Plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of General Liam Lynch’s shooting by Free State forces during the Civil War will take place this Easter weekend. This year to mark the centenary of his death the programme of events that will take place are expected to attract large crowds. Commemoration events will take place nationwide with three counties featuring major centenary events. People are arriving from as far away as Argentina, Australia and America to take part in those events. The following are the most notable events. Commemoration events will mainly take place in:
- Anglesborough, Co Limerick, where Liam Lynch was born and grew up
- Newcastle, Co Tipperary near where he was shot and fatally wounded in the Knockmealdown Mountains.
- Fermoy, Co Cork where he is laid to rest in the Republican Plot at Old Kilcrumper Cemetery.
Main Events Itinerary
Newcastle. Easter Saturday 10.30am. Bus Tour. (€15 per head) This will travel across many of the significant locations visited by General Lynch in his final days and weeks including locations in the Nire, Newcastle, and Goatenbridge before visiting the Liam Lynch monument — the location where he was fatally wounded.
Newcastle. Easter Saturday evening 7.30pm Book Launch. A book entitled Liam Lynch: Irish Revolutionary will be launched by historian Gerard Shannon followed by an evening of traditional music, song, and story in Newcastle Community Hall.
Fermoy. Easter Sunday 10am to 7pm. As part of the commemorative event, the Liam Lynch National Commemoration Committee will hold a reception for all those attending the parade in the Fermoy Youth Centre from 10am to 7pm on Easter Sunday. Included in this will be refreshments tea/coffee/sandwiches, Irish music, an exhibition on the life of General Liam Lynch (compiled by Neil O’Donovan), Fermoy. Easter Sunday, April 9th 2pm, a commemorative parade will start in Fermoy at 2pm. It will leave the town centre’s Commandant Michael Fitzgerald Monument and proceed to Lynch’s grave at Kilcrumper.
Newcastle. 10am Easter Sunday Morning. ‘Follow the Footsteps’ walking tour will retrace the journey taken by Liam Lynch, Frank Aiken, Seán Hyde, Seán O’Mara, Bill Quirke, and local scouts Michael Condon and Bill Houlihan from Houlihan’s House to the spot where Lynch was wounded.
Newcastle 7pm Easter Sunday Screening of film (€10 per head) The Dying Days — The Final Journey of General Liam Lynch.
Easter Sunday night April 9 at 7.30pm Firgrove Hotel, Mitchelstown. Sinn Fein lecture and dinner. Guest speaker Gerard Shannon, academic and author who has written a new book, To Declare For A Republic, about the life and death of Lynch.
Newcastle. Easter Monday 9am Monument Wreath Laying at the Liam Lynch monument coinciding with the time of his fatal wounding 100 years ago to the day.
Newcastle. Raising of the Tricolour 11.45am. Tigh na nDaoine followed by pipe band parade to church
Newcastle annual commemoration Mass 12 Noon. in memory of General Lynch preceded by the raising of the tricolour and a parade through the village to the Church of the Assumption led by the Liam Lynch Pipe Band.
Newcastle. 1pm Unveiling of plaque at Nugent’s Pub following the Mass, in recognition of the events there on April 10, 1923, when a mortally-wounded Lynch was brought there by the Free State forces who shot him.
Newcastle. 1.30pm. Oration by TD Éamon Ó Cuív. This will be followed by the unvailing. The committee will also host a public display of memorabilia associated with Lynch and, the volunteers, and Cumann na mBan.
Anglesborough Easter Monday, April 10, 1pm, Sinn Fein General Liam Lynch commemoration. Main speaker Mary Lou McDonald Sinn Féin president. The Liam Lynch Pipe Band, Anglesborough and Castlelyons Thomas Kent Pipe Band including a Tipperary colour party will attend.
Anglesborough Community Centre Easter Monday followed by a free screening of John Foley’s film The Dying Days of General Liam Lynch in the community hall in Anglesborough.
Additional Screenings
The Dying Days of General Liam Lynch
The Gealach Gorm Theatre in Kill, Co Waterford Sunday, March 9
Youth Club on Ashe Quay, Fermoy at 3pm, on April 9, with a possible second screening at 4pmding demand;
Newcastle, Co Tipperary at 7pm Sunday, March 9 in the community hall with an additional screened at 8.30pm depending on demand.
Dungarvan cinema on March 23 at 7pm for a second showing in the town
The community hall in Ballymacarbery, Co Waterford, on April 16 at 8.30pm.
Additional events will take place nationwide. For more information, people can contact Tríona on 087 9525770 or Maura on 086 8780891. They can also email liamlynchcommemoration@gmail.com.
Liam Lynch
1
On the Knockmealdown mountains on an April day
When pursued by Free Stater’s, to avoid an affray
Liam Lynch and his comrades moved quietly away
By Free Stater’s outflanked, it was his final fray
Mortally wounded, he lay bleeding behind
He was called by the Lord to join his noble kind
He gave his young life on that high mountain fast
A true son of Éireann was Liam Lynch to the last
Chorus
Brave hero Liam Lynch how proud is your name
Your memory for ever lives in honour and fame
Like Éireann’s great Chieftains that our nation define
Four noble wolfhounds guard your towering shrine
2
Your columns great exploits in your own daring way
Routed RIC traitors and the Tans in each fray
Mallows military garrison they yielded to Liam
So daring his exploits, great tales like a dream
Pursued by Free Stater ‘s a rump of the Crown
In his glorious prime young Liam Lynch was shot down
His memory for ever marks that high mountain place
A proud son of Éireann a true scion of his race
3
By his former comrades, he was tragically slain
With Éireann’s great heroes Liam now lays his claim
Exemplary always free from blemish or stain
We will not let his great deeds be lost or in vain
Each year in his honour on that high mountainside
We gather to honour his memory with pride
Called there in his memory by a lone pipers sound
His deeds are recounted by the crowd gathering round
© Tomas O’Riain 2021
Sung to the tune of “The Lough Sheelin Eviction