Castlebar's Streets Renamed?
As has been outlined earlier, the street names of Castlebar heavily reflect the town’s colonial past especially the Plantation Period and Landlordism, in the guise of the Bingham family who ruled over the town for hundreds of years. However after the 1920 elections there was a motion to change the street names of the town. It was proposed by John Joseph Collins, traditional musician, auctioneer, member of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association but more importantly owner of the nationalist newspaper The Mayoman. It is recorded in the minutes of the Castlebar Urban District Council that in May of that year Mr. Collins put forward a motion to change the street names. It was seconded and a committee was set up to decide on the name changes with the exception of changing Linenhall Street, Gallows Hill and Rush Street owing to the historical significance. On the 16th of August some name changes were proposed as follows.
Proposed Name Changes
Barrack Street to Ninetyeight Street
Castle Street to DeBarry Street
Chapel Street to Church Street
Charles Street to Wolfe Tone Street
Church Street to O'Rahilly Street
Lucan Street to Sarsfield Street
Ellison Street to John MacBride Street
The Green to Fr Conroy Green
Market Street to Humbert Street
Narrow Lane to Patrick Street
New Antrim Street to Thomas Davis Street
Staball Hill to French Hill
Richard Street to Lord Edward Street
Shambles Sq to O'Donovan Rossa Sq
Shambles Street to James Connolly Street
Spenser Street to Patrick Pearse Street
Thomas Street to Ninetyeight Street
Tucker Street to William Rooney Street
The names were approved with the notable objection of A.C. Larminie, the only Unionist councillor elected to the council. He left the meeting seemingly in protest before the decision was come to. In September a memorandum was read to the councillors from the Dáil that explained that they could change the names under section 21 of the Public Health Act’s Amendment Act of 1907. However, the names were never adopted. The motion was proposed by J.J. Collins, a staunch Republican. He was elected as an Independent who had ties to Sinn Féin but later moved to Fine Gael. However, he continued to try to push through the changes. In 1938 he proposed the approved motion of 1920 be ‘carried into effect in accordance with the aspirations of the people’ There was opposition to this but the opposition was defeated and the original motion was carried. Again in 1943 Collins attempted to change the names. There was a heated debate with motions and counter motions and amendments to motions. At one point the debate became heated with Collins calling the naming of Ellison Street a disgrace as he was ‘a spy’ . After a long debate a decision was made that the matter to be left until after ‘the emergency’.
Ballina Street Names
When researching local history it is always useful to make comparisons between locations as this might help in understanding a topic better. Ballina and Castlebar are only about 40km apart and are of similar size in space and population. A quick look at any pre Free State, Ordnance Survey map will show that almost all of the street names are unrecognisable. According to reports in the Western People (1922) newspaper the town council there unanimously voted to adopt a motion by Sinn Féin councillor, T. Ruane. The names changes that commemorated Irish patriots are listed below. The name changes were not immediately implemented and it was largely down to councillor McGrath who took an active role in applying the changes. He brought the matter before the council on a number of occasions up until 1926 when the signs were bought and ready to be installed as reported in the Ballina Herald (1927) who re-printed the new street names. However, it is also clear that the street signs didn’t last long as there are numerous articles in the local newspapers; especially the Western People that claim that not only was there no use for these new names but that most people didn’t know what they were and used the old ones. Furthermore, it seems that people didn’t know there was ever any change with one Garden Street resident not knowing that he was living on Séan McDermott Street in 1936.
It would seem that Ballina Urban District Council had a larger Nationalist element in the early years of the Free State. For one, that would explain the street names changes but interestingly, Castlebar elected more Sinn Féin representatives than Ballina. It may not be possible to explain satisfactorily why Ballina adopted the name changes and Castlebar did not but it can be speculated that because Castlebar returned a Unionist, there must have been a sizeable pro-British population in the town. Also there seems to have been more enthusiasm among the members of Ballina U.D.C. for the changes whereas in Castlebar it was largely the fruitless campaign of one councillor, J.J. Collins, facing continuous opposition. What it does show is the uneasy relationship that we have with colonialism. It shows that Castlebar and Ballina were more multi-cultural than we might have imagined.
Naming and Renaming
Street names, like all placenames can be contentious, especially in a post-colonial setting. Placename changes can be seen as instilling a sense of power and identity onto the landscape to demonstrate ownership or entitlement. Also the use of language is usually incorporated to assert or re-assert identity and the issue of naming the streets of both Ballina and Castlebar has, in the early days of the Free Stete as well as more recently, stipulated the use of Irish language on the signs. Following the Local Government Act 1898 some local authorities had been allowed to change some of their street names in sympathy with Irish nationalism and Dublin Corporation erected street signs with bilingual street names. A comparison between the Ordnance Survey Historic 6 inch maps (c1840) and the Historic 25inch maps (c1900) show that many towns like Mullingar, Athlone and Galway had changed up to a handful of street names before independence.
Donnchadh O Corráin has argued that the re-naming of places in Ireland is damaging to our sense of history. Just as colonial powers destroyed a source of history. The same can be applied to the street names of the town of Castlebar. Some of the street names have been in place 200 years. They are a source of history of the town and remain a part of our culture and record our pasts. It is also interesting to note that since the Free State, Castlebar has named its new roads in sympathy with cultural nationalism. Roads such as Davitt’s Terrace, John Moore Road, McHale Road and the Humbert Way have been named after our cultural icons. Indeed it is was a memorandum from the Irish Government to local authorities in 1977 and 1986 recommending the naming of new places be historically linked with traditional local names being used wherever possible.
While the new street and road names commemorate our cultural icons the old street names commemorate our history. A history that we have based our culture around.
As has been outlined earlier, the street names of Castlebar heavily reflect the town’s colonial past especially the Plantation Period and Landlordism, in the guise of the Bingham family who ruled over the town for hundreds of years. However after the 1920 elections there was a motion to change the street names of the town. It was proposed by John Joseph Collins, traditional musician, auctioneer, member of the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletic Association but more importantly owner of the nationalist newspaper The Mayoman. It is recorded in the minutes of the Castlebar Urban District Council that in May of that year Mr. Collins put forward a motion to change the street names. It was seconded and a committee was set up to decide on the name changes with the exception of changing Linenhall Street, Gallows Hill and Rush Street owing to the historical significance. On the 16th of August some name changes were proposed as follows.
Proposed Name Changes
Barrack Street to Ninetyeight Street
Castle Street to DeBarry Street
Chapel Street to Church Street
Charles Street to Wolfe Tone Street
Church Street to O'Rahilly Street
Lucan Street to Sarsfield Street
Ellison Street to John MacBride Street
The Green to Fr Conroy Green
Market Street to Humbert Street
Narrow Lane to Patrick Street
New Antrim Street to Thomas Davis Street
Staball Hill to French Hill
Richard Street to Lord Edward Street
Shambles Sq to O'Donovan Rossa Sq
Shambles Street to James Connolly Street
Spenser Street to Patrick Pearse Street
Thomas Street to Ninetyeight Street
Tucker Street to William Rooney Street
The names were approved with the notable objection of A.C. Larminie, the only Unionist councillor elected to the council. He left the meeting seemingly in protest before the decision was come to. In September a memorandum was read to the councillors from the Dáil that explained that they could change the names under section 21 of the Public Health Act’s Amendment Act of 1907. However, the names were never adopted. The motion was proposed by J.J. Collins, a staunch Republican. He was elected as an Independent who had ties to Sinn Féin but later moved to Fine Gael. However, he continued to try to push through the changes. In 1938 he proposed the approved motion of 1920 be ‘carried into effect in accordance with the aspirations of the people’ There was opposition to this but the opposition was defeated and the original motion was carried. Again in 1943 Collins attempted to change the names. There was a heated debate with motions and counter motions and amendments to motions. At one point the debate became heated with Collins calling the naming of Ellison Street a disgrace as he was ‘a spy’ . After a long debate a decision was made that the matter to be left until after ‘the emergency’.
Ballina Street Names
When researching local history it is always useful to make comparisons between locations as this might help in understanding a topic better. Ballina and Castlebar are only about 40km apart and are of similar size in space and population. A quick look at any pre Free State, Ordnance Survey map will show that almost all of the street names are unrecognisable. According to reports in the Western People (1922) newspaper the town council there unanimously voted to adopt a motion by Sinn Féin councillor, T. Ruane. The names changes that commemorated Irish patriots are listed below. The name changes were not immediately implemented and it was largely down to councillor McGrath who took an active role in applying the changes. He brought the matter before the council on a number of occasions up until 1926 when the signs were bought and ready to be installed as reported in the Ballina Herald (1927) who re-printed the new street names. However, it is also clear that the street signs didn’t last long as there are numerous articles in the local newspapers; especially the Western People that claim that not only was there no use for these new names but that most people didn’t know what they were and used the old ones. Furthermore, it seems that people didn’t know there was ever any change with one Garden Street resident not knowing that he was living on Séan McDermott Street in 1936.
It would seem that Ballina Urban District Council had a larger Nationalist element in the early years of the Free State. For one, that would explain the street names changes but interestingly, Castlebar elected more Sinn Féin representatives than Ballina. It may not be possible to explain satisfactorily why Ballina adopted the name changes and Castlebar did not but it can be speculated that because Castlebar returned a Unionist, there must have been a sizeable pro-British population in the town. Also there seems to have been more enthusiasm among the members of Ballina U.D.C. for the changes whereas in Castlebar it was largely the fruitless campaign of one councillor, J.J. Collins, facing continuous opposition. What it does show is the uneasy relationship that we have with colonialism. It shows that Castlebar and Ballina were more multi-cultural than we might have imagined.
Naming and Renaming
Street names, like all placenames can be contentious, especially in a post-colonial setting. Placename changes can be seen as instilling a sense of power and identity onto the landscape to demonstrate ownership or entitlement. Also the use of language is usually incorporated to assert or re-assert identity and the issue of naming the streets of both Ballina and Castlebar has, in the early days of the Free Stete as well as more recently, stipulated the use of Irish language on the signs. Following the Local Government Act 1898 some local authorities had been allowed to change some of their street names in sympathy with Irish nationalism and Dublin Corporation erected street signs with bilingual street names. A comparison between the Ordnance Survey Historic 6 inch maps (c1840) and the Historic 25inch maps (c1900) show that many towns like Mullingar, Athlone and Galway had changed up to a handful of street names before independence.
Donnchadh O Corráin has argued that the re-naming of places in Ireland is damaging to our sense of history. Just as colonial powers destroyed a source of history. The same can be applied to the street names of the town of Castlebar. Some of the street names have been in place 200 years. They are a source of history of the town and remain a part of our culture and record our pasts. It is also interesting to note that since the Free State, Castlebar has named its new roads in sympathy with cultural nationalism. Roads such as Davitt’s Terrace, John Moore Road, McHale Road and the Humbert Way have been named after our cultural icons. Indeed it is was a memorandum from the Irish Government to local authorities in 1977 and 1986 recommending the naming of new places be historically linked with traditional local names being used wherever possible.
While the new street and road names commemorate our cultural icons the old street names commemorate our history. A history that we have based our culture around.