Category: Living in Towns

The new Birr Urban District Council 1899: women were included on the electorate for the first time and the end of the Birr Town Commissioners. Blog No 774, 10th Jan. 2026. By Martin Hoctor

Town Commissions in Ireland were possible from 1847 after the introduction of the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Act that would allow the larger towns to introduce a series of measures starting with the appointment of commissioners to carry out works in a town like drainage, paving, and other improvements to the infrastructure. Unfortunately, this legislation was neglected in Ireland during the years of the Great Famine and it was not until the early 1850s when events slowly improved in terms of lesser number of deaths that several towns began to explore embracing this legislation for their districts. Parsonstown (Birr) Town Commissioners held their first meeting on August 4 1852 with Laurence Parsons elected as the first chairman and slowly began to implement the 1847 Act and its subsequent consolidation statute in 1854. Over the next 46 years Parsonstown/Birr Town Commissioners attempted to run the town from the rates received from the ratepayers and loans from the Local Government Board as they engaged in constant disputes with the King’s County Grand Jury and the County Surveyor for decades over which authority was responsible for the scavenging and cleaning of the streets and the expenses incurred.

We are glad to welcome the second of our Young Historians blogs this week and this year. If you have an article or an idea for an article do contact us at info@offalyhistory.com. Offaly History blogs now number 774 and reach 80,000 to 100,000 views each year. So do join the panel of authors of this treasure trove of easily accessed articles since 2016. Doing (or have done) a Leaving Cert History Project on local history -keep Offaly History in mind for your piece of research. We can help with editing and illustrations.
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January 9, 2026
Reports from the 1835 Poor Law Inquiry in Daingean/ Philipstown, County Offaly. By J.J. Reilly. Blog No 773, 3rd Jan 2026

Background to the Poor Law Inquiry

The Commission of Enquiry into the Poorer Classes in Ireland was the result of the United Kingdom government’s investigation of rapid increases in population living in extreme poverty. From their official reports in the post-Napoleonic period Ireland’s growth-rate had remained high. In the 1831 census Ireland returned a population of 7.8 million up from 6.8 million in 1821. In the year 1831 the population baronies of the Upper and Lower Philipstown was 17,311. The town of Daingean had a population of 1,454.[i] For King’s County in general please see our previous blog.[ii]

In the baronies of Philipstown Upper and Lower two commissioners were appointed: Jonathan Binns and James O’Hea. It should be noted, previous to the dissolution of the Parliament of Ireland in 1800, Philipstown returned two members to that legislature.[iii] In 1835 Tullamore became the county town and with that the assizes were moved there from Philipstown.[iv] As the Poor Law Commissioner Jonathan Binns reflected:

‘Its trade has disappeared – many of its houses are in ruins – its shops are falling into decay – and its population, as these signs sufficiently indicate, are poor and wretched.’[v]
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January 3, 2026
The making of O’Connor Square, Tullamore: People, Houses and Business will be launched on Wednesday 10 December 5 p.m. at the Brewery Tap, Tullamore and Ferbane 1950-2000 on 12 Dec. in Ferbane Blog No 766, 9th Dec 2025

The making of O’Connor Square, Tullamore: People, Houses and Business will be launched on Wednesday 10 December 5 p.m. at the Brewery Tap, Tullamore. The Brewery Tap is the longest established business in the square dating back to the 1830s as a pub and brewery. The lease of the site was dated to 1713 with the property in possession of the Brennan and Thornburgh families, later Deverell, Egan, Adams, Carragher and now Paul and Cathy Anne Bell.

We look forward to meeting you at the launch where savouries and tea/coffee will be served. Parking will be available at this time and should not cost more than 1 euro for an hour. Walkers and cyclists go free.

The making of O’Connor Square, Tullamore: People, Houses and Business (Offaly History, Tullamore, 2025), pp 440, p/b €23, h/b €29. ISBN978-1-909822-45-0 (hardcover) ISBN978-1-909822-46-7 (softcover). The book contains fifteen essays by Michael Byrne, Fergal MacCabe, Rachel McKenna and Timothy O’Neill. Publication is supported by the Heritage Council.

At the same event we launch Offaly Heritage 13. This the 13^th issue of the Offaly History Journal It’s another bumper issue with over 330 pages and well-illustrated, €19 soft and €25 hardback. The issue is dedicated to the late Christy Maye – a great friend to Offaly History.

The two books are now available from Offaly History Centre, Midland Books and at www.offalyhistory.com for online.
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December 9, 2025
Offaly Heritage 13. The 13th issue of the Offaly History Journal is now available and will be launched on 10 December at the Brewery Tap, Tullamore at 5 p.m. Blog No 765, 6th Dec 2025

Offaly Heritage 13. This the 13^th issue of the Offaly History Journal is now available and will be launched on 10 December at the Brewery Tap at 5 p.m. It’s another bumper issue with over 330 pages and well-illustrated, €19 soft and €25 hardback. The issue is dedicated to the late Christy Maye – a great friend to Offaly History. The new book is now available from Offaly History Centre. Midland Books and online at http://www.offalyhistory.com. The new book on The making of O’Connor Square will also be launched at this event. Signed copies will be available on the evening.

Offaly Heritage 13 (2025)

Editors: Michael Byrne, Dr Mary Jane Fox. Obits editor Kevin Corrigan

Introduction by Helen Bracken, President Offaly History

It was 2003 when the first issue of Offaly Heritage was published. Now 22 years on we are publishing our thirteenth volume. With so many other demands it has proved difficult to produce a volume every year. Instead, we prefer to produce a large volume every two years.

Offaly Heritage 13 is another bumper issue and very much on a par in quality with the issues since no. 9 was published in 2016. It is a tremendous achievement and benefits from the pro bono work of the editors and contributors.
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December 6, 2025
Church Street, Tullamore 125 years ago: the ‘families’ (including boarders, lodgers, and assistants in 1901) – at a time of solid fuel cooking, no sewerage, poor lighting and piped water a recent novelty. No. 12 in the 2025 Living in towns series, prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. By Michael Byrne and James O’Brien. Blog No 758, 31st Oct 2025

Did you have old friends or family in Church Street 125 years ago? Probably not. It was a busier trading street 125 ago than it is today. That could be said even sixty years. As to its trade it probably suffered from the introduction of one-way systems and restricted parking in the 1960s. Yet another factor may well have been the closing of the markets in Market Square, and also the decline of the Methodist community in the street. Back in 1901 and further back to the first printed valuation of the mid-1850s it had about 57 rateable units – almost all private houses and shops, but also including Hayes’ Hotel, the Methodist church, the Costello private second-level school, the county infirmary (from 1942 the County Library), Charleville School (until 2006) and the Foresters Hall and Shambles (the meat and veg market).

Church Street is an interesting street to study with a good mix of mostly middle-class housing, good shops and trades, institutions, and good terraces with lots of boarders and lodgers to add novelty.
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October 31, 2025
King’s County/Offaly Infirmary, Church Street, Tullamore, 1767–1921. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. No. 11 in the 2025 Living in towns series, prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. Blog No 757, 24th October 2025

You might wonder what was Library Hall used for before being transformed into 15 apartments in about 1995 with a new block of ten to the rear (PD 2824). Yes, some will recall when it was the county library and the happy hours borrowing books and perhaps sitting in the large windows or close to its pot-bellied stove in winter. That was almost fifty years ago. From 1923 to 1927 the building served as the first garda station in Tullamore. And before that: yes, it was the county infirmary or county hospital from 1788 to 1921. How many beds? It had 50 and thirty were generally in use. Budget was £2000 per annum by 1920. That might get you ‘a procedure’ now or a very ‘short stay’.
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October 24, 2025
Tullamore’s Irish National Foresters building in Church Street. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. In the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families over 300 years. No. 10 in the 2025 Living in towns series prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. Blog No 755, 15th October 2025

The Foresters building fronting Church Street would not be so easy to recognise today as the ground floor is part of the Chanapa Thai restaurant east of the old Shambles.

In March 2024 we published two articles in this series by Aidan Doyle marking the 125^th anniversary of the founding of the Tullamore branch of the Irish National Foresters (I.N.F) and the 100^th anniversary of the opening of its new cinema in Market Square. As was noted in a Midland Tribune article forty years ago[1] the Irish National Foresters Benefit Society is an organisation about which most people know very little about although the Tullamore (Conn of the Hundred Battles) branch has been part and parcel of the town since 1899. The I.N.F. may be the fourth oldest organisation in Tullamore after the Freemasons (1759), GAA Tullamore (1888) and the Tullamore Golf Club of 1895-6.

The home of the club in the early years was the CYMS , later called St Mary’s Hall in Thomas/Benburb Street. By 1903 Tullamore I.N.F had its own building on part of the harbour site at the junction of Harbour Street and Henry/O’Carroll Street. The new building worked well for four years but things went badly against them with a fire in the clubhouse in Harbour Street in July 1907: ‘The Tullamore blaze destroyed what was probably one of the finest Forester Halls in the provinces. And what makes the occurrence all the more lamentable is the fact that it had been built only four years.’
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October 15, 2025

The leasing of plots or sites for building in Church Street, Tullamore from Lord Charleville to his tenants, 1786–1830s. Part 2. By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. In the Offaly History series on Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. No 9 in the 2025 Living in towns series prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. Blog No 751, 27th Sept 2025

Table 1: Buildings erected in Church Street, Tullamore from 1726 to 1924

Here we present a summary of the discussion in the last blog on the leasing of Church Street. GV 1 was up to 2000 the old Hayes’ Hotel erected in 1785-6 and having a long garden as far as the Methodist church. Beyond the church is the terrace of 13 houses, the former infirmary and five smaller houses to the river.

On the north east side were two smaller leaseholds and the Charleville School.

To follow things see the 1838 map, that of 1890, the leaseholders map and the Griffith Valuation map. Enjoy!

*The Griffith valuation map for most of Church Street of 1854. It can be viewed on Ask About Ireland site.*

A handy summary of the Valuation of 1854 with notes by MB

Griffith val. 1854 No.	Street	Date of construction	Lessee	Immediate lessor in GV 1854	Lease details
GV 1	Church Street GV 1 to 5a	1785, or may be a reconstruction in that year–	Reps John Tydd in respect of GV 1 to 5a, for ever	John Towers	Lease for ever of frontage from Bridge Street to Methodist church of the hotel site on Church Street SW
GV 2	Church St	House on hotel plot	Sublease to Henry Mulholland as in GV	George Ridley	Ridley succeeded Tydd, Towers and Doherty
GV 3	do	do	Sublease to Michael Delaney as in GV	do	part of hotel lands
GV 4			Sublease to John Lynam as in GV	John Tidd	part of hotel lands
GV 5			Sublease to Mary Lynam as in GV	John Tidd	part of hotel lands
GV 6	Pt of garden of Cuddihy below	May predate Cuddihy lease of 1805	Henry Manly of Charleville Sq		The haggard garden carved from the Cuddehy plots south of Methodist church
GV 7	Church Street GV 6 and 7	1788	Methodist church site in place of destroyed preaching house in Bride’s (Swaddling) Lane. GV 6 is garden behind preaching house and haggard in Tarletons no 6 Charleville Sq		No lease sighted for church, 33 ft in front. The haggard was part of Charleville Square House up to late 1930s
GV 8	Church Street GV	1805 plus	Lease to Michael Cuddehy, Lord Charleville’s mapping surveyor, 1805 of three plots 96 ft in front by 248 sq ft containing 0.1.15 , plot 1	Lyddon. House with two front doors. Let from Revd R.T. Tracey	Copy lease with map in OA. Yard at no. 6 part of Cuddehy leasehold and sublet to Manly of GV 6 O’Connor Square
GV 9	Church St GV	do	Cuddehy plot 1	Revd William Molloy House with two front doors. Let from Revd R.T. Tracey
GV 10	Church St	do	Cuddehy plot 2		Sublease to Thomas Stanley (Book Stanley, antiquarian) features in RSAI jn
GV11	Church St	do	Cuddehy plot 3	Miss Catherine Cuddy immediate lessor	Christopher Woods, distiller
GV 12	Church St	do	Plot 4 in the terrace to Charles Warren, 32 ft in front.	Richard Warren immediate lessor	GV let to Miss Turpin
GV 13	Church Street	do	Plot to Darby Hyland, 32 ft in front	Abigal McDonnell	Let to Revd R. F. Tracey GV 1854
GV 14	Church Street		Plot to Daniel Warren, 32 ft in front	Mrs Daly	Let to Mrs Anne McDonnell GV 1854
GV15	Church Street		3 Plots, 1 to George Slator 96 ft	Reps Revd Nath. Slater	GV 1854 Thomas Briscoe
GV 16	Church Street		3 Plots, 2 to George Slator 96 ft	do	Francis Dorman
GV 17	Church Street		3 Plots,3 to George Slator 96 ft	do	James H. Marshall
GV 18	Church Street		3 Plots,3 to George Slator 96 ft	do	William W. Philips
GV 19	Church Street		2 plot 1 plots to Robert Belton,	Wm K. Fawcett	GV Vacant, related to Michael Molloy d. 1846, the distiller and Anthony M. died 1851.
GV 20	Church St		2 plots 2 to Robert Belton, temporary barrack	do	GV Vacant
GV 21	Church Street	1788	3 plots 2 to Robert Belton, temporary barrack	do	The third house on two plots GV James Reilly
GV 22	Church Street	1788	No lease King’s County infirmary 86 ft in front	Held from head landlord the earl of Charleville
GV 23	Church Street		Mrs Jordan original lessee	Held from Thomas Duggan	Occupier GV John Pilkington
GV 24	Church Street		Samuel Woods	Held from earl of Charleville	Occupier GV Christopher Woods
GV 25	Church Street		Held from Elizabeth Woods	do	Occupier GV Christopher Woods
GV 26	Church Street		do	do	Occupier GV George Whitten
GV 27	Church Street		Pound and House see pic with this blog	Held from earl of Charleville	Occupier GV Christopher Woods
GV 28	Church Street		1869 vacant and later Feehan fowl store, now part of a new 2025 terrace in yard	do	Occupier GV Thomas Clooney
GV 29	Church Street		Mary Lynam		Occupier GV Charles Crowley
GV 30	Church Street		Mary Lynam		Occupier GV Maurice Summers
GV 31	Church Street GV		School house and yard, opened 1811	Held from earl of Charleville. The female school was in Henry/O’Carroll Street	Charleville Schol boys, on the former Fair Green plots fronting Henry St
GV 32-49 and Market Lane 1-12			Late Robert Belton George Slater for ever 398 ft in front in 1854 Thomas F. Slater	17 houses, and one office building let to Sterling. This holding included the 12 cabins in Market Lane or Church Lane (Pike’s Lane) valued each in the range of 10s to 15s.	From Sterling to Henry Street incl Market Lane. Nos 48 and 49 let to Thomas Sterling by T F Slater and part sublet to James Byrne
GV 50	Church St		Mr Sterling		A plot occupied by Thomas Sterling from earl of Charleville and probably formed part of the curtilage of the 1726 church
Laneway not rated			Garden [now Market Lane access to The Cornmarket	Earl of Charleville	In GV called Corn Market Lane
GV 1	Church St but from Market Square		Meat Market (Shambles)	Do. Tolls of shambles and corn market let to Robert Willis by 1854. In 1843 with Sterling.	Site with part of the Michael Byrne plot of the 1726-1815 church
GV 51	Church St		Michael Byrne plot 1	Immediate lessor John Perry	GV occupier Thomas Magill, much later Morris drapery
GV 52	Church St		Michael Byrne plot 2		GV occupier John and A Warren
GV 53-57 Church Street and 1 Columcille Street	Church St 44’ 6 inch to William Street and 192 ft to Church St (180 ft by lease)		Immediate lessor John Slater from earl of Charleville	Five houses held by John Slator	GV 1854 occupiers – Atkins, Duggan, Little, Irwin and Nugent, valued in range of £4. 10s. to £8. 10s.

*Church St on the five-foot scale, surveyed 1885-90.*

*The Griffith map of 1854 – available on Ask about Ireland.com*

Thanks to the Heritage Council for support to Offaly History in preparing this article.

September 27, 2025

The leasing of plots or sites for building in Church Street, Tullamore from Lord Charleville to his tenants, 1786–c. 1835.By Michael Byrne and Offaly History. Offaly History series, Church Street, Tullamore: houses, businesses and families, over 300 years. No. 8 in the 2025 Living in towns series prepared with the support of the Heritage Council. Blog No 750, 24th Sept 2025

Church Street is unusual in Tullamore in that it does not have a common width throughout and its lower half, closest to the town centre, is clearly earlier than the upper half from the Methodist church to the Pound Bridge over Tullamore River. While the building pattern is now post 1786 in date it did have at least two earlier buildings in the Protestant church built by Mrs Ellen Moore in 1726. She was the mother of the first Lord Tullamore who died in 1725. Charles the second Lord Tullamore succeeded while still a minor, having been born in 1712.[1] In an earlier article we reproduced maps from the 1770s depicting the church and noted that the building was shown on the on the 1730 Mountrath (Coote) estate map. The church stood in what was post 1820 the yard shown as The Shambles and was not aligned to the later street.[2]
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September 24, 2025
The Bridge Centre in Tullamore: Town centre shopping over thirty years. A contribution to the Offaly History Anniversaries and Commemorations Series, By Michael Byrne. Blog No 748, 17th Sept 2025

The big developments of the 1990s were the Bridge Shopping Centre and the new Texas store both of which were completed in September 1995. The equivalent of perhaps 100 typical shops in terms of floor space was added to the Tullamore offering in one month. It was a turning point in the history of shopping in Tullamore and opened a brief period when Tullamore possibly dominated shopping in the midlands. These were the ‘good Tiger’ years for Ireland and for Tullamore with two hotels to follow in the same decade.
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September 17, 2025