Two Forgotten People

Two men put Prosperous (in Kildare) on the map but they seem to have been forgotten.

The name of the town is itself unusual. Unlike other places in Ireland where names go back to an early saint, Prosperous got its name from Industrial Age optimism.

Robert Brooke, born in Cavan, entered the service of the East India Company in 1764 as a cadet aged 20. He rose in rank during the Mahratta Wars but bad health forced him to return to Ireland in 1775.

Back on his estate in Kildare he was inspired by the Manchester manufacturing revolution to transform his part of Ireland into a factory town. Despite a lack of business and cotton experience he optimistically named it ’Prosperous’.

By 1783 there were 200 houses there and a work force of 5000. Suddenly he was Ireland’s largest cotton manufacturer. Eventually poor management and heavy debts caught up with him. In 1786 he was forced to hand over control to trustees and returned to serve the East India Company. He became Governor of St Helena and later in South Africa fought the Dutch. He retired to Bath where he died in 1811.

The town survived and was important enough to be garrisoned with British military. This ended in 1798 when a United Irishmen force attacked the town in the ‘Battle of Prosperous’. It is one of the few victories for the rebels.   

 A report in 1837 described Prosperous as ‘Little more than a pile of ruins in a low marshy spot surrounded by bogs’.

In today’s reviving Prosperous I could find no statue or public acknowledgement of Sir Robert Brooke. I had similar difficulty tracing an earlier man who had made an impression there long before there was a town.     

His name was Farnan.  It is said he was the son of Aengus who came from Scotland. That would mean he was from the pioneering era when fellow-Celts came across the water to revolutionise the Irish world view. 

The most popular story about Farnan is associated with his well which people still visit. It is said that those who have a strong attachment to alcohol would lose it after drinking the well water. Some wonder if this says something about the saint himself.   

If St Farnan is remembered today in Prosperous it is because of the well. The ancient cemetery beside it has the typical circular walls of a monastic enclosure and early Christian cross slabs have been found there. It is even considered one of the best surviving examples of an early Christian establishment in Kildare. I spent most of an hour looking for an entrance or even getting a glimpse of it. It is securely fenced in and open to the public only on the Pattern Day, 12 June.   

Today Prosperous is reviving as Dublin reaches out into the countryside. Its broad and long main street is unusually quiet and hints of better days. There are few shops and the older houses look like working-class homes rather than the residences of bankers or administrators. The only reference to Farnan in the town is his name on the local Post-primary School. 

The soldier and industrialist Sir Robert Brooke and St Farnan of Scottish descent both had plans for transforming the Prosperous area. Did I miss any appreciation of their efforts there?