Tullylease Unveils Monument

By Tullylease Historical and Heritage Society

At the unveiling ceremony: L-R: Adrian McSweeney, Billy Leen, Mary Leen, Nicholas Ring, Eileen O’Keeffe, Dr Tim Horgan and Philip Egan.

On Sunday 23rd of April 2023 a huge crowd assembled at Tullylease Sports Field. They were there to remember and honour three local men that were punished severely and that were part of the foundation of our independence that we have today. The crowd was led by the Newmarket Pipe Band to Páirc na Saoirse. Children played in the green and the sun shone on this momentous day to remember a piece of our history long forgotten.

Eileen O’Keeffe, Secretary of Tullylease Historical & Heritage Society, and our MC for the event began the proceedings by welcoming us all to Tulach Léis, ‘the Hill of the Huts’.

There was a minute’s silence observed to remember all those that passed away recently in our parish. The Deputy Mayor of Co. Cork, Cllr. Ian Doyle addressed the crowd and spoke of the delight by Cork County Council to be involved in such an event.

Sheila O’Keeffe, Treasurer of Tullylease Historical & Heritage Society explained how the day came to be and how Tullylease Historical & Heritage Society was formed.

“Today we are here to remember a tragic time in our history, almost 201 years ago here in this village three men were hanged. Over a year ago, we came across a newspaper article printed on the 2nd May 1822. The headline of the article was EXECUTION. The article detailed the events of a tragic weekend in April 1822 which happened in our village. On a Friday afternoon, three men were taken from Cork County Gaol which would have been on the grounds of University College Cork. They were taken over Patrick’s Bridge on route to Mallow where they stayed overnight in the Mallow Bridewell.

They departed Mallow the following morning at 7am Saturday 27th April 1822 on their way to Tullylease their final destination, two priests accompanied them in a four wheeled black carriage pulled by horses. The roads where not fit for such a carriage, so much so that the springs of the carriage snapped and had to be repaired on route. They travelled through Ballyclough, Castlecor, Kilbrin, Ballybahallow, down past the old chapel in Freemount and up what we call today the ‘old road’ to Tullylease. Every village which they passed through would have a procession of military awaiting them and they would have joined them on route. It must have been quite a sight when they finally arrived in Tullylease.

A wooden gallows would have been specially constructed and we think the location was the Fair Green or what we call today the Fair Field which was belong to the local landlord in 1822. Their names and their ages were: William O’Mahony aged 48 years, Daniel O’Keeffe aged 39 years and Thomas Murphy aged 24 years. Newspaper reports said that they died almost without struggle. Their bodies were given to their friends and we can only assume that they were buried later that evening in the old cemetery adjacent to the abbey.

We were enthralled by this story, and Tullylease Historical and Heritage Society was born. We asked locals if they had ever heard of such an event taking place. Nobody knew anything, such must have been the pain of this event that it was buried deep in the generation that witnessed it and never to be retold. We felt we needed to share this story with others and that these three men deserved to be remembered for the hard punishment that was meted out to them. And thus, we are here today.”

Following Sheila’s account of the event of April 1822, traditional Irish music was played by Catherine, Séan & Sinéad Walsh from Tullylease Village.

Dr Tim Horgan addressed the crowd.

Dr Horgan said there were two types of history in Ireland, one which “borders on fiction and was quickly put out by the ruling class …. to justify the illegal and reprehensible actions by which they achieved and maintained power”. “It is a tale of half-truths and accepted by an unquestioning self-proclaimed intelligentsia. It finds its way into a willing media and school classrooms. It dictates who should be remembered and who should not, who should be commemorated and who should not."

Following Dr Tim Horgan’s powerful address, our Parish Priest, Fr. Peter Farrell prayed a decade of the rosary for the loss of lives of the three unfortunate men. Mary Leen addressed the crowd, she explained how she was enthralled with the story as her father Billy Leen was working on the monument and that ‘she had to come to Tullylease’ to see the place, she explained that she ‘could not but be inspired at such a special place that Tullylease is’. Mary wrote a ballad specially for the commemoration. ‘We’ll see you all in Tullylease’ and sung it accompanied by musician Adrian Mc Sweeney.

Tullylease Historical & Heritage Society’s goal was to have a permanent monument erected to the three men during the bicentenary year, we achieved our goal as their 201st Anniversary will be this Thursday 27th April 2023. As Dr Tim Horgan said ‘men that were forgotten, will now be remembered forever’. The stone was sculpted and designed by Billy Leen from Tralee and has their names and their ages and the date of the executions in both Irish and English. The monument also has a replica of the famous St. Beircheart’s Cross from our early Christian Abbey. The stone was unveiled by Ben Cronin and Molly O’Connell. Ben is one of our more senior members of our community and Molly is one of the youngest children in Tullylease national school. Then three school children, Olivia Larkin, Kyran Walsh and Paddy Newman each laid a laurel wreath in memory of William O’Mahony, Daniel O’Keeffe and Thomas Murphy.

Philip Egan, well known poet and publican from Liscarroll, wrote a poem specially for the commemoration When Summer Never Came, Philip was there on the day to recited the poem. Nicholas Ring, Chairperson of Tullylease Historical & Heritage Society thanked all involved in making the event such a success. The event concluded with Amhrán na bhFiann which was played by Newmarket Pipe Band. The crowd were invited to the community centre where refreshments were served by both Tullylease Community Council and Tullylease Drama Group.

Seán Mac an tSíthigh recorded the event for TG4 and clips from the day were shown on TG4 on Sunday evening.

Míle buíochas le gach duine.

The Monument was unveiled by Ben Cronin and Molly O’Connell. Ben is one of our more senior members of our community and Molly is one of the youngest children in Tullylease national school.

Three Tullylease school children Paddy Newman, Kyran Walsh and Olivia Larkin each laid a laurel wreath in memory of William O’Mahony, Daniel O’Keeffe and Thomas Murphy.

Nicholas and Lisa Ring