The street names of Castlebar are each a chapter heading in the long and fascinating history of the town. The origin of some of the street names leaves little room for debate.
Gallows Hill was a place where the condemned were hanged; Pound Road, the location of the pound, and Linenhall Street, the site of the Linen Hall. Other street names do not reveal their roots so easily, while some positively encourage researchers to follow false paths in pursuit of erroneous conclusions.
It is a commonly held belief that Poorhouse Hill took its name from the workhouse nearby. The workhouse opened in 1842. Poorhouse Hill is shown on maps that predate this date. Evidence that the naming of Poorhouse Hill had absolutely nothing to do with the workhouse can also be found in Leet's 'Directory to the Market Towns' (1814 ), where 'Poor-house-hill' is described as a village in Castlebar. How did Poorhouse Hill get its name? There is an abundance of nineteenth-century evidence that this area of Castlebar was among the poorer districts and that the housing reflected this.
Staball, too, has been the subject of a reimagining by some writers. In some sources, it is said that Poorhouse Hill was a former name for Staball, but the two were distinct. On the morning of 27 August 1798, when General Humbert's men drove the crown forces down the hill of Staball, it is said that women on the hill stood outside their cabins shouting, 'Stab Them All' – later abbreviated to Staball. A place named Stabhall is shown on official maps in the 1830s – an open space off the street named Poorhouse Hill.
Putting aside the minor detail of the 'h', would the authorities in the 1830s have acknowledged a place name that commemorated a call to stab crown soldiers? It is unlikely. Also, while the women of Staball were known to be a feisty lot, they were no fools. The notion that they stood atop the hill, babes in arms, giving directions in the King's English to Humbert's men while musket and cannon shot whizzed by, is fanciful.
Ken Lyons has suggested that there may have been a hall on the hill. This suggestion takes us in the right direction. Máire McGoldrick has highlighted the 'Miscellany presented to Kuno Meyer' (1912 ) in which it is suggested (p. 296 ) that Staball is taken from the Norse word 'stopull' or belfry. The origin of Staball is likely a building such as a stable or stablá or some other structure built on the hill. Whatever the function of the building, the suggested link to 1798 is mistaken.
When the battle reached the bottom of Staball, we are told that the residents had more instructions for Humbert. At what is now called Rush Street, Humbert's men were instructed to 'rush' the English line. There are several possibilities for the true origin of this street name. Liam Egan has made some useful suggestions, including one that looks to the Irish word 'Ruis' or the 'place of the wood.' Drawing on Dinneen's Foclóir Gaedhilge agus Béarla (1904 ), Michael Lang has cleverly suggested the origin may lay in the Irish word 'Ros' or flaxseed. Given the proximity of the Linen Hall, this explanation is undoubtedly amongst the contenders. These are but three examples of how the current understanding of the origin of several street names does not stand up to scrutiny.
Even those street names that 'honour' favoured sons are problematic. It is repeatedly noted that Richard Street is named after the tyrant Sir Richard Bingham (1528-1599 ), yet it is more likely named after Richard Bingham, 2nd Earl of Lucan (1764-1839 ). In 1920, when it was proposed to change the name of Richard Street to Lord Edward Street, one Castlebar resident argued that the street was named after her great-grandfather Richard Clyne. And then there is Lucan Street – but which Lucan? The 'exterminator' George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, or his son? What of Charles Street, Thomas Street, Spencer Street, and Ellison Street? Despite calls for changes, these names endure a century after independence as a reminder of the reason for Ireland's lengthy struggle against colonialism.
