It is somewhat ironic that the building on the Green in Castlebar where the Land League was founded should later bear a name denoting Empire - The Imperial. I sometimes sit on a bench on the Green or the Mall that traverses it and mentally step through the historical significance of what is before me.
If significant historical occurrences and structures per meter squared is a measure of historical value, then this place is a historical treasure trove. Today, the architecture provides the markers that indicate the journey through time this highly contested piece of ground has travelled – a journey from Empire to independence and beyond.
Those who tell the story of the Green and Mall start with the Binghams. We can add that the Binghams gave Castlebar a theatre where important episodes in Irish history played out for a local audience – Armed Rebellion, Catholic Emancipation, Repeal and Tenant's Rights all had their day on the Green. Memorials to the Binghams can be found inside Christ Church. Built in the late 1820s, it occupies an imposing position on the western side. Christ Church is not simply a building – it is a gateway to another time. The light, smell, colours, tiles on the floor and memorials on the walls are all part of a composition that makes Christ Church unique. Outside, the names of Fraser Fencibles killed in the Battle of Castlebar are neatly chiselled on a stone slab. Nearby, their ally on the day, Major General George O'Malley, has watched over the human and vehicular traffic of almost two centuries. Priest hunter Thomas Ellison also gets a mention on a plaque.
Those who write about the Green recall overs of cricket and military bands. These elements are part of the story, but so is the boom of cannon, musket fire, screams of men engaged in close combat, or shouting their speeches from the gallows or political platforms. Before 1834, crowds gathered on the junction with Spencer Street to watch family members and friends taken in chains from the Gaol for the long journey to Botany Bay. John Wesley preached here too; he even had a church built in 1785 – it is still used as a place of worship and evidences the Green's historical pedigree. In the nineteenth century, the night-time blackness of the Mall cloaked destitute women plying their desperate trade.
Humbert passed through the Green in 1798 – after he moved on, the men of ninety-eight plotted escapes from the Gaol; some succeeded, some were transported, many were hanged, including patriot priest Fr Conroy. No gallows were built for these men – a tree sufficed. George Robert Fitzgerald and others were hanged for conspiracy to murder from scaffolding surrounding the Gaol in 1786. A version of justice was dispensed on the Green from 1806 when a new courthouse opened. It has undergone many transformations since. The trials of the Threshers were held there in December 1806 – hangings followed. Many of the 196 death sentences passed in Mayo after 1805 were handed down in this courthouse. The judges and lawyers were almost exclusively Trinity graduates. Some of the condemned dropped from gallows nearby. For those found guilty of murder or treason, dissection of their remains at the Infirmary or gibbeting from trees on the Green was mandated. Over six thousand people stood on the Green to listen to James Cunnane's speech from the gallows in 1833; 10,000 witnessed the 1834 hangings of Thomas Moraghan and Peter Walsh. The Green was a veritable 'one-stop shop' for criminal justice and God until Catholics were permitted a house of worship.
During the hotly contested election of 1832, the 10th Royal Hussars occupied the Green; the 27th Regiment of Foot surrounded the Courthouse to defend 'democracy.' As the nineteenth century unfolded, the land movement trespassed on the Green, but Davitt and Daly had their sights on a much bigger plot of ground – Collins and De Valera followed. After independence, De Valera was a regular at rallies on the Green.
Much has been lost from the streetscape around the Green, including the Infirmary and Gaol but much remains, including a rich and fascinating history.
