"Éamonn an Chnoic" ("Ned of the Hill") is a popularSean nos song intraditional Irish music. It is a slow, mournfulballad with a somber theme and nochorus.
The song is attributed toÉamonn Ó Riain (Edmund O'Ryan[1]) (d. c. 1724), an early 18th-centuryCounty Tipperaryfolk hero, composer ofIrish bardic poetry, andrapparee; anoutlawedJacobite from theGaelic nobility of Ireland who still held to thecode of conduct of thetraditional chiefs of theIrish clans. Folk song researcher Donal O'Sullivan has written that Captain Edmund O'Ryan's, "gay chivalry, daring exploits, and 'moving accidents by flood and field' would indeed make fine material for a historical novel."[2]
According toJames Clarence Mangan, O'Ryan was born in Shanbohy, in thecivil parish of Templebeg (Irish:An Teampall Beag), in the half-barony ofKilnamanagh Upper inTipperary, "previous to the wars of 1690".[3] Stephen Dunford, however, gives his birthplace as Atshanbohy, in the same civil parish.[4]Donal O'Sullivan, on the other hand, gives his birthplace as the castle uponCnoc Maothail, a hill 828 feet high in Templebeg and, for this reason he was always known asÉamonn an Chnuic, or Edmund of the Hill.[5] For similar reasons, his sister was known as "Sally of the Hill", (Irish:Sadhbh an Chnuic).[6]
His father's family was descended from thederbhfine of the lastChief of the Name of Clan O'Ryan andLord of Kilnalongurty; but his ancestors had lost their ancestral lands fighting for theHiberno-NormanFitzgerald dynasty during theElizabethan eraDesmond Rebellions.[7] O'Ryan's mother was from thederbhfine of the lastChief of the Name ofClan O'Dwyer andLord ofUpper andLower Kilnamanagh.[8]
O'Ryan was educated inCatholic Europe and intended for thepriesthood, but "by an affair in which he took a prominent part" had to relinquish that plan. It is said that, during a visit home, O'Ryan wasoutlawed after shooting abailiff dead during a quarrel over the confiscation of an elderly and poor woman's only cow.[9]
A further background to Captain O'Ryan's career was the confiscation ofRoyalist-owned land after theCromwellian conquest of Ireland in theAct of Settlement 1652, upon which when many similarly dispossessedCavaliers also becameoutlaws, known as "tories" or "rapparees".
According to Stephen Dunford, "Ned ranged over his native parish in the aftermath of the shooting. Hunted night and day, he embarked upon a one man crusade against the foreign landlords and authorities. He robbed, he plundered, he disturbed the peace of the area."[10]
In one story, O'Ryan held up an Anglo-Irish woman's coach on the road toDublin. Upon learning, however, that the £100 was all the woman possessed for her living expenses until her husband returned from England, O'Ryan took only half a crown from the woman's purse and returned the rest. He then told her, "It is Ned of the Hill that has robbed you, madam, and not some common criminal. Be sure to say that when you recount this incident."[11]
Moments later, O'Ryan is said to have been robbed at gunpoint by CountRedmond O'Hanlon, before turning the tables on the outlaw Count and defeating him in awrestling match. The two outlaws then parted as friends.[12]
During theWilliamite War of 1689-91, Éamonn O'Ryan fought forKing James II at theBattle of the Boyne and theBattle of Aughrim. O'Ryan also accompaniedPatrick Sarsfield andGalloping Hogan during theraid that resulted in the destruction of theWilliam of Orange's siege train atBallyneety.[13]
Author and poetRobert Dwyer Joyce would later dub Edmund O'Ryan, "one of the noblest gentlemen and bravest Rapparee captains that ever drew sword or shook bridle free in the cause of worthless, war-minded King James the Second."[14]
During the first siege of Limerick, O'Ryan's cousin, Hugh O'Ryan, also known as "Hugh of Glenurra", waskilled in action during an ambush of Williamite troops at the Bridge of Tern. Éamonn O'Ryan, while accompanied by at least one other relative, is said to have subsequently avenged his cousin.[15]
After theTreaty of Limerick, most of the defeatedJacobite Army sailed fromLimerick City and joined theFlight of the Wild Geese.
According to Donal O'Sullivan, "Most, but by no means all. Some of the most gallant and intrepid remained behind to carry on an independent fight by every means in their power: constantly raiding the encampments of the English soldiery, harassing its lines of communication, and retreating into their hideouts in the hills, each man of them with a price in his head. They were known asRapparees (Irish:Ropairí) - what we should now call an underground movement; and one of the most heroic of them all was Edmund Ryan of the Hill."[16]
Along with fellow rapareesColonel John Hurley, Colonel Dermot Leary, Captain Matthew Higgins and John Murphy, O'Ryan issued a proclamation in December 1694, denouncing all those disloyal toKing James II, offered a reward of £200 to anyone who brought to them any member ofWilliam of Orange'sprivy council and a further bounty of £50 to anyone who delivered to them a military officer still in arms against theHouse of Stuart.[17]
According to Donal O'Sullivan, "Precise dates are for the most part lacking; but there existed in the formerIrish Record Office (destroyed with all its contents in theCivil War of 1922) a Government Proclamation, dated 1702, offering £200 for the apprehension of 'Edmund Knock Ryan.'"[18]
Despite being constantly on the run, Éamonn O'Ryan, according to the localoral tradition, found time to fall in love and get married. While roving throughUlster andLeinster, Éamonn O'Ryan met Mary Leahy. O'Ryan secretly wooed Leahy while posing as a wandering composer and singer ofIrish bardic poetry and, ultimately, they eloped from the feast celebrating Mary Leahy's imminent wedding to another man. Éamonn O'Ryan is said to have composed for Mary both the song that is now named for him andlove songBean Dubh an Ghleanna.[19]
While no records to confirm their marriage now survive, Éamonn and Mary O'Ryan are said to have had a son, who was taken in and raised by a sympathetic woman from the localAnglo-Irish gentry and later became a respected local merchant. Their grandson is said to have become magistrate at the Leinster Assizes, who was known as Judge Mountain.[20]
After many strange vicissitudes, O'Ryan arrived at theHollyford (Áth an Chuilinn) home of his kinsman Tomás Bán Ó Dubhuir, also known asDubhuir Broc ("Badger Dwyer"), on a rainy evening in 1724. O'Ryan had been pursued for two days by a posse of redcoats and was exhausted. Even though O'Ryan had stoodgodfather at thebaptism of his son, Dwyer let him in and, hoping to collect the £300 reward,beheaded O'Ryan with ahatchet while he slept. Upon bringing the severed head to thecounty seat ofCashel (Irish:Caiseal), however, Dwyer learned to his chagrin that O'Ryan had been pardoned two days previously and that no reward would be given. Even so, O'Ryan's severed head was confiscated anddisplayed spiked upon Cashel Gaol for several days, until some local men removed the head and delivered it to the former outlaw's sister, Sally O'Ryan.[21]
According to the localoral tradition, O'Ryan's body lies buried atDoon (Irish:Dún Bleisce), while his sister, Sally O'Ryan of the Hill, buried her brother's severed head in the Catholic cemetery at Foilachluig,[22] in thecivil parish of Toem, in the half barony ofKilnamanagh Upper, near the site of his assassination atHollyford. According Mangan, "the precise spot is marked on sheet 45 of the Ordnance Survey of Tipperary as the grave of Eamonn an Chnoic."[23]
In 1962, the grave was found to have been dug up. What was believed to be O'Ryan's skull was taken to the nearest Catholic Church, blessed, and then reburied. In 1963, Matthew Ryan, a relative of the outlaw and retired officer in theUnited States Navy, erected a tombstone:
The song is usually sung inIrish, but variousEnglish versions are popular as well. Other versions also highlight the failure of Ó Riain's countrymen to come to rally to his defence and more strongly emphasize that Ó Riain had been a man of wealth and influence.
"Éamonn an Chnoic" has been recorded by countless artists in both English and Irish. Some versions, such as the "Young Ned of the Hill" recorded byThe Pogues, adapt the lyrics to a fast-tempo song with only a passing similarity to the original folk song. Completely instrumental versions are also common.
