Street Wise Athlone – Clonown

This series of articles for the Westmeath Independent is run in conjunction with the Street Wise Athlone series on Athlone Community Radio which is broadcast on Wednesdays during Athlone Today at 2.30pm and repeated on Thurdays mornings at 10am on The Brekkie Show.

Athlone Miscellany by Gearoid O'Brien

I have to admit that when I realised that Clonown was to be included in the Street Wise series I was delighted. As far as I’m concerned there is something very special about Clonown and its people. It has been celebrated in two wonderful books and has been the source of inspiration to others, including the novelist John Broderick who used the area around Clonown as the backdrop for his novel ‘The Fugitives’. Besides, we were married in the beautiful church of Our Lady of the Wayside and this strengthened our bond with Clonown.

Clonown is one of two ‘half-parishes’ in St Peter’s parish, the second one being Drum. The placename Clonown, in common with many of our placenames which begin with ‘Cluain’, often in the form of ‘clon’ or ‘cloon’, is probably of very ancient origin. Think of such placenames as Clonmacnoise, Clontuskert, Camcloon etc. Dr P.W. Joyce, one of the pioneers of Irish placenames, tells us that the root word ‘Cluain’ is often translated as ‘lawn’ or ‘meadow’ but that “Its exact meaning, however, is a fertile piece of land, or a green arable spot, surrounded or nearly surrounded by bog or marsh on one side, and water on the other”. While it is tempting to suggest that Clonown is made up of the root words ‘Cluain’ and ‘Abhann’ meaning river it seems much more likely to be made up of ‘Cluain’ and ‘Eamhain’, a personal name. Again, it is tempting to suggest that Cluain Eamhain is named after a bishop who resided here but as many of the ‘Cluains’ are of Pagan origin it seems just as likely that Eamhain was a local Pagan chief.

Early Christian Settlement

According to Gwynn and Hadcock in their book ‘Medieval Religious Houses Ireland’ (1970) the monastery of ‘Cloonowen’ seems to have existed in the sixth century, and St Alild (sometimes Ailitid) and St Colman are among seven bishops of Clonown to be recorded. According to the Annals of the Four Masters, the monastery at Clonown was plundered by the men of Munster in 1089.

In the Book of Hy-Many (or the Book of the O’Kelly’s), a late fourteenth century manuscript in the Royal Irish Academy we learn that the monastery at Cam (Brideswell) was one of the principal churches of the O’Kelly Clan and one of three in the district dedicated to St. Bridget. According to Fr Francis Beirne in ‘The Diocese of Elphin: an illustrated history’, St Bridget visited the southern territory of Roscommon, founding convents and cells as well as blessing wells at Drum, Clonown, Ballintubber, Kilbride, Cam, Dysart, Kilsellagh and Kilteevan. The monastery at Clonown had a right to a ‘baptismal penny’ for all those baptised in Hy-Many, which it shared with the monasteries of Drum and Clonown which were also dedicated to St. Bridget. The devotion to St. Bridget was obviously still very strong in the 19th century as the church built in the 1820s was dedicated to St Bridget, as was the nearby holy well.

Parts of the old monastic enclosure can still be detected close to Clonown Community Centre. The modern church, designed by the late Noel Heavey, was opened in 1965 and is dedicated to Our Lady of the Wayside. The old church was then converted for use as a Community Centre.

Clonown: more than a village

Heading out from Athlone to Clonown the first townland one meets is Duogue; then Kilnamanagh where a mass rock still survives, the name Kilnamanagh suggests there may once have been a small church here; Carricknaughton is where the old brick industry was located and there is a beautiful raised bog in Carricknaughton and Gorrynagowna usually simply known as ‘Gorry Bog’; from Carrick bridge one can see where the Crannagh Cross River joins the Shannon; approaching the village

of Clonown the next townland is Cappaghmore then on to Clonown with Oldtown and Newtown and Ballynakill. Beyond Clonown one meets Cunny Bridge where the Cunny (or Bunnacunny) River flows and where once there was a small settlement; next comers Curraghnaboll and Drumlosh, then Nure and Coolumper. This was part of the ancient pilgrim route to Clonmacnoise. In medieval times a wooden bridge crossed the Shannon from Coolumper to Clonmacnoise. So, while Clonown is a well dispersed settlement it has its own Catholic church, a Community Centre and a thriving National School. In the past there was, traditionally, a small shop in the village but the last one closed over thirty years ago. Nevertheless, today Clonown has a vibrant rural community with a strong sense of identity. The industries which once flourished here have ground to a halt but the spirit of the people is still strong.

Industries in the Past

In the nineteenth century flax was grown in Clonown and linen making was a cottage industry. In the excellent book ‘Clonown: the history traditions and culture of a South Roscommon Community’ there is reference to a Mary Kennedy from Offaly who married Michael Gavin of Grahia, Clonown about 1850, she introduced linen making to Grahia. Also, Mary Geoghegan of Pidgeonfield gave the Irish Folklore Commission an account of her grandmother, Bridget Henry, making linen from flax grown on the farm. Many local houses would have had their own spinning-wheel. Mary Geoghegan referred to shirts, collars, sheets and tablecloths being made from linen. She said that the shirts, collars and tablecloths were made from fine linen and the sheets from coarse linen. Writing in 1936 she claimed that “in some houses in the district the linen sheets that were made over seventy years ago are still in perfect condition”. I remember the late Billy English showing me locally made linen sheets in the early 1970s. They were very coarse and heavy and while it was easy to imagine them lasting seventy years it was very difficult to imagine them being comfortable. I have written before at length about the brick industry which thrived in Clonown in the 19th century and provided bricks for many buildings in Athlone. These bricks were either yellow or red in colour depending on where exactly the clay was dug. The local brick industry survived until a brick factory was opened in Ferbane in the mid-1920s. There was no way than hand-made bricks could compete with the factory prices and within ten years brick-making died out in Clonown.

Agriculture: Potatoes & Carrots

It is not too long since I wrote a series of articles on the Athlone seed potato industry which thrived locally in the 1920s and 30s, the soil from the Shannon callows around Clonown made it one of the best areas in the country for seed potatoes. The industry ground to a halt when the dreaded eel-worm hit in the late 1930s, long before there was any known remedy for such an infestation. The local farmers turned from the seed potato crop to carrots and the soil in Clonown ensured that they produced bumper crops.

Clonown was made famous in song when Brendan Shine recorded an amusing song called ‘Carrots from Clonown’ recorded by Brendan Shine. The lyrics were written by the late lamented Tom Moore of St Paul’s Terrace during the 1950s. Tom was a member of a multi-talented family and was involved in various theatrical and musical productions in Athlone over a long number of years. No doubt the popularity of the song helped in no small measure to establish Clonown carrots as firm favourites in the Smithfield Market.

The Spanish have their onions, the French they like their snails And if you're up in Iceland, for breakfast you'll have whales. Italians like spaghetti and in long strings get it down, Ah, but when you're up in Curr’naboll, you're sure to find some carrots from Clonown.

Next week: Pearse Street & Barrack Street.

READ MORE: See previous articles in the series here