The Renaming of Manorhamilton’s Lower Main Street

ManorhamiltonAn innovative event is taking place in Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim supported by Leitrim County Council. The local Historical Society in Manorhamilton has received approval from Leitrim County Council to rename a street in the town in honor of North Leitrim’s most famous son and second signatory on the proclamation – Seán MacDiarmada. This is the first time in the history of the county that a street has been renamed in such a fashion.

Seán_Mac_DiarmadaWe are celebrating the 100 year anniversary of the sacrifice that Kiltyclogher native, Seán MacDiarmada made to establish a Free Ireland. Seán MacDiarmada (27 January 1883 – 12 May 1916) was an Irish political activist and revolutionary leader. He was one of the seven leaders of the Easter Rising of 1916, which he helped to organize as a member of the Military Committee of the Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB) and was a signatory to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. He was executed for his part in the Rising at the age of thirty-three on 12 May 1916.

The event to rename the street will take place on Sunday 29th May and they are actively engaging the diaspora community to help them connect back to the area of their birth.

There will be a parade, pageantry, an outdoor concert on our historic Castle grounds and an extensive historical exhibition and talks on the day.

Everyone has a chance to be part of this unique and momentous occasion for the town through a unique fundraiser. For a nominal donation (€50/$60), they are assigning 1 sq. m of the street to the donor for the next 100 years. They will receive a certificate declaring their assignment rights which will give them a connection to their hometown for the next 3 generations of their family!

There is a full historical collection being uploaded on the Manorhamilton and District Historical Society Facebook page where you can get full details on the event. To subscribe to get your assignment of the street, the website is www.manorhamilton.ie/donations.

There is an open invite to everyone that would like to attend and we hope you can be part of this special day.

*** UPDATE FROM THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY (5/5/2016): We received an email from a Manorhamilton Native in America letting us know that PayPal would not allow her to pay for her square meter using her American Bank Card.  I called PayPal, and they said that if you have a PayPal account, the payment will go through no problem. If you don’t have a PayPal account, you can only use bank cards issued in European countries. It’s a security layer that they put on to protect against fraud. If you live outside of Europe and you’d like to purchase a 1sq meter piece of pavement, and are having problems using PayPal, you can send a check as our bank takes foreign checks. Please message us to see how much €50 is in your currency and make checks payable to “Manorhamilton and District Historical Society” and address would be: Manorhamilton and District Historical Society, c/o Gerry Creamer, Bee Park Resource Centre, Manorhamilton, Co. Leitrim.  I hope that this helps and we apologise for the inconvenience.