Oldtown is a good example of a ‘chapel village’ which lead to a widespread investment in chapel building following the re-emergence of institutional Catholicism in the late eighteenth century.
The original chapel, which was built in 1827, became the focal point of the village and attracted a range of other services such as the national school, community hall, priest’s house, shop, public house and forge. The term ‘chapel villages’ has been coined for settlements, which evolved in association with the growing social and cultural importance of the Catholic Church in Irish society.
The Parliamentary Gazette of Ireland 1843-44 states that the population of Oldtown in 1841 was 156 and 27 houses were located within the village area of 10 acres. After the Great Famine of 1848 the census of 1851 states the population of the village as recorded as 32 people.
Molly Weston a heroine of the 1798 rebellion was born near Oldtown. She fought alongside her three brothers at Tara. A memorial was erected to her memory at Oldtown during the 1798 Bi-Centennial in 1998.
Another local celebrity and honorary mascot is a donkey rumoured to be in excess of 80 years of age. Nicknamed Pico by an American visitor to the village in October of 2005, his age is as yet unverified.
Oldtown was the first town in the State to benefit from the Rural Electrification Scheme, run by the Electricity Supply Board from 1946 to 1979. The first electricity pole was ceremoniously erected in November, 1946 at Kilsallaghan, and the first switch-on, was in Oldtown itself, in January 1947. The 50thanniversary of the event was commemorated in the village, by the ESB hosting a dinner, to which families living in the area since 1946, were invited.
More recently in the winter of 1981/1982 a large snowstorm cut off the village for 5 days, eventually the Air Corps had to fly in supplies such as food and medicine via helicopter to relieve the village.
The Cache
Stage one
At the above location take note of the dates on the plaque call them A.B.C.D.E.F.G.H
Stage Two
Go to N53 (G+H)A.(D-G)(B-A)D W6 AF.(D*G)0
At this location take note of the date and call it W.X.Y.Z
Final Location
N53 (A+C+H)W.X(X-W)(Z-G) W6 AY.(Z/G)G(B-Y)
please retrieve and replace the cache with extreme care to prevent Muggles from Discovering the cache.
Windsocker