The Tour will explore the rich literary history and heritage of Mullingar. The town was visited by writers such as James Joyce and William Carleton and has produced a wealth of local literary talent over the centuries including Patricia Gibney and Leo Daly.

 

The Tour will begin at the Market Square. The noted American actor and theatre producer Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) staged productions of Shakespeare in the Market House on the Square every summer from 1837 to 1843. The novelist William Carleton worked as a school teacher in Mullingar from 1822 to 1824 and  lived in a house on the north side of the Square, where he also had his school.

 

From the Market Square the Tour will move down Mount Street. The novelist James Joyce may have stayed in a boarding house on this street in 1900 and 1901 when he was living in Mullingar. Part of Mount Street was once known as Sterne Street after a relation of the novelist Laurence Sterne, who himself visited the town.  A Mural of James Joyce on the wall of a Mount Street bar celebrates his connection to the town. What is now Caffrey’s Bar on Mount Street was Connellans’  Bar in 1900, when Joyce visited it.

 

The Courthouse at the end of Mount Street was where Joyce and his father worked at the task of sorting out the confused electoral registers  for the county council. The  Arts Centre across the road from the Courthouse has played host to most of the major actors and entertainers of Ireland since it opened in 1913-including the Abbey Theatre Company and the Nobel Prize winning playwright Harold Pinter.  The County Buildings behind the Arts Centre feature in one of the crime novels of Patricia Gibney, who once worked there.

 

The Tour will then move up Blackhall Place towards the History Mural at the back of the Westmeath Examiner office. The  Mural includes a panel celebrating the literary figures associated with the town.    

 

From Blackhall the Tour will move up to Dominick Street  and   Mary Street where the novelist, playwright,broadcaster and photographer Leo Daly lived. Mention will also be made of the actor,musician and playwright Pat Layde, who lived nearby in Patrick Street.

 

The  Tour will go  on into Bishopsgate Street where the  Cathedral of Christ the King  contains a mosaic depicting the face of the great Russian Ukrainian poet  Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966) done by the Russian born artist Boris Anrep.  The cathedral also features in the novels of Patricia Gibney. Colaiste Mhuire next to the cathedral educated locally born authors such as Pat Layde and Leo Daly.

 

The Tour will continue along Bishopsgate Street past St Mary’s Hall. This Hall was the town’s major theatre venue in the late 19th and early 20th century and staged many drama productions including works by Shakespeare, Goldsmith and Lady Gregory. Patrick Pearse delivered a talk there  at the inaugural meeting of the local Gaelic League branch in 1902. 

      

From Bishopsgate Street the Tour will continue into Friars Mill Rd to look at the site of the childhood home of the novelist, theatre producer and passionate advocate of poetry Josephine Hart.  She grew up in Mullingar before moving to London and appeared in several drama productions with local theatre groups. 

 

From Friars Mill Rd the tour will head towards Pearse Street. A plaque on Fagans’ Toymasters on this street notes that this was where  Millie Bloom was working in James  Joyce’s “Ulysses”.  In Joyce’s time here the  business was a post office, stationary shop and photographer’s studio, run by Mr Phil Shaw.  Near Fagan’s is  All Saints’ Church, where William Carleton worshipped during his time in Mullingar. Jonathan Swift may also have visited the church.

 

The Tour will end at the Greville Arms Hotel. James Joyce visited this 275 year old establishment during his stay in Mullingar. The novelist William Carleton was also a regular visitor  during his time here in the 1820’s. Danny Byrne’s pub next door to the Greville Arms features in the novels of Patricia Gibney, as does the Greville Arms. The Greville Arms contains a wealth of material relating to James Joyce.