'When entertaining on cold evenings we would draw the sitting room suite round the fire and play poker on the coffee table '

'When entertaining on cold evenings we would draw the sitting room suite round the fire and play poker on the coffee table '

Harry Browne remembers his first home with his wife Sheila. He describes gradually furnishing the house over the years and he remembers how important wedding presents were in setting up their home.

Harry Browne

Trinity College Dublin

1966

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Harry Browne

Marriage and Family

Life Story

Donnycarney, Dublin

1960's

We lived in various places for about a year whilst waiting for our house to be built. We had placed a deposit a year before the wedding but the developer sold our site to a different builder and delays ensued. Our eventual house is in Donnycarney Dublin 9, originally a three bedroom semi - detached with an enormous garden, we have added extensions over the years and it is now a five bedroom house, still with an enormous garden. The house was priced at ԣ2850 but the new builder raised the price by ԣ250 and we went to the Department of Industry & Commerce and we got the ԣ250 extra removed. Wedding presents included Pyrex dishes, (some of which we still use today) Smoothing iron, Toasters, various dinner and tea sets and bed linens, towels etc. We had almost no furniture except for a bed and a sitting room suite provided by uncle Jack who was in the furniture trade. The house had three bedrooms, two reception rooms, kitchen and bathroom. It was a number of years before the house was finally furnished. We dined on a large coffee table which I had made from plywood and legs bought from Noyeks of Parnell Street. There was no central heating in the house and the living room fire was lit most days. It has a back boiler and heated water for bathing etc. When entertaining on cold evenings we would draw the sitting room suite round the fire and play poker on the coffee table. When the fire ran low there was always a dispute as to who should go for coal, which was stored in the back yard. The common cry was 'I can't go because I have no shoes on'. Needless to say, this excuse was not accepted.

Irish Research Council for Arts, Humanities & Social Sciences (IRCHSS)

Dr Kathleen McTiernan (Trinity College Dublin)

Dr Deirdre O'Donnell (Trinity College Dublin)