tavern

The Merriman Tavern, which was originally a grain mill dating back to 1865, was founded in 1963 in honour of Brian Merriman (1747-1805 ). It was the first monument to this famous or infamous Clare Poet, who spent most of his life as a teacher in Feakle County Clare, and died in Limerick in 1805.

His most famous work " Cuirt an Meadhan Oiche " ( the Midnight Court ) is a poem, which in translation anyway , has drawn down on itself official disfavour and possibly in the original Gaelic form, landed it's author in some sort of trouble or social disgrace. It is over one thousand lines long and full of the most intricate brilliance and musical mastery.

The Merriman Summer School was founded in 1968 and it's first patron was Eamonn DeValera, the then President of Ireland, who made his first speech in Clare from the upper door of the Tavern in 1919.

The Tavern has been used by many European and American television crews for documentaries and films.The BBC filmed and interviewed Edna O' Brien in the Tavern about her book " A Pagan Place " which is based on her childhood spent in Scariff.

Audiences from all over the world have been entertained in the Tavern by Ireland's leading musicians which have included such names as Planxty, The Chieftans, Bothy Band, Dubliners, Clancy Brothers, De Danann, Tommy Makem, Clannad, Stockton's Wing, Furey's and Davey Arthur, Wolfe Tones, Paul Brady, Colm Wilkinson, Maura O' Connell, Brendan Grace, Paddy Reilly and many more.

The large Murals on the walls, which were painted by Sile, depict a scene from the " Midnight Court " and also a potrait of the famous Clare woman Biddy Early, who had extraordinary powers of healing and foretelling the future.