TY Local History students visited the birthplace of James Stephens on Blackmill Street, the modest house where the Fenian leader was born in 1825. The plaque on the front of the building marks his role as co-founder and chief organiser of the Irish Republican Brotherhood.
Students learned how Stephens’ early years in Kilkenny, including his experience of the 1830s cholera outbreak and later involvement in the 1848 rising, shaped his commitment to Irish nationalism.
Seeing the building in its original streetscape helped students appreciate how revolutionary figures often came from ordinary surroundings, and how local places connect directly to wider movements for political change.
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