{"id":821,"date":"2026-03-02T22:44:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:44:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/?p=821"},"modified":"2026-03-02T22:44:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T22:44:30","slug":"bianconi-coach-driver","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/bianconi-coach-driver\/","title":{"rendered":"Bianconi Coach Driver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When Thomas Mulkerrins from Raleigh Row died in January 1947, he was described as one of the last of the Bianconi coach drivers. As a young man, Thomas was the driver of the Bianconi coach between Westport and Achill. This was the primary mode of public transport from 1815, when Charles Bianconi established the first dedicated passenger coach service in Ireland. It was an outstanding success from the beginning, as it provided a much-needed road transport service. On 20 April 1850, Bianconi began a coach service between Galway and Mullingar. This coach had the capacity to carry ten outside passengers. Just over a year later, in September 1851, he opened a daily coach service from Galway to Clifden. This coach left from outside Black\u2019s Royal Hotel in Eyre Square. The journey took eight hours. However, the arrival of the railway in the 1850s saw a decline in the coach service. Thomas Mulkerrins quickly adapted and secured employment in Galway Railway Station, where he spent thirty-five years.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Bianconi Coach at Eyre Square<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Thomas Mulkerrins from Raleigh Row died in January 1947, he was described as one of the last of the Bianconi coach drivers. As a young man, Thomas was the driver of the Bianconi coach between Westport and Achill. This was the primary mode of public transport from 1815, when Charles Bianconi established the first … Continue reading “Bianconi Coach Driver”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,18,12],"tags":[277,79,278],"class_list":["post-821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-folklore-traditions","category-galway-history","category-old-galway","tag-bianconi-coach","tag-eyre-square","tag-thomas-mulkerrins"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=821"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":823,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/821\/revisions\/823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/galwaysown.ie\/Galway%20Stories\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}