"Historical Notes of County Longford" by James P. Farrell

Historical Notes and Stories. Part III - Chapter I - Granard

GRANARD - Modern Stories

In modern years the story of the headless horseman occupied a great deal of attention in Granard, where it was almost universally believed that each night a man rode through the streets of Granard on a headless horse, himself being also headless. This story arose from a very singular, and ever since unexplained, suicide, which occurred in the barracks of Granard during the early years of the eighteenth century. Almost the very first regiment quartered there was one of the most ungovernable corps in the British service. Its capptain was one BLUNDELL by name; and in dress, manners, sporting propensities, and general recklessness, was the cream of the service. One night a great ball was given in Granard by the officers, at which he was the leading figure almost; and the next morning, not having turned up at the usual hour, his room was broken open, and he was found lying dead upon the floor, his head being severed from his body, No one could have committed the act, because the captain's door was closed on the inside, and his window barred on the outside. Neither could any motive be ascribed for it; and the matter has remained a mystery ever since, giving rise to the weird story of the headless horseman and his midnight rides. Granard, from its very antiquity, is naturally the spot from which one would expect to hear such stories, and is, therefore, worthy of all the attention we could well bestow upon it, I am sure that, could the treasures buried in the ruins of old Granard be dug up, a fund of fireside lore sufficient to make many volumes would be the result. But, alas! man is made of dust and into dust, must return; and whether it be on stone or parchment that man's acts are written, they are equally liable, as is he himself, to temporal decay

granard was the scene of very active work during the Rebellion of 1798, and here were enacted some of the most bloody deeds history can record.

In one portion of this narrative, I have given, in a faint way, a history of the momentous battle which took place at Ballinamuck, in 1798. I have also taken some extensive quotations from the Cornwallis Correspondence, to show the in-human cruelty that was the distinguishing characteristic of the British soldiers, yeomen, and officers on that occasion. Well, indeed, could General Lake, writing to the iron-hearted tyrant who ruled the roost in Dublin Castle, "return his most sincere thanks" to them for their" great exertions and assistance on this day."

But dark, cruel, and dreadful as were the scenes that took place at Ballinamuck, they were but mere toying towards the treatment meted out to the" rebels" in Granard. Thither a small band of the County Longford insurgents, under the command of DENISTON, of Clonbroney, O'KEEFE, of Prospect, and Pat FARRELL, of Ballinree. "the biggest man in the county," had retreated after the affair at Ballinamuck.

Above all other places in the country there is none so well adapted, in every sense of the word, to warfare as the town and neighbourhood of Granard. The town is almost surrounded on all sides by hills, and on the moat alone a thousand men could keep a 'hundred thousand in check, such are the facilities for defence. The approaches to it, too, are hilly and inaccessible; and so we can well understand that, under the command of an able and skilled general, a small force could keep a much larger one at bay for long enough.

Granard was under the control of a fearful tyrant at this period, a man whose name is destined to live in odium until the end of time, viz., HEPENSTAL, "the walking gallows." This wretch was tall and very strong, and, through constant practice, had made himself up on a ready system of hanging people; for although he held the distinguished post of a lieutenant in the Wicklow Militia, he never looked to the dignity, if such it could be called, of his position, but on all occasions undertook the (to him) more congenial office of hangman. In this position he, as old work styled it, "jerked more men into eternity" about the neighbourhood of Granard than have been sent there by a violent death since. His method of hanging was novel in the extreme. Just let him catch a rebel - the rope was adjusted and slung across his shoulder, a pull and a sudden jerk, and the" rebel's" days on earth were ended.