Thurles Railway station - Thurles Information

“An Irish Journey” by Sean O’Faolain in 1940s Thurles, Continued.

Cork born, John Francis Whelan [1900 -1991] possibly better known by all as Sean O’Faolain was one of the most influential figures in 20th-century Irish culture. A short-story writer of international repute; he was also a leading commentator and critic.

In his book “An Irish Journey” (from the Liffey to the Lee), latter published first in 1940, (Published in America in 1943), he reflects on his visit to Liberty Square, here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

For those who may have missed Part 1 of his story regarding his sojourn in Thurles, Co. Tipperary; same can be read HERE

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PART 2 – (Final part continues) – Sean O’Faolain writes as follows,

“The old man on the bridge remembered all the famous people I associate with Thurles, such as the famous Archbishop Croke, Smith O’Brien and the Fenians, Parnell, John Dillon and especially William O’Brien, that fiery particle from Cork who with Tim Healy was the most gallant and the wildest fighter of the Irish parliamentary party and who alone continued the best traditions (as well as some of the worst) of that party into the modern Sinn Fein revival.

He showed me where the old Market House used to stand in the square with its little tower and it’s frontal terrace, stepped at each side and he talks so well I could see the vast political meetings there, of nights, with the tar-barrels smoking and spluttering in the wind, their flames leaping in the reflecting windows about, the police lined along the opposite walls or grouped in side streets, fingering their carbines or batons in case there should be a clash between rival parties.

The great Archbishop would stand there tall and impressive; with him another big clerical figure – with apparently much more suave and evasive, Canon Cantwell; Dillon slightly stooped; O’Brien bearded like a prophet and Parnell ready to tear the hearts of the crowd with some clinching phrase.

Later, I looked up at Croke’s fine statue in the square and went to the Cathedral (Cathedral of the Assumption, Thurles), to see his bust in its niche – a square jawed firm mouthed man, much what one would expect from his life story, all solid and all of a piece. He was one of the last great nationalist prelates, for the Parnell split struck a deadly blow at a priest in politics, and though the hierarchy has manfully stood by the people several times since then, especially during the Revolution, they almost always act in cautious and deliberate concert and the freelance fighting Bishop has since died out.

**The Archbishop Thomas William Croke statue situated on Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.**

There is something fabular (having the form of a fable or story) about Croke. He destroyed all his papers after reading Purcell’s “Life of Cardinal Manning“ and little positive remains.

It is said that he fought at the barricades in Paris in the revolutionary troubles of 1848, [“Springtime of the Peoples”]. One can, after looking at his portraits and reading his life, well believe William O’Brien who vouches for it; see the young priest of twenty-four caught by the excitement of the times, the rattle of Cavignac’s musketry, the flutter of the Red flag, the barricades of furniture, carts, wagons, dead horses, the cries of the demagogues.

There is another like story which maintains that when he was a student either in Paris or in that pleasant college of the little Rue de Irlandais, behind the Pantheon orat Menin, he horrified a class by denying in a syllogism, (Latter a form of reasoning in which a conclusion is drawn from two given or assumed propositions), was expelled, put his pack on his back and tramped across Europe to the Irish college at Rome and was admitted there. (The rector was John Paul Cullen, later Cardinal, a friend of Pope Leo, one of the most influential men in the whole European church, the man who defined for the Catholic world the precise formula of Papal Infallibility.)

I should like to believe the stories, they are such an excellent prologue to a life during which, as curate, professor, college president at Fermoy, chancellor, parish priest, bishop in New Zealand, archbishop of Cashel, he was in every station, the most outspoken, forward driving, irrepressible, warm-hearted, affectable, and sympathetic figure, in the entire history of the Irish episcopacy.

When he was appointed Bishop, it is said that the appointment was most unpopular in his diocese and if I made believe my old man at the bridge, (Barry’s Bridge Thurles), who kept on remembering local lore about him – on his first Sunday he got up in the pulpit and told the people that he knew it, that he now had the post and that he “was, thank God, under no compliment to the priests and people of Tipperary for it”.

He gave dinner in celebration of his appointment. Only one of his opponent’s dared to stay away, a professor in the Diocesan Seminary, father Dan Ryan. The murmur went round the table before the meal ended that Ryan had been suspended, an unheard of punishment for what was merely a social gaffe. But it was true. Croke had suspended him for twenty-four hours, “just to show him who was the boss”.

He was as generous as he was stern. In the great days of the Irish parliamentary party, William (Smith) O’Brien used to stay at the Palace. One night, after O’Brien had gone to bed the Archbishop paused outside his door and for some idle reason apparently looked at O’Brien’s boots. They were in tatters. He sent out into the town early next morning for a new pair of boots. O’Brien soon afterwards received the cheque for €200.

Those must have been great days and nights in that Palace in Thurles and Croke has always seemed to me an epitome (perfect example) of the Irish priest at his best, sitting there among the Irish political leaders of the day Biggar, Davitt, Parnell, O’Brien and the rest. Outside are the Tipperary farmers and their wives, down from the rich hills, up from the Golden Vale. The great square is dense with chaffers and bargainers by day; by night with crowds waiting to hear him. It is splendid to see his statue today in that same square (Liberty Square, Thurles) with the market surging around it, like a navy moored to his pedestal.

And he was no mere political priest. At the Parnell divorce he took Parnell’s bust, which he had in his hall, and kicked it out of the door, he was heartbroken. “Ireland” he moaned “is no fitting place for any decent man today. The warmth that used to gladden my heart has disappeared. There is nothing to cheer me in church or state”.
He wished even to fly from Thurles and Tipperary and Ireland, back to New Zealand.

I naturally have a warm corner for Croke; he was a Cork man and they say he never lost his Cork accent and even to the end of his days, ordered his food and other needs from Cork city, rather than give Tipperary, which had not wanted him, the benefit of his custom. A curious thing is that his mother was a Protestant. She remained a Protestant to within a few years, I think only four, of her death.

History, as all over Ireland, is an odd medley in the popular mind of this modern Tipperary – if one may judge by its chance projections in Thurles. They have, for example, lost their old market hall, with its many associations. The one castle which remains is only part of what once stood there.
There were once seven castles in Thurles. In the backyards any good antiquary, like, I imagine, the local Archdeacon Seymour or Dr Callanan, could point you out the remains of the old walls in the town’s backyards. On the other hand on the wall of Hayes hotel there is a neat plaque to commemorate the founding there, of the Gaelic Athletic Association in 1884, with Croke as the first patron. While the modern Gaelic revival having permitted the castles to disappear, records a group of new terrace houses beyond Kickham Street, heroes and heroines nobody can possibly visualise or know anything about – Oisin Terrace, Oscar Terrace, Dalcassian Terrace, Emer Terrace, Banba Terrace and so on.
It is a typical experience of the confused and ambiguous, mingled nature of this modern Ireland to go from that end of the town to the other, to the great Beet Factory, pulsing and hammering away inside its impressive buildings, with its rows and rows of railway sidings and it’s rows and rows of windows shining at night across the Tipperary fields”.

Story Ends

Lest We Forget A Woman From Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Tipperary County Council officials & councillors, since the foundation of the Irish State, have managed successfully to destroy/eradicate a massive amount of local Thurles history e.g. the Thurles Workhouse, Larry Hickey’s pub (Griffin’s newsagents Liberty Square), the Thurles Moat on Parnell Car Park, Bridget Fitzpatrick’s family home at the Turnpike, Two-Mile-Borris, Moat Lane on Parnell Street and soon (if they get their way), the 175 year old Great Famine Double Ditch on Mill Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

If Thurles town centre is to be preserved as a thriving place for business, its history must now be heavily underscored; brightly highlighted and marketed properly, as a tourist attraction incorporating the other villages and towns, part of the Thurles town hinterland.

[Note: In this factual piece of text hereunder, three hamlets and one town, namely Two-Mile-Borris, Littleton, Upperchurch, and Templemore, in Co. Tipperary, are important to those lovers of heritage wishing to visit within Tipperary and Thurles area.]

A special thanks to Mr Gerry Bowe and Mr Michael Dempsey, both of whom provided historical facts. To Mr Dempsey also, our thanks for allowing us use pictures taken by his own family, some of which are included in the video slide-show hereunder.

So how important historically is Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary? I will allow our 2 thousand to 8 thousand daily readers to decide.

Bridget Fitzpatrick (1892 – 1977)

After the Easter Rising of 1916, Bridget Fitzpatrick admits her political sympathies were wholeheartedly aligned with the Irish Volunteers and with Sinn Fein. At that particular time, Bridget was employed, holding a clerical post at the premises of Mr. Bernard Fitzpatrick on Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. A working colleague also employed at that premises was Mr. John McCormack, who later became the Quartermaster of the Irish Republican Army’s 2nd Mid-Tipperary Brigade.

Máire Aoife (Mary Eve) Comerford (1893-1982), an Irish republican born in Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow and who resided for some time at an address in Courtown, Gorey, County Wexford, came to Thurles from Dublin in 1918; her purpose, to organise “Cumann na mBan” [latter translated from Irish as “The Women’s Council”], in the Thurles area.

Miss Comerford had volunteered to aid Constance Georgine Markievicz (née Gore-Booth) in St. Stephen’s Green, and was put to use carrying despatches for the General Post Office (G.P.O.) garrison. She would later return to Gorey, Co. Wexford, following the 1916 rising and worked alongside Sinn Féin politician Sean Etchingham [latter who died in prison in 1923 from natural causes].

Bridget Fitzpatrick was instructed to help and assist her locally, becoming herself a member of the local Cumann na mBan branch. In 1918 Bridget was named as the Executive and Courier for Richard Mulcahy and Michael Collins, entrusted with the responsibility of receiving undercover communications in Thurles. Immediately she began receiving a steady stream of dispatches from General Head Quarters (G.H.Q.), same to be distributed to Volunteer Officers for the major portion of the south of Ireland.

Video: Courtesy G. Willoughby

The chief central headquarters for dispatches was another business premises, situated on the southside of Liberty Square, Thurles, with all activities being directed by an employee Mr. James (Jimmy) Leahy and Michael (Mixie) O’Connell; latter the proprietor of that establishment. Thurles would now become a dispatch centre for a major portion of the south of Ireland.

It was in a storage room at the back of Mixie O’Connell’s shop on Liberty Square, that crudely manufactured mines were made, packed with gelignite and concealed in boxes which had contained cart wheels. Same explosives were used to attack the R.I.C. Barracks on the Holycross-Cashel road.

Dispatches from G.H.Q., Dublin, were sent by post to Miss Fitzpatrick, and she in turn handed them over to Mixie O’Connell who, in turn, arranged to have them forwarded to their intended destinations. Dispatches were being carried at night as the volunteers involved could not be observed as being missing from their daytime employment. Later this work would be undertaken by members of Cumann na mBan.

The dispatches were invariably from Michael Collins. Those pertinent to local Volunteer Officers were delivered by Miss Fitzpatrick herself, while those which had to be sent some distance, were handed over to John McCormack at her place of work or taken directly to Mixie O’Connell, latter who arranged to forward them to their ultimate destination.

Miss Fitzpatrick lived indoor on her employer’s premises, so post addressed to ‘Miss B. Fitzpatrick’, could have easily been opened in error by her boss, Bernard Fitzpatrick, whose political views were known to be different from those of Sinn Féin.

Later, Miss Leslie Price (who later married Mr. Tom Barry of Cork) came to organise other dispatch centres and lines of communication, and Miss Fitzpatrick became associated with her also in this work, while the former resided in the Thurles area.

On the morning of 19th May 1919, Miss Fitzpatrick received a postal dispatch from Michael Collins with a covering note addressed to her personally. The note informed her that the dispatch she had received was extremely urgent and requesting her to have it forwarded to its destination immediately.

This dispatch concerned the arrest of Sean Treacy. She learned that Sean Hogan, who was wanted by the Royal Irish Constabulary (R.I.C.) in connection with the Soloheadbeg ambush, had been arrested in the early hours of that morning at Maher’s of Annfield, Thurles and that Sean Hogan was a prisoner in the R.I.C. Barracks in Friar Street, Thurles. She learned from John McCormack that it was expected that Hogan would be sent to Cork Prison, under escort on the train during the day, and that arrangements must be made to watch the barracks.

If Sean Hogan was being sent to Cork it had been decided that Mixie O’Connell would send a 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.

John McCormack sought permission to use Bridget Fitzpatrick’s name as the sender of this coded telegram, which she willingly gave.

Throughout that day the barracks in Friar Street Thurles was constantly watched by an elderly lady named Mrs. McCarthy, her daughter Margaret and a Miss Maher of Annfield (later Mrs. Frank McGrath of Nenagh) at whose house Sean Hogan had been arrested and who had followed the police into Thurles.

These women had made several efforts to secure a visit to the prisoner, but without success. Mrs. McCarthy at different times during the day brought fruit, tea and fresh socks to the barracks for the prisoner, each time pleading to be allowed to see him for a few minutes, but was refused by the R.I.C. .These visits, however, provided Mrs. McCarthy with the excuse which she needed to remain in the immediate vicinity for long intervals. Eventually, that evening Mrs. McCarthy due to her persistence, secured information from an R.I.C. officer that Hogan was being taken to Cork by a train, which left Thurles around about 6:00pm. This information was immediately reported to Mixie O’Connell, who would send the coded telegram, “Greyhound on train”.

While the rescue of Sean Hogan on that evening, May 19th 1919, was a success, Bridget Fitzpatrick was informed by Mr. O’Carroll, (latter a Supervisor at Thurles Post Office), that the R.I. C., in the course of their investigations, had taken possession of the original copy of the telegram to Tom and Mick Shanahan, which bore her name as the sender.

About three weeks later, the aforementioned Tom and Mick Shanahan; Patrick Maher; Edmond Foley; (all of whom were from the Knocklong district), together with another man named Murphy, latter a porter at Knocklong Railway station; and Mixie O’Connell from Thurles were all arrested by the R.I.C. on suspicion of being involved in the rescue of Sean Hogan.

On the morning of Mixie O’Connell’s arrest, Bridget Fitzpatrick was also honoured by a visit from the R.I.C., led by District Inspector Michael Hunt, who interrogated her, taking a statement.

Inspector Hunt questioned her about the telegram, of which she denied having any knowledge. He then proceeded to question her about Mixie O’Connell and what she knew about his Sinn Féin and Volunteer activities. She informed Inspector Hunt that she knew him only as a neighbour in business, but beyond that she had no idea of his other activities or interests. Meanwhile, the six prisoners arrested by the R.I.C. were taken to Limerick Prison.

Within a few weeks of his taking that statement from Bridget, District Inspector Michael Hunt, (son of a Co. Sligo father, Mr. Martin Hunt), was murdered; shot dead on Liberty Square, Thurles on Monday evening, June 23rd, 1919. Two first cousins “Big Jim” and Tommy Stapleton from Finnahy, Upperchurch, Thurles and Jim Murphy (latter known as “The Jennett”), from Curreeney, Kilcommon, Thurles would later be named as responsible for the killing of R.I.C. District Inspector Michael Hunt; [Note: all three assassins are named in a statement made by James Leahy, Commandant, No.2, Irish Republican Army (I.R.A.) (Mid) Tipp-Brigade. Jim Stapleton was also named for the killing of District Inspector William Harding Wilson outside Templemore post office, leading to the newspaper headlines, “Night of Terror” and “Templemore Attacked by Police & Military”.]

Acts of savagery country-wide, would now continue on both sides. Note one gruesome picture in the attached slide-show refers to the brothers Pat and Harry Loughnane, Co. Galway who were arrested, beaten, tied to the tailgate of a lorry, dragged along country roads, then further assaulted, wrists and legs broken, letters `’I.V.’ cut in their flesh, before being shot, hand grenades put in their mouths and exploded, and finally set on fire, before being dumped in a pond because they didn’t burn.

The Knocklong incident appeared to be a closed book, until the following January (1920), when Bridget Fitzpatrick was notified by the R.I.C. that she was obliged to appear as a witness in the case, at the trial of the prisoners in Limerick. The R.I.C. spoke about sending transport for her but she informed them that she would find her own way as she would be publicly ostracised by the Thurles Community, if observed in their company.

Bridget Fitzpatrick went to the railway station to take the train bound for Limerick on the day of the trial, to find a number of R.I.C. personnel were already in place; entering into the same carriage with her. On arriving in Limerick, they escorted her to William Street, R.I.C. barracks. There she was taken to a room to be further interrogated by three British Military officers who took a fresh statement from her. She had already been well briefed in advance by James (Jimmy) Leahy and by working colleague John McCormack; told to say exactly what she had told Inspector Hunt.

With a new statement given, she was taken to another room, the occupants of which were R.I.C. men and here she waited to be called into the Courtroom to give evidence.

In being escorted into the Courtroom by the R.I.C., she had to pass close to the six prisoners. As she passed, she remarked to Mixie O’Connell “Poor show from Ballyhooly”, which was his favourite saying. Same led to some laughter and excitement and orders were shouted not to allow Miss Fitzpatrick to speak to the prisoners. Giving evidence she stuck to her story adding that she knew none of the prisoners except Mixie O’Connell with whom she only knew as a business man residing in Thurles.

The final decision of the Court was to remand all six prisoners in custody for trial at a later Court. Miss Fitzgerald was held at William Street Barracks until 6:00pm that evening, until she insisted that she had to call to see a friend in Limerick. The R.I.C. then allowed her to leave, on the undertaking that she would be back at Limerick Railway Station, in time to catch the 7:00pm train back to Thurles.

She returned to the station in time to catch the 9:00pm train, in the vain hope that the R.I.C. would have left by an earlier train, but they had awaited her return and she had to endure their company back to Thurles, which was reached about midnight.

Meanwhile, Bridget had an interesting visitor in Thurles in the person of Mrs. Ethel Snowden (née Annakin), socialist, human rights activist, and feminist, the wife of Sir Philip Snowden, who later in 1924, became Chancellor of the Exchequer in a British Labour Governments. She had come to Ireland as a member of the British Labour Party’s Fact Finding Commission and when she arrived in Thurles, she had a letter of introduction to Bridget from Cumann na mBan Headquarters in Dublin. On the night prior to her visit, the R.I.C. and Black and Tans had run amok in Thurles and had done considerable damage to business premises. She showed Ethel around and let her see the havoc wrought by the Crown forces and she took her to visit the relatives of James McCarthy. [James McCarthy, Thurles, Co. Tipperary had been shot dead by an R.I.C. murder gang, after they had sent him a death threat on Dáil notepaper in an effort to incriminate Sinn Féin]. Bridget reported that Ethel Snowden appeared to be most sympathetic, making notes of all she had seen and heard.

The next trial date for the six Knocklong prisoners took place at Armagh Assizes in July of 1920 and the R.I.C. now served Bridget with a summons to attend as a witness. To avoid travelling with an R.I.C. escort she left Thurles a few days in advance of the trial, travelling to Armagh via Dublin and Dundalk.

In accordance with the instructions on the Summons, she called to the Courthouse in Armagh on the day before the trial opened and after waiting for some hours, she was interviewed by an official who just took her name and address. Accommodation was provided for her in a hotel with other witnesses.
The trial lasted for two days in front of a Judge and Jury with Bridget conveying similar evidence as imparted in Limerick and in the statements taken by D.I. Hunt. Cross-examination lasted about 15 or 20 minutes by the Counsel for the Prosecution. The two Shanahans and Murphy were found not guilty and acquitted, but the Jury disagreed in the case of Mixie O’Connell, Foley and Maher, with the latter three remanded in custody to Mountjoy Prison, to await a new trial.

Mixie O’Connell secured his release by going on hunger strike. He returned to Thurles but was only a few minutes back in his house, when he learned that he was likely to be re-arrested. He then left Thurles and went on the run. Edmund Foley and Patrick Maher did not take part in the hunger strike with O’Connell. Being innocent of the charges which had been preferred against them, they felt confident that they would not be found guilty when their next trial took place.

In January 1921, Commandant Jerry Ryan (later who would become Bridget Fitzpatrick’s husband) was arrested in Thurles by the R.I.C. and taken to Limerick Prison. In a letter to Bridget, which was smuggled out of the prison, he told her to warn Commandant Small not to carry out two planned ambushes at two points, which were marked on a map found on his clothing by the R.I.C.. Having warned Small she tore up that portion of the letter but retained the remainder of it, as it contained some instructions regarding money matters which Jerry Ryan wanted fixed up between the Quartermaster and the battalions Vice-Commandant.

Shortly afterwards, Bridget travelled to Limerick to visit Jerry Ryan and on her way back she was met at Oola railway station (Limerick/Tipperary border) by Miss McCarthy (daughter of the Mrs McCarthy previously referred to), latter a teacher in Oola. Miss McCarthy had received instructions from Bridget’s fellow worker, Mr John McCormack, to meet Bridget to prevent her from returning to Thurles, as the R.I.C, were searching for her. During her absence the R.I.C. had raided her accommodation in Fitzpatrick’s and had found in her trunk the portion of the letter from Jerry Ryan which she had retained. She stayed that night in Oola with Miss McCarthy and then went on the run, staying with friends in various places until after the ‘Truce’ in the following July.

In February 1921, the two remaining members of the Knocklong prisoners, namely Edmund Foley and Patrick Maher, were put on trial again, this time by court martial in Dublin. Before going on her visit to Limerick Prison, Bridget had received the usual notice from the R.I.C. to appear as a witness, but as she was on the run when the court-martial took place, she did not appear. Both men were found guilty and sentenced to death with both being executed by hanging in Mountjoy Prison on 30th May 1921.

Anti-Social Behaviour Halts Train In Thurles.

Gardai were requested to attend at an incident in Thurles Railway Station yesterday evening.

A train coming from Cork, bound for Dublin, was forced to halt when anti-social behaviour broke out on board.

We understand that the 16:30 train from Cork to Heuston, carrying passengers who had embarked at Cork, was forced to halt at Thurles, when disruptive behaviour caused a technical issue on board.

The passengers were eventually accommodated on alternative services, causing minor delays to other services passing through the Thurles station, as a result of this 16.30 public transport failure.

From May 2020 to the end of April 2021, there have been 37 incidents of antisocial behaviour on Cork rail services or at Cork stations, with incidents ranging from non-compliance with Covid regulations, vandalism, possession of drugs or alcohol, theft and loitering.

We understand further Garda enquiries are now being processed.

“Big Lift” Promises Big Improvements To Thurles Rail Passenger Mobility Issues.

Big Lift Upgrade To Thurles Railway Station.

Some 22 railway stations nationally will see Lifts or Elevators facilities either renewed or upgraded in 2021, as part of an estimated €5.8 million investment plan by Iarnród Éireann.

The Irish rail travel provider are making big changes by replacing and upgrading their elevators for people with mobility issues.
Twenty-two stations across the network will have their lifts upgraded by the end of this year.
This follows upgrades to twelve other stations previously in 2020.
Some 52 stations across the rail network are set to receive similar investment by 2024.

Upgrading of accessibility at Thurles Railway Station is expected to begin on June 7th next and is expected to be completed by July 23rd 2021.
Commuters departing or arriving at Thurles Station and who have mobility issues are advised to contact Thurles Railway Station [Phone: (0504) 21733 or (01) 836 6222. Calling from outside the Republic of Ireland +353 (1) 836 6222] in advance of their journey, so that they can be fully facilitated during the period of this necessary Thurles upgrade.

In order to achieve improvements, there may be some disruptions which will however provide in the longer term, extra reliable station access for commuters going forward.

Work, which began on April 19th last, at Templemore Railway Station Co. Tipperary, is due to be completed on Friday June 4th next, with work then commencing at Thurles.

Thurles – Policeman Shot – Town Wrecked – Inhabitants Terror Stricken.

The Nenagh Guardian is the longest established local newspaper circulating in North Tipperary. First established on Saturday, July 21st, 1838 as ‘The Nenagh Guardian’, the paper has recorded many Tipperary momentous events over the last 183 years, including the event hereunder, which was published on Saturday January 24th 1920 using the headline:-

Exciting scenes in Thurles.
Policeman shot.
Town Wrecked – Inhabitants Terror Stricken.

[The report is published in full hereunder.]

Constable Luke Finnegan, while going home just before 11 o’clock in Thurles on Tuesday night, was shot as he was about to enter his home. He received three bullets and was conveyed to Dublin for an immediate operation. His condition is reported to be critical.

Armed squads afterwards made a search of the district entering several houses. Pedestrians on their way home where held up, questioned and searched. Later there was a crashing of glass from shop windows in Friar Street and this was followed by a volley of police rifle fire. It was thought a midnight attack was being made on the local barracks, but this proved to be incorrect. There was further smashing of plate glass windows before quiet was restored.

Archbishop On Scene. Most Reverend Dr. Harty and members of the local clergy walked through Thurles streets on Wednesday morning and inspected the damage done.

The English Labour delegates included Thurles in their itinerary through Ireland and were expected to arrive about midday on Wednesday.

The above deputation comprised of the Chairman of the British Parliamentary Labour Party *(PLP)*, William Adamson, and MP’s William Tyson Wilson, Arthur Henderson, John Allen Parkinson, Walter Robert Smith and John Robert Clynes. H. Scott Lindsay, secretary of the Parliamentary Labour Party is acting as secretary to the delegation.

English Labour delegation arrives in Thurles

The injured Constable Luke Finnegan who was shot in Thurles, arrived at Kingsbridge Station and was at once removed to Stephen’s hospital. An examination of his injuries showed that a bullet had passed through the abdomen and that he had been struck in the right arm, one of the bones of which was broken. Despite loss of blood he was perfectly conscious on admission. An operation was performed by Surgeon (Arthur Joseph) Chance on Wednesday morning.

Shortly after 11:00p.m. when comparative quite reigned, the streets being in possession of armed forces, the next thing heard was the crashing of glass from shop windows in Friar Street. A loud report followed. It was a volley of rifle fire. Consternation reigned in the town, the impression at first being that an attack had been made on the local barracks. But not so. Another volley rang out and more glass crashed on the pavement. Then ensued wild but systematic smashing of plate glass windows.

Terror Stricken Towns-People.
Terror-stricken women and children crowded together in back rooms for safety. Some fainted. For an hour and a half firing continued. Huge damage has been done. On Wednesday morning the streets were littered with broken glass, while several houses bore bullet marks. Many bullets were picked up in the streets. After 1:00 o’clock the firing ceased.

Enquiries made so far disclose that at least three houses were fired into. Bullet marks are in the bedroom of Mr James Leahy U.C., manager for Mr Michael O’Connell (now in jail). His house is in Main Street (Today’s Liberty Square) and the bedroom is on fourth storey. Mr Leahy luckily quitted the room on hearing the first bullet coming through his window. The window is riddled in many places.

Providential Escapes
In the house next door Mr J. Corbett, drapers assistant had a narrow shave. He was going to bed and he was near his window when two bullets crashed through the glass. His room is also on the fourth storey and bears numerous bullet marks.

Mr Charles Culhane’s residence, Friar Street, too, came in for special attention. His bedroom windows were riddled with bullets and he himself narrowly escaped being shot.

Rifle firing started at 11:15 p.m. The streets were normal at the time and all lights were out. Most of the houses in main Street were wrecked including Molloy’s hardware store, Jeremiah O’Dwyers, McLoughney’s drapery house, O’Connell’s public house, D.H. Ryan’s drapery, Mrs Benson’s drapery house, Mrs Tobin’s hotel, Mr D. Morgan’s in Cathedral Street, (Latter grandfather of the late Dermot Morgan of “Fr. Ted” Channel 4 sitcom fame.), Mr C. Culhane’s, Friar Street, Mr T. Fitzgerald’s Westgate and the Star Newspaper office. Into the above places bullets were sent flying through the windows and doors. The terrified inhabitants had narrow escapes. Women became hysterical and fainted and children were frightened beyond description. Inmates of houses lay flat on floors and moved to back places. The firing lasted till five minutes after midnight. At 1:15 a.m. it again began and lasted until 1:40.

The amazement of the English Labour delegates at the occurrence in Thurles is expressed in a special statement which they issued on Wednesday evening on arriving in Tipperary from Thurles. They saw in Thurles, what Mr Arthur Henderson MP described as, “a besieged city”. After seeing Dr. Harty they had personal interviews with several persons whose houses had been attacked, and the situation was so extraordinary that they decided to issue a special report, when questioned by Press representatives regarding what came under their notice.

Interesting Visit.
Their joint statement is in part as follows: “The deputation had a very interesting visit to Thurles and had striking evidence of what is going on in various parts of Ireland at the present time. It appears that the night before a policeman was shot out in the street and wounded and that as a consequence the above policemen lost their heads. Walking down the street about a dozen houses bore marks either by way of shattered windows or otherwise of a considerable amount of indiscriminate shooting. From the evidence that one could gather from the prominent residence a number of the inhabitants who had retired or where retiring for the night, ran very narrow escapes from shooting through windows and doors”.
The deputation had an interview with one man who had retired with his wife and children and where awakened by the reports. Bullets began to come through the windows and he and his family had to leave the bedroom and shelter in the basement. Their passage to the basement was extremely perilous as bullets were coming through the windows and the doors”.

Greatly Astonished
Mr William Adamson MP, Chairman of the Party, in an interview stated that the deputation had been greatly astonished by all they had seen in Thurles and it was a striking confirmation of the many statements they had heard since their arrival in Ireland and showed conclusively the deplorable results of the present Castle (Dublin Castle) rule.

The occurrence in Thurles, Mr Adamson said, and the evidence gathered by the deputation, will form an important part of our report to the Labour forces in Great Britain, and will without doubt strengthen the demand for the abolition of the present military regime in Ireland, and the substitution of a more enlightened method of government.

Mr Lindsay, Secretary of the delegation, issued a report as to the interview with Most Rev Dr. Harty: “The Labour Party deputation was exceedingly gratified” the report said “in securing an interview with the Archbishop of Cashel, who gave a very instructive and illuminating explanation of the prevailing opinions of the people of Ireland, as recorded by them in recent elections, Parliamentary, Municipal, and pointing out in view of past history the Irish people had come to the definite conclusion that nothing short of complete independence would be beneficial to this country”.

Thrilling Story.
They had also an opportunity of conversations with the editor of “The Tipperary Star” and with Mr Morgan, a secondary teacher who had just been elected to the Urban Council and whose place had been raided during Tuesday nights affray.

A thrilling story was told by Mr Callaghan President of the local Sinn Fein club. “The first intimation I had of the affair”, he said “was the report of a rifle shot. Immediately afterwards a piece of the ceiling in the room in which I slept, fell to the ground. The window was pierced through by the bullet. I knew what was coming then and I dressed and went downstairs. The crash of the lower window being broken and the door being battered then began. Meanwhile, I had gone out into the yard which was dark and went to the far end. Two policemen came out but could not see me. Nine policemen then enter the house, having forced the door. Some of them rushed upstairs and called for me. Nobody was in charge of the police who entered my house but there were two bunches of them and I saw one bunch hold up a motor car in the street outside.

Many Shots Fired.
The maid servant in the house related a similar story and the house bears evidence of a very large number of shots being fired at it. In all 16 houses were assailed, either with bullets grenades or clubbed with rifles. The damage to glass alone is estimated at £3000.

The house of Mr O’Connell in The Square bore traces of 15 rifle shots. In addition eight shots passed through the window of one room in the apartment adjoining, which a child was sleeping. One bullet pierced a picture of the Sacred Heart and penetrated through a thick partition and was found embedded in the far wall.

The premises of Mr McLoughney next door appeared to have been the target for several shots. While the fusillade was more intense, families who had not retired to bed, retreated to back portion of their houses, for safety and there joined in reciting the Rosary. One lady stated that you thought a rebellion had broken out, the firing was so rapid and so long sustained. Most people however were of the impression that a desperate street battle was in progress.

Thurles Police To Be Transferred.
The special correspondent of the “Dublin Evening Mail” states that the members of the entire police force now in Thurles are to be transferred to various other stations.

Thurles Outbreak Sequels.
Constable Luke Finnegan, who was shot in Thurles on Tuesday night, died in Stephen’s hospital as 11:30 o’clock on Thursday night.

Thurles resumed its normal appearance on Thursday and no police patrols were on the streets. Many of the shops, which suffered in the outbreak, were shuttered.

A number of high constabulary officers arrived in Thurles on Thursday night and were escorted from the railway by armed police and armoured cars to a local hotel. The houses attacked in the Mall on Tuesday night included that of Mrs Conran, mother-in-law of Mr George Clancy MP for South Sligo.
In the house of Mr Leahy a sleeping infant had a miraculous escape; a bullet passing between its arm and body and embedding itself in a wall opposite.

A Place Of Battles.
The town of Thurles with its many ancient castles and ruins has often witnessed scenes of a warlike nature. Originally called Durlas-O’Fogarty it was the scene of a memorable battle in the 10th century, between the Danes and the Irish, in which the former suffered severe defeat. After the Norman invasion those Danes who still remained in the country went to reinforce Strongbow at Cashel. When they halted at Thurles they were attacked and defeated by O’Brien of Thomond, who shortly afterwards compelled the invaders, who he encountered near the town, to retreat.

It is hardly to be wondered at that the late Fr. Benson shows Thurles as the most important Ecclesiastical Centre in the country, in one of his most famous novels. In addition to it being the Cathedral town of the Archbishop of Cashel, it contains several monasteries and convents. In former days a monastery for the Carmelites was founded there by one of the Butler family and also a preceptory of the Knights Templars, while in the 15th century a Franciscan monastery was established by the O’Meaghers.

The newspaper article of Saturday, January 24th, 1920, concludes.