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Go to Castlebar ] [ The BB Index ] [ Disclaimer ] [Nostalgia Board ] [Main BB ] [Roots ] [NB Refresh for current version and all follow-ups] Posted by Hearld or Press on December 06, 2004 at 10:46:10: In Reply to: Re: castlebar crest/colours/flag posted by Curious on December 04, 2004 at 10:20:51:
 Well I guess the crossed pikes in the top left corner represent the 1798 battle of the French with the British forces in Castlebar. Pikes are big long poles with a spikey/hooked/axe like head - handy for all sorts of battle functions but cr8P against a musket ;-) The castle - well hey - 'Castle'bar - Barry's Castle - Caislean an Bharraigh - The CASTLE of BARry. The crosses usually refer to dioscean or parish details - dunno if there is (or was) five parishes within the Castlebar area (Breaghwy is not a parish !!!). The two trees look like Yew trees which would would mirror the Yew trees on the Mayo county crest - Maigh Eo - The Plain of the Yew - apparently we were covered in Yew trees once ? I guess the green and red colouring also refers back to the county crest colours of predominantly green and red too - Castlebar being the county capital or county town you can see why this might be the case. As for the white criss cross white lines on a red background - I believe that such a crest would refer to a Fitzgerald clan crest but I don't think they have any link to Castlebar ??? Anyway the white on red criss cross is a fairly common motif, it could be St. Patricks breastplate or something like that. The text at the bottom in Irish Gaelic is 'Ar Aghaidh' - pronunced Air Eye Ah - but for the life of me I cannot remember what that translates into (I can hear the far off whirring of me Irish teacher in the grave) . . . any takers ?
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