Origins of the Charabanc
In early twentieth-century Ireland, vehicles called charabancs were common. Charabancs were open-topped buses, as seen in this photograph.
A Charabanc
Image courtesy of Whittington & District Heritage Society.
Image courtesy of Whittington & District Heritage Society.
The name charabanc derives from the French word char ą bancs, meaning 'carriage with wooden benches'. The charabanc originated in France in the early nineteenth century. At that time, charabancs were horse-drawn carriages. In the early twentieth century, they became motorised and were often used for leisure excursions organised within workplaces.
Charabancs in Swords
Inaugural Run
This is a black-and-white postcard showing a charabanc-type bus on its inaugural run out of the village of Garristown in the 1920s.
Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.Inaugural Run
Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.
Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.
Inaugural Run
This is a black-and-white postcard showing a charabanc-type bus on its inaugural run out of the village of Garristown in the 1920s.
Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.
Garristown Passengers
This is a black-and-white postcard showing people queuing up to board the bus in the village of Garristown in the 1920s.
Image courtesy of Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.Garristown Passengers
Image courtesy of Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.
Image courtesy of Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.
Garristown Passengers
This is a black-and-white postcard showing people queuing up to board the bus in the village of Garristown in the 1920s.
Image courtesy of Fingal Libraries Postcard Collection.What follows is an extract from an oral history series about Swords. This extract is taken from Swords Voices, vol. 1, part 3. Here, a local resident remembers charabancs in Swords in the early twentieth century after 1918:
"In later years, there was a charabanc used to come from over the Naul way ... used to run to Dublin through Swords once or twice a week. Many couples would travel on the charabanc. It was a long chassis with several rows of seats across it, and the people sat about four in a row. Doors all on one side. There was a canvas hood held up by stays. People used to take umbrellas on it, if it was raining. If there was a slight trace of rain you'd see umbrellas up here and there in the seats. If it was real bad they'd put this hood up between the stays and the water used to fill the canvas and it would sag, and going round a bend the fellow on the outside would be saturated out of his skin. A few years after that a little bus started running called the 'Garryowen' - a yellow and red bus, belonged to a man called Madden."