Documentary remembering the life of a signatory of the Treaty of Limerick will be in cinemas

AN INDEPENDENT documentary-maker has created a film about the history of a small rural village and its decline and revival over time, with strong historical links to Limerick.

Loughmore to the Front includes strong links to Limerick, as the creator, Nicholas Ryan Purcell discovered that his ancestor Nicholas Purcell from Loughmore Castle, Co Tipperary fought with King James and was one of the signatories of the Treaty of Limerick.

The film also includes footage from Limerick Museum on Henry Street, which Mr Purcell said was very impressive, as it houses original cannonballs from when Sarsfield Bridge and the drawbridge to King John’s Castle were blown up and that staff from the museum were a wealth of historical information for his research.

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“There are also sketches of what the drawbridge would have looked like,” Mr Ryan Purcell said.

He added that historian John Elliott was a huge help: “He was instrumental in my research in Limerick city and in helping to simplify the story of the siege.”

The site of the 1690 ambush of the siege train at Sarsfield Rock in Ballyneety, also features in the documentary.

A civil servant in his day job, Mr Ryan Purcell is a hurling and history enthusiast and this documentary is a self-funded passion project.

The 95-minute documentary was a year and four months in the making. It was achieved with the help of Tom Gallagher from Thurles as assistant editor.

The cinematic file was then created by Eugene Tobin and his colleague Janos in Dungarvan.

“The idea came from Catherine Purcell Maher and Mary Fogarty in the Cottage Tearooms in Loughmore, a community run tearoom and Monsignor Maurice Dooley in the parish gave me extra information about my ties to Limerick,” said Mr Ryan Purcell, adding that his mother Dorothy has always been a great supporter of his documentary projects.

Young children feature in the film seen trying to puck a sliotar over Loughmore Castle, in an effort to emulate Cúchulainn and Mr Ryan Purcell said: “The kids were absolutely delighted.”

He added that he paused filming every time a car passed, while there was also a large bird trying to be heard as he filmed and that this was the “most challenging part”, laughing as he recalled trying to coax the bird into silence for filming his shots.

The Loughmore to the Front documentary will be screened in Limerick Omniplex on Monday, November 17 at 7.30pm and in Nenagh Omniplex on Wednesday, November 19 at 7.30pm.

Tickets for the documentary screening can be booked online on www.omniplex.ie in advance anytime from now until the night of the Limerick screening next Monday.