On 5th September Tom Crean’s marriage to Ellen Herlihy, daughter of Patrick Herlihy, a former Annascaul publican, took place in Annascaul.

Their wedding at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Annascaul, was well attended by family and friends and among the wedding gifts was a silver tea set sent by Sir Ernest Shackleton. Sadly for Ellen, her father Patrick had passed away some 7 years earlier yet her mother Anne, along with Crean’s parents, Patrick and Catherine, were there to witness the marriage ceremony.

Tom had known Ellen since childhood and she had grown up in another notable public house in Annascaul. Now known as perhaps a pub that has featured in publications and postcards more than any other Irish pub, the colourful Dan Foley’s was where Ellen picked up the necessary skills to run the public house at the bottom of the village that would later, in 1929, become the South Pole Inn.

As was the case across Ireland, locals were fond of applying nicknames to their friends and neighbours and in the locality of Annascaul, the couple were known as Tom the Pole and Nell the Pole.

Tom and Ellen would go on to have three children, Mary, Eileen and Kate, the middle child, Kate, suffered from ailments throughout her short life and passed away aged 3 in 1924 soon after she had returned with her parents from a trip to Lourdes as part of the Irish National Pilgrimage.

Below, an image of Tom Crean and his bride, Ellen (Nell) on their wedding day

To discover more about Tom Crean, the book can be purchased here