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19/20 LOWER BRIDGE STREET, Dublin
There has been a public house and hotel on this site since 1198, with a record in 1703 of a James King being granted all that large timber house called the Brazen Head. Rebuilt in the mid eighteenth century, the building has a long association with the history of Dublin. Robert Emmet hid here after the rising of 1803 and later, it was often used as an assembly place by Irish Volunteers, including Michael Collins. It has cultural significance as it is mentioned in Ulysses, and was frequented by writers such as Brendan Behan and Flann OBrien. The building retains much of its early form...
Reviewed pub lore
Established
A hostelry has stood on the Bridge Street site since 1198, by the pub's own reckoning — making this widely regarded as Ireland's oldest pub. The present building was built in 1754 as a coaching inn; the pub appears in surviving documents as far back as 1653.
Earlier uses
Built at the head of the River Liffey, where Norman soldiers guarded the gate that provided the only access into Dublin. On cold, damp nights the soldiers would warm their hands over braziers — barrels of fire — from which the pub takes its name.
Literary links
Drinking ground for Brendan Behan and Jonathan Swift — both names that turn up in the regulars list across multiple eras.
Military history
The Brazen Head narrowly survived the intense fighting of the 1922 Irish Civil War. It served, at various times, as plotting-room for the United Irishmen, meeting place for Daniel O'Connell, and hiding place for Michael Collins.
Architecture
There has been a public house and hotel on this site since 1198, with a record in 1703 of a James King being granted all that large timber house called the Brazen Head. Rebuilt in the mid eighteenth century, the building has a long association with the history of Dublin.
Regulars
Robert Emmet, Edmund Burke, Daniel O'Connell, Henry Grattan and Wolfe Tone all drank here, plotting the future of Ireland over pints. Brendan Behan, Jonathan Swift and Michael Collins are all part of the pub's lore — Collins having sought refuge within its walls during the War of Independence.
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