Ballyseedy Memorial, Irish Republican Memorial at Ballyseedy, Irish Republican Memorials at Ballyseedy

white wooden memorial cross at Ballycarty, on the perimeter of the traffic roundabout at the junction of the Tralee, Killarney and Castleisland roads.

white wooden memorial cross at Ballycarty,

bythe Tralee-Killarney Road, south side,

at the boundary wall of the

"Earl of Desmond" Hotel.

Background:

Frank Hoffman was from Farmer's Bridge

Background:

Michael Ryle was a young Fianna Éireann (republican scout) from Tralee

photo: BJ

photo: Martin Moore (acknowledgement below)

photo: BJ

VOL[unteer]

JACK GALVIN

30^TH 9^TH 1922

DIED IN DEFENCE

OF THE REPUBLIC

MEMORY

PATRICK BUCKLEY

JOHN O'CONNOR

JOHN DALEY

JAMES WALSH

PATRICK HARNETT

TIMOTHY TWOMEY

GEORGE O'SHEA

MICHAEL O'CONNELL

remainder of the inscription is unclear

7^TH 3^RD 1923

VOL[unteer]

SEAMUS TAYLOR

14^TH 3^RD 1923

DIED IN DEFENCE

OF THE REPUBLIC

white wooden memorial cross on Ballyseedy Road, east side, opposite the lodge and entrance gate to Ballyseedy Castle (now Ballyseede Castle Hotel).

The cross is located within a walled turning circle, built c1880 for use of horse-drawn-coaches entering or leaving Ballyseedy Castle gateway.

this larger white wooden memorial cross at Ballyseedy stood on the north side of the Tralee-Killarney Road, a few metres east of Ballyseedy crossroads, until replaced in 1959 by the present Ballyseedy monument.

do you know of photograph revealing

the full inscription?

white wooden memorial cross at the east end of Ballyseedy Wood, alongside the Tralee-Killarney Road, south side, a few metres west of Ballyseedy Crossroads.

Background:

John "Jack" Galvin of Killorglin had killed a pro-treaty officer during an attack on a bridge at Castlemaine. Following his arrest, on 30-Sep-1922 he was among a group of IRA prisoners being transferred from Killorglin Barracks to Tralee by Irish Free State soldiers.

Travelling in convoy on the Killorglin-Ballyseedy Road via Farmer's Bridge, the lorries initially halted by Ballyseedy Wood near the entrance gate to Ballyseedy Castle, the road there having been blocked by felled trees.

The prisoners, having first been set to work clearing the road, were afterwards walked on about 50 yards to Ballyseedy crossroads to wait for their vehicles. When the lorries arrived Galvin was noticed to be missing. The following day his body was found "behind a tree" or "behind the ditch" close to the place where the lorry had at first halted by Ballyseedy Wood.

References:

"The Tragedies of Kerry" by Dorothy Macardle, 1924

"Tans, Terror and Troubles: Kerry's Real Fighting Story 1913-23" by T. Ryle Dwyer, 2001, chapter 20, pp.363-364

Background:

This cross was erected to commemorate eight IRA prisoners executednear this spot by Irish Free State government troops in the early morning of 7-Mar-1923, during the Irish Civil War. In 1959 the cross was replaced by the "Ballyseedy Monument" (see below).

Photo:

This pre 1959 photograph "First Memorial Cross at Ballyseedy", is from the book "Civil War in Ballymacelligott" by Martin Moore, published in "The History of Ballymacelligott and it's People" by Ballymacelligott Active Retirement Association 1997, p.83

Background:

James "Seamus" Taylor of Glencar, an IRA prisoner who had been captured at his mother's house, is said to have been taken on 14-Mar-1923 by Irish Free State (National Army) troops from Killorglin Barracks to Ballyseedy Wood and there shot.

commemorative enamel badge

showing the sculpture with

BALLYSEEDY MARTYRS CO.KERRY

MARCH 1926

(date error, the year should be 1923)

THE BALLYSEEDY MONUMENT

A wooden memorial cross at Ballyseedy (above, centre), located on the north side of the Tralee-Killarney road a few metres to the east of "Ballyseedy Cross" road junction, was in 1959 replaced by the present "Ballyseedy Monument", created by architect Uinseann Mac Eoin.

The cast bronze sculpture that forms the centrepiece of the monument is the work of Breton nationalist andsculptor Yann-Renard Goulet who took Irish citizenship in 1952. Goulet did not designed the bronze for this specific monument, it having been created a few years earlier for a different purpose, so the figures on the sculpture do not relate to the subject of the monument but instead became a more general memorial to Irish Republicanism.

There are varying interpretations of Goulet's intended meaning - he is thought by some to have been representing the suffering of rural people of the west of Ireland during the potato famine of the late 1840s and the strong influence that event had later on the movement for Irish national independance. In this interpretation, the man on the left with exposed ribs is dying of hunger, his wife or daughter encouraging her young son to look and remember. To the right, the child as a grown man does remember, striding purposefully away, fist clenched, to fight for Irish independance. Goulet's model for the standing figure was the late Willie John Clarke of Quay Street in Dundalk.

The monument was placed near Ballyseedy Cross in 1959 to commemorate eight IRA prisoners executed at this place by Irish Free State government troops during the civil war, in the early morning of 7-Mar-1923. Humphrey "Free" Murphy, quartermaster of IRA Kerry No.2 Brigade, had ordered the IRA to kill Free State army Lieut. Paddy "Pats" O'Connor. Early on the morning of 6-Mar-1923 O'Connor was lured with others to the vacinity of a mine trap planted at Ballinorig Wood, near Knocknagoshal. The mine detonated, killing Paddy O'Connor, Capt. Michael Dunne of the Dublin Brigade, Capt. Joseph Stapleton of the Dublin Brigade, Private Michael Galvin of Killarney and Private Laurence O'Connor of Causeway. Another Free State soldier <name?> lost both legs in the blast.

In direct retaliation for this atrocity, Free State forces during the early hours of the following morning took nine IRA prisoners from Ballymullen Barracks, Tralee in an army lorry to Ballyseedy Crossroads, where the road had been blocked by a mined barricade made from rocks and a log. Instead of being told to clear the road, as was usual, the prisoners were stood by the barricade, their ankles and knees tied, the mine then detonated. Those who died were John Daley, Michael O'Connell and Patrick "Paddy" Buckley (an R.I.C. constable) of Castleisland; George O'Shea and Timothy "Tim" Twomey of Kilflynn; Patrick Harnett of Finuge; James Walsh of Churchill; and John O'Connor of Waterford. Stephen Fuller of Fahavane, Kilflynn, was blown clear by the force of the blast, and despite being severely burnt was able to make his escape in the dark crossing the ditch (hedge) and River Lee to reach Currans House at Hanlon's Cross, where he was taken in by the family and cared for until a safe hiding place was found. At Ballyseedy crossroads the eight bodies had been machine gunned to ensure all were dead.

References:

1. "Tans, Terror and Troubles: Kerry's Real Fighting Story 1913-23" by T. Ryle Dwyer 2001, chapter 21, pp.366-371

2. "Civil War in Ballymacelligott" by Martin Moore, published in the book

"The History of Ballymacelligott and it's People" by Ballymacelligott Active Retirement Association 1997, pp.82-84

3. Executions during the Irish Civil War

An RTÉ (Raidió Teilifís Éireann) television documentary titled “Ballyseedy” was broadcast in 1997.

Denis Broderick, John "Jack" Galvin, Michael Ryle and Seamus Taylor, who died in different and separate incidents in the same locality, are commemorated by their individual white wooden memorial crosses but are also named on this monument.

	photo: BJ

click on individual tablet to enlarge (photos: BJ)


	TRALEE 1^STAND 9^TH BATTS	AEDFERT (2^ND BATT.) AND LIXNAW (3^RD BATT.)	CASTLEGREGORY (4^TH BATT.) AND DINGLE (5^TH BATT.)	LISTOWEL (6^TH BATT.) AND BALLYLONGFORD (8^TH BATT.)	CASTLEISLAND (7^TH BATT.)	BALLYMACELLIGOTT (7^TH BATT.)	DIED ELSEWHERE
THIS MEMORIAL ALSO COMMEMORATES THE OTHER MEN OF THE KERRY No.1 BRIGADE OF THE IRISH REPUBLICAN ARMY WHO DIED IN KERRY AND ELSEWHERE AND WHOSE NAMES ARE INSCRIBED ON THOSE PLINTHS	JOHN CLIFFORD JOHN CONWAY DANIEL DALY THOMAS DRUMMOND EUGENE FITZGERALD JOHN FLEMMING MICHAEL FLYNN THOMAS FLYNN DANIEL FOLEY PATRICK HANNAFIN WILLIAM HARRINGTON THOMAS HAWLEY CORNELIUS HEALY FRANK HOFFMAN SEAN MORIARTY WILLIAM MYLES GEORGE NAGLE JAMES O'CONNOR JOHNO'SULLIVAN JEREMIAH O'SULLIVAN PAT REIDY MICHAEL RYLE MICHAEL SINNOTT JAMESWALSH	THOMAS ARCHER JAMES BARRY JOHN CANTILLON EDWARD GREANEY JAMES HANLON REGINALD HATHAWAY JOHN HOULIHAN JOHN LAWLOR TIMOTHY LYONS MICHAEL MAGUIRE WILLIAM M^cCARTHY JAMES M^cENERY THOMAS M^cGRATH MICHAEL NOLAN DANIEL O'DRISCOLL GEORGE O'SHEA PATRICK O'SHEA TIMOTHY TWOMEY	THOMAS M. ASHE JOHN CASEY JAS. J. CRONIN MAURICE FITZGERALD THOMAS CREANEY PATRICK KENNEDY DANIEL(BOB) M^cCARTHY MICHAEL McKENNA THOMAS MORIARTY THOMAS O'SULLIVAN TIMOTHY SPILLANE	EDWARD CARMODY PATRICK DALTON MICHAEL CALVIN PATRICK HARTNETT JOHN LAWLOR JOHN LINNANE JEREMIAH LYONS MICHAEL (BOB) McELLIGOTT DANIEL SCANLON JOHN SHEEHAN PATRICK WALSH	MICHAEL BROSNAN PATRICK BUCKLEY JOHN DALEY THOMAS FLEMING PATRICK E. KENNY BERTIE MURPHY DANIEL MURPHY MICHAEL O'CONNELL DENIS O'CONNOR JEREMIAH O'LEARY JOHN PRENDIVILLE JOHN SAVAGE RICHARD SHAHAHAN JAMES WALSH	JAMES BAILY DENIS BRODERICK MICHAEL BROSNAN JOHN BROWNE ROBERT BROWNE JOHN FLYNN PATRICK HERLIHY RICHARD LAIDE JOHN LEEN JOHN McMAHON JOHN REIDY MAURICE REIDY	THOMAS ASHE LISPOLE CHARLIE DALY KNOCKANE DANIEL ENRIGHT LISTOWEL TIMOTHY O'SULLIVAN LISTOWEL PATRICK FORAN LISELTON CHARLIE HANLON LISTOWEL JAMES HICKEY KNOCKNAGOSHEL CHARLIE KERINS TRALEE MICHAEL MULVIHILL BALLYDUFF THE O'RAHILLY TARBERT THOMAS RUSSELL DINGLE PATRICK SHORTIS BALLYBUNION AUSTIN STACK TRALEE W. CONWAY O'CONNOR place not stated

photo: BJ

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Pádraig ó buacalla (Patrick Buckley)

Seán ó concubair (John O'Connor)

Seán ó dálaig (John Daley)

Séamus breatuac (James Walsh)

Pádraig ó hamthéada (Patrick Harnett)

Tadg ó tuama (Timothy Twomey)

Seomse ó séagda (George O'Shea)

Micheál ó conaill (Michael O'Connell)

Ar deis dé go raibh a h-anamne aca

(May their souls be at the right hand side of God)

FROM THIS DAY FORTH ALL

WHO PASS THIS WAY WILL

KNOW THAT THE MEN OF KERRY

WHO FOUGHT AND DIED FOR

IRELAND ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

AND THEIR MEMORY WILL

ENDURE AS LONG AS THIS

BRONZE MEMORIAL STANDS

AT BALLYSEEDY

UNSELFISH UPHOLDERS AND

FEARLESS DEFENDERS OF THE

IRISH REPUBLIC, THESE EIGHT

MEN OF KERRY WHOSE NAMES

WE TRACE WITH PRIDE AND

REMEMBER WITH HOMAGE

SUFFERED MARTYRDOM ON

THIS SPOT ON THE NIGHT OF

MARCH 6^TH - 7^TH 1923

THIS MEMORIAL ALSO

COMMEMORATES THEIR

COMRADES

DENIS BRODERICK

JOHN GALVIN

MICHAEL RYLE

SEAMUS TAYLOR

WHO DIED FOR IRELAND

IN THIS LOCALITY

Bail ó Sioda BALLYSEEDY

MAP

The precise locations of three white wooden Memorial Crosses on the Tralee-Killarney Road may be seen on this detail from a pre-1959 Ordnance Survey map of the Ballyseedy & Ballycarty area. The cross replaced in 1959 by the present Ballyseedy Monument is represented on the map as a dot a few metres to the east of "Ballyseedy Cross" road junction, on the north edge of the road.

Further to the east (on the south edge of the road, against the wall of the Earl of Desmond hotel) is the cross for Michale Ryle. To the west of "Ballyseedy Cross" road junction (on the south edge of the road) is the cross for Seamus Taylor.

The crosses for Jack Galvin (east side of Ballyseedy Road, within in a walled coach turning circle, directly opposite the lodge and entrance gate for Ballyseedy Castle) and for Denis Broderick (on the perimeter of a modern traffic roundabout at the junction of the Tralee, Killarney and Castleisland roads, a short distance east of Ballycarty Bridge) are not marked on this map.