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TIPPERARY TOWN |
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Twelve miles from Cashel and less than five from the border of
Limerick, stands TIPPERARY town, at the northern side of the Glen of
Aherlow. Like many of these namesake county towns, Tipperary is much
less important than it sounds. If you've already visited Clonmel, it
will come as something of a shock - compared to Clonmel's yuppy
prosperity, Tipperary feels somewhat down at heel. The town has bold
statues sculpted in granite here and there, most notably one to its
literary local son, Charles J. Kickham, entitled Poet, Novelist but
above all Patriot .
You might want to stop over briefly to take in the small and intriguing
museum (Mon-Sat 9.30am-5pm; free) hidden away in the foyer of the town
swimming pool, by the Cashel Road exit. A tiny store of memorabilia, it
exhibits photos, letters and weaponry from the warring years of 1919 to
1923, especially relating to the old IRA. Tipperary was a particularly
hot spot during the Anglo-Irish and Civil War strife, especially through
its most remembered son, Seán Tracey , whose battalion fired the first
shots of the Anglo-Irish War (1919-21). There are letters he wrote to
his family from prison, some talking about the honour the British had
bestowed on him by taking the trouble to get him captured, others of a
more domestic nature. A violin belonging to Joseph Mary Plunkett (one of
the poets executed in the 1916 rising) hangs beside revolvers, pistols
and land mines. Most striking of all, perhaps, are the photographs of
the young officers shown clenching their revolvers, either posturing a
rebel's stance of defiance or slightly abashed, with innocent-looking
smiles.
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