School: St Pappan's, Ballymun

Location:
Ballymun, Co. Dublin
Teacher:
M. O' Riordan

Filter stories

Back
/ 324 Forward
Resolution: Low | High
Collier the Robber

Archival Reference

The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0792, Page 307

Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD. See copyright details »

On this page

Collier the Robber
The robber’s bank is situated on the Dublin-Belfast road between the village of Santry and Turnapin Little. It is so called because it was there that Collier, the famous highway man held up the mail coach on various occasions and robbed it. He did this by means of tricks one of which was putting rows of sticks with hats and clothes on them into the ground and putting pikes in their hands. Then he stopped the mail coach and told his men to get ready to fire although there was no one there only himself. The people in the mail coach thought that the rows of sticks were men with guns and so Collier was able to rob it.
His motto was ‘Rob the rich and serve the poor’ and he often brought a cow to a poor man’s door. He was a great athlete, an expert at pole jumping and no ditch or wall

(continues on next page)
Informant
Matthew Lawless
Relation
parent
Gender
male
Address
Santry Demesne, Co. Dublin
Language
English
Location
Turnapin Little