Visitors to the village and those passing through Knockcroghery in recent days may have noticed a colourful new addition on the gable wall of the former Widow Pat’s pub.
The mural, which was completed by Waterford-based ‘The Walls Project’, was commissioned by Project Knockcroghery in association with Roscommon County Council.
The artwork features a number of scenes and characters from Knockcroghery’s past. The burning of the village by the Black and Tans is prominent while so too are Mary ‘The Widow’ Murray and her son Pat, former proprietors of the popular local public house.
Mrs. Murray was by all accounts fiercely determined that the Black and Tans would not burn her home in 1921. It is believed she stood in the door with her six children and refused to leave the thatched pub.
Her son Pat would later grow up to run the pub which would become known as ‘The Widow Pat’s. He is depicted smoking a Knockcroghery clay pipe.
Other symbols include a pocket watch, representing time and history. 1 am is shown to mark the start of that fateful 1921 attack on the village.
The first line of a song about the village, penned by Peader Kearney, who wrote Amhrán na bhFiann, also features. The swift reflects on the local relationship with nature and the land. The matches are meant to signify the starting of the fires or the lighting of the clay pipe while the postage stamp symbolises date of the Black and Tans’ attack and also the local post office.
