Great turnout for talk in Thomastown Sessions House

As part of Heritage Week a well-attended talk was given by local historian, Joe Doyle in the recently-renovated Sessions House on Logan Street, Thomastown.

This building, under the Design and Craft Council of Ireland, will be the centre for a jewellery design and production course. Those in attendance were informed by the DCCI representative, Mary Blanchfield that interviews would be held over the next few weeks seeking suitable candidates for the three-year course.

Joe Doyle, in a wide-ranging talk, touched on various aspects of law breaking and law enforcement where issues were dealt with through a system of local courts. Thomastown Petty Sessions Courthouse and Bridewell date from the early 1820s. They replaced an earlier courthouse – the building with its gable facing onto Maudlin Street – and lock-up. READ MORE: LOTS ON LOCALLY FOR HERITAGE WEEK

The Petty Sessions replaced the earlier Corporation Court. Joe, explained to the attendance, that initially the Petty Sessions was run by a Justice of the Peace, who normally did not have any legal training.

These were later replaced by a salaried Resident Magistrate. For much of the 19th Century there were 19 Petty Sessions courts in Kilkenny, of which, five also housed the higher Quarter Sessions court – Callan, Castlecomer, Kilkenny, Thomastown, and Urlingford.

While the Thomastown courthouse escaped relatively unscathed during the War of Independence, in December, 1922, during the Civil War, it was set alight by the ‘Irregulars’. It was 1926 before it was back in service as a District Court. In the meantime, the court moved to the boardroom of Thomastown Workhouse (now St Columba’s). In 2007 it was amalgamated with Kilkenny District Court. 

Probably the most interesting aspect of the talk was mention of a selection of cases which came before Thomastown Petty Sessions during the later years of the nineteenth century. These records are held in the National Archives in Bishop’s Street, Dublin and can be examined on micro-film. Here one can find the names of the complainants, defendants, and witnesses (if any), the nature of the charge and the decision of the court. But of those examined, most of the cases had to do with assault, drunk in public, illegal fishing, ‘found-ons’, trespass and recovery of debt.

Unfortunately for Thomastown, the poor condition of a number of the original ‘Registers’ was such that they were not suitable for filming.

Following the talk there was ample time to walk around the building and visit the extensive workshop where the students will spend much of their time. Of particular interest to everyone was the old jail or bridewell to the rear of the courthouse. This austere two-storey building, with nine holding cells on both floors, was built with security rather than human comfort in mind!