Tony Kehoe holding 'Cher Ami', with Colin Osman

This article is the result of extensive research by the legandary Tony Kehoe of New Ross, compiled  originally as part of a local history assignment. Tony is totally dedicated to the sport, and probably the best ambassador  Irish fanciers could possibly have.

Tony started racing in 1953 with Enniscorthy RPC, racing North Road. He joined the Eire National Club in 1958, which changed its name to 'Irish North Road National Flying Club'(INRNFC)  in 1976. With ten years as Secretary  of the INRNFC, his service in that position is second only to the legendary Stewart Cant.

He moved to New Ross in 1968, and from then on raced with New Ross RPC. He has judged in shows all over Ireland, north and south, and in the UK. He is a regular contributor to the 'Racing Pigeon', where his excellent articles attract an extensive readership. 

Wexford is situated in the south-east corner of Ireland. In reading this, please bear in mind that it was written by Tony, conscious of the fact that it would also be read by non-fanciers.

INTRODUCTION

There are few hobbies which have proved more universally popular than pigeon racing. It has captured the interest of all classes of society, doctors, solicitors, artists, labourers - all have fallen to its irresistable charm. It's a sport with a single starting gate and thousands of finishs. It's the aerial contest with a cloud of competitors and no spectators. It's the race of one of nature's most amazing creatures and man's oldest feathered friend, the homing pigeon. Never in the history of pigeons and pigeon racing has the hobby or sport been as popular as it is today, especially in the County Wexford. To understand the history of pigeon racing in Wexford, it is important to take a brief look at how the relationship between man and the homing pigeon developed.

The earliest record of the domestication of pigeons is from the 5th Egyptian Dynasty, around 2400 BC. The Sultan of Baghdad established a 'pigeon post' system in 1150 AD and Genghis Khan used such birds to fly messages as his horsemen ravaged across Europe. Pigeons were widely used for carrying messages during the Revolution of 1848 in France. Soon after, around 1850, Julius Reuter, founder of the famous news agency, established a money-making communication link between Brussels and Aachen, the terminat points of the Belgian and German telegraph lines. He used homing pigeons to bridge the gap.

The development of the modern day racing pigeon took place in Belgium in the early part of the 19th century when enterprising merchants from such places as Antwerp, Liege and Brussels comprehended the idea of breeding a faster strain of 'carrier' pigeon, so that messages could be carried from London, Paris and Amsterdam at much greater speed and thus give their owners great commercial advantage. Soon after that, the Business Houses began organising races among themselves, and with the development of the railways, pigeon racing as we know it took off.

The use of pigeons in both World Wars has given the homing pigeon a new place in history. Man's debt to the pigeon's heroism in both wars has been recognised by not only individual awards, but also by civic memorials. The Dickin Medal is regarded in the animal world as the equivilent of the Victoria Cross (VC), and was named after its founder Mrs. M. E. Dickin CBE, who also started the People's Dispensary for Sick Animals. Thirty-one pigeons received the medal in both wars. On the Western Front in World War I, a French pigeon that nearly died on its flight through smoke and poison gas, delivered its vital message to base and was eventually awarded both the Croix de Guerre and the Legion d'Honneur. Today, a memorial to it stands in Verdon.

The earliest reference one can find to the keeping of pigeons in Ireland concerns the town of Wexford, The reference reads:

   "John Heyghare was the last Prior of the Monastery of St. Selkar, and by Inquisition, held on the 23rd of marck, in the 31st year of Henry VIII, it wasa found he was seized of a church, hall, etc., 2 acres of meadows and a Pigeon House, within the precincts with 15 messuases, annual value, besides reprises, 30/-"

Pigeons at that time were mainly used for culinary purposes. It was the richer landowners and religious orderd that built such dovecotes or pigeon houses. The right to erect and maintain dovecotes was strictly limited by law and in 1577 foe example, a tennant who had erected a dovecote on a Royal Manor was ordered by the Court of the Exchequer to demolish it.

Very little is known about the use of dovecotes in Ireland and yet there were at least three dovecotes in the parish of Piercestown, near Wexford, as shown on the ordnance survey map of 1840, These were in the townlands of Rathlannon, Scoughmolin ans Orristown. The dovecote at Rathlannon on the Johnstown Estate has disappeared in the last twenty-six years. Not too far from Rathlannon stands the disused dovecote of Sherlock Carty and is located in the middle of a field about 100 yards from the home place. There are specially constructed coops for the pigeons on each of the four walls, with each coop about one foot square. Originally there were around 350 coops in the house, over half of which have fallen down. The dovecote at Orristown is in the farmyard of Pat Hayes and has approximately 100 coops, but the roof has almost disappeared.

The dovecote was to lose its importance early in the eighteenth century with the introduction of the turnip and the swede into agriculture.Until the introduction of the root crops there were simply not enough feed to carry livestock through the winter months and most had to be slaughtered and salted for preservation. Pigeons had been the only reliable fresh meat  source during the winter and early spring months. the aristocrats with their grand dovecotes had been the main beneficiaries. It's interesting to note that the pigeon was useful beyond the table. The manure is of very high quality and would fetch a nice price, and was also used as a tanning agent for certain leathers.

At this stage, strict management of the dovecotes would have ceased, and with overcrowding, pigeons would have started to drift away into the towns at a time that corn was being moved into stores. The keeping of pigeons as pets would have been a natural progression, especially by young people, but the pigeons would not have had the homing ability of the present-day racing pigeons.

An interesting story about a young pigeon fancier back around 1846 is told in the Templetown parish magazine of July, 1996. It's a story told locally of the Tuttle family who were stationed at the Hook Lighthouse, and whose son kept pigeons. On returning from school one evening, he found that the family cat had killed some of his pigeons. In a fit or rage he brought the cat to the water's edge and tried to throw her in. As he did so, the cat managed to dig her claws into his sleeve, and both went into the water. It is believed that the cat swam ashore, but unfortunately, the boy didn't. The name 'Tuttle' was listed as stationmaster of the Hook Lighthouse in 1846, so this man was probably the father of the drowned boy. Such tragedies are rare, and thankfully, do not appear again in the history of the sport in Wexford.

History, it is often said, is merely yesterday's news. It can also be said that it's the story of events that had taken place in times gone by. The story of pigeon racing in Wexford can be traced back to 1872, when Captain Patrick Chandler introduced the first modern homing pigeons to Wexford from Bordeaux. He was master of the sailing vessel 'Simon' and was a great-great uncle of Bob Hore, a fancier who became known as the father of the sport in Wexford. This is the story of the founding fathers, and how their dream evolved into reality when, in 1975, for the first time in Ireland, the 600 mile National race from the Shetland Isles was won in Wexford in a time of 13 hours and 50 minutes. It is the story of the trials, tribulations and triumphs experienced by Wexford pigeon fanciers.

THE   EARLY   DAYS

It wasn't long after Captain Patrick Chandler had introduced the Bordeaux pigeons that they were put to use.  When Chandler was trading between Liverpool and Wexford, he would have pigeons on board, and as he approached  Wexford they were released with messages giving details of the goods on board. The pigeons returned to the loft of his relative, Matt Lymbery at 33 Upper John St., long before anyone else knew of his return.

It is interesting to note that a few years later, about 1890, Mr. John Byrne, LLoyd's agent at Ballycastle, Co. Antrim, established a loft for communication with Rathlin Island. The birds carried messages from Rathlin giving the names of passing ships, etc., when the sea was too rough for boats. Following this, local fanciers lent their birds to the Fleet in northern waters and received the thanks of the Admiral for the quick dispatch of his messages to land.

Although pigeon racing started in Belgium in the early 1880s, it wasn't until the late 1880s that the first clubs were formed in cities like Belfast, Dublin and Cork. In the Belfast area the sport made rapid progress, no doubt because of the connections with Belgium and the linen trade.Indirectly, this was to have a major impact on the sport in the town of Wexford.

Initially, the Belfast based Ulster Federation, formed in 1896, raced from points down the centre of Ireland, such as Thurles and Cork. In 1900 it was decided to go for greater distance and race from the south coast of England, with Wexford being the main inland race-point before going across the sea.  The number of fanciers racing in the north of Ireland increased to such a level that special trains had to be hired on race days. Wexford fanciers would be there to meet the train and would gladly help with the unloading of the birds, putting drinkers on the baskets, cutting the strings at liberation, etc.  As a result of this, a special bond developed and Wexford fanciers were able to acquire items not available locally - baskets, drinkers, certain corn etc. The number of pigeons increased from a few thousand in the early years to more than 25,000 in the 50s. It was fascenating for the general public to watch this mass liberation, which took place on the North Station, and it did help to promote the sport in Wexford.

The sport slowly developed on a local basis. Fanciers competed with their neighbours over a short course, sending their entries off on the train to stations such as Campile, Enniscorthy and Arklow. There the local Stationmaster would effect a liberation.Competitors, on the arrival of their bird, ran to a pre-arranged point with the bird, where a judge would decide the winner. It was a primitive form of racing with no recognised rules, no clocks, no controls, no formal structure and no permanent identity rings on the birds.

At the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 a ban was placed on the removal of pigeons or their transit by rail in Great Britain or Ireland.Shortly after this, under the Defence of the Realm Regulation, Regulation 21 was incorporated as follows:

"No person shall keep or have in his possession or carry or liberate or bring into the United Kingdom any carrier or homing pigeons, unless he has obtained from the chief officer of police of the district a permit for the purpose."

Those regulations were very much ignored by Irish fanciers, especially in Wexford, but there is a record of a fancier in Youghal applying for and being granted a permit. This permit had been on display in the Youghal Heritage Centre some years ago.

An interesting development took place in 1917 when the British Army decided to set up a communication network in Ireland with pigeons. This was a major undertaking with lofts being erected in 22 different ctenres right around Ireland. Some of their best officers in the Pigeon Service in France, including Captain Ernest E. Jackson, were sent to Ireland and thousands of pigeons given by British fanciers to the war in Europe were diverted to Ireland.Captain Jackson, who was one of the most successful fanciers in England, wrote an article in the Racing Pigeon Year Book of 1918 outlining the problems that they encountered in order to maintain an all year round service, due to the changing weather and mountainous terrain in some areas. For obvious reasons, he avoided mentioning where their lofts were located.

In 1919 W/Cdr. W. D. Lea Rayner took over from Jackson and in articles in the Racing Pigeon News & Gazette in 1958, he gave an interesting account of the Pigeon Service from 1919 to 1922. Included in one report was a diagram illustrating the organisation of the Pigeon Service with lofts shown as circles and letters, with distances between the lofts. It is clear from this diagram that there was a loft in Wexford. It would have been responsible for the supply of pigeons to various depots (R.I.C. barracks, military detachments, etc., within its Brigade area) and also to vehicles including staff cars, travelling through its area. At the time that the British Army pulled out, there were 2,500 pigeons in the service. Later,  Rayner received the MBE for services in Ireland and retired  to race his own pigeons in East Anglia.

It is not possible to say for certain when the first club was formed in Wexford, but a number of factors point to the early 1920s. By 1930 club racing was very strong, with two clubs catering for in excess of thirty lofts. The bigger club was Wexford South End Flying Club and they raced from points north of Wexford, which was known as racing 'The North Road'. their programme started in early May from Wicklow and progressed in stages with the longest race from Ballymoney, Co. Antrim, in early July. The wexford Amateur Flying Club raced what is known as 'The South Road', starting their first race from Kilmacthomas, Co. Waterford, with their final race from Youghal, Co. Cork.

History was made on Saturday, July 11th, 1931, when Wexford fanciers held their longest race ever from Barhill in Scotland, a distance of 200 miles. The report in the Wexford Free Press made interesting reading:

"The birds were dispatched on Friday and liberated on Saturday, and all homed well despite the strong head wind. Races like this proved the go-ahead policy of the Wexford club in its effort to make the name outstanding among Irish clubs and the organisation certainly deserve congratulations on their success."

The race was won by Martin O' Brien (Fisher's Row), who also took 2nd and 7th positions. In 3rd and 4th popsition was J. Williams (William St.). Others to figure in the result were J. Byrne (William St.), J. Brennan (Trinity St.), P. Hore (Carrigeen St.) and Lar Murphy (Abbey St.) who took three positions.

This wasn't the first attempt to fly the Channel, for in the mid 1920s, Tom Billington (The Faythe) clocked a black chequer hen and so is credited with having the first bird to fly from  Scotland into Wexford. The story goes that Tom and Parkie Lawlor sent two pigeons each, and that only the one pigeon returned. Tom was one of the great characters of the sport in Wexford, and like a lot of Irishmen, joined the British Army at the start of the Great War.He served for a while in the Pigeon Service before volunteering for night patrol behind enemy lines. He was hit by a sniper's bullet and lost a leg. On his return to Wexford he became very much a driving force in the sport and was a regular visitor to Belfast in the early 20s, where he met some of the leading Irish fanciers, such as Graham Cathcarth.

IRISH   ARMY   PIGEON   SERVICE

With the unstable situation in Europe in 1936, the Irish Army felt it necessary to form a pigeon service at the Curragh Camp in Co. Kildare. In the event of war, civilian lofts would be requested to assist the Army Service.  The possibility of purchasing pigeons at the clearance sale of M. Renier Gurnay of Verviers, Belgium, to be held on 25th December, 1936, was considered. Two calalogues of this sale are on file in the Military Archives, Dublin. Renier Gurnay was recognised as the World Champion at long-distance pigeon racing, and was retiring because of old age.

Controls were put in place under the 'Control of Racing and Homing Pigeons Act'.

WEXFORD  UNITED   FLYING   CLUB

In 1937 a decision was made to form one united club and to call it  'Wexford United Flying Club'. The older fanciers put their faith in fifteen-year-old Bernard Coughlan from Talbot St, by electing him into the key position of Secretary. Their dreams and expectations were short-lived due to the outbreak of World War II, when all racing ceased.  Eventually the club was disbanded because fanciers couldn't get proper feeding for their birds.

In 1946 the club was re-formed with Bernard Coughlan back as Secretary.Sean Siggins, Carrigeen St. was elected Chairman and Ray Whelan, Main St. the Treasurer. Although the war had ended, there were still problems with feeding and transport. Bernard Coughlan recalled getting a permit to purchase two 20 stone bags of barley, which was distributed among members. The passenger train was not allowed take pigeons for training or racing, but through the intervention of James Sinnott, a wagon was put on to the Goods Train to carry the birds to some racepoints. 

The Northern Ireland fanciers racing from Wexford also fell victim to the rail problem, and had to travel by lorry, as the report in the 'Free Press' of May 31st, 1947 shows. Under the heading 'Eleven Thousand Pigeon Race' it states:

"That the sport knows no border was proven last Sunday in Wexford when members of Wexford United Flying Club co-operated with their brethern from Belfast in releasing the eleven thousand pigeons of the N.I.P.A. for their race back to Belfast.  The birds had been housed at the old Fever Hospital on Grogan's Road and they were convoyed from Northern Ireland by road under the charge of Chief Convoyer Tom Ledley"

It was in April 1947 that the club first introduced the ceremony of blessing the pigeons. The ceremony was carried out by Rev. Fr. Charles, O.F.M., Guardian, in the grounds of the Francoscan Church, and in the presence of a very large gathering. The international magazine, 'The Racing Pigeon', reported on this unique event, saying that this was the first time that such an event had taken place in Europe.

In June that year the members fooked forward to their first cross-barder race for nine years. The pigeons were sent to Hillsboro, but were returned to Dublin with the explanation that no customs officials were on duty on Saturdays. They were released in Dublin on the Sunday, and had a good race which was won by Bernard Coughlan. A week later the club did manage to race from Hillsboro and it is interesting  to note that this race was also won by Bernard, followed by Sean Sinnott, James O'Connor, Phil Whitmore and Bob Hore. An average of 70 birds were sent to each of 12 races with a total of £49 - 11s - 4d paid out in prize money.

At that time clocks were in short supply, which resulted in fanciers having to run with their rubber race ring to the clock that was positioned in a central place. Obviously, each loft used the best runner ( or runners!) available, and many a race was won, not by the pigeon, but by the runner! There are many amusing stories told about these races - Sean Siggins speaks of the woman who wheeled her pram into the path of one such runner who had no choice but to jump clear over pram and baby and continue on his race to the clock! Tom Billington told the story of his father, John, who came up with a wonderful idea. He lived at the top of The Faythe and the clock was positioned halfway down the street.  He planned on attaching the race rubber to the collar of a greyhound, and a man at the clock was to whistle the dog. On the raceday, the man at the clock saw the dog and burst out laughing, and found he could not laugh and whistle at the same time. The dog just walked around, losing valuable seconds!

In December 1947, the first annual reunion and presentation of trophies was held, with guests of honour being the Mayor, James Sinnott  and Mr. Mick Hobbs from Dublin, who was Secretary of the Irish Homing Union. Mr. Hobbs, whose grandparents came from near Tara Hill outside Gorey, was anxious to develop open racing between clubs around Ireland. In wexford he met a group of fanciers who shared his views.

1948 was the year national racing came to Wexford. the Irish Homing Union organised a race from Girvan in Scotland, a distance of 212 miles to Wexford. Ed Franey of Selskar won with a velocity of 1020, followed closely by Bob Hore of John St. In 'The Racing Pigeon' report on this race it says: "Credit for the organisation of this race is due to Messrs. Coughlan and Siggins of Wexford, Dan Daly of Mallow and Johnny Power of Cork."  More good news came in the autumn of 1948 with the formation of the 'Eire National Flying Club' aimed at promoting long-distance racing from Scotland.

...... TO  BE  CONTINUED