Bodenstown revisited

The grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone, its monuments and its pilgrimages

C.J. Woods

• Publisher: Four Courts Press
• Year: 2018
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781846827662
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

Bodenstown revisited is about a place of memory and pilgrimage often mentioned in history books but never before treated as a subject meriting an entire book. It surveys the grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone during the 185 years after his death in 1798, noting its silence for the first 45 years, its discovery by Thomas Davis in 1843, the placing of memorials in 1844, 1873, 1895 and 1971, the annual visits by political pilgrims from 1873, the logistics of organizing pilgrimages to a rural location, the crowds who descended on Bodenstown or paraded to the grave, the graveside orators who achieved fame or infamy, all assessed with regard to the political and social backgrounds of the changing times. Many well-known figures make significant appearances: Matilda Tone, John Devoy, John Daly, Fred Allan, James Connolly, John MacBride, Tom Clarke, Patrick Pearse, Sean O'Casey, Constance Markiewicz, Mary MacSwiney, W.T. Cosgrave, Eamon de Valera, Frank Aiken, Brian O'Higgins, Peadar O'Donnell, Sean MacBride, Tomas Mac Giolla, Roy Johnston and Ruairi O Bradaigh. [Subject: Irish History; Nineteenth-Century History; Wolfe Tone; Social History; Memorials; Political Pilgrimage].

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Title page
• Copyright page
• Table of contents
• List of illustrations
• List of abbreviations
• Preface
• Introduction
• 1 Tone’s burial at Bodenstown in 1798 and virtual oblivion
• 2 Thomas Davis’s memorial slab, 1843–72
• 3 The Wolfe Tone Band’s memorial slab and organised pilgrimages,1873–90
• 4 Pilgrimages revived, the Kildare Gaels’ stone and the Wolfe ToneMemorial Committee, 1891–1910
• 5 Thomas Clarke, the Easter rising and its aftermath, 1911–21
• 6 Rival pilgrimages, 1922–31
• 7 Rival pilgrimages, 1932–9
• 8 Bodenstown during the Emergency and after, 1939–59
• Plates
• 9 The 1960s: the leftward shift and the National Graves Association’smonument
• 10 The 1970s: the Split and the Ulster dimension
• 11 Women, religion and labour
• 12 Conclusion
• Terminology and taxonomy
• Chronology of pilgrimages
• Note on sources
• Index