Have it all!

So, as soon as he was able, Shaw offered all his Carlow property to Carlow District Council for "the common welfare."

Assembly Rooms (Copy)

The Assembly Rooms were built around 1794, at the junction of Dublin Street and Cox?s Lane. His first gesture to the people of Carlow was the gift of the Assembly Rooms in Dublin Street in 1919 to the Technical Instruction Committee through its chairman Rev. Dr. Foley Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. The building was in a dilapidated state. Shaw had once remarked that it would make an excellent observatory as the stars could be studied through the holes in its roof! It opened as a Technical School in 1923 and was later owned by the Vocational Education Committee. In the late 1970's it became the County Library and remained so until 1998.

Carlow County Library

Assembly Rooms (Copy)
Carlow County Library

Assembly Rooms (Copy)

The Assembly Rooms were built around 1794, at the junction of Dublin Street and Cox?s Lane. His first gesture to the people of Carlow was the gift of the Assembly Rooms in Dublin Street in 1919 to the Technical Instruction Committee through its chairman Rev. Dr. Foley Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. The building was in a dilapidated state. Shaw had once remarked that it would make an excellent observatory as the stars could be studied through the holes in its roof! It opened as a Technical School in 1923 and was later owned by the Vocational Education Committee. In the late 1970's it became the County Library and remained so until 1998.

Carlow County Library

Enlarge image

His properties in Carlow included the old Assembly Rooms in Dublin Street, which were used as headquarters of the county library until recently.

He also inherited property on John Street, Centaur Street, Ballymanus Terrace, Athy Road, Grave Lane, the Quay and Tullow Street.

The annual rent on all these properties when Shaw inherited them was £150.

So at a meeting in April 1945, the Urban Council accepted the Shaw properties.

The rents from these properties then amounted to £180. This became the Civic Improvement Fund, which Shaw hoped would form the beginning of a much bigger fund.

Bust of George Bernard Shaw
Carlow County Library

Today many portraits of Shaw exist but a bust of him can be seen in the County Library in Tullow Street.

In this building too can be found the Shaw Room dedicated to this great literary figure, who shared a special relationship with Carlow town.