near kilcurl is located the carrickshock monument, known locally as the site of the battle of carrickshock (1831). the kilcurl connection to it has been extensively documented and recorded. local knowledge was recorded in a documentary by rté national radio station, and digitised courtesy of rté’s archives on 18 july 2011, following their original broadcast in 1983. it captures the local story drawn from social memory, as handed down through the generations. it tells of a time when tithe taxes were being enforced despite difficult harvests and of the peasants' revolt against what was seen as greedy landlords and greedy clergymen. the first battle took place in graiguenamanagh on the carlow-kilkenny border, but the carrickshock monument is testimony to what is believed to have been its most important battle. the event’s importance was heightened by the major trial that followed in 1832, where local people were successfully defended by daniel o'connell. the trial was accompanied by a gathering that is recorded to have been c.200,000 in ballyhale, 1832, people called out from across four adjoining counties by the ringing of church bells along the way. the event and gathering are mentioned in correspondence at the michael davitt museum in mayo. it may have been an inspiration for daniel o'connell’s famous monster rallies of the 1840s and before the formation of the irish national land league, which davitt co-founded in 1879. independently, rootsweb describes the course of the tithe war (1831–38) as an anti-tithe movement. the social memory aspect of the story, and its accuracy, was the subject of a detailed international study, including the story of the tracey clan, by gary owens at huron university college, ontario, canada, in 2004.