Photography « Thurles Information

Pardoned Harry Gleeson Re-Interred In Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

“Can Honour’s voice provoke the silent dust…”
Extract from poem ‘Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard’, by Thomas Gray.

The earthly remains of an innocent man, executed by hanging in Mountjoy jail; same body having been located within the prison grounds, were handed over to his family last week.
Yesterday, Sunday July 7th, 2024 same remains were re-interred, with his parents in the family plot, following Requiem Mass in Holycross Abbey, Thurles, attended by hundreds of people, some who travelled from other countries, to be in attendance.

Farm worker Mr Harry Gleeson, then aged 38 years, was executed on April 23rd 1941, despite his denial of the killing of a neighbour known as Ms Moll McCarthy of New-Inn, Co Tipperary.

In November, 1940, the executed Mr Gleeson had found the body of this single mother of seven children in a field owned by his uncle Mr John Caesar, while the former was out tending sheep.
The victim had been shot twice in the head and rather than being thanked for alerting local authorities to his gruesome discovery of Ms McCarthy’s body, Mr Gleeson soon found himself charged with her murder.
Following his trial and eventual conviction, the manner of execution was proscribed by the then sentencing Judge, Mr Justice Martin Maguire, that he be ‘hanged by the neck until he be dead.’
Alas, Mr Gleeson’s pardon came 83 years after his execution; granted by the current President of Ireland, Mr Michael D. Higgins, on the initial recommendation of former Minister for Justice, Mr Alan Shatter.

Having studied the original trial transcripts and noting that back in 1941 the judge, Mr Martin Maguire, had asked for a gun register to be shown during the trial. Same register although available, had never been produced by the prosecution.

Yet another issue was the temperature of Ms McCarthy’s body, when it had been first located. The post-mortem report from 1940 indicated that Moll had been murdered at a time when Mr Gleeson actually had an alibi.

Ten years ago in 2014, a retired nurse Ms Ann Martin Walsh, who had cared for Ms Moll McCarthy’s eldest daughter, Ms Mary McCarthy, as the latter was nearing her death, confirmed that her patient had clearly declared that ‘I saw my own mother shot on the kitchen floor and an innocent man died’.

Mr Harry Gleeson denied ever being one of Ms Moll McCarthy’s many known lovers or of fathering one of her seven children, which, it was stated could have jeopardised an inheritance of land, due from an uncle John Caesar.

Today, the murdered body of Ms Moll McCarthy lies in an unmarked grave in a now disused cemetery in New-Inn, Cahir, Co. Tipperary.

In 2015, following a full review of the trial and the evidence provided, members of the Gleeson family attended a special ceremony at the Department of Justice, where a certificate of official pardon was finally presented.

Tipperary Pheasants Hatched By Incubator.

Four adorable pheasant chicks have been recently hatched near Thurles, as part of an education and conservation initiative organised by the National Association of Regional Games Council (NARGC).

The recommended temperature, using an Incubator, for pheasant eggs is 37.6 – 37.8 degrees Celsius and pheasant eggs take between 23-28 days to hatch using this method.

Pheasants are widespread across Ireland, but contrary to popular belief they are not native to us or the UK. It is believed that pheasants were first introduced to Ireland in medieval times from Southeast Asia. Back then, as now, they were popular ‘Game birds’ for hunting.

Many readers will be familiar with the distinctive white stripe seen on the neck of many pheasants around Ireland and that particular species is actually native to China.

**The pheasants pictured above were hatched in a Brinsea Mini Incubator**.

Pheasants are known by their hoarse call, their long tails, spotted angular markings and for eating seeds, grains and insects gleaned from the ground. They inhabit gardens, woodlands and farm hedges and are notorious for nesting on the ground. Indeed, when mowing near hedges and other ground level nesting areas favoured by pheasants, take care not to destroy or damage their nests.

To find out more about pheasants you can visit HERE or HERE.

Another Hungry Mouth To Feed.

“Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them”.
[Matthew Chapter 6 – Verse 26.]

It was a beautiful day today here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary; after weeks of rain which confined most of us, during off duty hours, to our livingroom armchairs.

Today, in bright sunshine, local residents got their first opportunity, in months, to catch up on work required in neglected gardens. From all directions, today, came the drone of petrol lawn mowers and the scraping of stone against spade heads.

‘**Roly’ the Robin with at least one member of his family hidden in overgrown wall ivy**.
*Pic: G. Willoughby* [600mm *Lens* *used* *to ensure no disturbance of nest site]*.

‘Roly’ my friendly Robin, joined me, much to the anger of numerous wiggly worms, latter who sadly met their “Waterloo”; having been disturbed with the help of my spade and fork; to be quickly consumed by ‘Roly’s’ wife and family.

It is estimated that there are over 2 million breeding pairs of Robins within the Republic of Ireland any one year. Nest are usually well-concealed, in ivy or a cavity in a tree; in a wall, or an open-fronted nest-box and often close to ground level. Some species find the most unusual locations, such as a discarded teapot; a hat, or in the torn pocket of an overcoat, latter long since abandoned in a garden shed.

Despite appearing to be friendly and inhibited, Robins are in fact very territorial birds and will viciously attack other Robins that appear in their territory. Males will verbally abuse each other, before their high pitched debate escalates into a physical fight, which can result in serious injury or even death.

Robins eat a wide variety of foodstuff, including worms, invertebrates, ripe fruit, mealworms, seeds and suet and are a regular visitor to any furnished bird table.

Today, I am reminded again that in my home, as a boy and to my families delight, two Robins regularly joined us at the dinner table. Believe it or not, one bird often ate mashed potato from my uncles outstretched tongue, while sitting perched on his nose, so great was the trust.

Rock’s Peony, In Full Bloom, In Thurles Co. Tipperary.

If you are a flower lover and you happen to be in the Thurles area of Co. Tipperary over the coming days, a visit to O’Driscolls Garden Centre; [latter the home of rare trees and plants], situated on the Mill Road, Thurles, is a ‘must visit’.

**Rock’s peony in bloom in Thurles. In reality, this photographed bloom is the size of a small coffee saucer and the photo does it little justice, in displaying its true beauty.**
*Pic: G. Willoughby.*

The Paeonia rockii, or Rock’s peony, latter a woody species of tree peony, was named after Austrian-American botanist and explorer Joseph Rock (Josef Franz Karl Rock).
It is one of several species given the vernacular name ‘tree peony’, and is native to the mountains of Gansu and adjoining provinces in China.

Sing A Song Of Sixpence.

“Sing a song of sixpence”

Sing a song of sixpence, a pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened, the birds began to sing,
Wasn’t that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house, counting out his money.
The queen was in the parlour, eating bread and honey.
The maid was in the garden, hanging out the clothes,
When down came a blackbird and pecked off her nose.
There was such a commotion, that little Jenny wren,
Flew down into the garden, and put it back again.
END

The common Blackbird, formerly also known as an ‘Ouzel’, is a species of the Thrush family.
The plumage of the adult male is all black, except for a yellow beak.
The adult female and all juveniles birds, on the other hand, have mainly a dark brown plumage, with speckles on the upper breast, which slightly resemble our Irish Song Thrush.

Pictured today, two baby Blackbirds waiting for parents to return with grub.
Under the Irish Wildlife Act, it is against the law to cut, burn or otherwise destroy vegetation including hedges between March 1st and August 31st. The purpose of this ban is to prevent the disturbance and destruction of nesting sites of many of our wild bird species.
*Pic: G. Willoughby*.

One would have assumed that Carrion Crows, Ravens, Rooks and Jackdaws would have been referred to first as ‘blackbirds’, but of course historically the word ‘bird’ was correctly used to differentiate larger species from the smaller bird variety; hence the larger Crows, Jackdaws etc. are categorised as ‘wild fowl’.

The blackbird species breeds in Irish woods and gardens; building a neat, round cup-shaped nest, same bound together with dried muck.
Its daily diet includes a wide range of insects, earthworms, berries, and fruits. It is a regular visitor to our bird tables, attracted by porridge oats, fruit and cooked potato leftovers. The birds are territorial, especially during the breeding season.

The English nursery rhyme above, entitled ‘Sing a Song of Sixpence’ is possibly as old as the 1500s; which we all learned as primary school kids, was supposedly a coded message used by the legendary pirate Captain Blackbeard to recruit pirates. Sixpence and a hip-flask of rye whisky was the weekly pirate’s wage. Thus the ‘blackbirds’ were Blackbeard’s pirates and the ‘pie’ his sailing vessel.

Yet another theory, which is more acceptable, suggests that the King ‘in his counting house’ and the ‘Queen in the parlour’, actually refers to Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of Henry VIII, while the maid ‘in the garden, hanging out the clothes’, refers to Ann Boleyn, second wife of Henry VIII.
Henry VIII, our readers will remember, divorced and executed Ann Boleyn, whom he had beheaded on May 19th, 1536, at the Tower of London.
So the reference to the blackbird snipping off the maids nose could possibly represent his decision to separate from the then existing Church of Rome.