A recent walk along the new Camphill\u00a0 nature trail by the river reminded me of my childhood and life in Kilcullen Corn Mills.\u00a0 I saw old car parts embedded in the weir to re-enforce\u00a0 it.\u00a0\u00a0 This work was done by my father Jim Collins, The Miller, before the weir broke in 1946 when The Poulaphuca Scheme changed life on the river Liffey for many including the running of the corn mill by electricity.\u00a0\u00a0 The car parts he got from Jim Barber whose home and business was where the Ruby Shoes building is beside the Town Hall.\u00a0 A\u00a0 photograph\u00a0 of Jim Barber\u2019s shop is on display\u00a0 in the Town Hall.
\nThe Barbers were a Church of Ireland family who lived in that premises since the 19th century.\u00a0\u00a0 Jim was an expert in all things mechanical but his main business was the sale and repair of bicycles which were a popular mode of transport at the end of the 19th century.\u00a0\u00a0 In later life when the water pumping station was built in Barbers garden where the canoe club now stands, Jim became the water supervisor for Kilcullen.\u00a0 The water was pumped\u00a0 to\u00a0 the Moat\u00a0 located\u00a0 behind\u00a0 Dunleas\u00a0\u00a0 garage which was the highest point in the town.\u00a0\u00a0 It was then fed into water pipes which supplied the town.\u00a0 Before this supply system was completed in the early 1900\u2019s everybody got their water supply from the spout.\u00a0\u00a0 Some stories my father told me about Jim Barber are worth remembering.
\nIn 1921 during the War of Independence the Black and Tans were stationed in the R.I.C.\u00a0 barracks beside O\u2019Connell\u2019s bar. The Black and Tans would make Jim Barber drive them on patrols to gather information\u00a0 on the locals but what they did not know was, that at night Jim would drive the local I.R.A. on missions against the Black and Tans and would tell the local I.R.A. what they were talking about.\u00a0 If he was found out he would have been executed.
\nIn the early 1930\u2019s De Valera\u00a0 addressed a meeting in Carlow but on his way back to Dublin his car broke down in Kilcullen.\u00a0 Jim Barber was sent for, to drive Dev to Dublin.\u00a0 He had an old French touring car with a canvas and wooden roof so with local supporters Jim set off for Dublin with Dev in the back seat.\u00a0 Just passed Rathcoole where the roundabout\u00a0 for Saggart is now located there was a small humped back bridge. Jim, who had bad eyesight and wore bottle-end glasses hit the bridge at speed and the\u00a0 canvas and wooden roof collapsed on top of Dev resulting in another car having to come to the rescue to get Dev the rest of the way to his Dublin\u00a0 home.
\nIn July\u00a0 of this year the Leinster Leader printed an item from the civil war times… \u201c In late 1922 an army armoured car on its way to the Curragh was blown up by an explosive planted in a culvert in the road near Rathcoole in which 2 soldiers were badly injured.\u00a0 The car following was driven by\u00a0 Mr Jim Barber\u00a0 from Kilcullen accompanied by 2 ladies who he was bringing from Dublin.\u00a0 When the road was cleared of the damaged armoured car Mr Barber continued on his way.\u201d
\nIn the 1930\u2019s Jim Barber drove the post van to deliver the mail to the Kildare train station.\u00a0 My father, the Miller, needed to collect an account from a racehorse trainer on the Curragh so he asked the post van driver to take himself and his bicycle as far as the Curragh. A trailer was hitched to the post van, the bike loaded on to the trailer and the two set off. They passed Donnelly\u2019s Hollow and went round the next bend.\u00a0 The driver approached the crossroads.\u00a0 There was plenty of space,\u00a0 no\u00a0 traffic and\u00a0 visibility\u00a0 was good.\u00a0 Also it must be said… they were sober.\u00a0 Even though driver Jim was wearing his\u00a0 thick\u00a0 lensed\u00a0 glasses\u00a0 he\u00a0 didn\u2019t\u00a0 see\u00a0 the\u00a0 Army\u00a0 lorry\u00a0 approaching from The Curragh Camp and heading uphill towards the old war cemetery.\u00a0 He hit the lorry broadside and the two Jims ended up in the Curragh Hospital. Don’t say \u201cHe should have gone to Specsavers.\u201d
\nNext day the army authorities came to the hospital to take statements from the injured men.\u00a0 When they were finished my father asked about his bicycle which was in the trailer.\u00a0\u00a0 The officer said there was no bicycle or trailer, just a wrecked van.\u00a0 The patients insisted that they had a trailer with a bike in it.\u00a0 The scene of the accident was revisited.\u00a0 A clump of furze was noticed a 100 yds from the crash site.\u00a0 With army precision the bush was examined and sure enough the lost items were found.\u00a0 The trailer having broken away on impact careered across the Curragh\u00a0 and disappeared into the furze bush.\u00a0 Bike and trailer were found two days later in perfect condition.<\/p>\n
Another story of local interest Historical Information from Military Archives. Jim Collins, Kilcullen, recalls times past in his local area. Our thanks to Jim<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25,119],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-991","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folklore","category-places"],"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\/991","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=991"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/991\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kildarelibraries.ie\/ehistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Mrs Sheelagh Blacker of Castlemartin House had two sons, Ian and Percy.\u00a0\u00a0We all have heard stories of Percy but not of Ian.\u00a0 Would anyone have a photo of Ian?\u00a0\u00a0He was a Captain in the British Army and was killed at the battle of Monte Cassino north of Rome in June 1944.\u00a0 After the war Mrs Blacker went to Italy to bring his body\u00a0 home to be buried in the family plot in Yellow Bog cemetery. On seeing where he was buried in the town of St. Francis of Assissi she changed her mind and said\u00a0 \u201cLet him lie with his 945 allied comrades who are laid to rest there.\u201d If\u00a0 anyone should visit Assissi please take a photo of his grave which is, C 9 in Plot No. 7.\u00a0 It could be displayed in the Town Hall.<\/p>\n
\n<\/strong>On 3rd September 1943 the Allies invaded the Italian mainland, the invasion coinciding with an armistice made with the Italians who then entered the war on the Allied side. Progress through Southern Italy was rapid despite stiff resistance.\u00a0 But the advance was checked for some months at the German Winter position known as the Gustav line.\u00a0 This line eventually fell in May 1944 and as the Germans withdrew, Rome was taken by the Allies on the 3rd of June. Many of the burials in this cemetery date from June and July 1944 when the Germans were making their first attempts to stop the Allied advance North of Rome in this region. The site for the cemetery was selected in September 1944 and burials were brought in from surrounding battlefields. Assissi war cemetery contains 945 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War.<\/p>\n
\nJim Collins, Kilcullen, recalls times past in his local area. Our thanks to Jim.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"