And then there was light...
SEVENTY YEARS AGO THE WONDER OF ELECTRICITY CAME TO VILLAGES AND TOWNLANDS THROUGHOUT COUNTY WEXFORD. MARIA PEPPER SHINES A LIGHT ON THE SUBJECT
THE ESB is celebrating the 70th anniversary of the start of rural electrification in Ireland in November 2016, a scheme that began in County Wexford in January 1948 and finished in May 1960, bringing light for the first time to the homes and farms of thousands of local consumers.
The townland of Shelburne near New Ross was the first rural Wexford area and the 22nd in Ireland out of a total of 792 areas to get electricity and Ballyhust in the Taghmon district was the last local townland to be connected to the marvel of hydro-electic power.
‘We are going to put into the homes of our people in rural areas a light which will light up their minds as well as their homes’, promised the ESB in its promotional blurb. It was a grand boast but not an empty one when the transformation that electricity brought to rural life is acknowledged.
The Rural Electrification Scheme was described as the greatest social revolution in Ireland since the land reforms of the 1880’s and 1890’s and its advancements still shine bright today even when compared with the improved changes in communication wrought by the computerised age and the internet.
Before the ‘electric’ arrived, after-dark activity was limited to candle light and oil lamps, water had to be drawn from a well and carried home on foot or by cart, clothes were washed by hand or in a hand-powered ‘wringer/washer’, cooking was confined to an open hearth or range, heating depended solely on solid fuel such as timber and turf and industrial development wasn’t possible without a supply of electricity.
After the completion of the electrification scheme, rural homes enjoyed light at the turn of a swtich along with a range of modern conveniences such as electric cookers kettles, irons and heaters. Electric water pumps brought running water on tap, eliminating the chore of drawing water from the well and enabling the development of group water schemes from the 1950’s.
Farmers could utilise modern farm technology such as infra-red heaters for piglets and chickens, outdoor lighting to enable them to work after dusk, feed grinders and other equipment.
New industries could be developed to provide employment, reduce emigration and boost local economies.
Rural electrification offered people a glimpse of a more illuminated future, a modern, more comfortable life with better possibilities.
But not everyone was sold on the idea at the start and Austin O’Sullivan, retired Curator/Manager of the Agricultural Museum in Johnstown Castle recalls a parallel of objection between the attitude to electricity and the water charges resistance of today.
‘ The ESB had a big problem getting farmers in particular, to accept electricity, much like the water protests at the moment,’ said Austin who put together the display on rural electrification in the museum as part of the Country Kitchen display of the 1950’s.
‘ There was a strong objection, especially among the men, which harked back to British rule when land owners had to pay ground rent to England. That was in their psyche and there was a fear that if they didn’t meet the payments, they could be thrown out. The ESB brought in a fixed payment for customers which had to be paid whether you used electricity or not.’
The ESB overcame customer resistance by appealing directly to women, through the Irish Countrywomen’s Association which was developing at the same time.
ESB salesmen attended ICA guild meetings, regaling members with the wondrous benefits of having running hot water and electric cookers.
The company had an advertisement at the time which showed a photograph of a woman pumping water from a well and another filling a kettle from a kitchen tap with the slogan: ‘Did you promise to love, honour and carry water?’
Increased illumination did have its downside - homeowners saw cobwebs and woodworm-eaten furniture in a new, less complimentary light, ushering in a new era of mass-produced and cheaply-made plywood but outwardly presentable furniture that was a precurser to formica and leatherette.
According to Austin, there was a term for people who said they would take electricity and then changed their minds. They were known as ‘ back-sliders’.
It’s not that electrification was compulsory but a certain percentage of people had to sign up to make it economically viable.
ESB payment offices/showrooms were opened in the main towns, stocking gleaming new electric cookers and other appliances to upstage the Aga. Vintage items from the showroom in Common Quay Street, Wexford were donated to the Agricultural Museum when it closed down about 20 years ago. A latter-day ‘pop-up’ shop opened in Blackwater during the period of the scheme.
Large teams of men were hired and trained to work on the installation of the ESB network around the county, giving valuable employment for several years at a time of great jobs scarcity. Holes for the electricity poles were dug by hand and the poles hoisted by gangs of men.
Fleets of Ford Anglia vans were used as transport along with Bedford and Commer rucks and Red Foden heavy goods vehicles.
A total of 34 rural areas in County Wexford were connected in the space of 12 years and many thousands of poles were erected - 35,216 poles to be precise - along with 3,047 kilometres of cable. Over 6,245 homes, farms and businesses went onto the network in the county. The switching-on ceremony was a big day in the life of a townland or village with everyone gathering in the local hall for the event which was usually attended by local clergy, councillors and ESB representatives. Sometimes it was arranged that a switch on the stage would simultaneously switch on all the village houses and street lights, as well as the lights in the hall. And where this was not feasible, a signal to strategically placed operators achieved the same result.
Speeches were made and the historic importance of the occasion was noted with hopes being expressed that the coming of the light was symbolic of the dawn of a new era of enlightenment.
Invariably, the opening verses of the Gospel of St. John were quoted: ‘and the light shineth in the darkness and the darkness had not overcome it’. Switch-ons received great coverage in the local media.
In 1946 only one out of every three Irish homes nationally had electricity and between 1947 and 1965 almost 300,000 homes were connected around the country as part of the rural electrification scheme.
To celebrate the 70th anniversary of the raising of the first pole in Kilsallaghan, North County
Dublin on November 5, 1946, archive material from all 792 rural areas have been digitised by the ESB is now available online at www.esbarchives.ie.
A radio documentary about the scheme featuring colourful eyewitness accounts was aired on RTE Radio One last week and an anthology of rural stories about electrification ‘ Then there was Light’ has also been published. A Rural Electrification exhibition including original appliances and farm machinery from the 1940’s, 1950’s and 1960’s is continuing in Carlow County Museum until the end of the year. Some people had suspicions about electricity but the majority of people welcomed it, according to Austin O’Sullivan. ‘ There was a small element of fear but I don’t think it was too serious. It wasn’t like nuclear power or anything.’
While electricity came to rural County Wexford from 1948 onwards, it came to the urban areas much earlier. By the 1920’s most of the county towns had it.
Some people in the towns had electricity supplied by private systems. In Wexford town, for example, the wealthy business enterprise of Staffords had a generator in South Main Street which provided electricity for the street lights.
For many years, Wexford town was powered by gas which was supplied by the old Wexford Gas Company formerly situated across from the Talbot Hotel where Seascape apartment complex is located now. Gas fittings were still visible in many homes in the town up to the 1970’s.
Lady Morris Fitzgerald of Johnstown estate never installed electricity in the castle. She had her own power supply in the form of an acetylene gas generator.
The rural electrification scheme was made possible by the Shannon Hydro-electric Scheme of the mid 1920’s but due to financial restraints, electricity was initially only supplied to about 240,000 premises in towns and cities. The outbreak of World War 11 also delayed its extension to rural areas.
Reflecting on the scheme and the problem of global warming, Austin said half of Ireland’s power needs are supplied today by a power station on the Shannon Estuary which burns approximately 8,000 tonnes of Australian coal every day. If that supply dries up, we could all be in the dark again.
THE ESB HAD A BIG PROBLEM GETTING FARMERS IN PARTICULAR TO ACCEPT ELECTRICITY, MUCH LIKE THE WATER PROTESTS AT THE MOMENT - AUSTIN O’SULLIVAN, RETIRED CURATOR/ MANAGER, JOHNSTOWN AGRICULTURAL MUSEUM