History
Step back in time: This is the oldest pub in Ireland and possibly on the planet
The owners of Sean’s Bar in Athlone, Ireland claim that it is predates the Norman conquest of Britain in 1066.
There is no shortage of historic drinking establishments in Ireland but one particular pub in Athlone holds a genuine claim to be the oldest in the world.
Sean’s Bar is listed, appropriately enough, in the Guinness Book of Records as the Oldest Pub in Ireland. It also holds a strong claim to be the oldest anywhere in the world, but the verification process there will take a little longer.
Incredibly, Sean’s Bar has maintained a detailed and documented history dating back to 900AD, more than a century before William of Normandy invaded Britain and defeated the last Saxon king. Sean’s Bar is located alongside the River Shannon in the town of Athlone, which was reportedly founded by a man named Luain Mac Luighdeach. Athlone is thought to be a mutation of the phrase ‘Áth Luain’, which means the ‘Ford of Luain’.
The millennium-old establishment was featured in CNN series Great Big Stories in an episode that focused on the search for the world’s oldest pub. Three of those visited in the programme were in England, with Sean’s the only one from Ireland.
“There are many who claim to be the oldest, Well, we are fully researched and dated as the oldest,” explained owner Timmy Donovan in the episode. “The bar is actually older than the town itself. Almost all of the owners are on record even back to the original owner Luain himself in 900.”
Although the pub can trace its ancestry through the centuries the building itself has undergone many, many changes over the years. Archaeological surveys have suggested that the oldest parts of the existing structures were probably built in the 1600s, with some older materials used in the building.
There were major renovations in the 1970s that unearthed some fascinating discoveries. The back wall of the building was constructed from wattle and daub, an ancient building method using wet soil, clay and animal dung that has been used for more than 6,000 years. Workers also found a number of ‘tavern tokens’, a form of in-pub payments that were used from the 17th to the 20th century.
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