The Ulster Bank (Downshire Lodge)

In the 1970’s it was mooted by the bank people that the out of repair bank building should be downsized, made more compact and more user-friendly. The late Mr. Louis Byrne, proprietor of the Downshire House Hotel, was one of the few who felt that the old structure should be restored and maintained as it had been for so many years. At the time emigration was still a haemorrhage on the youth of the country- poverty still a reality for many- education difficult. No wonder then that we were more taken up with our own struggle for decent and comfortable living conditions than preserving our heritage. Eventually the right decision was made and so we still have the original pile.

We are indebted to the diaries of Elizabeth Smith of Baltiboys for a graphic description of a king size shindig that took place in Blessington in 1849. It was centred around the square mostly and was held to celebrate the birthday of the Marquis of Downshire to which his tenantry were invited. On August 2nd Mrs Smith and family drove into town to see all the cooking going on in the old hotel (the present Ulster Bank). “There were 4 bullocks, 20 sheep, lambs, hams, and 5 cwt of plum pudding all preparing under the charge of an old messman, quite up to the thing and very much delighted with the bustle and his guinea a day”.

“The ball went off pretty well, 1500 tenantry and peasantry dined in the old hotel, the 5 rooms upstairs each contained 2 tables laid for 40 or 44, the elite of the company; 3 rooms on the ground floor similarly arranged were for the 2nd rank, and all the mountaineers were at 14 tables in the vaults. The large room was prepared for dancing, but it being insufficient each room turned into a ballroom after the supper, pipers and fluters being plenty. The schoolhouse was used as a ballroom by the labourers, and in almost every public house there was dancing. An immense crowd gathered around the bonfire in the market place, but because of the rain many tried to gain entrance into the old hotel”.

“In the market house a few ladies remained to enjoy the excellent musick of Kavanagh’s Band. Their gentlemen were needed in the hotel to keep order, carve the meat, serve the drink and so on. The Ball was opened by a country dance, the Marquis and Janey Smith, Lord Sandys and Mrs Tynte, Jack Smith and Lady Alice and so on. The Marchioness, though dying with a headache when we came back to the Market House went off to the hotel, where the poor thing danced away among all the heat and odours, looking in her white dress like an angel. Later on she was carried by John Hornidge and Mr. Wolfe over to Mr. Owen’s house where she went at once to bed”.

Easter Week 1916 was a time of great activity in Blessington. The square was crowded with British military who were generally well received. Many were billeted in the houses of the village, including the Downshire Lodge. The execution of the rebel leaders caused a change of heart, however, and it was felt that the authorities had been in the wrong.

The Ulster bank had been established in Ireland in the year 1836, its first branches being at Belfast and Ballymoney. It had a capital of about £1 million. The previous year Daniel O’Connell had founded the National Bank of Ireland with a similar capital. Downshire Lodge was taken over by the Ulster Bank in 1918 and this year the Bank is 104 years in the town.

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