Qualla: Newport, County Tipperary

Newport, County Tipperary: Introduction

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit JohnArmagh, Public domain. On the evening of 14 May 1921, in the foothills of Keeper Hill, the IRA brigade of Newport sprang an ambush on a District Inspector of the Royal Irish Constabulary named Harold Biggs. Biggs was returning from dinner at Glenculloo Lodge, the shooting lodge of the Barrington family of Glenstal Castle. He was killed in the ambush. So was Winifred Barrington, daughter of Sir Charles Barrington, who had been with him in the car. The Barringtons had been a Limerick baronet family for generations. After Winifred's death they sold Glenstal Castle and left Ireland for good. Eight years later their old castle became Glenstal Abbey, the Benedictine monastery and school that still operates today. Newport's small place in the long story of the Irish War of Independence was made that May evening. The town's GAA pitch, Pairc Chuimhneachain Padraig Ui Riain, is named for a member of the raiding party - Patrick Ryan - who later became a TD for Tipperary.

Image: JohnArmagh | Public domain

Newport, County Tipperary: Below Keeper Hill

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Santista1982, Public domain. Newport - formerly Tulach Sheasta, the hill of Sheasta - sits about eight kilometres from Birdhill and sixteen from Limerick city, nestled in the foothills of the Silvermine Mountains. The highest peak in the range, Keeper Hill (Cnoc an Choimheada in Irish, 695 m / 2,280 ft), ris...

Image: Santista1982 | Public domain

Newport, County Tipperary: The Waller baronets

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DaHuzyBru, CC BY-SA 4.0. Richard Warren Waller arrived in Newport in the 1650s, in the aftermath of the Cromwellian conquest. He was granted 1,195 acres in the locality and rebuilt the wrecked Cully Castle as Castle Waller - the townland that bears the name today is what remains of his original grant. He...

Image: DaHuzyBru | CC BY-SA 4.0

Newport, County Tipperary: The ambush at Coolboreen

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Kweedado2, CC BY-SA 3.0. By the early twentieth century the Wallers were declining. The Barrington baronets of nearby Glenstal Castle were still vigorous - and they were a target. On 14 May 1921, the Newport IRA brigade planned an attack on RIC District Inspector Harold Biggs. The intelligence pointed to...

Image: Kweedado2 | CC BY-SA 3.0

Newport, County Tipperary: After the treaty, more killing

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DaHuzyBru, CC BY-SA 4.0. Newport also lost two more men in the revolutionary period after the treaty had been signed. Sergeant John Walsh of the RIC and Patrick Gilligan, a former soldier, were both shot on 22 May 1922 - well into what should have been a more peaceful interval between the War of Independ...

Image: DaHuzyBru | CC BY-SA 4.0

Newport, County Tipperary: Clare Glens, hurling, and a sprinter

Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland, CC BY-SA 2.0. Three kilometres from the town lies Clare Glens, a wooded beauty spot along the banks of the Clare River, a popular walk in any weather. The Catholic Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, built in 1933 on Church Street, replaced the older 1796 chapel. The Church of Ireland church of ...

Image: William Murphy from Dublin, Ireland | CC BY-SA 2.0