The claim
On a rise beside the old Dublin-to-Belfast road in north County Dublin, the Man O'War is a thatched, low-ceilinged country inn with one of the capital region's oldest claims. Its name is said to come from the Irish 'meán bharr', middle height. Tradition links it to a turnpike toll and a breakfast stop by Wolfe Tone in 1792.
What the records show
The 1595 is published by Visit Dublin, which says there has been a pub on this hilltop since at least that year; a travel guide adds that the figure comes from deeds the pub itself cites. The deeds have not been published, and the pub has no website of its own we could find. The national inventory has now been read, and it puts the house two centuries later than the claim. The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage records it as Man of War at Courtlough, reg. no. 11317001: a terraced six-bay single-storey thatched house of about 1800, within a range of 1750 to 1850, with a projecting entrance porch and a cast-iron water pump in front, a hipped thatched roof with a decorative thatched ridge, rendered single-pot stacks at the ends, nap render over rubble stone, square-headed openings with painted stone sills and reproduction sashes, and a timber door of about 1999. It gives the original use as a house rather than as a public house, the present use as house and public house, and rates it of regional importance for architectural and social interest. Its only neighbour in the inventory is the wall-mounted cast-iron post box of about 1885 outside, with a VR monogram. Later traditions say the house served as a turnpike toll point after 1732 and that Wolfe Tone breakfasted here in 1792, and nothing traced records drink sold here at any date.
What to look for inside
- Claims deeds dating to 1595
- Said to have acted as a turnpike toll booth after 1732
- Wolfe Tone reputedly breakfasted here in 1792
Visiting
The Man O'War is in Balbriggan, Ireland, at Courtlough, Balbriggan, Co. Dublin. We do not list opening times, because they change; the pub’s own site is the place to check before you set out.
Sources
- www.visitdublin.com/guides/oldest-pubs-dublin
- rebelatlas.com/destinations/europe/ireland/where-is-irelands-oldest-pub-10-historic-pubs-with-a-claim-to-the-title/
- www.theirishroadtrip.com/oldest-pubs-in-dublin/
- services-eu1.arcgis.com/HyjXgkV6KGMSF3jt/arcgis/rest/services/NIAHBuildingsOpenData/FeatureServer/0/query?where=REG_NO%3D11317001&outFields=REG_NO%2CNAME%2CTOWNLAND%2CCOUNTY%2CORIGINAL_TYPE%2CIN_USE_AS_TYPE%2CDATEFROM%2CDATETO%2CRATING%2CDESCRIPTION&returnGeometry=false&f=html
- www.revenue.ie/en/corporate/information-about-revenue/statistics/excise/licences/liquor-licences.aspx
Know something we don’t?Suggest a correctionLast checked Sept 2026
Run this pub? There is a badge for it
Free to put on your own site, no permission needed. It shows what the pub claims and what the records support, and it changes when the data does.
How to use it, and how to change what it says — if you have a document we have not seen, we would like to read it.
