In 1798, during the Irish Rebellion, local patriot George Cochran was hanged for his part in the rising. His head was displayed on a spike outside the original courthouse at Margaret Square as a warning, and stayed there forty-one days.
His father begged the authorities for permission to bury it with dignity in St Patrick's Church of Ireland graveyard. The request was granted with a cruel condition: he had to carry the head openly in his hands through the streets and proclaim loudly, 'Traitor, traitor, this is my son, the head of a traitor.' Tradition says he followed the route up the Lindsay Hill steps to the churchyard.
Many say the father's spirit still lingers on those steps. On the anniversary of the execution some report hearing faint weeping or the repeated words of that proclamation in the quiet of the night.
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