Allingham Memorial — Ballyshannon

The saved account records: Carved stone memorial commemorating the poet William Allingham to centre of east parapet of Ballyshannon Bridge (40852064), erected c. 1895, comprising rectangular marble plaque with inscribed text to centre flanked to either side (south and north) by carved stone inverted console brackets, and having carved stone pediment over with Irish harp and shamrock motifs in bas-relief to tympanum.

The saved account records: Located to the south of Ballyshannon town centre.

The saved wording does not establish one complete story of attack, rebuilding, abandonment, damage or later change. No single cause is claimed without evidence.

The official record fixes the place and calls it monument. It does not provide a full list of finds or a current condition report, so visible and buried remains are not guessed.

Allingham Memorial — Ballyshannon matters for the exact reasons given in its official assessment, rather than merely because it is an old structure. The source records: This fine classical-style memorial monument commemorates the noted poet and author William Allingham (1824 – 1889), a native of Ballyshannon. It was erected in 1895 by the townspeople of Ballyshannon and was later removed from its original site on the early bridge, built c. 1680, and re-erected on the present bridge following its construction in 1946-7. This memorial, which is of artistic merit, reads ‘here once he roved a happy boy along the winding banks of Erne, and now, please God, with final joy, a fairer world his eyes discern’. This elegant memorial is an integral element of the built heritage of… This explains what the place adds to local life, the street or the surviving built history.