Mayo memories: Breaffy House Hotel was destroyed by fire 55 years ago

By Tom Gillespie

LAST month marked the 55th anniversary of a fire which completely destroyed the main building of Breaffy House Hotel in Castlebar.

Two days after the outbreak The Connaught Telegraph’s headline of the edition of November 20, 1969, read: ‘£250,000 hotel gutted by fire’.

The lead story report was written by John McHale, Bernie Gillespie and Tom Gillespie, with photography by Liam Lyons.

It read: A 15-year-old boy was the hero of a pre-dawn blaze which gutted a £250,000 luxury hotel near Castlebar on Tuesday morning.

The fire completely destroyed the main building, causing an estimated £150,000 worth of damage, but was prevented spreading to a new extension which was opened at a cost of £103,000 in 1968.

After the alarm was raised by a ‘boots’, John Lavelle of Breaffy, Castlebar, when he came on duty at the 19th century Breaffy House Hotel, guests and members of staff leaped or clambered down drainpipes or knotted bed-sheets in their night clothes from smoke-filled rooms.

Six people were injured while escaping from the blazing building and were taken to the County Hospital in Castlebar, where two of them - James Brogan of Ballinamore, Co. Leitrim, and George McMunn, Beltra, Co. Sligo - were detained.

A badly charred briefcase, containing £3,888 in cash, the property of Mr. McMunn, a tobacco company representative, was later recovered beneath debris from Mr. McMunn’s bedroom.

A police spokesman said the contents of the briefcase were virtually undamaged.

The fire, which started in a ground floor residents’ lounge, spread rapidly and within a very short time had completely gutted the main building.

Firemen from five towns fought the fire - the worst ever in the area - and prevented it spreading to a new £103,000 extension which was opened last year.

The hero of the blaze, John Lavelle, said: “I don’t sleep in the hotel and when I came on duty shortly after 7 a.m. I noticed thick black smoke billowing into the kitchen.

“I dashed to the staff quarters and woke members of the staff who aroused the guests on the second storey.”

There were 17 guests staying in the 40-bedroomed hotel and some of them jumped in their night clothes from the windows onto the lawns and held blankets while others flung themselves to safety or clambered down drainpipes.

Castlebar fire brigade was alerted by the hotel’s managing director, Mrs. Una Lee, who had recently returned from a Spanish holiday on Monday night.

Mrs. Lee said: “I was awakened by noises in the forecourt and someone shouting ‘fire’. I immediately rang the local fire brigade from my bedroom extension and flew down the fire escape.”

Castlebar firemen were later joined by units from Westport, Claremorris, Kiltimagh and Ballina.

One of the Castlebar firemen - Michael Carney of Chapel Street - collapsed after being overcome by smoke.

Mayo fire chief Captain Cathal Cawley said: “Luckily there its a small tributary flowing nearby and we were able to get a water supply from there.”

The hotel, which stands on 60 acres of wooded ground and was formerly the home of Brigadier D.A.S. Browne, was opened in June 1963 by a company whose other directors are Dr. Ivor O’Sullivan, Killarney (an uncle of Mrs. Lee), Mr. John A. McGrath, Dublin and Laurence Barrett, Breaffy, Castlebar.

One of the guests, Mr. Patrick Tierney, a medical representative from Killiney, Dublin, said: “Flames outside my bedroom window woke me up. I opened the door and saw the corridor was enveloped in thick black smoke.

“I escaped down the drain-pipe outside in my pyjamas onto a small porch.”

Mrs. Lee said: “I have always dreaded the thought of a fire breaking out in the hotel and we took every precaution. The Mayo fire officer inspected the building only a month ago and we thought it was virtually fireproof.”

Most of the guests staying in the hotel lost all their personal belongings, including Dr. Sarah Lehane, gynaecologist, at the County Hospital, Castlebar, who lost some valuable documents.

Saved were the new extension - which included a function room and 16 double bedrooms - together with staff quarters and kitchens.

Nine years later, almost to the day (November 15, 1978), Mrs. Lee had occasion to celebrate when she was reunited with her seven-year-old English pointer, Treasa.

The Connaught Telegraph reported with the headline ‘Treasa’s million-to-one recovery’ - ‘Treasa’ is back home again - following a million-to-one chance recovery.

The pointer was romping about the grounds of Breaffy House Hotel, Castlebar, yesterday, eight weeks after her mysterious disappearance.

She was found in the Crumlin area of Dublin after frantic efforts by her owner, Mrs. Lee, to establish here whereabouts.

Mrs. Lee said: “Naturally I am thrilled to have ‘Treasa’ back again.

“Others had given up hope that she would one found. But I hadn’t. I knew she would turn up.”

But it was thanks to the interest shown by a Dublin housewife that and dog have been reunited.

Mrs. Laura Woods of Manor Estate noticed ‘Treasa’, obviously lost, roaming about the neighbourhood.

She cared for the animal for a week, advised the gardaí and placed an advertisement in the city newspapers.

The dog was claimed by a man in the area. But she had her suspicions about his story of beeng the true owner.

Mrs. Woods visited newspaper offices and eventually traced an advertisement inserted by Mrs. Lee some weeks earlier. She made contact with Mrs. Lee who travelled to the city to see the dog.

She was accompanied by members of the gardaí when she visited the home of the man.

Once the door of the shed, at the rear of the house, was opened there was no doubting the identity of the animal.

Mrs. Lee said: “I think Mrs. Woods was even more determined than I that Treasa was located.

“I gave her a cheque rewarding her for her efforts. But she refused to cash it, asking instead that she retain it as a souvenir.”