Fascinating object from long ago market days uncovered during works in Offaly

A fascinating object possibly dating back to market days in the early 20th Century or maybe even the 19th Century has been uncovered by Council workers in Birr during their upgrading works on Green Street. 

"One interesting thing of note," Area Engineer John Mitchell told the January meeting of Birr Municipal District, "is we cleaned up an old weigh bridge while we were upgrading Green Street.

"This weigh bridge is located beside Gleeson's steel works and some locals would have known about it, but many would be unaware of it. It was covered over for years by a planter box containing a tree and we removed the tree box during our work. It's located beside the former weigh bridge house.”

Cllr John Carroll, Cathaoirleach, said the weigh bridge was possibly used during the 19th Century and most probably during the first half of the 20th Century.

“It weighed farm produce during market days on the Green,” said Cllr Carroll, “probably vegetables, and maybe small animals. The market moved eventually out of The Green and took place instead on Castle Street. I remember the markets on Castle Street and Market Square during the 1950s, where turkeys, piglets, hens, vegetables were sold. The policy during the Castle Street markets was to weigh just the vegetables. The animals were judged by eye and weren't weighed at all."

The Area Engineer said a lot of local people are very interested in the weigh bridge.

“Gleeson's helped us clean it up by sanding it. The weigh bridge was a weighing scale. Beneath it is a small chamber with an arm which measured the weight. This arm extends into the weigh bridge house. This weigh bridge house still exists. There's a similar weigh bridge, in good condition, beside Giltrap's Pub in Kinnitty. The Green St weigh bridge is a nice feature and would be a nice thing to put on the town's tourist trail.”