For Rifleman Luke Delaney...

The birthplace of First World War soldier Luke Delaney at Murmod Hill, Virginia, Co Cavan, will officially open to the public on September 5, at 2:30pm, following years of research, restoration and dedication by a local community committee.

The small homestead, which had fallen into “absolute and total ruins”, has been carefully restored as a lasting tribute not only to Rifleman Luke Delaney, who left the house to go to war and never returned, but to the many young men from Cavan and across Ireland who served during the First World War.

Before the official opening, the Celt spoke with members of the Restoration Committee about the work involved in bringing the old house back to life and, more importantly, the story they hope to preserve.

With the help of the LEADER programme, the group has transformed the derelict building into the restored homestead. One of the most striking features of the restoration is its new thatched roof. For committee chairperson Paddy O’Reilly it’s “a work of art”.

Luke Delaney was born March 6, 1886. He served with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Irish Rifles. He died on November 8, 1914. His name is recorded on the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres among those whose remains were never recovered. The restored house thus not only serves as a memorial to Luke Delaney, but to all the men with no grave. It is a reminder of the complex societal changes Ireland went through while other men were away fighting a different war.

Some enlisted believing that victory would help secure Home Rule, while others supported the Union. For others, poverty and a lack of opportunities provided the motivation. “They probably didn’t know what lay ahead of them that time, the horrific nature as the war unfolded,” Paddy O’Reilly said, referring to the enormous casualties suffered in the brutal trench system.

He believes the men who served were subsequently forgotten. “They didn’t get a very good welcome,” he said of those who returned home in 1918. “In fact, they were airbrushed out of history, and I think it was terribly wrong that that happened.”

For the committee, the restored house is “a monument” not just to Luke Delaney, but to all, especially from Cavan, who went to war.

There is a strong local connection to the Delaney family. Secretary Tony Farrelly recalled knowing Luke’s brother, who remained in the area and continued farming after the war. “It’s not just an isolated thing that we picked out of a magazine and said we’ll do this,” Tony said. “There’s a lot of connections there.”

The committee has used census records, Ordnance Survey material and research from the Somme Centre in Newtownards to try to piece together Delaney’s story.

They have worked to recreate the home as it may have appeared on the day Luke left for war. “We kind of projected the house here as it was the day he was leaving home,” Paddy explained.

The display includes Luke, his parents, and his brother. A table has been arranged to represent the family’s final meal, with Paddy observing that there was perhaps “as much food on that table as there was in the whole townland”.

The recreation is designed to put a human face on the history - to show that behind the names on memorials were young men leaving their families and communities. Thomas Fitzsimons said poverty was a major factor in Luke’s decision to enlist: “People were very, very poor at that time. And so that was the reason why Luke Delaney went out - to make money to send home to his family.”

The committee hopes the restored homestead will also encourage a new generation to engage with that history. The group wants the house to become a place for tours and school visits, with plans also for a website and Facebook page.

The project is a recognition and a dedication to all those men who went into war - not only those who died. It’s also for “those who came home and suffered are not remembered”, said Paddy O’Reilly.

Rebuilding this homestead does not only represent rifleman Luke Delaney, but it is representative of all the young Irish men that went into war and came back to a place much different to what they had left.

During their research, they learned of WW1 soldiers from Cavan. 750 were killed, hundreds came home maimed. The book of historian Michael Finnegan helped them identify some of the families who will join the opening more than 100 years after the Great War ended.

The committee are grateful to Matthew Gilsenan, one of the acclaimed Celtic Tenors, will be singing at the initiation day on September 5 from 2:30pm. After an introduction by the committee, families as well as garda and military representatives will lay wreaths while Minister Niamh Smyth will officially open the homestead.