INSPIRE COLUMN: Changing Fabric of a Rural Community

At the end of next month, Dunsany Post Office will close its doors for the last time, as the postmaster there retires. Neighbouring Drumree is already gone under the current round of retirements, and Tara will also close at the end of January.

Johnny Gilsenan, Malachy Lynch, and Mary O'Growney have all served their communities well over their years behind the counters of these neighbouring post offices, and no one can say that they are not entitled to take a handshake from An Post and put up their feet as modern technology means that their services are used less and less.
They have, for years, being staving off the inevitable day. It was clear, given the patterns of recent years, that once a postmaster retired, there was little chance of a replacement appointment being made in a parish or village.
Should you wonder why I am focusing on these three in particular out of the eight which are closing across Meath, it is because Dunsany is my own local post office (followed by Tara in my adopted home of Skryne).
And I want to mark the end of an era as Malachy Lynch closes his doors in Dunsany next month – not just because its the end of the post office in Dunsany, but because it's also the closure of the last public business facility in the parish between the villages of Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan.
There was a time when there were always at least two shops in the area, as well as a post office.
Older residents remember the Stores at Dunsany Cross, originally a general store and post office which later became a grocery and sweetshop under a succession of owners. Joan and Niall Collier moved from there to the post office, and Joan's family, the Lynchs, ran a shop at the next crossroads, near Belper. Clynchs opened a second shop at Belper, later Leddys, and the two ran alongside each other for a long time, until the owners retired or closed up (Leddys after some shocking raids).
Colliers retired from Dunsany Post Office around the turn of the millennium, and Malachy took over the business – his son-in-law, Jerry Brady ran a shop next door for a while.
All of these establishments were meeting places for the people of the parish, young and old, popping in for pension payments or the paper after Sunday Mass. With all the shops now closed, the post office was the last focal point.
Of course, the church remains, as well as the local school, and the GAA clubhouse and bar, but unless you have some involvement with these, you won't be in much contact with them. With stricter drink-driving laws now in force, people are even afraid to touch one alcoholic drink in a bar, while the new bishop of Meath is looking at amalgamating parishes due to lack of clergy and decline in Mass attendances, so both those establishments will likely be getting quieter in the coming years.
Thankfully the national school is thriving and looks like it needs an extension again. This, even though the parish is made up of two large country estates – Killeen, now a golf course (albeit with some housing development), and Dunsany, where all the once busy estate houses are now empty and derelict – which makes it difficult for any new population to emerge.
Of course, Dunshaughlin and Kilmessan aren't that far away, and Kiltale and Ross Cross have fine filling stations and stores, but involve driving that bit further – if you have the means to travel.
It will be interesting to see how these societal changes over a generation will affect the fabric of the community as we become more dependent on technology rather than human contact.

 

(First published in Inspire magazine, Meath Chronicle, Winter 2018).