North Gate known locally as ‘The Arch’

“Low lie the fields of Athenry
Where once we watched the small freebirds fly
Our love was on a wing
we had dreams and songs to sing
It’s so lonely ‘round the fields of Athenry”

So goes the wistful yet evocative chorus of that poignant Pete St John composition which has become a veritable “second Irish National Anthem”, so loved, in particular, by exiles from this land of Ireland and sung so heartily by, amongst others, followers of Celtic Football Club and of our national soccer and rugby teams.
The song itself was a huge “hit” twice over, firstly in the ‘70’s for the Barleycorn folk group and, in later years, for Paddy Reilly, himself now part of the current Dubliners line-up. Any respectable pub sing song or “rambling house” party here is almost guaranteed, sooner or later in the proceedings, to throw up a lusty, stirring, rendition of this well-loved ballad.
But where exactly is “Athenry”, with its lauded hinterland of low lying grasslands? Not long after I moved to the west of Ireland to live I decided to go in search of this place about which I also had sung with great fervour over many years!

The ruins of the Dominican Priory

This very pleasant medieval, and historic, County Galway town is located between the growing city of Galway fifteen miles to the west, and the large town of Ballinsloe twenty five miles to the east, at the intersection of the north/south R347 and east/west R348 Regional roads.
Athenry, or Baile Atha An Ri, translates as the “Town of the Kings Ford”. For those interested in its history, the town came into existence in 1238 with the construction of a castle by Meyler de Bermingham, 2nd Baron of Athenry, who was of Anglo-Norman background. Today this is the only restored Norman castle in Ireland and Athenry itself is reputed to be our best preserved medieval town, notwithstanding the ravaging centuries which have passed since its original founding.
The Anglo-Normans first came to Ireland around the year 1168, with the “approval” of the then King of England, Henry II. History records that some three years before the building of Athenry Castle invasions led by the de Burghs and the de Berminghams resulted in the “subjugation” of the Province of Connaught (the use of this word, meaning to make “obedient” or “submissive”, certainly gives insight into the mentality of the classes intent on ruling at that time, and their perception of what was required of the “troublesome” native Irish!).
The castle itself, which is well worth a visit, consists of Keep towering over the town and surrounded by a “curtain” wall in which are set one square tower and two round towers. The Keep, originally consisting of two storeys, a great hall and basement, was a “castle within a castle” and home to the lord, his family and a loyal retainer or two. A moat fed by a local river encircled the castle. Strangely, we learn, there is no trace of a fireplace in the castle and for those living in the castle it must have been a cold, damp and dreary place, particularly in the winter. If ever there was a time for breaking out the “winter woollies” that would have been it, and not just for winter!

The ruins of the Dominican Priory

The striking Dominican Priory in the town is well preserved and is also deserving of a visit. In 1241 the said Meyler de Bermingham (sounds like a “Brummie” connection here! I wonder….) gave some land just south of the castle to the Dominican Order (known as the Order of Preachers) and the Priory of SS Peter and Paul was built. Whilst it was enlarged in 1324, it had to be rebuilt in 1427 after a fire, and in 1644, shortly before Cromwell visited his version of “subjugation” on the Irish nation and its monasteries, it became a University. Alas, it did not escape the attentions of Cromwell’s men, and its buildings and its burial monuments were destroyed by them.
The Dominicans blended a monastic lifestyle of prayer, silence and penance with a life of gospel preaching sustained by a good academic education. A feature of this somewhat austere lifestyle was the interruption of nocturnal slumbering for the midnight chanting of formal prayers. In Athenry the benevolent Berminghams granted the friars the munificent amount of one shilling (i.e. 5p) a year to provide them with candles to illuminate their prayerful recitations.
Whilst the passage of time has caused some deterioration of the walls and a tower erected after the fire of 1427 has long since fallen, the Priory is still capable of creating a sense of times gone by and is a valuable contributor to the knowledge of life in the medieval monasteries.
In the Town Square is a 15th century “Market Cross”, still in its original position, at which “bargains” were sealed at the weekly market in the town (in much later times, in Ireland, bargains would be sealed in more convivial surroundings, that is, in convenient local hostelries complete with the necessary “lubricants” for firming up on deals. Such is progress.).

The restored Norman castle

In 1310 the town received a “murage grant” from the King, this being a liberty to collect money for the purposes of building a wall around the town. Apparently, the building of the wall was paid for by “booty” collected after the Battle of Athenry in 1316 when an Anglo-Norman army defeated Irish forces commanded by a Felim O’Connor. It is recorded that over 8,000 men were killed in that battle, and this appears to have decisively destroyed Irish resistance to the Anglo-Normans.
Most of the original town wall stands to this day, still surrounded by a moat, and with five of its six towers still extant. Only the North Gate, known locally as “The Arch”, remains of its original 5 gates. Nestling cheek by jowl with this can be found the “Arch Bar”. A great attraction of the town walls is that they can be viewed from a distance (standing perhaps in one of the proverbial “fields”!), and the walls perhaps more than other features of the town endow it with its undoubted sense of history, evoking images of a bustling medieval town.
Whatever fate befell the young and in love “Mary” and “Michael” immortalised in the song “The Fields of Athenry”, and their dreams, we do not know. We may like to muse that, perhaps, after a short period of penal servitude at the pleasure of a Britannic Majesty, “Michael” returned to his “Mary” and their child, her loneliness was dispelled, and they lived happily ever after, in a little rose-adorned cottage adjacent to one of the fields ‘round Athenry. However, and sadly, given “the times that were in it”, I think not.
As I headed north out of Athenry and homewards, a flock of small birds suddenly rose from a field behind a typical Galway stone wall ditch alongside the road I was travelling, moving in close formation and disappearing into the far distance, as my view of them becoming obscured by the glare of the low bright sun of a fresh west of Ireland Spring day. Ah-ha, I said to myself, they must be the “freebirds”! I’ve seen it all now!