The tragic twist to a squandered second chance

THE last of the leaves fall to the earth to lie like wasted gold coins beneath the gable end of a stone wall facing a quiet country road — though it was once the main route between Graiguenamanagh and this town. A plaque mounted on it 20 years ago this month remembers when it was the thriving forge of Henry Hammond.

Little is known of this lost hero of 1798, whose ancestors were blacksmiths who came to Ireland as part of the Norman invasion and settled in the area. Presumably his profession meant he was physically strong. It also bestowed privileges, such as the freedom to travel to other forges and to the estates of the aristocracy.

Some say Hammond was a captain in the United Irishmen forces. Certainly, he was well placed to collect and pass on information. And it was the smiths who armed the rebels. For the uprising was born of a bloody era, when violence was used to force change, inspired by the mob might of the French revolution. Few would have supported Daniel O’Connell’s famous dictum: “No cause is worth the shedding of a single drop of human blood.”

Buckets of which soaked the earth during the Battle of New Ross that June. Hammond was present at the Rower camp, leading to his arrest soon after. He was tried at Kilkenny for making pikes and sentenced to death by hanging.

But if Hammond’s life hung by a thread, he was unbelievably blessed that it was well connected. For aristocrats had the power in those days to grant freedom to three condemned people each year. Miss Eleanor Doyle’s intervention led to Hammond’s release.

That should be the ‘all’s well that ends well’ of Hammond’s happily ever after.

One version of events has family and friends waiting at the prison gates to take him home. The other sees Hammond walking miles by himself. Both scenarios find him entering Murphy’s pub in this country town.

It’s easy to imagine that relief at cheating death brought on a raging thirst. Only Hammond didn’t stop at a few drinks. By all accounts, he went on an almighty bender that lasted the evening, singing rebel songs and making derogatory remarks about the redcoats. Many of who were raw after one of the bloodiest battles of the rebellion, and deeply resentful of Hammond’s release.

Word got out and Hammond was rearrested and brought back to jail in Kilkenny. This time there was no reprieve.

Less than 24 hours after his second chance, Hammond was publicly hung, drawn and quartered. His home was burned to the ground and the forge never again used for its original purpose. It is said members of the Hammond family were deported or else fled after his execution.

For bright sparks may fly but they still die out, extinguished where they land. And even a miracle didn’t hammer home the point to the brave but foolhardy Hammond to lay down the hammer and just be glad he could go home.