The Irish Rapparee/Highwaymen.

The Irish Rapparee/Highwaymen.

The Irish Highwaymen were really at the height of their powers around the seventeenth and into the late eighteenth century and were very busy on the main roads leading in and out of the cities in Kerry, Cork, Dublin and Galway.  They had a romantic air about them, a little bit like the Irish version of those famous English outlaws Robin Hood and Dick Turpin.  It was said that like their English counterparts they only robbed the rich (Usually English or Anglo-Irish Landlords) and left the poor peasants alone and for this reason they were generally aided by the peasants who offered them aid and shelter or a place to stable their horse. 

However, this in itself carried a severe risk for if you were caught harbouring a highwayman the penalty was death by hanging.  It was even said that you would be denied a decent burial in consecrated ground; instead you would be buried at the crossroads or in the local Cillin.

The term Rapparee comes from an Old Irish word meaning a pike wielding person.  The pike was a long thrusting spear used in close combat. Rapparees were usually footpads (common robbers).  The footpads had no scruples, they formed small gangs and would just as soon rob the priest of his collection money as thrust a pike into an English gentleman for the gold in his purse.

 The Highwaymen however came from a higher class of criminal. It was said they were disposed Irish gentlemen, robbed of their land by the English invaders during Cromwell’s infamous time in Ireland. These dispossessed Irish gentlemen usually had some military training, they could afford a horse, a gun, and sometimes a short sword rather than a pike and they usually didn’t murder their victims. 

There are many stories told concerning the exploits of the Highwaymen, some are told in song. The Wild Rover, Brennan on the moor, and one of my favourites, Whiskey in the Jar, a song of betrayal which is said to refer to Patrick Fleming who was hanged in 1650. 

In County Mayo we had our own notorious Highwayman, his name was Captain Gallagher.  He was born in Bonniconlon but reared in Derryonane near Swinford by his aunt. In many ways he was Irelands answer to Dick Turpin.  A folk hero and a champion of the peasant classes who suffered injustice and oppression at the hands of the rich and ruling classes.

He led a small band of men armed with blunderbusses and they operated over quite a wide area stretching from Bonniconlon to Swinford and including Attymass, Lough Talt and Foxford.  They were known to be utterly fearless and had no problem carrying out robberies in broad daylight.  They also had no qualms about robbing the houses of the rich almost on a nightly basis, it was said that nowhere was beyond Gallagher’s reach.

Captain Gallagher has become part of the folklore of County Mayo and his generosity to the poor and his ability to escape the clutches of the Redcoats and retreating to the Ox Mountains is legendary. The people of Swinford will recall that one of Gallagher’s hiding places was Ballylyra Woods which is close to the present day Knock Airport and it has been suggested that he even had a house on Glass Island near Pontoon.

Some of the stories told about Gallagher’s exploits include one that is told concerning a shop in Foxford. Apparently it was robbed on a regular basis and the owner was at his wits end. You see he had hired a night watchman but it did no good, his shop was still robbed and the culprit seemed to fade away. Captain Gallagher offered his services and hid in a large chest in a dark corner of the shop. The night watch man arrived shortly afterwards and proceeded to rob the place.  Gallagher jumped out of the box and held him captive until the shopkeeper had him tied up. It turned out it was the night watchman who was the thief all along.

Another story tells us of a woman who was coming home from the fair in Tubbercurry. She had been there to sell her house cow in order to pay her rent to her landlord. We all know how important that cow must have been to her family as it would have supplied milk, butter, cheese, and buttermilk. The poor woman must have been in a desperate situation in order to be forced to sell it.

Just as she was passing through the windy gap, nightfall was fast approaching and all of a sudden she saw a dark shadow coming towards her. A person spoke and asked her where she was going at this time of day and why did she seem to be in such a hurry.

“I’m trying to get home before dark sir. It’s on account of Captain Gallagher, I’m afraid he might rob me of what little I have sir”.

Captain Gallagher questioned her and upon finding out her reason for going to the fair he gave her the full price of the cow so she could buy a new one and he also gave her the money to pay her rent to the landlord.  He told her to go safely home and tell whoever she knew that Captain Gallagher was not as bad as he was painted.

Captain Gallagher reign was finally ended when his band of men were captured near Westport, Gallagher escaped but was finally captured near Foxford.  According to one story he was staying in a house where he was recovering from an illness. He was given a meal that had been laced with poteen and upon falling into a deep sleep the people of the house tied him up and sent word to the Redcoats in Foxford.  Another version blames a jealous neighbour and in order to save his host Gallagher surrendered. Whichever version you believe is not really relevant to the final outcome. The Redcoats alerted Ballina, Swinford, and Castlebar, a huge force turned up and Gallagher already bound was taken to Castlebar to be hanged after a hasty sham trial.

His execution is said to have been the last public hanging to take place on the hanging tree opposite Daly’s Hotel on the Mall in Castlebar in 1818.

Charles Gavan Duffy, the Young Irelander wrote a ballad called The Rapparees:

 “Now Sassenach and Cromweller, take heed of what I say, Keep down your black and angry looks that scorn us night and day; For there’s a just and wrathful Judge that every action sees, And He’ll make strong, to right our wrong, the faithful Rapparees”.