A celebration of Darby Ryan (1777-1855)
At Templeneiry Church, old graveyard, Main street Bansha on August 24th 2023.
Darby Ryan (Diarmuid O’Riain, author of the Bansha Peeler and the goat, a satire which survives today because of its title and humour and the well known ballad the Galbally Farmer, (aka Darby Ryan) was a bilingual poet and author with an aptitude for rhyming.
Darby farmed and ran a hedge school locally at Scairt a Bhotain, Ashgrove on the banks of the river Aherlow. Darby lived through a very tumultuous time in Irish history some two centuries ago, ranging from the revolution of 1798, the Tithe Wars and the fight for catholic emancipation, all the way to the famine; he provides a great insight on this period and Ireland’s woes in his work.
Billy Morrissey Foxfort
‘The Galtee’s bold stupendous size,
There stand in open view
which in sublimity outvies
the Andes of Peru’
Darby Ryan
Event Brochure: bit.ly/42MxpmV