1798 Rebellion
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1798: “The Rebels Are Gone to Glenmore”
Every month old newspapers are added to the various historical online newspaper services. Thus, every couple of months we perform generic searches among the added newspapers to try to find new information regarding Glenmore. Today, we feature 3 articles. The oldest is an article from June 1798 where a person in Waterford wrote to an English newspaper describing his understanding of the Battle of Ross and that the rebels “had gone to Glenmore.” The second found article provides the date when Glenmore parish was given land to build St. James and the final article concerns a Glenmore woman who died in 1826 at the age of 100.
Rebels to Glenmore
The Kentish Weekly Post or Canterbury Journal (Tues. 12 June 1798, p. 4) published the following article:
“Of this engagement the following is the account given in a private letter brought by the Waterford mail which arrived this morning. WATERFORD, June 6. I promised to give you of the battle—a dreadful battle indeed for Ireland! It commenced yesterday morning at four o’clock, and ended at seven. The rebels began the attack. They engaged the King’s troops with hellish fury, and the rebels were alternatively in possession of Ross. About 3,000 of the later are killed; but we do not know what number of our troops and officers have fallen. The town of Ross is almost burnt to ashes. If we had 2,000 more troops not a rebel would have been left; but 2,000 men were not enough for 20,000. All the Ross people are come to here. The ladies are gone to England. The rebels are gone to Glenmore and the communication with Ross by land we fear is cut off. All here is consternation! Our yeomanry behaved wonderfully.”
“New Ross, the theatre of the engagement here mentioned, is a market town in the county of Wexford, and is situated near the confluence of the rivers Nore and Barrow. It is on of the Staple ports for exporting wool. It has a barrack for a troop of horse, and is strongly defended on the Kilkenny side by the river, which is not fordable, but over which there is a ferry. It is situated 15 miles west of Wexford , and 67 southwest of Dublin.”
For further information on Glenmore in 1798 see our post of 22 February 2020. For further information on Gaffney’s Mill see our post of 6 April 2025.
Land Given for the Glenmore Church
Just five years after the 1798 Rebellion the Earl of Bessborough gave an acre of land to the Parish of Glenmore to build the Catholic Church of St. James. Danny Dowling (1927-2021) often remarked that the Earl must have been a kind man because he did not in any apparent way punish the family of William Gaffney (c. 1762-1798) the executed Glenmore miller and leader of the local United Irishmen.
Prior to the building of St. James’s Church there was a church hidden in Hanrahan’s field across from the present creamery. See our post of 16 November 2018 for a brief history of St. James’s which was consecrated 1813.
“The Earl of Bessborough has very liberally granted an acre of land in the parish of Glenmore, in the County of Kilkenny, to erect a chapel on, for the Divine Worship and adoration of the Author of All Good, for which his Lordship has received the sincere thanks of the Rev. Dr. Malley, P.P. and the Roman Catholic gentlemen, farmers, and inhabitants of the parish” (Saunders’s News-Letter, Thur. 27 Oct. 1803).
We believe this gift was from the third Earl of Bessborough, Frederick Ponsonby (1758-1844). He inherited the Bessborough title and lands upon the death of his father, William Ponsonby, the second Earl of Bessborough, in 1793. For further details regarding Frederick Ponsonby, his wife, Lady Henrietta Spencer and their daughter Lady Caroline Lamb’s scandalous affair with Lord Byron, see Marjorie Bloy, A Web of English History website.
The Death of Mrs. Kennedy of Rathinure, Glenmore
Mrs. Kennedy’s death in April 1826 was published in a Dublin and a London newspaper.
“At Rathnure (sic), Parish of Glenmore, County of Kilkenny, Mrs. Kennedy, aged 100 years. She retained her faculties unimpaired to the last moment of her existence; she was remarkable for her cheerful and charitable disposition, which endeared her alike to the young and the old” (Dublin Morning Register, Thurs. 27 April 1826, p. 4). A shortened death notice was published in Baldwin’s London Weekly Journal (Sat. 6 May 1826, p. 1) giving her date of death as 22 April 1826.
Unfortunately the combined Slieverue/Glenmore parish death records ceased long before 1826. Although a local newspaper probably reported this death and other newspapers then carried the story, we were unable to locate the original local article. Perhaps we will learn more about this lady as more historical newspapers are digitalized.
Please send any corrections and further information to glenmore.history@gmail.com
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
Building the Railway: Glenmore Man’s Remains Unearthed & Another Man Injured
The New Ross Standard, of Friday 27 Feb. 1903 (p. 5) published a sensational article concerning skeletal remains unearthed in Rosbercon on Monday the 23rd of February 1903. While excavating a sewer under the newly laid railway crossing “well preserved bones of what must have been a largely built man when in the flesh.” The same article appeared within days in the Wicklow People (Sat. 28 Feb. 1903) and the Enniscorthy Guardian (Sat 28 Feb. 1903). It was not carried apparently by any of the national papers.
The Centennial Controversy
As the 100th anniversary of the 1798 Rebellion approached the old tales and rumours concerning Glenmore man William Gaffney, and his alleged betrayal at the Battle of New Ross, surfaced and led to his headstone in Kilivory (Kilmakevogue) cemetery being broken by vandals. Danny Dowling (1927-2021) in his article entitled “South-east Kilkenny in 1798 and the Role of William Gaffney,” (Decies (Sept. 1983, vol. 24) pp. 14-19)) sarcastically labeled the gravestone vandals “patriots.” For further information on Glenmore in 1798 see our post of 22 February 2020.
Some descendants of William Gaffney were still residing in Glenmore in 1898 and challenged several of the published attacks on their ancestor. Eight decades later, Danny was so impressed with Brigid M. Gaffney’s letter of 28 May 1898 to the New Ross Standard, that he published it in his Decies article. The ear bashing she delivered in 1898 is perhaps the reason the New Ross Standard in its 1903 article stated that it had no desire to hurt anyone’s feelings. For further information on the Gaffney family see our post of 21 August 2023.
“GAFNEY OF GLENMORE, HIS REMAINS UNEARTHED”
SENSATIONAL DISCOVERY AT ROSBERCON. A sensational discovery, which has aroused much public interest, was made at Rosbercon on Monday. A man named Dillon, whilst excavating a sewer-way under the railway crossing, unearthed the well-preserved bones of what must have been a largely-built man when in the flesh. There was evidence of considerable quantity of lime about the remains.
Now whose remains could these be? The “oldest inhabitant” cannot say with certainty. The body of a man could not have got there by accident. How then? It is conjectured, and the belief is strongly held in the locality, that the remains are those of Gafney, of Glenmore, who figured prominently, and to say the least, doubtfully, in the dark days of New Ross in the year 1798, when a brave and glorious, though unsuccessful, struggle was made by the county Wexford insurgents for civil and religions liberty.
We have no desire now to hurt the feelings of anyone, but the discovery of Monday, and the very circumstantial account told, and the widely accepted deduction made, necessitates our reverting to what must be a painful recital to some people. The battle at New Ross, though admittedly one of the most brilliant of the series on the part of the insurgents, was nevertheless the Waterloo of the insurrection, and, like Waterloo, will be rightly or wrongly associated with betrayal. Gafney, of Glenmore, an athletic man, and the leader of the Kilkenny insurgents, had his men nested at Tinneranny before the battle of Ross, and while the engagement was taking place, he moved by a circuitous route towards Glenmore.
His answer for failing to come to the fray was that he did not get the proper signal from Corbet Hill. A few days after the battle he fell into the hands of the military, and was taken to Rosbercon, and there court martialled and shot nearly opposite the very modern castle, and his remains were interred in quick-lime at some some point between the place of execution and the river. We thus see it is very possible that the remains now found are those of the ill-fated Gafney, who, at any rate, can scarcely be acquitted of cowardice.
The key stone of an arch supposed to belong to the old monastery in Rosbercon was found at the head of the remains, which were only about two feet under the footway as one turns into the station from the river side. By the way, the stone in question has been annexed by Paddy Lee, the Boat Club caretaker for the curiosity of the members of that institution.
Unfortunately, the New Ross Standard did not report on what happened to the skeletal remains.
The Glenmore Grave
Danny stated in 2020 that the remains found in Rosbercon were buried in the Gaffney grave in Kilivory (Kilmakevoge) cemetery. No newspaper coverage of this burial could be located, and what steps the authorities took to identify the remains is not known. This event took place long before DNA or other modern forensics. If the remains showed gunshot damage as alleged in the 1903 article it is unlikely the skeleton belonged to William Gaffney. Gaffney in contemporary accounts was hanged not shot by the British in 1798.
The old headstone erected by William Gaffney’s widow still stands with repairs clearly visible. On the grave itself paving like squares, apparently concrete, were added and Danny opined in 2020 that they may have been added to stop further disturbances to the grave.
The marker is inscribed:
Erected by Bridget Gafney alias Dunphy
in memory of her husband Will'm Gafney
who dep'd this life June ye 13th 1798 aged
36 years
Also his father Mich'l Gafney who dep'd
this life Sept ye 26th 1783
Another Railway Injury
In searching for newspaper accounts regarding the remains we came across another serious injury connected with the building of the railway extension line through Glenmore.
On Thursday, the 5th of March, Michael Knox, Nicholastown, Co. Kilkenny, was admitted to the Waterford County Infirmary suffering from severe injuries to the head and face. His injuries were caused by the premature explosion of a blasting charge on the New Ross to Waterford railway extension (Munster Express, Sat. 7 March 1903, p. 5).
Please send any further information or corrections to glenmore.history@gmail.com. The featured photo above was taken yesterday of the Gaffney grave at Kilivory (Kilmakevoge) Glenmore.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
Rev. Stephen Lower (c. 1727-1799): The Saviour of Slieverue & His Grave in Glenmore
Last month Danny Dowling made a point of explaining the importance of the grave of Father Lower in Kilivory graveyard. Danny explained during the 19th century and well into the twentieth century people from all over the country visited the grave of Father Lower believing that the soil had healing powers. In fact, as reported in a 1951 newspaper article written by a clearly sceptical author people were still visiting the grave. Danny Dowling also provided two other important contributions that Father Lower made locally. Father Lower was the first priest to record the baptisms and marriages in the old combined parish of Slieverue and Glenmore. Thus, the early church records, commencing in 1766, that we rely heavily upon today in performing family research is due to the efforts of Father Lower. Father Lower is also credited in 1798 with stopping the burning of Slieverue by British soldiers during the uprising.
Today, the graveyard and ruins of the Kilmakevogue Church are locally known as Kilivory. The church originally was dedicated to St. Mochaevog, an Irish saint, an abbot and patron of Liath Mochevog in Co. Tipperary. After Strongbow’s invasion of Ireland in 1170, the church was placed under the patronage of St. James. In about 1240 Kilmakevogue Parish was one of the parishes that came under the control of the Nunnery of Kilculiheen, of Ferrybank. It is believed that local people began to refer to the area as Kilivory because they thought mochaevog meant ivory in Irish. Irish historian and scholar, John O’Donovan (1806-1861) did not believe that the translation was correct. Interestingly, John O’Donovan was born and raised locally in Atateemore, Slieverue. O’Donovan was the son of Edmund O’Donovan, of Atateemore and Eleanor Hoberlin of Rochestown, Glenmore.
The grave of Father Lower is found in the interior of Kilivory church ruins. Thus we know that by 1800 the church was no longer being used as a church but it was the place where Father Lower chose to be buried. His marker is a large slab that does not lie on the ground. The marker is on several large stones ensuring that the marker is several inches above the grave itself. Although the inscription is faint from exposure to the elements the inscription is still legible and reads as follows:
Erected by the Rev’d Tho Malley Doctor of the Sacred and White Faculty of Bordeaux in memory of the Rev’d Stephen Lower Bachelor of Lovain, Doctor of Rome Prothnotary Apostolic Archdeacon & Vicar General of Ossory & Parish Priest of Ida who dep’t this life the 9th of January 1800 aged 73 years.
Jeroen Nilis, in “Irish Students at Leuven University, 1548-1797,” Archivium Hibernicum (Vol. 60 (2006/2007), pp. 1-304, p. 212) listed in entry 831, dated 1750, Lower, Stephanus. “Born of Protestant parents and brought up in that religion until he reached his twenty-third year; then, moved by divine grace, he left his parents and his native land and went to Flanders with the intention of becoming a Catholic; this he did, having renounced the Protestant religion before Abp. Crivelli who preceded Molianari as nuncio.” It is noted that for nearly 30 years Father Lower was the parish priest of Slieverue and Glenmore parish.
On Friday the 20th of July 1951 the following article appeared in the New Ross Standard. Corrections and translations not part of the original newspaper article are in square brackets [ ].
CUSTOM AS REGARDS PRIESTS GRAVE—There is a peculiar custom in one of the old parochial districts, comprising the once united parishes of Glenmore and Slieverue, that, in the old churchyard of Kilmakevogue, people, for many generations, are in the habit of taking away the clay that covers the last resting place of a priest. The writer understands that the custom still prevails and, on questioning an inhabitant of the district that, if this custom continued for so many generations, the coffin of the dead priest must have long ago been exposed. He was informed that this was not so, and that everyone who took away soil replaced it with other clay; so that the grave remains in its way as it originally stood.
Parish Priest of Ida—To ascertain the authenticity of this story, the writer had access to the diocesan history of Ossory, published by the able archaeologist, the Very Rev. Canon Carrigan. He gives a description of the old church of Kilmakevogue and its surrounding graveyard. He states that in the south-east corner, opposite where the altar stood, rests the Very Rev. Dr. Lower, P.P., and that his “grave is hollowed out to a considerable extent by people taking away the clay therefrom in the belief that it possesses virtue to heal their bodily ailments.” This Fr. Lower was the Vicar-General of Ossory in his time, and is described as the ” parish priest of Ida.” In fact, he was pastor of the united parishes of Slieverue and Glenmore, which were divided into separate parochial districts in 1846. He died in the year 1800, aged 73, and as recorded by Father Carrigan, was buried in Kilmakevogue.
Reared a Protestant—Became a Priest—According to Very Rev. E. O’Farrell, P.P., who wrote a paper on the parish of Ida, which appeared in Transactions of the Ossory Archaeological Society, Father Stephen Lower, D.D., was born in the parish of Glenmore, at a place called Trinaree. He goes on to say: His father was commonly called Shaun Lower. It is said of him that he was an expert ploughman, and a great whistler. [Trinaree is in Slieverue parish] He was landlord of Trinaree, where he lived, and of the adjoining townland of Ballarourach. He was, however, a Protestant, and from this fact the lane leading from the high road to where he lived is, up to this day called Boreen-a-Sassanach [translated the English lane]. Dr. Lower was consequently reared a Protestant. In his youth he was taken from his native place, sent to the Continent, and placed in a Protestant College for his education. Young Lower soon began to feel scrupulous with regard to the religious tenets inculcated by the Superior of the establishment, and becoming more uneasy every day, determined to make his escape, and did so after a short time. He made his way to Rome, renounced Protestantism, studied for the priesthood, and in due time became a priest. Having been ordained, he came back to his native country.
Canon Carrigan, who describes Fr. Lower, as one of the grandest characters that figured in the ecclesiastical history of the diocese of Ossory, says his fathers’ name was not Shaun but Richard. He also mentions that Fr. Lower took out the Degree of Doctor of Divinity in Louvain. On May 4th, 1764, he was appointed P.P. of the newly-formed parish of Rosconnell or Ballyouskill, and was translated from thence to Slieverue and Glenmore on November 16th, 1766. He became Vicar- General of the diocese in December, 1773; Canon of Blackrath. January 5th, 1775. and Archdeacon of Ossory, June 14th, 1778, and died on Jan. 9th, 1800.
‘98 incident—Here is an incident recorded of Fr. Lower, quoted by Fr. Carrigan, from the Transactions of the Ossory Archaeological Society— ” During his missionary career he lived in the village of Slieverue. In the troubled times of 1798, it is said that a party of cavalry passing through, were, in their wantonness, about to set fire to the place, having, it is well known, liberty at that time, without the least hindrance, to destroy property of every description, and even to take away life. History relates that the cruel Attila surnamed ‘the Scourge of God,’ when proceeding to sack Rome, was met by the holy Pontiff, Leo the Great, and was persuaded by him to relinquish his impious designs on the city. The barbarian was so terrified by the holy Pontiff, that he commanded his soldiers to cease hostilities, and thus Rome was saved. In like manner, Father Lower boldly approached the ruthless officer of those ruffians, took his horse by the bridle, and led him and party to a considerable distance from the place. Whether, as Attila was frightened into compliance by seeing two venerable personages guarding the person of St. Leo this wicked officer was deterred from resisting the good priest by seeing some similar vision we know not. Certain it is that he allowed himself and party to he led away from the place, and saved the little village from conflagration and the inhabitants, from insult, if not massacre.
Although local tradition makes no comparison to St. Leo, the Great, the memory of Father Lower and his intervention in 1798 at Slieverue is still remembered today among older Glenmore residents.
UPDATE–two death notices were published in December 1799 indicating that Rev. Stephen Lower died a year earlier than the date recorded on his flat grave marker.
In Saunder’s News-Letter on Thursday the 12th of December 1799, the following death notice appeared on page 2. “Died–On Monday last, in the 74th year of his age, the Rev. Stephen Lower, D.D. Titular Vicar General of the Diocese of Ossory, and for nearly thirty years P.P. of Ida, in the county Kilkenny.”
A slightly longer death notice appears in Finns Leinster Journal on Saturday the 14th of December 1799:
“Died. Friday evening in the 74th year of his age, the Rev. Stephen Lower, D.D. titular vicar general of the Diocese of Ossory, and for nearly thirty years P.P. of Ida, in the county of Kilkenny. He was deservedly beloved by his relatives and parishioners, and universally esteemed for the innocent and probity of his life.”
For a brief history of the current parish church of Glenmore, St. James, see, https://glenmore-history.com/st-james-catholic-church-of-glenmore/ .
The featured painting is a fresco painted by Rapheal of Pope Leo the Great (c. 400-461) meeting Attila the Hun in 452. Leo persuaded Atilia not to sack Rome. The Feast day for St. Leo, the Great, is 10 November. The fresco is available at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Leoattila-Raphael.jpg .
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh
A Deep Defile Called Glynmore in 1798
Danny Dowling has interviewed and recorded the memories of Glenmore people and sometimes long held family secrets were disclosed including secrets concerning events in the days following the Battle of Ross in June 1798. A contemporary work published in 1801 by Sir Richard Musgrave (1757-1818), an MP for Lismore in the Irish Parliament provides a useful background and sheds some light on Glenmore during the 1798 Rebellion. Musgrave’s work has the unusual title Memoirs of the Different Rebellions in Ireland From the Arrival of the English With a Particular Detail of That Which Broke Out on the 23rd of May 1798; The History of the Conspiracy Which Preceded It, and The Characters of the Principal Actors in It.
For a concise biography of Musgrave see, Waterford Museum or Library of Ireland .
The Battle of Ross commenced at sunrise on the 5th of June 1798 (around 4:30 a.m.) and by all accounts it was a bloody affair. Musgrave wrote that had New Ross fallen the rebels were planning to march on to Waterford. He applauded General Johnson who was in charge of the defence of New Ross and noted that during the battle the General had two horses shot out from under him.
About ten in the morning of the 5th of June, Colonel King marched two divisions of the Roscommon regiment from Waterford to reinforce the garrison of Ross which Musgrave noted was ten miles from Waterford. After he set off Colonel King came upon some deserters from Ross, who informed the Colonel that the Ross Garrison had been overpowered by numbers, exhausted by fatigue, defeated and slaughtered. They said that they fled to Thomastown and Ross had been burned. Given that Glenmore is half way between New Ross and Waterford, and Colonel King did not set off until 10 a.m., and Colonel King had not yet reached Glenmore, it seems likely that the deserters, if they had gone to Thomastown first, had fled New Ross soon after the battle commenced.
The Colonel “determined to do his duty” marched on to a high hill over a deep defile, called Glynmore, in a straight line, about 2 ½ miles from Ross. A defile is a military term that describes a pass or gorge where troops can only march in a narrow column. With a “good glass” the Colonel saw smoke coming from Ross, but could not discern any troops in it. He concluded that the deserters had been correct. The Colonel retreated to Waterford. Musgrave noted that rebels had retired to Corbet Hill in Wexford where they saw the Roscommon regiment. Not realizing that the Roscommon regiment retreated back to Waterford, the rebels believed that the soldiers were reinforcements for New Ross and decided not to renew the attack on New Ross that evening. Mulgrave believed that had they renewed their attack New Ross would have fallen.
The following day Colonel King again marched toward Ross. He brought two battalion guns and a piece of flying artillery. He found the people of County Kilkenny in a state of general insurrection. When he approached Glynmore, “a deep valley, with a river which is crossed by a bridge,” he perceived great numbers of people on all the adjacent hills, who fired signal guns. The rebels at Glynmore had made the bridge impassable, by breaking down one of the arches of the bridge. The soldiers made the bridge passable by laying beams and planks on it. Today, Danny Dowling articulated that he believes the Glynmore bridge mentioned is near the current bridge in what is now the Village of Glynmore. The Gaffney Mill was close to the bridge.
Colonel King sent before his main column his grenadier company along with a piece of artillery. (Today, grenadiers might be called assault troops). Musgrove reports that after a few discharges of the artillery piece a large body of rebels posted on the opposite hill dispersed. The day before, the local rebels captured 25 soldiers and Captain Dillon, of the Dublin regiment who had all deserted Ross. At the first discharge of the artillery the rebels “massacred 15 of the soldiers, and Captain Dillon, whose head they converted into a foot-ball.”
According to Danny Dowling, the local leader of the United Irishmen was William* Gaffney, of the Gaffney Mill in what is now the Village of Glenmore. Danny believes that the next quotation from the Musgrave book refers to William* Gaffney. “One Gaffney, the leader of the assassins (of Captain Dillon and 15 soldiers) was taken and hanged next day at Ross. He was a miller in very good circumstances.” Musgrave throughout his work denounces the idea that the rebellion was in anyway connected to the conditions suffered by the rebelling people, thus he made a point of highlighting the “good circumstances” of several rebels. Today, Danny stated that William* Gaffney was captured at Milebush, in Rosbercon, and was hanged from the old Ross bridge. His body was buried in an unmarked grave in Rosbercon. It was uncovered a century later when the Ross-Waterford railway line was being built and his remains were moved to Kilivory Cemetery in Glenmore Parish.
Also throughout his work Musgrave states that it was discovered that the Kilkenny rebels were to co-operate with the Wexford rebels regarding the attack on Ross, but the Kilkenny rebels “mistook” the day for the attack. He noted that this was fortunate as the Kilkenny rebels if present on the 5th would have cut off a great part of the Ross Garrison when they fled over the bridge, overcome with hunger and fatigue. Obviously this does not make a lot of sense given the fact that the Kilkenny rebels captured Captain Dillion and 25 soldiers on the 5th. Perhaps Musgrave meant that they were not present at the bridge itself.
Musgrave in his appendices provides a great deal of information concerning court martial trials that took place later in 1798. In a court martial held in Waterford on the 6th of July Garret Murphy confessed before some magistrates that John Forrestall, publican at New Ross, told him that the rebel army would march through the county of Kilkenny to Waterford, if the King’s troops were beaten at Ross. Two other court martials held on the 14th of June and on the 23rd of July in Waterford proved that Walter Power, Richard Connolly and James Hynes, went to the house of Mr. Valentine Lannagan, of Charlestown (Parish of Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny) with other rebels on the 7th of June. Lannagan overhead the men state that had it not been for the cannon, they would have cut off the Roscommon regiment, on the 6th of June, as two thousand United Irishmen had assembled in Glanmore (sic) to stop reinforcements reaching Ross.
Danny today noted that several local families reported to him that their ancestors heard the Battle of Ross. Danny recorded in Notebook 13 that a monument tree stood on the bounds of John Grennan and John Cotterell’s farms in Ballycurrin (Rosbercon) and Ballycroney (Glenmore). This tree marks the spot where Captain Dillon of the Roscommon Militia was killed and buried during the 1798 Rebellion. Pat Cody, of Ballycroney, Glenmore, in November 1955 told Danny that Captain Dillon was killed in Harmon (Cody’s) field in Ballycroney. The site of the grave is presently marked by a sycamore tree. Also, there were three British soldiers killed and buried in Hogan’s rath in Weatherstown after the Battle of Ross.
Tommy Cotterell, of Ballycroney, told Danny in 1971 that Old Paddy Mullally of Ballycroney told him that Paddy’s grandmother brought sups of water and buttermilk to the dying soldiers in Ballycroney, at the time of Captain Dillon’s death. It was often repeated that a lot of soldiers were killed in the Ballycroney area at the time of the Battle of Ross.
Bartley Holden, of Clune, Glenmore told Danny in February 1980 that in 1942 or 1943 Walter Holden, whilst ploughing in a field over Tobair a Tsagairt (Priest’s Well), ploughed up the skull of an English soldier. It fell into pieces when it was disturbed. Years before his grandfather had dug up the shin bone of a man. The grave was under a bank against the ditch of the road in a field known as “Soldier’s Field.” Local tradition provides that this soldier was at the Battle of Ross in 1798. He was wounded, and strayed out into the country. The Kneefes, of Ballycroney, took in the soldier and nursed him. One day when he was better he saw a group of English soldiers approaching and he threatened he would get the soliders to burn down the house. As he ran away the Kneefes followed him, and on overtaking him, they killed him with a spade and buried him. In 1980 the field was on Peggie Holden’s farm in Ballycroney, adjacent to the Ballygurin-Ballycurran Road.
Pat Cody, of Ballycroney, in his November 1955 interview revealed a similar account. Kneefe’s owned the farm in Ballycroney now occupied by Hennessy’s and Fitzgeralds. The Kneefe family lived where Lukey Fitz is now. This house was burned in 1798 by a stray British solider after the Battle of Ross. It appears that they gave him lodging and when leaving he set fire to the house. They followed and killed him in the field under Boland’s where he is buried under the headland adjoining the road.
Ballycroney wasn’t the only area of Glenmore where soldiers were killed and buried after the Battle of Ross. Nicholas, Forristal, of the Mill, Graiguenakill, in November 1977 told Danny that there is a British Army Officer buried in the Power corner of Barron’s Field in Graiguenakill, down Kehoe’s Lane. On the evening of the Battle of Ross, or the day after, the officer rode a horse down to Kehoes and asked if he was on the right road to Waterford. The Officer was on his own, and he got down off the horse. He was armed and had a sword. From what Kehoe observed he appeared to be acting suspiciously and asked Kehoe to give him a leg up, which he did. Kehoe got afraid then, and he gave him a shot out over the horse. The officer fell and broke his neck. Kehoe then buried him, and kept the horse.
Perhaps the most unusual local 1798 story recorded by Danny was that of Wattie Power, of Jamestown, in 1956. Wattie’s great-grandfather was an elderly man during the Battle of Ross and lived in the house down the Ling Lane (Poll Guide Lane as it was formerly called). He was bedridden for several years before the Battle. One day two soldiers came down the lane and called into the house. The daughter of the house gave them a meal. After the meal one of them said he wanted to go down to the room, and she refused to let him down to the room. A violent struggle ensued and she bested him. The other soldier then stood up and said you got what you wanted and now you’re not satisfied. So come on now or you will get the contents of this meaning his rifle which he took in his hand. They both then went away. Wattie’s great-grandfather, who was in the bed, got an awful fright. Shortly afterwards when the soldiers were coming again his sons decided they would have to run for it. When they were going into the long bog they looked back and saw their elderly father coming in over the ditch from the road. He wasn’t up out of the bed for years. This reflects how terrified the people were at that period.
Locally, William* Gaffney although hanged was labelled a traitor and William* Gaffney will be the subject of a future blog.
The statue of the pikeman above is located in Wexford Town.
*On 29 February 2020 Danny asked me to correct the first name of the Gaffney man who was the South Kilkenny leader in the 1798 Rebellion. His name was William and he had a son named Nicholas. Apologies for any and all confusion. In the Links page a link is listed to an article Danny wrote in 1983 and published in Decies concerning William Gaffney.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh