A few more roadside commemorative plaques were recorded on my recent trip to the west, this one outside Milltown, Co. Galway. Hugh Maguire still remains as the earliest death that I have seen recorded but Edmund Hopkins is now in second place – one place back from where he was when he died. “Milltown Community Council has given their help and encouragement to the Restoration of the Jockey's Monument. The monument is known thus as local folklore has it that Edmund Hopkins who was leading the hunt fell off his horse and was killed while jumping the ditch at this point. The monument dates back to 1686 and is the only known monument to have a direct link to the phrase "To Hell or to Connacht" as it commemorates the Hopkins family who were evicted from Leinster under Cromwell.” |