westmeath

Google van Tootle ?? - goo.gl/maps/ti0gV - the house with the white chimney behind and below. Best seen from the other side of the footbridge which was presumably built to replace the ferry.

It was December 1806 before the canal reached Mullingar..................Passengers travelling between Dublin and Mullingar in 1807 were charged 12/6d. for first class and 7/7d. for second class. The duration of the journey was twelve hours. Initially there were two sailings each day in each direction. www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/environment-geography... I would have thought that twelve hours was a good deal.

Nowhere near this end of the canal, but I liked this report in Freeman's Journal on August 18th 1843

CAUTION TO BATHERS Between five and six o'clock yesterday evening, an hour in which the locality is much frequented by the public, two soldiers of the 72nd Highlanders proceeded to bathe in the Royal Canal, Blacquiere Bridge, Circular-road, to the great annoyance of numerous passengers. Mr. Falkner, of Mount Falkner, whose house is next to the place, promptly and most properly at once interfered, and gave the outragers of common decency in custody to the police.

Thank goodness for Mr Falkner.

Greatdown Footbridge (no real info there, unfortunately).

Niall McAuley "1 mile and 4 furlongs long" - how quaint, should have said "1 and a half miles long" instead.

They are marching to the barracks....on the other side of that bridge.

Lovely!

The building at top right of this one is the same as the building at top left of this (earlier) one nearby:

Niall McAuley Spotted your note for the "works" on the bridge. Was it a swing bridge?

The narrow part of the bridge nearest the camera was a lifting section to allow sailing ships past. You can see some cogs in the mechanism at the bottom of the narrow section. This has since been replaced with a wider but uglier flat concrete span visible here:

Things in 1922 were unchanged since the the GeoHive OS 25" (which has an incorrect survery date of 1888 attached, but is actually after 1905.) The Bank is still there, the Woollen Mills burned down in the 1940s and a Radisson Blu is there now, the Methodist Church is still there but the steeple is gone, and the Post Office is gone too, replaced by a rather ugly Bank building.

How about this for streetview - goo.gl/maps/E4ZkyuDvnjo From the canal bridge on Austin Friars Street. The church in the distance has had extra bits added.

The 'church in the distance' is the old Roman Catholic Cathedral (replaced in the 1930s) - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000322184 catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000317724

beachcomber australia Looks right to me. The tower of the Hevey Institute is visible beside the cathedral too:

A wonderful scene remember Mullingar in the 60/70s and last there in 90s always liked the town. Family came from around Castlepollard and worked in the town over the years......

I bet there is a Dog in there somewhere?