Charlestown () is a town in

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the yew trees") is a county in Ireland. In the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, it is named after the village of Mayo, now generally known as Mayo Abbey. Mayo County Counci ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

, on the N17 road near its junction with the N5.

History

Charlestown was built in the mid-19th century on the initiative of Lord Dillon's agent, Charles Strickland, adjoining Bellaghy in

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in the county. Sligo County Council is the local ...

. Including Bellaghy, the town has a population of approximately 1000. There are two schools in Charlestown, St. Attracta's National School and St.Joseph's Marist Convent. The village was the subject of a serialised

social commentary Social commentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on social, cultural, political, or economic issues in a society. This is often done with the idea of implementing or promoting change by informing the general populace ab ...

in ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' by John Healy. This was later published as ''Death Of An Irish Town'', and later republished as ''No One Shouted Stop!'' Written in 1967, 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.

Sport

Gaelic Football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by ki ...

team Charlestown Sarsfields reached the All-Ireland club semi-final in 2001, losing out on a final spot by two points. In 2012 the town's sporting offering was further complemented with the formation of Charlestown Amateur Boxing Club. The IABA affiliated club has since acquired numerous National and Provincial titles. Based in the old Cloonfane National School, Charlestown's boxers have been selected to represent Ireland internationally and County Mayo in inter-county competition.

Transport

Trains ran through Charlestown from 1895 to 1963. The village had a station on the GS&W line from

Claremorris Claremorris (; ) is a town in County Mayo in the west of Ireland, at the junction of the N17 and the N60 national routes. It is the fastest growing town in the county. There was a 31% increase in the town's population between 2006 and 2011 an ...

Collooney Collooney or Coloony () is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. Toponymy Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as ''the annals ...

, part of the

Western Railway Corridor The Western Railway Corridor is a term, used since , for a partly disused railway line running through the west of Ireland. Currently two sections of the line, from Limerick via Ennis to Athenry and from Collooney to Sligo, see regular servic ...

. Charlestown station opened on 1 October 1895, closed for passenger traffic on 17 June 1963, and finally closed altogether on 3 November 1975. But if the

Western Rail Corridor The Western Railway Corridor is a term, used since , for a partly disused railway line running through the west of Ireland. Currently two sections of the line, from Limerick via Ennis to Athenry and from Collooney to Sligo, see regular servic ...

reopens from

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a City status in Ireland, city in the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lo ...

onto

Sligo Sligo ( ; ga, Sligeach , meaning 'abounding in shells') is a coastal seaport and the county town of County Sligo, Ireland, within the western province of Connacht. With a population of approximately 20,000 in 2016, it is the largest urban ce ...

the train service could be restored in future. Knock Airport is 5.6 miles southwest of Charlestown.

People

Charlestown was the home town of ''Irish Times'' and ''Western People'' journalist John Healy, who wrote a series of articles about the town which were later turned into a book, ''No One Shouted Stop''. The owner of the ''

Freeman's Journal The ''Freeman's Journal'', which was published continuously in Dublin from 1763 to 1924, was in the nineteenth century Ireland's leading nationalist newspaper. Patriot journal It was founded in 1763 by Charles Lucas and was identified with rad ...

'', Irish Senator Martin FitzGerald, was born on Main Street, Charlestown. Michael O'Doherty,

Archbishop of Manila The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Manila ( lat, Archidioecesis Manilensis; fil, Arkidiyosesis ng Maynilà; es, Arquidiócesis de Manila) is the archdiocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in Metro Manila, Philippines, encompassing ...

, was born in Charlestown. Charlestown is also the hometown of Michael Ryan, Executive Director of the

WHO Who or WHO may refer to: * Who (pronoun), an interrogative or relative pronoun * Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism * World Health Organization Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Who, a creature in the Dr. Seuss book '' Horton He ...

Health Emergencies Programme, which is tasked with the international containment and treatment of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

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Notes

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External links

N5 bypass opened November 2007

{{Authority control Towns and villages in County Mayo Planned communities in the Republic of Ireland

History

Sport

Transport

People

See also

References

Notes

References

External links