Headless Coachman and Roper’s Rest

The following description of an old haunting story was published in The Ghost World by T. F. Thiselton Dyer (1893). ‘A tragic case is recorded by Crofton Croker, who tells how, many years ago, a clergyman belonging to St. Catharine’s Church, Dublin, resided at the old Castle of Donore, in the vicinity of that city. From melancholy, or some other cause, he put an end to his existence by hanging himself out of a window near the top of the castle. After his death, a coach, sometimes driven by a coachman without a head, and occasionally drawn by headless horses, was observed at night; driving furiously by Roper’s Rest. ‘

Ropers Rest was the home of Thomas Roper, 1st Viscount Baltinglass (Born 1587 – Died 18 February 1638) and by 1706 Deane Swift (a relation of the satirist Jonathan Swift (Born 30 November 1667 – Died 19 October 1745)). I do not believe that anything of Ropers Rest or the near by Dunure Castle exists to this day.