History « Thurles Information

A Peregrine Falcon For Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

**Pictured above; graphic design artist Mr Dan Leo at work, creating his painting of a Peregrine falcon, which is expected to be completed shortly**.
Photo courtesy G. Willoughby

Artist Dan Leo was born in London in 1984, before moving to Ireland at a young age. He admits to having always a keen interest in art; his enthusiasm growing from his consumption of 90s cartoons and having a keen interest in American sports logos and graphic design.

His style has evolved over the years, as he moves forward exploring new approaches as well as improving on existing ones.

Animals have always been something he has had respect for and as the viewers of his work can observe; same feature almost exclusively in his work.
To Dan, nature remains a never ending source of inspiration, while painting continues to give him the opportunity to travel and meet many like minds, while allowing him to work at what he loves most.

This project is one of at least two such projects to be undertaken within the Thurles area, over the coming weeks.

Readers can view more of Dan Leo’s work by logging on HERE.

Should this mural not have been a Greyhound?

Perhaps I should explain myself.

The area where this mural is being painted was once the home of publican Larry (Lawrence) Hickey, (more recently J. Griffin’s Newsagent, Liberty Square, Thurles), same building having been demolished in June 2018, to make way for a car park.

On the night of March 9th 1921, five masked and armed policemen raided the pub of Larry Hickey. He was ordered out of his upstairs bedroom, in his night attire, together with his pregnant wife, and when he reached the top of the stairs, he was tripped and thrown down the said stairs by an R.I.C. man named Jackson.

In the fall, Hickey’s neck was broken. While he was in great pain at the foot of the stairs, Sergeant Enright, who was in charge of the raiders, shot him dead, to put an end to his agony.

Larry Hickey was a well-known republican in Thurles at this time, and a detailed account of his death was given to republican James Leahy during the truce period, by Sergeant Enright himself.

Mr Larry Hickey would have collaborated with his republican next door neighbour, Mr Mixie O’Connell, latter who sent the coded telegram with the wording, “Greyhound on train”, giving the time of the departure of the train to brothers Tom and Mick Shanahan at the Coal Stores, in Knocklong, Co. Limerick, regarding the sending of the IRA prisoner Sean Hogan to Cork city, on May 13th 1919.

Lovers of factual Thurles history can read the full story HERE and HERE.

On August 22nd, 2022, exactly 100 years ago, Michael Collins (the Big Fellow or the Long Fellow), then chairman of the provisional government of the Irish Free State, was shot dead on a roadway in the county of his birth; Co. Cork.
On Sunday last, August 21st, 2022, an Taoiseach and Tánaiste rightly addressed a crowd of thousands, who had gathered at Béal na Bláth, in Co. Cork, to commemorate the centenary of his death.

In Thurles there were no commemorations over the past number of years for those Thurles men and women, who including Loughnane, Quinn, Hickey, O’Connell (Mixie), Leahy (James), Kelly, Fitzpatrick (Bridget), Ryan (Col. Gerry), McCarthy (Goorty), or indeed Mulcahy (Richard).

But then, that is what you get when you elect public representatives including two TD’s, who are mis-informed, mendacious and self-serving.

Meanwhile, the last mentions of Peregrine falcons in Tipperary was in July/August of 2013, when 3 nesting birds were deliberately shot dead in a spate of attacks in south Tipperary; and again in Nenagh, North Co. Tipperary in 2021, latter located nesting close at the top of the spire of Nenagh’s Saint Mary of the Rosary, Catholic church.

Commemorative Stamp Will Mark Centenary Of Death Of Michael Collins.

An Post has issued a commemorative stamp to mark the centenary of the death Michael Collins. Same will go on general release tomorrow, Thursday, August 18th, 2022, and will be available in selected post offices nationwide and from anpost.com/shop.

Designed by Mr Ger Garland, with the design featuring photography by C & L Walsh, the national (N) rate stamp displays an portrait image of the Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician dressed in military uniform; same image courtesy of the National Library of Ireland.

A commemorative First Day Cover (envelope) has also been produced by An Post, which carries the new stamp and a specially designed cancellation mark featuring the name of Collins in similar typeface to that found on the Béal na Bláth monument.
The Death of Michael Collins, assassinated on August 22nd, 1922, was the highest profile casualty of the Irish Civil War, which arose because of the agreed terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty.

In a break from historical convention, and marking the Co. Cork background of Michael Collins; the cancellation mark includes the designation ‘Corcaigh’.

One disappointing aspect of this welcome Commemorative Stamp – where are the words “Mícheál Ó Coileáin”.

Thurles Mentioned In Diaries Of Michael Collins.

The pocket diaries of Irish revolutionary, soldier and politician, Michael Collins, will be made available to the public for the first time, having been loaned to the National Archives by his family.

While until now, only two diaries have been on public display, with only two pages made visible to the public; next month a total of 5 pocket diaries will be made available in digitised format.

The pocket diaries were written by Michael Collins, while on the run and thus information contained in same is coded for very obvious reasons.

Pages in at least one of the diaries, dated Thursday March 20th 1919 and the following day Friday 21st 1919, appear to mention coded information referring to Thurles, Co. Tipperary. (See Image above)
The arrow pointing from hand written and coded page, dated Friday 21st 2019, to page dated Thursday March 20th, may possibly mean 8:30 app [interpreted as either approximately – appearance – appointment] as [Irish for ‘out of’] Fogludas [Irish for ‘Foleys’] .

Can anyone of our readers, out there, encode or throw possible light on this message? We would greatly like to hear from you.

The diaries will be available in the National Archives from sometime in September and will also be available in digital form.

Next weekend, more than 5,000 people are expected to attend a commemoration, marking the 100th anniversary of the Béal na Bláth ambush in west Cork; which saw Michael Collins; latter then Chairman of the Irish Provisional Government and Commander-in-Chief of the National Army, shot dead.

Cashel Library Heritage Week 2022.

Note Please: Booking Essential To All Events.
RSVP to Tel: 062 63825.

Centenary Ceremony For Arthur Griffith.

A remembrance ceremony, latter marking the centenary of the death of Arthur Griffith, will take place today, at Leinster House.

Arthur Joseph Griffith was born at No.61 Upper Dominick Street, Dublin, on March 31st, 1871, of distant Welsh lineage. His father had been a printer on ‘The Nation‘ newspaper.

Educated by the Irish Christian Brothers, he became the founder of the Sinn Féin party.

In 1916, rebels seized and took over a number of key locations in Dublin, in what became known as the 1916 Easter Rising. After its defeat, it was widely described both by British politicians and the Irish and British media as the “Sinn Féin rebellion”, even though Sinn Féin had very limited involvement. Griffith would be one of those arrested following the Rising, despite not having taken any part in it.

Arthur Griffith later served as Minister for Home Affairs from 1919 to 1921, and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1921 to 1922.

In September of 1921, Éamon de Valera, the then Irish President, requested Arthur Griffith, to head as Chairman a delegation of Irish diplomats, invested with the full power of independent action, to negotiate on behalf of the Irish people, with the British government, in the setting up of an Irish Republic.

This delegation set up headquarters in Hans Place, London, and following nearly two months of negotiations, on December 5th, Griffith and the other four delegates decided, in private conversation, to sign a Treaty before recommending same to Dáil Eireann.
Griffith was the member of the treaty delegation seen as most supportive of its eventual outcome.

The Treaty was then ratified by the Dáil by 64 votes to 57, on January 7th 1922. Two days later, Éamon de Valera stood down as president and sought re-election by the Dáil, which he lost by a vote of 60 to 58. Mr Griffith then succeeded Mr de Valera as President of Dáil Éireann.

Despite the Treaty being narrowly approved by the Dáil, a political split would lead to the Irish Civil War. Griffith, at the age of 51 years, sadly died suddenly in August 1922, two months after the outbreak of the civil war. He had been about to leave for his office, shortly before 10:00am on August 12th 1922, when he paused to retie a shoelace and fell, slipping into unconsciousness. He did regained consciousness, but collapsed again with blood coming from his mouth. The cause of his death, was identified as cerebral haemorrhage.

His death came, just ten days before the death of Michael Collins, latter who lost his life following an ambush in Co. Cork; seen then as a double tragedy to befall a fledgling independent Irish State.

Arthur Griffith’s body, four days following his death, was interned in Glasnevin Cemetery.

The idiom “Eaten bread is soon forgotten”, was never truer, as was in his case. His widow had to beg his former colleagues for a pension, saying that he ‘had made them all’. She also considered that his grave plot was too modest and threatened to exhume his body.

It took until 1968 before a plaque was finally attached on his former home, situated at St. Lawrence Road, Clontarf, Dublin.