Towns/villages in Ireland frozen in time

George White

I was in Wicklow and found a town near Blessington with its own 'Top of the Town' and proudly displayed but ancient sign 'Welcome to Ielands Tidy Towns Winner 1973'
I'm looking for places frozen, and kept theexact same even with obsolete kind of shops since the 1970s/80s.

coylemj

There's still a lot of the Special Olympics signs ('xxx host town for yyy country') outside towns, saw a few driving down to Kerry in July.

On a smaller scale to what the OP is looking for, I stayed in a B&B five or six years ago in Co. Kerry and it was like stepping into the set of 'The Riordans' as the decor hadn't been touched since the late 1960s. Turned out that the lady of the house in her (much) younger days had entered the Calor 'Housewife of the Year' contest and had made it to the national final so she had all the press cuttings pasted onto scrapbook pages and posted on the wall in the dining room. While we were having breakfast we were able to study the photos of her being crowned as the regional winner and then of her in the national final being interviewed by Gay Byrne, it was like being in a time warp!

George White

any more....

George White

Other suggestions? I'm going on a road trip.

George White

I'm looking for specific shops.

Lima Golf

Carlingford co. Louth. There's a teeny tiny sweet shop ran by a teeny tiny old woman. when you come in, she comes out of a door from her house to serve you. She even wears a head scarf and an apron. The shop looks like it's not been touched for 50 years. Is that the kind of thing you're after?

Lima Golf

Found some pics online. None of the old lady though

George White

Yes, that's what I am looking for. I'm also looking for out of date restaurants, even independent video/dvd rental libraries. There's one in Carrick-on-Shannon..

OldRio

The Forge in Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim.

You can buy just about anything in the place. The stock looks like it has just been thrown on the floor, but if you ask for something the owner can find it straight away.

highlydebased

Up around Knock or the depths of Co.Kerry like Sneem in particular would probably be what you're looking for

ebbsy

Monasterevin

Lima Golf

Also on the side of the road between Castleblayney and carrickmacross Co. Monaghan there's a shop called jimmy cunninghams. It sells everything from cattle feed to groceries to clothes. It's a mad little shop. I went in one day for a nosey and most items are covered in a thick layer of dust, they've been on the shelves years. Some items were still priced in punts! It's a rough and ready kind of shop. I remember an electric kettle, it was very 80s looking with the price in pounds written on the kettle itself (not the box) in permanent marker!!

George White

Are there any of these towns accessible by train?

coylemj

Morrissey's in Abbeyleix. Very well preserved traditional bar and grocer. Rumour has it that there is an old horse-drawn hearse in a shed out the back which they will show you on request.

Coming from Portlaoise, you go through the traffic lights in the middle of the town and it's a short distance along the road on the right.

http://goo.gl/maps/W4miA

George White

Lima Golf wrote: »

Also on the side of the road between Castleblayney and carrickmacross Co. Monaghan there's a shop called jimmy cunninghams. It sells everything from cattle feed to groceries to clothes. It's a mad little shop. I went in one day for a nosey and most items are covered in a thick layer of dust, they've been on the shelves years. Some items were still priced in punts! It's a rough and ready kind of shop. I remember an electric kettle, it was very 80s looking with the price in pounds written on the kettle itself (not the box) in permanent marker!!

do they sell videos/dvds?

coylemj

George White wrote: »

do they sell videos/dvds?

Betamax only.