We have two photographs today of the Fairgreen, both taken in the early sixties. The first is of a cattle fair and the second is of various groups gathering to take part in a St Patrick’s Day parade.
In 1949, Mahon’s Field adjoining Forster Street, together with a portion of an adjoining field owned by Mr Whelan and a part of St Patrick’s Band room site, together with the railway embankment were recommended by Dr McConn, County Medical Officer of Health and Mr Bart Faherty, Borough Surveyor as a suitable site for a fair green. Up to that point, fairs had been held in Eyre Square and before that, on Fairhill in the Claddagh.
There were two large two-day fairs held in the Fairgreen every year, one in May and one in September. The first was for selling cattle and sheep, the second for pigs and horses. There were also regular monthly fairs on a smaller scale and finally, there was a ‘Saturday Market’ for the selling of calves and bonhams. This latter sale took place just inside the gate and towards the end, there were very few bonhams to be found there.
The original city abattoir was in Bowling Green until it was proposed to build a new one in the Fairgreen, over to the right, at the back of Powells. This caused a number of groups to get together to object to this construction, the Chamber of Commerce, the Lough Athalia Residents Association, St Patrick’s Brass band and the Renmore Residents' Association. The decision suited local farmers and butchers but not the local residents or businesses and when it was built, there were a lot of complaints about the poor facilities there, the nauseating smells, the overcrowding of animals and the dumping. It was a common sight to find anything from crashed cars to dead pigs dumped there.
When the abattoir was eventually demolished, the area was cleared and used as a public car park.
At the top right of our photograph of the fair was the bandroom, home to St Patrick’s Brass band. Beside it was a concrete structure that was leased out to Bridie O’Flaherty who sold mugs of tea and sandwiches to farmers. This building was later taken over by Sister Brigid and a group of Traveller girls who made flags and banners there. The building in the centre of picture was a public toilet.
The Green was used for other things too — Toft’s Amusements often set up here in the fifties and sixties with their chairoplanes, ghost trains, bumper cars and rifle ranges. McFaddens were another group who were regular visitors. You can see their marquee to the left at the top of our second picture. Here, they would put on their “Super Stage Show, A cocktail of music, singing and comedy, drama and variety at its best”. They also played for much of the summer in a marquee at the back of the Hangar and they are still remembered with great affection and nostalgia.
Our second image shows a large group of soldiers from An Céad Cath in Renmore Barracks getting into formation to march in a St Patrick’s Day parade. Behind them, a group of Boy Scouts are also preparing to march, and in the right foreground, you can see members of St Patrick’s Band setting up too.
The Fairgreen is no more. The once-empty space is now a busy street lined with a bus station, a hotel, retail units and apartments. It has changed utterly from what it once was.
