History of brick making in Pollagh brought to life

Long before cement and concrete became widely available, there was a very proud tradition of brick making in the small Offaly village of Pollagh.

Although the work was extremely hard, the making of Pollagh brick provided a livelihood for many families in the tiny village on the banks of the Grand Canal at a time when jobs were very hard to come by.

Now, the local heritage Group in Pollagh have brought the story of brick making in the village vividly to life in an excellent, new publication which is due to be launched by Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council, Cllr Peter Ormond, at a special event in Pollagh Community Centre this Sunday afternoon, December 8.

The author of the book is Catríona Devery, who is a member of the local heritage group, along with her parents, Mick and Eileen; Noel Devery (no relation); David Dunican and Marie Regazzoli.

The group have carried out almost two years of exhaustive research on the history of brick making in their village, which has unearthed some fascinating stories as well as a wealth of old photographs, all of which are contained in the 65-page book.

Caitríona, who works as a research manager in the School of Politics in UCD, explains that, while many people refer to Pollagh by its modern spelling of Pullough, the members of the Heritage Group prefer to stick to the original spelling of Pollagh, which they have used throughout the book.

She says that everyone in the village is aware of the history of brick making, which is a huge part of why the village exists in the first place and why families have continued to make their home there.

“We learned about brick making in this area as part of our local history when we were in school, and I was always fascinated with the story so I wanted to do a bit more research and tell the full story,” says Caitríona.

Her dad, Mick, was also very interested in the history of brick making and he even went so far as to try to restart brick making in Pollagh during the early 1990s along with his brother, Paddy. “They started experimenting with making bricks, and they built a kiln and fired it but they found that it wasn't feasible,” she recalls. “So that whetted our appetites even more to find out about this famous brick, so we started collecting material like photos and articles, and doing interviews.”

Caitríona says it was very important for them to tell “the stories about the lives of the ordinary everyday people and the work they did, and that work was really hard and dirty, very manual, out in the elements in all weathers, but it allowed families to survive in Pollagh.”

The location of Pollagh, on the banks of the Grand Canal, was instrumental in the success of the Pollagh brick as it allowed it to be transported along the canal network to places as far away as Dublin, where it was used to build many houses, as well as being used on local buildings such as the original national school in Pollagh, the church and many houses in the village. It was also used for housing in Tullamore and in the building of the original hospital.

The arrival of reasonably-priced concrete and cement during the 1930s signalled the end of brick making in Pollagh, with many skilled tradesmen abandoning the art of handmade bricks to working with Bórd na Mona instead.

The 'Story of Brickmaking in Pollagh' book has been supported by the Heritage Office of Offaly County Council and both Caitríona Devery and her colleagues in the Pollagh Heritage Group are loud in their praise of Heritage Officer, Amanda Pedlow, who she describes as being “incredibly supportive” of this project, and also of past projects undertaken by the group.

Among these past projects was a 2015 oral history project called 'Memories of Turraun' which explored the social history of early industrial peat harvesting in Turraun, one of the oldest sites of its kind in Ireland. “As part of the project we interviewed people who worked in Turraun camps during the height of the Bórd na Mona peat production period of the 1940's and 1950's,” says Caitríona.
Two years later, the Pollagh Heritage Group received funding from Creative Ireland and Offaly County Council for a sculptural installation about the history of the bogs.

Caitríona Devery says the Heritage Group are “very proud” of their latest publication, which she describes as “a beautiful written and visual record” of the proud art of brick making in Pollagh.