Edith McFarland Has Passed

For Greystonians of a certain age, Edith McFarland was a big part of their childhood.

With the family business situated where Allied Irish Banks have parked themselves now, Edith spent much of her life behind the counter of the McFarland grocery store, alongside her husband, Claud.

It was back in the 1897 when Claud’s  father, Andrew, had built two shops side-by-side, along with a row of small red-brick houses, on Greystones main street. The grand total of £800 was spent developing the site, with builder Patrick Joseph Kinlan putting together the two shops and the accommodation overhead.

The shop pictured above – which shows proud parents Claud and Edith with their three daughters, Elizabeth, Patricia and Jean – and its neighbour were originally called Burnaby Stores, and were both a major attraction for the kids in the area every December, when one of the windows would be decorated with nuts, boxes of currants and raisins, and green and yellow candied peel, whilst the other would be stacked high with Wexford hams.

Claud – who passed away on February 16th, 2006, aged 89 – took over the business when his father died in 1937, being the only son, and it remained a family business until 1970, when he retired. The neighbour Royal Bank bought the premises and moved in, becoming AIB a year later. Subsequently, John Hatton – who married Jean McFarland – was manager there for a time.

Edith McFarland (nee Cuddy) died on January 18th, 2016, at Mount Tabor Care Centre, Sandymount, and will be sadly missed by her three daughters, sons-in-law John Homan, Val Flemming and Paul Hatton, eight grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren.

We offer our condolences to all of the extended McFarland family, and only wish we’d been lucky enough to meet this wonderful woman. Edith’s funeral took place at Greystones Presbyterian Church on Wednesday January 20th, followed by interment in Christ Church Churchyard, Delgany.

Train Station with McFarlands 1901

McFarland Grocers & Glenn Pharmacy 1914

Mrs Ferns, Mrs McFarland & friend. Source Derek Paine

Greystones National School with Elizabeth McFarland, Brian and Trevor Storey, John Whitton, Telford Evans, Morgan Evans, the Bolton sisters, Hazel Griffin & friends

The McFarland cart with Olive, plus Jimmy & May Munday

McFarland Tag Source Cormac Mac Cionnaith

McFarland Flyer Burnaby Stores

Burnaby Stores McFarland Price List

McFarland’s Shop Pic Jean Hatton

Jean Hatton 1954 outside her uncle Claude’s shop

The Royal Bank (now Sherry Fitz) Pic Jean Hatton

You can explore more of Greystones much-loved and long-gone shops here.