Caislean an Bharraigh.

(Barry's Castle)

Castlebar is a busy market town, founded in the early part of the 17th century and incorporated in 1613. It .is the main center for horse drawn caravan holidays in County Mayo and also the administrative centre for the county and for the urban district.

It was the birthplace of Margaret Burke Sheridan, an opera singer who made her name at La Scala an opera house in Milan Italy, and of Louis Brenan, the inventor of the torpedo and gyroscope monorail. The town has a small airport and some light industry.

On the 22nd August 1798 a French force of one thousand men, commanded by general Joseph Humbert landed at Killala Bay in County Mayo, their objective to assist in the 1798 rebellion. They are reputed to have distributed fifty five thousand muskets to the local population. Together they marched to Castlebar where they defeated General Lake. This became known as the "Races of Castlebar." However on 8th September when they met Lord Cornwallis and his army at Ballinamuck County Longford they were defeated.

The Irish National Land League was founded at the Imperial Hotel in Castlebar, on 21 October 1879, by Michael Davitt and Charles Stewart Parnell.

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Castlebar
Co Mayo
Tel +353 (0)94 902 1207
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