A passion for history

Cecil English is part of a local family with deep roots in South Westmeath - and his passion for local history and heritage reflects his own family's immersion in the culture of their local place. Cecil English is also known for spontaneously showing friends and acquaintances some unusual gadgets which he has picked up in various places throughout his life. The gadgets seem, at first glance, to be common, everyday items, but their actual use or purpose is often shrouded in mystery. Cecil can always be relied on to produce some historical object made of glass, metal, or wood, which gets brains working to solve his puzzle. For decades he entertained crowds of foreign tourists as well as local folk, in 'Murrays' of Maghera, during the tenure of the mother and daughter proprietors Marcella and Lizzie Murray. On the day of our interview, Cecil showed this writer a small glass jar, with a little compartment, near the edge of the opening. As he usually does, he asked what it was, and what it was for. The answer was obvious, once he said it. The idea was for the little compartment to contain a little ink, but just enough to use on a pen's nib. "The person just dips the nib into the compartment, and has enough ink for the pen, and this type of jar was mostly used by clerks," said Cecil. "I collect a lot of stuff within reason, if it comes cheap, and I like jugs mostly and I do like unusual objects." Cecil was born in Scotch Parade, Athlone in December 1925, as the youngest of three boys. His other brothers were Billy and Robert, and their father Robert Shaw English was an auctioneer who had an office, called 'The Estate Office' in the middle of Northgate Street. "A man operated on my heart, almost thirty years ago, and his name was Shaw, which was my father's second name, and my grandmother's surname, and the surgeon was my 41st cousin I think," said Cecil laughing. His father bought a farm in Clonkeane, The Pigeons, in 1919, and just before World War Two broke out, the land commission made an attempt to take it all. After the war, the family objected and managed to save a large amount of the land for themselves. Cecil went to school in the two-roomed school near the Crescent shop, and was taught by Miss Poff and senior teacher, Tom Hunter. He has an excellent memory of the shops and businesses in Irishtown at the time of his childhood in the 1930s. "I played as a child with a spinning top, and could whip that top from Sweeney's corner to the top of Irishtown, past Louis's Hotel, and past Jack Poole's garage," said Cecil. "The land that St Mel's Terrace was built on belonged to the nuns originally, and Mackens field was in front of St. Mel's, and there was a pond there which froze in the winter, and children used to slide there. There was also a sizable pond on the land where the GAA pitch is now, and we used to also slide there." His memory of the town in his childhood days, fed his thirst for knowledge, which was also encouraged by his late brother Billy, who was also a noted local historian. Even as a child, Cecil remembers the pubs of the town, and talks about places like Priors, Monkey Mannion's, and Williams's. "I remember when coal came up the Shannon in a barge to Dick Clark's coalyard down the strand, at the back of Burgess," said Cecil. "A man from St. Patrick's Terrace called Tom Sullivan distributed the coal around the town on a horse and cart." A large house called Irishtown House was situated in the 1930s where Dunnes Stores is now, and that was property belonging to the English family - relatives of Cecil and his family. "It belonged to an uncle of my father, and it then fell to my aunt, Mrs. Cotten," said Cecil. Cecil's mother's maiden family name was Notley and she came from near Dromod, Co. Leitrim, and died in 1963, and his father died in 1951. Cecil's interest in local history has extended throughout the midland counties where he continues searching for artefacts and knowledge. He recently did a survey in the southern counties of Kilkenny, Waterford and South Tipperary on religious symbols of the crucifixion. "The symbols were carved on headstones a long time ago, but I can't find any in Westmeath," he said. "But there are twenty-five symbols, and the first of those is the cross on its own, and among the others are the hammer that nailed Jesus to the cross, the pinchers to pull out the nails, the spear that the centurion used, and the ladder which was used to remove him from the cross. There is also the thirty pieces of silver, and the purse that held the silver." Cecil said that he is known by many historians as "the razor blade man," for his great collection of old razor blades and some of these are displayed in the museum in Athlone castle. He is proud of the contribution of his late brother, Billy, himself and other members of the Old Athlone Society towards the preservation of Athlone Castle. Cecil joined the society around the time of its foundation in 1965. The society set up a campaign in 1967, to save the castle from being demolished to build more modern local facilities. They were supported at the time by the Westmeath Independent newspaper, and major protests ensued in the town. Despite the council's vote to go ahead with the destruction, the voices of the people was heard loud and clear and the council eventually reversed its decision to demolish the castle. A Festival of Athlone was planned for the summer of 1967, and the Department of Defence granted permission to the Old Athlone Society to use the central keep of the castle as a temporary museum for the duration of the festival. The museum was staffed by volunteers, and remained open throughout the summer, after the festival had ended. 'The museum was a resounding success with 1,500 visitors during its first week of opening," said historian, Gearoid O'Brien in the Westmeath Independent, 1996. "It has been open every summer since then and many hundreds of thousands of visitors have visited the castle museum and many have returned to view the various exhibits there." Cecil went to secondary school in Multyfarnham for a while, and then to Marist College, Athlone. After his schooldays, Cecil joined Athlone Boat Club, because he liked rowing. He won a few cups, and for five years from 1947 to 1952 he was the club captain. He married Co. Laois woman, Hilda in 1954, at a time when she worked in Burgess, although he knew her previously, when she worked in Mullingar. The couple had four sons, Marvin, Arthur, Norman and Jack, and they suffered the loss of a little daughter through a childhood illness. Cecil and Hilda moved to Clonkeane in the year they married, and farmed the land, and raised calves, sucklers, and pigs. Cecil's beloved wife, Hilda, was a very jolly, happy woman, but sadly she died in 1998. Cecil is the fourth generation of Englishes to be weigh-master at the South Westmeath Hunt point-to-point at Listisson, the Pigeons. The job involves weighing the jockeys on the scales. He is also a founder member of the Goldsmith International Literary Festival, which had its origins in a Goldsmith festival in 1985. The festival is held annually to develop a deeper insight into the writings of Oliver Goldsmith and to promote the Goldsmith country as a major tourism attraction. "I like to see things preserved, like Athlone Castle, and I like to preserve our past," he said.