This week on the channel +278K views this week

Maps put Ballinalee's defences in focus for Davy Holden

The on-location documentary has reached roughly 68,000 views, with Mac Eoin's archival voice closing the story.

Channel:

Davy Holden Story of November 12, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

The British Came to Burn an Irish Town. The IRA Stopped Them.

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:58Mac Eoin's old forge introduces the local commander and preparations against expected British reprisals.
1:34Maps locate the defensive positions around Ballinalee, including the school, churches and Rose Cottage headquarters.
2:42Holden recounts the arrival of British lorries and the outbreak of the firefight.
3:20The account follows the British retreat and the equipment and goods left behind.
4:23Archival audio of Mac Eoin addressing his court martial plays over footage of his forge and monument.

A school, two churches and Rose Cottage become points on a defensive map in Davy Holden's account of Ballinalee. Moving between village footage and marked positions, he explains how Seán Mac Eoin deployed the North Longford IRA ahead of British reprisals in 1920.

As we reported here, Holden filmed at Mac Eoin's old blacksmith's forge. The documentary also reaches beyond that setting: it opens at Granard's Greville Arms Hotel, traces the preparations around Ballinalee, then describes the arrival of British lorries and the ensuing firefight. Archival audio of Mac Eoin addressing his court martial supplies the closing voice.

It was comfortably the most watched of Holden's two uploads, reaching roughly 68,000 views. The other, "Join Me in Ireland in 2027! 🇮🇪", drew a much smaller audience.

Across the channel, subscribers held steady over the week, while daily viewing is currently well below its usual level. The Ballinalee documentary nevertheless accounts for most of that daily activity. Behind it, "Ireland's 700-Year-Old Knight Statue (The Largest of its Kind)" and the older Dromkeen ambush documentary provide the next pockets of momentum, keeping medieval Ireland alongside the War of Independence in Holden's viewing mix.

Published on Trari