The Shamrock Lodge Hotel

The Shamrock Lodge Hotel. 1951-Present Day . Hotel Establishment. , Visitors to The Shamrock Lodge Hotel in Athlone Co Westmeath sometimes ask where it got its name. One theory is that an early owner of the lodge was a member of the Freemasons whose Athlone branch was known as Shamrock Lodge 101. While others say that the grounds around the house was famous for shamrock. The house began its life as the home of Micheal Monks in 1814. It was established as an Athlone hotel in 1951 by the late Mr. Frank Coen and was later owned by the Colgan family and purchased in 1993 by the current owner Mr. Paddy McCaul., The hotel is strongly supported locally in Athlone and underwent a redevelopment in 2005 adding 40 Deluxe and Superior Bedrooms and 12 Two Bedroom suites which are the very best family accommodation Athlone has to offer., As one of the finest hotels in Athlone Co Westmeath it has welcomed many distinguished guests during the last century including Queen Salote of Tonga, Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, former US ambassador to Ireland William Taft III (1), former Presidents of Ireland Sean T. Kelly (2) and Dr. Patrick Hillary, former Taoiseach Mr. Jack Lynch (3) and boxer Joe Frazier, [TIMELINE] , 1814 HOME OF MICHAEL MONKS, 1951 ESTABLISHED AS AN ATHLONE HOTEL, 1950s VISIT FROM QUEEN SALOTE OF TONGA, 1961 VISIT FROM PRINCESS GRACE OF MONACCO [sic], 1971 VISIT FROM JOE FRAZIER, 1994-PRESENT DAY PADDY MCCAUL , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , Written by Jean Farrell, neé Coyle. First published in The Westmeath Independent in 2016. , In spite of the fact that we have many hotels in town now I always love the old world charm of The Shamrock Lodge Hotel. Readers over the age of sixty will remember a momentous occasion in our town when a very famous lady came to The Shamrock Lodge Hotel. Not only was she a famous Hollywood actress she was also a real live Princess. A quote from a national newspaper of the time tells the following., "In early 1961, it was announced that Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly, known as Her Serene Highness, Princess Grace of Monaco since her marriage to Prince Rainier in 1956, would make a state trip to these shores to visit her ancestral homeland. Grace Kelly's grandfather, John Henry Kelly, was an Irish emigrant who had left Newport in Co Mayo for Philadelphia in 1869. On Wednesday, the royal family set off for 'Kelly Country' in Mayo, stopping for the night in the Shamrock Lodge Hotel in Athlone. Grace seemed to love the brown bread that came with her tea and praised it to the staff." , Those were the days, of course, before television. We only knew our own small world. To have Royalty come to our town was indeed a huge event. We were all star struck!, I was ten at the time and remember well standing at the old gent's toilet, beside the castle, waiting, full of excitement. Half the town seemed to have come out to see her. When the big car passed I could clearly see four-year old Caroline in the back seat. She seemed to be looking directly at me. I was hugely impressed by the fact that I had actually seen a 'real live princess.' , For all the fairy tales we had read we knew that if you married a handsome prince you would live happily ever after. Alas and alack - this was not to be the case for Princess Grace. , However, we can only hope that, on the night she stayed in our Shamrock Lodge Hotel with her handsome Prince Rainier, that some of the magic was still there. The Shamrock Lodge Hotel are naming their newly renovated Honeymoon Suite "The Princess Grace Suite" in her honor. There are some photographs of this visit in the foyer of the hotel. Do look at them the next time you are there., THE TIME SMOKIN JOE FRAZIER VISITED ATHLONE , STORY BY ADRIAN CUSACK , World heavyweight boxing champion Joe Frazier visited Athlone in June 1971 and stayed at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel., 'Smokin' Joe' came to town as the reigning world champion, just three months after he defeated his great rival, Muhammad Ali, in the first of their three epic encounters. , In a bout billed as 'The Fight of the Century,' Frazier knocked Ali to the canvas in the fifteenth and final round, before winning a unanimous points decision in New York's Madison Square Garden. , When he wasn't training for a fight, Frazier loved to sing and perform soul/R&B music. It was this hobby that prompted his stay in Athlone. , Frank Colgan, the manager of the Shamrock Lodge Hotel at the time of Frazier's visit, explained that the star was undertaking a singing tour in Ireland and was booked to perform a concert at a venue in Roscommon., He decided to stay in Athlone with his entourage and a group of female backing singers. They nearly booked out the whole hotel at the time. , There were suggestions that tickets to Frazier's concert in Roscommon were overpriced, and as a result, the show was not a success. , Mr. Colgan of Shamrock Lodge gave his opinion of Mr. Frazier. , "He was a very nice man and was really approachable. You'd expect someone like him to be huge, but he actually didn't look as big as I was expecting,” he said. , "He spoke to everyone and was very nice towards our staff at the time. The following morning there were crowds outside the hotel, and we got a picture taken with him for the Westmeath Offaly Independent.", Muhammad Ali famously described himself as 'The Greatest,' but the photo reveals that a banner was put up at the Shamrock Lodge which read, 'Welcome Joe - You're The Greatest.' , Frazier had 37 bouts in his career and was only ever beaten by two men - Ali and George Foreman. In his later years, he continued to train fighters at his gym in Philadelphia. He died in 2011, just weeks after being diagnosed with liver cancer. , Mr. Colgan's successor in charge of the Shamrock Lodge Hotel, Paddy McCaul, also has a vivid memory of Frasier's visit. , "It was a huge thing at the time,” said Mr. McCaul. , "Boxing was a huge sport, and his visit caused great excitement. I wasn't in the hotel at that time, but like everyone else, I remember trying to catch a glimpse of him as he was coming and going. It's not very often that a world champion would come to Athlone.", [Center photo of] QUEEN SALOTE OF TONGA EARLY 1950S- , Michael Fitzgibbon Opening The Car Door., PRINCESS GRACE, REMEMBERING HER VISIT TO 'THE LODGE' OVER 60 YEARS LATER, Shamrock Lodge Hotel has long been accustomed to hosting famous faces over the years. However, when the Hollywood icon, Princess Grace of Monaco, visited with her family on June 14th, 1961, it was a particularly special occasion., Paddy McCaul, the hotel proprietor, recalls "All of us in lona Perk gathered when news came through that Princess Grace was heading to 'The Lodge'. We congregated at Talbot Ave to see the entourage. It was very exciting at the time. We are very happy to remember her and this great occasion.", The visit holds sentimental connotations for the people of Athlone. The Shamrock Lodge has embraced this nostalgia by naming 'The Princess Grace Honeymoon Suite' and offering their 'Princess Grace Wedding Package'. Photos of the Princess adorn the hotel's lobby and hallways as a mark of remembrance of the visit. It is noted that Princess Grace had a particular fondness for the brown bread that accompanied her tea and praised it to the hotel staff. The children enjoyed playing on a swinging garden seat in the rose garden while the adults relaxed., Quoting from the 'Athlone Down Memory Lane' Facebook page, many have shared their memories: , Martin Cuniffe - "Remember it well... I got a good view of her. A little bit of Hollywood tinsel sparkle came to a grey Athlone at the time.", Gabrielle McFadden - "That's around the time my parents got married and had their reception at the Lodge. They had to change the wedding date because of Princess Grace's visit. Their 60th anniversary would have been on the 15th of June!", Joan Larkin - "My mother, Rita Sarsfield Behan, worked at the Shamrock Lodge at that time. She was working on the day of Princess Grace's arrival. It was very exciting for her and her work colleagues: Mary Shine R.I.P., Bridie Lynch R.I.P, and Beatrice Galvin.", Pamela Connor - "Our mum, Mary McManus, was the cook at the time in the Shamrock Lodge. She prepared the lunch for them on that day. She always thought fondly of Grace Kelly and mentioned how stunning she was in person.", Princess Grace and her family will forever be fondly remembered at the Shamrock Lodge and by the people of Athlone. A true icon, a Hollywood starlet, and a very special visitor to 'The Lodge'.