Trains boats and flying chaises

Trains, Boats and Flying Chaises forms the basis for a walking tour provided by Ruth Illingworth who will be focusing on the rich transport history of Mullingar on Sunday October 5 at 3pm.

Starting at the main door of Mullingar Railway Station, Ruth will be covering some the more colourful episodes in the station’s history including the murder of the station master in 1869 and the arrest of Sean McKeon during the War of Independence, as well as the filming of The First Great Train Robbery which starred Sean Connery and Donald Sutherland.

“Certainly in the 19th Century, Mullingar was one of the most important rail junctions in Ireland,” says Ms Illingworth. “It was a time when you could get a train pretty much anywhere on the island of Ireland from this town, to Belfast and Cork.

“The railway was very important as a source of employment, at one time nearly 700 people worked directly or indirectly on the railway. The railway was obviously important for other institutions like the army, it was the station to transfer soldiers up and down the country.

“I will be showing people the Galway platform which was what was known as the 'main line’. The first train came to Mullingar on October 2 in 1848. At that time you could only get to Dublin, but they opened the line to Athlone and Galway in 1851, and then the line to Longford opened in 1855, with a branch line to Cavan.

“You also had the big cattle specials, they used to have up to nine cattle specials a month in the 1890s, bringing the cattle from the fairs and send them on to Belfast and Dublin for export.”

Ruth will also be taking in the Royal Canal as Mullingar was one of the most important harbours along its route.

“The first boat arrived in Mullingar in 1806 and the where canal harbour is now opened in 1808 as the original harbour on Pipers Boreen was too far from the town at the time. I’ll be talking about the role of the Canal in the business life of the town which greatly increased the prosperity of Mullingar.”

Ruth will also be discussing the flying chaises which were a form of horse drawn carriage used in the 18th Century.

“We will be going up the main street of Mullingar where there were the stage coach depots. The flying chaise could carry a dozen or so people and the journey time to Dublin was around seven hours. There had all sorts of curious things, for instance, in the carriages there was room for gentlemen’s pistols which could be held safely while travelling in case of highway men. One of the things passengers were allowed bring with them on these coaches was snuff.

“I’ll be pointing out the place where Charles Bianconi had his depots, Bianconi was a major figure in Irish transport history, with his Bianconi Cars, which connected canal and railway depots like Mullingar to outlying villages that were from the main routes. There was a Royal Mail stage coach depot as well, leaving what is now Swarbriggs Shoe Shop, which was the main post office in Mullingar in the 18th Century.”

- For more information contact Ruth Illingworth on 087 9472583 or turn up at the Railway Station on Sunday October 5 at 3pm. Adults are €5 while children go free.