RARELY SEEN KILDARE PHOTOS

Rarely seen Kildare photos

James Durney

The Chapman Collection is a unique collection of photographs spanning the half-century from 1907 to 1957. Robert L. Chapman (1891-1965), a keen photographer and cyclist, began taking photographs at the age of sixteen. As Chapman cycled the Irish countryside, he photographed a range of subjects from boats and trains to landscapes and buildings, as well as his family, friends and fellow cyclists. He also photographed historic events such as the burning of Dublin’s Custom House.

In 2008 Collins Press published a collection of Chapman’s photographs drawn from an archive of 3,000 pictures. Robert L. Chapman’s Ireland. Photographs from the Chapman Collection 1907-1957, compiled by Christiaan Corlett, has four, rarely seen Co. Kildare photographs:

Cathedral and Round Tower, Kildare, taken at 11 a.m., on 10 April 1910.
Athy Bridge, River Barrow, and White Castle, taken at 2.15 p.m., on 24 August 1919.
Blackchurch Inn, Naas Road, County Kildare, taken at 9.30 p.m., on 20 June 1922.
W. J. Taafe on tricycle outside the Covered Coat public house near Leixlip, Co. Kildare, during Irish Road Club 50-mile race, taken at 5 p.m., on 9 July 1927.

The Genius of Fr. Browne. Ireland’s photographic discovery, compiled by E. E. O’Donnell, SJ (Wolfhound Press, 1990), has two Co. Kildare portraits:

‘The Poacher’ at Straffan (1925).
James Farrelly from the Wood of Allen (1929).
Madam Uniacke. A fond memory

Photographs from the Chapman Collection 1907-1957, compiled by Christiaan Corlett, has four, rarely seen Co. Kildare photographs