OPINION (AN COLÚN): Lorrha history lovers publish fascinating magazine

THE history lovers of Lorrha have published their annual edition of their fascinating magazine The Lamp.
As with the previous editions, this year's offering is once again beautifully produced and very well written. It features a number of articles by 13 different authors as well as an excellent poem. This poem challenges our society's status quo with its neverending and worsening housing and homelessness crisis.
Lorrha Dorrha Archaeological and Historical Society (LDAHS) have been going for many years and they remain a very active and friendly group of people, who share a commendably open attitude to history. For those who are good historians the facts are king. Good historians realise that our nationality, upbringing and culture can sometimes get in the way of uncomfortable truths and they strive to transcend that. Like good journalists they are wary of falling into propaganda and the temptation to lionise famous people. The best of historians and journalists realise that everybody has feet of clay. In Christian parlance - we are all sinners!
LDAHS has been driven for many years by a number of locals who, in different times, would have been called scholars and gentlemen (a nomenclature of praise which unfortunately has gone out of fashion in our often wrongheaded world). Amongst these are David Broderick and James Heenan. In this year's edition David has written a poignant story about a Lorrha woman's plea to join her Australia bound husband in 1826. The article takes us into a harsher world when the cause of human rights was considerably less developed (when I read articles like these I thank God that I wasn't born back then and that I emerged into the universe during a more enlightened time). David worked hard to create this article. He visited the National Archives of Ireland, on Bishop St, Dublin, which holds millions of records, including wills, land records, census returns, maps and diaries. Here he was seeking information about the Famine period in Lorrha. A lot of it was dull, concerned with the collection of rates rather than individual human experience. Then he came across an intriguing letter. The letter was a plea on behalf of Mary McCaffrey from Lorrha to join her husband who was about to be transported to Australia for committing a crime. The letter was addressed to Richard Wellesley, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (who was the older brother of the Duke of Wellington) and was signed by several local gentry, clergy and landowners. It was signed, poignantly, by Mary with an X which almost certainly indicates that she could neither read nor write. I won't tell you what the outcome of Mary's plea was. Suffice to say, you will need to buy the magazine!
David's other article in The Lamp is called “Turning a New Leaf on the History of the Lorrha Missal: A Local Re-examination of the Site of its Discovery”. In this article David suggests that the Lorrha Missal and its shrine were not found in Lackeen Castle but in the 17th-century house beside the castle.
In his article “Cattle, Cattle Raids & O'Carroll's Cattle Raids” James Heenan shines a light on the concept of cattle in early Irish law and the early church, and focuses on Tadgh O'Carroll's cattle raids in the Barony of Lower Ormond. For many centuries, cattle in Ireland were a massively important part of the country's economic life. They were also the cause of a lot of ugly, criminal behaviour. In his article James points out that many of the roadways through the Irish landscape may have originally been cattle tracks. He also points out that there are many references to Cattle Raids in the various Annals. The Annals of the Four Masters contain over 500 references to cattle raiding, between AD 849 to 1603. One of the most important works of Irish literature, the Táin Bó Cúailnge, is about a Cattle Raid.
Gerard O'Meara, the author of the meticulously researched book “Lorrha People in the Great War” (published in 2016) has written two articles for this year's edition of The Lamp. In one of these articles Ger tells the story of two Lorrha men's experiences in the advance to the Selle (WW1). It's called “Michael Meara and Mick Larkin - Advance to the Selle.” In the Battle of the Selle Michael Meara was killed by a shell.
“The Lamp 2026” is now available at various outlets including the Scéal shop in Lorrha; Mulrooney's Gala Lorrha The Ferry Service Station; Colette's Hair, Scalp & Wig Salon, Lorrha; and PJ Heenan and Son, Borrisokane. The magazine is also available from James Heenan and David Broderick.
“This publication is priced at €12,” James said, “and contains 68 pages of local history, stories and heritage. Postage & Packaging within Ireland is €15; in the UK it's €20. The payment options include https://pay.sumup.com/b2c/QN32L9MK or Revolut: 087 2031798.”

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