One of Bansha's most famous sons remembered at special ceremony

116 years after it was first erected, a headstone to the memory of the poet and patriot, Darby Ryan, has been rededicated by his descendants at a ceremony at Bansha’s Old Cemetery, where the remains of Darby lie.

Born in circa 1779, Darby is remembered particularly for having penned the song and ballad The Peeler and the Goat, which has been recorded by The Wolfe Tones, amongst others.

On Thursday last August 24, the great, great, great grandchildren of Darby Ryan, were joined by other relatives (from Ireland and England) along with members of the wider community for an event to remember the life of one of Bansha’s most famous sons.

John and Claire Grogan had travelled from the US to preside over the rededication ceremony and John addressed the gathering by speaking about how this ceremony and event had come about.

“We are all here because of circumstances and situations and I think it is important to understand how this all came about.

“It’s like many things in life; accidents happen when you least expect it. My sister and I were both very fortunate to come back to Ireland in 1955 when we were 10-years-old.

“My mother decided that it was safer for us to be in Bansha rather than New York City for the holidays. We spent our summers here growing up.

“We were exposed to Bansha, Tipperary and Ireland and we never forgot it. My sister and I have been coming back all of our lives.

“As you may know there was nobody to take over the family business (Grogan’s Bar/Glen Bar) after my Aunt Rena and Johnny Doherty passed away, but we never ever came back to Ireland without visiting the grave sites.

“A year and a half ago my sister and I were here and we visited the grave of Darby Ryan. We were aware of Darby but to be very honest not in a significant manner.

“We walked over here and saw the condition of this headstone and my sister said why don’t we see about restoring Darby’s headstone.

“My twin sister Claire deserves all the credit for this as she put this in motion.

“We met with Wally Cositgan from Cahir to discuss the restoration work and during this time we picked up Martin Quinn’s book Tipperary People of Great Note which featured two of our ancestors, and Claire suggested that we get in contact with Martin.

“That first contact with Martin started a chain of events that created this tonight. He wrote a newspaper article in The Nationalist and from that low and behold Mary Alice O’Connor arrived and asked to meet.

“Mary Alice and Billy Morrissey met with me and asked if we planned to do anything to remember Darby and I said that we planned a small get together with some cousins in August but look at what happened!

“Here we are and because of the efforts of Mary Alice and her team we have this event this evening.

“Because of the seed that was planted by Martin, we would not be here, and what's so important is that circumstances and situations create these things, so what I would like to say is thank you very much and I would like to conclude this part of the proceedings by reading a poem that Martin Quinn has written for this occasion titled The Bard of Bansha as I feel it captures who Darby Ryan was and his circumstances and situations,” concluded John.

After John had finished his address there was a street theatre element to proceedings as Liam Bergin came to the grave to speak about the Bard and the people of Bansha who sought to honour him with a headstone that featured an anchor.

Then it was on to the adjoining Templeneiry Church for a programme which was compered by Mary Alice O’Connor and featured a talk on some historical records related to Darby Ryan by Dr Des Marnane along with music by harpist Ruth O’Connor, poetry readings by Nancy Leahy and Donnchadh O’Dhuibhir, and songs The Peeler and the Goat performed by John Russell and The Galbally Farmer performed by Seán Quinn.

The committee which was under the auspices of the Glen of Aherlow Fáilte Society included Mary Alice O’Connor, Billy Morrissey, Liam Bergin, Anne Whyte, Nancy Murphy, Kitty O’Donovan, Dr Des Marnane, Johnny Murphy, James and Breda Hayes, Helen Morrissey, Nuala Gleeson, Donnchadh O’Dhuibhir and John Grogan.

An interesting footnote to the story of Darby Ryan concerns his headstone which has been the subject of many stories over the years.

The anchor would seem to indicate a maritime connection. Perhaps it relates to Darby’s travel overseas or to the sourcing of the headstone in some coastal county as per local lore?

However my research on Darby indicates that the headstone was in fact sourced in Tipperary Town.

The Irish Independent of Tuesday September 17, 1907 reads as follows; “A memorial has been erected in the graveyard at Bansha, County Tipperary, to the memory of Darby Ryan, who wrote the famous song, The Peeler and the Goat and other ballads.

The inscription is in Irish and in English, and the memorial reflects great credit on Mrs Bracken’s contract works, St Michael Street, Tipperary, where it was executed”.

The Mrs Bracken mentioned in the article was none other than the wife of Joseph K. Bracken, one of the Founders of the GAA.

They had a monumental sculpting business in Templemore, which expanded to yards in Clonmel and Tipperary Town.

So whatever the reason for the anchor the headstone was in fact executed in Tipperary Town. Regardless of the headstone the tribute to Darby was not before time and was well deserved for one of Bansha’s most famous sons.

Written by Martin Quinn