Charlestown, County Mayo

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Charlestown
Baile Chathail

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
53°57′51″N 8°47′39″W / 53.9642, -8.7942

Irish grid reference
G479019

Statistics

60 m

Population (2006)

859
incl. Bellahy, County Sligo

Charlestown (Irish: Baile Chathail) is a village in County Mayo, Republic of Ireland. It is located at the intersection of two National Primary routes, the N17 and the N5.

1 History
2 Sport
3 Transport
4 People
5 See also
6 External Links
7 References

[edit] History

Charlestown was built in the middle of the 19th century, on the initiative of Lord Dillon's agent, Charles Strickland in adjoining Bellaghy in County Sligo.

The town was the subject of a serialised social commentary in the Irish Times by John Healy. This was later published as Death Of An Irish Town, and later republished as No One Shouted Stop!. Written in 1967, when Ireland was in the middle of a 60 year economic depression, it was highly critical of government policies towards rural areas, and took Charlestown as an example solely because it was the town of the author's birth. Oh and Jim Colgan is Home

A view of Chapel St., Charlestown.

[edit] Sport

The town achieved a major sporting coup when the local Gaelic Football team Charlestown Sarsfields reached the All Ireland club semi-final in 2002, losing out on a final spot by a single point.

[edit] Transport

Trains ran through Charlestown from 1895 through 1963.The town had a station on the GS&W line from Claremorris to Collooney, part of the Western Railway Corridor. Charlestown station opened on 1 October 1895 closed for passenger traffic on 17 June 1963, and finally closed altogether on 3 November 1975.^[1]