Glenmore SIlversmith

For over seven decades Danny Dowling collected information and newspaper articles concerning Glenmore and its people. Tucked safely into a file were two newspaper clippings regarding Pat Dolan. Today, we are going to feature Pat Dolan (1940-2011) a native of New Ross who for many years made his home and workshop in Ballyverneen, Glenmore where he also operated a falconry. Although Pat Dolan eventually moved from Glenmore, and died in 2011 in Kinsale, Cork, there is a stone memorial for Pat Dolan in Ballyverneen along the river side of the road between the railway viaduct and the Pink Rock.

Most of the following biographical information was gleaned from articles appearing in the New Ross Standard in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Pat Dolan was the son of Patrick “P.J.” Dolan and Kathleen “Kitty” Dolan née Dunne of South St., New Ross. His parents married in June 1937. At the time of their marriage the groom was a merchant draper on South St. and the son of ex-R.I.C. Sergeant Patrick Dolan and Bridget Dolan née Harrington. The bride, Kitty was the daughter of Patrick J. and Brigid Dunne merchants also on South, St., New Ross (New Ross Standard, Fri. 18 June 1937, p. 12). In addition to the shop on South Street, Pat’s father, P.J. Dolan was for many years the Chairman of the New Ross Harbour Commissioners. His mother, Kitty Dolan (c. 1904-1975) was described as a local pioneer of the New Ross tourist information service providing information and advice to tourists from her South St. shop (New Ross Standard, Fri. 12 Dec. 1975).

Pat was educated at St. Peter’s College Wexford, and University College Dublin, and travelled throughout Europe upon graduation and settled in Spain out of necessity. “I was out of money,” he laughed, recalling how he learned his trade under the apprenticeship of Franz Neuner, a Czechoslovakian silversmith who ran a fashion accessory house in Barcelona (New Ross Standard, Fri. 27 July 1984, p. 32).

Pat returned to Ireland, then travelled to Manchester, England, where he married Kathleen Lee, a school teacher. Pat obtained a Diploma in silversmithing and decorative metal work from Manchester College. He taught metal work for a time in Manchester, but preferred creative work. He quit teaching to devote his time entirely to designing and making jewellery (New Ross Standard, Fri. 7 March 1975, p. 7). Eventually, Pat and his wife Kathleen, both gave up teaching and came back to Ireland for Pat to work locally full time as a silversmith (New Ross Standard, Fri. 10 Dec. 1982, p. 24). The couple had three sons: twins Dominic and Damien and Benedict (New Ross Standard, Fri. 7 March 1975, p. 7).

When Pat returned to Ireland with his family, he bought an old cottage in Ballyverneen, Glenmore, overlooking the Glenmore Pill, on what was at that time the main road between Waterford and New Ross. [The cottage was the home of the late Dick Dunphy (5 July 1893- ?).] With the assistance of local builders, Pat constructed a workshop on the property and renovated the existing cottage (New Ross Standard, Fri. 27 July 1984, p. 32). Although no newspaper article revealed the year in which the Dolan family moved to Glenmore, a planning notice was published in the summer of 1974 for the installation of a septic tank on the property (New Ross Standard, Fri. 9 Aug. 1974, p. 15). While the workshop was being constructed in Ballyverneen, Pat worked in a temporary workshop at the home of his mother Kitty Dolan of South St. New Ross (New Ross Standard, Fri. 7 March 1975). Several of the older Glenmore residents recall that Pat drove a red Triumph convertible sportscar.

Pat began to make unique jewellery in gold and silver and sold on a commission basis to shops in France and the US and to visiting tourists. When Pat completed a piece it had to be sent to Dublin before it could be sold. Every piece had to be sent to the Assay Office to be hallmarked. In addition to jewellery, he made trophies and presentation gifts to order (New Ross Standard, Fri. 7 March 1975, p. 7). Pat worked from his own Celtic stylized designs based on variations of traditional Celtic designs. When interviewed about his work he stated, “I am most influenced by the ancients,” emphasising the importance of eighth and twelfth century works. “One cannot help but be influenced by them they’re everywhere.” Pat also credited New Ross sculptor Seamus Furlong and the late Kilkenny sculptor, Oisin Kell, with heavily influencing his work. It was reported that Pat took great satisfaction in the timelessness of his work, stressing that only a conscious effort can destroy anything he created. “Gold, silver and bronze won’t change. They can’t be debased—they are completely and totally incorruptible. We have whole pieces from 5,000 to 7,000 years ago” (New Ross Standard, Fri. 27 July 1984, p. 32).

Newspaper adverts for his work during this period indicate that while his workshop was in Glenmore he also had a small shop in New Ross. In 1978 he was joined in business with a fellow silversmith Maria Roche of Charlton Hill, New Ross. (New Ross Standard, Fri. 27 July 1984, p. 32). Pat was deeply committed to the role of crafts in Irish life and was a founding member of the Wexford Craftworkers Association. Pat served as the chairman several times and also served on the Board of Management of the Crafts Council of Ireland (New Ross Standard, Fri. 17 Dec. 1982, p. 38).

In the early 1980’s Pat began working in bronze and as one reporter described it as portrait sculpture. “Out on the Burrow at Rosslaire stands his head of a life boat man modelled from photographs of Ned Wickham. Since the unveiling of this monument.., Pat had a number of commissions for portraits” but also continued to make jewellery and special pieces (New Ross Standard, Fri. 17 Dec. 1982, p. 38). To view Pat’s work on the Rosslare Lifeboat Memorial click here. Another special piece Pat designed and made was a chalice presented to the Bishop of Ferns, Donal Herlihy (1908-1983) on the occasion of the 1981Golden Jubilee of his Ordination. The chalice was commissioned by the Wexford Branch of the I.N.T.O. (New Ross Standard, Fri. 10 Dec. 1982, p. 24).

At the opening of the New Ross library in 1982 an exhibition of Pat’s bronzes was displayed. The exhibition included bonzes of some notable people such as Eamonn de Valera, Samuel Beckett, James Joyce, George Bernard Shaw, William Butler Yeats, Oscar Wilde and Sean O’Casey, as well as a self-portrait, a Tolkein landscape, a sleeping fox, a merlin and prey and the life boat man, Ned Wickham, from Rosslare (New Ross Standard, Fri. 10 Dec. 1982, p. 24). In 1985, Pat was commissioned to design presentations to honour three founding members of the New Ross FCA Pipe Band which was established in 1947. The presentations were inscribed bronze replicas of the instruments played by each recipient. The replicas consisted of Sam McDonald’s staff, Tom Bolger’s bass drum and Paddy Murphy’s pipes (New Ross Standard, Fri. 5 July 1985, p. 20).

Several Glenmore residents recalled that Pat also operated a falconry when he lived in Glenmore. His falconry housed a variety of birds of prey, including a golden eagle, the only bird of the species in Ireland in the early 1980’s. Pat acquired his first birds from a falconry in Clonmel. Pat noted that the birds could not be fed processed or treated meat and more than 18 pounds of meat per day was required to feed his 20 birds. The birds themselves contributed meat when they were out on practice runs and his friends and sons who rabbit hunted also contributed meat for the birds. Pat is quoted as remarking, “They are God’s most magnificent creatures, they are designed to prey on lesser creatures—the symbol of a balanced society” (New Ross Standard, Fri. 27 July 1984, p. 32).

Please send any additional information, corrections, photos of pieces by Pat Dolan etc. to glenmore.history@gmail.com.

The engraving of the falcon if from The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection, The New York Public Library. (1885). Red-throated falcon — Ibycter americanus Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-d55a-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 .

Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh