Ellen Brennan (c. 1919-1934)

While transcribing Danny Dowling’s Notebook 30 this week, there were two entries recorded where Danny twice interviewed Brigid Hunt née Brennan (1922-2015) who was born and reared in Glenmore Village.  Danny after providing her full name in his notes thereafter referred to her a “Bridgie.” Danny’s interviews with “Bridgie” centred around her time in Glenmore, and what she remembered about her school day and her early work that led her to Tramore. However, it was only after attempting to locate an obituary for this Glenmore native that we learned of her direct link to a murder that shocked Tramore in 1965.

Early Years in Glenmore

Brigid Brennan was born on 23^rd November 1922 [DD Notebook 25] to John Brennan (1872 -1957) and his wife Ellen Cahill (1876-1946). Her father was employed by the Kilkenny County Council on the roads and was paid fortnightly. Although he held a steady job, Bridgie stated, “the poverty we experienced was terrible as wages even on the Council were small.” John did odd jobs to supplement his income such as gardening for Bevan’s and Curran’s. Sometimes he also worked for Pat Hanrahan (1886-1957). [DD Notebook 30].

John Brennan (labourer) and Ellen Cahill of Ballycroney, Glenmore were married at Glenmore on 27 October 1903. John’ address at the time of the marriage was Cluan, Kilmaganny, he was 30 years of age and his father was John Brennan (labourer). Ellen was 24 years of age and was the daughter of Peter Cahill (labourer) [Civil Marriage Records].

Ellen Cahill was the daughter of Peter Cahill and his wife Mary Carty. She was born on 29 May 1876 and baptized the following day. Her godparents were James Norris and Bridget Dooling (Glenmore Parish Records).

Bridgie’s Siblings

According to Bridgie her parents, John Brennan and Ellen Brennan née Cahill had four daughters in their family. [1] Margaret “Maggie” [1905-1997] was the eldest. She was born in Kilmaganny [Birth Register: on 25 Feb. 1905] and married to Willie Brown of Tramore. They had family. [According to the marriage Register Margaret Brennan married William Browne on 25 September 1939].  [2] Bridgie married Sean Hunt (1928-1965) and lived in Tramore. [3] Mary Brennan never married and lived with Bridgie in Tramore. [4] Ellie Brennan died aged 11 of eczema in St. Patrick’s in Waterford, “in Dr. Michael Gibbon’s time in Glenmore. He made all the funeral arrangement and she is buried in Ballygurrim with the Cahills” [DD Notebook 30].

The 1911 Census shows that John, Ellen and their eldest were residing in Kilmaganny. John was working as an agricultural labourer and the couple had been married for 6 years and had two children born, but only one child was alive in 1911.

According to the death register Ellen Brennan (c. 1919-1934) died 4 December 1934 in the Co. Hospital of Waterford. She was aged 15 and died of “acute eczema of the whole body and nephritis” (12 days) (Death Register). It is likely that the renal problems she suffered caused the eczema.

Glenmore Girl’s School

Bridgie told Danny that when she was going to the girls’ school in Glenmore in the 1930’s there were about 90 girls attending the school. The teachers were Mrs. Heffernan, the principal, and Mrs. Alice Power who taught the infants and the younger girls. There were about 60 girls in Mrs. Power’s class and in Mrs. Heffernan’s class there were about 30 girls. There was religious instruction every day and the religion class started at 11 o’clock.

She said the country girls used to bring kindling for the fire. She remembers a lot of the boys were barefoot, and some of the girls in the summertime. She also remembered the children in the top seats of the chapel every Sunday before second Mass for prayers.

Danny also interviewed his sister, Mary Barron née Dowling (1928-2019) of Ballyconway concerning the girl’s school.  Mary reported that when she was going to school in the 1930’s the principal teacher in the girl’s school was Teressa McGrath a native of Russellstown, Clonmel. Miss Russell came to Glenmore in the early years of the century. She then married Mikey Heffernan of Cappagh, Glenmore Village. Alice Power née Curran of Jamestown was the assistant teacher with Mrs. Heffernan. She was a native of Robinstown, Glenmore.

The school consisted of two rooms each with a fireplace. When the fire was lit in the wintertime some of the girls were sent out to collect kindling and firewood from the nearby ditches on a regular basis. Sanitary facilities consisted of dry toilets situated outside at the back of the school. There was a half hour of religious studies every morning [DD Notebook 30].

Jo Doyle née Mernagh (1932-2021) always stated that it was a wonder that children were not injured or killed on the hill behind the old schools. The dry toilets were located about a quarter way down the steep hill behind the old schools. Children would stop their rapid descent by grabbing the trees.

Glenmore Dispensary

Bridgie when working for JK’s used to tidy and clean the dispensary which was used every Tuesday when the doctor attended. She remembered well old Dr. Matt Coughlan and his son Dr. Val. The old man, she said was very lucky with his patients He used also pull teeth without an anaesthetic. She remembers Mollie Murphy of Moulerstown, to have teeth extracted by Dr. Matt Coughlan without any anaesthetic and Dick Walsh of Ballyfacey, to have a lump removed surgically from him without the aid of an anaesthetic [DD Notebook 30]. For a history of the Glenmore dispensary see our post of 25 April 2020.

Bridgie also recalled Danny’s father threshing the corn in the yard behind Patsy Ryan’s with Martin Walsh’s engine. She also said that one of the Dowling’s of Jamestown stood for her mother. A review of the baptismal record of Ellen Brennan née Cahill shows that Ellen’s godmother was Bridget Dooling [Dowling].

Glenmore Shops

The Brennan family dealt in Lizzie JK’s for their groceries and obtained their milk in Hanrahan’s. At that time Hanrahan’s and Fluskey’s, who had the Post Office, did the best business. Lizzie JK’s shop also did a reasonable trade. Bridgie said Mike Heffernan’s did the least business.

Brigid herself worked with Lizzie and said she was great to make a living. Her sister Minnie Heffernan lived with her. Their brother Fr. Tom used to spend his holidays with them in Glenmore. [DD Notebook 30] Lizzie JK Walsh née Heffernan (1884-1955) was a sister of Mike Heffernan. Mike Heffernan was the husband of Teressa Heffernan the schoolteacher.

Moved to Waterford

During the Emergency [WW II]  about 1943 Lizzie got the running of one of the canteens in the Military Barracks in Barrack Street in Waterford. Bridgie worked with her as well as another girl from the City. The canteen was opened between 9 am and noon and from 6 pm until midnight. Lizzie rented a big house in Thomas Street, and it was there that they both lived. The canteen closed after the war ended in 1945.

After the War Lizzie ran a café in Tramore during the summertime. It closed during the winter. Bridgie also worked with her in Tramore. [DD Notebook 30].  On 25 September 1939 her sister Maggie married William Browne of Tramore.

Tramore, Co. Waterford

Around 1950 Bridgie married Sean Hunt and they had three children. Sean was employed with CIE as a goods porter at the Waterford north railway station. The couple had three children and resided in Ballinattin, Tramore in a Council House on Lodge Lane just off of Shrine Road.  [People v. Dominic Griffin, Cr. Ct. Appeal 1965]

Bridgie told Danny that her mother went to visit her daughters in Tramore in June 1950 and died suddenly while visiting. Ellen Brennan née Cahill was in her 70’ and had been suffering with heart trouble. Ellen was buried in Tramore [DD Notebook 30]. Ellen actually died in 1946 (Death Register). John Brennan also died in Tramore in 1957 and is also buried in Tramore.

The Ballinattin, Tramore Murder 1965

There is no notation or mention in Danny’s Notebook 30 concerning the murder of Bridgie’s husband on 24 January 1965.

John Hunt was 37 and on that Sunday night he had been in Tramore at his local playing cards and enjoying a few pints with his sister and friends. He caught the bus and when he reached his stop he bid goodnight to a friend and started the mile walk home. Within 150 feet of his front door he was found by his wife Bridgie the following morning kneeling dead against the ditch. Bridgie had gone out a number of times during the night looking for him but never saw him. She only found him when she was taking her child to school. The Coroner reported that Sean had been stabbed 20 times.

The murder was widely reported in the local press. Johnny Garvey’s mother operated a guest house in Tramore and Johnny said the entire population of 4,000 were shocked and alarmed. He also said that ugly rumours circulated (Johnny Garvey, 10 Feb. 2024).

A fund was established “for the widow and young family of the late Sean Hunt, who was found stabbed to death in the vicinity of his home at Ballinattin, Tramore… The widow, Mrs. Brigid Hunt, is daughter of the late John and Mrs. Brennan, Glenmore Village” (Munter Express, Fri 12 Feb. 1965, p. 4).

Arrests & Conviction

Eventually, Dominic Griffin [Jr.], a 24 year old married panel beater from 12 Mall Lane in Waterford City was charged with the murder (Munster Express, Fri. 19 March 1965, p. 1). The ugly rumours that Johnny recalled may have been due to the fact that Dominic Griffin, Jr. was charged with raping a 17- year-old Tipperary girl at Ballinattin between November 1963 and April 1964 (Munster Express, Fri. 19 Feb. 1965, p. 1).

It is not clear what happened in the rape case, but Dominic Griffin was sentenced to “penal servitude” for life by Justice Teevan in the Central Criminal Court on 30 June 1965. The jury returned after 90 minutes finding Griffin guilty of the murder of Sean Hunt (Irish Independent Thur. 1 July 1965, p. 5).

The Appeal

Dominic Griffin appealed and his appeal was dismissed (Irish Press, Sat. 6 Nov. 1965, p. 13; (People v. Dominic Griffin, Docket 34-1965, delivered 5 Nov. 1965). The Appeals Court outlined the facts before dismissing the appeal. Dominic Griffin married on 1 August 1964 and he and wife lived in a seaside hut on Shrine Road, Tramore. On the night of 3 January 1965 a man shouted offensive remarks about he and his wife. Griffin was concerned because  they were expecting their first child shortly. He suspected 3 men and the deceased was one of his suspects.

On 16 January he took his wife to the nursing home where she gave birth. On the 24^th he drove to the hut to tidy it for the homecoming of his wife and child. He heard a man outside addressing offensive remarks to him. Arming himself with a bicycle lamp, shovel handle, and a knucleduster with an attached knife, he went out to search.

At the intersection of Shrine Road and Lodge’s Lane he heard the shuffling of feet on the Lane. He ran up the lane and claimed that he was attacked by the deceased. The jury and the court of appeal rejected that he had acted in self defence. The State argued that the physical evidence supported that the killer lay in wait. The Appeals court was not persuaded that the physical evidence matched the defendant’s version of events. Further the State effectively argued that “in considering self-defence, the jury would be entitled to take into account that the deceased was in his own laneway, where he had a right to be and that Griffin was in a laneway where he had no business.”

Widowhood

Bridgie appears to have remained a widow from 1965 to her death in 2015. If Brigid spoke to Danny concerning her husband’s murder Danny either did not record it or perhaps it was recorded in a notebook yet to be transcribed.

Please send any corrections, further information or photos to glenmore.history@gmail.com

See our post of 9 April 2020 regarding Glenmore Village in the 1930’s.

For a few interesting Tramore historical facts see the Tramore Surf School’s webpage.

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh