On Thursday 23rd April 2026 the new, changed, developed, market house in Portarlington’s square was formally opened, following over a year’s work on the structure to commence a new chapter in its long history. The new occupier is the Portarlington Community Development Association, and the building has become available, for gatherings, conferences, presentations. There is no doubt this is a construction for specific purposes.
And the building has two names: market house, though there is no longer a market; and tholsel, a name given to municipal buildings in Ireland where tolls and dues were collected. Tholsels had an authority in a town, and usually hosted corporation bodies. Notable examples of tholsels in Ireland may be found at Carlingford, Clonmel, Kilkenny and Youghal. In other locations tholsels have been changed into other uses, or gone to demolition, such as that in Mountrath.
This article is the sixth in a series on the stonecutters of Tullamore, particularly those associated with the limestone quarries of Ballyduff on the outskirts of the town.
When I began researching the quarries and the men who worked there, I thought I might find enough material for one or two articles. Instead, a much wider story has come to light—one shaped not only by local industry, but also by migration and opportunity.
One of the most striking features of that story is the number of stonecutters who, having learned their trade in Tullamore, chose to emigrate. This was not unusual in nineteenth-century Ireland, but what is interesting in this case is that many of these men were not driven by poverty. They had skills and could make a living at home. Even so, many chose to leave, drawn by the hope of a better future for themselves and their families.
Unlike most Irish emigrants of the time, most of the Tullamore stonecutters went to Australia, where they helped to build a growing society. Among them were members of the Jageurs family, whose story gives a good insight into this wider pattern.
Fergal MacCabe is an architect, town planner and a topographical artist. He has managed to combine all three disciplines in his career. His fondness in recent years for the capriccio style of painting in many ways pulls together all his skills in how he views buildings and sees them in context. In his capriccio style Fergal MacCabe draws on real architectural elements and it is their juxtaposition that is whimsical. Yet he has regard to his own aesthetics, architectural and town planning skills in the buildings he selects and how he brings these buildings together.
For his jovial attitude to life we can probably thank his mother Winifred, who was by all accounts a character up to early passing in 1960.
In the early days of the Irish Free State two ambitious projects stood out as justifying the struggle for national independence.
In 1925, out of a total national budget of £25 million, the fledgling government bravely invested £5.2 in the Shannon Hydro Electric Scheme. Finished within four years, it ensured a degree of energy autonomy and dramatically improved living conditions, particularly in towns and later in rural areas.
In a second progressive advance the State embarked on a programme to build a modern hospital in every county.
The Murals Bar Cultural life in 1950s Tullamore centred around ‘The Murals’ bar. This was where us local artists, actors, historians and writers drank, clutching our copies of ‘Ulysses’ in its concealing brown paper cover while engaging in fevered and sparkling debates on cubism, existentialism, atonality and Marxism.
I may be exaggerating somewhat, but ‘The Murals’ really was our Deux Magots, our Cafe de Flore. The bar was the meeting place of what passed for an intelligentsia in Tullamore at a time, which, though it is now regarded as restrictive and obscurantist, I remember as stimulating and progressive. Maybe I was lucky.
The attraction of ‘The Murals’ was its design which was quite unlike any of the more traditional pubs of the town which were usually small, dark and poky. With its high ceiling, stripped down design, timber veneering, bright red stools, it was cool and elegant and above all- modern.
What we construct and what we take down is often the most significant indicator of the nature and health of our society. Also, the choice of an aesthetic style for a new building tells us much about the values of its proposer. Government or religious institutions will seek to emphasise their role and power by providing substantial and prominent structures, often using ancient architectural styles to suggest their continuity and permanence. Successful businesses or go-ahead institutions will express their vitality and cosmopolitanism in a more modern manner. Home builders may wish to attract respect for their taste and sophistication.
The Grand Canal was completed to the River Shannon in 1804, 220 years ago. By 1864 passenger traffic was finished and commercial by 1960. Cruise traffic was only in its infancy and when this article was written 45 years ago things were bleak. In looking at the building of the Grand Canal from Tullamore to Shannon Harbour, we need to look at a piece written in the Irish Times by Sean Olson with photographs by Pat Langan, which was published on Thursday, 7 June 1979 in the Irish Times. The newspaper had been a good supporter of keeping the canal open in the 1960s when it was under threat from Dublin Corporation.
Things have improved so much in recent years with the towpaths now the focus of attention to promote walking and cycling. Today 23 August see the launch of an excellent study of the canal system as illustrated. Then on Saturday evening and Sunday there are two events from Waterways Ireland to be held in the Offaly History Centre Exhibition Hall beside the canal at Bury Quay (neighbour to Old Warehouse Bar and Restaurant), as illustrated.
Olson is worth reproducing to remind us that we do not want to go back there and was an excellent record of its time. Also worth mentioning is our over 60 blog articles on the Grand Canal available as blogs at http://www.offalyhistory.com. All free to read and download.
‘If the steps of the ruined canalside hotel at Shannon Harbour, Co. Offaly could talk they would have a tale to tell. It would be a story of bustled Victorian ladies and their potb-bellied merchant husbands, of trade, of business deals finalised in airy rooms overlooking the still waters of the canal.
For once the pulse of commerce beat hard at Shannon Harbour. It was an inland port – a staging post leading to the mighty Shannon river. It was built by the commerce of a different age, a monument to an era when the first hesitant puff of the steam engine sounded the death knell for trade on inland waterways. It was a slow lingering death. When it finally came in 1960, there were few obsequies for Shannon Harbour. Those there were hardly took the place into account at all. It all but died with the departure of the last barge.
Now the once fine hotel, later home of several families who made their living from the barges, stands staring roofed, inside gutted, steps broken and lifted. The warehouses once full of goods and porter, are roofless sentries before the lock gates that lead down to the Shannon.
Moore Hall is an imposing two-story house over basement with two-story porch projection in cut stone, and coach arch and stables (now demolished). The façade is of three bays. The house is one of the finest in Tullamore, a fact that may escape notice because of its closeness to the street. In the front railing ironwork is the last gas lamp stand in Tullamore. This is the only surviving vestige of the era of gas lighting from 1860 to 1921.
Patrick Lynch and John Vaizey in their history of Guinness’s brewery in the Irish economy to 1876 observed that in England the canals followed trade while in Ireland it was hoped that trade would follow the canals. It was a hope that was only partially fulfilled as outside of Dublin the new canals served few areas of commercial or industrial importance.[1] The observation was following in the line of Arthur Young in the 1770s who had advised ‘to have something to carry before you seek the means of carriage’.[2] Yet the record of the carriage of goods on the canal was satisfactory with 500 million ton miles carried in 1800 and double that by the 1830s.[3] The Grand Canal was especially beneficial to north Offaly for the transport of stone, brick, turf, barley, malt and whiskey. All bulky goods suited to water transport. The emerging firm of Guinness also found the inland water transport system helpful to sales and market penetration. The slow movement of Guinness beer by waterway was good for product quality on arrival.
The view is about 1840 and the book 1960. There is a copy at Offaly History Centre Library
Work on the Grand Canal started in 1756 and by 1779 the first stretch of water from James’s Street to Robertstown was completed. Over the next twenty years the canal was extended to Tullamore (1798) and Shannon Harbour (1804). The six-year delay at Tullamore while resolving issues with the direction of the ‘Brosna Line’ at Tullamore facilitated the establishment of a canal hotel, stores and a harbour.
This month we begin a series of articles on the history and heritage of the Grand Canal in County Offaly that will run to upwards of 50 blog articles in 2024 and have its own platform on our website, http://www.offalyhistory.com. Our aim is to document the story of the course of the canal from the county boundary east of Edenderry to Shannon Harbour in the west. Today the Grand Canal is one of the greatest amenities that County Offaly possesses and we want to tell the story, and for readers to contribute by way of information and pictures. All the material will be open to be used on our website and the format will allow for editing to improve and to receive additional information from you the reader, which will be acknowledged. So Buen Camino as we make our journey through a quiet and well-watered land. The year 2024 marks the 120th anniversary of the completion of the Shannon Line at Shannon Harbour and may also see the completion of the canal greenway in this county.
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