Danny Dowling (1927-2021)

It is hard to believe today that Glenmore was once heralded the only Village in the country that did not have a pub. In previous posts we identified some of the early pubs in the Village and ultimately the entire parish was dry from 1906 to 1963.  For information on early Village pubs, see our post of 31 March 2020.  The lack of a pub led to some unusual cases where locals were charged with operating shebeens. This law was generally enforced against the poor. It was presumed alcohol was being sold when the police deemed the person in possession could otherwise not afford the alcohol. For further details on Glenmore people charged with operating shebeens see our post of 5 April 2020.  Today, we are going to feature the newspaper accounts from 1963 when Glenmore lost its distinction as the only Village in the country without a pub.   

Front Page Kilkenny People

On Friday the 5^th of April 1963, Glenmore was splashed across the front page of the Kilkenny People under a headline “Dry Village May Get Two Pubs.” The first sentence of the article shows the lack of knowledge the jounalist had regarding Glenmore. “Glenmore’s traditional boast it never had a pub or a police-barracks may end as far as the pub aspect is concerned.” Over three years ago when we were doing the shebeen research I read this first sentence of this Kilkenny People article to Danny. I can still recall Danny’s reaction. He moved swiftly from amazement, visited annoyance and settled on dismissal. “The author,” he concluded with a smiled “hasn’t a clue.”

Just Plain Got It Wrong

Danny identified the field where the Sallies now stands as the site of the first RIC Barracks in Glenmore. The old people often spoke about its location when he was a young chap. He was not certain of the date it moved to its present location, but he noted it was before the mid-19^th century. He also stated that he knew of no Glenmore man who boasted that there was no pub in the Village or Parish. Danny explained that there was a belief that many people were killed returning to Glenmore from distant pubs. It was believed that it would have been safer to have a local pub. When I queried whether the article was correct that “two pubs” were on the cards for Glenmore, Danny nodded and said that much was true.

Other Front Page Kilkenny People Articles

We then spent some time laughing at other stories on the same front page. One was entitled “Should Women Be in Public Life,” and another that caught Danny’s attention was simply entitled “A Papal Bull.” (For our non-Catholic readers a papal bull is an edict or official document issued by the Pope.) The papal bull on the front page was in reference to the fact that Ireland was presenting an Aberdeen Angus bull to the Papal Farm at Castle Gandolfo. That short article really tickled Danny.

Glenmore’s Two Applications

[1] Anastatia Walsh

Getting back to the two pubs proposed for Glenmore, the article relates that Mrs. Anastatia Walsh, of Graiguenakill, Glenmore was granted an application by Judge McD. Fawsitt for a declaration that premises she proposed to build in Glenmore Village were suitable for a pub. The application for the actual license had to go before the Circuit Court at a later date.

Getting a license to operate a pub was an expensive undertaking. Mrs. Walsh was represented by a barrister in the circuit court, various notices had to be placed in newspapers and the number of licenses across the country was limited. An existing license had to “be extinguished” before a new license could be issued. Needless to say a person with a license willing to extinguish did it for a fee.

[2] Richard “Dick” Hanrahan

At the Kilkenny Circuit Court in April 1963, a similar application was made by Richard Hanrahan of the Village. His application was adjourned to be heard in Carlow Circuit Court the following week. We did find that Richard Hanrahan placed a notice in the Munster Express (Fri. 25 Jan. 1963, p. 12) advising that on the 2^nd of April he would seek a certificate from the Circuit Court allowing him to apply for an intoxicating liquor licence for premises in Glenmore. We were unable to find what happened at Carlow Circuit Court, but Dick Hanrahan never opened a pub in Glenmore.

Midleton’s Loss Was Glenmore’s Gain

Mrs. Walsh’s application was brought under Section 15 of the Intoxicating Liquor Act of 1960. Although it was stated in the article that the Village had a population of 1,250 it was the entire parish that had that population not the Village. The article noted that Mrs. Walsh had procured the consent of two existing license holders in Midleton, Co. Cork, to the extinguishment of their licenses (Kilkenny People, Fri. 5 April 1963, p. 1).

Michael Keohan, Main Street, Midleton, testified that he was the holder of a license in Midleton and he was prepared to extinguish his license if Mrs. Walsh’s application was granted. Miss Johanna Kavanagh, Main Street, Midleton also testified that she was prepared to extinguish her license if Mrs. Walsh’s application was granted. The Judge then stated, “I hope they have not given up drinking in Midleton.”  Miss Kavanagh replied that there “were still a good number of public houses there.”

Other Witnesses

Supt. W. Coonan, Thomastown, testified that the gardai had no objection to Mrs. Walsh’s application. The plans for the proposed premises had been submitted to him, and he considered they were satisfactory.

Michael J. Shalloe, a Waterford architect, testified that Glenmore was ten miles from Waterford and as far as he could judge the nearest licensed premises would be four and a half to five miles away in Slieverue.

 Mrs. Walsh told the court that if her application was granted she would run the business herself.

Munster Express

The journalist from the Munster Express was a bit more knowledgeable concerning Glenmore, but still managed to confuse the Village with the Parish. On the same date of publication, the Munster Express placed its article on page 16 while the Kilkenny People placed it on the front page. In its article entitled “Glenmore Loses Its Distinction,” the Munster Express explained that “after a lapse of just over 100 years, the parish reputed to be the only one in Ireland without a “pub” is again to have a licensed premises. The Village was without a pub, but the parish had a licensed pub until 1906. Citing the Licensed Vintner’s March issue, the Munster Express noted “the last pub in Glenmore was closed just over a hundred years ago by a decree of the then parish priest” (Munster Express, Fri. 5 April 1963, p. 16). The article ironically ended with the fact that the Glenmore district was renowned for its malting barley contracts for Guinness, Smithwicks and other breweries and distilleries.

Correction by Kilkenny People

After its front page article of 5 April 1963 the Kilkenny People on 26 April 1963 attempted to correct its earlier article.  Ignoring the fact that it got the information concerning the police barracks incorrect, it did attempt to address the widely held belief that Mrs. Walsh’s establishment would be the first licensed premises in Glenmore Village. “However, this is not the case as a seven day licence was held by the late Mr. J. Kirwan, of Scartnamore, Glenmore. The licence was withdrawn 57 years ago in 1906,” when an RIC sergeant caught a housewife leaving the premises with a “can” of beer, before opening time on a Sunday morning.” (Fri. 26 April 1963, p. 8). Needless to say Scartnamore is not in the Village of Glenmore, cans of beer were not available in 1906, and there were pubs in the Village of Glenmore prior to c. 1870 when Masses were disrupted and the parish priest caused the pubs to close their doors.

Grand Opening

The long awaited Glenmore Village pub opened in November 1963. Notwithstanding its popularity in the press earlier in the year, very little was written about its opening. The Waterford News & Star in its Clover Meats Column wrote that “during opening night at the new local pub at Glenmore last Friday, Mick Morrissey, Bacon Dept, was the first to tap out a hornpipe on the new floor” (Fri. 15 Nov. 1963, p. 12).

The Munster Express also published a few lines. “New pub opened for the first time in many years—a new licensed premises opened in Glenmore village on Friday night last and good patronage is being accorded the new enterprise. The proprietoress (sic) is Mrs. Anastasia Walsh” (Munster Express, Fri. 15 Nov. 1963, p. 10).

Distinctive Glenmore Discussed in New York

Perhaps the most unusual article appeared in the Evening Herald written by a correspondent in New York in May 1964 just six months after the grand opening. The correspondent stated that he had the pleasure of meeting a young hurler, Mike Duggan, of Glenmore ”which he described as a “fair sized town” near New Ross. “Mike who hurls for Kilkenny, told me an interesting fact about Glenmore.  The fair sized town never had a pub until last year. Mike is a Pioneer” (7 May 1964, p. 12).

Anastatia Walsh née Doherty (c. 1907-1972)

Anastatia Walsh continued to operate the pub from 1963 until her death in June 1972 at the age of 65. She was a native of Rosbercon and was the widow of James Walsh (c. 1901-1958). James Walsh was a native of Glenmore and was the Captain of the Glenmore Company of the old IRA. In 1933 he joined An Garda Siochana and was serving in Limerick where he died in 1958. He was survived by Anastatia and two sons and two daughters. James’s obituary can be viewed on our W Family page by clicking here.

After Anastatia’s death the pub was operated by her son Sean Walsh (c. 1936-1995) for a time, and Sean sold the pub to Mickey Barron. We are happy to report that the Glen Bar has survived COVID and continues to operate in Glenmore Village and is run by Pat Barron.

See our post of 7 April 2022 featuring a recording made by John Ennett entitled, “Dancing at Sean Walsh’s.”

Please send any photos, corrections or additional information to glenmore.history@gmail.com. For anyone who hasn’t visited Glenmore in a while I did not crop the photo of the pub because it shows the recent addition of road and parking lines as well as the patio area in the front of the pub.

Update 8 May 2023: A reader contacted me to state that the village of Annestown, Co. Waterford has never had a pub. However according to Annestown Heritage Trail From Battles to Tranquility (p. 5) Annestown once had 5 pubs! A local magistrate in the early 1800’s ordered all the pubs closed because they were used as meeting places for local gangs.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh