Watergate, Kilkenny

Dad was born in Watergate, Kilkenny. Really in the centre of Kilkenny City near the Smithwicks Brewery. The Maguires lived over a shop and Dads Aunt ran a Newsagent. Dad often told me about some of the odd things that happened in the 1920s. The shop being a newsagent meant Dad could read all the papers and magazines without having to buy them and thus spent hours under the gaslight reading them. Kilkenny was one of the first cities to have an early form of electricity. The local Brewery was built near a good supply of water (naturally) and the 'Smithwicks' brewery had its own mill race and water mill wheel which was used to provide motive power for the brewery. In the evenings when the brewery didnt need all the power of the Mill Wheel and according to Dad they used the spare power to generate electricity. So a few of the more wealthy inhabitants of Kilkenny could pay to have a basic power supply in the evenings. Later on the 1930s Ireland embarked on a 'Rural Electrification Scheme and the shop in Kilkenny finally got rid of gas lighting. In fact the old gas pipes were kept and the electricians use the old pipework to thread the new electric wiring around the house. One of the down sides of having a house beside a brewery built beside a river was that the river used to flood in Winter. According to Dad again, occasionally they were trapped upstairs as the floodwater rose to cover the downstairs entirely. I think it was true as eventually the house was knocked by the local council and they never built on the site, it is still a car park. The Brewery is still there although for how much longer is anyones guess. Dad himself was fond of the odd 'Smithwicks Barley Wine' but very few drink that nowadays and Smithwicks Ale has lost out to more modern european drinks and brands.
I am not sure when the shop closed down but as the Maguires never owned the shop, they had to move out when the shop went out of business. Dads Father worked all around Ireland and rarely found work in Kilkenny, Dad moved to Dublin to work in the Civil Service and the rest of the Maguires eventually moved to Dublin.
Mrs Maguire ( my Grandmother ) came up to Dublin with her Sister and my Aunt Maureen. My Grandad remained working in Galway. Some time after my Mum and Dad were married in the 1950's, Dad told Mum he had written to his Father simply saying he was coming down to Galway to meet him at the train station and if (Grandad) wanted to come back with them to Dublin he would be most welcome. Dad said to Mum he did not think Grandad would come back to Dublin or Home as it now was. Grandad lived in 'Digs' for years which were cheap guest houses where you got a bed to sleep and meals provided by the usual tyrannical landlady. Dad had bought a secondhand Morris Minor and he drove down hoping that Grandad would be at the trainstation. He didnt know if there would be anyone there, that was the time of few telephones and communications were not like today. Finally arriving at the train station in Galway my Grandad was there waiting with all his belongings and old suitcases. At last in the 1950s the Maguires had their own house to live in, and I suppose their finally was somewhere called Home for Grandad to come home to. Normally a Father tells the Son what to do but I suppose in this case, My Father had come to Dublin, had a good job. The Maguires got an Inheritance from a fairly rich Uncle and my Dad had pursuaded everyone to buy a house in Kilmainham. Getting Grandad to come 'home' was the final piece of the jigsaw. Dad was never one to share his feelings but he must have ben very fond of his Father and he was prepared to drive hundreds of miles to Galway with only a hope of someone being there in Galway to collect.
On the journey home to Dublin, Mum tells me they had to stop numerous times as the little Morris Minor only had very basic windscreen wipers and it rained the whole way home to Dublin. I have never heard what happened when they all were united in Dublin, but if it were a film the narrator would have said the rain was all the tears of joy of a husband and wife finally re united after years of being apart and only occasionally together as a family.