Brian Forristal (Black & Tans)
“A Place to Hide From the Black & Tans,” (1990) by Brian Forristal as related to him by Tommy Connolly, of the river, at Aylwardstown, Glenmore
(c) January 1990
During the Tan war sightings of lorry loads of the British oppressors were common place in the towns and villages of our country. With them they brought the scourge of brutality and murder. They were given more or less a free hand in upholding “their law.” It was a common sight in the village of Aylwardstown, Glenmore, Co. Kilkenny, where raiding parties frequently passed through looking for “rebels.”
The late Tommy Connolly (1907-1987) was a man who remembered them only too well. He recalled that sometimes they would stop in the village and walk down to his cottage by the river Barrow, other times they would drive down to the commons above the cottage and dismount there. He often said that it was a frightful sound to hear the Crossley Tenders coming down the land towards them. He had every reason to fear them; often they would stop him on the road to Glenmore as he was traveling in the horse and cart, only for them to turn the whole lot over the ditch, with Tommy in the cart. A terrifying experience for a young boy to go through.
One day while he was standing outside the cottage where he lived with his Aunt Judy O’Neill (or “Nail” as it was pronounced then) he heard footsteps running down the lane. It was Stephen Heffernan from Aylwardstown and Michael Connolly of Rochestown, both active I.R.A. men and the Tans were after them. As they approached Tommy they explained the situation to him and told him if questions to say that he did not see them. They looked for a place to hide as they were totally outnumbered and were in position to fight. They climbed down into the pill and lifted the wooden door which covers the sluice, this drains the nearby Callows.
It is best at this stage to describe the sluice. A concrete pipe about two feet in diameter and about thirty feet long, open on the inner side and with a heavy door on the pill side usually made of oak, which shuts tight as the incoming tide forces against it. It was into this pipe that the two men climbed and let down the door behind them. They were only in the pipe when the lorries drove down on to the commons and the Tan and disembarked. And walked to where Tommy was standing.
“Have you seen any rebels?” one of them asked.
“No Sir,” said Tommy, explaining to me that you always called them sir, so as not to aggravate them or give them any reason to start trouble.
“If you see any, you better let us know.”
“Yes Sir,” replied Tommy.
The Tans searched around for a long time, checking everywhere that might conceal a rebel. They even walked over the sluice pipe where they were hiding, without even thinking of it as a hiding place. At this stage Tommy was getting worried, because the tide was rising and the water was nearly up to the sluice gate. If the Tan stayed around much longer the gate would be closed by the force of water and the out coming water would flood the pipe, drowning the two men inside.
Fortunately, having found nothing they left. Tommy gave the all clear and the two men came out of the pipe, soaked to the skin but happy for their narrow escape They walked along the outside wall of the Callows, this concealed them as the wall was about ten feet high and they could not be seen from the road. They continued until they reached Kearney Bay wood and its safety. It was many the night the lads of the brigade slept here for as Tommy told me, the Tans would never venture into the woods for fear of an ambush.
Stephen Heffernan emigrated to Chicago in January 1926 and lived there for the rest of his life, returning home only once in the summer of 1968. He was born on the 24th of December 1898 and died on the 10th of August 1977. He was married to Agnes Bridget Kiely, from County Clare and had two daughters: Ann Marie born 9th February 1936; and Mary Alice born 31st May 1938, died October 1994. Agnes Bridget Kiely -Heffernan died on the 13th of July 1971.
Michael Connolly was interred on Spike Island but after the War of Independence joined the Free State Army rising to the rank of Captain, he was on the reserve for many years but re-joined during World War 2, 1940/45. He was married to Stasia Ryan from Kearney Bay.