One thing more than anything that Peter wanted was to return to his home place. For him this was where his mother lived in Kiltegan Co. Wicklow, a small village in the south of the county. Peter found out about his mother shortly after he fled for London in 1959 from the cruelty of forced labour in The Great Bog of Allan in County Kildare at the hands of the Brothers of St. John of God.
In 1974 Peter arrived in Dublin from London on a mission to discover his heritage. In the Rotunda maternity hospital he gave his name and birth date only to discover that on the 3rd of June 1943 only one baby was born that day and he was Patrick Joseph Doyle, the only explanation is that this was his original name, the name Peter was probably given to him by the nuns he was sent to in Blackrock from the Rotunda. I can’t think why that was unless it was to make him harder to find. But the miracle of the single birth on that day put paid to that.
According to Peter when telling his story years later there were variously between 20 and 70 births on the days before and after the 3 June. An almost impossible circumstance in the busiest maternity hospital in Ireland, on a par with the virgin birth of Jesus.
From there Peter went to the General Records Office to find that his mother was from Kiltegan, no father was listed. Then the fateful knock at the door of the lodge house where she lived and the shock of the first meeting for both of them. Not a happy one for Peter’s mother it seemed who hid him until he could be sent away again, never to return in her lifetime.
When he did return it was with Aisling in the early 2000’s but sadly Peter’s mother had died only a few months earlier. Asking around we found a neighbour of Peter’s mother who knew of him from his earlier visit and she was happy for Peter to visit her when Aisling was in the vicinity about once a year in March. The neighbour knew of Peter’s extended family but none of them were willing to meet him except for a cousin, Michael and his wife Lee were delighted to meet him and thereafter Peter had a family at last and he was able to visit with Aisling and on his own devises for years later. He used to get a catch in his throat when he talked about Michael, Lee and their children, which told you how much it meant to Peter to have a family at last like everyone else.
So Peter is now coming home for good. On our last trip to Killaloe Aisling had arranged to meet with Michael and Lee at the ferry port terminal building in Dublin docks to hand over Peter’s ashes. He will be buried next to his mother at:
St.Brigid’s church, Talbotstown upper, Kiltegan (W91TY76) at 11am on Saturday 26th October. After the service everyone is welcome to Michael and Lee’s home for refreshments in Killalesh, Kiltegan (W91HP73).