| Descendants of the family
continued to reside in the Manor House until about 1935 when it was bought by
Mr. Bernard. Noonan who later donated it with some 50 acres to the Sisters of
Mercy. During the Second World War it was occupied by Units of the Irish army
and it was not until 1947 that the house was converted into the Manor Nursing
Home as we know it to-day. A path around the lawn was said to be a mile long. A
wood nearby was frequented by herons and known as the cranery or the crane wood.
A local tradition had it that when the herons left the Edgeworths would also go
but to return if and when the herons came back. The town itself grew alongside
the Manor House as was the custom. Beside the present "Imperial"
building stood the school run by the Rev. Patrick Hughes that Oliver Goldsmith
attended before going to University in Dublin. It was when returning from here
to Lissoy that he went astray to Ardagh and his adventure at the house of Squire
Fetherston thinking it to be an inn that in later years gave him the idea for
the plot of his comedy "She Stoops to Conquer". The town was later a
staging post for Bianconi's coaches, perhaps at the houses with the arched
doorways opposite the Bank of Ireland which was itself at one time a hotel or
guesthouse. Both banks in the town formerly sub-offices from Longford opened the
same day 1st April 1917, the National Bank at the corner of Main Street and
Granard St. while the Ulster was opposite the present building which was erected
in 1920. The Irish National Foresters had a hall with their own band over the
present market house where pigs and fowl were weighed on market days. The hall
acted as a supper room for dances held in "the Hut" which was the
dancing place before the Auburn Hall was built in 1946. The porch over Cullen's
Shop was a favourite spot for politicians to address meetings until
comparatively recent times. The Hut was originally a meeting place for
ex-servicemen after returning from the First World War in 1918. On the site of
the car park opposite the Market house stood the old Imperial Hotel the only one
in the town for many years. It was a we11 known rendezvous for commercial
travellers who came by train and then did their rounds to Ballymahon and Granard
on side-cars. At the back of the hotel the Ancient Order of Hibernians held
their meetings for many years. |
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