An evening of music and heritage in Raharney

An evening of music and heritage will take place in The Third Place, Raharney (next to St Brigid’s Church) on July 20 at 7pm, when the guests are singer Róisín Gaffney, artist Geraldine O’Reilly and local historian Aindrias O Duinn.

Roisin Gaffney will sing a song she composed ‘The Hill of Knockshebane’, based on a agrarian crime which occurred close to Killucan, on April 15, 1868, when Lord Howard Fetherstonhaugh, a local landlord, was shot dead.

On the day of his murder he was collected at 9pm from the train station in Killucan by his coachman William Fulham and in the gathering of darkness of an April evening as he started the ascent at Knockshebane a number of gun shots fatally wounded him.

Five men were arrested but nobody was charged. Roisin’s father Ned Gaffney (Ballyhaw, Killucan) loved song and story and she dedicates her song to his memory.

Geraldine O’Reilly, an accomplished Irish painter, drawer and print maker, is from Thomastown, Killucan, and is a member of Aosdána (the Irish association of artists).

Aindrias O Duinn set up the ‘Raharney Rathwire Killucan History’ Facebook page last April, and he is trying to kindle the flames of historic enthusiasm.

The site has almost 250 members now, and Aindrias (a Killucan native) is anticipating more support from local people and community groups acquiring historical documents with photos and stories from their past.

For more information on the evening and to reserve a seat, contact Ann Maher 087 9308405.