Search Results ... (730)
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Harrison Hall, Roscommon
Harrison Hall, Roscommon
This black and white photo postcard, was posted from Roscommon to New York in 1948. It was purchased in Hugh Flynn's store, Main Street, Roscommon. The subject of the card was named for Dr. John Harrison, a well loved medical practitioner, who died in 1890. The horse and cart was still the mode of transport, the road being very rough. The authority of the building is obvious, placed as it is in the centre of the Market Square. This building, originally built as a courthouse in 1750, served the town also as a church in the early 1800's, until the new RC church was built in 1903, in Abbey Street. The parish priest, Fr. Madden who bought it to convert to a church, was responsible for adding the tower and new frontage to the building. It also had uses as a dancehall, opera house and playhouse. It now serves the community as a bank. The memorial surrounded by wrought iron fencing is to the memory of Luke Hayden M.P.
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Old Jail, Roscommon
Old Jail, Roscommon
This colour tinted photo was taken by John Valentine of the Old Jail, Roscommon. It was built c.1740, and occupies a prominent position in the town centre. The facade is all that is left today, and a modern extension now houses the Stone Court shopping centre. It was possibly designed by Richard Cassels, who also designed Leinster House, Powerscourt House, and Cartron House. It had the distinction of having a lady hangwoman, in the person of "Lady Betty", herself a criminal, who had her sentence withdrawn, on condition that she carried out her gruesome task without pay. The top most arch in the centre of the building, housed the bell that announced exercise periods and mealtimes. Public hangings were reportedly carried out from a timber platform, built outside the fourth storey doorway, on the left hand side of the image. The wrought iron railing outside the main door was still in situ, when the photographer took this shot. The horses with their cartloads of turf, are attended only by a young boy, whilst their masters sup at the inn, perhaps? Having served as a jail for nearly one hundred years, it became a lunatic asylum post 1822 and ten years later it became a lazeretto - a refuge for small pox sufferers. Its use changed yet again to a market house, a private dwelling house for numerous Roscommon families, and finally, a shopping centre in 1999.
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Church of Sacred Heart, Roscommon
Church of Sacred Heart, Roscommon
A black and white photo postccard (on dull paper) of the RC Sacred Heart Church Abbey Street, Roscommon, complete with it's clock and it's final tower. The image was taken post 1916 as that is when the additions were made. It is a winter Sunday morning and the faithful are leaving the church after Mass, some delaying outside the gates to exchange stories. All are dressed in their "Sunday best", and the priest in the centre of the gate is fully attired with a soutane and hat.
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TEMPLEMORE - The Lake
TEMPLEMORE - The Lake
The Lake, Templemore town park
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Main Street, Roscommon c. 1900
Main Street, Roscommon c. 1900
Very delicately colour tinted photo postcard of a crowded Main Street, Roscommon town on a fair day at the turn of the 20th century. The limestone obelisk-like monument, to the foreground of the image, was erected in the memory of Luke Hayden M.P. around 1900. He was Chairman of the Roscommon Town Commissioners. It remains to this day in a prominent position in the town square. The Bank of Ireland is the pleasing cut stone three storey building on the front right. Miss Igoe's corset making shop is one of the shops on the right as is Melia's Bakery. To the left foreground is Smith's undertakers and hackney cars, next, after the laneway is Dowdall's Drapers and next door to that is James O'Connor's business house.
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Convent Schools, Roscommon c.1970
Convent Schools, Roscommon c.1970
This is a colour photo postcard of the Convent Schools complex in Roscommon town taken sometime late in the 1960's. The stone building in the right foreground, is the original three storey Primary school opened in 1902, and reduced by one storey in 1964. A pre-fab building extends the Primary school to the left foreground all on the church side of the road. The buildings immediately behind that, are the convent Secondary complex, with the railway station "greened" out in the rear.
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The Old Abbey, Roscommon
The Old Abbey, Roscommon
This colour tinted view of the Abbey was taken looking towards the north west. Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, (1837) describes the remains of the Abbey with its "northern transept, in which is an aisle separated by four pointed arches, resting on massive round pillars. Over the principle entrance is a very beautiful window, with an enriched architrave decorated with pinnacles, the windows in the choir are lancet shaped. Fragments of sculptured stones are scattered over the whole area, which is still in use as a burial place". The beautiful Celtic Cross in the left foreground is now sadly mutilated and grounded. This belongs to the Kelly/O'Rorke Mausoleum, the plinth remains also in a bad state of repair. A variety of limestone gravemarkers can be seen, the earliest legible one dating back to 1797. The postcard was posted from Roscommon in 1929, to New York at a cost of one and a half pennies.
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Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co.Dublin.
Merrion Avenue, Blackrock, Co.Dublin.
Merrion Avenue was developed as part of a landscaping plan for the Fitzwilliam estate. Trees were planted along the avenue and an entrance was created at the bottom of it. This occurred after 1704 when Mount Merrion House was built on 100 acres near Merrion Castle. Up until about 1800 Mount Merrion Avenue was left largely untouched. Houses were then built at the bottom of the avenue at Pembroke Terrace and later at Peafield Terrace.
Image acquired from The Collectors' Shop, Blackrock.
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The Courthouse, Roscommon
The Courthouse, Roscommon
The Courthouse, Roscommon, built in 1832 for the sum of £8,752.00 was described by Isaac Weld in his Statistical Survey of Roscommon, as follows " a new courthouse upon a very commodiuos plan, has been latterly erected in Roscommon, which was not yet entirely completed in all its parts when I visited the place" The well proportioned front facade and elaborate entrance way are Doric in style, and face toward a large enclosed area common to the courthouse and New Gaol. The cupola and stonework are among the striking features of the building. The coat of arms, over the three bay breakfront is the "Lion and Unicorn". In 1922 hundreds of rounds of ammunition were fired at it, to shouts of "Three Cheers for the Free State"! A major fire caused extensive damage to it and also to sixteen dwelling houses in nearby Abbey Street, in June 1882. The Grand Jury restored it, and the building as it is captured by the photographer at the turn of the 20th century is a blend of the earlier building of the 1830's with the more modern reconstruction of the 1880's. The white building peeping out of the front right is the New Gaol.
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Protestant Church, Roscommon
Protestant Church, Roscommon
This Church of Ireland church, named after Saint Coman is a detached building set in its own grounds, in Henry Street. The orginal photo was taken by William Lawrence from the southern perspective. Samuel Lewis in his Topographical Dictionary, 1837 described it as follows "a neat edifice with a square tower, in which are a doorway and window of elegant design". It was built in 1775 with a three bay nave, transept to the south, vestry to the north and a three stage castellated tower to the west. The card was posted from Roscommon to Philidelphia in 1908 at a cost of one penny.