Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- Twentieth Century (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
Stone, metal, silver, wood. 12 x 6.5 x 16.5 cm
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Archival history
24/08/2011
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Two bullets mounted on a sizable rock from Cullyhanna Graveyard in Armagh with 3 silver plaques bearing the words 'October 16th' 'Ben Dunne 1981' and 'October 22nd'. All of which is mounted on a wooden block.
On the 16th of October, 1981, Ben Dunne Jnr. was kidnapped by the IRA on his way to open a new Dunnes Store in Portadown. Before his release on the 22nd of October, two of his abductors gave him these bullets and told him that they could easily have been used – one on him and the other on Fr. Dermot McCarthy. Fr McCarthy had tried to secure Dunne’s release, making a plea on television and at one point meeting with Dunne’s kidnappers. McCarthy was nearly shot in crossfire. After his release, Ben Dunne mounted the bullets on a piece of stone from the cemetary in Armagh where he had been held captive.