Reflections on Castlebar Gasworks 100 years after its closure
by Alan King
A hundred years ago this month, Castlebar Gasworks closed its doors for the last time.
Due to the high price of coal, labour and the arrival of electricity, the gasworks, after nearly 60 years, found itself obsolete.
On March 24, 1862, a meeting to establish a gas company was held in Castlebar Courthouse, with the Earl of Lucan acting as chairman and Joseph Sheridan as secretary.
A committee was formed and the following year, Castlebar Gas Company Ltd. was incorporated as a company limited by shares.
A site close to the town bridge in Newtown was selected and a Mr. Daniel from Dublin won the contract to erect the gasworks, the gas lamps and fittings.
By the beginning of October 1865, the town was lit by gas, the public lights in the principal streets being used only from October to April.
Several meetings were held to persuade private individuals and public institutions of the benefits of gas and by the end of 1865, Christ Church, the Wesleyan Chapel on the Mall and the Catholic Chapel were installed with handsome ornamental fittings.
Other public institutions soon followed their lead.
The next 40 years were a time of prosperity for the company which installed a second gasometer in 1905 due to increasing demand in the town.
The decline of the gas company began in February 1908 with complaints at several meetings of Castlebar UDC about the cost and quality of the gas being supplied to the various institutions.
The Asylum (St. Mary’s Hospital) threatened to cease its connection and complaints were also made about pollution in the town river because of discharges from the gasworks.
The company went into liquidation and its assets were purchased by William Steele, a native of Athlone, for the price of £3,690.
Problems continued initially for the new company with a strike which lasted over a week being resolved only with the mediation of Thomas H. Gillespie of The Connaught Telegraph.
In August 1909, the company successfully tendered for the first large scale public lighting contract in the town – a supply of gas for 52 Osram lamps and the associated lighting, quenching and maintenance of the lamps.
The era of the ‘lamplighter’ and his twice daily rounds of lighting and quenching the public lights had begun in Castlebar.
The good times continued until 1916 when the five-year public lighting contract was advertised again by Castlebar UDC.
The company’s tender of £142 was rejected and the contract awarded to local firm Joseph Bourke & Sons, from Ellison Street and Newtown, Castlebar.
They had installed a generation plant for electricity and their tender of £90 was accepted, which meant the end for the gasworks.
In 1921, the gasworks closed and never operated again.
The premises were purchased by Gavin Brothers, Bakers & Confectioners, Spencer Street and Main Street, Castlebar.
A portion of the site was later occupied by M. Mulloy & Sons, Builders Providers, and later became the machinery yard of Castlebar UDC.
The remainder of the site became the property of Michael Heneghan, who, along with his sisters Nan and Kathleen, built several residences and a shop, later operated by Michael Bourke for several years.
(Alan King is a member of the staff of the County Library, Castlebar).