The History of The Streets of Nenagh

The earliest known creation of a street in Nenagh was Church Road, which was originally called Grace's Street. It was named after John Egan Grace, Esq, in 1839, when on the 26th of August 1839, he cut a new street from the part of Castle Street between "this office and the Ivy House" (which is now between the Omniplex cinema and part of Saint Mary's Church of Ireland) to Bachelor's Walk (which is now O'Rahilly Street") with 210 men. The new street was called "a great im- provement to the town" and it had "an extensive plane and a mountain view" and it was "a most desirable site for building" and it says "at some future period, to erect in it an asylum for aged and reduced gentle- women." and then that's the end of the article on page 3 of the Nenagh Guardian on the 28th of August 1839. Then, in 1841, Peter Street, which is now called Kickham Street, was opened. It was named after "our much regarded Lord of the Manor, Peter Holmes, Esq." and also a "new line of road or street from the Gaol to Cudville, on the Limerick Road." is mentioned, which is probably Ashe Road. Then, in 1855, a new street "con- strcuted opposite the church in Barrack Street" which is now Stafford Street was mentioned in a article titled "ROSCREA AND NENAGH RAILWAY." and the article talks about how a new railway line is going to be constructed and the terminus is going to be on Stafford Street. And now we have two streets that were made around the same time, around the year 1864. The first one is Bank Place, which is now called Emmet Place. At the beginning of 1864, an article was published called "NENAGH TOWN COMMISSIONERS." and in it, it is said, "Chairman—When the new street from Pound-Street to Peter-Street was first spoken of, it was stated that it would ruin the town ; now that it is made we hear no complaints.". And sometime in 1864 Martyrs' Road was built. It's said on a plaque in front of Anderson's Well, "This roadway, the 'New Line' built in 1864 to access the newly constructed railway, became known as Well Road.".