The Liberator himself Daniel O’Connell was a regular guest of the hotel and refers to it in his writings in the 1820s. He wrote to his wife on 25th October 1825: ‘there is an excellent inn at Listowel, that is, the former inn is made perfectly warm and comfortable’ (O’Connell et al, Correspondence of Daniel O’Connell, 191) 

Before his death Charles Stewart Parnell (1846-1891) stayed in the Listowel Arms on 13 September 1891, and made one of his last speeches from the same hotel window Daniel O’Connell had spoken from. It was here that Parnell repeated his famous words that ‘no man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation.’ He proclaimed: ‘We assert today in this town of Listowel what we asserted in 1885 and the years before it, that no man has the right to fix the boundary to the march of a nation – that no man has the right to limit the aspirations of our people.’ Parnell died within a month in Hove on 6 October 1891.’

In 1801 there was a lease recorded for the ‘Inn if Listowhill’ for the lives of Francis Christopher, James and Christopher Julian, the three sons of Rev. Christopher Julian. Local historian Padraig de Brun, discovered that one John Leonard owned and ran the building as an inn until 1824, when he leased it to a Mr John Adams in 1824. The Griffith valuation of 1851 shows the hotel (house, offices and garden, in all valued at £41) as being leased by John Adams from Maurice Leonard, Esq. John had only one child, a daughter Elizabeth who married Gerald McElligott on 22nd August 1854. Gerald was a successful business man, acting as a land agent as well as owning a large auctioneering practice.

One of Gerald’s son, William McElligott 1871-1941 was an honorary secretary to the Listowel Race Committee. He met his German wife Maria at the back of the hotel on the bank of noble river Feale. Maria’s friend’s corset was too tight and she swooned (‘nobody fainted in those days, says Liz O’Reilly Williams granddaughter). William took off his top hat, which he always wore and he filled it with water from the river and revived her. Maria’s and William’s eyes met and it was love at first sight! During World War II William’s wife cut out a cavity in a thick book and used it to send local butter to her relations in Germany. One of their sons, Gerald (named after his grandfather) moved to Canada until he was summoned back to Listowel to run the hotel. He was a born engineer and an inventor, opening a garage within the hotel (where the ballroom is now) where he sold and looked after Morris, Austin and Vauxhall cars in the late 30s. He was also a cook and known to wear a leather belt across his waist with a selection of knives. He was some multitasker and like majority of owners of this hotel, past and present, he prided himself in tackling any task. 

In the 1960’s the hotel was taken over by a new owner. The story goes that late one night the renowned Irish Tenor Joseph Locke was in the bar singing & entertaining the public in his finest and loudest voice and when asked to leave because it was closing time, he stood up and exclaimed “I’ll buy the place!” and so he did. The hotels name was changed to the “White Horse Inn” and Joseph retained ownership for a three to four years. 

The O’Callaghans

Several other owners came and went before Bernard and Josie O’Callaghan bought the hotel in 1995 and set on a mission to restore the building in keeping with its Georgian heritage. It has been restored with love by the O’Callaghan family over the last three decades.