OPINION (AN COLÚN): Offaly's lighting history & a great Lorrha magazine

DURING STORM ÉOWYN, Birr was plunged into darkness for a couple of hours on Friday evening, simultaneously propelling us briefly back to the 1940s and 1950s and before, when life was lived without electricity.
As I walked through the town the only artificial light being cast was emanating from the cars. Walking down Main Street I paused and looked upwards. I was entranced. The night sky was far more visible and there were a myriad stars in the clear heavens. It was an experience which we associate with being in the countryside, not in a town. This was an unusual atmosphere indeed for Main Street Birr.
I wondered if the night sky experience had been something similar in 19th Century Birr? There would have been some light pollution because of the street gas lanterns, but overall, taking Birr as a whole, the night sky visibility would have been a lot better than the electricity era. Prior to the mid 19th Century it would have been vastly better because gas lighting had yet to arrive.
In his excellent essay on the subject, Tullamore historian Michael Byrne says Birr introduced public lighting by gas before Tullamore did. Michael points out that the records show that Birr's streets were being illuminated by gas lanterns from at least 1852. “Tullamore elected its town commissioners and adopted gas lighting in 1860,” he writes. “Before that public lighting was non-existent in Tullamore with just one candle lamp in Charleville / O'Connor Square in 1854. By the beginning of the First World War the number of gas lamps in Tullamore was almost 80. Tullamore made the switch from gas lighting to public lamps powered by electricity on 27 September 1921 and Birr about a week earlier.”
Oil lamps and candle lighting were used for lighting in cities and towns throughout Europe prior to gas lighting's arrival in the 19th Century. I was interested to read that “link boys” were employed in many European towns and cities throughout the centuries to guide people through the dark streets at night-time.
I was also interested to read that Paris had 2,700 street lights by the end of the 1600s. During the French Revolution the revolutionaries often used the Paris street lamps to hang their opponents. “À la lanterne!” they would cry before the execution.
Cooking on my gas cooker, by candlelight, on Friday evening brought me back to the 1970s when blackouts were a relatively common experience. I've fond childhood memories of those blackouts, perhaps because they had a sense of novelty and excitement. The 1970s saw a number of strikes affecting major services, including electricity. For example, in 1972 a strike by 800 workers in the ESB, who were seeking pay increases, cut power supplies by 80% and reduced supplies to most users to three hours in 24. The sale of candles exploded.
Friday's storm brought us some of the fastest wind speeds ever recorded in Ireland. Met Éireann recorded gusts as fast as 183km/h, in County Galway, at 5am. Mean speeds recorded at the same centre at Mace Head were hurricane force, at 130km/h. Éowyn's top wind speeds equalled or exceeded the top wind speeds recorded during Storm Ophelia in 2017 and Storm Debbie in 1961 – both of which caused significant damage to structures around the country. Éowyn had similar top wind speeds to the Night of the Big Wind in 1839. The Night of the Big Wind was much more destructive, causing 250 to 300 deaths, damaging or destroying 20 to 25% of the houses in Dublin and wrecking 42 ships.
When speaking to local historian James Heenan today, he told me of a big storm which was recorded in the Annals of Innisfallen. The Annals tell us that in AD 1077 a violent storm badly damaged the corn-crop in the autumn of that year. The Annals don't tells us what suffering was caused by this weather event, but in the Middle Ages crop failures often brought great misery.
James also told me that the excellent Lorrha Historical Society magazine “The Lamp” is selling well. The magazine covers many aspects of the Lorrha and Dorrha parish. Among the many fascinating articles is a piece about the Looney Map of Tipperary by David Broderick and an article about St Ciarán's Well by James. Rathcabbin Development Association & Tidy Towns commissioned a mural depicting St Ciarán's Well at a site in Rathcabbin Village. The beautiful mural now adorns the gable end of a shed in the village. Local artist Ute Duggan painted the mural. “Ute's talent is evident in the finished mural,” said James, “as she beautifully captured the symbolic representation of St Ciarán and his holy well. The mural depicts a grove of trees at the well and St Ciarán is shown praying. A salmon leaps from the well.”
The Lamp is available in PJ Heenan and Son, Borrisokane; The Friar's Tavern, Lorrha; Colette's Hair, Scalp & Wig Salon, Lorrha; Lorrha and Dorrha shop Lorrha; Mulrooney's Gala Service Station, The Ferry, Lorrha.