Weekend of commemorations planned in Newcastle to mark centenary of General Liam Lynch's death

Plans have been unveiled for a series of commemorative events in Newcastle over the Easter Weekend (April 8 to 10) to mark the centenary of the death of General Liam Lynch, Chief of Staff of the anti-treaty IRA in the Civil War.

The Newcastle Liam Lynch Memorial Committee will begin the commemorations on Easter Saturday, April 8 with a Follow the Footsteps historical bus tour and the launch of the book: Liam Lynch: To Declare a Republic in Newcastle Community Hall that evening

A Follow the Footsteps walking tour is planned for Easter Sunday morning and will be followed by the screening of the film, The Dying Days - The Final Journey of General Liam Lynch 1923, in Newcastle Community Hall that evening at 7pm.

The main commemoration ceremonies will be on Easter Monday. It will start with a wreath laying ceremony at the Liam Lynch Monument at 9am to coincide with the time of his fatal wounding 100 years ago to the day. The committee will then return to Newcastle for the annual commemoration Mass.

The Mass will be preceded by the raising of the Irish flag and a parade through the village to the Church of the Assumption, led by the Liam Lynch Pipe Band.

After the Mass, a plaque will be unveiled at Nugent’s Pub in recognition of the events that took place in the house on April 10, 1923.

This will be followed by the annual commemoration event at Newcastle Community Hall where an oration will be delivered by Eamon O’Cuiv TD.

The Committee intends to publicly display memorabilia associated with Liam Lynch and the Volunteers/Cumann na mBan during that time.

It has issued a call out for memorabilia for the exhibition including old letters, equipment, photographs or historical accounts of the men and women who fought for Irish Independence between 1919-1923. All memorabilia will be treated with utmost care and returned to the owners after the Easter Weekend events.

A commemorative calendar has also been produced featuring photographs and written paragraphs honouring the legacy of Liam Lynch. It will be available for sale in the coming weeks and over the Easter Weekend.

The screening of the recently released 40-minute docudrama film by John Foley called “The Dying Days- The Final Journey of General Liam Lynch 1923” at Newcastle Community Hall on Easter Sunday evening will be one of the highlights of the weekend of commemorations. 

The film tells the story of the final months of the Civil War, focusing on the capture of Liam Lynch, Chief of Staff of the
Irish Republican Army in the Knockmealdown Mountains by Free State troops on April 10, 1923.

It was partly filmed at various locations around Newcastle and a number of local people are involved in the production, including committee members Michael Desmond and Matt Houlihan.

A very poignant scene within the film was set in Nugent’s Pub, Newcastle, the location where Lynch laywounded after having been carried from the Knockmealdowns by a party of Free State troops under the command of Lt. Laurence Clancy.

This scene portrays the emotional conversation Lynch had with Lt. Laurence Clancy before he was transferred by ambulance to Clonmel where he died later that day and sensitively portrays the pain associated with the Irish Civil War.

On Easter Saturday morning, the Follow the Footsteps Bus Tour will travel across many of the significant locations visited by General Lynch in his final days and weeks including locations in The Nire, Newcastle and Goatenbridge before visiting the Liam Lynch Monument the location where he was fatally wounded.

The launch of the book: “Liam Lynch: To Declare a Republic” by historian Gerard Shannon in Newcastle Community Hall that evening will be followed by an evening of traditional music, song and story in Newcastle Community Hall.

Meanwhile, the Follow the Footsteps Walking Tour on Easter Sunday morning will retrace the journey taken by Liam Lynch, Frank Aiken, Seán Hyde, Seán O’Mara, Bill Quirke and local scouts Michael Condon and Bill Houlihan from Houlihans' house to the spot where Lynch was fatally wounded.

The walk will then follow the path back to Newcastle before reaching Nugent’s Pub. There will be two options with a
shorter 6km walk and a longer 11.5km walk back to Newcastle.

The village of Newcastle has had a long association with General Liam Lynch and an annual commemoration has been held in the village every April since 1935 after the original Liam Lynch Memorial Committee formed in the area in 1934 to raise funds to build the Liam Lynch Monument.

Having successfully fundraised far and wide, including in the USA, former comrades of General Lynch and the Liam Lynch Memorial Committee constructed the impressive Round Tower in his memory at the place where he was shot on the Knockmealdown Mountains above Newcastle village. 

Following the unveiling of the Monument in 1935, the committee of locals, mainly from Newcastle, Ballybacon and Fourmilewater, committed to holding a commemoration in Newcastle in April of each year.

The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass has been celebrated every year since then in Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Newcastle on the Sunday nearest to April 10, the day that General Liam Lynch died.

The Chairman, Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath, and the Newcastle Liam Lynch Memorial Committee
look forward to welcoming large crowds to Newcastle over the Easter Weekend.

The Committee hope their full programme of commemorative events will fittingly mark the centenary of Lynch’s death and honour the memory of a man who was prepared to lay down his life and refuse to compromise his belief in a true 32 county Republic of Ireland. 

Many of the commemoration events have limited capacity. Tickets for them go on sale from Wednesday, March 1 in local shops and online at: www.liamlynchcommemorationnewcastle.ie in the coming weeks.

For more information contact Maura on (086) 8780891 or Triona on (087) 9525770. Alternatively email: liamlynchcommemoration@gmail.com. You can also follow the Liam Lynch Centenary Newcastle pages on Facebook and Instagram to keep up to date.