A research project into the history of Castlebar Town Council and its preceding authorities spanning four centuries is being undertaken by local man Noel Campbell. The project, with the working title A History of Castlebar Town Council - its predecessors, personalities and events, is a recording of the responsibilities of each authority, the various colourful people who sat on them and the local and national events that shaped them. The work begins in detail in the 1830s and will run up until the last local elections of 2009.
“This is a personal project I have been thinking about for some time,” Mr Campbell said. “Through studying history in college to my time as a town councillor, my interest has always been in the history of local government and politics and as a Castlebar man it may come as no surprise that I am carrying out this work. I have received messages of support from the town council and councillors as well as castlebar.ie and I look forward to making public what will be a very interesting read. Perhaps the finished work may take book form at some stage.
“Some fascinating insights into local government at its most local level over the centuries are beginning to emerge. I will be covering many areas such as Castlebar’s compliment to the Duke of Rutland in 1787, the grand jury system, the establishment of the Poor Law Union in 1838 and the guardians who ran it from Famine times on, the sometimes violent scenes in the chamber of the new urban district council in the early twentieth century, the council’s reaction to the 1916 Rising, local politics of the post war years, and the urban and town councils that were shaped by a modern and industrialised Ireland over the past 40 years.”
Mr Campbell will be inviting the public to contribute stories and photographs in the new year. Details will be posted on the castlebar.ie website.
