One hundred years ago this week Charleville man Seán O Brien was murdered by Crown forces at his hardware shop at Main Street Charleville in a reprisal attack. Here local historian and genealogist Evelyn O Keeffe, who is chair of Charleville Heritage Society, researched the details and recalls the terrible event, and its aftermath. Terrible Fate of Well-known Charleville Shopkeeper was the headline 100 years ago this week when Sean O Brien, a hardware merchant was murdered.
Sean died from his wounds as his wife and young daughter bore witness to his terrible end. At 8.30pm there was a knock on the door. The Tans came into the town looking for blood that night, a Volunteer attack earlier that day on an RIC patrol in Charleville had maddened the Tans.
The Shandrum Ceili Band, led by the gifted Buttevant traditional musician Alan Finn, will be among the 300 artists participating in this year s virtual St. Patrick s Day Fest on a dedicated television channel on their website SPF TV from March 12-17.
The theme of the festival is Dúisigh Éire (Awaken Ireland) in which they invite people to throw off the dark days we have endured through the pandemic, and rise to embrace the brighter days ahead.
The Shandrum band s performance, which was commissioned by the St. Patrick s Fest, was filmed by Kanturk s Cal Callaghan of On Track Film Company, at Doneraile Park. The house and estate are the former home of the St. Leger family and now one of the most popular parkland amenities in the country that is visited by thousands of people each year.