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| Mullingar An Muileann gCearr | ||
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|---|---|---|
| Rinné Colman gairé beag searbh | ||
| Location | ||
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WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: | ||
| Irish grid reference N425523 | ||
| Statistics | ||
| Province: | Leinster | |
| County: | County Westmeath | |
| Elevation: | 101 m | |
| Population (2006) - Town: - Environs: | 8,954 9,575 | |
| Website: www.westmeathcoco.ie/ | ||
Mullingar (An Muileann gCearr in Irish, meaning "the left-handed, or wry, mill") is the administrative centre of County Westmeath, Ireland and the seat of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Meath. Local government affairs are administered for the county from the town and county council buildings.
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From the year 1542, Henry VIII of England made Westmeath a county, separating Eastmeath from Westmeath, and thus distinguishing the two counties. Mullingar became the administrative centre for County Westmeath.
The town was originally named Maelblatha, and takes its modern name from a mill noted in the legend of Colman of Mullingar.From: Betha Colmáin Maic Lúacháin, or, The Life of Colmán son of Lúachan Life of Colman of Lynn alternatively, one may find where the old copy of the original has been all these years in France Bibliothèque de Rennes
Mullingar now possesses amenities such as libraries, secondary schools, gymnasiums, snooker halls, internet-cafes, an Arts Centre, and railway station. The town had a tradition of cattle-trading up until 2003, when its cattle market was finally closed for development of a mixed commercial and residential scheme called the Market Point.
Mullingar is famous for the neighbouring lakes, Lough Owel and Lough Ennell, which attract many anglers, as well as Lough Derravaragh. Lough Derravaragh is best known for its connection with the Irish legend of the Children of Lir. Having being turned into swans, the four children of King Lir spent three hundred years on Lough Derravaragh before moving to other locations around Ireland. Lough Lene has a reputation for its clear water, historic ringforts, and wind-surfing.
Mullingar and its surrounding area
In recent times one of Mullingar\'s major exports has become the items of pewterware Mullingar Pewter, Gifts of a Lifetime produced by the firm of Mullingar Pewter located near the town. Genesis fine art is also produced locally and sold worldwide - one of its sculpures of the "Pilgrims" dominates the dispensary house at Austin Friars St where once there was an Augustinian Friary.
The town, as of 2006, is the most populated town in the Irish Midlands [1]|.The current total zoned area within the town and environs is approximately 1,280 hectares, based on the Westmeath County Development Plan 2002-2008. This area therefore, is considerable less than the areas zoned in Athlone and Tullamore.
The town has two newspapers serving the community: The Westmeath Topic and the Westmeath Examiner.Audit Bureau of Circulations, Jun 2006 - Jan 2007.
Mullingarhttp://www.wikimapia.org/#lat=53.520206&lon=-7.34024&z=13&l=2&m=a also forms part of the Midlands Gateway, Midland Gateway Ireland Athlone Tullamore Mullingar tullamore Offaly Ireland tullamore chamber online westmeath offaly tullamore in association with Athlone and Tullamore.
The cathedral of Christ the King soars over Mary Street in Mullingar
Mullingar\'s commercial sector has expanded in recent years from just a few shops on the main streets of the town - Oliver Plunkett St., Austin Friars St., and Mount St. - to several major shopping areas. There is an out-of-town retail park at Lakepoint (about a mile from the town center), the \'Harbour Place\' shopping center near the town center and a new development at the Green - on the site of the former Avonmore and Pennys units.
The town has a mix of local retailers and chain stores (Tesco, Dunnes Stores, O2, Penneys, Lidl, SuperValu, Boots, Specsavers, Lifestyle Sports, Atlantic Homecare, Marks and Spencer and others). The town also has branches of all the major banks - AIB, Bank of Ireland, Halifax, Ulster Bank, National Irish Bank, Permanent TSB - and branches of First Active and EBS building societies. The town also has one of the country\'s largest Credit Unions (St. Colemans Credit Union)[citation needed].
A Farmers\' Market is held in Mullingar every Sunday and a further small market is run near Penneys/Marks and Spencer by The Green.
The town has several primary schools serving the area, and a number of secondary schools - including St. Finian\'s College. Until 2003 St. Finian\'s was an all boys boarding school, however in 2003 the decision was made to phase out the boarding school by 2007 and to admit girls as well as boys.
Other secondary schools include the Christian Brothers School for boys, Loreto College for girls and the Community College which is a co-educational school for boys and girls. The Community College also runs evening courses for adults and awards the FETAC certificates.
The nearby village of Multyfarnham has a boarding school for both boys and girls, Wilsons Hospital School serves many students from Mullingar.
The Famine Memorial Fountain and a millstone, recalling the origin of the town\'s name
Mullingar contains several industrial estates including Lough Sheever Corporate Park and the Lynn Industrial estate. Two of the towns major manufacturing plants - Penn tennis balls and TarkettTarkett Group - both closed in the early 2000s causing many job losses. However newer industries have absorbed the job losses - including Capmark,capmark^ Oakley,Oakley - The Official Site P.E.M. Engineering,PEM Ireland Trend Technologies,Injection Moulding, Plastic Mouldings, Medical Devices, Automotive Components -Trend Technologies Taconic International,Taconic Corporate Homepage and Mullingar Pewter which are all sizeable operations. The town is also home to a Van Nelle (Ireland) (a subsidiary of Imperial Tobacco factory which has provided employment for many years.
Iralco,Iralco, Ireland, Irish, Meath, automotive industry, automotive components, steel, steel bending, patent process an automotive component manufacturer, is located nearby in Collinstown continues to provied employment to a skilled work force. The town recently won a €25m Lidl Warehouse and distribution center which will employ between 100 and 150. A new site for the IDA Business Park has been sited aloung the new N52 bypass. A major addition to the towns telecommunications infrastructure - a broadband network - was completed in 2004 - this is expected to increase the areas attractiveness to large multinational companies. Tesco Ireland had wanted to build a superstore in Lakepoint Retail addition to its current store but the local council turned this down.
The announcement that Marks and Spencer is planning to open a store in the Fairgreen Shopping centre has been a recent boost for the town. The Fairgreen centre had been caught up in a planning battle with the owners of the Harbour Place Shopping Centre who challenged its right to let space to \'high street\' retailers rather than \'bulky\' retailers, for which the scheme was zoned. This claim however was rejected by the authorities paving the way for a new M&S store. UK fashion retailer \'New Look\' is also seeking space in the town. There is however a great need for more retailers in Mullingar which has leaked millions of Euro of spending power from the area to surrounding retail centres such as Liffey Valley and Blanchardstown. The town\'s high street has witnessed a spate of closures recently, with primarily independent traders suffering, including Kilroys, Texas, The Austin Friar Hotel and Partners Dry Cleaners as shoppers go elsewhere to take advantage of more choice from national and UK stores. Some of these closures are rumoured to relate to land banking by a developer keen to develop a larger scheme on Austin Friar Street. Dunnes Stores has also closed a convenience food store in order to consolidate its business on their larger format department store at Harbour Place, where planning permission is sought to extend their store for them, presumably in preparation for M&S\'s imminent arrival. Heatons is also rumoured to be closing on the towns main thoroughfare after over 20 years of successful trading, a suggestion which has been fervently denied by the store, who report excellent trading from the site.
Mullingar lies on national primary route N4, the main Dublin - Sligo road, 79 km (49 miles) from the capital. The town is served by a Bus Éireann service to Dublin and Athlone where passengers can catch connecting buses.
The town currently suffers from heavy afternoon traffic partially caused by a lack of off-street parking problem. The town is bypassed and a ring road has been completed in a bid to further alleviate traffic. A new road to Athlone is also in the planning stages.
In the 19th century the town was served for a time by the Royal Canal - however displaced first by the railway and then the car, it is no longer commercially used for the transport of goods or people.
A train from Dublin arrives at Mullingar
The Midland Great Western Railway line to Mullingar from Dublin opened in stages from 1846 to 1848, arriving in Mullingar on 2 October 1848. This was to a temporary station, adjacent to the greyhound stadium. The original mainline ran from Dublin (Broadstone Station) to Galway via Mullingar and Athlone, the Mullingar to Galway section opening in August 1851. The present station opened with the branch line to Longford on 14 December 1855.
There were two secondary stations in Mullingar, Canal Crossing cattle bank was on the Sligo Line and on the Athlone Line, Newbrook racecourse had its own station. This was unique in that it was a two platformed station with both platforms on the Down Line.
Nowadays, the line northwest to Longford and Sligo is the mainline, Galway is accessed from Heuston Station via Portarlington and the line between Mullingar and Athlone is currently disused. Mullingar station is served by national rail company Iarnród Éireann\'s Arrow commuter services to Dublin and InterCity trains to/from Sligo.
The Railway Preservation Society of Ireland have a secondary base in the town. There is a photo survey of the disused Athlone Mullingar line available by clicking here.
St Loman\'s Hospital
The Midland Regional Hospital at Mullingar serves the entire Longford-Westmeath area. A large extension was built in the early 1990s to accommodate the ever-increasing population. A change in government, however, halted investment and the extension lay as an empty shell until late 2006 when funding was finally secured to ensure its completion.
There are several other hospitals in the town: St Loman\'s, which provides psychiatric services to all of the Irish Midlands; St Mary\'s, a care centre for older people; and the St Francis Private Hospital.
Mullingar\'s main tourist attractions are its lakes - Lough Owel, Lough Lene and Lough Ennell - which are popular with anglers - and Belvedere House and Gardens which is heavily promoted for its beauty. The town has several hotels - including the Greville Arms Hotel, Annebrook House Hotel, Bloomfield House Hotel and the 4 star Mullingar Park Hotel which houses a conference centre.
The town is also known for its connections to Irish author James Joyce, who was a frequent visitor to Mullingar during his youth. Joyce\'s father, John, was a civil servant posted from Dublin to compile an electoral register of Mullingar and the surrounding townlands. He often stayed in the Greville Arms Hotel, where some of the scenes in the celebrated novel, "Ulysses", are set.
Mullingar\'s most notable building is the cathedral of Christ the King Mullingar, the cathedral of the Diocese of Meath. The Cathedral was dedicated on the day World War II broke out.
Columb Barracks is a major military base in the county comprising of the 4th Field Artillery Regiment and the HQ of the 54 Reserve Field Artillery Regiment (Army Reserve) formally the FCA (9 FAR).
The Mullingar Town Band was founded in 1879 by Fr. Polland as a Holy Family Confraternity Band. The local Military Barracks supplied many of the early members who themselves were serving members of the British Regimental bands stationed in Mullingar. Many of the members of these bands settled in the town and joined the band. The Mullingar Confraternity Band remained under the auspices of the Confraternity until the 1940s when it was handed over to a committee who continued under the title of Mullingar Brass and Reed Band. And thus it remained until membership had dwindled to 3 or 4 members in 1957 when the present Director Hubert Magee was asked to take the helm. In 1979 the centenary was celebrated with a membership of 100 - one member for every year of the band\'s existence.
The band has a dual role of marching band - The Celtic Crusaders - and a concert band which has won some of the top awards in Ireland, Northern Ireland and England. Entirely voluntary, it is maintained financially by membership fees and fundraising. Every four years since 1974 both the Celtic Crusaders and Concert Band attend the International Youth Band Festival in Pumerend, Holland. In 2004 the band completed a successful exchange with the Cardinal Gibbons High School Band, Raleigh, North Carolina and the band travelled to Midsomer Norton, England in July 2006 for the Open European Championships, bringing home four gold medals, including a gold with distinction in the senior concert section for the first time.
There are four Gaelic football teams in the Catholic parish of Mullingar; Mullingar Shamrocks, St. Loman\'s (both senior clubs) and Shandonagh (intermediate) and the Downs(senior). St Oliver Plunkett\'s (senior)and Cullion (intermediate) are the only hurling teams in Mullingar. The main GAA ground for County Westmeath, Cusack Park, is situated in Mullingar. Mullingar also has ladies teams such as Mullingar Shamrocks and St Lomans.
At the moment, Mullingar has three soccer teams, i.e. Mullingar Athletic (who play in a Gainstown) and Mullingar Town (who have their grounds in Dalton Park). The third, set up in 2006, are known as Mullingar Bohemians.
Mullingar rugby football club is located in Cullionbeg, and has had a degree of success in the 1990s with two towns cup final appearances. The first team will be captained in the 2007/2008 season by dual star Brian Murphy, following in the footsteps of his brother Ray and father Tom.
Mullingar has a rich tradition in athletics with the club Mullingar Harriers producing many international athletes. Bobby Begley was Irish Team Manager when Eamonn Coughlan won the 5,000 meters World Championship in Helsinki.
St. Mary\'s Snooker Club has the proud history of running Ranking Events for Greater Westmeath, namely the Mullingar Open Snooker Championship, The Westmeath Open Snooker Championship, the Midland Open and the St Mary\'s Open Classic. The County\'s most successful player has been Mick Kane who has won 11 Mullingar Open Snooker Championship titles and 7 times County Westmeath Champion. Ger O\'Connor has won 4 Mullingar Open titles and also 7 Westmeath Championships. Richie Toal is the 2006 & 2007 Mullingar Open Snooker Champion. Stephen Hickey won the Mullingar junior snooker championship in 2005. The "John Smith Memorial Cup" is played for each year as a Handicap event and has been in existence since 1963. The "Peter McNally Memorial Cup" in honour of Peter McNally (Irish International) Edenderry Snooker Club was won by the St Mary\'s Snooker Club team in 1997; the team was Mick Kane (capt), Ger O\'Connor, Anthony Cleary, Richie Toal, John Norris, Larry Mahedy & Niall Heffernan. Some years later the McNally Tournament became a singles event and Ger O\'Connor and Pat Tyrell reached the Final and Richie Toal the Semi-Finals.Stephen von Beaumont also played there. He is only 12 years old and played against Steve Davis this year in the Geville Arms.He even potted his first shot from a real long distance.
Mullingar golf club also has a proud history and hosts every August bank holiday weekend a leading amateur golf competition, i.e. The Mullingar Scratch Cup. This competition has been won by the likes of Hughie Myres, Des Smyth, Padraig Harrington, Darren Clarke, Paul McGinley. The 2006 winner is up and coming golfer from Northern Ireland Rory McIlroy. Mullingar player Gerry Purcell is former An Post Golf Society Irish Champion on two occasions.
The Mullingar Monarchs were formed in 2001, training from the CBS gym in the town centre. However the derelict gym was rejected in favour of Rochfortbridge. While the club took 2 years to get off the ground they are now one of the most decorated in the Midland League, securing one treble and two double titles. The team have also played in the National League Division 1, only one step away from the superleague.
The Mullingar Dragons were formed in 2007.
The Cricket club is based on the Murray Murray in Bunbrosna, overlooking Lough Owel. The Club fields 2 men\'s teams in Leinster and Midland Cup and league competitions
Mullingar Hockey Club plays its matches at the Loreto secondary school, near the hospital. The men\'s club is in its 25th year, and has between 40 and 50 members, fielding a First Division Four team, a Second Division Eight team and (from 2007) a Third cup team. In the club there are 3 qualified coaches, with matches (open to the public) played every Saturday.
The Mullingar Jets Swimming Club is based in the town swimming pool located in Mullingar Town Park.
Lakeside Wheelers Mullingar Cycling club is a predominantly leisure and touring club catering for cyclists of all ages and abilities. The Clubs main activities are short, medium and longer distance cycles on Saturday and Sunday mornings and in the summer months on Monday and Wednesday evenings.
Mullingar is also the home of one of Ireland\'s international riding centres. Mullingar Equestrian Centre ( 5 minutes outside the town) regularly hosts competitions. Also they are available for lessons, and on Friday evenings during the year there are compitions for riders to compete in. Other schools in the area include Ladlestown Riding School and Catheraines Town Riding School. Studs include Tally Ho and Charlestown Stud.
The Order of Malta Ambulance Corps, Ireland\'s largest voluntary ambulance service, has been in operation in Mullingar since September 2001. The Order of Malta provides ambulance and first aid cover at events across Mullingar and Westmeath. The Order of Malta operate 2 vehicles in Mullingar and work closely with the Athlone Order of Malta which operates 4 ambulances.
The Westmeath Civil Defence headquarters are now located in the County Council lands at Cullenbeg just off the N4 at the Castlepollard exit off the Motorway in Mullingar. They operate several vehicles to be deployed as required in Mullingar and Westmeath.
The end of Mary St, Mullingar |
The rail line northwest towards Sligo |
Knockdrin entrence.JPG
The entrance to Knockdrin Castle |
Priest House, formerly the Bishop\'s Residence |
National School, Mullingar |
Mullingar Centre.jpg
Mullingar town centre |
Mullingar Park Hotel |
The top of Dominick Street, Mullingar |
Mullingar 02 area.JPG
Mullingar\'s hinterland |
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