Proposals for Road Safety Improvements at Ballinlough Road, Wallace’s Avenue and Bellair Estate Junctions, 2022 (image: Cork City Council)
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the formal passing of a planning proposal by members of Cork City Council for proposed Road Safety Improvement Scheme on Ballinlough Road. The proposals include the construction of two table top raised areas at the junctions of Bellair Estate and Ballinlough Road, and Wallace’s Avenue with Ballinlough Road, respectively, and a zebra crossing from Our Lady of Lourdes School to the current Bean Brownie shop. In the early discussions on design a controlled crossing was ruled out due to people’s driveways adjacent to the junction. It is also proposed to reconstruct and improve footpaths in the vicinity of both junctions, and modify and improve public lighting, road markings and road signage.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “Twenty submissions were received from the general public with the majority of them being supportive. The next steps now were to carry out an independent Road Safety Audit followed by the tender process. It is hoped that works will commence in late 2022. Discussions will take place with the school prior to commencement”.
“The corner of Old Lady of Lourdes National School is a blind corner and has many people crossing this dangerous stretch of road every day. Public safety has been a regular issue that local people have raised with me. Over many years, I have received much correspondence and phone calls from people highlighting stories of near misses and outlining fears for themselves and in many cases, children living in the local area”, continued Cllr McCarthy.
“It was people power, which drove the funding to be put in place. The funding came as part of a central government package of funding to Cork City Council as part of a Low Cost Safety Scheme for local road networks”, concluded Cllr McCarthy.
1172a. St Patrick’s Street, c.1920 from Cork City Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 20 October 2022
Journeys to a Free State: Skirmishes on the Streets
Whereby September 1922 coincided with offensive and randomly located rifle fire by Anti Treaty IRA volunteers on the National Army troops, October 1922 coincided with a step up in the type of weapon used especially using hand grenades. The Mills grenade was a traditional design; a grooved cast iron “pineapple” with a central striker held by a close hand lever and secured with a pin. The casing was grooved to make it simpler to grip. The Mills type was a defensive grenade to be thrown from behind cover at a focus in the open, wounding with fragmentation.
However, story after story, which appears in the Cork Examiner tells of warning shots more so than anything else by the IRA. However, they still shocked the general population, who tried to go about their daily business and found themselves part of tit-for-tat skirmishes on Cork City’s main streets.
A bombing of National Army troops occurred in Cork on 19 October 1922. Since the closing down of the railways owing to the destruction of local and regional bridges, a military guard was placed on duty in each station to prevent damage to rolling stock and railway property generally.
At the Cork-Bandon Railway terminus on Albert Quay, a party of 49 men were placed on duty. There were stationed at various points in the yard, but the greater number remained in the centre. At 1.15pm, an IRA volunteer came over a new bridge connecting Rockboro Road with Anglesea Street, and which ran immediately underneath the South Infirmary church and wards. After he arrived about the centre of the bridge, he flung four hand grenades in quick succession at the sentry on duty underneath. At the time, the sentry was in the engine shed, but this was not observed by the bomb-thrower.
Of the four grenades thrown only one exploded, and this was outside the shed inside, where the sentry was. The other three remained where they fell. The explosion of the single bomb while it caused consternation, fortunately did no damage, and no one was injured. The troops in other parts of the yard observed a man running towards Rockboro Road, and shots were fired at him. He, however escaped, jumping up the three steps leading from the bridge to Rockboro Road, where he had the shelter of the houses. The three unexploded grenades, which were fired at the sentry lay unexploded and were rendered harmless.
On 21 October 1922 at about 1pm a three ton lorry, containing National Army troops, was coming through St Patrick’s Street from a westerly direction, and when it had arrived in the vicinity of Messrs Thompson’s and Messrs Lipton’s, a bomb was thrown at it. It rolled a short distance after it landed before it exploded. The bomb damaged the premises of Messrs Whelan and French.
A small pony cart, which was in the vicinity at the time, was damaged. A boy named William Hornibrook was unfortunate. When the bomb was thrown, the lorry, in an endeavour to get away, struck into William’s small pony cart. The animal bolted and William’s cart was smashed into small pieces. The pony though escaped uninjured.
Others who were in the street at the times also suffered, though their injuries were fortunately of a minor nature. John O’Leary, an employee of the Macroom Railway Company, sustained an injury to the head, and he and the William – the boy – were removed to the Mercy Hospital. John has mild bruising and William suffered from shock.
The National Army troops were soon on the scene and the locality was searched, but no arrests were made. Another live grenade was found on Paul Street, which suggested that the perpetrator of the bomb escaped that way and got rid of the bomb through fear of being held up. A short time later the tram service, which was held up resumed its business.
On 22 October, at about 8.30am two lorries in convoy was on its way towards the County Gaol. When it reached the Grand Parade, it was fired on near Woodford Bourne. Several volleys were discharged from the shelter of crowds, but the troops suffered no casualties. The officer-in-charge within the National Army gave the order to his men to fire in the air, which dispersed the assailants and the general crowd very quickly. A little girl named Ms O’Donovan, aged about 13 years, was hit in the knee by some splinters. She was treated by Dr Joseph Dalton in the Mercy Hospital. About the same time snipers opened fire on several of the city’s posts, particularly at the Custom House, but return fire silenced any further hostilities.
On 30 October 1922, at 12.15pm, there was another street attack on St Patrick’s Street. The throughfare was crowded at the time. A private touring car containing three or four of the National Army was passing through the street towards the Grand Parade. They just reached Fr Mathew Statue when the attack was made.
Two bombs of the Mills’ type grenade were thrown. One was a number nine and the other number five – the number nine bomb being the larger of the two. One of the bombs struck the wooden pavement in a line with the Irish Lace House, while the second lodged on the opposite side of the street in the direction of Messrs Evans establishment. The large size bomb hit the iron work of a passing tram car – the fragments of the bomb entering the windows of the establishments of Messrs Dowden’s and Piggott’s and those of the Irish Lace House.
The passengers in the tram car were naturally terrified. One of the female occupants fainted and had to be assisted out of the car, which was not damaged to any material extent. Another female had a lucky escape when she had the heel of her boot blown completely off by a splinter of a bomb. Again, National Army troops arrived on the scene, nearby houses were searched but again no arrests were made.
Caption:
1172a. St Patrick’s Street, c.1920 from Cork City Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen.
1171a. Remnants of Cork County Gaol, off Western Road, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 13 October 2022
Journeys to a Free State: The Gaol Shooting
On Thursday night 21 September 1922, thirty-nine anti-Treaty IRA men made their escape from Cork County Gaol off Western Road. Of these two were recaptured near Ballinhassig the following day, but of the remaining in the ensuing days after their escape there was no trace.
The Cork Examiner recalls that the men got away by means of a tunnel, or rather a disused ventilation shaft. Becoming aware of the existence of this shaft, the men confined in one cell dug their way down until they met with the shaft, and then broke into the narrow passage. A man was sent down to explore and came back with the news that the tunnel was just passable and led out through a larger shaft beyond the gaol premises.
One by one then, the 39 prisoners who had access to this particular portion of the gaol went into the cell and down the narrow hole at the back, through the shaft, and up through a manhole in the centre of the road outside the gaol walls. As each man made his way out, he quickly disappeared. It was not until a considerable time afterwards that the escape was discovered, but by then the men had got clear away.
Following the escape of thirty-nine prisoners, the remaining colleagues interned there rioted on Sunday, 24 September 1922. The Cork Examiner records that circa 435 IRA volunteers went on strike while on the parade ground at 7am on the 24th. Having previously been on hunger strike, they refused to go into their cells when the time had arrived for doing so, and the National Army guards were obliged to use force in order to get them to comply with the regulations. They still refused, and the guards forced them from the recreation ground with the butts of their rifles.
The prisoners on reaching the cells smashed the doors, and refused to enter, and continued the disturbance which they had initiated on the parade ground. After some hours, during which every effort was made to induce the prisoners to desist from their conduct, the guards gave them a quarter of an hour in which to return to their cells. They still refused to obey, and an extra five minutes was give as a warning to back down. When the five minutes expired the prisoners still made no attempt to obey. The guard then fired one volley, and two of the prisoners were hit, both being seriously wounded. One of them, Lismore born but Cork based Volunteer Patrick Mangan Junior, died on the following day at the Mercy Hospital.
A military inquiry was held by the National Army. The inquiry found that Patrick Mangan met his death as the result of a rifle shot fired by a sentry “in the execution of his duty”, and that the officer, who gave the order to fire was justified, as the prisoners had sufficient warnings and ample time to comply with the order to return to their cells.
Commandant of the Gaol Mr Scott, being sworn in, noted that on the night of 23 September he received a deputation from Mr Carey, who introduced himself the Commandant of the Prisoners, at 10.30pm. He handed Commandant Scott a list of demands, and informed him if they were not granted the prisoners would go on hunger-strike the following morning at 7 am if demands were not met – (1) the cell doors and yard doors should open from 7am to 9pm; (2) there should be free communication between and all wings; (3) parcels, letters in and out should be allowed; and (4) there should also be a supply of mattresses, blankets, mugs, plates, knives and forks.
Regarding requests no.s 1, 2, and 3, Commandant Scott informed the inquest that he had instructions from Headquarters, owing to the taking of advantage of privileges previously given, that all privileges were withdrawn, except exercise two hours a day – one hour in the forenoon and one hour each afternoon. Privileges would be renewed at a later date, when according to Scott the prisoners became “amenable to discipline”. As regards request no.4, Scott deemed that the prisoners had a sufficient supply of blankets and mugs, and as regards bedding and equipment in general, he argued they were better equipped than his own men.
The tension between prison guards and prisoners was highly charged. The prisoners were boisterous all through the night, and after Mass next morning refused breakfast, except a handful of men. Commandant Scott allowed them out between 8am and 11am but was unable to get them to return them to their cells. Scott detailed that he ordered a party of soldiers to fire over the prisoners’ heads at the wall. After cautioning the prisoners that he intended firing, he ordered fire. The deceased, Patrick Mangan Junior, further desisted any order to leave. He was fired at. A priest and doctor immediately went to attend to him and he was removed to hospital as soon as possible, but was declared dead.
Chaos continued to reign in the weeks that ensued. About 8pm on 6 October 1922 there was an attack on the Cork County Gaol, apparently from the western side. The sniping was replied to by the guard with equal vigour. People in the district quickly moved within doors, and many who were going to evening devotions at St Finbarr’s West or The Lough Church, returned to their homes. The shots came apparently from the area directly west of the Gaol Walk. No casualties were sustained.
The guards, both inside and outside the Gaol, was promptly supplemented, and searches and investigations were immediately began, with the result that a number of arrests were made.
About the same time a small party of National Army troops were fired on at the Mardyke Walk near the entrance to Fitzgerald’s Park. Only a few shots were fired, and no damage was done.
Caption:
1171a. Remnants of Cork County Gaol, off Western Road, Cork, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy).
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy is encouraging local secondary school students in the Douglas area to sign up for this year’s Student Enterprise Programme. An initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices, the country’s largest enterprise programme for second level students begins its 21st year and over 300,000 students have taken part since it began.
Cllr McCarthy noted; “The programme is open to all secondary school students from 1st year through to 6th year. The programme is run through the network of Local Enterprise Offices, which includes Cork City’s very active office, supported by Enterprise Ireland and local authorities such as Cork City Council. Local coordinators are located in every area to support teachers and students through the year of the programme, which helps foster entrepreneurship in students and gives them key skills they can bring with them into later life”.
The Student Enterprise Programme has been in operation in Cork City since 2003, as part of the National Student Enterprise Programme. The programme begins each year in September with a student induction held where students from across the schools located within the Cork City boundaries are invited to participate.
Students across the participating schools take part in idea generation exercises, they produce their products and deliver their services, market their business and sell their products. Local Enterprise Office Cork City run a number of events during the calendar year which includes a Student Induction Day, held in September, MD’s day in collaboration with Otterbox, held in October, Christmas Market, Business Plan writing workshop held in January and concludes in March with a Cork City final. The city’s finalists go on to represent Local Enterprise Cork City at the National final which is held in May annually.
Contact info@corkschoolsenterprise.ie for more information.
1171a. Eugene McCarthy’s wooden river ferry or pontoon with horse and cart on board at East Ferry, c. 1910 from Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 6 October 2022
Journeys to a Free State: A County De-Railed
Building on last week’s column, in early autumn 1922, the Irish Civil War also happened within the satellite area of the city, where surprises attacks on National Army troops were regular by Anti-Treaty IRA members. But in particular the damage inflicted on key infrastructure points was high.
The Cork Examiner reported that on 31 August, Macloneigh Bridge, near Coolcower demesne, about two miles from Macroom was blown up by Anti-Treaty IRA members. This was the last bridge through which connection was maintained between Macroom and Cork on the south bank of the River Lee valley.
During the early hours of 2 September 1922, the Anti-Treaty IRA members blew up Dripsey bridge, and the people of Macroom area now had to come to Cork by Berrings and Cloghroe, as other bridges in the same area in the northern bank of the River Lee valley had been removed by explosives.
In early September 1922 the directors and managers of the railway services in the South of Ireland made efforts to maintain to some degree lines of communication with important centres in the country served from Cork. It was repeatedly highlighted that the wholesale destruction of railway bridges and lines was causing the unemployment of hundreds of menand inconvenience on large communities in wide agricultural districts. In early September 1922 due to damage the Cork-Macroom line had to close just beyond Ballincollig at Kilumney.
In East Cork, the loss of the East Ferry floating bridge, which was highly damaged, caused serious inconvenience to passengers and traffic from the Cobh side of the river to the Midleton and surrounding districts, where a considerable amount of communication was carried on. Rare pictures shows the bridge to be two pontoons arranged catamaran-like, decked over and fitted at either end with a landing ramp. The overall pontoon was chained-hauled between its two terminals of sorts. The bridge, which was the property of Mr Eugene McCarthy, East Ferry, was entirely constructed by him several years previous to 1922.
Using Mr McCarthy’s floating bridge locals could convoy livestock from the south of Midleton to Cove (now Cobh), at a considerably lower rate than if the stock were to be conveyed via Midleton by road. By September 1922 traffic by the latter route or road was cut off owing to the destruction of the bridge at Belvelly. The East Ferry route was the only one left. The damage to the floating pontoon to be repaired included the construction of new gangways, and the fact of the bridge had been beached after the chain was cut, caused several, leakages in the boat, and with the repairing of the chain, in all, the cost of repairs amounted to a considerable figure for Mr McCarthy.
The Cork Examiner records that on 7 September 1922 passengers on the Muskerry Railway were held at gunpoint by Anti-Treaty IRA members. Since the partial blowing up of the Leemount bridge, the railway company, for the convenience of the public ran a train from Cork to the Leemount bridge at Carrigrohane while a train was also run from Coachford and Blarney to meet it. At Leemount bridge passengers got out of the trains and crossed the bridge on foot, thus exchanging trains there. The trains then returned, one to the city and the other going on to Coachford.
About 11.30am on 7 September the train from Coachford arrived at Leemount with a large number of passengers. However, it was held up by several armed Anti-Treaty IRA members who compelled the passengers to pass between two men with revolvers for inspection. All the passengers passed through this inspection. The IRA members then removed all the mails from the train and took them across the fields towards Leemount.
On 10 September in the early morning the blowing up of the road bridge by Anti Treaty IRA members near Dunkettle station on the Great Southern and Western Railway branch line, Cork-Cobh, and Cork-Youghal. The familiar old bridge was completely blown away, all that remained were the stone piers. It was a swivel bridge, but seldom was there necessity to open it. Spanning the river stretching along to Glanmire, the only parts of the bridge left were the cylinders which are smashed and broken. It was believed that mines were laid at either end of the bridge and were set off simultaneously.
The Cork Examiner also highlighted that the destruction of the railway lines serving the southern and western coasts reduced the towns of south and West Cork, and practically all the towns of Kerry led to a large shortage of food supplies. The inland centres were even harder hit, and the enterprising shopkeepers of the towns along the coast organised alternative means of transit to the railway system. There were in all between fifty and sixty motor boats and steamers plying between Cork city and the southern and western towns and villages, including Limerick, Tralee, Kenmare, Goleen, Sneem, Cahirciveen, Skibbereen, Union Hall, Cape Clear, Sherkin Island, Schull, Castletownbere, Baltimore, Clonakiltv, Bandon and Courtmacsherry.
Ranging from ten to fifty tons, the boats brought and took the merchandise, which formerly came over the Cork, Bandon and South Coast Railway and the Kerry branch of the Great Southern and Western Railway. Cargoes from West Cork and Kerry arrived at the city’s South Jetties and included pigs, bacon, butter, eggs and fresh fish. The return cargo consisted of flour, meal, bran, groceries, salt, and the products of the local breweries and distilleries.
It is recorded that in early September twenty-five motor boats and ten steamers arrived on one day and having unloaded their cargoes of foodstuffs took with them supplies for the shopkeepers of the western County Cork towns. The boats arrived in all hours of the day and night and unloaded and re-loaded within twenty-four hours.
Caption:
1171a. Eugene McCarthy’s wooden river ferry or pontoon with horse and cart on board at East Ferry, c. 1910 from Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen.
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy is encouraging local secondary school students in the Douglas area to sign up for this year’s Student Enterprise Programme. An initiative of the Local Enterprise Offices, the country’s largest enterprise programme for second level students begins its 21st year and over 300,000 students have taken part since it began.
Cllr McCarthy noted; “The programme is open to all secondary school students from 1st year through to 6th year. The programme is run through the network of Local Enterprise Offices, which includes Cork City’s very active office, supported by Enterprise Ireland and local authorities such as Cork City Council. Local coordinators are located in every area to support teachers and students through the year of the programme, which helps foster entrepreneurship in students and gives them key skills they can bring with them into later life”.
The Student Enterprise Programme has been in operation in Cork City since 2003, as part of the National Student Enterprise Programme. The programme begins each year in September with a student induction held where students from across the schools located within the Cork City boundaries are invited to participate.
Students across the participating schools take part in idea generation exercises, they produce their products and deliver their services, market their business and sell their products. Local Enterprise Office Cork City run a number of events during the calendar year which includes a Student Induction Day, held in September, MD’s day in collaboration with Otterbox, held in October, Christmas Market, Business Plan writing workshop held in January and concludes in March with a Cork City final. The city’s finalists go on to represent Local Enterprise Cork City at the National final which is held in May annually.
Contact info@corkschoolsenterprise.ie for more information.
Image: Proposed path to be destroyed at Ballybrack Woods, Douglas to facilitate bridge proposal from Grange Road to Carrigaline Road (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Dear Bus Connects Team,
As a public representative for the south east of Cork City and having two and a quarter bus corridors in my area, it’s difficult to know where to start with my representation.
At the outset I do acknowledge the need for improving the city’s public transport. Indeed, I was one of the core political members, who connected the European Commission to Cork City with regard to the Horizon Europe mission of being 100 Climate Neutral Cities by 2030. So, I am acutely aware of the steep uphill journey the city has to travel to be climate neutral and to work closely between the public and all the stakeholders involved to make sure a strong partnership is maintained.
To be honest at this moment in time I see a very fragmented partnership between the general public and the stakeholders involved in Cork Bus Connects. That partnership and dialogue seriously needs to improve if this epic project is going to get across the line.
To begin with in early July the scatter gun communication to the public via unsigned two-page documents, circulated in a hit and miss way to directly affected houses especially those whose gardens may be part of a CPO process, led to much mistrust and much frustration of the consultation process. Mistrust and frustration has led to further mistrust and frustration. So yes, there is a sense of “you are taking my land” in many cases but moreover there is a case of “you are not reaching out enough to me”.
Coupled with that I have found that the multitude of people who have contacted me unable to read the series of produced maps and unable to digest the many devils in the detail of the different corridors. In effect, I have spent three months in a continuous loop trying to get information to local people via flyering, knocking on doors and hosting a multitude of public meetings – many on the side of affected roads.
Having a public consultation in mid-July led to many local people just becoming aware of the proposals when they came back from holidays in early September. The obligatory ads on bus stops and in newspaper gave nothing of the depth of the detail in the proposals. The info meetings in Nemo Rangers and the subsequent for the bus corridors in my area led to further feedback around the lines of the NTA “don’t know what they are doing”. The engineers who were present were not briefed enough on how to temper the public frustration. So, I remain adamant in my call for the communication team to resign or be completely overhauled.
I have received some positive feedback from the zoom meetings, but the overall feedback I am getting is that because of the scale of the proposals, the NTA should have offices in the heart of affected communities, so people can meet people face to face as these dramatic proposals are being negotiated over the next two years. It is not good enough that the process is being conducted from board rooms of sorts in Dublin. If the NTA are really serious about Bus Connects Cork in Ireland’s second city, the need for a publicly accessible office is crucial.
The various compulsory purchase order proposals are of serious concern to all my constituents and the amount of these proposals is a high price to pay for the implementation of Cork Bus Connects. Having a good garden is a core historical part of suburban design in Cork through the past few decades. Coupled with that the stone encircling walls are unique as well the trees and hedgerows. The overall proposal to remove over 1,000 trees between Ballinlough, Douglas and Grange is high handed environmental vandalism at its worst and I what I deem a very serious attack on Cork’s historic suburban sense of place and quality of life. I acknowledge that there would be replacement but would take several years for said replacement trees to catch on and ecosystems to catch on.
Indeed, even the thought of 1,000 trees literally being culled has emotionally upset many people by the vision of an almost urban ruinous tree landscape. In an age where trees, biodiversity and wildlife are core aspects of National, regional and local climate action plans, the proposal pitch, for example, to build a bridge across Ballybrack Woods or the Mangala is very disappointing. That this is deemed a proposal has painted a picture to many of my constituent of lack of caring of the importance of ecology and biodiversity to a suburb such as Douglas or to Cork City. The same sentiment could be applied to the proposals to wipe out biodiversity along Douglas Road, Boreenmanna Road and Well Road.
There is a very clear worry on the removal of on-street car parking, which needs a lot more public consultation.
There are many devils in the detail of Cork Bus Connects. I sincerely ask a way improved partnership with the general public. I ask that a detailed response be given to each maker of a submission, and a complete over haul of the communication process. The current mistrust and frustration, even anger needs to be negotiated with empathy and fairness for all involved.
30 September 2022, “Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy said: ‘The tree line on Boreenmanna Rd in particular is incredible. It’s quite beautiful at autumn time and it would be an environmental travesty if those trees were actually cut down’ “, Road-widening plans prompt ribbon protest on Boreenmanna Road, Road-widening plans prompt ribbon protest on Boreenmanna Road (echolive.ie)
1170a. National Army soldiers in front of the commandeered Cork City and County Club at the intersection of the Grand Parade and the South Mall, photographed by W D Hogan (source: National Library, Dublin).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 29 September 2022
Journeys to a Free State: A City of Rifle Fire
Despite the securing of Cork City by the National Army of the Irish Provisional Government across August 1922, Anti Treaty IRA members continued to pursue their aims, and Civil War was brought to street corners and into buildings. The Cork Examiner outlines several tit-for-tat activities across September 1922.
In the early hours of 2 September 1922, the forces of the National Army stationed in the city in the course of raiding operations, discovered what was a munitions factory in the house at the corner of the South Mall and Queen Street (now Fr Mathew Street). The munitions were discovered in the upstairs portion of the house over 17a South Mall or 1 Queen Street. A gentleman named Mr McGuckin, who resided there has been arrested, and was detained.
The discoveries made by the troops during their search of the premises included: three boxes of bombs, two bags of bombs, about eight rifles, the same number of revolvers (of either Colt or Webley pattern), large quantities of ammunition, mostly of the dum-dum and explosive type, and machinery for the manufacture of bombs and ammunition.
The two bags of bombs were found underneath the flooring in one of the rooms. The machinery, which was of a very elaborate nature, was right at the top of the house. It was in perfect working order and was capable of turning out quantities of bombs and ammunition, while special provision had also been made for the manufacture of dumdum bullets. The ammunition found on the premises was principally of this type, and included bullets for Thompson and Lewis guns, as well as rifles, revolvers, and even pistols.
On 2 September in the morning at 10.15am an attack was made on the soldiers stationed at one of the city’s national army bases at the Cork City Club, Grand Parade at the intersection of the South Mall. Machine gun and rifle fire was opened upon them. One was killed and fourteen injured. The attack was opened on them from the opposite side of the river – Sullivan’s Quay.
A motor bicycle and sidecar were proceeding slowly up the quay from Parliament Bridge in a westerly direction. A machine-gun was mounted in the sidecar attachment and trained on the Grand Parade. As soon as the soldiers came into view of the two men in this vehicle the machine-gun opened fire.
At the same moment two men with rifles were seen to fire on the unarmed soldiers from the roof of a house a little to the Parliament Bridge side of Friary Lane, which turns off Sullivan’s Quay at right angles, almost opposite the National Monument. Two other men opened fire from another low roof on the western side of the corner of Friary Lane. The wounded were all brought to the Mercy Hospital.
In the early hours of 5 September snipers were active and several of the National Army posts in the city were attacked. None of the soldiers was hit. The only casualty was Miss Elizabeth O’Meara, who was wounded while in bed at her residence on the Grand Parade. Firing started in the vicinity of Victoria Barracks about midnight, but seemed at first to be merely an effort to draw the fire of the National soldiers. As the morning advanced, however, the firing developed, and machine-gun fire could be distinctly heard for a long time about daybreak.
About 2am an attack was made on the Metropole Hotel, and the sniping in the vicinity of this building continued for nearly six hours until about 7am. Near dawn, shots were fired at the City Club base, Grand Parade, from all sides, but particularly from the rear and from the south side of the river. Replies of gunfire from the National soldiers had the effect of quickly silencing the snipers. Casualties amongst the IRA, if any, were unknown. All the National Army soldiers escaped unhurt.
The Cork Examiner records that on the morning of 7 September, a series of raids on mails were made in different districts in the city, about 25 postmen (of 47 active postmen that morning), engaged in delivering letters, were held-up and the contents of their bags being appropriated by armed men. In each case the postman was confronted by two or three men, who produced revolvers and forced him to hand over the contents of his post-bag. In many cases the postmen had commenced delivery before being hold-up, but in a few cases all the letters were taken. Some of these were recovered by the Post Office. They were handed by an armed civilian.
About 10pm on 13 September night some eight to ten soldiers – all unarmed – were testing a motor lorry, which had been undergoing repairs at Messrs Johnson and Perrott’s garage in Emmet Place. They took the car for a short trial spin towards St Patrick’s Bridge, and it was while doing so that the bomb was thrown at the lorry. It fell into the car, but, very fortunately, did not explode. The person who threw it escaped into the darkness.
About 9.15pm on 18 September 1922 machine gun fire was opened at the National Army troops posted at Moore’s Hotel on Morrison’s Island. The attack came from the opposite side of the river, where a motor car was believed to have had a machine gun. There were no casualties among the troops, but a Mrs Haines, who was a guest in a house adjoining Moore’s Hotel, received several bullet wounds. She was brought to the Mercy Hospital in a critical condition.
Shortly after 9pm on 28 September a small party of National Army troops were travelling along the Ballvhooly road towards the city. A bomb was thrown at them from inside a gateway, which led to the backs of some houses, and from which an easy escape could be made. Due probably to the aim of the thrower the bomb went well wide of its mark, and none of the troops sustained any injuries. Indeed, beyond a small hole in the road and a few broken panes of glass in the houses in the immediate neighbourhood, no physical damage was done, but the local neighbourhood was highly concerned.
Many thanks to everyone who attended the 2022 season of public historical walking tours.
Caption:
1170a. National Army soldiers in front of the commandeered Cork City and County Club at the intersection of the Grand Parade and the South Mall, photographed by W D Hogan (source: National Library, Dublin).
1169a. Gerard Martin O’Brien, age four, standing by the ‘Hatch’, The Glen, circa 1957, from Faeries, Felons and Fine Gentlemen, A History of the Glen, Cork, 1700-1980 by Gerard Martin O’Brien.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 22 September 2022
Launch of A History of the Glen
Gerard Martin O’Brien’s book on The Glen in the heartland of Cork’s northside is an impressive landmark and beautiful publication. It is a personal memoir brought alive with deep research on the story of such a space of industrial heritage but also the movement in recent years to restore the space as one of Cork’s leading biodiverse parks. The book is entitled Faeries, Felons and Fine Gentlemen, A History of the Glen, Cork, 1700-1980 and is being launched at 7.30pm at Mayfield Library on 23 September, aka on Culture Night.
The book is intermixed with Gerard’s stories of growing up in the heart of the Glen to the stories of the various industries, which harnessed the power and space of the Glen river valley. In his introduction, Gerard noted about playing in the Glen amidst the ruins; “My Glen, the one I grew up in, had such diamond-like qualities as far as I was concerned. Yet, as a youngster, when I explored the old ruins, mused on the function of old waterways, and listened to stories of past activities and occupations, I should have understood how my ‘permanent world’ was already changing and had always been changing”.
Gerard’s idea for the book had its origins in the chance discovery of an old photograph of Goulding’s factory, which is not just remarkable for the clarity of the image, but also surprised Gerard with the clarity of recall the image engendered. It was one of three taken by the intrepid aerial photographer, Captain Alexander (‘Monkey’) Morgan in 1956, which Gerard discovered in the Morgan Collection in the National Photographic Archive.
Gerard describes that the Glen River is neither big nor long but rises from the springs and marshes in Lower Mayfield and Banduff and flows west. It is joined at Valebrook by another stream emanating in upper Ballyvolane (Ballincolly). The enlarged river flows through the Glen. At Blackpool it joins the bigger and longer Bride River. The river provided power to many industrial enterprises over the past three hundred years. Five mill ponds of varying sizes once punctuated its course at relatively even intervals between where it first emerges near the Fox and Hounds Crossroads, and Spring Lane at the western end.
As far as a history of the Glen is concerned, Gerard details that there were many versions of what the Glen had been like ‘before’ and the farther he went back in time, the less clear-cut anything became. Even the names changed and changed again through the lack of standard spelling or mistranslation: Glounapooka, Glounaspike and Glounaspooks are now forgotten names once associated with opposite ends of the Glen.
Before the eighteenth century, Gerard speculates the activities that went on there. For instance, the trees that covered the Glen in the nineteenth century were English elm, which had been introduced to Ireland in the seventeenth century. For such trees to colonise an area, there must have been a clearance of native woodland – but by whom and why is not recorded. Of arable faming Gerard denotes: “There is evidence to show that the eastern part of the Glen, being arable, was farmed long before the eighteenth century. Then of course, going back into prehistory, the post ice-age landscape would have been entirely different, and at some stage it is possible that much of the lower Glen, possibly all the western half, was a big lake before the river eroded its way through the rocky pass”.
Gerard’s research details that the quarrying of stone, sand and gravel probably represented the first efforts at exploitation of the Glen’s resources. Historic documents refer to a ‘north’ and ‘south’ sand quarry in the eighteenth-century Glen. A third quarry was also opened in the nineteenth century on the borders of Cahergal and Clashnaganiff townlands. The rock on the south face of the Glen was also quarried, most likely to build the mills in the eighteenth century and the distillery in the early nineteenth. However, from examining a succession of early OS maps, Gerard argues that it is probable that the quarrying of stone continued, at least periodically, throughout the nineteenth century. The sand quarries have now either been built over or landscaped, but evidence of the stone quarries can still be traced.
The earliest date for which references can be traced for any of these mills is the beginning of the eighteenth century. Gerard argues that it is not impossible that one or two ‘prototype mills’ existed before that. The Dodge family, one of the first families to make their mark on the Glen, may have prospered but their prosperity was a relative one: they were comfortable but did not amass a large fortune and plied the same trade for a century.
Gerard maps out and writes in detail that towards the end of the eighteenth century, flax milling was established at the eastern end of the Glen, but the process appears to have lasted only thirty years at most, before the mill was converted to a starch mill. The only other manufacturing process to be carried on in the Glen at that stage was iron working – a trade as old as corn milling – so it appears that a slow, steady, hardly changing way of life prevailed for the first century covered in this work. Gerard describes that in effect, the mills are centred in two clusters; “The iron mill, flax mill and one corn mill were located at the eastern end of the Glen where the landscape is broader, and the hills rise gently from a wide, marshy base. The malt/corn mills and the distillery/fertiliser factory were at the western end where the hills rise steeply to approximately one hundred feet and the valley floor has a characteristic V-shape”.
With the beginning of the nineteenth century the establishment of the distillery introduced an industrial model to the Glen. Gerard outlines that the first of these individuals, Humphreys Manders, went bankrupt almost immediately. The Perrier Brothers, with more money and experience, straightaway took his place. They did not live in the Glen and had other interests elsewhere in the city. The nineteenth century would see several such individuals associated with the Glen. Then, as the twentieth century dawned, a new type of industry dominated the landscape – Goulding’s Fertilisers, which was arguably the first Irish multinational industry.
Faeries, Felons and Fine Gentlemen, A History of the Glen, Cork, 1700-1980 by Gerard Martin O’Brien – copies can be bought at the launch or contact Gerard through his website www.bluehorsepress.net.
Caption:
1169a. Gerard Martin O’Brien, age four, standing by the ‘Hatch’, The Glen, circa 1957, from Faeries, Felons and Fine Gentlemen, A History of the Glen, Cork, 1700-1980 by Gerard Martin O’Brien.
