School: Iorball Sionnaigh (roll number 16923)
- Location:
- Scotstown, Co. Monaghan
- Teacher: E. Mac Thaidhg
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0955, Page 286
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16.Local tradition of Raparees.
Shane Bearna and his Stables.
Shane Bearna (Sean Bearnach)was one of those notorious profligates who infested the country about 1840.He lived with his family in the townland of Stramacelroy in the extreme northwest of the parish of Tydavnet.He was a socialist,his motto being"take from the rich and give to the poor".
He had no teeth as his name implies.According to tradition his gums were so hard that he could bite through a copper or silver plate with as much ease as he could eat a piece of bread.Shane was the terror of the passengers of the stage-coaches to and from Clogher.But,he delighted more in stealing cattle from the rich farmers of the lowlands than in robbing the stage-coach passengers.The stolen stock was always driven back across the Slieve Beagh mountains to Shane's stables.There the horses were re-shod-the front of the shoe being put to the back of the hoof,to defy persuit.The horses were afterwards sold at fairs throughout the country.The stables as seen now are but a hole in the hill.They reappear on the strand of a lake.He often swam the cattle and horses across this lake,into the stables.
There are two stories concerning his death.
1.That the people lay in ambush for him in Stramacelroy(continues on next page)
