ROSE-TINTED: Memories of the Tullamore Swimming Pool inevitably come through rose-tinted glasses. Some can be explained: The glorious weather – you didn’t go to the pool unless the weather was good. But there were heatwaves!! I vividly remember tar bubbling up on red hot road surfaces beyond Hop Hill Church, destroying the soles of our bare feet or God forbid THE NEW SANDALS!! from Owen Marron’s sweet smelling leathery shoe shop [in Patrick Street]
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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 13th 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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An Old Charmer: Meeting Eamon de Valera, Uachtarán na hÉireann, in theÁras. By Fergal MacCabe. No. 22 in the 2025 Offaly History anniversaries series. Blog No 759, 7th Nov 2025
As this year is the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Eamon de Valera it is probably a good time to recount meeting this towering (literally) but often controversial figure.
It would now appear to have been discontinued, but in those days the newspapers regularly printed a sort of Court Circular announcing the official engagements of Uachtarán na hÉireann. Dev’s visitors seemed to be drawn almost exclusively from visiting American priests and nuns, so in 1970 I wrote him a rather provocative letter accusing him of being out of touch with ordinary Irish people – especially go ahead modern youngsters such as myself and my wife Brid. How could he possibly know what was happening in the real world!
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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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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 125th anniversary of the founding of the Tullamore branch of the Irish National Foresters (I.N.F) and the 100th 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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The Bulfin Bulletin: The Path to Publication. By Timothy Moloney. 10 10 2025. No. 22 in the 2025 Offaly History anniversaries series. Blog No 754, 10th 2025
In February 2025 William Bulfin’s travelogue Rambles in Eirinn was reissued in a new edition by Merrion Press. I had been working on the Bulfin legacy over the previous twelve years, and this publication had emerged out of those efforts.
I started researching a biography of William Bulfin in the autumn of 2013. Arriving at the National Library Reading Room in Dublin in September that year, I observed that it looked the same as it did decades ago. There was one major change: books and document references were now accessed initially via computer, though requests for books could still be made on paper slips and the enormous ledgers with entries pasted in by hand were still there on the left as one entered.
The next day I acquired an ID and requested Rambles in Eirinn and Tales of the Pampas, Bulfin’s two classic works, which I browsed through with enjoyment.
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Andrew Conway (1797–1860) and Eleanor Conway (1799–1844) of Ferbane and New South Wales. By Laura Price. Blog No 753, 4th October 2025
A chance find led me to the story of Andrew and Eleanor (Ellen) Conway born in Offaly in the late 1790s. Looking for local records in the National Archives of Ireland I found a letter written to Mrs Eleanor Conway of Ferbane, King’s County. It was from her husband, Andrew Conway, a transported convict in New South Wales, Australia. Andrew wrote to Eleanor telling her of his life in Australia and how she and their child might petition to join him there.[1] He gives a very interesting account of his life in the colony, the prices of goods there, and his hopes for the future. He ends with a request to be remembered to family and friends.
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Portavrolla not Portavolla Banagher. By Kieran Keenaghan. Blog No 752, 1st Oct 2025
The place name ‘Portavrolla’ in Banagher can be traced back at least 450 years. Just very recently one ‘r’ was dropped so we now have Portavolla. ‘Port an bhrollaigh’ means ‘the port or harbour at the breast’ (of the hill). Moiler McCoghlan, pardoned by Queen Elizabeth in 1571 was of Porteabroghla and Portwroly appears on a 400 year old map.
‘Logainm’ makes it clear that the correct name is ‘Portavrolla’.
Unfortunately when the Portav(r)olla housing estate development took place about 30 years ago an ‘r’ was dropped..
The sign above by Offaly County Council ‘Beats Banagher’! – ‘Port an bhrollaigh’ being correct and ‘Portavolla’ being incorrect. Regrettably the beautiful sign itself has recently disappeared.
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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 OS six-inch 1838 map of Church St 
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.
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