A folly built out of spite
The Jealous Wall
Belvedere House was built in 1740 as a hunting lodge for Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere. He accused his wife Mary of an affair with his younger brother Arthur and locked her up in a house on the estate for thirty-one years. When his other brother George built a finer mansion next door, Robert built the largest folly in Ireland — a fake Gothic ruin called the Jealous Wall — purely to block the view. Mary, when finally released after Robert's death, is said to have asked one question: "Is the tyrant dead?" The wall is still there. So is the story.
1939 to 2007, in bronze
Joe Dolan
Joseph Francis Robert Dolan, born here in 1939 and buried here in 2007, was the showband king of Ireland. The Drifters at first, then Joe Dolan and the Drifters when an American band of the same name objected, then Joe Dolan and His Drifters. He toured for fifty years on a slogan — "There's no show like a Joe show" — and he was right. The bronze life-size statue on Market Square went up in December 2008. His brother Ben unveiled it. Thousands turned up. Stand by it some Saturday evening and you'll see the older crowd nod at it the way you'd nod at a man you used to know.
One Direction, born 1993
Niall Horan
Niall James Horan was born in Mullingar on 13 September 1993, auditioned for the X Factor at sixteen, and ended up the only Irish member of one of the best-selling boy bands in history. He's released three solo records since the band paused in 2016. Locally, he's the lad from the road. Walk around long enough and you'll find a fan with a phone trying to retrace some TikTok pilgrimage. The pub-of-choice question gets answered differently depending on who's asking.
The summers of 1900 and 1901
Joyce in Mullingar
James Joyce came to Mullingar twice as a teenager, in the summers of 1900 and 1901, when his father John was sent down to sort out the local election lists. He worked beside his father in the Court House. The town turns up in Stephen Hero — Stephen visits his godfather Mr Fulham at a house that looks a lot like Levington Park out by Lough Owel. The chapter never made it into the finished Portrait of the Artist. The Greville Arms gets a mention in his work, and has milked it ever since.