Mayo memories: Remembering traditional old fair days in Castlebar town

By Tom Gillespie

TRADITIONALLY, Saturday was market and fair day in Castlebar. Crowds of rural folk flocked to the county town to buy and sell livestock, vegetables and hardware.

Rush Street, also known as the ‘pig market’, was where traders set up their stalls. Cyril Chapman was the king of the hawkers, with an auctioneer’s drawl that attracted crowds of young and old to his stand. He sold everything, literally from a needle to an anchor.

His selling skills were ahead of their time. ‘Buy two, get one free’ was his mantra.

Farm implements of all sizes and shapes decorated his stall. To us youngsters to see penknives on open sale was a novelty. Boxes of screws, screw drivers of all shapes, flash lamps, bicycle clips, chains, rat and mouse traps decorated his bench, which was always located outside McCormack’s, close to Paddy Moran’s legendary St. Helena Bar.

Mr. James Killeen, from McHale Road, sold clothes from the back of a covered trailer and he specialised in farm ware, overcoats and the latest style in men’s suits and boots.

Some of the public houses in the area - Moran’s, Doyle’s, Breege O’Connor’s, Ned Cunningham’s, Garavan’s, Malachy Tuohy’s and McNulty’s Brown Cow - qualified for special exemptions to open early to sell alcohol to the thirsty farmers and jobbers, many of whom would have walked through the night with their animals to the town.

The Fairground, where Scoil Raifteiri is now located at Springfield, was the main location for the fairs. The green would be bustling with animals and men eager to buy or sell. In the centre was a hut well stocked with bottles of stout and beer. Kenny’s pub on Main Street had the franchise to operate it.

The town river skirted the Fairgreen and as well as cow dung many of the empty bottles ended up in it.

Likewise, the river was used by the nearby Bacon Factory to discharge offal and blood which was piped from McHale Road downhill to Springfield.

However, if there was a heavy downpour of rain, manholes in the pipe on the main road, above the houses, would overflow into the five cottages at Springfield - beside where the entrance to the new highly-used Castlebar to Turlough greenway now commences. Unfortunately, the cottages were below the level of the road and the discharge just flowed under their front doors.

The distressed householders were compensated and had the smelly lino on the floor replaced - very few had carpets then - and this could happen four or five times a year.

When deals of selling or buying animas were done both parties retired to one of the nearby public houses to complete the transaction.

The purchased animals were temporarily housed in backyards, mostly on the town hall side of Linenhall Street. Many of the premises had archways leading to the rear and local youngsters, armed with hazel sticks, were given a few shillings to keep an eye on them.

Paddy Moran’s Pub, where the ‘medium’ was, and still is, the normal measure of stout - more than a half pint and less than a full pint - would be packed from early morning.

The rural customers were all well-known to Paddy and his family. Paddy would store their purchases - cabbage plants or seed potatoes - until they departed.

The resulting bovine mess on the footpaths, roads and walls following the fair had to be cleaned up by the outdoor staff of Castlebar Urban District Council before the eight o’clock Mass on Sunday morning.

The publicans, too, hosed down the walls and footpaths outside their own premises. Most of the licensed premises had protective iron bars across their windows to prevent giddy animals breaking the glass.

Rush Street was so named as in older days rushes used to be placed on the street to soak up the animal mess. Rushes were also used in thatching.

The pre-Christmas market was the biggest of the year with all the seasonal trappings on offer. Live turkeys, geese, hens, calves and bonhams were corralled for sale in ass carts all along Rush Street and the farmers did a brisk trade.

The purchased birds were placed in a canvass bag with their heads poking out and their wings tied so there was no escape. These were often deposited in the corner of the pub until the purchaser had his fill and was ready to head home with the bag under his arm.

Market Square, too, was a hive of activity on Saturdays where mainly vegetables were sold as well as seed potatoes and cabbage plants in bunches of 50.

Market Square was originally known as Shambles Square. A shambles or slaughterhouse once stood beside the river. It was the main trading area with markets being held on a Saturday. A system of tolls existed where stallholders had to pay a levy to the landlord. There was also a crane there to weigh farm produce.

The fair days ceased with the opening of cattle marts.