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| Unidentified children at Power's Memorial with St. Mary's Church of Ireland in the Background. c 1900 |
Edmond Power
Memorial
The Power family are
said to have lived at Ballygagin to the west of Dungarvan, where Edmond's
father held a large amount of land. Edmond's father may have been John Power. John Power of Ballygagin is named as one of
the executors in the will of Pierce Britt of Ballynalahessary in 1784. His father was said to have been comfortably
well off. This John Power made his will
on 15 August 1787. In it he directs that
he be buried in the family burial place at Kilgobnet, he refers to his wife
Mary Walsh and his children. Edmond had
a brother John and two sisters, one of whom is said to have married an O'Keefe
of Mountain Castle near Modeligo. Edmond
became involved with the local branch of the United Irishmen. Power and a companion, Francis Hearn, were
arrested by the authorities. According
to Canon Power, Edmond was betrayed by Michael McGrath from Ballynamuck. Another account written by Mary Ellen Barron
(whose grandmother, Mary Power, was a great - grand niece of Edmond Power) in the
1950's states that the informer was Seamus A. Gabhann, (James Duggan) the
Blacksmith. Edmond was arrested in
September 1799 and taken to Waterford where he was court martialled in October
of that year and sentenced to be hanged.
A monument in the form
of a Celtic cross by Molloy of Callan was erected to his memory in the Park. (This is the only 1798 memorial in Co.
Waterford). It was officially unveiled
by the Rev. Richard Henebry in 1903, six years after it was first planned. Henebry gave a speech in which he stated that
Power was hanged from a window of the Old Market House. Power's body is said to have been removed to
Kilgobnet for burial. The cross
incorporates shamrocks on the tops of the pillars which are of polished stone,
a panel contains an Irish harp and the date 1898. The shaft of the cross shows
two pikes and intertwined shamrocks on one side and Celtic interlacing on the
other. There is a raised inscription
‘Remember 98’ and on the base in Irish and English is the following inscription:
In memory of Edmond
Power Who was hanged in Dungarvan for his love of country in 1798. Also in memory of the heroes of 98 who fought
and shed their blood for Ireland.
May God bless the
cause they fought.
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| Details of pikes on Edmond Power Memorial |
