REVIEW:Enniscorthy; A History Edited and introduced by Colm Toibin
THE FIRST THING that will strike and delight any reader of this wonderful book is how beautifully designed, illustrated and produced it is. The designer, John Foley of Bite!, once again combines aesthetic sensitivity with technical brilliance, as he did in a series of titles for Cork University Press in its heyday. His design has been triumphantly realised by Citiprint, in Cork. In this book Foley constantly engages the eye, marrying text to a fascinating and colourful range of images, including maps, paintings, old photographs and many fine new ones, commissioned from local photographer Donald McDonald.
The book’s production values are matched by the excellent collection of essays, assembled by Enniscorthy’s most famous son, Colm Tóibín, assisted by that dynamo of the Wexford local history scene Celestine Rafferty.
Tóibín’s evocative introduction is threaded on poems, beginning with Eamonn Wall’s celebration of a local pattern day and ending with a childhood memory by another star of the Enniscorthy literary firmament, Anthony Cronin. In between are excerpts from the town’s one-time (and short-time) owner, Edmund Spenser, a “fascinating, shadowy figure called Lodowick Bryskett”, and the Wexford romantic poet Thomas Furlong. Tóibín mixes history, memory and commentary in a beautifully crafted piece, its lyrical celebration of Pugin’s great cathedral a particular pleasure.
As the editor acknowledges, the town of Enniscorthy is a relatively modern creation, though there was an early monastic settlement (its foundation providing the occasion for the town’s rather cheeky claim to be celebrating 1,500 years of existence) and some development around a medieval castle, expanded to its present size in Elizabethan times.
“Unlike the towns of Wexford and New Ross,” Tóibín writes, “no medieval or early modern town grew around these early settlements.” This is reflected in the historical essays that follow: Isabel Bennett surveys the archaeology and prehistory; Aidan Breen looks at the evidence for the early monastic foundation; Billy Colfer documents the medieval period, ending with the contribution of the Elizabethan adventurer Sir Anton Wallop, who extended the castle, restored the market and cleared the local woodlands.
The role of Wallop and his heirs (latterly dukes of Portsmouth) in the development of the town also features in the valuable survey by Rita Edwards, which shows that it was only in the latter part of the 18th century that it became “a prosperous and growing town”, thanks largely to the importance of the river Slaney in the local and regional economy.
A detailed anatomy of the townscape, population and economy in the mid 19th century was charted by the surveyors of the Valuation Office. This source is the basis of a major article by Jacinta Prunty, lavishly illustrated by the survey maps but, oddly, placed in the volume out of chronological sequence. The valuations arrived at were used as the basis for the Poor Rate, levied to support the local workhouse, the subject of an article by the leading expert in this field, Virginia Crossman, and featuring also in Eva Ó Cathaoir’s account of the town during the Famine.
The devastation wrought by the 1798 rebellion brought the town’s expansion and development to a temporary halt. Enniscorthy was captured early by the rebels and remained under their control for more than three weeks. During that time, both in the town and especially in their camp on Vinegar Hill, a large number of well-documented and often gruesome killings of local Protestants were carried out by the rebels.
In a brave, graphic account (especially for a celebratory volume) Daniel Gahan considers the evidence for these atrocities and quotes liberally from the sources. Though he points out that all the known victims were Protestant and all the known killers Catholic, Gahan is still reluctant to accept sectarianism as “a full explanation”. Of course it never is, but any attempt to make a countercase is bound to seem like the old special pleading, and here is at odds with the evidence so unflinchingly presented.
Combined with an attempt to cover the history of the past 1,500 years, this book also explores particular themes in the modern period, notably Eithne Scallan on the fate of local great houses, Dan Walsh on trade and industry and Henry Goff on education, a wide sweep covering the whole period. Catherine Cox's excellent article Health and Welfare, 1850-1920is particularly interesting on Enniscorthy's third great building, St Senan's Psychiatric Hospital (called after the founder of the original monastery). Paul Rouse covers roughly the same period in his lively look at sports organisations.
Seán Whelan’s account of Enniscorthy photographers is illustrated by a wonderful and diverse collection of images, as is Peter Pearson’s attentive look at townscape and architecture. The concluding article by William Murphy has a very fresh and challenging analysis of “Enniscorthy’s Revolution”, dealing with the period 1913-23. Like many of the other contributions this piece of local history will resonate with wider studies.
Colm Tóibín's novels, many of them evoking Enniscorthy's streets and people, are already part of the canon, and it seems likely that they will still be read in 100 years, though no one can anticipate the vagaries of literary fashion. But so long as Enniscorthy exists there will be people interested in its history, and they will read and enjoy this book. It will sit on local shelves beside the book of essays Enniscorthy: History and Heritage, written by Colm's father, Micheál. This work of pietas, local and familial, would not be a bad way to be remembered.
Tom Dunne is professor emeritus of history at University College Cork. An expanded edition of his Rebellions: Memoir, Memory and 1798has just been published by the Lilliput Press. In 2007 he edited New Ross: Rossponte: Ros Mhic Treoin: An Anthology Celebrating 800 Years
