Street Wise Athlone – The laneways off Connaught Street

This series of articles for the Westmeath Independent is run in conjunction with the Street Wise Athlone series on Athlone Community Radio which is broadcast on Wednesdays during Athlone Today at 2.30pm and repeated on Thursday mornings at 10am on The Brekkie Show

Athlone Miscellany with Gearoid O'Brien

Rev Annesley Strean was appointed to St. Peter’s Church of Ireland parish, Athlone, in 1802 and continued to minister here until his death in 1837 at the age of 84. He was the author of a 68-page account of the parish which was published in William Shaw Mason’s ‘A Statistical account or Parochial Survey of Ireland, Vol. III, which was published in Dublin in 1819.

For me Rev. Strean is one of the great historians of old Athlone simply because he was a pioneering soul who was charting new territory. His survey of Athlone conducted c1818 gives us the first real analytical account of the town and its people, or at least of that portion of the town located west of the Shannon. If we had a similar account for St. Mary’s parish, we would have a very complete record of Athlone in the early nineteenth century. In writing of St Peter’s parish, he wrote: “The part of the town which is in this parish consists of ten streets, with the name of each at its entrance, painted on a board, besides fifteen lanes each of inferior consideration”.

A very useful appendix to Strean’s account of St Peter’s parish is a list of the trades carried on in the parish and an idea of the number of those involved in each trade. Unfortunately, professionals are not listed but we do learn, for example, that there were twenty masons, forty-five carpenters and seventy shoe-makers. Others trades which were well represented in the parish include [black] smiths of which there were forty; nailors (seventeen) and tin-workers (five). There were sixteen tailors; two apothecaries and nine bakers besides many smaller ones. Two trades which were well represented were publicans (of which there were thirty-three) and butchers (of which there were thirty-two). The parish could boast of only one printer (who produced a newspaper called The Athlone Herald) and two each of glaziers, chandlers and watchmakers. Many of these tradesmen probably lived on the laneways off the main streets.

Patrick Street & College Lane

It is difficult to know where to start when dealing with the laneways off Connaught Street but I think I will start with the largest one, Patrick Street (or Patrick’s Street), existed as a laneway on the 1784 Ranelagh Estate map but it was not identified by name until the first Ordnance Survey map of 1837 when it was called Patrick’s Street but by the time of the 1874 map this was corrected to Patrick Street. Patrick Street runs down by the side of Maguire’s Pub and gives access to Parnell Square. Originally the main gate to ‘The Park’ was located at the end of Patrick Street. On the 1911 Census returns it seems that Keeffe Street was amalgamated with Patrick Street as the number of houses returned for Patrick Street was 23, most of which were 2 or 3 roomed houses.

The next significant laneway was College Lane or College Street. This laneway became subsumed into the car-park when two premises, No’s 22 and 24 Connaught Street, were demolished to provide car-parking spaces. It was a working-class area with artisans of every type living there. In 1855 it had thirty houses of which fourteen were ‘lodging-houses’. By 1901 there were 27 houses, only one of which had more than four rooms. That was a large house, consisting of eight rooms, occupied by James O’Brien (plumber), his son Tom succeeded him in the business, but his address was usually regarded as Canal Banks rather than College Lane.

The name College Lane, first recorded in 1837, probably refers to a short-lived school run by the Augustinian sisters in the mid-18th century or perhaps to the existence there of a seminary or college to educate young men for the priesthood. We know that such a college existed in the parish for a short time in the 1790s prior to the opening of a national seminary at Maynooth in 1795. In the 19th C the Augustinian friars had a chapel and convent on College Lane.

Butler’s Row, Harry’s Lane, Mary’s Lane

The next laneway we encounter is now known as Harry’s Lane but in common with many another laneway in Athlone this lane changed names several times. It once had a further laneway, built at right angles to the canal, and this was known in 1855 as Butler’s Row. It then consisted of 17 or possibly 18 houses two of which were unoccupied. The other houses included 14 ‘lodging-houses’ and a house occupied by the landlord, John Butler, who also owned the ‘lodging-houses’. Eight years earlier, in 1847, six thatched houses had been destroyed by fire before soldiers of the 75th Foot and 7th Hussars regiments managed to extinguish the flames. The value of the damage was said to be small ‘owing to the poor character of the houses’, but a number of people were left in a destitute state as a result of the fire. By 1901 there were perhaps 13 houses left habitable.

In the 1911 Census returns the only house recorded on Harry’s Lane was that of George and Delia McCracken, George was a land-steward. The couple had four sons two of whom worked for Athlone Printing Works in 1911. Not surprisingly this lane was also known as McCracken’s Lane! Athlone UDC developed a small modern housing scheme on Harry’s Lane in 1996.

The last laneway off this side of Connaught Street is tucked in behind Walsh’s Pub was Burchell’s Row - in 1855 there were four houses here. In 1914 the Reps. Of Kate Hannon had an office and yard there and in the 1970s Alfa Print, had their printing works in an old shed at the end of this lane before moving to Deerpark Road. The lane was probably called after a descendant of Thomas Burchell, a nailer, who had land near Cloghanboy in 1799.

Cemetery Lane and Pipe Lane

On the opposite side of Connaught Street Cemetery Lane led to the old burial ground attached to St. Peter’s Church of Ireland (now the Church of St Pius X), this burial ground is often referred to as ‘Bully’s Acre.’ This lane had eight occupied houses in 1901, in one of which lived John Brennan and his wife Bridget. John was described as a ‘building contractor’. His daughter Suzanne Brennan (1887-1970) is immortalised in John Broderick’s ‘Bridgeford’ novels as Hosanna Braiden. Another resident in 1901 was Luke Naughton then described as a ‘carpenter’, Luke a famous character was a coffin-maker in the Victorian era. By 1911 there were just 6 occupied houses on this lane. Later Willie John Byrne a legendary local blacksmith had his forge on this lane. At one time this lane was known as Fair Green Lane.

Off Cemetery Lane was Pipe Lane. There are various reasons given for the naming of this lane. One suggestion was that when the military funerals from the nearby barracks reached the opening for Pipe Lane the pipers commenced their dirges. The other, more commonly accepted reason, suggest that pipes (probably drainage pipes) were once made here. It was here that the ‘pound’ was in the 19th Century. It was run by a Mrs McHugh and later by Mary Caulfield. In 1901 Mary Caulfield, then aged 75, lived in the only occupied house on Pipe Lane. Another character who once lived in Pipe Lane was Johnny Harnett - bell ringer, bill poster and pump repairer!

Next week: Westlodge and College Park

Read the previous articles in this series here