Survey Data
Reg No
16003247
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Artistic, Historical, Social
Original Use
Monument
In Use As
Monument
Date
1895 - 1905
Coordinates
331852, 193869
Date Recorded
02/09/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Carved limestone monument, foundation stone laid 1899, having marble larger-than-life-size figure set on square-profile limestone plinth on a polished granite base. Marble panels to each face of plinth, with medallions to three faces, high relief sculpture to west face. Carved string courses with guilloche mouldings, inscribed recessed panels to plinth.
Appraisal
Memorial, unveiled 1900, dedicated to Billy Byrne, a local leader of the 1798 rebellion who was tried and executed in Wicklow. Its commissioning and erection mark the growing nationalist sentiment in the country, with the dates on the plinth 1798, 1803, 1848 and 1867 commemorating significant moments in the movement for independence. The panels show Erin, Michael Dwyer, General William J. Holt and William Michael Byrne. A local landmark, the statue, carved in the round, demonstrates the skill of nineteenth-century monumental sculptor and stonecarver, George Smyth of Dublin. Design attributed to Thomas Aloysius Coleman (1865-1950).