The Heritage of the South Midlands

George Cunningham

T. W. Rolleston, William Bulfin, Jaspar Joly, Sir Jonah Barrington, James Fintan Lalor, John Keegan, Thomas McDonogh, Caesar Otway, George Thomas. Yes, these names should all ring some kind of bell, but what do they have in common?.....................They were all native to the south Midlands of Ireland.

The writers Rolleston and Bulfin,, and the book collector Joly were Offaly men the historian-judge Barrington, the author Keegan, and the Young Irelander Lalor were born in County Laois; author and 1916 patriot McDonagh, Otway, a nineteenth century writer, and an Indian Rajah, Thomas, all hailed from the northern part of Tipperary. In one way or another they have left their mark nationally and internationally, but they did little or nothing (Keegan excepted) for their native parish or county. Chances are that if they had spent their. undoubted talents working for their neighbours we would never have heard of them. Such is the fate of many who choose to live and work their lives in their adopted or native place. Those who have left behind a printed record fare somewhat better; midland scholars like Coote and Ledwich with their sturdy scepticism of the late eighteenth century must be consulted and later antiquarians such as T. L. Cooke, James Graves and John Prim did much valuable work during the nineteenth century.

The turn of this century saw a revival or an awakening interest in heritage study and most of the big locally written publications originated at this time. Works like Corrigan's History of the diocese of Ossory (4 vols. 1905), Gleeson's Ely O'Carroll (1915), O'Hanlon's Queen's County (1907), and Comeford's Kildare and Leighlin (1883) remain indispensible works of reference, but are almost impossible to obtain and then only at a very high price.
In the time since this up to about 1970 very little study was carried out at local level. Exceptions are the works of people like Dermot Gleeson and Liam Price, and there were of course local societies, trying to create environmental awareness and catering for the interests of their own members. The result of this lack of local study was an almost total ignorance of our surroundings, both man-made and divine. How welcome then is the change discernible over the last ten years or so: the desire for knowledge.of the locality which has manifested itself in the proliferation of publications and interest in study groups and heritage societies. No' place has the change been greater than in our schools; free education and transport at post-primary level coupled with an enlightened curriculum at primary level have transformed our educational system. Words and phrases like environmental or heritage studies, extra curricular activity, and child centred activities were almost unheard of up to the late 1960's. This is not to say that all our problems have vanished - not so, but a start has been made, our children are more aware of their environment and in many instances are forcing adults to take notice too.

Heritage study has led to practical action in a number of areas, particularly in the restoration and care of historic buildings. More attention is now given to church design. Most towns have churches of note, and thankfully the haste with which many excellent nineteenth century altar pieces were discarded has been halted; indeed church interiors are being seen in a new light, and modern art forms are blended with the historic past. Lorrha Church, County Laois, provides an outstanding example of what can be done, work of our time grafted onto the original barn style building. Here there are tabernacle panels based on the thousand year old Stowe MissaI of St. Ruadhan's Monastry. In almost every parish such work of varying standards has been completed over the past ten years or is proceeding now. We tended to dismiss these rural churches because of their simple style, but as Maurice Craig, the architectural historian, has pointed out, few types of building fit so naturally and so gracefully into the pattern of the Irish countryside, "At their best they bear moving testimony to the determination and self-denial of farming communities in the past, and to the natural gifts of their. builders, whose proud signature is sometimes to be found upon a stone." A welcome practice associated with these renovations is the provision of a souvenir booklet; some are little gems padded with snippets of folklore and local history. together with full descriptions of the completed work.

Also on the architectural side it is pleasant to record successful efforts at restoring notable houses to at least some of their former glory. Darner House, Roundwood and Emo are fine examples. Darner House has become a focal point of cultural activity and hopefully this will continue to develop. The death of Brian Molloy in 1978 was a severe setback here and without his talents and enthusiasm the job ahead seems daunting. The hundreds of ruined castles and tower houses which dot our countryside are also being looked at with a view to restoration. One of these, Leap Castle, a formidable gothic revivalist ruin in southern Offaly has recently been purchased by an Australian of Irish descent who hopes to commence restoration this year.

Attention is also being given to the housing and display of historic objects. A folk museum at Toomevara under the guidance of Rev. J. O'Brien enjoys considerable success and at the Cistercian College in Roscrea a sizable collection of historic objects is on display. A collection held by Dr. Liam Bannon in Durrow for the Old Laois Society will however await a permanent home. The other Laois Societies, the Irish Steam Preservation Society Museum at Stradbally and the Irish Veteran Car Museum at Portlaoise are well known and flourishing.

During 1979 Darner House, Roscrea, will be furnished with period furniture from the National Museum and these items will complement the portraits and other works of art on loan from the National Gallery. Local historical societies in this part of the country are now quite active. In Offaly the Historical Society has organised a full programme of survey work, lectures and outings. Sub-committees of this society are in Banagher, Birr, Clara and Edenderry and one of their tasks has been the mapping and locating of field monuments throughout the county. The Honorary Secretary of the Offaly Historical Society, Michael Byrne, has produced a particularly useful booklet, Sources for Offaly History and many other papers and reports have been generated through the activity of the society. Recently the former Old Laois society was reformed as the Laois Heritage Society and immediately an ambitious programme of lectures and other activities were arranged together with the publication of an annual bulletin.

The Laois branch of An Taisce, the Irish National Trust, has been active in supporting a survey of the county and at present a pilot study is being made of Abbeyleix parish by John Feehan.

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