Street Wise: Athlone’s Main 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 by Gearoid O'Brien

Today people often seem surprised that such a comparatively short street in Athlone is named Main Street, but historically the name was very apt as this street was once on the main Galway-Dublin route. The great Elizabethan bridge of 1566 crossed the Shannon from Bridge Street on the east to Main Street on the west. It is fairly safe to say that since Athlone grew up around the Castle that Main Street is possibly among the oldest streets in the town.

While the layout of the street may be medieval the present buildings date largely from the early to mid-19th century, though a number of them appear to incorporate features of earlier buildings – some of the clues are to be found in the chimney-stacks. On the south side of Main Street the houses had long narrow plots behind them – suggesting they were the remnants of medieval burgage plots.

The Castle Inn building, originally Plunkett’s Bar, probably dates to about 1800. According to the Buildings of Ireland website “the unusual profile of the chimney-stack and north gable suggests that this building contains the fabric of an earlier structure, perhaps one that was destroyed during the 1690-91 Siege.” For over fifty years this was Plunkett’s Bar, run latterly by the late Olive Plunkett who had a very faithful clientele many of whom enjoyed a game of darts. She sold to John and Mary O’Sullivan who modernised it and re-named it The Castle Inn.

The corner house at the junction of Main Street and High Street, may well contain elements of an earlier building. It features two simple shop-fronts – one in Main Street and one in High Street – these probably date to c1900 and may have been installed by James Palmer who had his tailoring business here – the two shopfronts probably allowed extra light into the premises which would have been a benefit a distinct benefit to a tailor. This is a very attractive building which is of considerable architectural merit. This building was a favourite haunt of mine when Kathleen Wallace had her antique shop here, I picked up many interesting pieces there and, of course, regretted the things I let get away. Today, Main Street has the very attractive “Left Bank Antiques” which has been run by Brian and Mary Kelly for the past twenty-five years in the premises which I remember as O’Callaghan’s.

On the corner the Liturgical Bookbinders is a great asset to the area. It is run by the experienced local bookbinder, Declan Browne and his assistant Olga Corrigan. Declan is known far and wide for his appearance on a film clip often shown by RTE during the Angelus.

Sean’s Bar

It would be impossible to write about Main Street without mentioning Sean’s Bar, a bar which while it will forever be associated with the late legendary Sean Fitzsimons, was already called Sean’s Bar before he took it over in the mid-1960s. The original Sean was a Sean O’Brien. Sean Fitzsimons was a commercial traveller for Gill’s Bookshop & Religious Goods in O’Connell Street, Dublin and he acquired the now iconic, four fluted Ionic columns, from Gill’s when their façade was being modernised in the late 1970s.

The present Sean’s Bar building probably dates from the first quarter of the 18th Century (possibly 1720-25) but like other premises in the street it probably contains within its fabric elements from an earlier building – the original Three Blackamoor Heads. The earliest person recorded as a proprietor of the bar was Jacob Jacques whose name appears in the Subsidy Rolls of 1662. According to Dr Harman Murtagh, Jacob Jacques (identified in a list of Freemen of Athlone in 1685 with his name Anglicised to Jacob James) was a Huguenot “who received a letter of denization in 1675 and kept an Inn in Athlone’. We believe that Inn to be The Three Blackamoor Heads. Jacob Jacques died in 1722 aged 95 and was buried in St. Mary’s Churchyard.

The present Sean’s Bar was originally a two-storey premises with a third storey added later. During renovation works on the bar about forty years ago a section of a mud-and-wattle partition wall was discovered on the first floor. Sean

Fitzsimons brought the matter to the attention of Billy English who alerted the National Museum – I remember being brought in to see the wall in situ. A portion of this partition is still on display in Sean’s Bar – it may well date from the 17th century and thus pre-dates the present building. This premises had a long narrow plot behind it with access to the river which suggests that it may be the remnants of medieval burgage plots. A burgage was the holding of a burgess and it was recognisable usually by a narrow street frontage with a long narrow garden to the rear. This possibly dates back to the time of Jacob Jacques or even earlier.

John’s Bookshop

Close to Sean’s Bar is John’s Bookshop. This was Enda Sweeney’s shop in the 1970s and a place that I spent some time in after school. Enda was a sister of Kathleen Wallace who lived across the road. Her husband, Tom Sweeney, was a teacher in the Dean Kelly NS. Enda had a small grocery and sweet shop – with a bare concrete floor, and (as often as not) a cat asleep on the counter. A group of us congregated there to chat after school and Enda enjoyed the company. She was kindness personified and on more than one occasion made sandwiches for a hungry school-boy, some girls from St Peter’s used to frequent the shop also – I’m sure that was part of the attraction.

For nearly 25 years this shop has been run by John Donohoe, a gregarious Dubliner who is fast becoming a Midlander. The shop though small has a huge stock with many more volumes stored off site. His catalogue can be accessed online and contains many interesting gems. He caters for all tastes but the stock is particularly strong on Irish interest material, local history and Inland Waterways. He also stocks an amazing array of Irish language books including several collections by the Athlone poet Sean O Leochain.

The quaint little building which houses John’s Bookshop was probably built in the last quarter of the 18th century. According to the ‘Buildings of Ireland’ website, which is one of my favourites: “The unusually narrow façade suggests that this building was built on a medieval house plot – this street is just steeped in history.

In the 1830s there was, apparently, an earlier bookshop in Main Street – it opened in June 1838 when J. Davis advertised his ‘New Bookselling, Stationery and Fancy Warehouse in Main Street, near the Castle…” apart from his range of stationery he also stocked “New publications and Periodicals, prayer, school, juvenile and account books…”

Market Place

The area behind the Castle in Main Street was the main market place on the west side of town from medieval times until the mid-nineteenth century when the current Market Square came into use following the building of the present town bridge. There is just so much more which could be said about Main Street but sadly space does not allow it at present.

Next week: The Quays

Read the previous instalments here