The Croppies Grave in Carlow Town is a distinguished monument that rises above the site of an old sand pit where in the aftermath of the disastrous rising of the United Irishmen in 1798, the bodies of 640 slaughtered Carlow insurgents were thrown and covered in quicklime in a mass grave.
As the fight for Irish independence from England was waged, the Battle of Carlow was fought and badly lost.
The Croppies was the name given to the United Irishmen after the habit of cropping their hair to mark their allegiance.
