Strokestown
Strokestown
Béal na mBuillí | |
|---|---|
Town | |
 Church Street, Strokestown, looking east | |
  Strokestown Location in Ireland | |
| Coordinates: 53°46′37″N 8°06′14″W / 53.777°N 8.104°W | |
| Country | Ireland |
| Province | Connacht |
| County | County Roscommon |
| Elevation | 56 m (184 ft) |
| Population (2016)[1] | |
| • Total | 825 |
| Time zone | UTC±0 (WET) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (IST) |
| Eircode routing key | F42 |
| Telephone area code | +353(0)71 |
| Irish Grid Reference | M929809 |
| Website | www |
Strokestown, historically called Bellanamullia and Bellanamully[2] (Irish: Béal na mBuillí), is a small town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located at the junction of the N5 National primary route and the R368 in the north of the county.
Notable features include the second-widest street in Ireland and the Strokestown Park House, an 18th-century mansion with the longest herbaceous border in Ireland.
History
Strokestown was the site of the estate of the Anglo-Irish Mahon family from about 1671 until 1982.
On 2 November 1847 the patriarch of the family and landlord of the surrounding estate, Major Denis Mahon, was assassinated by several local men in an incident that became infamous across Ireland and Britain at the time. The killing was motivated by the removal of starving tenant farmers from the estate lands during the Great Famine of 1845. The killing of Denis Mahon did not halt the evictions, and eventually over 11,000 tenants were removed from the Mahon estate during that period.
There is a museum commemorating the Great Famine of 1845 in the town. Mary Lenahan, of Elphin Street, Strokestown, an ancestor of former Irish President Mary McAleese, was among 16 people recorded in the Strokestown Estate Famine Archive as having received grain meal gratuitously on 23 June 1846. The archive was deposited in November 2008 in the Maynooth Archive and Research Centre in Celbridge, Co. Kildare.[3]
Name
The Irish name of the town was originally Béal Atha na mBuillí and was anglicised as Bellanamully and Bellanamullia. The Irish name was edited down to the current Béal na mBuillí in the 1990s. This was done to fit the Irish town name on road signage.
The town's name means "the mouth of the ford of the strokes", with the “mouth” referring to the Bumlin River that runs through the demesne and "strokes" referring to ancient clan battles that took place there. Others believe that "strokes" signifies the use of agricultural instruments, which would have been widely used in the past.[3]
Strokestown on Film
Strokestown on Film, The Billy Chapman (1902–59) Collection is a DVD which consists of 31 short films of people and events in and around Strokestown. The films were shot over a five-year period starting in 1948. Included are sports days, Corpus Christi processions, weddings, agricultural shows, livestock fairs and FCA and fire brigade training.
Annual events
Strokestown hosts a number of events throughout the year. Around April/May, Strokestown hosts the Strokestown Poetry Festival, a prestigious event that is known throughout the literary world. The second weekend in September, the Strokestown Agricultural Show is held, including horse competitions such as dressage, arts and craft competitions, handwriting competitions, and more. During October, the Féile Strokestown, a traditional music festival is held. During December, the Outdoor Christmas Market is held on Bawn Street.
See also
References
- ^ "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlements Strokestown". Central Statistics Office (Ireland). Retrieved 12 March 2018.
- ^ Placenames Database of Ireland
- ^ a b "Strokestown.ie About | Strokestown | Experience Strokestown". Strokestown | Strokestown.ie | Strokestown Tourism | Experience Strokestown | Experience Roscommon. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
