THE Letterkenny Community Heritage Group celebrated the 300th anniversary of the first Oldtown Fair held in 1726 when they unveiled a commemorative plaque on Friday evening at the Corner House Bar in Oldtown.
The event was well attended by local residents and committee members alike. Brian Walsh was MC for the evening while Hugo Devlin performed the unveiling.
In his address, Hugo related that the fair day on June 8 was the biggest day of the year for local residents who welcomed thousands of visitors to the fairs down the years.
It was one of County Donegal’s largest and oldest fairs. The town of Letterkenny held a fair for 11 months of the year, but the month of June belonged to the Oldtown, and it attracted buyers from across Northern Ireland who only ever attended the fair there.
During the 18th and 19th centuries the fair was held exclusively at “Oldtown Village”, the area of houses around the junction of the Corner House Bar. The sale of animals would have extended up the Leck Road to the Old Leck Church, up to the rocks at Lismonaghan, up the Rahan Road, and some distance out Crieve Smith past the old golf links.
While primarily a cattle fair, other animals like fowl, pigs, and horses were sold while various hawkers and artisan suppliers traded food, leather goods, clothes and cookware.
Members of the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group at the unveiling of the Oldtown Fair plaque in Letterkenny.
Hugo recalled that the children of the area looked forward to the fair with great excitement, and many of the local boys earned a few bob looking after animals while the owners went for food or celebrated a deal.
He recalled a newspaper report on the fair from 1954 that noted the oldest person in attendance was 90-year-old Neilly Browne of St Eunan’s Terrace who was attending his 80th consecutive Oldtown fair day, such was the popularity of the event.
A group of those in attendance at the unveiling of the plaque commemorating the 300th Annibersary of the first Oldtown Fair in 1726. The unveiling was performed by Hugh Devlin on the right.
Many of those present would recall that in the 1970’s the Oldtown fair day transitioned into the largest horse and pony sale in the north west of Ireland under the local Sweeney family at Oldtown.
Auctioneer Frank Sweeney would commence the sales in the forenoon and could be heard on loudspeaker at 11pm trying to conclude the last sales of the day. Such was its popularity that buyers regularly attended from as far away as County Tipperary
Hugo thanked the Letterkenny Community Heritage Group for taking the idea of marking the 300th anniversary of the first fair and seeing it through to the current celebration, and to John G. Larkin of the Corner House Bar for his support.