Jean's Journal: Our islands and our folk
by Jean Farrell
I wrote about the islands on Lough Ree, recently. This lovely photograph shows a group of Athlone folk on a day trip to Carbery Island. They didn’t have to travel far, for this particular island is close to Coosan.
The photo was taken in 1917, a long time ago. John Rattigan shared it with me. Two of the people are Christine Reid and Patsy Rattigan.
John thinks that the photo was probably taken by Charlie Backhouse. Most Athlone folk know of ‘Charlie’s Island’. This is a little island very close to town. It is between the railway bridge and what we use to call ‘the new bridge,’ now 35 years old!
Short diversion: Before the famine, in 1845, the River Shannon was unnavigable through Athlone. It was just a series of rapids. Barges on their way from Leitrim to Limerick could not pass through Athlone town by river. They had to use our first ‘by-pass.’ This was the canal.
Barges bringing coal from Arigna to Limerick travelled down river as far as Athlone. As they approached the town, they took a right turn and went along the canal. This exited south of the town.
In 1845 ‘Famine Relief Work’ took place in various parts of Ireland. The aim of the work was to provide employment for the starving people. The Shannon Navigation was one of the ‘relief works’ done at that time. This was a massive undertaking.
When we are in lock-gates, along the river, I see 1845 engraved on many of the big stones there. I think of the hardship and the hunger that the builders of these locks endured.
Apparently, much muck was dug up from the bed of the river here in Athlone town during these works. This was all piled high in one spot and that is how ‘Charlie’s Island’ was formed! The aforementioned Charlie Backhouse lived on a houseboat, on this island, and he gave his name to it! He was a professional photographer who rowed into town, to his business premises, every day and was a well-known character.
I think the following story is interesting.
Several early Christian burial stones and a pillar stone were taken from Inchcleraun, or Quaker Island, close to Lanesboro. These dated from the 5th to 9th centuries.
Peter Kenny, originally from Roscommon, took s first came to the attention of the authorities when he tried to sell some of these stones to Boston College.
Boston College officials decided to check the descriptions of the stones with Irish officials.
Irish authorities, realizing the items were those stolen from the ancient monastery, contacted the FBI. A ‘Sting Operation’ was set in motion. A FBI undercover agent called Ed Clarke, posed as a Boston College benefactor. He began negotiating with Kenny to buy the items.
Peter Kenny subsequently walked into the trap when he brought all the stones with him to a meeting with FBI agents posing as representatives of Boston College.
Mr Kenny was arrested at a Boston hotel on April 22, 1991. He was charged with the transportation and possession of stolen antiquities.
He spent time in an American prison. The precious stones were returned to Ireland.
Life-size replicas of the main slabs were created and are on display, in the Waterways Ireland shop, along the banks of the Shannon, in Lanesboro.
What history our islands contain!
Since I began writing this article, Carbery Island has hit the news. On February 6, last, human remains were found on the island. The Garda Water Unit in Athlone, along with a forensic anthropologist team, examined the scene after a man found a human skull. A fallen tree revealed the skeletal remains.
I am happy to tell you that the skull doesn’t belong to any of the happy folk in this photo!! It was quickly established that the bones are ‘ancient in origin.’
I think that the people in the picture would be the age of our grandparents. They would have been born at the end of the 1800s.
In ‘The Way We Were’ section of this newspaper recently an old advertisement caught my eye and intrigued me. It would apply to the folk in this photo, if they were still alive. Imagine that in 1965, life expectancy, in Ireland, was 65!
The advertisement referred to foster care. Our idea of this is that a family would foster a child who needed care, and be paid to do so.
However, the advertisement which appeared in a 1965 edition of this paper, was looking for families to foster an old person. It was called 'Boarding out of the aged.’
I hope that most of you over the age of 60, who are reading this, own your own home. How wonderful to do so. And how awful it must have been, in the past, to be old and have no home.
Imagine you or I being ‘fostered’ by a family! Imagine being put into some strange house, at this stage of our lives.
The article stated that, “Already 6 old people have been boarded out with some success. One was 94 and other 102. The old age pensioner contributed 30 shillings towards their keep. The council contributed another 30 shillings. ‘Boarding out the aged’ is generally satisfactory and a very good scheme.”
No thank you!
jeanfarrell@live.ie