North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

The Hills Have Eyes

The Srahnalong river, the Skeltia ridge and Maamtrasna mountain, photographed in late January 2007..

The first murder trial held in Galway since the State was founded began last week. In fact, it's the first trial since 1882, since the Maamtrasna Murders*.

Being a bailiff for a landlord was an unpopular job in Ireland, and more so after the Famine, since bailiffs were at the forefront of evictions. Lord Ardilaun was the great grandson of Arthur Guinness, owned a fair chunk of County Galway and called a Ashford Castle home. His philanthropy, which included creating St. Stephen's Green in Dublin , clearly didn't impress the locals in Maamtrasna, the soggy land squeezed between Lough Mask and the dark cliffs of the Maamtrasna hills. The bodies of his bailiffs for that area were found in the lake.

The killing didn't end there. On the night of the 17th of August, 1882, the family of John Joyce was all but wiped out. His wife, mother, son and daughter were all beaten to death - he had been beaten before being shot to death. Another, younger, son survived. Their crime ? It was rumoured that they knew who had killed the bailiffs. Joyce's older son had lived long enough to tell the police who had attacked them, and ten local men were arrested. Two of them confessed and informed on the others. They were tried in the Galway courthouse and found guilty. They were all sent to the Galway Jail across the river (the Cathedral of St. Nicholas is built on the site) and three of them were hanged out the back for the murder, on December 15, 1882. One of the three men executed [Myles Joyce] was a cousin of John Joyce, and went to the gallows claiming his innocence.

* See Jarlath Waldron's Maamtrasna, the Murders & the Mystery for the full story.

Camera= Canon 5D, lens= Canon 24-105@24mm, ISO=100, aperture=f11, speed=5 sec, tripod, .3 Lee grey grad.

maamtrasna, mayo, skeltia, maumtrasna, lilliput, lough ennel,galway, ireland, irishblogs, photoblogs, photography, galwayblogs, westmeath, monasette, Canon, 5D, march, 2007

Posted by Monasette at March 11, 2007 07:36 PM