James Lynch fitz Stephen

A legend states that James Lynch, during his term as mayor, sentenced his son to death for "broken trust" and murder of "a stranger", and personally hanged him from a window of his own house.

James Mitchell argues that the story is a pure myth, since numerous earlier accounts of the period make no mention of it.

In Edward Mangin's 1807 novel, George III, a sea-captain tells an embellished version of the story in which the son kills a Spanish friend whom he wrongly suspects of wooing his fiancée.

In 1854 Galway town commissioners allowed the committee to set them in a specially constructed imitation house-front set in the Market Street boundary wall of St. Nicholas' churchyard, near the site of the demolished house.

A new inscription states: "This Ancient Memorial Of The Stern And Unbending Justice Of The Chief Magistrate Of This City James Lynch Fitzstephen Elected Mayor A.D. 1493 Who Condemned And Executed His Own Guilty Son Walter On This Spot Has Been Restored To This Its Ancient Site A.D. 1854".