Survey Data
Reg No
13301003
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Monument
In Use As
Monument
Date
1925 - 1930
Coordinates
218653, 290671
Date Recorded
03/08/2005
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Freestanding memorial monument, erected 1928, commemorating the 150th anniversary of the Battle of Ballinamuck (1798). Comprises a statue of a wounded Irish pike man, carved in white Sicilian marble, over a moulded stepped ashlar granite base (on square-plan), having marble commemorative plaques to each face with inscriptions in English and Gaelic. Enclosed by wrought-iron railings, rubble sandstone plinth wall to the front (west). Located to front of visitor’s centre (13301002) to the centre of Ballinamuck village.
Appraisal
Designed by Mr B. Hughes of Dublin, this finely carved memorial monument exhibits fine design and skilled craftsmanship. The statue depicts a wounded Irish pike man, with bandage to forehead, clutching a broken shaft and defiantly facing his adversaries. He is dressed in the peasant style of the time in knee breeches and brogues, thus representing the local rebels who heroically took part in the last stand of the Battle of Ballinamuck, 1798. This poignant and well-composed monument acts as a suitable memorial to one of the major events in the history of County Longford and is an integral element of the built heritage of the area.