The visitors with tour guide Ruth Illingworth at The Greville Arms Hotel.

Friends of Joyce Tower Society learn about Mullingar and Ulysses

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A group of 29 visitors from The Friends of Joyce Tower Society, based in Sandycove, Dublin, visited Mullingar to get to know more about James Joyce and the Mullingar connection, on Friday March 25.

This year is the 100th anniversary of the publication of Joyce’s masterpiece, Ulysses, and they were seeking to know more about Milly Bloom, who in the novel, was the daughter of Leopold Bloom and was apprenticed to a photographer in Mullingar.

The building now occupied by Fagan Print and Toymaster was the workplace where Milly Bloom trained to be a photographer in James Joyce's Ulysses.

The group was welcomed by local organiser Dónal Lawlor and after coffee and scones, beside the impressive waxwork of Joyce in the Ulysses Bar at the Greville Arms, they enjoyed a tour by local historian and tour guide Ruth Illingworth.

Ruth was able to point out the areas of the town associated with Joyce, during the time he spent in Mullingar in 1900 and 1901 when his father was carrying out work for the county council. She was also able to demonstrate his experience in Mullingar as a source in his various writings.

Organiser Dónal Lawlor (right) with some of the Dublin visitors at the Market Square.

Andrew Basquille from Dun Laoghaire, who led the group, said that they were amazed at the opening up of this new seam of knowledge about Joyce’s time in Mullingar and its influence on his writing.

The group was inspired by Ruth’s extensive knowledge and many of the group expressed their intention to return to Mullingar in the not-too-distant future.

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