{"id":22238,"date":"2022-09-16T10:49:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:49:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22238"},"modified":"2022-09-16T10:50:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T14:50:47","slug":"episode-641-barney-dwan-6-kirwins-public-house-bunmahon-county-waterford-ireland-1960-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=22238","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 641 BARNEY DWAN 6 : KIRWIN\u2019S PUBLIC HOUSE, BUNMAHON, COUNTY WATERFORD, IRELAND, 1960: Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 641   BARNEY DWAN   6 :  KIRWIN\u2019S PUBLIC HOUSE, BUNMAHON, COUNTY WATERFORD, IRELAND, 1960: a mystery<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n

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Sept. 14, 2022<\/div>\n

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Kirwin\u2019s pub, Bunmahon, a Saturday night in summer of 1960l: Many of our<\/div>\n
employees and a good supply of Guinness<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Kirwin\u2019s pub had a rustic room for relaxed consuming of Guinness\u2026rough plank walls <\/div>\n
with bark on the planks\u2026and logs as tables.  John Hogan and I are enjoying ourselves.<\/div>\n

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Of all the thousands of pictures I have ever taken, these are among my  favourites.  Taken Saturday<\/div>\n
night in July or August, 1960, at Kirwin\u2019s Public House, Bunmahon, County Waterford, Ireland..<\/div>\n
Barney Dwan is not in the picture.    I believe he did not drink\u2026never remember asking.  There are a<\/div>\n
lot of things I should have asked him but failed  to do so.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Mrs. Kennedy told me he is mother was very young when she had Barney.  There was never any<\/div>\n
mention of a father.  I never probed once Mrs. Kennedy told me that.   Wish I had .   We got along<\/div>\n
so well on the job and Barney made sure I became part of the Bunmaon community..<\/div>\n

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That\u2019s Barney Dwan on the left.  Look at his face.  Barney really wanted to learn all<\/div>\n
about the job.  The technology of mining exploration was a great mystery to him<\/div>\n
so he watched every move I made.  I wish I knew more about him but was prevented<\/div>\n
by my belief I must try to treat all the men equally.  Pay them all the same amount of money.<\/div>\n
Now 60 years later I realize that was a mistake.  I became dependent on Barney.<\/div>\n
He helped me get employees\u2026.all ten of them.  Maybe I could have helped him.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I Loved the stories he told.   He  Knew the twists and turns of the old mines<\/div>\n
like a glove on the hand. Seems his explorations were done alone.<\/div>\n

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I will never forget the stories he told all of which seemed to have a core of truth.<\/div>\n
Not filled with hate.  Softened with humour<\/div>\n
The \u2019Time of the Troubles\u201d expression softened the hard edge of Irish independence\u2026i.e. the violence<\/div>\n
between Black and Tans and Irish Republicans.  Asa reset My experience in Bunmahon was pure joy.   In 1960 I<\/div>\n
was certainly aware of the dark days of the 1920\u2019s but that was only on the fringe of my mind.  Barney Dwan<\/div>\n
made sure the joy was foremost.  Which leads me to another of his \u2019stories\u2019 \u2026 which may or may not<\/div>\n
be true.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Take another look at Kirwin\u2019s pub on a Saturday night  Los of fun\u2026lots of people\u2026many pints <\/div>\n
of Guinness.   I believe the barmaid is Mrs Kirwin.  Behind her, on her left was a locked room.<\/div>\n
Barney told me a story about that room.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
“What about the other room?  Other room?  Yes, the room behind the bar?  There is a light<\/div>\n
on and someone moving about as I can see the moving shadow in the gap between <\/div>\n
the door and the floor.   Is that another part of the pub?\u201d  I said something like this to<\/div>\n
Barney who was not a drinker. Never saw him Kirwin\u2019s pub.  Barney had a story about the place.<\/div>\n
He seemed to have stories about every nook and cranny around Bunmahon as did our landlady<\/div>\n
Mrs. Kennedy.<\/div>\n

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 Kirwin\u2019s  was the<\/div>\n
Catholic pub.   Directly opposite Kirwin\u2019s was another pub with a Church of Ireland<\/div>\n
clientele \u2026. not so well attended as Kirwin\u2019s.  Doubt Barney want there.  Barney was<\/div>\n
a boy of indeterminate age.  A great story teller who dangled truth and fiction.  The<\/div>\n
stories we followed up turned out to be true.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
\u201cThe shadow you saw was cast by a man locked up there dating back to the Time of the<\/div>\n
Troubles\u201d\u2026.he did the dirty work back then.\u201d<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Was this true?  Think not.  Barney  always made his stories interesting.  A healthy<\/div>\n
dash of exaggeration coupled with a smile. Like the story about the Nun who was eaten<\/div>\n
by a herd of pigs and only her shoes were found with her feet in them.  Stories. Entertainment<\/div>\n
as we slogged across Irish farm fields.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 Was an IRA assassin locked up behind the bar?  Seems a stretch to believe so.<\/div>\n
Yet someone was in that room always..<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
That story I dismissed along with the story about walling up people in the<\/div>\n
old church near the river. \u201d   Barney Dwan was a most amusing story teller<\/div>\n
who never let the facts get in  the way of a good story..  I really wish I had got to know him better.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
TIME OF THE TROUBLES: IRISH INDEPENDENCE 1920\u2019S<\/div>\n

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\"Book<\/div>\n

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\"Burning<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
\"Burning<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n
\"The<\/div>\n
The great wealth of some Anglo Irish landowners contrasted sharply with<\/div>\n
the absolute poverty of most Irish tenants.  The gap between rich and poor<\/div>\n
fanned the flames of Irish anger in the 1930\u2019s.<\/div>\n

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The expression \u2019time of the troubles\u2019 softened memories of the fight for Irish <\/div>\n
independence.  Perhaps too much softened.  Violent times back then.<\/div>\n
 Part of the violence was the burning of large estate homes <\/div>\n
owned by Anglo-Irish.  In 1920, 76 of these \u2018Big Houses\u2019 were set on fire and <\/div>\n
another 46 were burned in 1921.  The owners were ordered out and the arsonists<\/div>\n
did their work.  Little or nothing was saved.  Much grand art of Ireland use have gone up in<\/div>\n
flames.   Nearby County Cork was a centre of house burning.  Less common in<\/div>\n
County Waterford but burning did happen. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
 The John Wayne movie titled The<\/div>\n
Quiet Man made no mention of these house burning events.  Nor did Barney <\/div>\n
say much about it except one casual mention of a fire that happened in an<\/div>\n
large estate which we crossed doing our survey.  That is a dim memory which<\/div>\n
may not be true.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I am not a particularly religious person.  A Presbyterian back in the 1960\u2019s.<\/div>\n
Protestant in other words.  In Ireland in 1960 I decided to attend Mass in<\/div>\n
the Local Catholic church.  This decision was aided by Bridey.   Who was<\/div>\n
Bridey?  I am not sure  She worked for the Kennedy family who owned the<\/div>\n
house where we stayed.   She was handicapped but falloff energy.<\/div>\n
The house was A rambling structure which  included the family<\/div>\n
general store and a farm out back.  My first Sunday in Bunmahon<\/div>\n
was free day for me.  Normally in Canada we worked 7 days a week so having Sundays off was a luxury<\/div>\n
To sleep in?   Not a chance.  Bridey arrived in my room,<\/div>\n
threw off my covers and announced \u201cTime to get up Master Skeoch\u2026time for<\/div>\n
you to get to Mass.   Hurry!\u201d<\/div>\n

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\"Copper<\/div>\n

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What should I do?  I decided to do what Bridey told me to do.  So I attended Mass<\/div>\n
in St. Mary\u2019s Roman Catholic church where most of my employees worshipped.  That was a good<\/div>\n
decision.   Both John Hogan and John Stam were Catholics. Now all of us<\/div>\n
were at mass. We became part of community life in the village.  I had to dodge the holy water thrown at me by some<\/div>\n
of the men who knew I was not Catholic and wanted to help me along life\u2019s<\/div>\n
journey.  A bond was formed.  So glad that Bridey insisted.  She was slightly handicapped<\/div>\n
and a joy to have around the Kennedy home.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Did Barney attend mass?   I don \u2019t believe so.  I think he lived outside the village somewhere.<\/div>\n

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The knockmahon Catholic Church was once the Temperance<\/div>\n
Hall used by the Cornish miners in the 19th century.   I believe they<\/div>\n
tended to be Methodists.   The Temperance movement<\/div>\n
sure changed Bunmahon in the 17th century… from a town of 2,000 with 20 pubs<\/div>\n
to a town with no pubs.  <\/div>\n

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  IN 1960  there were two pubs, one of<\/div>\n
which was thriving\u2026.Kirwin\u2019a.  Today, Sept. 15, 2022, I ave heard from Aiden Coffey that Kirwin;\u2019s <\/div>\n
is up for rent and empty. <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE 641   BARNEY DWAN   6 :  KIRWIN\u2019S PUBLIC HOUSE, BUNMAHON, COUNTY WATERFORD, IRELAND, 1960: a mystery alan skeoch Sept. 14, 2022 Kirwin\u2019s pub, Bunmahon, a Saturday night in summer of 1960l: Many of our employees and a good supply of Guinness Kirwin\u2019s pub had a rustic room for relaxed consuming of Guinness\u2026rough plank […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22238\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}