The area was the birthplace of
St Oliver Plunkett, the last Irish Catholic martyr to die in
England. Oldcastle is the 18th-century creation of the Naper family, who had received parts of the Plunkett estate following the Cromwellian wars.
St. Oliver Plunkett, who served as
Lord Archbishop of Armagh in the seventeenth century, and who was hanged, drawn and quartered at
Tyburn in
Middlesex (now in the
Marble Arch area of the
City of Westminster in
London) in 1681 on false charges, was the most famous member of this family. It was also the birthplace of Isaac Jackson, an early Quaker in Ireland, He moved to Ballitore, County Kildare, where he married and raised a large family, mostly all of whom emigrated with their parents to
Chester County,
Pennsylvania,
USA in 1725. Oldcastle suffered quite badly during the
Great Famine and subsequent emigration. Owing to the continuation of a Gaelic way of life in the north of the county, Oldcastle suffered far more than the richer more arable land in the southern part of County Meath. The poorest class lived where Irish culture was strongest and were obliterated by starvation and emigration. Nonetheless, land patterns visible today still reveal a strong attachment to the pastoral farming of
Gaelic culture. Politically and culturally the area has a strong tradition of support for radical republicanism, the
Gaelic Athletic Association and
Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann; a local paper published in the town in the early 1900s gave its name to one of the Irish political parties,
Sinn Féin. Oldcastle
Workhouse was located on St. Oliver Plunkett Street (formerly Lennox Street), part of the
R195 (the main road to
Castlepollard), on the southern edge of the town. Designed by
George Wilkinson in a
neo-Tudor style and probably built in the late 1830s or early 1840s, it was demolished before the 1950s. Mellow's Park was built by
Meath County Council on the site around 1950. Many
Germans,
Austrians and
Hungarians were interned in the old workhouse by the
British Government during the
First World War. Fennor Upper and Lower in Oldcastle is said to be named after
Queen Medb's daughter,
Findabair (Fennor). In
Irish Mythology, she was sent as an offering to
Cú Chulainn in his fight against Medb and her army from
Connacht. She was killed by Cú Chulainn and the area was named after the place where she was murdered and buried. In 1923, Micheal Grealy, a member of the anti-treaty IRA, robbed two banks – The Hibernian Bank and the Northern Bank – for which he was executed in Mullingar Barracks. A monument was erected in 1961 in Oldcastle Square by Meath Brigades Executive, Old IRA Federation, 1916–1921 to the memory of Commandant Seamus Coogan and Commandant Patrick McDonnell who were killed by British Crown Forces during the
War of Independence. The monument in the form of a cross was unveiled by Seán Dowling, Chairman of the National Federation of the
Old IRA. In November 1997,
Michael McKevitt and other
IRA dissidents held a meeting in a farmhouse in Oldcastle, County Meath, and a new organisation styling itself Óglaigh na hÉireann was formed. The organisation attracted disaffected Provisional IRA members from the republican stronghold of South Armagh, as well as other areas including Dublin, Belfast, Limerick, Tipperary, County Louth, County Tyrone and County Monaghan.
Oldcastle detention camp (1916–1918) All of
Ireland was part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1914 when the
First World War broke out. The Alien Restriction Act 1914 was passed on 5 August 1914. The Act introduced strict controls on freedom of movement of foreign nationals and introduced a system of registration with the police. The Act also contained powers to deport foreign nationals and to intern all Austrian and German males between the ages of 17 and 42 (i.e. men of military age). The Oldcastle detention camp was the only permanent civilian POW camp in Ireland, detaining so called “enemy aliens”. This was due to a fear that these men would betray Britain by returning home and joining the German Army or becoming spies in Britain. Not all German and Austrian nationals residing in Ireland were detained immediately. These individuals tended to be citizens who had influential contacts and whose good conduct was guaranteed by them. However, even these men were detained eventually. After this Act was passed, the British War Office started looking for suitable buildings to convert into detention centres. As stated by John Smith, "disused workhouses were ideal. They had much of the infrastructure to hold hundreds of people: dormitories, kitchens, dining halls, water, washing facilities, an infirmary, store rooms, recreation yards etc". On 12 December 1914, ‘The long expected German prisoners arrived this week in Oldcastle and took up quarters in the disused workhouse.’ This was a headline from the time,
The Meath Chronicle on the day of the arrival. The
Meath Chronicle reported that via a specially commissioned train 68 German inmates were transported into the town. From there, they were marched through the town under armed guards to their new residence. Two days later, another 26 civilians were moved into the camp. This continued steadily from late 1914 to 1915. 304 inmates were in the camp by February 1915 this number increased to 579 by June 1916. By this time, every space in the workhouse was being utilised by the camp commandant, Major Robert Johnson, including the workhouse's church sacristy. ‘Written accounts show that the highest recorded number of prisoners being held at the Oldcastle Detention Camp was 583 – the building appeared to be operating at full capacity.’ As taken from John Smith's article on the subject.- one pillow and three blankets per man. , cathedral organist and choirmaster in Cork, was interned in the camp. The detainees were civilians from vastly different backgrounds. This ranged from clergymen, jewellery makers and musicians to cooks, butlers and butchers. Though the prison was not entirely pleasant, the inmates had some privileges, especially those who came from a better background. It was possible for the more affluent inmates to buy their own rooms and hire their own servants from among the less affluent detainees. The British wanted to divide the classes as they believed it was not acceptable to put a docker with a doctor. As part of camp life they were allowed to write and send two letters a week containing twenty-four lines. Parcels could be received and visitors were allowed for 15 minutes twice a month. One inmate,
Aloys Fleischmann, a Bavarian church musician and composer, wrote to his wife and requested “three blankets and a pillow, a warm knitted Jacket, waterproof boots, a wash bowl, a kettle and mug, cutlery, tobacco and books.” This quote was taken from John Smith's research article. A journalist visited the camp in June 1915, and he stated that he was “met by a large body of men” and described them as “fine strapping men”’. Account taken from John Smith’s article on the camp. After the
1916 Rising, the political landscape had changed in most of Ireland. There was an anti-conscription meeting in Oldcastle held on 13 April 1918. The guest speaker was
Arthur Griffith, a key figure in
Sinn Féin. The rally was attended by thousands of people and was only 300 metres away from the camp. The speeches taking place were very Nationalist and anti-British. Prisoners watched from the roof of the camp ‘from which the meeting was visible’. Account taken from The Anglo Celt. Once the speeches had ended, the crowd moved towards the prison, but nothing became of this. Following this incident and the political concerns at the time, the British decided to move the prisoners from Oldcastle. On 25 May 1918, a specially commissioned train left Oldcastle to go to the North Wall in Dublin. The prisoners were then taken by ship to Knockaloe Camp on the
Isle of Man. Oldcastle was returned to its previous owners, the Oldcastle Board of Guardians and fell into disuse. In May 1920, during the
War of Independence, Oldcastle Workhouse was set ablaze by the local IRA to stop the British from using it as a military base. The main buildings no longer stand; the only thing still standing is the perimeter wall. == Entertainment==