1992: The French Berminghams Return Home – To Athenry

Source: Local History Review, Number 7, 1994

In 1564, Roullet, one of the descendants of Meiler de Bermingham who had founded Athenry in or about 1235, left Ireland for France. In the succeeding centuries a great number of his own descendants flourished, mainly in Brittany, one important branch in a place called Tréglodé. Then, in the early 1980s the first of them, Baron Jean de Bermingham, returned with his young wife, Catherine, to visit the town of his ancestors, the town they all knew of, had heard of and had read about, but had never seen for over four hundred years. Since that visit he and other members of the extended family have several times returned to Ireland and to Athenry in particular.

One of them is Hervé Brindejonc de Tréglodé. (Brindejonc is one of the early French mispronunciations of the name Bermingham which stuck), and it is largely through his work as historian and genealogist of the French de Berminghams that they have finally, after four centuries, all recognised their common origin.

In 1991 the Baron brought his family over to assist at the celebrations commemorating the 750th anniversary of the founding of the Dominican Priory of SS. Peter and Paul in Athenry, a momentous event which really integrated the French Berminghams with their past.

Meanwhile, in 1990 the French de Berminghams held their first Réunion (a sort of Clan Rally) in Paris, when they formally instituted the Association Bermingham Tréglodé (the A.B.T. for short), with the Baron Jean as its President. During that first meeting a letter from Professor Etienne Rynne, who had throughout been their Athenry contact, was read. It informed them that the castle built by their ancestor Meiler de Bermingham was being restored by the Office of Public Works and that it was hoped that the work would be completed by 1992. He suggested, therefore, that they should consider holding their next Réunion then – in Athenry. The invitation was accepted, and in August 1992 almost fifty members of the A.B.T. came to Athenry for the week which culminated in the Festival. This, of course, incorporated the 15th of August, the day of Athenry’s long-standing pilgrimage to nearby Lady Well, an annual event commemorating the victory of the de Berminghams over the Irish at the Battle of Athenry in 1316.

They stayed in hotels and guesthouses in Athenry, and throughout partook wholeheartedly in the events associated with the Festival – indeed Mme. la Comtesse Claude de Bermingham and Mme. la Baronne Françoise de Bermingham were even roped in to judging the Baby Show!

The week’s events started for them on Tuesday the 11th with a welcoming reception hosted by the Athenry Historical Society in the Dunclarin Arms Hotel. The reception was followed by a brief lecture, illustrated by slides and in French, delivered by Professor Rynne, in which he explained the town’s medieval remains.

The following day they had a guided tour around the town and later in the day, joined by some members of the Athenry Historical Society, they boated up the Corrib on the ‘Corrib Princess’ to Annaghdown. They did this to mark the 500th anniversary of the rediscovery of America by Christopher Columbus, accepting, as do most good Irishmen, that St. Brendan the Navigator had got there first – not only did St. Brendan found the monastery of Annaghdown in the 6th century but he died there and it was probably from there that he started his own voyage westwards.
The visit to Annaghdown was followed by a marvellous candlelight dinner on board: Athenry’s Zonenblicks were the caterers and Athenry’s ‘Steam Guzzlers’ provided the musical entertainment.
Thursday, their third day, was spent on Aran, visiting the far-famed prehistoric Dun Angus. It poured rain during their visit, but cleared up during a first-class lunch in the local ‘Dún Aengus Restaurant’ (the chowder was voted easily the best they had ever tasted, surpassing even that available in France of culinary renown). It remained fine for the return journey, for the excellent dinner held in Athenry Golf Club, and afterwards for Paddy Reilly’s concert that night in the Square – most of the French were by then well able to join with him when he sang “The Fields of Athenry”!

On the Friday they all visited the Bermingham Castle and Augustinian Abbey at Dunmore, and the Romanesque Cathedral and 12th-century High Crosses at Tuam, before travelling to Aughrim to visit, at An Bord Fáilte/Ireland West’s invitation, the new Interpretative Centre there. On their way home they broke their journey to view the wonderful stained glass in St. Brendan’s Cathedral, Loughrea, and to enjoy a meal in The Meadow Court. That night, those that were not too tired returned to the Square, Athenry, to enjoy the music of the Guinness Jazz Band.

Saturday was Lady Day, the big day in Athenry. They began by going to Galway for a brief walk around before taking the steam-train back to Athenry on its inaugural run. They felt very privileged to be accompanying the then Minister for Transport and Tourism, Mrs. Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, and other notables on that journey, all of them being televised on the station platform at Athenry, met by a huge crowd and a Steel Band musically filling the air.

After this welcoming reception, they all proceeded to Lady Well to join in the huge numbers (several thousand) attending the annual Mass there and to make the statutory rounds of the Well. Later still, they enjoyed Macnas and their outstanding and memorable Firbolgs performance. Afterwards many of them joined in the dancing in the Square to the music of Matt Cunningham’s band, before ending the night at the barbecue in Hanberry’s Hotel where they continued to enjoy Matt Cunningham’s music until a late hour.

Sunday the 16th was the last day of the Association’s Réunion, and it, too, was blessed with the fine weather – fortunately, as they had requested that they might have a special Mass in the Priory founded by their ancestor, Meiler, 751 years previously. The concelebrated Mass was most efficiently and successfully organised by Fr. Michael O’Malley, with the late Monsignor Michael Mooney, Parish Priest of Athenry, as chief celebrant. Music and singing was supplied by Galway’s Duggan Family and the occasion was graced by a colour party supplied by Athenry’s Civil Defence Unit. Apart from the de Berminghams, a large number of Athenry people attended, while Noel Treacy, at the time Minister for State in charge of National Monuments; Pádraic McCormack, Mayor of Galway, his predecessor Dr. Michael Leahy, and Eugene Keane, representing the Chairman of the Office of Public Works, were also present.

After the Mass, the A.B.T., by kind permission of the Office of Public Works, hosted a reception in the castle grounds. One of the French group sounded a sonorous salute on a large, winding, hunting-horn, the colour party escorted the Minister, flanked by Count Raoul and Baron Jean de Bermingham, into the grounds, and the formalities began.

The Count, the present-day head of the French de Berminghams, said how pleased and proud he was to be back in Athenry with so many of his cousins and other descendants of Meiler. Welcoming everyone, espe cially the Athenry Historical Society, he then thanked the Minister for allowing the reception to be held in the castle, and called on him to say a few words.

The Minister spoke about the castle and hopes for its future and for the future of the Priory, the town-walls, and the other notable medieval remains in Athenry. He then hinted that perhaps Athenry should consider twinning with St. Malo, in Brittany, the historical walled town near where the French de Berminghams first settled in France.

The Minister was followed by the Baron who, aided by his young son Arnaud, distributed specially printed certificates of friendship and colourful enamelled badges bearing the de Bermingham Arms to about sixty or so Athenry people who had helped to make their visit such a success. The liquid element of the reception followed; hot Irish whiskeys mostly made by Vanessa Zonenblick, and a strange and wonderful nonalcoholic concoction prepared by her brother Robert. That should, one would have thought, have closed the proceedings, but before they could leave the castle Joe Keating somehow rounded up the Minister, the Baron, his son Arnaud and his even younger daughter, the beautiful blonde Helène, to present the prizes for the fishing competition which had just taken place in the restocked adjacent Clareen River.

The Festival and the visit of the French closed with a bang; the Emigrant’s Dinner and Dance (music by ‘Rodney’s Glory) that night in the Presentation College’s Gym. The French mixed joyfully with everyone at it, dancing everything from the Siege of Ennis to Paul Jones’, won a few of the bottles of Irish whiskey in the raffles, and were further endeared to Fr. Michael O’Malley by his rendering of The Fields of Athenry’, a song which by they then considered as virtually their special anthem!

All the French visitors agreed that the weeks’ visit had been truly exceptional, and that it had been quite different and far better than anything they had expected. They could hardly believe it and doubted that those still at home in France would believe it either, but all promised to return again soon, either as a group or singly with their individual families. Once again, the Berminghams have become “more Irish than the Irish themselves”!