Dedicated entirely to the love story of his grandparents, Ed Sheeran’s song Nancy Mulligan has become a huge hit worldwide, yet it’s simply a collection of memories from his Wexford-born grandmother, Anne Sheeran.

Nancy Mulligan is more than just a song title in Ed Sheeran’s hit album Divide and the story told means more to his grandmother than it does to millions of fans worldwide.

Nancy, who became known as Anne when she worked in London during World War II, was born and raised in Craan Hill, in north Wexford. She attended Monaseed National School and Loreto Secondary School, Gorey, before deciding to become a nurse and travel to Guys Hospital in England.

Although Anne was walking on ground that was threatened by the War, she was “never bothered” by the thought of death and believed in her philosophy that “if your time comes, your time comes”.

After two years of duty, she met her future husband at a dance in the nurse’s home. The late William Sheeran, referred to as “Bill” by the woman he loved, was a student dentist at the time, and the pair became “really good friends” while sharing a huge interest in sport and rugby.

“There was a once-a-month dance in the nurse’s home when I was in England, and you had to leave at 11 o’clock at night. There was no going out with them or anything like that, so that’s really where I met him. He came in for this dance and it developed from there,” remembers Anne.

“It wasn’t necessarily the idea of a boyfriend that appealed to me most at the start, but I could always go with him and he would always make sure that he would see me right back to the gate,”she recalls.

Marriage

As time passed, the 24-year-old couple saw a future together, but religion made her “reluctant to think of later-on”. Knowing that Bill “found it hard to believe in what I believed in”, she says she “gave in” to marriage, after he asked: “Why can’t we get married now?”

When asked about the phrase “borrowed clothes”, a song lyric that features in Ed’s song Nancy Mulligan, Anne laughed, saying: “That’s definitely wrong”, as she recalls her marriage in Westminster.

“We had no plan or anything, I’d no wedding dress, nothing, absolutely nothing. So, I got the dress, a short dress – I never wanted a long dress anyway. I got a dress in the sales. Nothing, it cost me hardly anything, and as far as I know he had a suit. He always wore suits, so he wore a suit.’

After Bill Sheeran qualified to become a dentist, he practiced his work in London, and the couple raised eight children together in Kent. Although their family was based in England, they frequently visited the Mulligan home on the Wexford border.

Coming home

When the children were all reared, the two decided to opt for a more rural lifestyle and came “home”, to where the Mulligan household was in Co Wexford. The greenery and countryside welcomed Bill to the area, while the sentimentality of the house beckoned Anne back to the place where she was known as Nancy Mulligan.

Family

Anne takes huge pride in all her grandchildren. The seemingly grounded and humble worldwide superstar who took to our stage in Dublin last week, Ed Sheeran, has always been very close to his Irish family, and as a young boy he visited his grandparents each summer.

“Since he could crawl, he loved coming [to Wexford]’, Anne says. “He always loved coming here. He still goes around all the outhouses, like a kid. He always loved walking up Clonamona hill and along the beach in Courtown. They came every summer, so I knew him really well.”

When speaking about the popularity of her grandson, it is clear that he’s never forgotten the value of his roots, and that stardom hasn’t changed his morals or his sincere sense of modesty.

Playing around

Anne recalls how Ed’s interest in music started to prevail. “Well, from the age of 12 it became apparent. He was here, and I remember him asking Bill had he a guitar, and Bill had.

“He wasn’t one for taking lessons, he just liked playing around with it. From there he wanted a guitar for his Christmas present, he was only a kid. He never looked back,” she says.

While “playing around” with his new guitar, he managed to find his singing voice too. Anne says she never sang herself, but that her own mother “never stopped singing”.

Although nowadays Ed rarely stays in Wexford, with his busy schedule, when his grandfather died three and a half years ago, he put a CD on for his grandmother and asked her: “Would you like to hear my album?”

“He did play me that one [the song Nancy Mulligan] when he was here last, about six months ago. He was leaving that day, and he said he must ask what do I think of it – and I just laughed at him.

“What’s the point in saying no? It wasn’t essential for him, but that is what he wanted,” she says.

As time passes, with a chime from the old grandfather clock in the cosy sitting-room area, Anne fondly flicks through some newspaper cuttings of her grandson Ed, remembering proudly how much he has achieved.

“I love him, he’s a great kid. I like the fact that he helps everybody else – because nobody ever helped him. He had to rough it or get on with it. He helps people. If they’ve got talent, he helps them, and he won’t be a bit worried if they’ll take his place or not,” smiles Anne.

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