‘Hen House Boy’: A story of neglect that shocked Ireland

In September 1956, a schoolboy in County Down made a shocking discovery after peering into a hen house and locking eyes with a child.  

Those eyes belonged to seven-year-old Kevin Halfpenny – better known ever since as ‘the hen house boy’. 

Robbed of social interaction, Kevin seemed to have learned his behaviour from the chickens around him. His widowed mother Margaret Halfpenny was arrested and pleaded guilty to neglect.  

70 years later, we revisit a tragically human story that became overwhelmed by folklore.  

Host: Olivia Peden 

Guest: Kurtis Reid 

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