Re-enactment of historic Monster Meeting on Kilkenny-Tipp border this weekend

This Sunday, July 16th, a commemoration of the 1848 Monster Meeting on Slievenamon will take place.

Sunday marks the 175th anniversary of that historic Monster Meeting led by Thomas Francis Meagher and the Young Irelanders in very challenging conditions during the great famine.

There will be a re-enactment of those famous speeches on the top of the mountain and a raising of the tricolour that Thomas Francis Meagher brought back from France.

There is a full programme of events taking place with walkers leaving the village of Kilcash at 12 noon to assemble on the mountain. This is a free event open to all.

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At 2pm there will be a re-enactment of the ceremony on the top of Slievenamon, followed by music and refreshments in Kilcash from 4.30pm.

Events will begin on Saturday. At 8pm historian Dr Thomas McGrath will give a lecture on the Yong Irelanders Rebellion in 1848, followed by a re-enactment of the Monster Meeting, at Kilcash Community Centre.

A traditional Irish music sessions will follow in Kehoe's Pub, from 10pm.

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The pupils of the schools encircling the mountain have commemorated the 175th anniversary through art and creativity with magnificent life size pieces on display in an exhibition in Kilcash Community Centre.

1848 War House in Ballingarry

Dr McGrath will also lead next weekend's seventeenth annual Famine 1848 Walk in Ballingarry, on Saturday, 29 July.

Historian to lead Famine 1848 Walk

The Walk begins at 3pm at the Young Ireland 1848 and National Flag monument in the village of The Commons and proceeds to Famine Warhouse 1848, the scene of the Rising, now an OPW national heritage museum and visitor attraction.
The Walk follows the route of the Rising and takes less than hour to reach the house.