Bold Willie Brennan

This compilation copyright Waterford County Council http://www.waterfordcountylibrary.ie/index.html The life and times of Bold Willie Brennan By Michael Quinn

From Waterford News & Star Christmas Supplement 1965

There is a romantic attachment by writers and storytellers to the adventures and escapades of highwaymen. More often than not, they were unlike Robin Hood, who robbed the rich to feed the poor, and in the end they deservedly paid for their bloody deeds on the gallows tree. In Ireland, however, the highwayman fitted into a slightly different category in that he portrayed one man's fight against the authorities, and his refusal to conform to an alien law. Such a man was Bold Willie Brennan, of local song and story, but how many of us know that he was a native of County Waterford. " Brennan on the Moor " was born in Raspberry Hill, a frontier townland of Co. Waterford, on the northern bank of the River Blackwater, and the scenes of his exploits lay mainly in East Cork and Tipperary. There is no doubt that, in common with Crotty the Robber the hero of the Comeragh Mountains - Brennan was looked upon by the people as a popular hero. The stories of his colourful exploits are still told around the firesides in Waterford and Cork where his memory is still a living thing. Brennan, who began his wild career many years after Crotty the Robber, was an outlaw of the Robin Hood School. According to local lore and legend, he was chivalrous, and, whenever possible, avoided bloodshed and violence. At that time, Kilworth, in East Cork, was an important town just two miles north of Fermoy, and the neighbouring mountains were the haunts of Brennan and his gang of robbers. His generosity is evident from the story we are told of the occasion when he held up an under-agent of the Earl of Mountcashel who was returning from collecting rent from his Lordship’s tenants in County Tipperary. Brennan “relieved” him of the proceeds of the long day’s collection. But on learning from the agent, who was a kind hearted gent and not very well off, that he would have to make good the amount from his own pocket, or lose his job, he restored him the money. We are told that in return for the gesture, the under-agent constantly sheltered Brennan at his house at Kilworth. The house is now occupied by the local Parish Priest. On a number of occasions when the soldiers were hot on his trail the many rouses he used to escape are reminiscent of Capt. Freyne, of South Kilkenny, who reversed his horse's shoes in the snow and thereby outwitted the soldiers. On one occasion when Brennan was taken by two British soldiers in the Kilworth Mountains, he tried in vain to persuade them he was an agricultural labourer. The soldiers had a description of the outlaw and they decided to bring him to the town to check his identity before releasing him. The party stopped at a tavern for refreshments and when the meal was over Brennan asked the serving maid to bring him a pipe and tobacco. The girl, of course, understood the meaning of this request and she smuggled a loaded pistol to the captive under her apron. The tables were turned. Bold and undaunted, Brennan informed the soldiers of his true identity robbed them of their valuables and was on his way again. Perhaps the most daring and most famous of Brennan's deeds is told in the popular ballad now current in Ireland. How the outlaw and his wife robbed the Mayor of Cashel “a mile outside the town" is a verse well loved by schoolboys, and sung with great zeal and pride. But the biter was bitten as the following verse of an old ballad well known in Waterford over 75 years ago shows. It tells one of the outlaw’s more unusual " clients ": "One night he robbed a pack-man, By the name of Pedlar Bawn,- They travelled on together ‘Till the day began to dawn. When the Pedlar missed his money gone, Besides his watch, and chain, He at once encountered Brennan And robbed him once again, " The fact that Brennan was a robber of considerable fame is evident by his popularity in Scotland where he is still remembered in song and story. " Brennan on the Moor” was a particularly favourite song in Edinburgh and many a Scot looks on the outlaw as one of his own. Like all highwaymen, Brennan eventually learned that “ crime does not pay." He was captured in Co. Tipperary and was tried and executed on the gallows in Clonmel Gaol where, incidentally, his equally famous predecessor, William Crotty, met his fate. Following the custom of the day, his remains were handed over to his relatives for internment. A long cavalcade of up to two miles in length followed the remains of the hero to their last resting place in Killcrumper midway between Kilworth and Fermoy. His grave is still pointed out by local people beneath a little niche in the wall of the old church of Killcrumper What first tempted Willie Brennan to "run the outlaw’s wild career?” It may have been some injustice he suffered by the authorities or perhaps, he was attracted by the exciting and dangerous life of a highwayman. Whatever his reasons for being a highwayman, Brennan has thrilled and delighted generations of Irish boys who like myself, first learned of his exploits as the fire burned low on many a dark Winter evening. And many must have thought about the cache of gold which Bold Willie Brennan is supposed to have hidden in the crags and mireland above Killeagh Hill.