The family who have run a local shop in Carrick-On-Shannon for many years also have a memorial chapel.
Local trader John Costello's shop in Carrick-On-Shannon, County Leitrim, was set up by his grand uncle Edward Costello in the 1800s. The business survived the famine and is now situated in the house owned by the family since 1894.
Edward Costello was widely known as a kind man who showed great generosity to local people. His wife, Mary Josephine Costello, died at age 46 in 1877.
As a memorial to her and a token of affection, he decided to build the Memorial Chapel.
The building started as a courthouse. It became the property of the Methodist trust, which erected a Wesleyan chapel on the site in 1820.
Constructed of Bath stone, the Costello Memorial Chapel is the smallest in Ireland. Mary Josephine Costello's embalmed body was placed with the Marist nuns while the chapel was being built.
The chapel was completed in 1879. Mary Josephine Costello's coffin was placed in a sunken area to the left of the entrance door. Mass was said on the first Friday of the month in the Chapel. This practice ceased when Edward Costello died in 1891. He was laid to rest on the right side of the chapel.
John Costello's sister Mrs Hogg recalls growing up in the shop, where she lived until she was married. The shop was extremely busy in December with people stocking up for Christmas and the winter months.
They wouldn't come into town again until the end of February probably.
The shop stocked everything from leather to dried fish and bars of salt. Costello's even did their own blending of tea and whiskey. Their tea in particular was quite famous.
If they didn't get Costello's tea, it wasn't tea at all.
This episode of 'Faces and Places' was broadcast on 2 August 1986. The presenter is Kathleen Watkins.
