The Holy Ground PubClick image to enlarge
 | Drinking in a Cemetary
By Billy Mulqueen
Behind James Street in the old part of Limerick city lies Johns Square, and
facing Johns Square a very
ancient
church, its called St John the baptist
and has a
cemetry sourrounding it - this was a protestant church and was been
built
some time before St Johns Cathedral next to it in St.Johns square.
This church has a claim to fame, to be found nowhere else in the
world...it has a pub in the cemetry.
At one corner of the cemetry sits "The Holy Ground" pub, owned and run by
Michael Wright
who has a warm welcome for all.
This pub has been in the cemetry for perhaps a hundred years and
to the back of it lies the last resting places of the good, the bad and the
powerful in the limerick of bygone ages.
On one side of the pub is a
very large tomb.
There is a story about this tombs and the man who had it built and
who
lies there to this day. The man who built
the tomb long , long before he died, saw it as a waste of space,
so he installed some lamps, a table, chair and a bookcase and used the tomb
as an office for many years until he died and then was interned in his
former
"office".
So when you stand at the bar in "the holy ground" pub and raise a
glass you
are facing the tombs and their long buried residents just behind the wall.
An odd tourist, who has heard of the pub, wanders in from time
to time and finds it strange to be having a drink in a cemetry, but the
locals
take it for granted and its almost never mentioned,unless a
visitor brings it up.
This church lay derlict until recent years,but happily it is now being restored
.
Its said that in years long gone by - perhaps not that long? - the residences
of St. Johns cemetary, as the residents in other cemetrys around the
city, came out in strength to vote at election times:)
The Streets of Limerick in the 40's and 50's...
When Christmas came but once a year
The Midnight Baker
I was a TV repairman
Packet and Tripe
The Simon
O Happy Days
My Grandad...Plastered
Where are all the "Characters" gone?
THE GAMES CHILDREN PLAYED
Memories of the Island Field
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