Monthly Archives: August 2016

Roundwood Notes ~ 30th of August 2016

The McGrath Flood Irish Dancers perform at the Roundwood Festival Concert (Photo: Pauline Heatly)

FAMILY FUNDAY

Come along to our amazing, exciting, jam packed “Funday Extraordinaire” where there will surprises and fun for all the family!! It’s all happening in Roundwood Parish Hall on Saturday 10th of September from 12 to 5pm. There is something for everyone including
 Mad Hatters Tea Party Cafe
 Princess Pamper Corner
 Lightsaber Jedi Training
 Tombola Supreme
 Lego Building
 Baby Ball Pit & Comfy Corner
 Bonniest Baby Doll Competition
 Cuddliest Teddy Competition
 Colouring Competition
 Costume Competition – Dress as your favourite character/superhero
 Name the Teddy / Guess how many sweets
 Monster Raffle – Amazing prizes!
 Crafts Fair – Beautiful gifts & crafts & lots more!!!

This event is a fundraising initiative of the teenagers involved in the Stagebratz Starz Showchoir.
The group are through to the Live Final of National Showchoir Ireland 2016. This is a big competition where the students have to perform a 10 min long vocal & dance routine (Think Glee). They are up against groups from all over Ireland but they will be proudly flying the flag for Roundwood and Co Wicklow!! This is a non profit group and all funds raised go towards giving the teens of Wicklow the opportunity to showcase their amazing talents on a bigger stage. Your support would be much appreciated.

ADULT FRENCH CLASSES

There are a limited number of spaces remaining in the adult french conversation class which starts on the 6th of September. Classes are purely conversational and aim at developing oral fluency and aural skills. The course is tailor-made and I choose topics, activities and resources which, I feel, will motivate participants to converse. Class led by native speaker with experience in teaching French.  Fulled qualified teacher with accreditation by the Alliance Française. Book now by contacting Lisa, 087-9058656 / Facebook : Bonjour Soleil French Classes Email: BonjourSoleilFrenchClasses@gmail.com

THEATRE CLUB

Wonderland Productions Roundwood is starting back on FRIDAY 9TH SEPT. Suitable for 7 -12 year olds, this weekly AFTER-SCHOOL THEATRE CLUB takes place in the Parish Hall every Friday at 3.15pm. No experience is necessary, the emphasis is on fun, imagination, and creating plays. Children get to explore characters, story-telling and develop confidence in performing. They also learn about acting, directing and stage-craft. This term we will also be looking for one or two young actors to perform in our new professional production ‘The Hound of the Baskervilles’. Places still available. Contact Cliona on 087 4673858 for details.

IRISH DANCING CLASSES

The McGrath Flood Irish dancing classes, including our new ADULT CLASS, start 6th September in Roundwood Parish Hall. No previous experience required! Family rates available. For further information call Eimear on 085 7180926

TODDLER PLAYGROUP

Roundwood Cuidiú Humpty Dumpty Playgroup is back from Wednesday 31st of August! Please join us from 10-11:30am in the Roundwood Parish Hall. All welcome. Cuidiú members €2. Non-members €3.50

MUSIC IN CALARY

The next concert in Calary Church will take place at 8pm on Thursday September 8th when Musici Ireland will play works by Beethoven, Boccherini and Dohnanyi. The performers will be Helena Wood (violin), Beth McNinch (viola) and Grainne Hope (cello). Their programme will be Beethoven’s Op.3 in Eb followed by Boccherini’s String Trio in D major, Op.14, No.4 and ending with Dohnanyi’s Serenade Opus 10. Tickets, which are €18 and €15 for concessions, can be booked by ringing John at (01) 2818146 or by email to derekneilson@eircom.net .

THANK YOU

The Clara Vale committee wish to say a big thank you to all who helped them organise the Run/Walk last Thursday evening. Thanks to all the walkers and runners for their support. An enjoyable evening was had by all and €1,095 was raised.

VARIETY A.G.M.

The Roundwood Variety A.G.M. will take place on Tuesday 6^th September at 8.30pm in the Parish Centre. All are welcome.

BADMINTON

Badminton will be starting back in Aras An Tochar on Mondays and Wednesdays from the 5th of September at 7:30pm. All are welcome, both new and returning members. We will be having an opening week this week so if you would like to try out a new sport it’s the perfect opportunity! Look forward to seeing you all there.

DIAMOND BRIDGE CLUB

Its that time of year again folks hard to believe 3 months have gone by so quickly but unfortunately it is true and bridge resumes on Monday 5th September in Roundwood Community Hall starting time 7.45 pm no partner required and all grades catered for. Any queries contact Triona 0877630968 or Gaye 0868746874.

002 BRIDGE CLUB

Triona and Gaye are looking forward to welcoming everyone to Roundwood Community Hall on Friday 9th September as bridge resumes for the 2016/17 Season with starting time 9.45am No partner required all grades catered for contact Triona 0877630968 or Gaye 0868746874.

LOTTO RESULTS

There was no winner yet again of the jackpot last weekend. The numbers drawn were 5, 19, 26 & 29. There were four match three winners, Schooner Synnott, Breda Coughlan, Eamonn Dowling & Fiona Smyth Next weeks jackpot stays at €19,400

MONEYSTOWN DANCE

Our September Dance takes place on Friday 9^th September.

45 CARD GAME

A 45 Card Game takes place every Tuesday night in Moneystown Community Centre starting at 8.45pm. Teas served. All are welcome.

WHIST

Next whist will be on Wednesday 31^st August in the Parish Centre.

PARISH HALL

The Roundwood Hall is always available for all social events, meetings, children’s parties, christenings, workshops, training courses etc. These great facilities are now available. For more information contact us on 087-9627527 , 087-3932730 or theroundwoodparishhall@gmail.com

SET DANCING

Set Dancing continues every Thursday night in Kavanagh’s Lounge from 9pm til 11pm with music this month by the O’Kane family. Come along and join us for a night of good fun, great exercise and a very social night out. Newcomers always welcome and great way to meet some locals. Cost for night of dancing and entertainment is still only €5.

MEDJUGORJE

Pilgrimage To Medjugorje October 5th for a week. Places available. Cost € 649.00.which includes flights (Aer Lingus) Insurance half board in house beside Church. Accompanied by Spiritual Director. For more information / booking. Contact Mary King on 087 2185067

Roundwood Notes 24th of August

Mullinaveigue Pure Mile

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Please see below the report from the Mullinaveigue Pure Mile

Mullinaveigue Pure Mile: The changing face of a road, the past revealed

The Mullinaveigue Pure Mile looks like a typical country road. Sadly now it is a race track for fast cars and myriads of cyclists. Both of these have little regard for the residents or other walkers. It would be a major surprise to them to realise the hidden history of the road.

Stories handed down from earlier generations were that Mullinaveigue meant ‘Whey Mill’. A creamery, farrier, and Roundwood’s only shop were all located on the mile!

The first signs of human activity are 3 fulachta fiadh considered to be Bronze Age (c. 2400-500 BC) cooking pits. These are not in what is now the Mullinaveigue townland, but just the far side of the Annacarter river in Shramore! They are in the field about 200m from the road. They are visible only to the trained eye! When these food pits were in use there were no electoral or field boundaries.The natives hunted and fished in the entire area to fill those pots. The Annacarter river still had reasonable size trout in it.

Mullinaveigue townland initially stretched down to far side of the R755 road into an area now flooded by Upper Reservoir. It is hard for us to imagine no reservoir and no R755. It is bounded now by the R755 eastern side, the northern boundary is the Annacarter river and it ends at Bertie’s Triangle. Westerly it extends slightly up hill from the Mullinaveigue Pure Mile

a	Bertie’s triangle	b	1798 Holt Memorial	c	Holt’s lane
d, e	Bridges	f, g	different stone walls styles	h	Annacarter School & possible 1840s stone wall
i	benchmark	j	Millstone	k	forge stone
m	Victor’s Way	n	Registry Office marked on 25” OS map as Registry office. In use at least till 1905, but more likely ceased when new State in 1920s. However not mentioned as such in 1901 or 1911 censuses. Described as 1^st class dwelling house of William Murphy and wife both described as farmers and Auctioneers.

There is quite a gap in our knowledge about life in the area – about eighteen centuries!

No other known archaeological features so we resort to the written word. Early documents referring to “the lands & territories of the Farrtree (Vartry)” in the early years of the seventeenth century about land being seized from Luke O’Toole’ of Castlekevin. Some of these lands were granted to Sir John Coke. In a letter written in 1636 there is mention of Molenabige (interesting spelling) and Bolincas, a town, hath no wood. Balhinto (Balinastoe), where Mr.Mastserson doth dwell. He is a friend of Mr.Tooles mother, he hath this ……The town hath no wood”. So we know there was already a mill but no wood was seen as a disadvantage due to the developing timber and iron industries.

In 1669 absentee landlords, John Temple, previously Master of the Rolls for Ireland in 1641, and his brother were granted lands in the area by Letters Patent of Charles II. In 1682 the agents for the Temples were recorded “as leasing out the lands of Mullinaveigue and Ballinrush.”.

The Taylor and Skinner 1777 Dublin to Rathdrum road map shows our Pure Mile between the mile symbols (o) 16 & 17 from Dublin. Fairview, the residence of Andrew Price Esq. is more or less midpoint of our Mile. There are 4 other houses marked just as squares, no doubt tenants of some standing. The road continues to a very different Roundwood, (most is not there). At Annacarter, there is a road running west to Seven Churches. There is also a road to Newtown from Fairview. R755 was not constructed until 1830s. It is possible that this Newtown road is what we now call “Holt’s Lane”. It still exists crossing the R755 but now ends about 2 fields to the east, relatively close to where the Upper Reservoir dam is today.

It likely one of the houses, on the Fairview estate, was where Joseph Holt (1756 – 1826) lived. His wife Hestor was related to Price. There are no remaining signs of these houses.

After they married in 1782, he farmed but also held several minor local offices the most notable as a bounty hunter. This did not make him very popular! He was caught up in many feuds. When his house was burnt down by a company of militia, Holt took to the mountains. His wife and young family were looked after by Price.

By then he had joined the United Irishmen and was making a name for himself as a leader. He united the defeated rebels with skill and organized guerrilla resistance. The tales of their endurance in cold and damp, long distances travelled over the mountains and evading capture, all on empty stomachs is better than any historical drama epic seen on our screens.There were even romantic elements–how the wounded Holt travelled over 30 miles, mainly on foot, at night, to see his wife. Another intriguing aspect was the speed of the communication network he had – only word of mouth. Hunted unsuccessfully, Holt eventually surrendered himself on 10 November 1798 on condition of his exile without trial to America, but somehow ended up in New South Wales. His negotiation skills were possibly not the best. [He returned in 1813 and died in Dun Laoghaire]. After 1798, the authorities became more vigilant at controlling minor disturbances and feuds.

Around 1839, the surveyors were triangulating and recording all the details, roads, tracks, houses, field boundaries, water courses, etc. for the 6 inch Ordinance Survey maps in this area. The 25 inch OS map was surveyed later around 1910.

Price’s house, Fairview was marked on the 6 inch OS maps but the house was gone on the 25 inch OS map, just seen as woodland.

In the late 1830s, Samuel Hall and his wife Anna Maria, who were writing the definitive ‘tourist guide’ of Ireland, were on tour in Wicklow. They made scathing remarks about the road from Enniskerry to Rathdrum and the squalor of some of the people seen. It would be assumed they would be on our mile as the R755 was only under construction.

In 1840, Andrew Bourne Esq built Annacarter School and gave it gratis with three acres for his tenant’s children. It was a one storey thatched building with one room (26’ by 13’), two desks and large table. It was run as a non-denominational ‘National School’ following the government scheme introduced in the 1830’s. It remained as such until it closed in 1967.The catchment area for the children was large, including not just Mullinaveigue and Shramore, but Ballinastoe, Carrigower, Glasnamullen, Knockraheen and Slemaine. There was no school bus. Woe betide you if you were late, but you had to get there hail, rain or snow on foot.

There was no connection from the original road as shown by Taylor and Skinner to what is now the R755 until the late 1890s.

The occupation of most parents of the listed enrolled children up to the end of the century were involved in farming, but included gamekeepers, stewards, caretakers, a bailiff, a housekeeper and a charwoman. From the 1900, a change occurred, there were still many parents involved in agriculture but others were navvies, plate layers, engineers, hut keepers, some soldiers and one described as a nobleman! During 1870, the school was also doubled as an agricultural school for older children.

From 1968, the empty building had been acquired by Bill Cunningham, for Ballinastoe Football Club for meetings and training sessions. It was also used also for cards, Scouts, Cubs and Beavers for boys, Brownies and Girl Guides for girls. It fell into disuse in late 1980’s. It was then converted and extended to become a private house in the late 1990’s.

It is possible that the stone boundary wall to the road is original, the construction is so different to the later walls. It could be pre-1840. Certainly the size of the stone suggest field clearance of stones deposited by glaciers during prehistory.

Sycamore trees were planted by the children in 1910, when Tom Donohoe, schoolmaster’s son, was 8 between the school and the old schoolmaster’s house alongside.

The potato famine was worst in 1847 in Roundwood area according to Fr. John Gowan, but we have not found specific references to Mullinaveigue.

Our other resource were the 1901 and 1911 censuses. By 1901 there were 16 dwelling houses, increasing to 18 in 1911. More the half the houses were deemed 2^nd class as roofed in thatch, wood or other perishable material. There was a minor improvement in the 10 years, not surprisingly, as there was an influx of workers to build the Upper Vartry Reservoir.

The other intriguing information was the lifestyle, as seen by the outbuildings. An outbuilding was considered to be ‘for domestic or agricultural purposes and should not include outbuildings for Sanitary accommodation such as Privies, ashpits, etc; or for Horticultural purposes such as Conservatories, greenhouses etc; or for Pleasure such as Summer-houses teahouses, etc’.This suggested that running water and internal plumbing were not the norm. However, the outbuildings give a glimpse of a completely different way of life. In both censuses, there were 9 barns, 13 houses had stables, 20 had cow or calf houses, 3 had dairies, 14 had piggeries. In 1901 there was one coach house, 7 fowl houses. By 1911, the coach house was gone but the number of fowl houses increased to 10. Though the number of outbuildings had only increased from 84 to 88 in the ten years, they were used differently, sheds increased from 7 to 11 and stores from none to 21 and there was a forge in 1911.

The piggeries also give an insight into the way of life. Killing a pig was a big communal event even into the 1960’s. The pig was shared with neighbours, some as fresh meat but also there was the preparation of the rashers, bacon and hams – sometimes even as sausages.

Curiously there is no mention of sheep, but in early times, there were non-specific records of wool and clothing inspectors.

By today things have changed dramatically. Currently there are 22 households on the Pure Mile, but only 2 are full-time farmers. Others have to commute distances to work. Victor’s Way is our most extreme example of a different way of life. But the blow-ins who now reside here all bring a fresh perspectives even if they have only blown in from other corners of this island.

What had been the main road from Dublin to Rathdrum is now downgraded to an L road. The upstart new roads are given priority with large signs and even more speeding traffic. Every cloud has a silver lining!

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