A native of the county, Peggy left for the UK at 18, yet always kept a deep connection to her roots - her house in Charlestown.
Peggy "adored" her regular retreat to the Emerald Isle, where she would stay for weeks at a time, making the solo trip across the Irish Sea for decades.
However, since turning 81, concerns from her sons over her safety eventually led her to sell up. Liam and Noel worried about their mother being alone in rural Mayo, particularly after the isolation of the Covid pandemic.
With no close relatives nearby and many of her friends having passed away, the brothers feared she might fall ill with nobody to check in on her.
PEGGY GALLAGHER https://t.co/8h9HtH2fjA pic.twitter.com/V5lb0lMv9U
— ruby LOVES OASIS (@rubylovesoasis) December 10, 2024
While she once travelled back and forth every month, her visits had become rare in recent years, leaving the house, located about three miles outside the town, empty most of the time. In 2024, it sold for just over €300,000.
A local friend told Dublin Live last year: "In recent years we’d hardly see Peggy here. I suppose she is getting older and decided to sell up because she was not getting the use out of the house that she used to be. The Covid pandemic changed things for a lot of people including Peggy.
"The last thing you want is to be stuck in isolation with no one calling to your door to see you. But also a lot of her old friends have passed on and most of her surviving family are living in England. I have no doubt Liam and Noel were worried about her being over in Ireland on her own and that probably made up her mind to sell," the source explained.
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Charlestown publican JJ Finan said locals were sorry to see Peggy go, but understood her decision. ‘She was just not around as much as she was years ago. She probably wants to be around her sons and her grandchildren who she adores.’
While the Gallagher brothers haven’t been spotted in Mayo for several years, they’ll be back in Ireland within days, headlining two sold-out concerts at Dublin’s Croke Park this weekend, where they’ll play to 160,000 fans.
And there’s talk that Peggy herself may be among the crowd, watching her sons perform together on their reunion tour for the first time!
Local pub owner Bridie Finan is hoping the family might pop in for a drink. ‘I don’t know. It’s hard to say. But I’d love to see them. The mother used to come and go but she hasn’t been home for a good while,’ she told the Irish Mirror.
‘We don’t open the pub until 4pm on Sunday anyway. Noel used to come down here on his own a few times. Anytime that Liam came in, the news breaks out locally that he’s in town,‘ she added.
* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.
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