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The Clare Castle Hotel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

 

In 1859 the Clare Castle Hotel was erected at the corner of Carrington street and Main street, Kapunda. It was first licensed by James Glynn in 1859.

The Clare Castle Hotel was used for “Bench of Magistrate” hearings for inquests into deaths and accidents in the local Kapunda district. The board included Dr Blood, local councillors and other local luminaries. 

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The following is an extract from the "South Australian Advertiser" dated Saturday 1st of October 1859"

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"A Lighthouse has lately been erected at the new house, called the Clare Castle Inn, at the southern entrance to the town. This will be the only use and benefit it can possibly afford to travellers and inhabitants. Previous to the light being exhibited it was a matter of much danger for travellers to pilot their way among the dangerous passes, precipices, quarries, and cuttings which obstruct the entrance to Kapunda. The Government road is wholly useless. The only chance for them was to follow the innumerable dray tracks which intersect the quarries, and not steer for the light or they will stand a good chance of breaking their necks. There is a good field of operations thus opened for the Harbour-Master to distinguish himself and benefit his country, in making a chart, fixing buoys, and giving the various bearings to be observed in entering the township. Some day a scene of frightful accident and loss of life will happen here, then perhaps the Central Road Board will think it worth their while to make good the main road."

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Hotel Licence association board 1859 : "James Glynn, Clare Castle Hotel, Kapunda. Granted, subject to the report of the Police Inspector."

Publican James Glynn, died at river ford on Mary MacKillop walk on his way to Church services at St Johns, July 25th 1862.

 

Newspaper extract on the death of James Glynn:

"Kapunda. July 24th 1862 - South Australian Register:

 

I am sorry to record the death, by drowning, of Mr. James Glynn, landlord of the Clare Castle Hotel here. He was attempting to cross the Light river on the road to the Catholic chapel last evening when the river being flooded he was washed away and never seen again. His horse was found this morning dead. I regret to add that he leaves a widow and several children. This is the highest flood known, and the first man drowned in this river for ten years."

 

Mr Glynn's death as reported in "The Empire" newspaper Sydney, August 1962 

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"Our Kapunda correspondent's letter contains the melancholy intelligence of the drowning of Mr. James Glynn, of the Clare Castle Hotel We have obtained a little additional information from a private source, to the effect that the unfortunate men was on his way to the Roman Catholic chapel for the purpose of making arrangements for the wedding of his daughter. It ls also stated that, finding the river too deep and rapid for him he attempted to turn his horse back after getting in, but the animal was taken off its legs, and both man and horse were washed away."

 

Margaret Glynn was granted the right to continue the license of the Clare Castle hotel in December 1862, due to the tragic circumstances of the death of her Husband 

 

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to Thomas Leonard in 1865

 

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to Thomas Judge in 1866 -1867

Mr Judge died within a year of owning the Inn, his wife continued the License until The Magistrates board refused to reinstate it due to the unkempt appearance of the interior 


The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to M. Leonard in 1868


The Licence was refused in 1870  on the grounds that the accommodation was very inferior, and that tho house was not required

 

 The Licence was reinstated to  W. Slattery in 1872

From the "South Australian Register" 6 March 1876

"Narrow Escape"

.— About midday on Saturday, the 4th March, a boy, son of Mr, Y. Slattery, of the Clare Castle Hotel, Kapunda, while striking a match in one of the bedrooms allowed it to come in contact with the window-curtains. They at once ignited, causing an almost instantaneous blaze which quickly spread over the whole of the room. The alarm was at once given, and Mr. J. Warne and Mr. Smith, of the Kapunda Mine, who were on the premises at the time, rendered immediate assistance. Water, which was at once conveyed to the spot subdued the flames, which, had they been allowed free play in minute or two longer, must have produced a most serious conflagration. As it terminated the loss only amounted to £4 or £5, and Mr. Slattery besides had his hands roasted in his endeavour to extinguish the flames. 

 


The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to William Slattery in 1876

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to G. Young in 1882

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to M. McInerheny in 1883

 

Extract from  January 20, South Australian Register 1885

 

"The inquest on the body of Heinrich Rossmann, who died suddenly yesterday evening at the Clare Castle Hotel, resulted in a verdict to the effect that deceased died from natural causes, the medical evidence showing a rupture of the intestines, caused by an ulcer, producing inflammation of the bowels. .which was the cause of death. Mr. Benham, J.P., acted as Coroner."

 

 

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to Mr. Fitzgerald in 1891

The "Clare Castle Inn" was licensed to E.T.B. Murphy in 1899

The Clare Castle Hotel was licensed to K. V. Maher in 1902

The Clare Castle Hotel was licensed to J. Kilduff  in 1903

The Clare Castle Hotel was licensed to J. & P. Driscoll in 1904

The Clare Castle Hotel was licensed to T. Simpson 1905

 

 

Extract from "The Register"  28th august 1909

"During the rough weather of last week the 40ft. flagstaff at the Clare Castle Hotel was broken off short at the parapet of the building, and crime down with a crash on the roof. "

 

 

The Clare Castle Hotel was licensed to J. T. Hansberry in 1920

 

Extract from "The Register" 17th august 1927

"Mrs. Johanna Slattery, who died at the residence of her son, Mr. D. J. Slattery. of Waterloo, on Friday, at the age of 30 years, was born in County Kerry, Ireland. She arrived in South Australia with her husband, and took over the Clare Castle Hotel, Kapunda This proved a profitable venture, and the couple remained there for about 11 years, during which time Mr. Slattery built the Imperial Hotel at Terowie. They sold the Hotel at Kapunda and bought a farm at Fords. After living there for about six years , they took over the Imperial Hotel at Terowie, remaining there about 18 months."

 

 Extract from "The Advertiser" 24th July 1940

 

"LICENCE REMOVAL APPLICATION Before Mr. Ray. S.M. John Louis Hansberry. licensee of the Clare Castle Hotel, Main street, Kapunda. yesterday applied to the East Midland Licensing Court, silting at the Adelaide Licensing Court room, for removal of his licence to premises to be erected at McGuire terrace Cadell. Objection was taken that the removal was not required for the accommodation of the public by Harry Stapleton. Crabb. licensee of Morgan, and Fred Blades, of Unley Park. Part heard and adjourned until today Mr. J. L. Travers for Hansberrv. Mr. Eric Millhouse for objectors."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Kapunda Revelation:

Does anyone know the meaning of this 'coat of arms' or emblem? After many layers of paper in the quaint Clare Castle Hotel at the Adelaide end of Kapunda had been removed, this design, measuring three feet, was found painted on the wall above the mantelpiece in the front room: it is in gold, green and black. 

Following up with research on our investigation at The Clare Castle Hotel, we put out the call for information about the crown that once hung above the mantle in the Hotel. This morning we had a breakthrough and discovered the name of its creator and its origins.

 Our research continues long after our Investigations at Eidolon Paranormal, trying to gain more insight into a locations past to understand the present. - Allen and Karen

 

 

 "Kapunda Revelation"

Does anyone know the meaning of this 'coat of arms' or emblem? After many layers of paper in the quaint Clare Castle Hotel at the Adelaide end of Kapunda had been removed, this design, measuring three feet, was found painted on the wall above the mantelpiece in the front room: it is in gold, green and black.

 

 That Kapunda Crown

 With commendable promptitude Mrs. E. O'Neill, president of Glenelg Sun shine Club has explained from 'Carmel,' 3 College street, Glenelg. the origin of the Crown at the Clare Castle Hotel. Kapunda

  'The picture in your column took my mind back to my childhood watching my father, the late Edward (Ned) Murphy drawing that crown. He was the licensee.

 'I do not remember why, as I was only six. Father had a peculiar trait to paint and draw things like this. 'He was a very intelligent man; when he died 21 years ago. at 86. he had retained his remarkable mentality.

 Did Other Drawings

 'First, he was licensee of the North Kapunda hotel for three years, during which time he was a councillor. Sir Sidney Kidman and Mr. Charlie Coles were personal friends of his.

 'When Queen Victoria died my parents draped the front of the Clare Castle in black. Father drew and painted a life-size picture of Queen Victoria for the centre.

 'About this time, 1901. he drew the crown. I remember his doing the heart and saying to us children. 'The Throne and the Queen are the heart of the Empire.'

 Many other hotels  bear some drawing or inscription done by dad at Robe, on the window of a temperance hotel is something he did with a diamond ring.

 'I unfortunately burnt the only photo of the Clare Castle after father's death.

 'I enclose one of the North Kapunda, taken about 1898. My father is the young man in shirt sleeves. Mother is standing by myself, a little tot looking through the balcony bars. One of the maids holds my baby brother, later an original Anzac.'

Kept City Hotels

 Mrs. O'Neill says her father (Edward Murphy) and mother had many guests at their Adelaide hotels. Most famous was Madame Sarah Bernhardt at the Metropolitan in Grote Street.

 Mr. C. C. Kingston, who lived farther west on the West terrace corner, wanted her father to buy half of Kingston Park, Marino, for £10.

 'My grandparents were among the first Port Adelaide hotel keepers. Migrants stayed there until they got work or land,' she adds.

 

Page 4

Tuesday 27 July 1954

The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA : 1931 - 1954)

 

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/48120572?searchTerm=clare%20castle%20hotel%20Kapunda&searchLimits=l-decade=195|||l-title=The+Advertiser+%28Adelaide%2C...|titleid%3A44|||l-australian=y

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Investigation:

The Clare Castle Hotel 

 

On the 19th of March 2011 Eidolon Paranormal was invited by publicans, Leanne and Greg Berryman to investigate The Clare Castle Hotel due to recurring paranormal  phenomena witnessed by themselves and their staff.

Phenomena

Reports of black shadows and disembodied voices in the kitchen area, as well as visual sightings in the pool room coupled with feelings of paranoia and "being watched" in an area behind the front bar.

 

Investigation

It was decided early on to tackle this investigations first session during daylight hours at the time the hotel would have operated in its early days.

The concept is a simple one, that if the phenomena was of a residual haunting then it would reoccur at the times the hotel would have operated.

We started in the pool room, logging all reflective surfaces that may cause anomaly in our photo and video, we then proceeded to do a sweep with our EMF meters (Mel Meter, K2 meter and gauss meter), which brought up some interesting results behind the bar.

We then moved to the Kitchen area where the shadows and voices have been reported, again we logged and mapped the room and went about measuring EMF, we also left a voice recorder in a back room to see if we could capture some of the disembodied voices that had been reported too us.

Next we took on the dining room, this room proved to be the most intriguing. As we went about logging and mapping we left the EMF meter running and noticed a sharp rise in an area which contains no electrical appliances, we also noted temperature fluctuations, this seemed to be significant so we experimented in different places within the room and had varying results

Lastly we entered the front bar, where the death of patrons many years ago had occurred, surprisingly too us the bar seemed to have the least amount of activity when compared to the other areas of the pub we investigated.

 

 

 

Conclusion

 Extremely high EMF readings are coming from some of the appliances within the kitchen and Pool room bars on the premises. These higher than average readings could be contributing to feelings of unease and paranoia in the immediate area of the magnetic fields.

Although the Pool room and front bar seemed to be quiet on this investigation the kitchen and dining room areas proved to be very fruitful for us in regards to paranormal activity, and provided us with some excellent readings and evidence. 

 We came to the conclusion very early on that there is evidence of paranormal activity going on within the walls of The Clare Castle Hotel, we intend to return and further our investigations in the very near future

 

The Eidolon Paranormal team looks forward to returning to The Clare Castle Hotel for a follow up investigation in the very near future

 

References:

The History of Kapunda - Rob Charlton

Life Around the Light - Complied by the Two wells and Mallala district  history book  committee

The Advertiser (newspaper)

The Mail (newspaper)

The South Australian Register (newspaper)

The Argus ( Melbourne) (newspaper)

Burra Record (S.A. 1878 - 1954) (newspaper)

The Empire (Sydney) (newspaper)

The Register (South Australia) (newspaper)

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ 

 

 

Eidolon Paranormal would like to thank Greg and Leanne Berryman, and the patrons of the Clare Castle Hotel for allowing us to enter their premises

and giving us permission to use all photos, video and other media from  our  investigation

 

Research and Investigation conducted by Allen Tiller and Karen Paynter of Eidolon Paranormal

(c) Eidolon Paranormal 2011 All rights reserved.

All Material on this website is (c) Eidolon Paranormal, unless stated otherwise, and is not to be reproduced without written consent by eidolon Paranormal or the subsequent owners of the material. all rights reserved.

 

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