Plan for museum on Athlone's Left Bank gets go-ahead
By Rebekah O'Reilly
Plans for a new museum in Athlone’s Left Bank area have been given the green light.
Diarmuid Morrissey submitted a planning application last September seeking approval for a change of use at 6 Main Street/High Street, Athlone, from commercial or residential use to cultural museum use.
According to the plans, the museum is designed to "interpret, present, and celebrate the social, cultural and historical heritage of Athlone and its people within the town and the wider area".
Further information on the plans was sought by the council in October, and submitted last month, with the local authority formally granting permission at the beginning of April.
The property in which the planned museum is to be situated is listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) as a protected structure in Westmeath.
Dating from around 1800, the end-of-terrace corner building features early 20th-century shopfronts and sits next to the Castle Inn, and opposite Sean’s Bar, on the west side of Athlone town.
The protected structure maintains its historic streetscape, featuring a hipped artificial slate roof, rendered walls with a pronounced base, timber sliding sash windows, traditional timber shopfronts with Doric pilasters, a timber panelled door with an overlight, cast-iron rainwater goods, and enamelled bilingual street signs dating from 1930.
The project includes a small rear extension, the restoration of existing shopfronts, and all associated site works and drainage.
According to the planning application, the museum will operate as a public cultural facility, offering guided tours and a range of community-focused activities.
Rather than housing large collections, it will focus on interpretive, educational, and social experiences.
Exhibitions will highlight local history and folklore, military history, town milestones, notable people, and contemporary culture.
Visitors can expect interpretive panels, audiovisual displays, digital storytelling, photographs, documentary material, and small-scale artefacts of local significance.
"The proposed museum is not affiliated with any national or international third-party organisation and will operate as an independent cultural initiative," the council was told as part of the planning application.
It added that the new facility will be designed to serve as a cultural hub for residents, visitors, schools, and community groups, with a strong emphasis on heritage education and engagement.
Westmeath County Council granted permission for the change of use to a museum, subject to five conditions.
One condition relating to the conservation of the building states that "all historic features shall be repaired and retained in situ as far as reasonably possible, including historic staircase, doors, architraves, shutter boxes, dado and picture rails, wainscoting".
The planning authority added that, "where historic floorboards survive, they are to be repaired and retained" and that "surviving windows, shutters and casings in storage" are "to be reinstated, where practicable".