Drive launched to rebuild Leitrim's Gralton’s hall

A campaign to rebuild the historic Jimmy Gralton’s Hall on its original site in Effrinagh, Co Leitrim, has been officially launched, almost a century after the controversial cultural hub was burned to the ground.

The Gralton Hall Rebuild Project was unveiled on December 16, 2025, by a group of nine local volunteers who are calling on communities across Ireland and abroad to help restore a space that once stood at the heart of rural life, creativity and political expression in Leitrim.

Jimmy Gralton (1886–1945), a farmer from Effrinagh near Drumsna, built the hall on his own land in 1921 with the help of neighbours. While modest in structure, the hall quickly became a vibrant centre for music, dancing, debate and learning, offering young people in rural Leitrim a rare place to gather freely.

Inside its walls, dances were held, ideas were exchanged, and a new sense of confidence took root among local people. But the hall’s influence soon drew hostility.

From the outset, Gralton and his hall were closely watched. The Catholic Church and local clergy condemned the music, the dancing and the social freedoms it encouraged. Those who attended events were publicly named and shamed from pulpits, while supporters were branded immoral and subversive.

The hall was attacked several times, with shots even fired into the building during a dance. On Christmas Eve 1932, it was burned to the ground in an arson attack.

The following year, Jimmy Gralton was labelled “an undesirable alien” and, despite being born in Ireland, was served with a deportation order by the Irish Free State. He was arrested and forcibly removed from the country — the only Irish citizen ever deported by the State.

Gralton spent the rest of his life in New York, where he died in 1945, never returning home.

Now, nearly 100 years later, his story is being reclaimed.

The rebuild project is being led by Paul Gralton, Edwina Guckian, John Dunne, Cormac Flynn, Mick Heslin, John Cronogue, Declan Guckian, Johnny Markey and Davy Phelan. The group plans to reconstruct the hall on its original site — not as a museum, but as a working community space.

“Jimmy Gralton’s story is not just a political injustice, it’s a human one,” said dancer and choreographer Edwina Guckian. “It’s a reminder of what can happen when music, movement and community threaten those in power — and of how fiercely ordinary people once fought for the right to gather, to dance and to imagine something better.”

Guckian recently toured The Devil’s in the Dance Hall, a production inspired by Gralton’s story and the Church-led opposition to social dancing, particularly following the introduction of the 1935 Dance Hall Act. The show featured music by The Gralton Big Band and enjoyed a successful national tour. The band is set to perform on the main stage of the National Concert Hall on St Patrick’s Day 2026.

“When we rebuild the hall, it will host music and dance, classes and workshops, talks, film screenings, rehearsals, concerts and community gatherings of all kinds,” said Paul Gralton, cousin of Jimmy. “It will be open to all — locals and visitors, young and old — just as Jimmy intended.”

The first sod will be turned on June 23, 2026, at the Effrinagh Crossroads Dance, a symbolic celebration of music, movement and community. Fundraising will begin immediately through a GoFundMe campaign, with organisers seeking donations and wider support.

“It’s been nearly a century in the making,” Guckian said. “It will be a momentous day when those doors open again.”