Moate Mart - Photographs and Paraphernalia

To celebrate Heritage Week, join us in Moate Library on Monday the 18th of August at 11am, to launch an exhibition of photographs and paraphernalia documenting Moate Mart.

Established in the mid – 1950’s Moate Mart played a significant role in the town’s history, earning it a reputation as one of the largest livestock markets in Ireland.
This exhibition was put together by librarian Kathleen Cleary, and reflects the mart in its heyday and even records some of the memories of people who did business at Moate Mart.

"Jobbers would be there buying and selling. And then there would be a blocker, he'd come early in the morning, and he would have bid the farmer so much coming in the road. He'd be watching if anyone was going to bid, to say sure I was giving you that earlier. You'd have to see the angle and the tangle of them," he smiled during his detailed recollection. There was always a trick in it somewhere. But that was the way of life at that time. I mean the horses and carts used to bring in the sheep from Athlone and they'd take the wheels out from under the carts to make sure the sheep would look bigger, the lambs especially, they'd look bigger in the crate than having them out on the ground.’