The claim
A thatched pub in the east Cork village of Killeagh, the Old Thatch claims to be one of Ireland's oldest licensed houses. In 1867 its owner told magistrates the house had been licensed for more than two centuries, and was refused a licence for allegedly harbouring Fenians. The Sweeney family still runs it, serving food beneath a willow-twig ceiling.
What the records show
The house's own site does not give the year. Archived on 11 June 2026, it says the trade goes back as far as the 1600s and calls the Old Thatch Ireland's oldest thatched pub; the 1667 is IrishCentral's, and it is arithmetic on a document — at the Castlemartyr quarter sessions of 1867 the owner John Conway sought to renew his licence, saying the house had been licensed for more than two hundred years, and was refused on the grounds that he was harbouring Fenians. A travel blog gives 1650 instead. The pub's own account traces the Sweeney family's ownership to the mid-1700s. Read again on 11 October 2026, IrishCentral's page carries the year 1867, John Conway's name and the refusal on the grounds of housing Fenians, and nothing about the Castlemartyr quarter sessions or a house licensed for more than two hundred years; the house's own archived site carries none of it either. Those details are therefore not traced to a publisher, and what IrishCentral supports is the refusal of 1867.
| Year | What | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1667 | Claimed founding | The press |
| 1867 | First record of a drinking house here | IrishCentral, on the licence refused in 1867 |
What to look for inside
- 1867 licence refused amid claims the owner sheltered Fenians
- Often called Ireland's oldest thatched pub
Visiting
The Old Thatch is in Killeagh, Ireland, at Killeagh, Co. Cork. 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.irishcentral.com/travel/ireland-oldest-charming-pubs
- irelandonabudget.com/14-of-irelands-oldest-pubs/
- web.archive.org/web/20260611123909/http://theoldthatch.ie/
- 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.
