FULLAM VISIT UNEARTHS LOCAL TREASURES

Fullam Visit Unearths Local Treasures

I was visited in late 2008 by Miss Eilis Fullam who was in search of information on her father, Laurence (Larry) Fullam, who had worked as Assistant Surveyor for Kildare Co. Council in the early part of the last century. Sure enough we found mention in the Leinster Leader of Laurence having worked as a contract employee until he had passed his exams in 1904 and was offered the job under the Co. Surveyor Mr. Edward Glover. Miss Fullam explained that Mr. Glover had in fact bequeathed his instruments to Laurence Fullam and that they were now in the possession of her grand-nephew Garrett and she promised to bring them to the library. This she did on 10 January 2009 and Eilis, with her nephew Ray and his son Garrett Fullam arrived with the treasure trove in tow. It was truly amazing to see the instruments up close; instruments that would have been used on the roads in Co. Kildare probably even during the re-surfacing and improvements carried out under the supervision of Edward Glover at the time of the Gordon Bennett Race in 1903.

Eilis and Garrett with the theodolite and possibly the original, what looks to be mahogany, stand. The case is likewise part of the collection.

Kildare Collections and Research Services, Reading Room, 10 Jan. 2009.

 A close-up reveals the maker’s name or the providers name: D. Harriss, Wicklow St. Dublin.

As well as some precision drawing instruments and rulers, tapes and vertical rules, they had ‘chains’ used for measuring distance.  

We hope to host a talk by Liam Kenny on the 110th Anniversary of the setting up of Kildare County Council in Naas Library around 22nd April 2009 and the Fullam family intimated that they might bring them along for the occasion – a chance to see history up close.

Miss Eilis Fullam brings history to life in Kildare Co. Library.