Old Cornmarket (drawing of Old Cornmarket courtesy of Patrick Reel)

Old Cornmarket is located between Fair Green, Trimgate Street and Market Square.

Old Cornmarket 2014 Kieran Harte's old shoe mending shop on the right. (photos © N&DHS)

There was a forge and weighbridge there until the 1970s. The contents of this forge were displayed in 'Smyth's of the Bridge', in Academy Street.  The N&DHS purchased these artefacts when 'Smyth's of the Bridge' closed its doors. We hope to be able to display them in the future in a suitable setting.

Gussie Curtis operated the forge and weighbridge.  He also operated a larger weighbridge on the Circular Road for Navan Urban Council up to the 1970s.

(pictured left)

Gussie Curtis,

Navan's last blacksmith,

pictured in his forge in Old Cornmarket, where he worked from 1936 to 1978.

He did general repair work on ploughs, reapers, harrows etc.

as well as the noble art

of horse shoeing.

The four pictures below show the actual implements from Gussie Curtis' Forge as recreated in the Forge Room in 'Smyth's of the Bridge' in Academy St.

General View of the contents of Gussie Curtis' Forge

The Anvil from Gussie Curtis' Forge

The Bellows from Gussie Curtis' Forge

Gussie Curtis' Apron hanging in 'Smyth's of the Bridge', Academy St. Navan

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The first automatic telephone exchange in Navan was in Old Cornmarket where Earl's Kitchen and adjoining buildings now are.  Telephones went automatic in Navan in October 1966.  The exchange moved to Carriage Road in the 1980s.

The 25inch Ordnance Survey map, which dates between 1897 and 1913 shows the Navan Fire Station was in Old Cornmarket at this time.  The fireman William Murray is living at the fire station at the time of the 1911 census with his wife Bridget and their three children. 

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For further information on Gussie Curtis see the Journal of the N&DHS:

Navan - Its People and Its Past, Vol. 2, pub. 2013, p.29-30