'Sleeping eight to a bedroom' in Kilcullen

An illustration of the Cross & Passion College in a book about the Jones Engineering Group strikes an interesting memory, writes Brian Byrne.

The book, written by Clara Cullen, is subtitled ‘A Journey Across Three Centuries’ and details the development of Ireland’s largest mechanical services group, which celebrated its 125th anniversary last year.

The caption to the picture — which is actually much earlier, from the Lawrence Collection in the National Library — notes that Chris Jones, then a young apprentice in the company founded by HA O’Neill, recalled working at the convent during the 1940s.

He noted that he was with a work gang which ‘was sleeping eight to a bedroom in digs over a pub in the village’.

It’s possible that this was my grandfather’s Byrne’s Hotel, which later became the Hideout. But if anyone has any further information, I’d be delighted to hear about it.