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500-year old Dublin candle making company founded before Columbus landed in America

World’s oldest trading company plans a candle museum

PATRICK COUNIHAN,

IrishCentral.com Staff Writer

Published Sunday, April 29, 2012, 8:27 AM

Updated Sunday, April 29, 2012, 8:27 AM

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Rathborne Candles has been in business for 524 years.

The world’s oldest trading community has vowed to beat the recession in Ireland and continue its 524 years in business.

Rathborne Candles, based in the Dublin suburb of Blanchardstown, is regarded as the oldest company in the world still trading.

The Sunday Independent reports that the company was founded in 1488, four years before Columbus discovered America, and has survived everything from plagues to the coming of electricity, gas street lamps and the Second Vatican Council.

Master chandler William Rathborne started the business making candles in Wine Tavern Street in Dublin before the company relocated, first to East Wall and in more recent years, to Blanchardstown.

The report states that the company now plans to open a museum and to expand into the lucrative scented candle market.

Financial director Vincent Brady told the paper: “During the 19th Century, Rathborne Candles had the contract for all the street lighting fittings in Dublin.

“Obviously times are testing now but I can only imagine the meetings they had when electricity was discovered, with the financial guys saying ‘We are doomed’ and the sales guys saying ‘It’ll never catch on.'

“Sales guys are usually very positive and don’t often see the threat.”

The Second Vatican Council provided one difficulty for the company when it decreed that Catholic churches should be stripped of much of their previous ornamentation including elaborate candles.

Brady added: “Fortunately, the meddling ecclesiastical busybodies relented and the traditional church candle survived.

“We make a lot of church candles. There are some great traditions in Ireland such as the blessing of the throat on February 2 and the Christmas Candle in the west of Ireland, a very popular item that people place in their window.

“At present we are not making as many scented candles as we would like, so it is not the biggest part of our market.”

The company is no longer in the hands of the Rathborne family but one American descendant has an open invite to visit at any time.

“The Rathborne family itself has since died out. The last direct descendent of the Rathborne clan lives in America and has a standing invite to come over any time,” said Brady

The company has big plans for the future and is determined to last another 500 years.

“We would like to set up a museum where we could exhibit all the old machines and demonstrate the ancient candle-making skills, and maybe one day return to East Wall which is our ancestral home,” said Brady.

“We have 18 people here and we are hoping to expand this year and take on a few more staff.

“We will keep the flame burning for the next generation who will one day take over Rathborne Candles,” he added.

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GeorgeDillon | May 01, 2012, 02:43 PM EDT

Seanreagan, that's funny, they call Bythebay "mother" also. But like that mother bythebay your claims about Irish pronunciation are garbage. You really have some nerve peddling your pomposity on something you know nothing about. I'll spell it out for you, since you obviously know nothing about the topic. "Mum" and more recently "mom" are non-Irish variants that have come into Irish English. There were several words for mother as used by children in Irish English. One was traditionally spelled "Ma", but with a very long vowel. You're probably too ignorant of Ireland to recognize the old song "I'll tell me ma when I get home". Ma was common in Dublin. In rural areas, "Mammy" was common, as Hybernia correctly points out below. There was also "Ma'am", again I would think rural rather than urban. And this word most certainly was not pronounced like "Mom", contrary to yor absurd claim, have you ever even heard Irish English being spoken? The only possible concession I would make to an attested existence of "mum" in Irish English would be in the speech of the Dublin bourgeoisie--I simply don't know if this was the case or not; social class is obviously a factor in vocabulary choice. Your nonsense about sight pronunciation is especially irrelevant, since we are talking about the speech of children. Are you telling us that children learn the familiar words for mother and father from reading rather than from listening? What drivel. What kind of a linguist do you claim to be, anyway? A true linguist--not a fraud like you--would look for data before making any claims about distribution of particular words. So you can "venture" any nonsense you like, it's still ignorant nonsense.

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Bythebay | May 01, 2012, 09:54 AM EDT

EphrainKibbey, the snakes we have in Ireland are two legged ones.

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Bythebay | May 01, 2012, 09:53 AM EDT

seanreagan, I'm well aware of language in Ireland. You no doubt live in the US, most of you are constantly pontificating about Ireland which you actually know nothing about.

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Bythebay | May 01, 2012, 09:51 AM EDT

GeorgeDillon, you've never lived in Ireland and know nothing of Ireland. You carry such bigotry you won't accept truths about Ireland. Mum has been said in Ireland for centuries, it's not some British plant to offend the likes of you in the US.

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seanreagan | Apr 30, 2012, 08:51 PM EDT

For GeorgeDillon and Bythebay: as a linguist I would point out that the pronunciation of 'mum', 'mom', and 'mam' varies considerably depending on the local dialect. Across dialects they may sound the same or very different. Their origins in early development of speech in babies are quite clear, and the universality of similar phonemic structures throughout the Indo-European languages is remarkable. Differences in pronunciation tend to be accentuated by the phenomenon of 'sight pronunciation', the tendency to pronounce words as they are written as opposed to the continuance of traditional speech patterns, e.g., the now common pronunciation of 'waistcoat' as written versus 'weskot'. As with many things it is a mistake to assume that the pronunciations familiar from family or childhood are standard or universal or even prevalent within a geographic area. I would venture that Bythebay is entirely correct that 'mum' as pronounced somewhat like North American 'mom' and English 'mum' and Irish 'mam', i.e., with a less emphasized vowel sound, has been used in Ireland for a very long time. There are, of course, other variants, such as 'ma' or 'mammy'. In my family we were admittedly a bit more formal; we called her 'Mother'.

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89west | Apr 30, 2012, 03:44 PM EDT

Lucky for Ireland their snakes went to England and turned into building contractors! In the US today, our snakes are trying to undo and destroy the underpinning of our social, political and religious institutions. For any US citizen to come on here and state we are not blessed, does not know nor has not lived life in this great Nation. Need anyone be reminded, the US engaged themselves in a war instigated by Europeans against Europeans and gave their blood and treasure to insure they too, could enjoy the same concept of freedom we have cherished. Afterwards, these same American people fed a starving and hopelessly, impoverished people and kept the Russian bear off their doorstep. Yes, how soon many forget!

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GeorgeDillon | Apr 30, 2012, 03:44 PM EDT

Bythebay: "Mum has been used in Ireland for centuries. It's not of recent vintage at all.". You show your ignorance. Or maybe just your age. Are you under 20? Or are you the poster ciaradexy in a new guise?

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hybernia | Apr 30, 2012, 01:26 PM EDT

Thank you all for your kind comments on my Dad.

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EphraimKibbey | Apr 30, 2012, 11:06 AM EDT

@Bythebay - I'm glad for Ireland on both counts. Sadly, America is not so blessed. We have snakes too! I'm sure that Ireland has many women and men who still rise to the occasion when the people around them are in need.

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Bythebay | Apr 30, 2012, 09:21 AM EDT

IrelandNorth, people all over the world struggled. Parts of Europe were flattened. You may not have heard of WWII.

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Bythebay | Apr 30, 2012, 09:20 AM EDT

cillowen, anglo success story? Such blatant bigotry is offensive.

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Bythebay | Apr 30, 2012, 09:16 AM EDT

EphraimKibbey, the story is about Ireland. There aren't tornados in Ireland fortunately nor food pantries.

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Bythebay | Apr 30, 2012, 09:10 AM EDT

GeorgeDillon, Mum has been used in Ireland for centuries. It's not of recent vintage at all.

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IrelandNorth | Apr 30, 2012, 06:42 AM EDT

hybernia! Touched by your story like others. But also not a little angry that your Dad, like others of his generation, had to struggle so hard. Undoubtedy, frugality is character building, which explains why his beautiful generation are an endangered species in Celtic Tiger economy Ireland. Maybe we'll relearn such wholesomeness in our financial tribulations. And hybernia! Not all knoweldge is certifiable. I expect that your Daddy and Mammy were PhD material in folkloric wisdom.

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hybernia | Apr 30, 2012, 06:09 AM EDT

@GeorgeDillon, You are correct, to us her children she was 'Mammy'. It's only listening to the grandchildren that Mammy's became 'Mums. To continue his story, he lived to the ripe old age of 87years and died in his little house with his wife and children by his bedside. 'Mammy' lived to 90 years,but never got over Dad's passing.(Would not even allow us to take away his clothes) They both saw their first grandson receive a Ph.D. In chemistry at the University of Liverpool. This grandson is now Research Director of a multinational company with their head office in the USA. He travels first class all over North America and Asia,lives in a Connecticut in a million dollar home with his wife also a Dr. of Chemistry who works in Cancer Research and their four year old son. Only in his dreams could that young man with no education who boarded the boat in Ireland, to go to work in the coal mines in England imagine the life his grandchild would be living.

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