams after the Battle of Agharoe (the field of blood).

The landlords of Ballylinan were the Weldon's who came during the reign of King James I, and they remained landlords up to the 1920s.

 On the 16th of May, 1921, two of a group of eight IRA volunteers were shot dead during an ambush on the Black and Tans, who regularly passed through the area going to Ballylinan.

Ballyadams & Tankardstown (Co. Laois / East)

Ballyadams, formerly aka Kilmakedy, is a district with a violent history.

First recorded as Kylemehyde, it was the site of a late c.12th Norman castle, taken in 1346 by the O’Mores, O’Connors and O’Dempseys and destroyed in retaliation by the Justiciar of Ireland Sir John D’Arcy de Knayth and Thomas FitzJohn FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Kildare.

Ballyadams Castle

Ballyadams Castle is believed to have been built around the end of the C15th by one Adam O’More, after whom the district was subsequently named.

In 1546 the O’Mores and O’Connors burned the town of Athy. A large army headed by the Lord Deputy, Sir William Brabazon, and the Earl of Desmond marched into Leix and took Ballyadams Castle.

In 1549 a Welshman was appointed constable of Ballyadams. John Thomas ap Owen, later called John Thomas Bowen (d.1569), was famous for his cruelty, and was known as “Shane-a-pika” or John of the Pike, because he always carried such a weapon when he ventured out.

He was succeeded by his son Robert, who notoriously participated in the Mullagmast Massacre of 1577, became Sheriff of Queens County in 1579 and died in 1621. The monument in the old church of Ballyadams was erected to his memory in 1631.

Robert’s son, Sir John Bowen, was knighted in 1629 and was Provost Marshal of Leinster and Meath.

In 1643, when the Kilkenny Confederates were attacking castle at Ballylinan, their commander Lord Castlehaven “went with a party of horse to Ballyadams, a Castle about a mile distant belonging to Sir John Bowen, Provost Marshal an old soldier, and my long acquaintance. I went to speak with him and after some kind expressions, told him I must put a garrison into his Castle.

He flatly denied me and calling for his wife and two very fair daughters, he had desired only one favour, that in case I was resolved to use violence, I would show him where I intended to plant my guns and make my breach. I satisfied his curiosity and asked him what he meant by this question. Because saith he swearing with some warmth, I will cover that, or any other your Lordhship shoots at, by hanging out both my daughters in chairs. ’tis true the place was not of much importance, however this conceit saved it.” This incident inspired a popular poem.

The remains of the five storey castle has two tall rounded towers, the highest measuring 75ft; both date from around the late c.15th and are the oldest part of the present structure. The tower on the left contains a winding stone stair-case that leads right up to the turret, which is approx. 65ft high; the one on the right contains many small rooms. The wing on the right appears to be the oldest and was built towards the end of the c.17th by the Bowen family. The one on the left was built at a later date by the Butler family, who abandoned the castle after the 1798 Rebellion.

Two ancient Holy Wells near the castle were supposedly blessed by Saint Patrick.

Lewis (1837) mentions Cobler’s Castle, a hilltop folly built as a famine relief work project.

Ballyadams is on the Slieve Margy Way.

Tankardstown is located on a scenic stretch of the River Barrow.

Tankardstown Castle became the seat of the Hovenden family in 1550, and remained in their ownership for many years.

Barrowhouse is the location of Dunbrin Fort, a Viking construction where ancient coins were once found.

In 1921 eight IRA men mounted an ambush here on the Black and Tans. Two volunteers, William Connors and James Lacey, were shot dead, and have a memorial dedicated to them.

Ballylinan (Co. Laois / East)

Ballylinan / Ballylinan (Baile Uí Laigheanáin - “Linan’s Town”, though who Linan was is not known) (pop. 800), formerly a rural district, has a rapidly growing commuter community. The local GAA club is renowned for its prowess at Gaelic Football.

The single street village has five pubs, the most famous being The Horse And Coach. (Photo by William Muldowney – Ballylinan on the Brennan Family History website)

Ballylinan’s location on the Athy – Castlecomer road provided access to the local coalmines. The district saw Rockite (”Whitefoot”) disturbances and government repression in the 1820s.

Ballylinan Gentry

The Weldon family arrived during the reign of King James I and remained as principal local landlords until the 1920s. Their main residence was Rahin, described by Lewis (1837) as “a handsome mansion surrounded by thriving plantations”.

Another Big House in the vicinity was Gracefield Lodge, seat of the Grace family, “whose old mansion has been taken down and replaced by an elegant villa in the later English style, from a design by Mr. Nash, completed in 1817; the grounds have been tastefully embellished” and had “luxuriant woods”.

This was the birthplace of William Russell Grace (1832-1904), who made a fortune harvesting guano in Peru, founded the chemical conglomerate W.R. Grace & Co. and became the first Roman Catholic mayor of New York.

Both Rahin and Gracefield are now modern housing estates.

Ballylinan Castle was said to belong to the O’More clan, but “it fell to the Grimes or Grahams after the Battle of Agharoe (the field of blood)“. Lord Castlehaven’s Confederacy troops successfully laid siege to it in 1643.

In the village are the ruins of an old church, near which it is claimed that ‘an earthen-ware urn was found in 1786 containing a great number of silver coins dating from 862 to 870AD inscribed “O’Laghis King” (the O‘Mores) and “Dunamaise”.

Lewis also writes of a nearby “extensive earthwork consisting of a vast mound, the summit of which is 130 yards in diameter, enclosed by a high bank …..occupied by a party of the insurgents in 1798“, called Dundrom.

Comerford (1886) wrote “In the townland of Clonpierce, adjoining Ballylinan, an extensive ruin exists, called in the neighbourhood, the Abbey of Shanecourt, or Old Court [referred to] in the Annals of the family of Grace, as a monastery stated to have been built by the O’Mores, …….. It was an Episcopal Residence of the Bishops of Leighlin,” Other c.19th authorities also mention the ruin as an abbey.

Ballylehane Castle, about a mile from Ballylinan village, was one of several taken by the O’More, O’Connor and O’Dempsey clans in 1346, 31 years after about 300 O’Mores were killed locally in a “great slaughter” by Crown forces. The castle came into the possession of the Hovenden family in the mid c.16th. John Hovenden was the landlord in 1829 when the building was attacked by Rockite (”Whitefoot”) activists searching for arms. The castle is now in ruins.

Ballylinan hosts the annual Day of Darkness weekend Heavy Metal rock music festival every July?

Sources: Laois Nationalist – 21^st August 1999: / Irelandbyways.com / NationMaster.com