History At
Crotty's is a genuine Traditional Irish Pub that retains its character and roots in the twenty first century. The pub is rich in history and has as many interesting tales to tell as it has heard songs played within its walls.
However above all else, the pub is a tale of people. From the gifted musician and past owner Mrs. Crotty, to the many generations of customers who have swapped stories and enjoyed the atmosphere of one of Ireland's finest traditional pubs.
Mrs Crotty
"The First Lady Of Concertina"
It was back in 1885 that the youngest of the large Markham Family, Elizabeth, was born in Cooraclare, West Clare. By the time of her death in 1960 she had become recognised as one of Ireland's foremost exponents of the concertina. In the intervening years, Elizabeth married Miko Crotty and together they established Crotty's Pub in Kilrush.
Crotty's Pub became a well known landmark for the meeting of musicians and from here Elizabeth's reputation grew. "This was due, of course, to the sweetness of her music and to the sweetness and graciousness of the lady herself" - Ciarán Mac Mathuna (broadcaster).
Ciaran's first excursion to rural Ireland with RTE's mobile recording unit was to record Mrs Crotty. A lifelong friendship ensued and Ciaran was responsible for keeping Mrs Crotty's public profile alive by playing her tunes and remembering her fondly on his radio programmes.
Michael Tubridy has chronicled her life through the written word. Michael was a great student and friend of Mrs Crotty and treasures her concertina to this day.
Internationally famous concertina players of today have been influenced by her style and interpretation of traditonal music.
Mrs Crotty
"The First Lady Of Concertina"
It was back in 1885 that the youngest of the large Markham Family, Elizabeth, was born in Cooraclare, West Clare. By the time of her death in 1960 she had become recognised as one of Ireland's foremost exponents of the concertina. In the intervening years, Elizabeth married Miko Crotty and together they established Crotty's Pub in Kilrush.
Crotty's Pub became a well known landmark for the meeting of musicians and from here Elizabeth's reputation grew. "This was due, of course, to the sweetness of her music and to the sweetness and graciousness of the lady herself" - Ciarán Mac Mathuna (broadcaster).
Ciaran's first excursion to rural Ireland with RTE's mobile recording unit was to record Mrs Crotty. A lifelong friendship ensued and Ciaran was responsible for keeping Mrs Crotty's public profile alive by playing her tunes and remembering her fondly on his radio programmes.
Michael Tubridy has chronicled her life through the written word. Michael was a great student and friend of Mrs Crotty and treasures her concertina to this day.
Internationally famous concertina players of today have been influenced by her style and interpretation of traditonal music.
Crotty's was a favourite watering hole for Oliver Reed and also played host to several other of his famous contemporaries including both Richard Burton and Cyril Cusack.
Reed eventually owned a holiday cottage in the Kilrush area.
Crotty's
Pub
Over 100
Years of
Stories
On 30th October 1914, Captain Alexander Vandeleur of the 2nd Life Guards was killed in action on the Western Front. News of his death must have met with mixed reactions back in Kilrush, West Clare. The Vandeluers had effectively founded the Shannonside town but a hardline eviction policy adopted by Alexander’s father during the summer of 1888 had considerably reduced their popularity.
Nonetheless, the death of the 30-year-old officer must have sent a chill through Miko and Lizzie Crotty. The newlyweds were exactly the same age as the Captain and would likely have known of him from an early age. Indeed, it was only weeks since Miko had obtained a vital document, signed by Alexander’s grandfather in 1832, by which he had gained ownership of the pub on the Market Square in Kilrush.
Miko Crotty was born to a farming family from Gower, West Clare, in 1885. When he was seventeen, he took a ship to America where he spent several years working on the railroads. Once sufficient money was amassed, he re-crossed the Atlantic, arrived at Kilrush and took a lease on the premises that still bears his name today. At the time it was a hardware store but by the time he acquired the premises outright from Bartholomew Culligan on 26th March 1920, Miko had converted it into Crotty’s pub.
Although Crotty’s occupied an enviable position in Kilrush, directly opposite the once thriving market house, it was by no means the only pub in town. Indeed, Kilrush recorded a staggering 68 pubs in a survey of 1921. That was a year in which Ireland’s troubles began to seriously worsen. One morning, Miko was apparently taken outside and shot in the leg by an IRA kangaroo court. Quite what he was charged with will probably never be known.
In 1914, Miko married his childhood sweetheart, Elizabeth Markham. Known to music circles as “Mrs Crotty”, Lizzie would go on to become perhaps the greatest concertina of her age.
During their childhood, Lizzie and her sister Maggie had often played together for local house dances, weddings, christenings and "American wakes". But she was virtually unknown until the RTE broadcaster Ciarán MacMathúna turned up at the pub in the mid 1950's, set up a studio in the kitchen and began recording her at play on her Lachenal concertina. When MacMathúna played such rhythmic tunes such as ‘The Wind that Shakes the Barley’ and ‘The Reel with the Beryl’ on his radio programme, they ignited such widespread popularity that ‘Crotty's of the Square’ quickly became a regular haunt for musicians.
MacMathúna maintained this esteem was due ‘not only to the sweetness of her playing, but also to the sweetness and graciousness of the lady herself’. Long after Mrs Crotty’s untimely death from angina in 1960, music was to be heard emanating from the windows of Crotty’s both day and night. The pub still hosts traditional music throughout the summer. And, half a century after her death, the town of Kilrush hosts a weekend celebration of the life and music of Mrs Crotty every August.
Crotty’s Pub today is effectively a square. In the bottom right is the main bar, featuring a pitch pine counter, a tiny frost-glass snug and a rare plate glass Smithwick’s Ale & Barleywine mirror. This was the room where Oliver Reed Richard Burton and Cyril Cusack all drank when passing through town. Miko managed to lure an Italian stonemason working on the Catholic Church to lay most of the floor, save for the somewhat uneven bar area.
An antique Dold kit-clock resounds from behind the bar while bundles of old 1950s invoices hang upon wires in the front window. To the left, the aforementioned CIE storeroom makes for an intimate seating area beneath posters for the once esteemed Kilrush Opera Society. At the back left is the Crotty’s old kitchen, complete with Vice-Regal stove and shelves of china and crockery, which runs into the old Tap Room at back right. The walls are bedecked in fascinating memorabilia relating to the Crotty family as well as posters the Lisdoonvarna Festivals, The Chieftains at the Sorbonne and miscellaneous Fleadh Ceols.
