The Shaw Arms — Crumlin’s oldest pub — stands at the junction of Windmill Road and the main village street; the traditional ‘pub on the corner’. The pub was named after the Shaw family of Bushy Park, who were important land and property owners in Crumlin during the nineteenth century. From around the middle of that century, a branch of the Crumlin Mooney family, who were farmers, vintners and market gardeners, ran the Shaw Arms. In 1870, Mrs. Mary Mooney was listed as farmer and vintner there. During that time, the Shaw Arms was a real village-style pub with living quarters above, where the Mooney family resided. The main door, in those early days, was actually on the Windmill Lane side and there was also a little shop in the building, which faced onto the main village street. Another branch of the Mooney family lived in a lovely two-storey house in the Stannaway area of the old Captain’s Lane, where an Edward Mooney had over eight acres of land in the Kimmage area. A third branch of the family lived at the aforementioned ‘Crumlin Lodge’ in the village, where they had over thirteen acres of land. Around 1885, a Patrick Mooney is listed as having over twenty acres of land, including sixteen acres on Crumlin Common, leased from the Shaw and Purcell families respectively. He also had a house and outhouses (barns, stables etc.) and ten acres of land the village area, together with four houses which he had let out in rent. Later, around 1910, members of this family had the lease of a field of over ten acres opposite their pub, from Sir Frederick Shaw. (A section of this field later became a football pitch). The Mooneys also had part of the lands of Kingsfield, part of the Commons and land at Crumlin Cross Roads. The Mooneys certainly succeeded the Purcells and Shaws as big land owners in Crumlin. They had the lands up until the new housing estates were built in the 1930s, 40s and 50s. After over a century of ownership, the Shaw Arms passed out of the hands of the Mooney family around the 1980s. Despite a number of successive owners, the older generation here in Crumlin Village, who had fond memories of this establishment in the old days, continued to refer to it as ‘Mooney’s Pub’. Some years after 1926, extensive alterations were carried out to the exterior of the building in an effort to modernise it. This left the building bereft of its character for years afterwards. However, thanks to the new proprietors, Philip and Mary Harding, the original Shaw Arms building that now houses the fabulous new ‘Hub’ has recently undergone total refurbishment of both its interior and exterior in a ‘classy’ and traditional style, incorporating the original stone wall in the elaborately designed interior. With its cosy lounge, in-house live entertainment and its high quality restaurant, the new ‘Hub’ is a much needed and positive social and environmental asset to Crumlin Village. In 1991, to mark Dublin’s Year of Culture, the Crumlin Historical & Preservation Society was instrumental in the erection of a limestone plaque on the facade of the pub. The plaque, which gives the date and a brief history of the Shaw Arms, is the work of stone craftsman Pat McAfee and was kindly financed by the then owner, Vincent Murphy.
Owner / Occupier Information: Thom’s Directory
1850-1868 Patrick Mooney, farmer and vintner [name Shaw Arms not listed]
1869-1885 Mrs Mary Mooney, farmer and vintner [name Shaw Arms not listed]
1886-1907 James Mooney, farmer and vintner [name Shaw Arms not listed]
1909-1911 James Mooney, farmer and vintner
1912-1917 Hannah Mooney, farmer and vintner
1918-1949 John Mooney, farmer and vintner
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