Contested space

I suppose the Diamond in the centre of Magherafelt — where we pit-stopped yesterday in a swing through South Derry — is the sort of ground over which battles were once fought.

Today, in the largely nationalist town, the Tricolour and Union flag scowl at each other across the main street. True, the Union flag is outnumbered, badly, but then this is Easter and no doubt the balance shifts in the run-in to the Twelfth.

Turns out the townland of Ballymulderg Beg is closer to the centre of Magherafelt than I remembered it, though I do recall my grandda telling us that the man who carried out the fatal shooting at his home in May 1922 was subsequently carried shoulder-high down the main street of the market town.

It's not all grim in Mid-Ulster though. Mary's is a great eaterie and the old farmhouse where that attack took place has been transformed into a modern home. The kindly folk who now live there invited us to look around the site. They keep a newspaper clipping about the murder and its memory seems fresh locally — even after almost 90 years. The shopkeeper beside the church at the Loup (oops had the spelling wrong there until Mrs McCourt put me right), where James McKeown is buried in an unmarked grave, was able to direct us faultlessly to our location.

In searching for details of the Ballymulderg attack, I came across the Relatives for Justice site for Francis McKeown, son of Frank who was injured in the 1922 shooting with my grandfather Tommy. Francis was shot dead by the British Army in Lenadoon in July 1972.

The site includes the following details about the Ballymulderg attack:

The tragic murder of Francis McKeown was not the first time the McKeown family had suffered at the hands of official British armed forces. Just over 50 years before Mr McKeown’s murder his own father, also called Francis was shot and seriously wounded along with his two brothers at their home in County Derry, in May 1922. One of the brothers, James was killed in the incident. The attack took place during the early hours of Thursday 11 May 1922, when a party of men arrived at the family farm at Ballymulderg, near Magherafelt, and demanded admittance. Mrs McKeown, the elderly mother of the brothers, who later gave evidence at an inquest, said when she heard the loud knocking she asked who was there and was ordered to open the door, one of the raiders adding ‘We are not going to raid; we will not do any harm.’ Three men armed with rifles entered and James McKeown then came down stairs. After getting candles, which James lit, Mrs McKeown saw that the armed men had cloth rapped round their faces. They wore broad caps like policemen’s. They asked her about her family and she told them. Her son Francis and Tom then came down stairs, and they were taken to the kitchen. James when he saw the rifles implored them not to shoot, but they paid no attention and fired a volley into the brothers. They continued firing into their bodies as the lay defensiveness on the ground. James died almost immediately, as his brothers cried out in pain. James was shot seven times, Francis 16 times and Thomas 12 times; the latter two victims surviving their wounds. Mrs McKeown said her sons were not in any political organisations, and the caps the raiders wore had peaks like those of policeman’s.

Several inquest hearings into the murder were held and adjourned until a hearing in July 1922, when after the advice of the coroner, the jury returned a verdict that the deceased was murdered by some person or persons unknown. At the time of the verdict a B-Special called Brown was in custody charged with the murder. Thomas McKeown had identified him during the shooting when his masked slipped from his face. Brown lived about two miles from the McKeown homestead. He was acquitted of all charges in January 1923.

The original house is effectively gone but here's one of the outhouses which would have stood back in 1922.