POSTED FROM

HOLLYFORD

CO. TIPPERARY · IE

Hollyford
Áth Cuillinn, Co. Tipperary

The Ireland's Ancient East
STOP 06 / 06

Áth Cuillinn · Co. Tipperary

One night in 1920, a rooftop, some grenades, and the RIC never came back.

Hollyford is a small village on the R497 in the Slieve Felim foothills - a pub, a school, a co-op, a church (St. Joseph's), and a GAA club that carries a bigger name than the village itself. The surrounding hills fold it in on most sides. At night in clear weather the silence is near-total.

The reason anyone outside the parish knows Hollyford at all is a single night in May 1920. The RIC had a barracks here, and the Third Tipperary Brigade decided to take it. Ernie O'Malley, Séumas Robinson, Seán Treacy and Dan Breen led the column. They broke through the roof with hammers, dropped grenades and lit petrol-soaked turf through the holes, while Treacy's covering party kept the constables pinned behind the portholes. The police held out until first light. Then they left and did not return. The barracks is gone now, but the attack is the fixed point the village returns to.

The GAA club, Sean Treacy's, was founded in 1962 and named for the man who stood in the darkness below the barracks that night - Seán Treacy, who died later that year in a gunfight on Talbot Street in Dublin at the age of 25. The club plays in blue and gold and covers the three parishes of Hollyford, Kilcommon and Rearcross. For a village this size, the parish structure carries more of the community than any single institution.

Population

~100

Walk score

Village end to end in three minutes

Coords

52.6167° N, 8.1167° W

01 / 06

At a glance.

Three things every local will eventually mention. Read these and you've already understood more than most day-trippers do.

01 The barracks attack

The night the Third Tipperary Brigade came to town.

On 11 May 1920, Ernie O'Malley and Séumas Robinson led an IRA column onto the roof of the RIC barracks. Hammers, grenades, petrol-soaked turf sods. The police held on through the night but left Hollyford for good the next morning.

Stories & lore → 02 Sean Treacy's GAA

Named for the man who was there that night.

The GAA club covers the parishes of Hollyford, Kilcommon and Rearcross. It is named after Seán Treacy, who commanded the covering party during the barracks attack. Blue and gold. Founded 1962.

Stories & lore → 03 The Slieve Felim hills

The road climbs almost immediately.

Hollyford sits in a valley at the edge of the Slieve Felim range. The hills start where the village ends. The R497 south winds up through them toward Tipperary town - the drive is slow and worth it.

Walks & hills →

02 / 06

Stories & lore.

The reason to come back. The things every local will eventually tell you about, usually after the second pint.

Hollyford RIC barracks, 11 May 1920

The night on the roof

The attack on Hollyford barracks was the first organised operation carried out by the Third Tipperary Brigade. Ernie O'Malley - an IRA organiser who moved between brigades - planned it with Séumas Robinson, the brigade's commanding officer. On the night of 11 May 1920, the column assembled at a house on the Glenough road and moved on the barracks. O'Malley and Robinson used ladders to reach the roof, broke through the slates with lump hammers, and dropped hand grenades and burning turf sods soaked in petrol through the holes. Seán Treacy led the covering party outside, concentrating fire on the portholes to keep the police down. The battle ran until daybreak. The constables held on - the IRA withdrew without capturing the weapons they came for - but the damage was done. The RIC abandoned Hollyford that morning and never came back. The local GAA club has been named after Treacy ever since.

Hollyford man, 25 years old

Seán Treacy

Seán Treacy was born in 1895 in the parish of Kilcommon, near Hollyford. He was one of the principal figures in the Soloheadbeg ambush of January 1919 - often counted as the opening action of the War of Independence - alongside Dan Breen and Seumas Robinson. At Hollyford he commanded the covering party during the barracks attack. He died on 14 October 1920, killed in a gunfight on Talbot Street in Dublin during an IRA operation. He was 25. The parish named its GAA club after him forty-two years later.

03 / 06

Things to do outside.

Wear waterproofs. Bring a sandwich. Tell someone where you're going if it's the mountain.

Slieve Felim hills from the village The hills begin immediately east and south of the village. No marked looped trail from Hollyford itself - bring OS Sheet 59 and navigate off the roads onto the hill tracks. The elevation is modest but the views are wide.

Variesdistance

2-4 hourstime

04 / 06

When to go.

There is no bad time. There are different times.

Spring

Mar-May

The hills green up fast. The roads through the Slieve Felims are quiet and the light is good.

◉ Go

Summer

Jun-Aug

No crowds here. Warm enough in the valley. GAA season in full swing in the parish.

◉ Go

Autumn

Sep-Oct

The hills turn and the valley holds its colour a little longer than the lowlands.

◉ Go

Winter

Nov-Feb

The R497 through the hills can be slow in ice. The village is very quiet. Not unpleasant, but plan around it.

◐ Mind yourself

05 / 06

What to skip.

Honestly? Don't bother.

If a local was sitting beside you, this is the bit where they'd lean in.

Driving through without stopping

Most people do. The barracks site is not marked and easy to miss. Ask locally if you want to find where it stood.

Expecting a visitor attraction

There is none. This is a village, not a heritage centre. The story lives in the landscape and the GAA club name, not in a display board.

Getting there.

By car

Newport is 16km north on the R497. Tipperary town is about 22km south through the Slieve Felim hills. From Limerick city allow about 45 minutes via Newport and the R503/R497.

By bus

No regular bus service to Hollyford. Nearest bus stop is Newport on the Limerick-Nenagh route.