Description
Baltinglass is a small town in the heart of West Wicklow and on the banks of the River Slaney. It grew up beyond the walls of a Cistercian abbey that was founded in the twelfth century. It was incorporated as a town in the 1660s. In this book Paul Gorry traces the modern history of Baltinglass, from 1851 to 2001. Using a framework of reconstructed street directories, created from property surveys, census returns and electoral lists, the life of the town is recounted in short articles linked to significant dates. The book covers a period of great change from the aftermath of the Great Famine to the dawn of Baltinglass’s embrace of multicultural society. That period saw the arrival and the departure of a rail connection to Dublin, political upheavals, advancements in education, the formation of sports clubs, and the development of entertainment facilities, including a cinema, or two.
Paul Gorry is a native of Baltinglass with a lifelong interest in local and family history. He was a founder member of the West Wicklow Historical Society and of Accredited Genealogists Ireland, of which he is a Fellow. He is a Vice-President and Fellow of the Irish Genealogical Research Society.
