FURTHERMORE
By Gerry Moran
My heartiest congratulations to Jim Brennan of the Club House Hotel on being awarded the President’s Award at the recent Chamber of Commerce Business Awards ceremony in Lyrath.
Jim has been running the Club House for the last 46 years and is most certainly deserving of the honour. The Club House Hotel is the oldest hotel in Kilkenny. It was also the first establishment of its kind in the city to take the name of ‘hotel’ instead of ‘inn’.
The Club House gets its name from the Kilkenny Foxhunters’ Club, established in 1797 by Sir John Power. The Foxhunters had their club house in Patrick Street, under the management of a Mr Rice. In 1817, to exploit the opening of the new Cork road, it was formed into a hotel. Apart from catering for weary travellers, the hotel provided accommodation and sustenance for hunt members who were too exhausted (or not exhausted enough) to go home.
John Walsh then entered into partnership with Mr Rice. They added to the Club House the adjoining premises which had been the residence of Archdeacon Helsham. Messrs. Walsh and Rice opened this establishment on August 4, 1817, calling it The Hibernian Hotel and Foxhunting Club. The excellent management and fare of the hotel became known far and wide.
In 1834, Henry Inglis, on a tour of Ireland, wrote of the Club House: “The Club House or Hibernian Hotel, Kilkenny is one of the very best I have ever found in any country, London not excepted. The wine is better quality than in England and an excellent whiskey punch was to be had for five pence.”
Around 1859 a Mr Simon Morris succeeded Messrs. Rice and Walsh as proprietor. Mr Morris often told of the great feat performed by Jack Courtenay, from Cork, who for a wager of £50, rode his horse ‘White Lion’ from the Club House stables, up the hotel stairs into the club room, jumped a fire screen and rode back out again. Mr Courtney was more than 60 at the time. He won the wager.
Mr Thomas F. Murphy purchased the hotel in 1888. He renovated the premises, employing highly skilled Kilkenny craftsmen, and reopened it in 1889. The hotel continued to flourish until Mr Murphy’s death in 1922, after which his widow Mary Murphy ran the hotel. Mrs Florence Lee subsequently took over and sold it to Jim Brennan in 1977.
The Club House Hotel is still a popular meeting place for numerous clubs and societies, and Christmas parties, and is run by Jim and his son Ian.
Staying with hotels, or rather inns, in the old days, travellers, rich and poor, were fed and sheltered free of charge in the abbeys and monasteries. When numbers became too great to cater for, inns were established close to the monasteries where the travellers were entertained without payment. These inns often had the sign ‘Bull’ outside. The word ‘Bull’ had nothing to do with the animal but comes from the Latin ‘bulla’ meaning seal, indicating that the inn was licensed under the seal of the abbey or monastery.
The Bull Inn, which was very close to St Francis Abbey, was such a house of hospitality, attached to the abbey. It gave its name to the street where it stood, known as Bull Alley up to 1883 when it was widened and its name was changed to St Canice’s Place.
Prior to its widening, Bull Alley was so narrow that people could almost shake hands across its roadway.
Other inns that have long vanished include: The Munster Arms and The Brazen Head, both situated in Walkin Street. The Swan Inn in William Street, then known as Bolton Lane, while The Kings Arms and The Red Lion were in John Street. The Bush Inn (now Syd Harkin’s) and The Garter were in Rose Inn Street and The Goat’s Beard and The Smulkin Tavern were on the Castle Road, then known as Castle Street.
The George Inn was in Irishtown, while The Eagle Inn stood in Coal Market, now Parliament Street. Finally, The Sheaf had the reputation of being the best inn in Ireland. It stood in Rose Inn Street, facing the Parade and sported a large, gilded representation of a sheaf of wheat over the door.
The pub, along with The Harp Bar, is now run by the Henderson family.
