1798 Memorial

The monument on Arklow's Main Street honours Fr. Michael Murphy, a Wexford priest who led men into the Battle of Arklow before British soldiers killed him and displayed his head on a spike. George Smyth sculpted the white limestone figure between 1898 and 1908, setting Murphy above panels for Wolfe Tone, Anthony Perry and Esmond Kyan, though a construction mistake left two profiles swapped. The statue still stands behind a wrought-iron railing, its Gaelic, English and French words remembering a rebellion that reached across the sea.