190 years since last woman publicly hanged
A book written about Lucinda Sly, the last woman executed in Carlow
THIS Sunday, 30 March, marks the 190th anniversary of the execution of Lucinda Sly for murder, the last woman to be publicly hanged at Carlow Gaol in 1835.
Join Rev Paul Fitzpatrick, Fr Thomas O’Byrne and Carlow County Council at 1.45pm this Sunday in Carlow Shopping Centre, formerly the gaol/jail, as they commemorate her execution along with her accomplice John Dempsey.
Lucinda and John’s executions followed their conviction for the murder of Walter Sly, Lucinda’s husband, in November 1834 at their home at The Ridge, Old Leighlin, Co Carlow.
They had pleaded not guilty to the charge but were convicted by a jury, to which the judge passed the death sentence. The execution would have attracted much attention and it is believed that several hundred witnessed the executions.
In recent decades, Lucinda’s story has been the subject of a book, originally in Irish and subsequently translated into English, by well-known Irish writer Maidhc Dainín Ó Sé.
Well-known local playwright John MacKenna wrote and produced a play about Lucinda and the events of the murder and execution. In 2015, a plaque commemorating the execution was unveiled at the gaol. In the 2003 edition of , the journal of the Carlow Historical and Archaeological Society, Seamus Breathnach wrote a detailed article of the events, in particular the trial.
