“Supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.”
In this podcast, author and historian Eoin Swithin Walsh recounts some everyday stories from the Civil War period in Kilkenny
'The Civil War was fought in the towns, villages, back-roads and boreens of Kilkenny. Because of this, many Kilkenny citizens were thrust onto the ‘front-line’ through no choice of their own. Others did choose to fight and paid the ultimate price. In this podcast we find about Patrick Griffin, a father of twelve, who met his end on John’s Street in Kilkenny, through no fault of his own.
In December 1922, two men met their demise in the village of Johnstown, in two separate events. Twenty-four year old Patrick Cormack died in a clash with Free State soldiers in the early hours of 2 December in Johnstown, while 19-year-old Edward Burke met his end on Christmas Eve, when a night of revelry went terribly wrong.
Indirectly, the Civil War nearly cost the life of one of Kilkenny’s most famous sons; artist Tony O’Malley, who was then a nine-year-old boy living Callan. Find out his story of 1922 in this podcast too.'
Stories-of-those-caught-on-the-Civil-War-frontline.mp3 (size 30.4 MB)
Callan Bridge destroyed (courtesy of Callan Historical Society Main Street, Johnstown (courtesy of Johnstown Historical Society)
Patrick Griffin (courtesy of the Griffin Family)
