Westmeath involvement in new history podcast series

There is a substantial Westmeath involvement in the production of a new series of online history podcasts looking into the story behind a gruesome Offaly murder.

Coláiste Mhuire, Mullingar history teacher Damian Lawlor – author of a book on the Irish republican boy scout group, Na Fianna Éireann some years ago – and his wife, Kilbeggan native Miriam Ryan, carried out research for this Irish History Podcast series, which is hosted by lead researcher Fin Dwyer.

The second episode of ‘The Road to Oldcroghan – Murder in a Land Time Forgot’ went live on Monday last, and investigates the history of a murder which took place in Croghan, Co. Offaly, not far from Tyrrellspass.

The remainder of the series, in which Damien, Miriam and others are interviewed extensively, will be released in the coming weeks.

Peat worker Kevin Barry was just doing a day’s work digging drainage ditches on a quiet private bog in April 2003. Then he was brought to sudden stop as he saw an arm sticking out from a pile of peat he had just scooped into the bucket of his digger.

In the hours and days that followed the Gardaí, the then state pathologist Marie Cassidy, and journalists found themselves on the road to Oldcroghan.

A man had been murdered and buried in a bog. However, that is only the start of story. He had been tortured and the body mutilated. This young man had had his head cut off, and this is just a taste of the nature of the ordeal the young man endured.

It was more than a murder. It was a ritual killing.

The Irish History Podcast brings you on a journey through Offaly’s fascinating past. This podcast series is not just dates but an enthralling account of Offaly’s history.

The show is currently focused on Offaly but series in recent years have looked at the Great Irish Famine of the 1840s, Irish involvement in the Spanish Civil War, Ireland's ancient High Kings, Viking raiders and the Norman Invasion of the Middle Ages.