Connolly’s story about Dungarvan in the Aug. 3, 1921, issue of the Boston American.

In March 1921 the IRA ambushed British forces near Dungarvan. Like other skirmishes of the Irish War of Independence, Crown forces soon responded with violent reprisals on the County Waterford town.

A few months later former OIympic gold medalist and Boston writer James Brendan Connolly arrived in Dungarvan as part of his assessment of the work being done by the American Committee for Relief in Ireland. When Connolly returned to America, he wrote about the aftermath of the ambush in Dungarvan and his other experiences in Ireland for the Boston American newspaper. Connolly also recalled his visit to Dungarvan in a 1944 memoir and 1953 statement to Ireland’s Bureau of Military History.

This summer my wife and I stayed a few nights in Dungarvan, at the southern terminus of the Waterford Greenway. The hike-and-bike trail stretches nearly 30 miles along former railroad right-of-way. Connolly told Boston American readers he was forced to take the train from Waterford town to Dungarvan because “the roads were pretty well cut up” from the war and he was unable to hire a driver. The 30-mile rail trip took three hours.

I discussed Connolly’s visit to Dungarvan with a few people at the Waterford County Museum in the town center. Our conversation resulted in the linked story for the Dungarvan Leader newspaper: An Irish American Writer’s 1921 Visit To Dungarvan. It is based on my ongoing research about how the American press covered the Irish revolution. Enjoy the story.

Early 20th century view of the Devonshire Bridge in Dungarvan, opened in 1816. Still in place today, it crosses the Colligan River, left, at the head of Dungarvan Harbor. “A little river flows into the harbour, and a little bridge spans the river,” Connolly wrote in 1921. Detroit Publishing Co., 1905, via Library of Congress.

On the Waterford Greenway facing south toward Dungarvan.  July 2026