Plaque erected on one of the Tullow Street properties owned by George
to commemorate his Carlow association. Photo Carlow County Museum. 

 

Playwright George Bernard Shaw and the Carlow Connection

In 1899 one of Ireland’s well known literary figures George Bernard Shaw inherited a number of properties in Carlow Town from his uncle Walter Gurly.  George was the third child and only son of Thomas Carr and Lucinda Gurley. Without question the finest of these buildings was the Assembly Rooms on Dublin Street which had been in the Gurly family since 1805.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The facade of the newly renovated Assembly Rooms, Dublin Street, Carlow. George Bernard specifically requested that the façade be retained. Photo Carlow County Museum.

It is thought that the Assembly Rooms were built in 1794 and for many years after was used by the nobility and gentry of the county to host dinners, balls and musical performances which were mainly organised under the auspices of the Committee of Carlow Assemblies. It would appear that during the course of the 19th century the condition of the building deteriorated as George Bernard Shaw remembers his uncle Walter Gurly stating that the Assembly Rooms “would make an excellent observatory as the movements of the heavenly bodies could be studied through the holes in the roof”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Assembly Rooms as it appeared on the 1873 Ordnance Survey Map of Carlow Town. Photo Carlow County Museum.

In 1912 the Silvester Brother’s leased the building for use as a cinema which they called
the Picture House. Locals said “foolish men, the Silvesters to think that the people of Carlow would go to the pictures every night of the week. This new cinema business is
just a craze which won’t last!”. The Brothers filmed local events and regularly filled the cinema up to three times a day as local people came to see themselves on film.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Close up of from façade of the Assembly Rooms. Photo Carlow County Museum.

In 1918 George Bernard Shaw wrote to Dr. Patrick Foley, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin who was the Chairman of the County Carlow Technical Institute Committee (the forerunner of today’s Vocational Education Committee) offering him the building for use as a Technical School. The school was opened in 1923 and in 1934 the building was upgraded by the first Vocational Education Committee. Carlow County Council now own the building and many Carlovians will remember being educated within the walls of this building or as its time in more recent years as the County Library. The building was upgraded and remodelled during late 2004 and early 2005 and now houses the Carlow County Council Water Services Division as well as a number of local development agencies. 

 

 

 

 

 

Extract from page 1 of George’s 1918 letter to Dr. Patrick Foley, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin offering the use of the Assembly Rooms. Photo Carlow County Museum, letter from the files of Carlow Town Council.

In keeping with George Bernard Shaw’s wishes the late 18th century front of the building was retained by the VEC as the County Council still does to today. As George Bernard Shaw himself wrote in 1918 “ … a façade which belongs to the best period of Irish Architecture…”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Extract from page 3 of George’s 1918 letter to Dr. Patrick Foley, Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin describing the condition of the Assembly Rooms. Photo Carlow County Museum, letter from the files of Carlow Town Council.