Prominent historian Dr Barry Sheppard sheds new light on the fascinating history of North Street, Lurgan and its impact on national and international events

Lurgan native and eminent historian, Dr Barry Sheppard, has delved into the street’s rich history and will be giving a talk on what used to be the back road of the Brownlow Estate.

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The street developed as the town’s industrial prowess grew in the nineteenth century. Over the years, waves of people from home and abroad flocked to the town in the hope of securing work in the area’s burgeoning linen industry. This talk, ‘Radical North Street’ by historian, Dr Sheppard looks at some of the street’s most notable residents and their impact on local, national and international events over the last two hundred years.

Sheppard examines the lives of North Street residents such as Home Ruler and labour activist, Richard McGhee and Irish Cultural Revival figure, George William Russell.

Richard McGhee, the Church of Ireland-born Nationalist Home Ruler, was a passionate defender of the working class, whose impact was felt in labour politics in Ireland and Britain. A convert to the Land League cause, McGhee brought Michael Davitt to the town to galvanise the tenantry of the local landlord, Lord Lurgan.

George William Russell, while born in nearby William Street, spent his childhood the North Street area, specifically where St. Peter’s GAA club now stands. A notable painter, poet, critic and co-operative organiser, Russell became an outspoken defender of the strikers in the Dublin Lockout of 1913. Sheppard explores this element of Russell’s many-sided career, as well as his relationship with James Connolly.

Other figures discussed include trade union activists, Bob Levin and Minnie Rogers, veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Jim Haughey, and local activist clergy such as Fr Peter McEvoy, demonstrating that the North Street area was a hive of political activism for generations.

Dr Barry Sheppard has a PhD in Transnational History, is a presenter on History Now (NVTV), a Public historian and museum researcher.

The event will be held at Gaeláras Uí Mhuirí in North Street on March 7 at 7pm.