Ballyrush Hall, Ballyrush, Co. Sligo
The Ballyrush Temperance Hall, as it was
originally known, was built sometime in the late 1800's or early 1900's and our
first
reference to it came from 1916 when it was used for a concert. Like so many of
the small local halls which covered Ireland in the
early 20th century it was used for everything from meetings to drama to dancing.
By 1950, dances were being held in the
hall on a regular basis and the hall hosted the famous Clipper Carlton Orchestra
in 1954.
It would appear the last dances were held in the hall around 1973 and in 1991
there was a drive to save Ballyrush,
but as you can see from the photo below, this never happened. Like so many of
the small halls which were once the
lifeblood of rural Irish life, Ballyrush Hall sits empty and silent, a quiet and
sad reminder of a glorious past.
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