The arm, the hollow, the crowd
Dan Donnelly
Daniel Donnelly was born in Dublin in 1788, one of seventeen children, trained as a carpenter, and turned to bare-knuckle fighting by a patron who spotted something in him. He was already Ireland's champion when George Cooper — one of England's best — was brought to the Curragh to face him on 13 December 1815, the year of Waterloo. Twenty thousand people stood in the hollow to watch. Donnelly finished Cooper in eleven rounds with a shot that broke his jaw. The crowd named the hollow for him on the spot, then pressed the shape of his feet into the turf as he climbed out. Those 45 footprints are still there. Donnelly died in 1820, aged 31, of what the period called 'drink-related illness'. The night of the funeral, body snatchers dug him up and sold the corpse to a Dublin surgeon. The surgeon removed the right arm for anatomical study and reburied the rest. The arm changed hands several times over the following century — displayed at fairs, sold between collectors — before ending up at the Hideout pub in Kilcullen in 1953, where it sat behind glass for forty years. It is now in a museum in Clane. The footprints are still on the Curragh.
Natural amphitheatre, permanent memorial
Donnelly's Hollow
The hollow sits on the Athgarvan side of the Curragh — a natural dip in the plain that formed something close to an amphitheatre and let 20,000 people stand around the ring and actually see the fight. There is a stone memorial at the lowest point. Leading uphill from it are the 45 footstep impressions, still visible, that mark the path Donnelly walked out of the hollow after the fight. The custom is to follow them up. Some are easier than others depending on the season. The monument and the hollow are free and open; you park on the road and walk in.
Ireland's last family saddlery, since 1880
Berney Brothers
Four and five generations of the Berney family have been making saddles on Main Street since 1880. This is not a heritage attraction — it is a working saddlery producing saddles for a county that still runs thoroughbreds. The Curragh is six kilometres down the road; the Aga Khan's stud farms are nearby; the logic is built into the landscape. Berney Saddles are the oldest continuously produced saddles in these islands. You can walk in and watch the work if the door is open, which it usually is.
Round tower, high crosses, 1798
Old Kilcullen
Two kilometres from the town centre, on a hill with a view over the Curragh plain, is Old Kilcullen — the site of the original 5th-century monastic settlement assigned by St. Patrick to Bishop Mac Táil around 448 AD. The round tower, built in the 9th or 10th century against Viking raids, originally rose over 30 metres with four windows. The 1798 Battle of Kilcullen was fought here — 300 United Irishmen used the churchyard walls as a fort against General Dundas's forces — and the tower took damage that reduced its four windows to one. That single window is still visible. Two decorated high cross shafts stand in the circular graveyard. The Viking raids of 936 and 944 each carried off over a thousand prisoners — which tells you how large and wealthy this place once was.