The Evolution of Buildings Through Time

Assembly Rooms, Carlow - Lectures

Concerts and Lectures were held at the Assembly Rooms during the nineteenth century. An advertisement from “The Carlow Post” 5th, February 1859 announces the holding there of two public lectures. The text was as follows: The Assembly Rooms. Carlow Catholic Institute Lectures by the Rev W.H. Anderdon, M. A., Dean of the Catholic University, on Monday and Tuesday 7th and 8th Instant [1859]. The Rev. Dr. Anderdon will deliver two lectures at the Assembly-Rooms, Carlow for the benefit of the Carlow Catholic Institute. FIRST LECTURE: “Poetry and the Poets,”SECOND LECTURE :“Recollections of a Tour in Greece” commencing each Evening at Half past Seven o’clock. Terms of admission - Front Seats, Is Back do., 6d. Each member has the privilege of introducing a Lady. Tickets to be had at the Office of THE CARLOW POST, and from the Librarian at the Institute. JAMES R. LAWLER, Hon. Sec. Carlow, February, 5, 1869

Carlow County Library

Assembly Rooms, Carlow - Lectures
Carlow County Library

Assembly Rooms, Carlow - Lectures

Concerts and Lectures were held at the Assembly Rooms during the nineteenth century. An advertisement from “The Carlow Post” 5th, February 1859 announces the holding there of two public lectures. The text was as follows: The Assembly Rooms. Carlow Catholic Institute Lectures by the Rev W.H. Anderdon, M. A., Dean of the Catholic University, on Monday and Tuesday 7th and 8th Instant [1859]. The Rev. Dr. Anderdon will deliver two lectures at the Assembly-Rooms, Carlow for the benefit of the Carlow Catholic Institute. FIRST LECTURE: “Poetry and the Poets,”SECOND LECTURE :“Recollections of a Tour in Greece” commencing each Evening at Half past Seven o’clock. Terms of admission - Front Seats, Is Back do., 6d. Each member has the privilege of introducing a Lady. Tickets to be had at the Office of THE CARLOW POST, and from the Librarian at the Institute. JAMES R. LAWLER, Hon. Sec. Carlow, February, 5, 1869

Carlow County Library

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GBS bust

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on 26th July 1856. He was the son of George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw (nee Gurly). His formal education finished early and he started work at the age of fifteen. Shaw’s ties with Carlow are particulary noteworthy. His uncle Dr. John Walter Gurly who died in 1899 bequeathed all his properties in the Carlow area to Shaw’s mother and thereafter to his six step sisters should they remain unmarried. However, they all did marry and so Shaw became the owner. One of the properties was the Assembly Rooms donated to the Technical Instruction Committee in 1919. In 1944, Shaw made a bequest of his entire Carlow properties to Carlow Urban Council. This became the basis of the Civic Improvement Fund. Many portraits of Shaw exist but this bust of Shaw is by the Sculptor, Sava Botzaris (1894-1965). He was born in the former Yugoslavia. The bust is housed in Carlow County Library, in Tullow Street, Carlow.

Carlow County Library

GBS bust
Carlow County Library

GBS bust

George Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin on 26th July 1856. He was the son of George Carr Shaw and Lucinda Elizabeth Shaw (nee Gurly). His formal education finished early and he started work at the age of fifteen. Shaw’s ties with Carlow are particulary noteworthy. His uncle Dr. John Walter Gurly who died in 1899 bequeathed all his properties in the Carlow area to Shaw’s mother and thereafter to his six step sisters should they remain unmarried. However, they all did marry and so Shaw became the owner. One of the properties was the Assembly Rooms donated to the Technical Instruction Committee in 1919. In 1944, Shaw made a bequest of his entire Carlow properties to Carlow Urban Council. This became the basis of the Civic Improvement Fund. Many portraits of Shaw exist but this bust of Shaw is by the Sculptor, Sava Botzaris (1894-1965). He was born in the former Yugoslavia. The bust is housed in Carlow County Library, in Tullow Street, Carlow.

Carlow County Library

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Buildings often reflect changing patterns of use brought about by the succession of ownership or important social change. The reason why a building of a particular sort was constructed may change over time. When there is no longer a need to be met or the building no longer fulfils its role then it may be adapted to other uses.

The Assembly Rooms were used originallly for dinners and balls for nobility and gentry of County Carlow. Concerts and Lectures were held here too. An advertisement from The Carlow Post of 5th, February 1859 announces two lectures to which the public are invited. The topics of these lectures were "Poetry and the Poets" and "Recollections of a Tour in Greece". The Rev. W.H. Anderdon, M.A., Dean of the Catholic University, was the speaker and it was organised by the Carlow Catholic Institute. In 1805, the property passed to Thomas Gurly Junior who was the great-grandfather of George Bernard Shaw. The Building was donated by Shaw in 1919 to the Technical Instruction Committee. A Technical School was opened. It was later used as a school by the Vocational Education Committee. This building continued as a Technical School for several years. It became the County Library in the mid 1970's. In 1998, the County Library vacated the building but the noteworthy architectural features still add interest to its Dublin Street location

An advertisement outlining the auction of the Gaol can be found in the "Carlow Sentinel" newspaper of February 6th, 1897. It was offered in one lot and the detailed description refers to the Governor's four-staired dwellinghouse, matron's two-storied house, female prison of 30 cells, convicts' prison on 3 stories with 34 cells, and several other facilities including wash-house, stables and coach-house. The Gaol premises stood on two statute acres surrounded by a twenty-foot wall, built of limestone and coped with granite. Robert Bell was the auctioneer.

Later the Gaol premises became the Hanover engineering works, owned by Thompsons until it was closed down in the 1980's. The site was then developed as a Shopping Centre which opened in March 1994. Some of the original features were retained. The gate lodge is used as one of the entrances to the centre and the governor's house forms part of a restaurant within the shopping complex. The cast iron horse heads and stag head have also been retained.

Even the Country House has found a new role adapting to reflect changes brought by the passing of time. When Oak Park House and estate was sold in 1959 the Land Commission purchased seven hundred acres. The state used the house and remaining land as an agricultural research facility in the 1960s. It is soon to be the national headquarters of Teagasc, the Agricultural Research Institute.