School: Newcastle
- Location:
- Newcastle, Co. Wicklow
- Teacher: Máire Ní Fhotharta
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0927, Page 188
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- The amazing life history of Lieut. Arthur Hempenstall was one-time officer in the Wicklow Milita in Ireland, and know as The Walking Gallows during the years of 'Ninety eight,
Hempenstall was a man of enormous physical stature to whom the infliction of cruelty on others was the very spice of his existence. His particular form of savage amusement, we are told, was to meet a peasant by the wayside and to question him. If his answers proved unsatisfactory he felled him with a blow of his fist and then seized him half or wholly unconsicous, and hanged him on his back until he was dead. Hence his fearsome title - The Walking Gallows.
That Hempenstall was no figment of the imagination is proved beyond question by the extant records of the turbulent year of 'Ninety eight in Ireland. He was born in the village of Newcastle, Co. Wicklow, about the year 1766, as far as can be ascertained and grew to manhood amidst the peaceful grandeur of the Wicklow Hills, "the Garden of Ireland. But the surrounding of his upbringings had no good effect on(continues on next page)
- Collector
- M. O' Faherty
