A visit to Roscommon Town in 2018 скачать в хорошем качестве

A visit to Roscommon Town in 2018

A slideshow of photos taken during a visit to Roscommon Town on Monday 30th July 2018. Roscommon (Irish: Ros Comáin, meaning "Saint Coman's wood") is the county town of County Roscommon. The N60, N61 and N63 national roads intersect in the town. Roscommon is close to the centre of Ireland. Roscommon has a Railway Station on the Dublin-Westport Railway Line. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who built a monastery there in the 5th century. The woods near the monastery became known as Ros Comáin (St. Coman's Wood). This was later anglicised to Roscommon. Its population at the 2016 census was 5,876. Despite the town itself having a relatively small population, it caters to a large fraction of the population of County Roscommon as Castlerea and Boyle are the only other major towns in the county. The Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church dominates the skyline of the town. The church spire is 52 m high. Built of local cut stone and opened in 1903, it was completed in 1925. The church is built on rising ground and fronted by a sunken grotto. Over the main door is a fine example of mosaic, carried out by the Italian firm of Salviate, depicting two bishops of the Diocese of Elphin connected with the building of the church. The interior is equally impressive and contains a replica of the Cross of Cong. This wonderful example of Irish Craftsmanship was made in Fuerty between 1120 - 1123. Roscommon Castle is located on a hillside just outside the town. Now in ruins, the castle is quadrangular in shape, it had four corner D-shaped towers, three storeys high, and twin towers at its entrance gateway, one of which still retains its immensely sturdy vaulted roof. The entire castle was enclosed by a lofty curtain wall. It was built in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, Justiciar of Ireland, on lands he had seized from the Augustinian Priory. The castle had a most chequered history. It was besieged by Connacht King Aodh Ó Conchobhair in 1272. Eight years later it was again in the hands of an English garrison, and fully repaired. By 1340 the O'Connor's regained possession of it, and, except for a few brief intermissions, they held it for two centuries until 1569, when Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy seized it. It was granted to Sir Nicholas Malbie, Elizabethan Governor of Connaught, in 1578. Two years later the interior was remodeled and large mullioned windows were inserted in the towers and curtain walls. Again, in 1641 the Parliamentarian faction gained it until Confederate Catholics under Preston captured it in 1645. It remained in Irish hands until 1652 when it was partially blown up by Cromwellian "Ironsides" under Commissary Reynolds, who had all the fortifications dismantled. It was finally burned down in 1690, and, from the closing years of the 17th-century, it gradually fell into decay. A symmetrical moat some distance from the curtain walls surrounded the entire castle and safeguarded it. It is now a national monument. Harrison Hall is located prominently in the market square and is now occupied by the Bank of Ireland. Most of the ground floor is open to the public. Once a 17th-century sessions house, it was remodeled in 1762 by Sir William Morrison and converted into a court house and market house. It is built in the classical architectural style with a cupola. It became a Catholic church in 1863. After 1903 it became a recreational hall to commemorate Dr John Harrison (who was a physician in Roscommon town's workhouse, during the famine of the 1840s) it was used as a dance hall, cinema and theatre before it was sold to the Bank of Ireland in 1972. The old gaol is the second most prominent building in the town and faces the back of the Bank of Ireland now houses a modern shopping centre, the facade is all that remains of the original structure. The original building is thought to have been designed by Richard Cassells in 1736. The gaol had the distinction of having a hang woman 'Lady Betty', a criminal who had her sentence withdrawn on the provision that she perform the unpaid task of hang woman. In 1822 it was taken over for use as a lunatic asylum. In 1833 it became a 'Lazaretto' – a place where outcasts who suffered from smallpox were confined. Sometime after 1840 the building was converted to residential and commercial use. County Museum and Tourism Office is located next to Harrison hall in the town square. It was originally a small Presbyterian church built in 1863. The building is of cut limestone with a large recessed door, circular headed windows and fenestration on the wheel window over the door is in the form of the 'Star of David' to commemorate its Welsh Builders. The building was renovated in 1991 and now contains many exhibits and artifacts illustrating and interpreting the history of Roscommon. Among the artifacts on display are a 9th-century grave slab from St Comans Abbey and a Sheela na Gig from Rahara church.