WEXFORD FROM 115 YEARS AGO
A COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 1905 OWNED BY LEGENDARY PUBLICAN, THE LATE SAMMY SINNOTT, OFFERS AN AMAZING WINDOW INTO WEXFORD LIFE FROM OVER A CENTURY AGO
Old photographs from a collection owned by the legendary Duncormick publican and farmer Sammy Sinnott who died earlier this year, offer a glimpse into life in south Wexford more than a century ago.
Sammy, the owner of the thatched pub Sinnotts of Duncormick, spent many hours discussing historical matters with his friend, the Wexford vet Peter Murphy of Summerhill, and promised to entrust historical photos and other archive material to him on his death.
Peter was contacted by a family member after Sammy passed away and invited to have a look through the material. While sifting through the documents, he found boxes of glass platesand was unsure what they were at first.
But he showed them to experienced Wexford photographer Michael Kelly who discovered they were fascinating photographic plates from 1905, including several of the unveiling of the Pikeman Statue in the Bullring, Wexford at which the MP John Redmond presided.
‘I knew Sammy very well. We talked for hours about aspects of history. I also worked for him as a vet. Sammy was a legendary font of knowledge about the history of the area and the genealogy.
‘Anything you asked about, Sammy would know it. He was amazing. He was everybody’s friend, the last of the legends,’ said Peter.
Sammy himself was once quoted as saying: ‘My family have been here for 208 years. When you’re around a place that long, there’s not a lot about the place that you don’t know.
‘I have a great interest in the past. When you get to my age, the past is all you have.’
Although rooted in Duncormick where he lived all his life, Sammy was well travelled, having visited America and attended horse-racing events all over Ireland and the U.K. during his lifetime.
‘His own family history was extremely interesting. An ancestor of his founded St. Peter’s College. A door and window in the pub came from a premises owned by his family at the top of Anne Street, where the former Joyces shop was later located,’ said Peter.
Sammy, who died in January at the age of 91, was an only son of the late James Sinnott and Frances (Fanny) Sinnott (nee Berry of the well-known Wexford equestrian family).
Sammy took over the pub which was run by his parents and founded over two centuries ago by a Sinnott family ancestor.
The rural hostelry with a widespread clientele, was renowned for story-telling and music with people coming from far and wide to enjoy its special charm and old-fashioned hospitality, including many noted personalities.
Sammy’s love of music and friendship with the late Chesley Milligan, manager of The Grateful Dead and former tour manager with the Rolling Stones (whose mother had a house in south Wexford) and the Stones drummer Charlie Watts, brought him into contact with some of the world’s biggest names including Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton.
It is thought that many of the photographs in the 1905 Sammy Sinnott Collection were taken by his father James, who showed a keen eye for composition, as shown in a panoramic photo of Duncormick village with Sinnotts pub and Phil Kirwan’s garage, an image of herring boats in Kilmore Quay and portraits of family members.
After unearthing the photographic plates, Peter Murphy got in touch with Michael Kelly, formerly of the People Newspapers who did a ‘brilliant job’ in converting them to digital prints.
A photograph of the Duncormick Ireland’s Own juvenile football team, also known as the Smashers, is a throwback to the days when the game was played with a pig’s bladder, with some of those pictured also featuring in an old photograph of a tug-owar team.
There is a photograph of the then recently-built railway bridge viaduct at Ambrosetown, Duncormick which would have been a sight to behold when it was built in 1904 and now sits on a disused line.
A photograph of the Keeragh Islands shows a small building which was erected and equipped with supplies for shipwreck survivors by the Boyses of Bannow House who are thought to be the occupants of an early motor car captured in another image which is blurred as the vehicle was moving when it was taken.
A nostaligic early 20th century image of the ‘main street’ in Duncormick shows people standing outside their doors and a finch in a cage on a wall.
The unveiling of the Pikeman Statue in the Bullring, Wexford in 1905 was a major event, as evidenced by the Sinnott images, showing suited and flat-capped men and boys piled on a horse and cart and ready to mount bicycles for the journey into town from Duncormick, a parade through the streets of Wexford, featuring uniformed Pikemen, Fenian banners and banners of early unions and clubs such as the Joiners Assocation and Enniscorthy Harriers.
The packed scene in the Bullring shows the statue after it was unveiled and an American flag in the crowd.
A fascinating scene in Kilmore Quay shows a group on a wall watching as a motor car passes by. It has the registration MI8 which was owned at that time by one of the Pierce family, of Pierces Foundry, who would go on rabbit-shooting expeditions to the Saltee Islands which are shown in the background, with the Wooden House pub premises also included.
Photographs of a large crowd at Wexford Park appears to be of the attendance at a traditional Feis, with judges and dancers on a stage, and the old Mercy Convent in the bakcground.
Michael Kelly said working on the glass plates was akin to the days when he developed and printed his own photos, waiting in anticipation for the print to appear.
‘Waiting for these 115-year-old treasures to appear was much more exciting. It’s not very often you get an opportunity like this, looking through the eyes of a photographer from 115 years ago. It was most enjoyable,’ he said.