Rosie Hackett Bridge - Sheahan Memorial Reinstated (2013)
The Sheahan Memorial is restored after being temporarily removed to facilitate works. The monument to Constable Patrick Sheahan is located at the junction of Burgh Quay and Hawkins Street. Constable Shehan was a member of the Dublin Metropolitan Police who lost his life in an attempted rescue. On Saturday, 6 May, 1905, he was on duty at O’Connell Bridge having volunteered to cover for a colleague. The tragic incident which would end his life was not his first act of bravery. He had saved the lives of an elderly couple, both of whom he had carried from a tumbling building in Townsend Street and had wrestled with a runaway bull in nearby Grafton Street. The workman he tried to save at Burgh Quay was already dead at the bottom of the manhole when a newsboy, Christopher Nolan, ran for Sheahan’s help. When he disappeared down the manhole, two other men followed and were also overcome by gas, one was Tom Rochford, a clerk of works with City Corporation. A third man, Kevin Fitzpatrick, a hackney driver, tied a rope around himself and lowered himself down, managing to rescue the unconscious men, but Sheahan and John Fleming were already dead. Constable Sheahan’s funeral procession included the mounted troop from the Dublin Metropolitan Police, in full dress uniform, contingents from the Royal Irish Constabulary, the Dublin City Fire Brigade and Dublin United Tramways, who escorted the hearse drawn by four white plumed horses. His remains were taken to Limerick where his frail mother waited on the platform accompanied by an R.I.C. guard of honour, from where he was taken to Kilfergus cemetery at Glin. John Fleming, aged 42 left a widow and nine children.
© Dublin City Council
