History - Thurles Information

New Book Detailing Actions Of Tipperary IRA Priest Fr. Patrick Ryan.

“The Padre” is a new publication which further details the actions of Tipperary priest Fr. Patrick Ryan, latter responsible for arming the Irish Republican Army (IRA), using funding supplied by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, once known as the “Mad Dog of the Middle East”. Colonel Gaddafi was a Libyan dictator, who was himself deposed and killed in 2012.

In a book published by Merrion Press; authored by award winning journalist Ms Jennifer O’Leary, the Tipperary priest reveals how his tip-off to the IRA led to the mistaken identity and murder of a senior Brussels bank official.

Tipperary-born priest Fr. Patrick Ryan now aged in his nineties, has admitted his link to the murder of the then 47 year old banker Mr Michael André Michaux. Mr Michaux latter a senior official at the Central Bank in Brussels, lived in the same street as the targeted diplomat, named as Mr Paul Holmer, the deputy British Ambassador to NATO.

Fr. Ryan has confirmed that the real IRA target, back in March 1979, was Mr Paul Holmer latter a Brussels-based senior British diplomat at NATO. In early 1979 senior British officials in Brussels were put on high alert following a warning that the IRA were plotting to kill a senior UK representative in the city. Among those warned was former British Home Secretary Mr Roy Jenkins, who was then President of the European Commission.

Ms O’Leary first spoke to Fr. Ryan in 2019 for the landmark BBC NI series ‘Spotlight’ on the ‘Troubles — A Secret History’ in which he admitted securing explosives for the IRA from Libya and confessed to his role in the Hyde Park and Brighton bombings.

In her book Ms O’Leary delves into more detail with Fr. Ryan regarding his activities and his role in assisting an IRA unit in Europe.

On March 22nd, 1979, Sir Richard Sykes, aged 58, the British Ambassador to Holland, and married father of 3, was shot dead by the IRA. Sir Richard was seated in his Rolls Royce outside his residence in the Hague. His 19-year-old footman, Mr Karel Straub, was also murdered in the attack.
Just hours later two IRA gunmen ambushed Brussels banker Mr Michaux in his car, mistaking him for the NATO diplomat Holmer.

At this time Fr. Ryan often stayed at the home of well-connected art historian Ms Lucie Ninane in Brussels and was there on the day of Sir Richard Sykes assassination. Fr. Ryan met regularly at the Ninane residence with a companion named Maurice, who passed on information to the IRA, and here Fr. Ryan also obtained information from the art historian’s well-placed associates.

Fr. Ryan heard of Mr Michaux’s true identity the following day while listening to a radio news report and fearing his own arrest, he fled Brussels in the back of an ambulance, before taking refuge at a monastery. The monks were expecting him, however he never disclosed the business he was involved in or why he required somewhere to hold-up.

During a lunch hosted by a friend of Lucie Ninane at her home in a wealthy suburb, Fr. Ryan’s host mentioned that a British diplomat lived nearby at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Fr. Ryan claims he made sketches of the area noting car registrations coming and going from different houses, before passing same to his intermediary Maurice, who in turn passed this information to the IRA so that the hit team on the continent got the details.

At 6.15pm on March 22nd, 1979 two IRA gunmen approached a car close to Mr Holmer’s residence and fired eight bullets in three bursts from just a few yards. The sole occupant was hit in the head and arms and later died in hospital.

Convicted Tipperary Drug Smuggler Linked To Demolition Of British Landmark Pub.

The demolition of Britain’s wonkiest Midland pub, known as ‘The Crooked House’, situated at Coppice Mill, Himley, Staffordshire, U.K.; following a suspected arson attack, which ripped through the building on August 5th last, has been greeted by angry outrage. The building was also known as “Siden House”, (siden” meaning “crooked” in Black Country dialect.)

The historic dwelling was erected in 1765 as an 18th-century farmhouse, before it was converted into a pub in the 1830s. It was sold in July 2023, and on August 5th was gutted by fire, before two days later it was totally demolished. Police are treating the fire as arson, and investigations are ongoing to establish the circumstances of the fire itself and also the lawfulness of the demolition.

The director of a company that hired a digger to demolish The Crooked House has now been identified as convicted Tipperary drug smuggler, Mr Morgan McGrath.

Mr McGrath, aged 51, formerly from Breansha, Co. Tipperary, was jailed for 12 years in 2004, for his part in a £20 million international drug smuggling operation, and on being released from prison, moved to reside in the UK.

Mr McGrath together with Mr Michael Howard of Knocktoran, Elton, Co Limerick, had previously both pleaded guilty to charges relating to their attempt to import, into Ireland, 591,180 Ecstasy tablets, 198kg of Cannabis resin, 48kg of Heroin, 602,000 Temazepam tablets and 132kg of Amphetamine (speed); latter hidden underneath the false lead-lined floor of trailers carrying vegetables. Both men had pleaded guilty before Monaghan Circuit Court to charges of conspiring to import the drugs, which then had an estimated street value of some €22.5m, between the dates August 1st and August 31st, 2002.

In July 2005, both men were both jailed for 12 years, for their involvement in one of the biggest drug hauls to be intercepted by police in Europe, and who later had their sentences reduced to 8 years by the Court of Criminal Appeal.

Just like the destruction of the Great Famine ‘Double Ditch’ here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary; the destruction of this red brick built, landmark pub, which owed its name due to its lopsidedness, (latter caused by a subsidence linked to certain mining activities), has now brought 258 years of history to an abrupt end.
However, unlike the historic Thurles ‘Double Ditch’, in the case of ‘The Crooked House’, latter has been greeted nationally by an angry public meeting, supported by local politicians demonstrating utter outrage at its demolition.

The fire occurred just 9 days after being purchased by ATE Farms, a company controlled by Mrs Carly Taylor, whose husband, Mr Adam Taylor is a former director of the company that runs the landfill site adjacent to the historic pub which also mysteriously caught fire .

Mr McGrath is the director of AT Contracting & Plant Hire, which hired a digger to destroy the remains of the pub, without permission, just two days after it was destroyed in the mystery blaze. The owner of the digger has confirmed that he rented the same vehicle to the firm, prior to the fire destroying the historic building.
Mr McGrath and Mr Adam Taylor are the only two active directors of AT Contracting & Plant Hire, which provides the diggers, excavators and other heavy machinery used in the quarries and landfill sites linked to the Taylors across the country.

Fire crews from Staffordshire and West Midlands which raced to the fire scene, found making access extremely difficult, due to the 8-foot (2.4m) mounds of dirt, blocking the only access lane way to the burning building.

It should be noted that Mr McGrath has denied any knowledge of the circumstances surrounding the destruction of the historic landmark pub, and neither the Taylors nor Mr McGrath are suspected of acting illegally.

A Discussion On Making Hay In Ireland In 1806.

In his book entitled “A Tour In Ireland”, [In 1806], the author, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, describes the difference in the method used to harvest hay in Ireland.

He writes: “The Irish method of making hay, though most obstinately defended and approved by the generality of the natives, appears to the English farmer both singular and contrary to reason.

**Hay Cocks**.
Picture: *Jonathan Wilkins* (https://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1439469)

Hay-harvest extends from the beginning of July, to the beginning of October, including the early crops near towns and the more backward in the mountainous regions.
Saving hay is thus performed: after the mowers, the grass you’re shaken out, in the day following, if weather permits, it is turned in rows with rakes and forks; after which it is made into small cocks, called lap-cocks.

This operation is thus conducted: One person goes before, with a rake and takes in as much ground as can be reached: a small arm-full of the grass gathered from this space into a ridge, is taken by another person, who closely follows, shakes it, and with the hands and knees, neatly folds it into small round heaps, with a whole passing through it like a muff, and lightly lays it on the ground.

In this situation the grass is suffered to remain until sufficiently withered; in the course of one day, by shaking and turning, it is in a proper state to be put into trump-cocks, which are made of different sizes, and so it is suffered to remain until it is taken in.

Such is the mode almost universally adopted by the Irish in making their hay; and as an objection to their adopting the English method, they state the extraordinary succulents of their grass, and humidity of their climate, which renders it necessarily to expose the hay in cocks for a considerable time to the sun and wind; and this I have seen carried to a great extent in many places, where the tramp-cocks have remained for several weeks exposed to all kinds of weather and as the corn follows the hay harvest as a very short interval, the latter is frequently not put into rick’s before the other is safely housed.

The loss of good hay by great surface of outside in the tramp-cocks, and which are often soaked with rain from top to bottom, must be evident to every one, and I am clear, that if the grass, when cut, was turned as often as it is in England, during the heat of the day, there would be no danger in ricking it; but the operation of turning is slightly attended to; and that process only constitutes the difference between good and bad hay.”

Genealogical Survey To Be Conducted At Sean Ross Abbey, Co. Tipperary.

An in-depth genealogical survey, funded by the Department of Children, will be conducted on a patch of land at the mother and baby home at Sean Ross Abbey, Roscrea, Co. Tipperary, where some locals people believe that children and babies may have been buried.
Some 1,090 children and babies, many of whom were under the age of three, are understood to have died over a period of almost four decades at this mother and baby home in Tipperary, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The picture show above is a billet *(A billet in today’s language means a ‘ticket’ or a ‘receipt’ in French, but it originally meant a ‘short note’)*, that a male child *“by the hands of Elizabeth Blackall”* from the Church of Ireland parish of Thurles, was admitted to the Dublin Foundlings Hospital on July 12th 1791. The Porter’s name who admitted the child is shown as Thomas Annesley.
**Note** from this receipt *(billet)*, shown above, certain of the clothing names are no longer in use today.
**Biggins** – A bonnet tied behind the neck and made of wool or linen.
**Clouts** – Cloth diapers or nappies.
**Flannel** – A square of fabric wrapped around a child over the diaper or a long undergarment.
**Forehead Clothes** – Strip of cloth tied across the forehead to behind the ears for added warmth.
**Pilches** – Layers of cloth tied around the diaper in an effort to prevent leakage.
**Swathes** – Strips of cloth, usually of wool, wrapped around an infant’s body for warmth and to put pressure on the navel. Parents will be aware of the term **“Swaddling”**, – **St Luke 2:7** *“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn”*.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*

The area of earth to be surveyed is understood to be located beside a designated burial ground known as “The Angel Plot”, but the area currently remains uncared for and is overgrown with heavy vegetation.

Sean Ross Abbey was one of the largest mother and baby homes within the Irish State, and contained a three-storey mansion, an orchard and a church on its grounds.

Some 6,079 babies were born there, to thousands of unmarried pregnant women who passed through its portals from 1931 until 1969. Babies born to unmarried girls in the home, were put up for adoption, with a known 487 of them sent to the United States of America.

Among its better known residents was Ms Philomena Lee, whose story featured in the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, (by author Martin Sixsmith) and the 2013 film, starring Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, [latter nominated for four Academy Awards, including ‘Best Actress’ for Judi Dench’s portrayal of Philomena Lee and Best Picture].

Four years ago, in 2019, as part of work then undertaken, about one tenth of “The Angel Plot” was excavated. Same examination revealed the remains of 42 infants on the site explored.

Note: In relation to the picture relating to Thurles, shown above; back in the year 1752, of the 691 children taken in charge by the Dublin Foundling’s Hospital, 365 children were dead by the end of that particular year. In 1757, burial of these children was described as “being chucked, naked into a hole, some eight or ten infants at a time”.

A report ordered by the Irish House of Commons regarding child mortality over the previous twelve years, ending in June 1796; same would reveal that of the 25,000 admitted more than 17,000 had died. Worse facts would be revealed in the five-year period between 1791 to 1796. Here, of the 5,016 infants sent to the Dublin Foundling’s Hospital infirmary, only one solitary child had survived.

How Soon Tipperary Forgets – Ní bhíonn cuimhne ar an arán a hitear.

There is an old Irish expression “Ní bhíonn cuimhne ar an arán a hitear”, commonly translated as ‘Eaten bread is soon forgotten”.

Today was such a case, it being the 200th anniversary of the birth of General Thomas Francis Meagher [born 3rd August 1823 – died 1st July 1867], himself the man who gave us our Irish Tricolour.
Yet today passed sadly forgotten, by not just Co. Tipperary, but also sadly by the Irish nation. Read HERE and watch the video contained.

Signatures of Thomas Francis Meagher and Patrick O’Donoghue, arrested at Rathcannon, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, following the 1848 Ballingarry (SR) rebellion.
Both signatures are written on the back of a prison library book called “Wreath of Friendship”.
*Picture: G. Willoughby*.

Thomas Francis Meagher was an Irish nationalist and leader of the “Young Irelanders” who led the Ballingarry (SR) Rebellion of 1848, [Battle of the Widow McCormack’s Cabbage Patch], before being convicted of sedition and sentenced to death, but instead received transportation, for life, to Van Diemen’s Land (now Tasmania) off the Southern coast of Australia.

In 1852, Meagher escaped on a whaling ship and made his way to the United States, where he settled in New York City. He studied law, worked as a journalist, and travelled widely to present lectures on the Irish cause.

At the beginning of the American Civil War, Meagher joined the U.S. Army and rose to the rank of Brigadier General and was most notable for recruiting and leading the Irish Brigade, encouraging support among Irish immigrants for the Union Army side. Here in Ireland he had one surviving son whom he never met.

Following the American Civil War, Thomas F.Meagher was appointed Montana’s Territorial Secretary of State by President Andrew Johnson, and served as acting territorial governor. In 1867, Meagher drowned in the Missouri River after falling from a steamboat at Fort Benton, Montana. His death has been disputed by historians, with varying hypotheses including weakness from dysentery, intoxication, suicide and murder.

Patrick O’Donoghue whose signature is shown avove, in his diary record, refers here to the Irish flag, Quote: “We entered Mullinahone for the first time, and unfurled the green banner.”

Irish tricolours were mentioned in 1830 and 1844, but widespread recognition is not accorded the flag until 1848. From March of that year Irish tricolours appeared side by side with French flags, at meetings held all over the country to celebrate the revolution that had just taken place in France.
In April, Thomas Francis Meagher, this Young Ireland leader, brought a tricolour of orange, white and green from Paris and presented it to a Dublin meeting.

John Mitchel (1815-1875) referring to it, said: “I hope to see that flag one day waving, as our national banner”.

Although the tricolour was not forgotten as a symbol of hoped-for union and a banner associated with the Young Irelanders’ and revolution, it was little used between 1848 and 1916. Even up to the eve of the Rising in 1916, the green flag held an undisputed right to flutter in the then ever changing winds that was truly the now politically forgotten, County of Tipperary which was deciding the paths which were to guide Irish history.

Remember the statement by Thomas Davis, also earlier editor of ‘The Nation Newspaper’ in the 1840’s, “Where Tipperary Leads, Ireland Follows.”
But maybe, and sadly, not any more.