Renovated ‘Tallaght Martyrs’ monument unveiled in Glasnevin.

A ceremony was held in Glasnevin cemetery last Saturday to official unveil the newly restored monument to the Tallaght Martyrs.
The commemorative tribute was originally commissioned, and recently renovated by the National Graves Association to commemorate the event what is known as the ‘battle of Tallaght’ where 150 Fenians were ambushed on the road to Terenure by policemen from the RIC barracks in the then South Dublin village.

The  late historian Dr Shane Kenna, who sadly passed away last February, was remembered at the event.
 The former Seskin View Road resident was one of the foremost authorities on the Fenian movement.
His partner Edel, Mother Olive, brother John were invited to unveil the monument in Dr Kenna’s honour.

John Kenna spoke briefly saying “I’d like to thank organisers for inviting my family to the event, and remembering Shane at it”.

Event chair Seamus o’ Mídeach, of the National Graves Association, spoke about why the monument was originally commissioned, and the efforts to restore it, of which sculptor Robbie McGowan was warmly thanked.

 Lorcan Collins, acclaimed 1916 tour guide, and close friend of the late Dr. Kenna then spoke about the Fenian movement  in general.
He started his speech by remarking “I am giving this speech by default, as Shane should be here making this speech, as there was none with the foremost knowledge on the Fenians as Shane, but sadly he is not”

After the unveiling, the late historians mother Olive Kenna spoke to The Echo; “It was such a lovely event, and such an honour and a privilege to do it in Shane’s Honour”.

A book the writer had completed on ‘The Invincibles’, which was found on his laptop after his passing, is scheduled to be published in the new year.

Temploegue House a history

I wonder if many people who travel to work in the morning via the Tallaght Bypass, as they wait for the lights to change at Templeogue, realise that to their left, stands a building that James II slept in, after defeat in the Battle of the Boyne?
Templeogue House, also originally also referred to as Templeogue Castle, was owned by the Harold family in the 14^th Century.

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The owner of the lands upon which the house stands on had the duty to maintain the city watercourse, and in return they received tributes of corn from the mills that used the water.
In the 16^th Century, ownership of the house passed the Talbot family, who would be more famously known for their ownership of Malahide Castle, which they lived in for almost 800 years.
Henry Talbot lost control of the house, when he was transplanted in Connaught under the Cromwellian purges, but the family later regained control of the house, and it was leased by Henry’s son James to Sir Thomas Domvile in 1686 for the sum of £3,000, and he took ownership of the building upon James’s death at the Battle of Aughrim.

Possession was passed onto his son Compton, who rebuilt the house and laid out the gardens.
He was to court controversy when he obtained a pardon for his Nephew, Lord Santry, who was convicted of the murder of a servant at Palmerston Fair in 1738.
Sir Domvile had threated to cut off water supplies to the city unless the pardon was granted.
Sadly after passing, the house was left to rack and ruin, and was in quite an uninhabitable state when a Mr Gogerty became the new owner.

He demolished the existing structure, and built a completely new dwelling in its place.

In 1940 the house, now known as “Konstanz” after the town of the shore of lake Constance, once again came to prominence due to a Garda raid on the property.
In one of the bedrooms officers found German military clothing and medals, a parachute, $20,000 in cash and documents relating to espionage.
Then owner of Templeogue House, Stephen Carroll Held, acted as a go-between with the IRA and the Nazi regime.
His house guest, who had recently fled, was an SS officer by the name of Hermann Goertz, who landed by parachute into Ballivor Co Meath, with orders to advance plans for an IRA backed Nazi invasion of Ireland.

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In 1985 the walls which once surrounded nearby Templeogue Mill were demolished to make way for the new Tallaght Bypass.
In 1996, what was to be a ten year excavation of the site was undertaken by Archeologists, and quite a number of artefacts were found, including furniture and ornaments.
The building is now known as Saint Michael’s House, and caters for people requiring the need of disability support services.

GREGAN MAKES IT TO WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SEMI-FINALS

Olypic Stadium London

Brian Gregan

Donor Harriers Brian Gregan has once again proven he is one of the top sprinters in Europe by making it to the Semi-Finals of the Men’s 400m at the World Athletics Championships in London.

He was a tad unlucky to be drawn in what was deemed the much harder Semi-Final, which contained the bulk of the medal favourites, including the eventual Gold Medal winner Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa.

Gregan was in fine form coming into the Semi-Final after finishing third in his previous heat with a time of 45.37s, which was just 11 hundreths of a second off his Personal Best he set in Morton Stadium just a few weeks back.

To underline just how competitive the Semi-Final race was, Gregan finished ahead of Olympic Bronze Medallist LaShawn Merritt.
While obviously any athlete would be disappointed to not make a World Championship Final, Gregan will still be very happy at his time of 45.42 seconds, which left him in sixth place, just outside a qualifying berth for the final.

Given his riveting performances at the World Championships, and performances in the Diamond League meetings these past 12 months, the Tallaght man will be one of the favourites to take gold at the European Athletics Championships in Berlin a year from now.

Also competing for Ireland was Ratharnham WSAF’s Seán Hehir, who finished in 63^rd place in the Men’s Marathon with a time of 2 hours 27 minutes, and Dundrum South Dublin’s Siofra Cleirigh-Buttner who finished 6th in heat 5 of the Women's 800m.

She was over 2 seconds off an automatic qualifying place with a time of 2:06:54