<\/p>\n
\u00a0Library job swop with Kildare Library and Arts Service, Local Studies Section, Newbridge Library<\/strong><\/p>\n Olive Morrin<\/strong><\/p>\n On Friday 13th\u00a0November 2015, as part of the\u00a0Library Ireland Week Job Swop initiative,\u00a0\u00a0I spent a very pleasant and interesting day with\u00a0Kildare Library and Arts Service- Local Studies Section in Newbridge.\u00a0\u00a0I was met by Mario Corrigan, the Local Studies librarian and later by James Durney,\u00a0Historian in Residence for 2015\/16.\u00a0\u00a0James\u2019 book\u00a0Foremost and ready. Kildare and the 1916 Rising <\/em>was launched in Naas Town Hall on the 20th\u00a0November 2015.\u00a0\u00a0Mario invited me to view the Teresa Brayton Archive which was lent to Maynooth University in 2014 to mount an exhibition on local poet and nationalist Teresa Brayton.\u00a0\u00a0Later in the morning pupils from the local school attended a talk by Mario on their topics for Leaving Cert history.\u00a0\u00a0Mario and James advised them on the use of primary sources and also how to narrow the focus of their projects.<\/p>\n After lunch we drove to Donnelly\u2019s Hollow in the Curragh to commemorate the 200th\u00a0year anniversary of the famous boxing match between George Cooper and Dan Donnelly which took place on the 13th\u00a0November 1815.\u00a0\u00a0A good crowd assembled around the stone memorial and\u00a0\u00a0Mario laid a wreath.\u00a0Representatives of local history groups assembled\u00a0\u00a0which also included some schoolgirls who read a short piece about Dan Donnelly and the fight.\u00a0\u00a0Twenty thousand people packed themselves into this natural amphitheatre in 1815 which had a ring roped in the hollow for the fighters.\u00a0\u00a0As bare knuckle fighting was illegal the fight was held at 8.00am and the crowd was somewhat shielded\u00a0\u00a0from the view of the authorities.\u00a0\u00a0These fights were brutal affairs with little adherence to any rules.\u00a0\u00a0Fights could last up to fifty rounds and usually only ended when one of the opponents was so injured or exhausted they could no longer continue. Gambling was a significant feature of these events.<\/p>\n Dan Donnelly won the fight and walked back up to the rim of the hollow to a waiting carriage.\u00a0\u00a0He had promised his family he would return immediately after the fight.\u00a0\u00a0His fanatical followers carved out his footsteps and they have been maintained ever since.\u00a0\u00a0Mario said a few words and then invited Patrick Myler to speak.\u00a0\u00a0Patrick wrote a biography on Dan Donnelly in 1976 titled\u00a0Dan Donnelly 1788-1820: pugilist,<\/em>\u00a0publican, playboy<\/em>; this was updated in 2010.\u00a0\u00a0Patrick took lots of questions and despite the inclement weather a lively discussion ensued.\u00a0\u00a0Brian Byrne whose family owned the \u2018Hideout\u2019 in Kilcullen which for many years displayed Dan Donnelly\u2019s arm over the fireplace also added significant pieces of information. Mario then invited the group back to the Library for some refreshments and a presentation on Dan Donnelly\u2019s life.\u00a0\u00a0A film producer also attended the event with the possibility of a film on Dan Donnelly at some future date.\u00a0\u00a0Dan Donnelly had a reputation as a gambler, womanizer and a drunkard.\u00a0\u00a0He was the proprietor of a succession of Dublin pubs all of which were unprofitable.\u00a0He died aged 32 in 1820.\u00a0\u00a0Grave robbers stole his body for an eminent surgeon who was later prevailed upon to part with it.\u00a0\u00a0He did so with the condition he could keep his right arm.\u00a0\u00a0The Byrne family secured possession of the arm and it finally made its way back to the\u00a0‘Hideout\u2019 in Kilcullen in the 1950\u2019s.<\/p>\n It was a privilege to be part of this event and although I grew up having an awareness of Dan Donnelly I learned so much more about him and why it was important for ordinary and poor people to have a hero to celebrate.\u00a0\u00a0Local Studies in Newbridge work with local groups to mark events and people who have made a contribution to the fabric of Kildare life.\u00a0\u00a0At the moment they are busy with the Decade of Commemorations in Kildare which is celebrating the efforts of Kildare people in the fight for Irish freedom.<\/p>\n The job swop was a very interesting and informative experience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0Library job swop with Kildare Library and Arts Service, Local Studies Section, Newbridge Library Olive Morrin On Friday 13th\u00a0November 2015, as part of the\u00a0Library Ireland Week Job Swop initiative,\u00a0\u00a0I spent a very pleasant and interesting day with\u00a0Kildare Library and Arts Service- Local Studies Section in Newbridge.\u00a0\u00a0I was met by Mario Corrigan, the Local Studies […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[121],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-events-2"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Kildare Local Studies","author_link":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/author\/localstudies\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}