Below is a piece on the history of Newbridge that I read out on
Culture Night (21 September 2012) with Cill Dara Writers’ Circle. We held our event in the lovely St. Patrick’s
church in Newbridge, where we also launched our second CD anthology ‘A Way with
Words II’. More details can be found on
our facebook page.
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Here in Newbridge, Culture night coincides with the tail end
of the town’s 200 hundred year celebrations.
As such history meets culture this evening and I want to reflect on the
intersection of these two.
Newbridge
is a young town but a brief overview of its history reveals that it has an
entrepreneurial spirit and the ability to reinvent itself. If someone asked me what defines the Irish
spirit it would have to be our ability to adapt and reinvent the self.
According to James Durney in his book: ‘A
bridge, A town, A people,’ he states that prior to the development of the
barracks, the town that we now know as Newbridge, was a rural area with a small
collection of houses around Moorefield and Ballymoney. Mary Connolly notes in her book: ‘From
Connell to Droichead Nua’ that the population of Newbridge grew rapidly during
the 1850s whereby the town’s population grew from 934 people in 1851 to 2,875
in 1861. Now maths are not my forte but
that is close to a threefold increase in population within the space of ten
years during a time within Ireland’s history where mass emigration was on the
rise.
So what precipitated this growth,
this birth of a town? According to the Kildare e-history website, a purchase of 39
acres of land in the month of September 1812 between the Deputy Barrack Master
and the three major landowners of Newbridge: Eyre Powell, the Hon. Ponsonby
Moore and the Hannon family. This
purchase was made according to a tender in November 1812: ‘for erecting a
Cavalry Barrack at the new Bridge, in the county of Kildare.’
The above
is a collection of historical facts and quotes but within those dates and
numbers are countless stories. Personal
and communal stories. There is the story
of elation amongst the three landowners who had the vision to see that a
barracks in their locality would ensure that all would benefit.
There is the story of the local farmers and market traders who
supplied goods and services to the barracks and watched their livelihoods prosper. There is the story of tremendous activity
within a short space of time. Men and
women moving in to make a better life for them and their families, houses being
built, shops, schools and churches sprouting, including the one we are in
tonight.
There are the stories in the
development of the railway, the movement of men, animals and military training
and there is the story of the Curragh wrens.
A brief account of their lives is depicted by Charles Dickens in November1864 in his ‘All the Year Round’series when he visited Newbridge and the Curragh in 1863. As ever Dickens weaves together both the
story and the facts through his narrative.
Perhaps one
of the greatest stories of Newbridge’s history is the First World War. I am a newcomer to the town and my research
has been brief but I was struck by the thought of the numerous Irish men who went
to war to fight on behalf of King and country.
What was it like for them to fight on behalf of their imperial
rulers? Did they feel the fervour of
patriotism like their English counterparts?
How did their families feel? I
believe this is where the literary imagination can attempt to fill in the gaps
that history can not. And of those men
who survived and returned home, what was it like for them?
The political landscape had, as W.B. Yeats states in ‘Easter,1916:’ “All changed, changed utterly:”
The Ireland they had left was no longer using the home rule political
lobbying route. The rising put paid to
that and when the soldiers returned the rebellion against the British was
openly declared and in 1921 they succeeded in their aims.
This is
where Newbridge’s history turns again.
Throughout the civil war the republican prisoners were interned in both
Newbridge Barracks and the Curragh Camp.
According to James Durney in an article on Commandant Denis Barry, it
was estimated that 11,316 prisoners were held in both camps. His article, which is up on the e-history
website, focuses on the prolonged interment of Denis Barry who died from hunger
strike. Again there is a story in that.
There are
stories of deprivation and hunger when the British forces left causing a
“collapse in trade” where Durney notes that over 1000 people lost their
livelihood during that time. The
economic depression was long and hard with a sharp decline in population and
widespread misery.
I said earlier that the Newbridge
story is one of reinvention and with the set up of Irish Ropes Ltd and
Newbridge Cutlery in the 1930s. the town began to revive and prosper once
again. With this brought a new flurry of
activity with a rising population and further development in the town’s
infrastructure.
Newbridge developed an independent self reliant spirit
because it had to. It has in essence
survived and adapted to the five economic crisises that Cormac O’Grada, an
economist historian with UCD, outlines in his speech to the Central Bank last
year which he describes as the economic war of 1923 – 1932, The emergency, The
Lost Decade of the 1950s, The 1980s and the current crisis.
Which
brings me to the Newbridge of today and what the future holds for the next two
hundred years. It is clear that the town
benefited from the Celtic Tiger boom with the development of the White Water
shopping centre, major supermarkets and another sharp rise in its population
with its attendant new housing estates.
Yet despite the current economic crisis being classified as the worst since
Ireland gained its independence according to Cormac O’Grada, I believe
Newbridge will continue to adapt and reinvent itself.
Which brings me back to stories;
my story, and why I chose to move here earlier this year. Like the British army back in 1812 I chose
Newbridge for its proximity to Dublin because I work there. But there was another more
compelling reason; its thriving artistic community and welcoming attitude
towards outsiders. I moved here because
of the friendships I developed within Cill Dara Writers’ Circle, the thriving
arts scene and the warm welcome I have encountered here again and again.
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