Historic Castle Street is oldest street in Mayo County town
By Tom Gillespie
CASTLE Street in Castlebar is reckoned to be the oldest street in the county town.
The main reason for this assumption is that it led to the De Barrie castle, built around 1235, which gave its name to the street, and which was located on the site of the old Convent of Mercy which was demolished some years ago under controversial circumstances and should have been retained as part of the heritage of the town.
This old photograph shows what the street must have looked like at the turn of the 19th century.
Horse and ass carts were the main mode of transport and several of the two-storey houses were thatched. The road was in poor repair but was possibly the standard of the time.
Today the street has changed vastly as to what I remember it to be as a child. I would have walked it four times a day, going and coming from school in the military barracks where St. Patrick’s National School was housed for several years after the original school on Chapel Street burned down on the morning of February 28, 1957.
Narrow as it was the street accommodated two-way traffic despite the bottleneck at Duxie Steward’s where John Kelly now runs an award-winning gentleman’s hairdressing business.
Thankfully, vehicular traffic on the street was light, but, nevertheless, the urban council erected a safety barrier on the steps down from St. Angela’s National School which was behind the huge convent building.
With the exodus of pupils from St. Angela’s and St. Patrick’s in the barracks, culminating at the steps, it was a nightmare for motorists.
To somewhat counter the flow of pupils onto Castle Street, the younger classes were let out a few minutes before the higher classes.
In the barracks the older lads were known as the Bombers as they charged down the avenue towards Castle Street.
All the youngsters, both male and female, had one thing in common - they were all almost penniless. But what very few coppers they had they spent in Mai Leonard’s sweet shop. Mai knew all of them and, indeed, their parents before them.
A very trusting soul, Mai allowed the youngsters to go behind her counter and pick out the penny sweets they wanted to purchase.
While Mai did a thriving daytime business with the school goers, she was equally busy in the early evening as film-goers flocked to the County Cinema on Spencer Street for the nightly shows.
For a hair cut, once a month, we were sent to Seanie Kelly’s, father of our esteemed editor Tom Kelly, barber shop, or to Hugh McGartland’s. Across the road from McGartland’s was Pat Lavelle’s saddlery where the potent smell of real leather wafted onto the street from his busy workshop.
At the top of the street below Parsons' was Maureen and Joe McDonnell’s grocery shop. And where the entrance to the car park is now was one of the most go-ahead grocery premises of Christy Hoban’s who would have been one of the first to do home deliveries around the town.
Now housing a raft of apartments was the Erris Hotel - the name is still on the building - and in it was a ballroom on the first floor where many a wedding reception was held.
Across the road in the Castle Book Shop was the birth place in 1902 of legendary musician, church organist and orchestra leader Stephen Garvey. In October 1978, during the week of the Castlebar International Song Contest, members of Castlebar Urban District Council unveiled a plaque on the building to Stephen.
Ted Norris had a jewellery shop on the street and there were several pubs I remember - Conway’s (now The Castle Inn), Nat Ruane’s Rainbow Bar, The Goal Post, and, of course, Ray Prendergast’s.
Going back in the years the town’s jail was located at the top of Castle Street, opposite Parsons' and where Martin Dever had a grocery shop which was later demolished to widen the entrance to the street.
The Castle Bistro was a very popular venue and others associated with the street were Maureen O’Loughran, Phil Kravney and shoemaker Tom McHugh.
As I mentioned above, the first castle was built in c1235 by the De Barrie family who gave their name to the town and their castle to the street. They came with the De Burgos after the Norman invasion and settled here for a short while.
The first mention of the castle in the Annals of Connacht is 1412 when it was burnt by a rival clan. There were many battles over the castle between the O’Connors, Fitzgeralds, the Burkes and others.
In 1585 The Composition of Connaught signed by Elizabeth I gave the territory of Burrisarra - Carra and the castle at Castlebar to Edmund Burke and his heirs to come.
The Burkes were then quickly defeated by Sir Richard Bingham and the castle was sold to his brother John for 100 cows and £5. The ruins of the castle are shown on some Ordnance Survey Maps to be located in the present day Military Barracks. Some historians believe that Castle Street is in fact the oldest street in the town as it was a walkway from the castle and used before the bridge was built.
As the Mall and the military barracks were adjacent to Castle Street the shops in Castle Street did thriving business when Perks carnivals were held at either venue many years ago.
Today, the Castle Street business people have been leading other areas in the town in decorating the street, with flag poles from each premises flying the colours representing local, national and international events.