Glenmore Post Office
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Glenmore Postmistress: Alice Ryan née Cody (1918-2009) [Updated]
A frustration that Danny Dowling (1927-2021) often articulated was that his work was misquoted in newspapers. When we were working on the article regarding the Glenmore post offices in 2019, Danny spoke of how he put together a history of the Glenmore post office for a retirement celebration and two of the newspapers that covered the retirement got the history wrong. He worried that this wrong information published in the newspapers would mislead. This week we are featuring Glenmore Postmistress Alice Ryan née Cody (1918-2009) and the newspapers articles that frustrated Danny.
See our previous article of 24 November 2019 entitled “The Glenmore Post Office Its Rise and Demise” that identifies all four of the Glenmore Post Offices from 1870-2018).
Alice Ryan’s Parents
Alice Ryan née Cody (1918-2009) was the daughter of John Cody (1878-1957) and his wife Alice nee Cody (1874-1957) (Cody Headstone, St. James’ Cemetery, Glenmore). Her parents were married in Glenmore on 18 February 1901. John, the groom, was a labourer and his address was recorded as Glenmore. The bride Alice Coady (sic) was a servant, with an address recorded as Ballyverneen. John the groom, was the son of John Coady (deceased, labourer) and Alice was the daughter of Patrick Coady (deceased, carpenter). The witnesses were Patrick Forristal and Johanna Coady.
According to the Glenmore Parish records Alice Coady née Coady was born on 23 February 1874 at Ballycroney, Glenmore the daughter of Patrick Coady and his wife, Catherine Long. Her husband, John Coady was born on 24 December 1878 at Graiguenakill the son of John Coady (farm labourer) and Catherine Butler.
1901 Census Glenmore
Alice Ryan’s parents, according to the 1901 Census, began their married life living in a 3 room house in Milltown that they rented from Thomas Forrestal. John’s age was recorded as 22 in the 1901 Census while Alice’s age was recorded as 27.
At the time John and Alice Cody were married, John’s widowed mother Catherine Cody (age 45) was living in Glenmore Village (Graiguenakill Townland) with 7 of her children: Maria (age 19); Thomas (age 16); Bridget (age 12); Ellie (age 10); Stasia (age 8); Nicholas (age 4); and Richard (age 3).
Also present in the four room house were six boarders: Laurence Curran, of Co. Carlow (age 30); William Murphy, of Co. Wexford (age 60); John Kiely, of Co. Waterford (age 29); Mike Bearley of Co. Wexford (age 44); Peter Trainor, from Tipperary (age 40) and Richard Burke, from Co. Kilkenny (age 36). All of the boarders were single and worked as navvys (sic) (railway labourers).
Thus, there were 14 people living in this four room house in 1901. The house was in Catherine Cody’s name in the census (no landlord was recorded). Maria Cody (age 19) was working as a farm servant and interestingly Thomas Cody (age 16) was employed as a “post boy.”
1911 Census Glenmore
The 1911 census reveals that John and Alice Cody were residing in Graiguenakill (Glenmore Village) in a three room house with their two children; Pat (age 8) and Kate (age 4). Also present in the home were three of John’s siblings, Nicholas Cody (age 15), Richard Cody (age 13) and Johanna Cody (age 33). Also present is John’s nephew, John Cody (age 4). Thus, in 1911 eight persons were living in the 3 room house that was in John’s name (no landlord was recorded). It is assumed that John’s mother died and he and his family moved to Glenmore Village, however, it is not clear how the house went from 4 rooms in the 1901 census to 3 rooms in 1911.
John and Alice Ryan
According to Danny’s notes Alice Ryan née Cody was born on 30 September 1918. Unfortunately, her birth is just outside the available public records, but it does line up with the information recorded on the Cody headstone. Alice married John Ryan sometime in the mid 1950’s. According to Danny’s notes, John Ryan was born on 7 Sept. 1922 and was employed at Clover Meats. Shortly after John and Alice Ryan were married both of Alice Ryan’s parents died within a few months of each other in 1957. John and Alice Ryan had at least three children Mary Ryan, John Ryan and James Ryan.
Post Mistress
The New Ross Standard (Thursday 3 June 1993, p. 15) published an article in 1993 entitled “Alice was at her Post for Over 40 Years.” Corrections or comments not original to the article are placed in square brackets [ ]. It was noted that Alice spent about twenty of her forty year service in the employment of the Cluskey family, who had been operating the post office from the early days. Alice was the postmistress in her own right and in her own house from 1974. [We know that the second post office was located in Fluskey’s shop. The name Cluskey is obviously a typographical error.]
New Ross Standard
The article provides that Alice received from the people of the parish of Glenmore a beautiful Waterford Crystal table lamp to mark her retirement. It was presented to her by Father Dunphy who thanked her for her service to the community and wished her many years of happy retirement.
“Local historian, Danny Dowling … gave the interesting background to the post office system in Ireland. He referred back to the mid-80’s [this should be the mid 1800’s] when letter writing [by the masses] first began and recalled that no envelope, or stamp was used, but the open letter was conveyed by a courier. He [the courier] was paid by the sender and the charge was in keeping with the length of the letter. The gummed envelope and stamp came into being later, as did the post office, the postmaster/mistress and the postmen. “
“The first post office in Glenmore was run by Robert Fluskey whose son, James, took over in 1929. [The first postmaster in Glenmore was actually a retired RIC Officer named Powell. The first post office was opened around 1870. Robert Fluskey was the second postmaster]. The first postman employed was Edward Kehoe, Aylwardstown, who had to deliver letters on foot throughout the parish of Glenmore. A second postman was later appointed and the deliverymen were supplied with bicycles. Danny Dowling said that the post office had always been the centre of the community and he felt it would be a sad day if the present system was ever terminated.”
Alice thanked the speakers and said that she would treasure the presentation from the community. The evening concluded with song, music and dance. Joan Doyle performed step dancing and the ICA performed set dances. Music was provided by John and Liam Doyle.
The Kilkenny People
The Kilkenny People (Friday 4 June 1993, p. 11) also covered the event but added a few more details. For example, Alice actually retired in March 1993, her father John Cody was one of two post men and “Mr. Danny Dowling said that the Post offices had a busy time today with old age pensioners, children’s allowances and many other duties. It would be a sad day for the community if this system was abolished, he added.” The Kilkenny People article states that John Cody worked with Jim Power, Robinstown. This newspaper also made some errors. It wrongly stated that “Glenmore’s first post office opened in 1929 and was in the name of Edward Kehoe and his son James.” [Edward “Ned” Kehoe was never the postmaster and did not have any chidren.]
In addition to Alice Ryan and her father John Cody working for the postal service, thanks to the 1901 Census we also know that Alice Ryan’s uncle, Thomas Ryan, while a teenager, worked as a “post boy.”
John Ryan died in November 2003 and was buried in St. Mullins, Co. Carlow. Alice Ryan née Cody died on 14 October 2009 at the age of 91 and is buried in the Cody family grave, St. James’ Glenmore.
The featured photo above is from an old postcard of Glenmore Village. The second post office (Fluskey’s) is the tallest building on the right. The third post office (Ryan’s) was located on the left in the line of attached houses across from the pub. It was the second house from the corner near where the two people in the photo are standing. The post card has a caption “Glenmore, Waterford” which was the mailing address for much of the parish for many years.
Please send corrections, further information or photos to glenmore.history@gmail.com.
UPDATE
5 July 2022: Thanks to two readers we have further information concerning two of Alice’s sisters. In the 1911 Census, Katie Cody was four years of age and was the eldest of the sisters. Catherine “Katie” Cody (c. 1907-1973) married Thomas Walsh (c. 1905-1988) of Parkareid, Kilmacow. Another sister, Mary Ann Cody married Thomas Desmond of Slieverue. For over 40 years Thomas owned and operated Desmond Garage of Slieverue, the first local garage outside of Waterford City. Prior to their marriages both Katie and Mary Ann worked at Power Seeds of O’Connell Street, Waterford. Mary Ann Desmond née Cody’s obituary has been placed on the family pages under Desmond.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
The Glenmore Post Office: Its Rise and Demise
Stephen Ferguson, the author of The Post Office in Ireland: An Illustrated History noted that the Irish Post Office was established by an Act of Parliament that separated it from the British Post Office in 1784. At that time there were 145 post towns in Ireland, and by 1814 the number of post towns increased to 379. Ferguson also highlighted the difficulties of transporting the mail. He quoted from the diary of Amhlaoibh Ó Súilleabháin, a hedge-school master from Callan, who wrote in 1829 that the post coach from Dublin to Cork took 21 hours. Ó Súilleabháin found this an improvement because 50 years earlier the post coach from Kilkenny to Dublin took up to 2 days to arrive. However, it would be a further 50 years before Glenmore would obtain its first post office.
Two Post Coach Roads
Although two post coach roads passed through the parish of Glenmore, the Village of Glenmore did not obtain a post office until around 1870. The most prominent post coach road was the Waterford to New Ross road. Part of this route is easily found today if one follows what locals refer to as the “High Road.” The High Road runs through Scartnamore, Rathinure, Aylwaystown to Graiguenakill. The Halfwayhouse in the townland of Aylwardstown still bears the name of the midway point on the Waterford-New Ross post road where coaches stopped to change horses.
In 1989 Danny Dowling interviewed Tom Walsh (1908-1992) of Rathinure, formerly of Davidstown, who noted that the “Mountain Road” was formerly part of the Thomastown-Waterford Post Coach Road. The route was via Mullinarrigle, Ballyfacey, Haggard, Ballinlammy, the Árs Mhor and the Mountain Road to Slieverue where it joined the New Ross to Waterford Road. The cross or connecting road between the Mountain Road and the Main Waterford-New Ross Road at Gaulstown was known as the Grugán.
In 1836, the “New Line” was opened providing a more direct road through the parish from Waterford to New Ross, and today the N25 still follows sections of the “New Line” above the Village of Glenmore. Eventually post coaches were replaced with lighter horse drawn cars and until the post office in Glenmore was established the Waterford and New Ross mail car would stop along the route at points where inhabitants would gather to collect their letters and packages. The speed of delivery was greatly increased with the opening of the Ross-Waterford railway in 1904 with a small station established in Aylwardstown.
In 1977 Danny interviewed Dan Doyle, formerly of Ballyverneen who worked as a ganger on the building of the Ross-Waterford railway. Dan Doyle stated that in 1919 he was working in the New Ross station and the fixed time train table brought 11 trains into New Ross daily. At 10:25 a.m. a train carrying mail from Dublin arrived and at 3:15 p.m. a train carrying mail from Waterford for Dublin arrived in New Ross. Even after the coming of the railway local mail was still collected from and delivered to the railway station in Aylwardstown in horse drawn vehicles or bicycle and delivered to Glenmore inhabitants via bicycle.
The First Glenmore Post Office
The first Glenmore post master was William Powell a retired policeman. He first came to Glenmore as a member of the Royal Irish Constabulary, and was stationed in the Glenmore Barracks. When Powell retired he opened in his dwelling house the first Glenmore post office in about 1870. The first Glenmore post office was situated on the opposite side of the road up the hill from the Barracks. At the time of the first post office the inhabitants of the parish had to collect their mail at the post office. The Powell house no longer exists, but if it did it would be directly opposite Francis O’Brien’s house. William Powell, died on the 1 August 1880, aged 72 and his widow Bridget Powell died in Robinstown on 9 August 1891.
The Second Glenmore Post Office
The second Glenmore post office was located in the shop of Robert Fluskey. While the post office was in Fluskey’s shop the services expanded to include a delivery service and the local telephone exchange was established. Edward “Ned” Kehoe of Aylwardstown was the first man ever appointed to deliver the post in Glenmore. He had a bicycle to travel around and was provided with a whistle to indicate he was in the area. Ned Kehoe would visit various areas of the parish on designated days, stop at a cross roads or group of houses and blow his whistle. The local inhabitants would gather to collect their mail. Ned Kehoe was born about 1875 and was the son of Patrick and Kate Kehoe of Aylwardstown. Ned Kehoe was known as being an industrious fellow. In addition to being a post man he farmed his 10 acre farm and also worked on various projects including the building of the chimney at the Creamery.
The Third Glenmore Post Office
The third Glenmore post office was located in Alice Ryan’s dwelling house which is opposite the pub. It is believed that delivery to each house in the parish on a daily basis began either during the later years of the second post office or at the beginning of the third. Today, many of the older inhabitants recall Foxy Wattie Power and Tommy Power who delivered daily in Glenmore. Each man was responsible for delivering to half of the parish.
The Fourth Glenmore Post Office
The fourth and last post office was Hanrahan’s located opposite and down the hill from the Church. The Glenmore post office closed in November 2018 upon the retirement of Kathleen Hanrahan, thus ending almost 150 years of the Glenmore Post Office. At the time of the closure the range of services provided by the post office was extensive including a variety of savings accounts, social welfare payments and payment of licence fees and utility bills etc.
Today all that remains is the post box outside the Village Shop which is run by Noeleen Fogarty née Hennessey at Hanrahan’s. A post box at the cross roads just above the old Aylwardstown railway station is still visible in the wall. An examination of the old post box reveals that it was made during the reign of Edward the VII (1901-1910) and was later painted green. It was established at the time of opening of the railway station as a convenience for travellers. Today it bears a notice that it is no longer in service.
Special thanks to Jacqueline Walsh for the old photos of the second Glenmore Post Office, and Louise Walsh for the recent photos.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh