The Village Barn - Wedding and Event Venue

Our Story

A Brief History

The story of The Village Barn began in the 19th century - or possibly even earlier - when the Ryan family opened a grocery, bakery, hardware and a pub on the site.

Tom Ryan had a large family and ran a farm at the rear using the outbuildings for his animals and crops. These buildings now make up the Barn, Kitchen, Boudoir and Sanctuary. 

The Ryans ran all of these businesses in tandem until the early 1920s, when his youngest daughter, Biddy, took over. She sold the land to fund nice holidays and leased the businesses to Williams of Tullamore - a large commercial family business. John Claffey, the current owner's uncle, came to manage it for Williams and with the help of his father, purchased it in 1950. John successfully ran the business for many years before leasing it out to local man, Willie Gavigan, in 1983. When John passed away it was left in probate and his nephew Peter purchased it. 

In 2013, Peter began rebuilding and restoring the old buildings. In 2016, Peter leased them to David Smyth and The Village Barn was officially born. Since then, an extension has been added to the barn itself a fully equipped kitchen has been installed to cater for weddings, corporate events and family occasions.

2019

2019 was a great year for us here at The Village Barn. Our second full year saw tremendous growth in weddings, parties and corporate events. 

Weddings began at Easter with the most magical weekend of sunshine and an equally magical couple and their two great sons. It continued a pace throughout the summer, in good weather and bad - but a drop of rain never dampened the spirits. Positive reviews poured in with garlic potatoes and homemade ice cream being firm favorites, and everyone mentioning our amazing crew - we couldn’t do it without them! 

Several nationalities and personalities passed through our doors, each of whom added their own personal twists to their big day. The year finished in style with a local couple and their fab daughter who enjoyed a Christmas wedding basked in bright winter sunshine.