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The Friary Street Ambush

15/02/21 14:55

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“Supported by the Department of Tourism,  Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media under the Decade of Centenaries 2012-2023 initiative.”

To mark the hundred year anniversary of the Friary Street Ambush this month, in the Podcast below, Author and Historian Eoin Swithin Walsh looks at the only ambush to occur in Kilkenny City during the War of Independence and its tragic aftermath. 

The-Friary-Street-Ambush---Kilkenny---1921.mp3 (size 22.1 MB)

Michael-Dermody-fatally-wounded-on-Friary-Street,--Kilkenny-1921-aged-25 Michael Dermody  Thomas-Hennessy-killed-on-Friary-Street--Kilkenny-1921-aged-31.jpg Thomas Hennessy

''The only ambush that took place in Kilkenny City during the War of Independence era occurred on Friary Street - just off High Street in the city centre - on Monday morning, 21 February 1921. A convoy of British soldiers who transported rations from Kilkenny barracks to Kilkenny Jail daily, were attacked. It was planned by the 1st Kilkenny Battalion. Unfortunately, it was a disaster for the local IRA with two of their number losing their lives - Thomas Hennessy (aged 31) and Michael Dermody (aged 25), both from Threecastles. In addition, one civilian - Thomas Dullard (aged 37), a father of five from Walkin Street - who was in 'the wrong place at the wrong time', was killed in the crossfire. Find out the full story of the Friary street ambush in this podcast including the planning, what went wrong, and the aftermath, in what turned out to be a tragic day in Kilkenny's history."

Handdrawn-British-Army-Map-showing-where-the-three-men-fell-on-Friary-Stree-Kilkenny