Street Wise – Northgate Street

This series of articles for the Westmeath Independent was run in conjunction with the Street Wise Athlone series on Athlone Community Radio

Athlone Miscellany with Gearoid O'Brien

Northgate Street is one of the older street names in Athlone and I am unaware of an earlier name for this street. There is a deed in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin, which is mentioned in the Burgess Papers in Athlone Library, which uses the form North Gate Street, it dates from 1698. There is no reason to think that the street wasn’t so named in the 16th century from the time the North Gate was built. We know that it was certainly built by 1578 as it is mentioned in the Fiants of Elizabeth in that year. The North Gate was one of two rectangular gate towers at access points in the town wall, the other being the Dublin Gate.

The North Gate crossed the street at the point where Wheatley’s Hairdressers stood until recent times. The late Billy English believed that the reason why that building projected out beyond the normal line of the street was that part of the North Gate was incorporated into the building.

The Elizabethan era saw considerable work undertaken in Athlone including the building of a stone bridge, the refurbishment of the castle and the erection of this gate-house which had a plaque with the arms of Queen Elizabeth above the arch. A number of drawings of the North Gate survive including those by Austin Cooper and Daniel Grose both executed in the 1790s and a later one by George Petrie.

The North Gate was demolished in the Autumn of 1845 because it was “considered dangerous to the public safety, and that its removal would be generally considered a public advantage”. The tower was sold for demolition and the materials were sold by public auction. The proceeds of the sale of the North Gate amounted to £3.5.0 but there were expenses of £1.8.0 so the net effect of the demolition process was that the exchequer benefitted to the tune of £1.17.0 and Northgate Street lost its impediment to traffic.

Boswells Brewery

There were Boswells living in Athlone since the early 18th centry., at least. The earliest member to appear in records, as recorded by Dr John B. Burgess, was Robert who in 1716 was a member of the Felt-maker’s Society. He was obviously involved in the manufacturing of the famous ‘Athlone Felt Hats’ so much admired by Dean Swift. Felt-making was a cottage-industry practised by a number of families and was centered around Hatter’s Lane off Custume Place and Northgate Street. Two of his sons, Robert and William, were employed as town bailiffs in the mid-18th century, indicating that they were well-in with the Corporation of Athlone. A third son, John, was a felt-maker, like his father. By 1772 a John Boswell of Northgate Street was described as an ‘aledraper’ or brewer.

The Boswell’s had come up in the world, they had acquired property and had started their own brewery. In the late 18th century, they leased the plot later occupied by Athlone Woollen Mills where they established Boswell’s Brewery a significant commercial activity. However, just as quickly as they had come up in the world, they fell into debt in the late 1830s or early 1840s, and during the Famine their former Brewery was used as an auxiliary workhouse. The name “Boswell” returned to Northgate Street in 1977 when the late Simon Grogan opened a restaurant called “Bowsell’s” on the ground floor of the Masonic Lodge. His head chef was Noel Ryan and the restaurant had an old-world charm about it.

Longworth Hall

I have written at length of the Longworth Hall in the past. It was built in 1890 to the design of Richard Langrishe (1834-1922), who was architect to the Church of Ireland for the Western dioceses from 1880-92. When he took up this appointment he moved to Athlone and lived here for the duration. He designed the Longworth Hall on a site that had a very narrow street frontage. It was a venue for talks, concerts and other social gatherings. It was also one of the earliest venues in Athlone where ‘moving pictures’ were shown. It became a very popular venue for dancing until it perished in the aftermath of the Woollen Mills fire of November 1940. The Longworth Hall was so called because it was the gift of Edward T. Dames Longworth a local landlord who lived in Glynnwood House.

Methodist Chapel

In the aftermath of the Famine there was a surge of church building in Athlone and this was not confined to Catholic churches. Both the Presbyterian church on the Docks and the Methodist church in Northgate Street date from this time. The Methodist Church is a fine example of the Gothic Revival style of architecture and it adds considerably to the character of Northgate Street. It was designed by Alfred G. Jones and the foundation stone was laid in February 1864, the church itself was opened for public worship in March 1865. The journal The Irish Builder featured the original plans which included a minister’s residence in a similar style which Jones had designed but which unfortunately was never built.

Old Town Hall

Over the winter of 1863-64 the Athlone Town Commissioners were planning a building to serve as a Town Hall and as a residence for the manager of the nearby Gasworks. In January 1864 the contract was awarded to Bartholomew Lyster and the building was ready for occupation by September. Originally the upper storey was used as the residence for the Gas-Works manager and the Town Commissioners had their board room at Ground floor level, later the arrangement was changed and the civic offices were located on the upper floor. The old Town Hall served until 1947 when the Fr Mathew Hall was converted for use as a Town Hall. The last Gas-Works manager was Billy Reid and he and his wife continued to live on the ground floor until the 1970s. The upper portion of the building was later leased to Westmeath VEC and was used as classrooms by Athlone Technical School

The building was renovated in 1986 under an ANCO scheme and converted for use as a Youth Resource Centre. It served in this capacity for several years but was eventually knocked for the development of the Radisson Hotel and Silver Quay Apartment block.

Athlone Gas Works

A gas committee was formed by Athlone Town Commissioners in 1850 to consider the feasibility of providing street lighting in the town. By 1853 the Gas Works was being built at the end of Northgate Street opposite the Workhouse. This was built on land reclaimed during the Shannon Navigation Works, previously there had been a short-lived harbour, called Stirabout Harbour on the site.

Initially, in 1853-54, just one gasometer was built but this was incapable of meeting the demands of the public and eventually a further two gasometers were built. The town gas works, which also had two gasometers at Magazine Road closed in 1945 with the widespread use of electricity.

Abbey Art Gallery

What was probably Athlone’s first commercial art gallery was opened in Northgate Street by the late Donal and Marty Hynes. It was a short-lived enterprise which they called Abbey Art Gallery & Antiques. They held several interesting exhibitions including two by Derek Biddulph, the Galway artist and two by a young watercolourist called Michael McWilliams and one by Margaret Henshaw. They also hosted a fine photographic exhibition by two award-winning amateur photographers, both sadly now deceased, Conleth Ellis and Leo Mahon. By 1982 this premises housed what was perhaps the first French restaurant in Athlone when local chef Richard Fallon and his wife, Mary, opened ‘L’Art Culinare’. They later moved to the Paddock Hotel on the Dublin Road.

Next article: Abbey Road

Previous articles in this series can be read here