BY JOHN FITZGERALD
(Part One)
The Kilkenny Heritage walkers braved torrential rain and high winds on Saturday to recall one of the most dramatic events of the War of Independence, the mass break-out from Kilkenny jail.
It happened more than a century ago this month. Veteran member Paddy Neary was joined by dedicated locals, some of whom (including Deirdre Mansfield and John Meany) had memorabilia of the jail, which was sadly demolished in 1948: A huge loss to the City’s heritage that is still keenly felt. Were it still standing, it might equal or even surpass the castle as a premier cultural and tourist attract.
Stories of jailbreaks are always exciting, but even more so when the escapees are P.O.W.s in a war situation. Books about wartime escapes from German prison camps are legion. But Kilkenny’s Great Escape ranks as one of the world’s most daring jailbreaks.
I’m indebted to the indefatigable Paddy Neary for information on this episode, and also to the late historian/author Jim Maher who gave me precious material on this and other highpoints of the freedom struggle back in 2002 for my book Kilkenny People Faces Places.
In the summer of 1921, a republican prisoner stumbled upon the existence of an abandoned cellar beneath a recreation cell in Kilkenny jail. This immediately inspired the men, who were serving sentences for their part in ambushes and other anti-Crown activities, to consider a mass breakout.
As all prisoners frequented the recreation wing, they had ample opportunity to prepare the way for an escape. They managed to make a hole in the floor through which they could enter the cellar, but ensured that the boards could be put back as required and covered with mats. They quickly got to work on the escape plan. Volunteers dropped down into the cellar, gaining access from there to another cellar where they began digging a tunnel.
It proved a laborious process. They worked only at night, and each man took his turn at digging, using knives, bits of iron, and pokers to break through the soil. Bed boards were used to bolster each side and the top of the rapidly lengthening tunnel. Clay was disposed of in makeshift sacks made from blankets. It was removed from the tunnel and heaped in the adjoining cellar. The authorities later reckoned that the men moved a staggering eight tons of soil.
The prisoners had an advantage in that a sympathetic warder, a man named Power, turned a blind eye to the amateur excavation work he knew was underway. Most of the tunneling happened while he was “on guard.”
The tunnel was completed by the onset of winter. It measured 50 yards in length, and was six feet deep. It ended just outside the outer wall of the prison in Rioch’s Street. The exit point was three feet in diameter.
The rebels agreed on November 22nd as the date for the breakout. They planned their escape bid to coincide with the darkness of a winter evening, and for a time they knew warder Power would be on duty. They knew also that the police presence around the jail would be withdrawn at 6 p.m. and that military personnel, though still guarding the prison, would have to undergo a changing of the guard at around the same time that the police departed.
Meanwhile, Republicans in the village of Dunnamaggin had learned of the proposed breakout attempt through the good offices of Aly Luttrell, a brave Cumann na Mban member from Garryricken who had already risked her life in many a “close call” with the Tans. She had delivered a message written by a prisoner the day before regarding the escape. It had been thrown out over the prison wall wrapped around a stone.
The Republican commander in Dunnamaggin, Denis Treacy, decided to help the men in their bid for freedom. He appointed six volunteers to travel to the city. They had orders to be ready in Patrick Street, Kilkenny, with ponies and traps to collect the prisoners at about 6.30 p.m.
To cover-up for Power, the prisoners bound and gagged him, placing him in a cell. He winked at the lads and wished them Godspeed as they tied him up! Larry Condon from Fermoy led the daring band of escapees. Martin Kealy, of Blanchfieldspark, Kilkenny, also gave leadership in his capacity as commander of the rebel inmates.
One by one, the men climbed down into the cellar and gathered at the entrance to the tunnel. Father Pat Delahunty, who had been a curate in Callan before his arrest and imprisonment for supporting the Republican cause, was among the group poised to escape. The other prisoners gave him the option of being the first to enter the tunnel out of respect for his priestly vocation.
But he stood aside and encouraged his comrades to go before him. He suggested that men awaiting execution be given priority, a sensible idea that met with instant approval.
At 6.40 p.m., Larry Condon led the way into the tunnel…
To be continued
(The Heritage Walkers group observed a minute’s silence on Saturday for one of its most devoted and knowledgeable supporters who passed away last week. Michael Brennan, formerly of St Fiacre’s Place, Co. Kilkenny, was a Mathematics lecturer in Waterford Regional College and he delivered hundreds of talks on a variety of heritage related themes at venues around the South East.
In recent years he was a stalwart devotee of the Heritage Walkers locally, contributing to their efforts to bring the history, architecture and archaeology of the county to life via guided walks
A text he sent a few weeks ago sums up his view of the weekly heritage tours: “I know there are many in the Saturday walkers group who will go through thick and thin to chalk up another dollop of local history and this is what I find most encouraging…”
Michael will be remembered and honoured for his wisdom and as a tireless champion of Irish culture and antiquities. May he find peace in a world elsewhere…
