Nostalgic Mullingar photo book captures hearts across world
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Connie Egan or ‘The Fish Woman’, as she was better known, was part of the trading life of Dominick Street and Mullingar every Thursday for God knows how long… as was her mother - also Connie - before her. Both of them sold their fish every week in front of Healy’s shop on Dominick street. Connie is photographed in 1994 selling fish to some of her loyal Mullingar customers. Unfortunately she is no longer with us but her family continue the tradition and business and are still on Dominick Street.Image 2 of 6
Local election day in the summer of 1985 with all the razzmatazz outside An Ionad Vótála at the Courthouse.Image 3 of 6
Christy Whelehan was one of the key figures in modernising Westmeath GAA. He was secretary of The Downs GAA for more than 40 years (1947 to 1989) and he also held a variety of key roles at County Board level. He was one of the people who reported every week on GAA games for the Westmeath Examiner and the difficulties that he experienced in that task can be seen here when, on a wet Sunday afternoon at St Loman’s, he was trying his best to take notes at half time.Image 4 of 6
Jimmy Bennett, baker, publican, community activist and a member of Westmeath County Council among many other community roles. He is photographed in 1974, filling a pint in his pub on Pearse Street.Image 5 of 6
Rob Cornally’s greatest sporting interest and involvement was with Gaelic football. He was a brilliant player with Carmelite College, Moate, with Ballymore and Mullingar Shamrocks Clubs and with Westmeath county teams. He was a member of the famous Westmeath Minor team of 1963 who lost to Kerry in the All-Ireland Final. He was a universally-acclaimed GAA administrator and undertook everything with enthusiasm and freshness. He is photographed alongside the Tom Markham Cup after Westmeath Minors had brought the first ever All-Ireland football trophy to Westmeath in 1995. It was one of Rob’s proudest moments.Image 6 of 6
The cemetery at St Loman’s Hospital where almost 1,500 patients were buried (1907-1971) under small iron crosses inscribed with simple reference numbers. All of those interred were patients of Mullingar Asylum or St Loman’s Hospital, as it become known in more recent years, with the exception of Dr Arthur Finnegan, resident medical superintendent (RMS) at the Hospital (1886-1912) and his wife Eleanor who was ‘Matron of the District Asylum’ 1882- 1897. The Crosses have since been removed.There is a gentle magic in leafing through the past, and few books capture that feeling quite like Mullingar - Time Goes By.
What began as a local treasure, bought, gifted, and shared among Westmeath families, has now travelled far beyond the Lake County. Orders are arriving from every corner of the globe, from the homesick hearts of Mullingar people across the continents.
Its publishers, Crígean Press, were pleasantly overwhelmed by the response. Demand grew so quickly that a second edition had to be printed, ensuring that the remarkable collection of photographs, vivid with memory, rich with the faces of Mullingar’s recent past, would not fade from reach. Many of the personalities captured through Matt Nolan’s lens have since passed on, lending the book an added tenderness.
At Just Books on Pearse Street, Stella Lynch, the owner, says Mullingar Time Goes By never stays long on the shelves. Week after week, year after year, Westmeath people return for another copy, sometimes for themselves, often to send to a friend or cousin abroad. “Everyone loves a touch of sentiment,” Stella notes with a smile, “especially at Christmas.”
For those who wish to walk back through Mullingar’s streets as they once were, Mullingar Time Goes By remains available at Just Books and at the Cathedral Bookshop, two doorways into the past, waiting to be opened.