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Culture Magazine
From the Antarctica to Annascaul: Raise a glass to Tom Crean in his former pub in Co Kerry
The story of Tom Crean, an Irish explorer who went from heroic expeditions to pulling pints in The South Pole Inn.
IRELAND HAS NO shortage of great pubs and legendary public figures. In Annascaul, a quaint village in Co Kerry, situated between Dingle and Tralee, you can stop by The South Pole Inn and raise a glass to its former owner, Tom Crean.
Ireland’s most celebrated explorer of the twentieth century, Tom Crean is revered for his bravery throughout his early life and career which he dedicated to exploring the Antarctic. Between 1901 and 1913, Crean embarked on three expeditions; Discovery Expedition (also known as the British National Antarctic Expedition), Terra Nova Expedition, and the Endurance Expedition.
During those adventures, Crean served under Captain Robert Falcon Scott and was a valued member of Sir Ernest Shackleton’s crew. Accounts of these expeditions, logged by Crean’s colleagues, regularly credit Crean as an exemplary and vital team member. His expertise and natural aptitude for dealing with the extreme conditions and unpredictable scenarios he endured throughout these Polar trials have been awarded and commemorated in several ways. In his lifetime, he received the Albert Medal for Lifesaving following his bravery in 1913 during the Terra Nova expedition.
Eventually, Crean would enjoy a humble and quiet life in the Kerry countryside following his retirement in 1920. Returning to Annascaul, where he was born in 1877, Crean settled with his wife Ellen Herlihy and three daughters and opened The South Pole Inn in 1927. He ran the public house until his death just over a decade later in 1938.
The name pays tribute not only to Crean’s extraordinary expeditions across the Antarctic but it is also suggested that it is a tribute to his friend and fellow explorer Edgar Evans who had wished to run a pub of his own, under this title, in his native Wales. When Crean bought the public house, the structure was a modest infrastructure of a thatched cottage. Today, it retains the classic interiors of a cosy and traditional country pub that you would expect to find along Ireland’s southern coast.
Subsequent to her husband’s death, the licence was transferred to Ellen Crean, who kept the door of the pub nestled in the Dingle Peninsula open until 1948. Throughout its near-century-long lifespan, The South Pole Inn has been under the patronage of a number of different owners. With the turn of the millennium came new proprietors of The South Pole Inn. The Percival family have been behind bar of The South Pole Inn for almost 23 years.
A private man, particularly in his later years, it has been noted that Crean seldom recounted tales from his previous life to patrons of The South Pole Inn, or even close friends and family. Instead, the incredible triumphs of Crean’s expeditions are chronicled and celebrated in the many framed photographs and various items of memorabilia that adorn the walls of the establishment.
Many will recognise Crean as the ruggedly handsome man holding a litter of puppies and smoking a pipe. So recognisable is the image of the Kerryman that the pups were included in a bronze sculpture of Crean, unveiled in 2003, which stands close by the location of the pub he ran.
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