Titanic Memorial & garden

The Titanic Memorial and Garden in Ennybegs, Killoe, is a striking and edifying monument to Killoe’s connection with the Titanic disaster.

Opened on 15th April 2012, precisely 100 years after the ship sank, the centrepiece is an anchor donated by Belfast Harbour Commissioners. Behind, stands a cross marking the International Eucharistic Congress, held in Dublin in June 2012.

The memorial is dedicated to James Farrell of Clonee, one of three young people from Killoe parish who sailed on Titanic. Sadly he was lost, but he helped to save his friends Kate Gilnagh and Kate Mullen, who were neighbours from the townland of Rhyne. They were among fourteen Longford passengers on the liner, of whom five were lost.

Born in 1885, James was the third of twelve children. The family had a small farm similar to many at that time. Four of his siblings immigrated to the USA. On the night the Titanic sank, James led Kate Gilnagh, Kate Mullen and others including the Murphy sisters from nearby Aughnacliffe to safety.

As the Killoe women were being lowered in a lifeboat, James threw his cap to Kate Gilnagh and said: ‘Goodbye forever’. His body was later recovered and buried at sea. James’s courage was recounted in Walter Lord’s book, A Night to Remember and he was a character in the 1958 film of that name.

The inscribed stone on the right of the anchor as you face the monument came from the ruin of the Farrell home in Clonee.

The memorial was developed by a local committee with funding from Longford Community Resources Ltd.

The memorial garden is open to the public.

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