School: Gort an Gharrdha (roll number 11384)
- Location:
- Gortagarry, Co. Tipperary
- Teacher: Seán Ó Donnabháin
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0536, Page 290
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- XML “Lanigan's Folly”
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- (continued from previous page)The tower gave the hill the appearance of a volcano, surmounted with a funnel. Perhaps such an effect suggested itself to the (eccentric) sensitive mind, of the eccentric Lanigan O'Keefe, a lawyer and landlord of the place, when in 1840 he set about building this tower, as a memorial of his victory in a lawsuit with a neighbouring landlord, in connection with the patch of ground on the pinnacle of the hill.
To carry out his project he made a winding road around the hill and then with the aid of oxen drew the stones and mortar to the top where the tower was erected, and soon came to be called 'Lanigan's Folly', a name which it still bears today.
a structure in such a commanding place attracted interest, and the custom grew up of holding a pattern there once a year in late summer. Such was the wantonness of the people who went there, that they began to pick stones from the base of the tower and throw them down the slope to enjoy and be thrilled by their mad unbroken rush to the bottom hundreds of feet below. In time the tower became undermined(continues on next page)
- Informant
- William Kennedy
- Gender
- Male
- Occupation
- Farmer
- Address
- Bredagh, Co. Tipperary
