Work on restoration of old Meath Chronicle Printworks facade begins

Work has begun in the past week to restore the facade of Meath Chronicle Printing Works on the Market Square in Navan to its former glory.  
This work is being largely funded under the Historic Towns Initiative 2019 and overseen by the Heritage Department of Meath County Council in conjunction with architect Robert Kenny.
It was announced last February that the Meath Chronicle Printing Works building has been accepted for funding along with the former Central Hotel (which is also known as the old St Laurence Hotel).
Carrying out the conservation work on the Meath Chronicle building is the experienced specialist restoration firm, O’Hagan Heritage, based in Stamullen.
Scaffolding was erected at the premises last Friday and the work is due for completion by 25th October next.   
Frank Mulrennan, chief executive of Celtic Media Group, said: “We are delighted that these fine listed buildings, which are so important to the heritage of Market Square, will now get the necessary funding for returning their front facades to the manner in which they deserve to be maintained.
“We are also very pleased to have secured the expertise of Dean O’Hagan and his firm, advised by our architect for these works.   We have seen previous restorative projects undertaken by O’Hagan Heritage and are most impressed.”
Mr Mulrennan said he appreciated the support for their neighbours on Market Square in terms of this work and said they were committed to minimising any inconvenience over the weeks of the restoration project.
The majority of the funding comes from the Heritage Council and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht with Meath Chronicle (Celtic Media Group) providing the remainder in the case of the Meath Chronicle Printing Works.
A newspaper was first published by MP, James McCann, on the Market Square site in January 1903, called The Irish Peasant.  This publication was devoted to the promotion of economic activities and the social and industrial advancement of the people, especially around good farming techniques.
The newspaper which also advocated secular education was suppressed by its proprietors because of the threat of Cardinal Logue to denounce it and forbid Irish Catholics to read it.  This pressure from the Cardinal led to the paper closing, but it reappeared in Dublin under the title The Peasant. 
The Meath Chronicle later came to be published and printed from the site and today’s newspaper continues to be published from Market Square.