A SOUTH Armagh highwayman said to have warned travellers they were about to be "robbed by the handsomest man in Ireland" is the focus of a new documentary and follow-up drama to be screened this weekend.
Nobelman Séamus Mór MacMurphy, who was hanged in 1750, became one of Ireland's most famous 'rapparees' , whose antics inspired a popular Irish folk song in the south Armagh following his execution.
The romantic ballad of the man often thought of as an Irish Robin Hood figure, describes "rebellion, repression, love, deceit and betrayal", the documentary to be screened on BBC Two NI this Sunday explains.
Presenter Antaine Ó Donnaile will explore how the legend of Mór MacMurphy, who was said to have led an outlaw society supporting the Jacobite cause in the event of Bonnie Prince Charlie making his way to Ireland, was solidified in the folk song which some believe was penned by the rapparee himself while in captivity.
The song is described as having "connected the Irish language with the local people" in south Armagh, and the outlaw's legend was conserved by Irish language enthusiasts over the years.
A gravestone marks Mór MacMurphy's final resting place in Armagh's Creggan cemetery.
"Today, the name of Séamus Mór MacMurphy still echoes around the slopes of Slieve Gullion," a spokesperson for the show's producers, Macha Media, said.
The Irish language documentary will be screened at 10pm on Sunday, with an accompanying drama on the Mór MacMurphy released afterwards on BBC iPlayer.
