Category Archives: Cork History

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 9 December 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, National, Uncategorized
1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).
1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 December 2021

Journeys to a Truce: A Provisional Treaty is Signed

The first memo to the public was a short one on the outcome of the talks of the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921. It was hurriedly penned by Arthur Griffith, and issued to the world press directly after signing the Treaty on 6 December. It reads: “I have signed a Treaty of peace between Ireland and Great Britain. I believe that treaty will lay foundations of peace and friendship between the two Nations. What I have signed I shall stand by in the belief that the end of the conflict of centuries is at hand”.

It was a long and highly pressurised journey to an agreement for both sides. The threat of renewed violence hung over the signatories. The Treaty negotiations began in London on 11 October 1921. The British team was led by seasoned politicians Lloyd George and included Austen Chamberlain and Winston Churchill.

The Irish team was chaired by Minister for Foreign Affairs Arthur Griffith, after de Valera decided to stay in Ireland for strategic reasons. Arthur had established Sinn Féin in 1905 and nationally brought the party to the pinnacle of success in elections in 1920. Arthur was substitute president of Dáil Éireann for most of the War of Independence while de Valera was in America. With Arthur in London were Minister for Economic Affairs, Robert Barton and Minister for Finance Michael Collins. The other two Irish negotiators were solicitor Éamonn Duggan TD and Charles Gavan Duffy TD, a barrister and Dáil Éireann’s representative in Rome. The Dáil and de Valera described these representatives as ‘plenipotentiaries’, from the Latin for someone invested with full authority.

Over the seven weeks of negotiations, regional newspapers across the country reported on the tense negotiations and what was at stake between the two sides. The challenge of North Ireland and its historic loyalist base echoed throughout the myriad of news stories.

The discussions concluded in the early morning of 6 December 1921 with the signatures, by British and Irish negotiators, of ‘Articles of Agreement’ – better known as the Anglo-Irish Treaty (or the Treaty). The deal, as signed, was provisional, on consent in London’s Westminster and in Dublin’s Dáil Éireann.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty is a short document. It commences by declaring that the Irish Free State shall have the same constitutional status as the dominions of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the Union of South Africa. This was a higher status than the previously sought ‘Home Rule’ for Ireland, and an achievement that was unimaginable when Sinn Féin was founded sixteen years earlier. The representative of the king in Ireland would be appointed in the same way as the governor-general of Canada.

Under the Treaty, Ireland also remained in the British Empire. For the first time in an official UK document the term ‘Commonwealth’ was used as an alternative to ‘Empire’. The final agreement did not require Dáil deputies to swear an ‘oath of allegiance’ to the king. The oath of allegiance was to the Constitution of the Irish Free State, with an oath of faithfulness to the monarch. Nevertheless, any oath to the king in any shape or form offended many Dáil deputies in their initial thoughts to the press.

The Treaty also gave the new state financial freedom, although the Irish agreed to pay a fair share of existing UK public debt.

Until the Irish Free State could undertake its own coastal defence, article six ensured that British forces were responsible for the defence by sea of Britain and Ireland. The Free State was also to let Britain use certain named harbours and other facilities. Initial thoughts by some Dáil deputies resented that Britain would retain ‘the Treaty ports’ of Cobh (then ‘Queenstown’), Berehaven and Lough Swilly. The issue of the Treaty ports was important because it made Irish neutrality quite impractical if not impossible in the event of war.

The Irish Free State agreed to pay fair compensation to public servants who were discharged or who retired because the change of government was not to their liking. This ‘article’ did not apply to the Auxiliaries and Black and Tans.

The Treaty gave Northern Ireland the right to opt out of the new Irish state; if it did so, however, a boundary commission was to be set up to “determine in accordance with the wishes of the inhabitants […] the boundaries between Northern Ireland and the rest of Ireland”. Arthur Griffith and Michael Collins believed that this would transfer counties Tyrone and Fermanagh to the Free State. But the procedure was a major sticking point for many Dáil deputies in their initial thoughts to the press. Even after 1922, however, the Boundary Commission never worked as they had hoped, and the border remained unchanged.

Overall, though in the days that followed the signing on 6 December, the Irish negotiators though not happy with the terms, were told by Lloyd George that non-acceptance would lead to a resumption of the war, which, at the point the Truce was called, was being lost by the IRA. The delegation recommended the Treaty to Dáil Éireann.

In those early days post the signing, a minority of Dáil deputies, including its president, Éamon de Valera, maintained that the Treaty did not go far enough and that the new state must be a republic outside the Empire (although perhaps associated with the Commonwealth externally). Some thought that fighting should resume, in an effort to force Northern Ireland into an all-island state. For others, an Irish Republic already existed and acceptance of the Treaty would substitute this with something less and accepting the Treaty meant voluntarily going ‘into the Empire’ for the first time.

The majority of deputies argued that the Treaty was a stepping-stone to greater independence. Between the signing of the agreement in December 1921 and its ratification in early January 1922 a series of progressively bitter debates occurred in Dáil Éireann.

Caption:

1129a. An artist at the Illustrated London News captured the British and Irish Treaty negotiation teams at work (source: Illustrated London News, December 1921).

McCarthy: Cork City Arts Strategy Open for Public Consultation, 4 December 2021

Arts, Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy is calling upon the community and artistic sector across the city and especially in the south east to engage with the public consultation on the new Cork City Arts Strategy. The Arts Office of Cork City Council are now developing a new strategy to guide their work over the next five years. They want to ensure that arts and culture in Cork City is the very best it can be. To help them with thinking and planning, they would like to understand more about what people think and feel about arts and culture in Cork City now and to gather their hopes and ideas for the future. 

Cllr McCarthy noted: “Cork City Council has consistently invested in and supported the arts. There are many different tools at their disposal for the development of the arts. These include ideas generation, funding support, infrastructural support, resource and staffing support. Planning for the future, assessing the impact of our work to date and consolidating cultural infrastructure are all crucial elements to plan for going forward”.

“On Cork City’s public consultation portal under the survey section (www. consult.corkcity.ie/en/surveys) is a short survey and gives you the opportunity to share your views and inform what we do in the years ahead. The survey is confidential and contains short questions looking for public input. The survey will remain open until 6 December at 5pm”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 2 December 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized
1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.
1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 2 December 2021

Kieran’s Cork Books for Christmas

It’s only a few weeks to Christmas. There are two publications of mine, which readers of the column might be interested in. In my new book Cork City Reflections (Amberley Publishing, 2021), Dan Breen and I build on our previous Cork City Through Time (2012) publication as we continue to explore Cork Public Museum’s extensive collection of postcards.

 People have been sending, receiving and collecting postcards for well over 150 years. They have always come in a variety of forms including plain, comedic, memorial, and of course topographical. Their popularity reached its zenith in the two decades before the outbreak of First World War when people used postcards for a variety of everyday reasons from ordering shopping to making appointments. Postcards have been described as the ‘social media’ of the Edwardian period as it is estimated that about one billion penny postcards were sold annually in the United States alone between 1907 and 1915.

The old postcards within Cork City Reflections show the city of Cork to be a place of scenic contrasts. They are of times and places, that Corkonians are familiar with. Many of the postcards show or frame the River Lee and the tidal estuary and the intersection of the city and the water. The postcards show how rich the city is in its traces of its history. The various postcards also reflect upon how the city has developed in a piecemeal sense, with each century bringing another addition to the city’s landscape.

Some public spaces are well represented, emphasised and are created and arranged in a sequence to convey particular meanings. Buildings such as a City Hall, a court house or a theatre symbolise the theatrics of power. Indeed, one hundred years ago in Ireland was a time of change, the continuous rise of an Irish cultural revival, debates over Home Rule and the idea of Irish identity were continuously negotiated by all classes of society. Just like the tinting of the postcards, what the viewer sees is a world which is being contested, refined and reworked. Behind the images presented is a story of change – complex and multi-faceted.

We have grouped the postcards under thematic headings like main streets, public buildings, transport, and industry. The highlight of Edwardian Cork was the hosting of an International Exhibition in 1902 and 1903 and through the souvenir postcards we can get a glimpse of this momentous event.

The Little book of Cork Harbour has been published by The History Press (2019). Cork Harbour is a beautiful region of southern Ireland. It possesses a rich complexity of natural and cultural heritage. This is a little book about the myriad of stories within the second largest natural harbour in the world. It follows on from a series of my publications on the River Lee Valley, Cork City and complements the Little Book of Cork (History Press, 2015). It is not meant to be a full history of the harbour region but does attempt to bring some of the multitudes of historical threads under one publication. However, each thread is connected to other narratives and each thread is recorded to perhaps bring about future research on a site, person or the heritage of the wider harbour.

In the book the section, Archaeology, Antiquities and Ancient Towers explores the myriad of archaeological finds and structures, which survive from the Stone Age to post medieval times. Five thousand years ago, people made their home on the edge of cliffs and beaches surrounding the harbour. In medieval times, they strategically built castles on the ridges overlooking the harbour.

The section, Forts and Fortifications, explores the development of an impressive set of late eighteenth-century forts and nineteenth century coastal defences. All were constructed to protect the interests of merchants and the British Navy in this large and sheltered harbour.

The section, Journeys Through Coastal Villages, takes the reader on an excursion across the harbour through some of the region’s colourful towns. All occupy important positions and embody histories such as native industries, old dockyards, boat construction, market spaces, whiskey making and food granary hubs. Each add their own unique identity in making the DNA of the harbour region. 

The sections, Houses, Gentry and Estates and People, Place and Curiosities, respectively are at the heart of the book and highlight some of the myriad of people and personalities who have added to the cultural landscape of the harbour.

The section, Connecting a Harbour, describes the ways the harbour was connected up through the ages, whether that be through roads, bridges, steamships, ferries, or winch driven barges.

The eighth section, Tales of Shipping, attempts to showcase just a cross-section of centuries of shipping, which frequented the harbour; some were mundane acts of mooring and loading up goods and emigrants but some were eventful with stories ranging from convict ships and mutiny to shipwrecks and races against time and the tide.

The section entitled Industrial Harbour details from old brickworks, ship buildings to the Whitegate Oil Refinery. Every corner of the harbour has been affected by nineteenth century and twentieth century industries.

The last section Recreation and Tourism notes that despite the industrialisation, there are many corners of the harbour where GAA and rowing can be viewed as well as older cultural nuggets such as old ballrooms and fair grounds. This for me is the appropriate section to end upon. Cork Harbour is a playground of ideas about how we approach our cultural heritage, how were remember and forget it, but most of all how much heritage there is to recover and celebrate.

Both Cork City Reflections (2021) & The Little Book of Cork Harbour (2019), and Kieran’s other books are available in Waterstones, Vibes and Scribes and Nano Nagle Place.

Captions:

1128a. Front cover of Cork City Reflections (2021, Amberley Publishing) by Kieran McCarthy and Daniel Breen.

1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.

1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.
1128b. Front cover of The Little Book of Cork Harbour (The History Press, 2019) by Kieran McCarthy.

Kieran’s Statement & Press, Odlum’s Building, South Docks, Cork, 27 November 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

“The proposal is to be warmly welcomed. This area of South Docks has been derelict for many years and crying out for a new use. O’Callaghan Properties have proven they can deliver what they say in a timely manner and have been great to draw in large companies into Cork. And to be fair to them, they also take feedback on board. From my perspective I am appreciative so far of their notes in their press releases on their focus on blending in the old Odlum’s Building and finding a cultural use for it. I think such a building will be a very special part of this corner of South Docks – it can be the space to retain the historical memory of the docks, whilst also showcasing modern cultural life in Cork.

I am disappointed though for the grain silos – I think part of them should be retained to add character to the development. I know in my own submission I will be making, I will be focusing in on that and making general comments on the need for place-making. In the past I have been critical of the creation of non-descript glass boxes, which don’t add to any sense of place. But I am grateful that the developers in North and South Docks have done some great restoration work. There is certainly a better balance being struck in retaining the sense of place compared to previous decades. I will be reading carefully the O’Callaghan property proposal carefully once it becomes available to the general public”.

Press:

27 November 2021, “In his website about Cork city entitled Cork Heritage, Independent cork city councillor and historian Kieran McCarthy states that Odlums operated their flour mills venture at the docklands from 1965. It followed a long history of milling in Cork,  Looking back at the historic Odlums Mills in Cork, Looking back at the historic Odlums Mills in Cork (echolive.ie)

25 November 2021, “The proposal is to be generally welcomed. This area of South Docks has been derelict for many years and crying out for a new use”, said Cllr McCarthy, No glass box on our docks!, No glass box on our docks! | Cork Independent

24 November 2021, Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy said the area proposed for development had been derelict for some time and that the proposals are to be warmly welcomed. He said he believed the redevelopment of the Odlum’s Building could be “a very special part of this corner of South Docks”. South Docks development a ‘further exciting phase’ in Cork’s development, South Docks development a ‘further exciting phase’ in Cork’s development (echolive.ie)

Cllr McCarthy to give talk on Sir John Benson and Nineteenth Century Cork

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Independent Councillor and local historian Kieran McCarthy gives a zoom talk on this Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm. The topic is on the life and times of nineteenth century engineer Sir John Benson on his Cork works ranging from bridges to waterworks to special sites such as the Berwick Fountain. The talk is hosted by Engineer’s Ireland, Cork Branch, and the Friends of the Crawford. Booking details are here: www.engineersireland.ie/listings/event/7906

The talk reflects on the enormous legacy of engineer and architect Sir John Benson. His work as County Surveyor, Cork Harbour engineer and then City Engineer in Cork from 1846 to 1873 was notable. He was concerned with not only developing a public road network, developing river dredging works programme but also engineering a water supply for the entire city, and ultimately improving the quality of life in the city and region.

Cllr McCarthy noted: “Much has been written on many of John’s well-known works over the years such as the beautiful Berwick Fountain, the red bricked English Market exterior, the striking St Patrick’s Bridge and his work on designing the North Cathedral’s western tower”.

“John was passionate about his work and about Cork. His array of works he was involved in show he was a hard-worker and a visionary for his time. He was also a pioneer in designing National Exhibition buildings in Cork and in Dublin in order to showcase the products of the country. He is also remembered for his extensive railway line work being the engineer for the old Cork-Macroom rail line and the architect for the first Cork-Dublin railway terminus, which existed before the current Kent Station, and part of which still survives and is currently being preserved”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 November 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work
1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)
1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 November 2021

Journeys to a Truce: The Fate of Tadhg Barry

Tadhg Barry has been written about by several historians over the past decades. Donal Ó Drisceoil’s new book on Tadhg’s life and times is now available in shops and is published by Mercier Press. Born in Cork city in 1880, Tadhg grew up in the Blarney Street area. Between 1899 to 1903, he worked as an attendant in the nearby Our Lady’s Hospital. After a short time working in London, he took up a job back in Cork with the newly-established Old Age Pensions Board in 1909.

Tadhg became an active member of the IRB and Sinn Féin. As a GAA member he was part of the group led by J.J. Walsh which restructured and rejuvenated the organisation in Cork. In 1913, Tadhg was a founding member of the Irish Volunteers in the city. He remained with the separatist wing after the 1914 split, and remained a core member. He was very engaged in the trade union activity in the city. In May 1915 Tadhg was one of a group who brought James Connolly to the city to speak at an Independent Labour Party meeting. He was also involved in Connolly’s January 1916 visit to Cork, when James spoke to circa thirty Volunteers on urban guerrilla tactics.

Tadhg also played a central part in the early stages of the renewal of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) in the city. In November 1916 he was arrested during a speech to the Manchester Martyrs commemoration in Cork. In January 1917, he was sentenced by court martial to two years, but only served eight months. He was released following a hunger strike in early July 1917. On release Tadhg resumed regular journalism with a weekly column on Cork city politics, labour and culture under the title Neath Shandon Steeple for the Skibbereen-based Southern Star. He also commenced contributing a series of articles to the ITGWU’s Voice of Labour.

Tadhg was lifted as part of the German Plot arrest swoop in May 1918 and sent to Usk prison in England, until March 1919. Following his release. He became a full-time ITGWU organiser and Cork No. 1 (James Connolly Memorial) Branch secretary.

In the January 1920 municipal elections Tadhg was elected as alderman for the Sunday’s Well/Blarney Street area on a Sinn Féin/Transport Union ticket and took his seat in Cork City Hall for the historic election of Tomás MacCurtain as Lord Mayor.

A year later, in January 1921, when Cork Corporation gathered to elect a new Lord Mayor, the police arrested nine of the councillors, including Tadhg. He was removed to Ballykinlar internment camp in County Down, where he joined over 2,000 others, including many union activists. Tadhg engrossed himself in camp life, and is recorded as having delivered lectures on labour and other social concerns as part of the educational activities arranged by the internees.

One of the most detailed accounts of Ballykinlar is by Frank O’Duffy, who was interned in Camp II, Ballykinlar, from January to December 1921. He acted as Prisoners’ Commandant in that Camp from June until the general release in December, 1921. He relates in his witness statement (WS665) in the Bureau of the Military History that about the middle of November 1921 the British Commandant told prisoners that he had permission to release a number of prisoners (about thirty) on parole from the camps, and he supplied a lorry to bring them to the railway station.

When the group were entering the lorry outside the camp gate, some prisoners (including Tadhg Barry) were standing a few yards inside the gate of Camp II. The sentry in the block-house overlooking the gate asked them to step back from the gate. Tadhg did not. The sentry fired at Tadhg and shot him dead through the heart. Another prisoner (Con O’Halloran) dragged Tadhg’s body back a few yards, and an angry crowd quickly gathered, some of them shouting at and denouncing the sentry, who had them covered with his rifle.

Frank outlines that the threatening situation was saved by the presence of mind of Sean O’Sullivan who called on the prisoners to kneel down and say the Rosary. In an instant all was calm Father Burbage attended to Tadhg, and the doctors pronounced life extinct.

In the meantime, an officer had entered the sentry-box, and another sentry was brought to replace the man who had fired the shot. Frank describes the situation; “So impressive was the scene inside our camp, and the instant change from angry abuse to prayer, that the British M.O. (Captain Harlow, who was not friendly to us) complimented me next day on the remarkable discipline of our men, and our control over them. It would be impossible to describe the shock which the tragedy produced on the prisoners. Their nerves were at high tension. The truce and treaty negotiations had lasted many months and the hopes and prospects of early release had been more eagerly debated every day”.

Frank describes that Tadhg Barry had been very active and popular in all the camp activities; he had volunteered to act as hut leader in what was described as the “old men’s hut” a hut specially fitted up to accommodate 25 of the oldest men in the camp.

Frank Duffy articulates that many of the British officers seemed to regret the tragedy. Even when a British Sergeant attempted to remove the Tricolour flag from the coffin, the Adjutant (Lieutenant Joselyn) forbade him. They consulted Frank and the Camp about arrangements to be made; Frank notes: “They offered accommodation for the body in a building outside the camp (open to the public), and agreed that a group of 24 prisoners from the camp might accompany it to supply a guard until the funeral left on condition that they gave their word not to escape”.

Utter Disloyalist, Tadhg Barry and the Irish Revolution by Donal Ó Drisceoil (2021, Mercier Press, Cork) and is available in all good bookshops.

Event: Kieran gives a zoom talk on Nineteenth Century Engineer Sir John Benson on his Cork works ranging from bridges to waterworks to special sites such as the Berwick Fountain, Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm, with Engineer’s Ireland, Cork Branch, and the Friends of the Crawford. Booking details here: www.engineersireland.ie/listings/event/7906

Caption:

1126a. Tadhg Barry, c.1920 (source: Cork City Library)

Cllr McCarthy: Push to Phase out Herbicides in Public Areas

Cork History, Improve Your Life, Landscapes, Uncategorized, Ward Development

Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed Cork City Council’s Parks and Recreation Division undertaking of trials researching various alternatives to herbicides. The research during the past three years has concluded that the alternatives are less effective and more costly. The alternatives included steam jet application, electric strimmer and organic herbicides. The disadvantage of the alternatives is that the control increases from one operation per year up to four for any one of the alternatives. That said the alternatives are by far more environmentally friendly in terms of greater biodiversity and pollinator friendly amenity areas.

Cllr McCarthy noted: “The Marina and The Atlantic Pond areas are core areas I have had phonecalls on and questions on the use of herbicide. The Roads Department are cognisant of general concerns regarding the use of glyphosate and have been conducting trials in the last three years with contractors using non-glyphosate products. These trials have incrementally ramped up to the point that in 2021 these trials cover 140km of the public road network, i.e., 28% of the road network. In the coming months, an evaluation of these trials will be completed with respect to effectiveness and costs, with a view to expanding the overall percentage of network treated with non-glyphosate products in 2022”.

“Providing the trials are deemed successful, contractors with effective non-glyphosate products are available, and costs match Council budget allocation, it is the Roads Departments intention to proceed with non-glyphosate products in the future treatment of the City’s road network”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.

Online Event: Engineering 19th Century Cork: Exploring the Work and Times of Sir John Benson, 25 November 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Kieran McCarthy gives a zoom talk on Nineteenth Century Engineer Sir John Benson on his Cork works ranging from bridges to waterworks to special sites such as the Berwick Fountain.
Thursday 25 November, 6.30pm, with Engineer’s Ireland, Cork Branch, and the Friends of the Crawford. Booking details here: www.engineersireland.ie/listings/event/7906

Kieran notes: “The talk reflects on the enormous legacy of engineer and architect Sir John Benson. His work as County Surveyor, Cork Harbour engineer and then City Engineer in Cork from 1846 to 1873 was concerned with not only developing a public road network, developing river dredging works programme but also engineering a water supply for the entire city, and ultimately improving the quality of life in the city and region.

Much has been written on many of John’s well-known works over the years such as the beautiful Berwick Fountain, the red bricked English Market exterior, the striking St Patrick’s Bridge and his work on designing the North Cathedral’s western tower.

John was passionate about his work and about Cork. His array of works he was involved in show he was a hard-worker and a visionary for his time. He was also a pioneer in designing National Exhibition buildings in Cork and in Dublin in order to showcase the products of the country. He is also remembered for his extensive railway line work being the engineer for the old Cork-Macroom rail line and the architect for the first Cork-Dublin railway terminus, which existed before the current Kent Station, and part of which still survives and is currently being preserved”.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 11 November 2021

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized
1125a. Henry O’Mahony in a peaked cap, centre back of this old photograph from Spike Island Internment Camp (source: Spike Island Heritage Centre).
1125a. Henry O’Mahony in a peaked cap, centre back of this old photograph from Spike Island Internment Camp (source: Spike Island Heritage Centre).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 11 November 2021

Journeys to a Truce: A Daring Escape from Spike Island

A very insightful exhibition on some of the key Irish War of Independence figures from Passage West town takes place in the town’s museum at present. One of the figures presented is Henry O’Mahony, who in November 1921 as well as six others made a daring escape from the Internment Camp in Spike Island.

Henry was born in Passage West and attended the local national school. At the age of sixteen, he was indentured as an apprentice engine filter in Haulbowline dockyard where he continued to work after his apprenticeship was over.

Henry joined the IRA in 1917 and became Company captain and Deputy Commandant of the 9th Battalion, Cork No.1 Brigade. He was active in politics and was elected on the Sinn Féin ticket to the first meeting of the newly formed Passage West Town Commissioners on 14 July 1920. Five days later he was elected chairman of the body.

Not long afterwards Henry was arrested in Glenbrook and was one of 500 prisoners interned in Spike Island. At the next meeting of the town commissioners a few days later the clerk stated he had received a letter from the chairman stating that circumstances prevented him from attending meetings for the time being.

Henry in his Bureau of Military History account (WS1506) outlines his escape through tunnels and a boat escape on 10 November 1921. Henry, with six other Volunteer Officers, Maurice Twomey, William Quirke, Tom Crofts, Dick Barrett, Paddy Buckley and Jack Eddy got away under cover of darkness. Henry notes: “We tunnelled through a wall surrounding the prison which was the inside of a moat. We then scaled the outside wall by means of a timber ladder made from the joists of the flooring of the prison which we had by then wrecked. We made our way to the coast and eventually to the pier where we saw a guard on duty. When the guard left, Eddy waded out and brought to the pier a boat into which we tumbled into and, with the aid of a storm, succeeded in reaching Cobh and safety”.

The Passage West Exhibition also has more detailed descriptions of the escape by Volunteer William (Bill) Quirke. It took two full months to complete the plans – each member of the group of seven detailed for the escape attempt had certain tasks to complete. They worked in shifts making notes, charts to the changes of the moon, the height of the tide and, above all the operation of the search lights. A rope ladder was made from rungs of chairs and electric light flex. It was a range of seven men or try to escape.

On 10 November 1921 at 5pm, the group crowded into a hole in the wall at the back of one of the blocks and entered an old used passageway leading to the moat. The stones were immediately replaced by comrades. They then crouched in silence listening to the walk of the sentry as he marched to and fro on his regular beat above their heads. In addition it was a while and stormy night.

Bill relates in his account: “Now the accuracy of our time chart was put to the test. We knew it was only a matter of minutes before the searchlights started and that we must get over the second wall before going into the limelight, so to speak. It was an anxious time…Each time the sentry clicked his heels, which meant he was about to march back on the return beat, one of the two men dropped over the parapet and onto the island proper…We were all over the second wall and had the ladder clear when the torchlight swing into action”.

With very slow stages the group reached the boat on which they had planned to make their escape only to find that it would take a steam engine to shunt it to the water’s edge. Bill remarks that the group had heard about the boat from some prisoners who were taken out in a barbed wire cage to bathe during the summer. They went to an old outhouse to review the situation when a further complication arose. A soldier and a girl came in. It was an hour before they left. They were not aware of the group’s presence.

The group moved to the water’s edge and worked their way around the island to the pier. They knew that some boats were usually anchored on either side of the pier. Two pier guards marched briskly towards them but did not see them.

When the guards had gone some distance, the group made for a boat only to find that it was chained and locked. Two further boats were tried with a similar result. It was time for quick action. One by one they slipped across the pier and down the steps at the other side. Again, the first two boats were chained to the pier – but there was still another boat apparently anchored out abit from the others. Jack Eddie, from Ardmore, swam out to investigate. He came back and reported that it was anchored with a rope. Silently he entered the water again with a knife between the teeth.

Bill relates: “Jack swam out; cut the rope and paddled with her alongside. One by one way we took our seats. Dick Barrett beside me. Moss Twomey from Fermoy and Henry O’Mahony were in the next seat. Paddy Buckley from Mitchelstown and Tom Crofts from Cork were in the next while Jack Eddy steered”.

The group narrowly missed the patrol boat and they thought they were safely away when on came the big search light. It stopped in the water just a few feet short of the boat. Henry O’Mahony directed their course and at 3am they scrambled ashore at Cobh. Each one then began their journey back to their home area.

The Irish War of Independence Exhibition is currently open in Passage West Museum. More information on opening times from this website, www.passagemuseum.ie.

Captions:

1125a. Henry O’Mahony in a peaked cap, centre back of this old photograph from Spike Island Internment Camp (source: Spike Island Heritage Centre).

1125b. View of interior of Passage West Museum, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

1125b. View of interior of Passage West Museum, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
1125b. View of interior of Passage West Museum, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).

An Oasis in the City – Bishop Lucey Park, 26 October 2021

Cork City Events, Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

Some initial thoughts….

It is true to say that Bishop Lucey Park has served this city well since 1985.

It’s been 36 years since the park has been revisited as a whole.

The site has always been in flux with interesting ideas on the nature of Cork’s urbanity.

Delving into a site biography of the park site and one can see old seventeenth and eighteenth century maps of the city showcasing the structural legacies of an alms house and a school associated with Christ Church – so the site initially was space of helping citizens and one of education.

Fastforward to the mid-twentieth century and the demolishing of such buildings created an open sore in the heart of the city.

The additional decision in the 1970s to build Cork’s first public carpark on the site was deemed a constructive one at the time but was bound up with the city’s struggle to cope with increased cars and the demand for car parks.

But it was the city’s University archaeologists that put Cork Corporation thinking on another track in a very short time.

The excavation in the late 1970s by the late Dermot Twohig showcased what stories lay beneath the old school and almshouse. It was the first urban excavation in Cork City.

Finding timber tree trunks as foundational supports for medieval housing, collapsed fourteenth century wattle walls and full to the brim timber lined pits with shells and associated objects re-ignited an interest in the city’s medieval and resilient past.

The dept of archaeological work completed in the 1980s can be viewed in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in Cork City Library and online.

That coupled with various local historians, the late Sylvester O’Sullivan, who was the Corporation’s autobiographer of the history of its officials and engineers, and of course the late Seán Pettit, amongst others in the hallowed halls of UCC’s history department, who wrote at length newspaper articles and conducted walking tours, and who put public pressure on the Corporation Cllrs and the officials to create something more beneficial than a car park on the site.

And credit needs to be given to our predecessors in 1984 and 1985 for their vision and their re-interpretation of what was a derelict site and for taking a risk with it. Indeed, their risk in creating Cork 800 – the celebration of Cork’s being granted its first urban charter in 1985 – was one that laid many foundations across many arts and cultural fields and left our generation many positive cultural legacies especially in the fields of heritage, music and dance in the present day.

The centre  piece of the celebrations was to be a new inner city public park. Majority support was expressed in the Council chamber for its name Bishop Lucey, who had just passed away – and was widely acknowledged for his work on the creation of the city’s rosary churches and associated community centre infrastructure and in the creation of the Credit Union system in Cork.

Of course when it came to laying out the park, the experience of the city’s archaeologists came to bear as foundations of the town wall were discovered. Indeed, such experience is very apparent in an interview with Maurice Hurley, consultant archaeologist at the time who spoke to RTE news – a piece of which is now archived online – when he went through the finds on the site, the nature of the town wall discovery and called for a larger museum for the city.

The City was also blessed to have Tony McNamara, City Architect, working in the city at the time – his re-engaging with the old cornmarket gates at City Hall and finding them a home at the entrance to Bishop Lucey Park as is thanks due to the vision of other City hall officials over the years, who gathered sculptures such as Seamus Murphy’s Onion Seller and plaques to the men of the 1798 rebellion and in more recent years the boxing wall memorial plaques.

One also needs to nod to the wider environs and the infrastructure work that has gone on there – the widening of the Grand Parade project, the re-orientation of Berwick Fountain, and the reputed seventeenth century canon.

Indeed, not only has Bishop Lucey Park served this city well over its 35 years – this little park has served as an inspirational platform for conversations on dereliction, environmental and greening challenges, well-bring, public art, incorporation of archaeological finds, conservation and preservation of urban memories and stories – to name but a few – but above all it is a little oasis in a busy city, which adds immensely to the heart of the city’s beating sense of place and identity. It is a place to be cherished and minded going forward. It has given the city so much over its 35 years but also the wider site has a long heritage of a number of centuries.

My thanks to Tony Duggan and his team for his work on our re-interpretation in the present day, and look forward to see the re-animation of Bishop Lucey Park.

More to be added at some point!

Kieran’s submission, Ref: Public Consultation, Bishop Lucey Park Regeneration Project, 16 August 2021

Dear City Architect’s Office,

I wish to warmly welcome the regeneration proposals for Bishop Lucey Park and its surrounds. I outline below a number of comments;

On areas outside of the park on Tuckey Street and on South Main Street extending to South Gate Bridge, there is an opportunity to demarcate archaeology reference points through lining perhaps or other different coloured road surface material – e.g. the original width of Medieval South Main Street, the old drawbridge tower on the South Main Street side of South Gate Bridge, or at Keyser’s Hill.

Within Bishop Lucey Park, the Pavilion feature is welcome plus it would be great to have info panels in it on the surviving town wall section. The 1985 Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society archaeology report on the town wall section by Maurice Hurley should be revisited and possible ideas of artwork and symbolism gleamed from it.

It would be great if the tower feature on the South Main Street side could be moved to the Grand Parade side – it would be great to mark the site of Hopewell Castle, the walled town turret, which in modern day terms existed at the Grand Parade side of the former Christ Church lane. The rectangular foundations of the tower were exposed in preparation works for the park in 1984 but were destroyed inadvertently.

I have an open mind on the current Cork 800 fountain site within the park. The core part of it really are the eight swans, which represent 800 years since Cork’s first charter. There is an opportunity, I feel, to create a new sculptural piece, which would not take up as much space as the large fountain and the eight swans could be incorporated into the new sculpture. Such a sculpture could also bring together the existing plaques in the park together – boxing memorials, 1798 memorial, and even Seamus Murphy’s Onion Seller sculpture.

Such latter clustering of heritage assets, perhaps next to the window ruins of Lyons Clothing Factory, may free up more public realm space – in particular helping to create more of an effective greening strategy for the park itself.

Sincerely,

__________________

Cllr Kieran McCarthy