BARRACK ST

Looking towards the Market Cross

A single image but so much happening

Looking up towards the Market Cross. Notice the blind Pilasters on the corners of the Bank before the Bank doorway was redesigned and was angled towards the Market Cross

A busy dog crosses the road without much fear of the traffic. Notice how many bicycles are in the picture.

Entrance to the Nenagh branch of the Hellfire Club and later the Ormond Club. It also led to the Nenagh Market House which was connected to Castle St via a first floor bridgeway or gantry

The ghostly signage outline of what used to be Liptons shop

The Voyeur observed. The watcher from the upstairs window.

Joey O'Connor - pioneer of supermarket shopping

Fogarty's Hardware later became McCarneys

McCarney's would bring in 2nd hand furniture from English Auction houses and house clearances, someof it between the wars utilitarian, some antique but always good for a rummage

".....put that by for me and I'll pay you later"

Ryan & Harty drapers

View from the Market Cross looking down Barrack St

Barrack St before the advent of Automobiles, This was taken during WW1. Still looks busy albeit at a more gentle pace. This photo was taken at the junction of Abbey/Chapel Lane and Barrack St. We know it's WW1 because of the poster pasted to the R.I.C. barrack walls

We can date this photo to WW1 as we can see a recruiting poster pasted on the wall of the R.I.C. station 

Frozen in time....cracking a joke outside Hogans

Why doncha get yerself a proper man's job.....? (outside Michael Ryans at 64 Barrack St)

When the speed you travelled was dictated by the donkey's whims

WW1 Recruitment poster pasted on the walls of the R.I.C. Barracks

Glebe Lane Entrance

....or to us the side entrance into the snug in the Central Bar where as teenagers we put on our deepest bassist voice and order a pint through the hatch....later standing at the Market Cross chewing Wrigleys gum so the Mother wouldn't smell alcohol on our breath as we staggered into the house

Michael Ryans at 64 Barrack St which later became Martin & Nancy O'Connors newsagents

O'Connors, Sheary's and the Garda Station

15/07/1972 - Sheehan's supermarket fire (Nenagh Guardian)

The same building repurposed with new Tenants

Sheehans Supermarket

... Joeys primary competitor and the fire that later destroyed the premises. As kids we watched the flames on that Sunday afternoon, as they licked the bulging plate glass windows and eagerly destroyed a family's livelihood. We were entralled by the spectacle happening before our eyes. For weeks afterwards we couldn't be kept away from the smouldering ruins, entering through Ballalley Lane and intent on salvaging any of the treasures that might have escaped the flames

The old Garda Barracks and the steps. In its past it had once been a convent

The tragic tale of the murder and suicide of two Gardai in Nenagh Garda Barracks on Monday 17/04/1944  (Liverpool Post 18/04/1944)

Garda going on duty

The Gardai leave the Barracks for the last time....

The Garda Station after new owners moved in. To their credit, the use of vernacular architecture as a shop front helps the shop to settle in

"I dare you to run up and down the steps"...and always fearful that you might be caught by one of the Guards

Garda Barracks undergoing renovations. The first thing to go would be the iconic steps

Garda Barracks reimagined as part of a shop chain - all individuality gone

The ever popular Hacketts Butchers

Previously known as The Royal Oak and later as the Central Hotel

Johnny Higgins shop with the wooden shutters on the window

Nellie Kearns Drapers which later became Fogarty Fabrics and another incarnation as a Photo Developers

Former Bank Building

Geraghty's and Fogarty Fabrics

Hasseys 1 - original shopfront

Hasseys 2 - It pays to advertise

Hasseys 3

Hasseys 4

A procession going up Lower Barrack St. O'Hara's Mills shop, Geraghty's and the Central Hotel on the left hand side

O'Hara's Mills offices before it was demolished

The Widow Ryans.....safest place to drink if you behaved yourself as the off duty Gardai drank in the back so it was unlikely to be raided for after hours imbibers

Former Church of Ireland school later Loretta House

The water trough and pump.

With the demise of horse drawn vehicles and livestock sales banished to the Mart, the trough has been repurposed for another use. In September 2017 it was destroyed by road-workers but following an outcry on social media it was returned to it's former position

The much loved Annie Ryan's sweet shop

Michael Geaney Coachworks

Heffernan's Hardware at 26 Barrack St where you bought your seeds and cabbage plants and Bonfields next door at 25.

A stroll down Lower Barrack St

The Kenyon, formerly Spillane's, formerly Clerihans....see photo below

The Ormond Hotel when the entrance was by the Gateway

Ormond Hotel with the new entrance transposed

The Ormond as Easy Street

The Ormond Water Bus on Lough Derg

Wedding party for Peg Hassett & Georgie Maher on the Ormond Hotel Tennis Court 1961

The many faces of The Ormond Hotel

Dick Gough and his pub....the bar interior with it's original high counter, is now preserved in Nenagh Heritage Centre

An Edwardian view from Lower Barrack St

Sign for the Railway Hotel clearly visible - not to be confused with the Railway Bar. In later years we would know it as the Central Hotel

Clerihans

Filling water from the pump

...I wonder....?

In her Sunday best to visit the metropolis of Nenagh

Where did you get that lampshade?

In the yard behind were large outbuildings which were once part of a distillery and in later years used as an auxiliary barracks. It also housed a military hospital during the Napoleonic Wars

Mac Mathuna's - a later version

A view from Lower Barrack St ....the Church has been abandoned and overtaken by Ivy. The devotional plaques have been removed to the new St Mary's Church of Ireland in Church Road. Part of the Church roof is clearly visible and two Nenagh Shawlies stop for a natter oblivious to the photographer. No one appears to have questioned the placement of a Tuscan style Campanile as a church tower.

A sunny afternoon in Lower Barrack St - notice the segregation of the boys and girls and the ringleader in the centre with his straw boater

A group of young lads gather around the leader with his badge of office the Straw Boater, intent on the photographer and no doubt planning their next mischief

What's yer man upto with that contraption....? curiousity always surfaces....

Some residential houses in Lower Barrack St

A man and his wife check out the photographer - a welcome distraction on a sunny day in Barrack St

Pig Market in Lower Barrack St. The market House was across the street

In this photo we see part of the roof is still in existence. The tower itself was added to the Church in 1700. The entrance to the tower is through the cottage at the side according to one of the former residents. There is no other visible entrance.

A colourised postcard of Lower Barrack St

View of the rear aspect of Barrack St Church. This is a truncated version of the original church

Some interior shots of the Barrack St Church ruins.

Bear in mind this present structure was reconstructed utilising part of the ruins of the old Church after it was abandoned in favour of the new Church of Ireland building in Church Road. Commemorative plaques that adorned the walls were removed to the new church.

Sharpening knives in Barrack St with the Market House on the left. That chicken had better watch out.....!

The Hunt and Foxhounds gathered outside the old Market House

Some shots of the Old Market House before it was renovated. It was originally built in 1812 to replace the Market House at the Market Cross. It was bounded by the Clareen River and River Lane. River Lane had 16 small houses all owned by Catherine O'Brien each of which had an average rent of 8 pennies per week.

It was here also behind the old Market House that one of the gates in the Nenagh Town Walls was to be found. It was known as Sparragibba - (Ragged or unkempt) - The Rickety Old Gate. The Wall stretched at an angle towards BallAlley Lane and Silver St where there was another gate at Thomond Gate. A third gate was to be found in Pound St which in those days was the principle commercial street in the town.

Nenagh Guardian 13/08/1938

The changing faces of Cullens Bar

View down Stafford St of the old Barrack St Church Tower. Very little has changed since the photo above taken in Edwardian times

The Railway Bar/Grove Inn - popular in it's time and sadly now demolished to facilitate an entrance to the creamery 

Inside the Railway Bar

Warehouse in Stafford St

I've included this warehouse as it's around the corner in Stafford St. I always loved the pure utilitarian aspect of this building. Crying out to be converted to a gallery or Studio. I've seen similar buildings converted to artistic hubs, theatres, gyms etc. Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be. The vision was lacking. The building was purely functional. Another lost building to Nenagh and sadly another one that fell to progress.

The Railway Bridge replaced Church St.

There were upwards of 60 houses there in 1851. It stretched from the old C.O.I church in Barrack St to the boundary of Nenagh Hospital/Workhouse. There was no Stafford St either. Initially it was proposed that a level crossing would be a cheaper alternative but the matter ended up being debated in Westminster and Church St was removed to make way for the Bridge (see map of Church St below)

Church St before the Bridge

Ordnance marker inset in the entrance of the old Church