Kieran’s Our City, Our Town article, Cork Independent,

1 April 2010

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 206)

A Soldier’s Grave

In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Emma Ryan, Main Street, Ballincollig, married William John Regan who was stationed in the local barracks. William was a bandmaster with the 3^rd Dragoon Guards. They had twin girls in Acra, India in 1886. William died in India whilst on active service. Subsequently Emma returned to Main Street Ballincollig to continue her life. She arranged a child minder and studied maternity nursing. Eventually she became the local midwife/ nurse in Ballincollig.

The above is just one real life that has been unearthed by Anne Donaldson through her work and publication on the military cemetery, which was attached to Ballincollig Barracks. Apart from the biographies of member of the British army in Ireland up for scrutiny, Anne’s book I feel brings the reader onto other grounds of research. In recent years, the commemoration of Irish soldiers has shifted to studies of their contribution in the British army. As Ireland’s popular history focuses on the colonial impacts, recent studies have highlighted that 210,000 Irish soldiers took part in the first World War alone, of whom at least 35,000 were killed. Many of the Irish soldiers who died in that War lie in the fields of France, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Turkey, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Egypt and South Africa.

However, active service was also seen in Ireland. The role of the British citizen in the British army in Ireland had huge socio-cultural implications for every settlement that they were close to. Like those who died and who were buried overseas, their story too is largely forgotten. In their time, they also played an important part in Irish social history. A garrison such as the one at Ballincollig would have brought wealth, employment and opportunity. The lives of the garrison and the town would have become intertwined and in many ways mutually dependant.

As with the barracks, the military cemetery was also integrated into the Ballincollig landscape. The cemetery through its head stones provided an honour in death in the service of the British nation, the idea of a human sacrifice for the cause. The cemetery is a type of hero’s grove. The first map showing the site appears to be the 1834 ordnance map. The earliest inscribed gravestone found to date is the barrel grave of Isabella Wall dated 15 November, 1813. The earliest burial record found is of Mary Duggan, daughter of Gunner William Duggan and his wife May of the 9^th Battalion, Royal Artillery buried a month earlier on 13 October, 1813. The final burial seems to be that of Private E.C.J. Stratton of the 17^th Lancers, who was buried on 13 June 1920.

Initial survey work of cemetery was completed by Leslie Rice and Richard Henchion in 1995 and they noted 77 gravestones. Anne Donaldson added to this by consulting the army burial registers stored by the Church of Ireland at Carrigrohane. Anne identified 352 individuals as been buried in the Ballincollig Military Cemetery. A total of 291 soldiers are either buried at there or have a close family member buried there. Forty-seven officers including surgeons, a schoolmaster and bandmasters are similarly associated with the graveyard. Known adult males number 157. Of these 3 are known as married men. Known adult females amount to 34. Ages are known for two hundred entries. Ages at death range from eight hours to 77 years. Only six cases of death in Cork hospitals could be ascertained.

In my recent chat with Anne, she highlighted the stories of several individuals buried in the cemetery.  However, her early work is also expanding as more and more genealogical websites and census documents in the UK and Ireland are put online (e.g. www.ancestor.co.uk). Her findings reveal the significant depth of complexity of the lives of soldiers within the Barracks. The stories indicate that there were many aspects to a soldier’s life in Ireland in the years between 1810 and 1922. Trauma, fear, loneliness became the lot of many soldiers who were stationed far from home. So Anne’s work apart from recording, the process itself has also led to a partial restoration of the memory of forgotten souls. Three examples are given below (more can be read in Anne’s book).

Shadrack Gould, born 1 January 1855, was from Bradfield, Essex, England. He was a soldier in the 2^nd dragoons (Royal Scots Grays) from June 1873 – until his untimely death in 1882/ 1883. According to family tradition, whilst stationed at Ballincollig, Shadrock Gould died from an accidental gunshot wound delivered by his commanding officer.

A Bengamin Blackwell was born in 1844 in Wrexham Wales. In his younger years he was on board the ‘Formidable’, a ship for destitute and homeless people based at Bristol. A total of 480 boys were on that ship. He died on 16 July 1890. Twenty-two years old Bombardier Charles Mason was, in 1847, remembered by the non-commissioned officers and men of no.1 Company, 4^th Battalion. His epitaph reads:  “Comrades see a Soldiers Grave, Tread lightly O’er this sod. And Now that you. Your soul save, My soul seek Your earthly Peace with God.”

The graveyard became the responsibility of the Office of Public Works in 1922 and its heritage remains to be integrated into the way of life of modern Ballincollig.

To be continued…

Captions:

533a. Andrew Gillespie, died at Ballincollig Barracks on 26 August 1915 (pictures: Anne Donaldson collection)

533b. Shadrack Gould, died at Ballincollig Barracks in 1882/ 1883

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, Cork Independent article

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 205)

Ballincollig Barracks, 1901

On the postal directories of Ballincollig for the early 1900s, a cavalry barracks is mentioned in the town. Originally built in 1814, it stands as a reminder of the presence of empire within Cork and wider afield in Ireland.

The celtic tiger years coincided with more housing been built than ever before built in Ballincollig. Subsequently it has also opened up the former barracks area more and probably for the first time in nearly a century, the memories of the barracks have been re-opened but now to new meanings. The old recreation house of the barracks is now a pharmacy. The main barracks buildings are now home to offices. There is an ease with how one can walk amongst the buildings. The air of restricted space has been lifted.

Perhaps the only feature to remind one of the barracks former restrictiveness is its demense limestone wall which runs on the eastern side of the main street delimiting the width of the street but also serving up a claustrophobic atmosphere that the townscape on this side of the street is different in nature to the western side. Once defining the military space of the barracks, it now stands a symbol of another age and makes for an interesting contrast with both Aldi and the Dunnes Stores shopping centres respectively.  

Ballincollig Barracks is a military landscape set within the river valley landscape – a set of buildings initially organised around a set of functions but ultimately built to protect British imperial needs. The role and impact of the British army and the life of the British soldier within Ireland is an interesting study. How they integrated into the everyday life of towns and villages across Ireland makes for interesting reading.  

The work of local historian Dermot O’Donovan highlights many aspects of the composition of Ballincollig Barracks in 1901. He draws on the national census that was taken on 31 March 1901. He also builds on historical journals compiled from students of Ballincollig Community School under Dermot Lucey who has also unearthed aspects of Ballincollig’s history over the last number of years.

On 31 March, 1901, the compiled census records reveal much about Ballincollig as a place. There were 240 soldiers of the provisional regiment of Lancers (the 17^th Lancers). The reserve squadrons 12 and 16 were known as the Duke of Cambridge’s Own. The officer in command was Brevet Lieutenant Colonel C.J. Briggs. His second in command was Major W.R. Ricardo. Major Henry Fagan and Captain Eustace Maudsley were also some of the fellow officers. There were 195 privates. They wore a blue uniform with a white plum. There were upwards of forty or more personnel living in married quarters.

A total of 196 soldiers were born in England, 21 in Scotland and 12 from Ireland. The remainder were from Wales, India, East Indies, Isle of Man and Australia. In terms of the religious profession, 183 soldiers were Church of England (75%), 28 soldiers were Roman Catholic (11.6%), 22 were Presbyterians (9%), 4 were Wesleyan, 2 were Baptist and one was Congregationalist. Of the 28 Catholics, 20 were English born, 6 were Irish born and 2 Scottish born. The Irish Roman Catholics were from Dublin, Monaghan, Mayo, Athlone, Kilkenny and Kerry. The Church of England soldiers were from Dublin, Dundalk, Tipperary, Antrim and one Presbyterian from Co. Down.

The literacy rate of Ballincollig Barracks was 100% (read and write). The average age of the soldier in the barracks was 28 years. The oldest soldier was a 55-year old English born private, single status and an ex-labourer. The youngest soldier was a 17-year old, English born private and also an ex-labourer. A total of 51 soldiers (21%) were under 20 years, 81 soldiers were aged between 20 and 30 (33%), 58 soldiers (22%) were aged 30 and 40 and 49 soldiers (20%) were aged between 40 and 50. One soldier was over 50 years of age. A total of 88 soldiers were married (36%). There were two widowers. The majority of the NCO’s were married.

There are upwards of 85 trades or occupations listed in the census returns. The various trades reflect the industrial, urban background of the enlisted soldiers. Labourers, clerks, grooms, carters, engineers made up the first 100 professions.

Army personnel lived both within and without the barracks walls. Soldiers’ houses are still in existence at Station Road across the road from the main entrance to the Barracks. Postal directories list army officers as residents at various addresses in the area. A soldier’s home, supervised in 1907 by Elsie Sandes, was situated beside the graveyard near East Gate and the Mills Ranges.

Various historical figures including Sir Robert Baden Powell, who founded the Boy Scouting Movement in 1908, were stationed at Ballincollig during their military careers.

In 1922, Ballincollig Barracks was formally handed over by the War Department to the new Irish State. During the ensuing Civil War, the barracks was burned. It was only re-opened in 1940 when it was named Murphy Barracks in memory of a former Officer Commanding 3rd Btn. 1st Cork Brigade. He saw active service during the War of Independence and was killed in action at Waterfall on 22nd June 1921.

To be continued…

Captions:

532a. Recreation House, Ballincollig, c.1900 (pictures: Dermot O’Donovan Collection)

532b. Soldier’s Home, Ballincollig, c.1900

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, Cork Independent

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 204)

The Threads of Landscape

The notice board in the Church of St. Mary and St. John in Ballincollig highlights the importance of an upcoming parish mission. It aims to renew faith and bring the community together. However, of all the settlements I have wandered through this is one this is one that has witnessed enormous change in its community structure over the past few decades.

The prominent super-chain store such as Aldi located on the former barracks grounds has once again like the gunpowder mills connected this place to something global. However, in the mid nineteenth century, it was the gunpowder production that connected Ballincollig to the far reaches of the British empire. With Aldi, Ballincollig seems to be connected with another form of vastness and frontier building -the European Union, its complexities and its freedoms of movement of people and trade.

However, aligning the present main street in Ballincollig is architecture of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. This architecture echoes another time in the settlement’s history. Local historian Dermot O’Donavan has been pursuing crucial work in researching, framing and penning Ballincollig’s social history and its evolving cultural identity for the early decades of the twentieth century. Chatting to Dermot, he enjoys the recording of memories of older people, tracing the different narratives of threads people give but also in connecting Ballincollig to wider places. In one of his books, the title is aptly titled A Vanishing Village (2008) in which he interviews several of Ballincollig’s oldest residents in a bid to record memories but also to make the memories relevant to the present.

In his work Dermot uses a number of sources to build a picture of the village in the mid to late nineteenth century. Through Griffith’s Valuation in 1852, off the main street, there was Chapel Lane East and West, Chapel Street and Chapel Road. There were five dwelling houses on Chapel Road and seventeen on Chapel Street. Chapel Road was the old name for Station Road and Chapel Street is now The Square. The Chapel referred to was the old church, now the community hall, which served the parish until the Church of St Mary and St John was built in 1866.

Fast forward thirty years and Guy’s directory of County Cork and the listing of Ballincollig reveals further insights. In 1892, Ballincollig had a post, money order and telegraph office. The postmaster was John Whelan whilst the telegraphist was Miss M F O’Leary. Ballincollig was a station on the Cork and Macroom rail line. Four trains ran to and from the village to Cork daily.

Ballincollig was in the jurisdiction of the poor law union of Cork but had its own dispensary. The medical officer, Dr James Harding opened the dispensary on Monday’s, Wednesday and Fridays from 10am to 12noon.The relieving officer was John O’Sullivan of Ballynora. The petty sessions was held every fourth Monday of each month and the courthouse was located in a detached house at the East Gate. In 1892 the clerk of the petty sessions was E C Orpen of St Anne’s Hill whilst the Civil Bill Officer was Stephen Heenan. In the constabulary district of Ballincollig John E St George was District Inspector and T Strettan was the head constable. In the constabulary station, John Black was the sergeant in charge. The acting sergeant was C Collins.

Rev. Denis McCarthy was the Parish Priest at the Church of St. Mary’s and St. John assisted by Rev M Leonard CC. At the garrison chapel, the chaplain was Ven. Archdeacon Archdall who was based at St. Luke’s Church in Cork. In the national school, the head teachers were Patrick Murphy and Mrs A O’Neill. Church of Ireland education was provided by a Miss Leake. John G Briscoe was the managing director at Ballincollig Royal Gunpowder Mill Co. Ltd. W.C. Sealy was the manager there whilst J McKenzie Macmorran was secretary. Daly’s Commercial Hotel was owned by J Daly. D Forde and sons were builders in Ballincollig. Four hackney car owners are listed – Daniel Crowley, Daniel Kenneally, T Kearney and F Rickman. The forage agent (supplies of animal feed) was operated by John Murphy. A number of shopkeepers are listed – grocers Anne Kelly & Jeremiah Leary, victualler Timothy O’Brien and vintners Bartholomew Maloney, Walter Murphy, Thomas Neville and Peter Whelan.

The gentry and clergy were also listed; Mrs Kate Berry, Ballncollig, J C. Briscoe, Jas. Harding of Roseville. Mrs H T M Hodder of Parknamore, Mrs Leary of Kilnaglory, Rev M Leonard CC, Rev Denis McCarthy PP, J McKenzie McMorran of Oriel House, Mrs K O’Brien, The Castle, W C Sealy of the Gunpowder Mills and John E St George, district inspector of the RIC.

The local farmers were listed as follows; James Barry, Ballincollig, James Berry, Maglin, Mrs Berry, Maglin, Cornelious Connell, Poulavone, Frederick Down, Ballincollig, Daniel Downey, Kilnaglory, Edward Fitton, Kilnaglory, Humphrey Gleeson, Ballyburden, Miss K Kiely, Lisheens, Jeremiah Leary, Ballincollig, Patrick Leary, Greenfield, George Logan, Ballynora, Edward Looney, Ravakeel, John T McElligott, Ballynora, Edward Magner, Ballincollig, Daniel Murphy, Coolroe, Julia Murphy, Greenfield, Timothy O’Brien, Ballincollig, Cornelius O’Callaghan, Maglin, John O’Connor, Coolroe, J O’Sullivan, Maglin, Timothy O’Sullivan, Ballyshoneen, Daniel J Riordan, Ballincollig and James Wise of Ballincollig.

To be continued…

Captions:

531a. View of Main Street, Ballincollig, c.1905 (source: Dermot O’Donovan collection)

531b. Dermot O’Donovan, author of A Vanishing Village, Recollections of Ballincollig in Times Past (2008, Tower Books, Cork)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 11 March 2010

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 203)

Horgan’s Vision

In the 1860s there were 875 inhabitants in Ballincollig, with a large number of British soldiers with their families living in the town. With the creation and blossoming of the Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills came a need for housing and community services. Up to 1808, catholic families living in Ballincollig had to travel to Clash cross in Carriganarra, Ballinora or Kilnaglory to attend mass. The increase in the catholic population due to the building of the gunpowder mills made it apparent that the new church should be erected in Ballincollig. This new church became the parish church replacing Ballinora, which previously had the distinction.

The first church was commissioned in 1808 by Fr. Nicholas O’Riordan Parish Priest. The site was given by Charles Henry Leslie for 960 years at the rent of six pence per year. This man also donated 100 guineas towards the cost of building the church. The Bishop of Cork, Francis Moylan, was involved in the negotiations for the site. By 1860, the population of the parish of Ballincollig had grown so large that the 1808 chapel, which stood on the south side of the village, was unable to cope with the large attendances. Canon David Horgan, Parish Priest, started the interest in building a new church to accommodate the growing population.

After the closure of the church in 1866, the building was converted to a national school. The old church was replaced in 1866 with the Church of St Mary and St John. The new site was on higher ground less than 100 yards to the south of the old church. It was on the property of Thomas Wise who gave the site free of charge. He also very generously gave the use of a valuable quarry at his property in Coolroe, a short distance away, where all the stone was needed for the building could be got. The total cost was expected to be about £5,000, half of which had already been raised at that stage.

The 1866 church was built by Barry McMullen. It was designed by George Goldie who also was involved in the design of Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farran Church. George Goldie (1828 –1887) was a nineteenth century ecclesiastical architect who specialised in Roman Catholic churches. George Goldie was born in York in northern England. He trained as an architect with John Gray Weightman and Matthew Ellison Hadfield of Sheffield, from 1845 to 1850, and thereafter worked in partnership with the same pair. After Weightman left the partnership in 1858, Hadfield and Goldie remained in partnership a further two years. About this time, they designed Farran Church. George Goldie then practised alone until 1867 when Charles Edwin Child (1843-1911) joined him in partnership. In 1880 George’s Goldie’s son Edward (1856-1921) entered the partnership, having first been apprenticed in 1875.

George Goldie’s output included many churches in Britain and Ireland: St Mungo’s Church, Glasgow; Our Lady of Victories, Kensington in London (at the time of building, the Pro-Cathedral for the Archdiocese of Westminster); some of the interior furnishings of St John’s Cathedral, Salford including the reredos of 1853-5, together with the adjoining buildings now known as Cathedral House; and the churches of St Pancras, Ipswich, of 1861, St Vincent’s, Sheffield of 1856 and St Mary & St Augustine, Stamford of 1864/5. In Ireland, after building Ballincollig, George Goldie engaged in the design of several buildings: St. Mary’s Church Clonmel in 1867, St. Vincent’s Monastery adjoining St. Vincent’s Church in Sunday’s Well, Cork in 1873, St. Saviour Church, Waterford in 1874 and St. Joseph’s Church, Boyle, Co. Roscommon in 1876.

The ceremony of laying the foundation stone of a new Roman Catholic Church in Ballincollig was led by the Right Rev. Dr. Delany, Bishop of Cork, on 13 August, 1865. It was funded by donations from the local people of the time and officially opened on 28 October, 1866. The church is in the Neo-Gothic style, combined with some features of other periods. It is built of ashlar limestone with roof slates.

The beautiful stained glass for the windows was supplied by Messrs. Wiles of Newcastle in England. On a visit to the church there can be seen the names of the people who donated some of the windows. The stained glass window behind the statue of Mary was donated by Barry McMullen. On the window it says; “Pray for Barry McMullen Builder of the church”. The stained glass window also behind the statue of Mary reads; “Pray for George Goldie Architect of this church”. A stained glass window next to a statue erected by a Murphy family says; “In honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus”. The stained glass window behind the main altar says; “Pray for the very Rev David Horgan of Cork, Priest of Ballincollig who erected the church with help of his parishioners and all the faithful- A.D. 1866.” The windows came from Newcastle in England. They are made from limestone tracery and stained glass. Four saints are represented, St. David, St. John the Baptist, St. Patrick and St. Finbarr. To the left of the main altar, a subsidiary altar was subscribed by men of the gunpowder mills in 1873. This side altar is dedicated to St. Joseph, patron of the universal church.

To be continued…

Captions:

530a. Exterior view of Church of St. Mary and St. Anne, Ballincollig (pictures: Kieran McCarthy)

530b. Depiction of St Finbarre in Church of St. Mary and St. Anne

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Cork Independent

Inheritance, Heritage and Memory in the Lee Valley

– New Publication

Inheritance, Heritage and Memory in the Lee Valley is my new book. It is based on the series of articles that featured in the Cork Independent newspaper from October 2007 to June 2009. It documents my explorations in the parishes of Aghabullogue, Inniscarra and Ovens on the northern valleyside on Inniscarra Reservoir, part of the course of the River Lee.

Abstract from book introduction:

Unearthing the concepts of place-making play a huge part in my journey. I like the idea of culture not as something static but as something living, a process driving people and informing the decisions of the present. I have developed interests in ideas of legacy and how certain things are selected to be remembered and others disappear. In the Lee Valley I have marvelled at how the landscape has been transformed through ventures such as the Lee Hydroelectric and how it affected the population in terms of uprooting people, providing huge employment to the Cork region and creating new attitudes, mindsets and huge debates amidst communities, challenging them to change with the times. Then there is that notion of time. I marvel at the old black and white photographs showing families from 100 years ago and then marvel at the person showing me the photograph, who is the present day representative. The collision of the old and the new can be witnessed across the valley. Sometimes the contrasts are worrying but at other times, without them, the sense of living communities would be redundant.

One aspect for certain is that the more I researched the places within the region or the more doors I knocked on, the more information came to the fore. What is also apparent is that everybody’s view of the world is different. It could be an insider’s view or an outsider’s view, such as my own. For most people I met, heritage was a personal and collective experience focusing on their own roots. In fact, the historical data played ‘second fiddle’ to their personal stories. It has been interesting to see how stories and values have been handed down, and how each successive generation has taken it in turn to hold a torch for some element of the past in the present.

One recurring aspect is how much the region’s cultural heritage runs metaphorically in ‘people’s blood’. There were a large number of people who noted, ‘my father used to say’ or ‘my mother used to say’. That sense of inheritance is important and it is more than just honouring people. It conjures up debates about achievement and loss, and it is more than just recalling the memory of a few. For each person interviewed many more are represented through their life experiences. One is allowed to ponder on the power of the individual and their contribution to society, whether at a local or international level. The evolution of ideas can be mapped.

The majority of the participants were met whilst traversing the parishes. Generally speaking, information in a library or on a map does not give you the tools for researching people and their attachment to place. Through fieldwork and talking to people, you can see that a community such as that in Aghabullogue parish or any other parish in Ireland evolved from leadership offered by individuals and families. People brought their own ideas and talents in forging a family space, which is then set in the wider community. It is interesting to note how the talents of a few can make a place or indeed reawaken one that is in decay. Some people’s stories, especially in Aghabullogue parish, began elsewhere. In particular, the commercial possibilities of the region inspired many entrepreneurs and artisan families who settled in the region through the ages.

So, Inheritance dabbles in the architecture of heritage and its interaction with life in the River Lee Valley. It does focus on a section of the Lee Valley, namely Aghabullogue, Inniscarra and Ovens parishes, but is not a definitive history of those regions. For me, the essence of the book is focussed on the beauty and structure of ordinary ‘things’ that one may take for granted but which highlight, debate and celebrate our cultural heritage.

This book is about a journey in seeking out the sense of place in the Lee Valley, a valley that has grasped my imagination and fails to let go. I have laughed, cried, wondered, been awestruck and got excited by my findings. The Lee Valley as a place has inspired in me a whole series of reactions. With all that in mind, Inheritance attempts to capture my explorations, the many moods and colours of a section of the River Lee Valley, to contemplate new ways of seeing, to rediscover the characters who have interacted with it, the major events and the minor common happenings and to construct a rich and vivid mosaic of life by and on the River Lee. Above all this book is not what we have lost but what we have yet to find.

The above text is abstracted from the introduction to Kieran McCarthy’s Inheritance, Heritage and Memory in the Lee Valley, Co. Cork. The book is available from any good Cork bookshop.

Captions:

529a. Front cover of Inheritance, Heritage and Memory in the Lee Valley, Co. Cork by Kieran McCarthy

529b. Ardrum stone wall, Inniscarra, Co. Cork (picture Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Column, Cork Independent

Article 528– 25 February 2010

In the Footsteps of St. Finbarre (Part 202)

The Familiar and Forgotten

In the year 1888, the Ballincollig Gunpowder Mills were bought by John Briscoe and soon after came under the control of Curtis’s and Harvey. The mills closed in 1903 due to the advent of the production of dynamite. The Curtis and Harvey’s mills were then absorbed into Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI). The site was bought by Cork County Council in 1974, which developed it into a public park.

It’s a difficult thing to compress the decline of the mills into one paragraph – that the mills failed to move with the times. Jobs were lost; the buildings were emptied of human life and began their ruin time. I think there are a lot of questions to ask of such a complex in terms of the human story itself. I personally am drawn to the idea of a mill on a river – making a product that had all sorts of meanings with it. One can destroy – destroy to gain power or destroy to build a civilisation.

It is known that most of the finished gunpowder product was exported to Liverpool before it was sent onto to Africa. By the end of the nineteenth century, the so called ‘Scramble for Africa’ had led Europeans to chart the Nile from its source and other rivers whilst also realising the vast resources of Africa. Through production Ballincollig was connected to that hub of activity thousands of miles away on another continent.

Without a guide the ruinous buildings and their shapes are strange and wonderful to engage with – the fallen rubble, their danger, their oddness, the shape of nature’s forms as trees burst through walls- the thorns which stick into you and you try to reveal something overgrown. Before even researching the mills I was particularly drawn to the frozen cog-wheels and sluice gates at the western end of the regional park. I often wondered what would happen if the mechanisms was released.  

However, doing research and fleshing out the exploration with knowledge brings a layer of understanding but also more questions. Over the years, scholars such as George Kelleher, Colin Rynne, Dermot Lucey, Catyrn Power, Anne Donaldson and Jenny Webb and the former gunpowder heritage centre (now closed) have all contributed to a renewed appreciation of the ruinous mill complex amongst the Cork public. Walking through and re-living the experience of the mills with a guide is something exciting as one now scrambles through the overgrowth to reveal the different parts of the gunpowder production. However, despite that I feel there is a tendency in the wider field of Cork’s heritage that here is a site that is suffering from amnesia – that the mill complex closed and that all its memories were chosen not to be publicly recorded in any way.

Apart from shining a torch into the darker places of the gunpowder stores –the ongoing historical work by the new generation of scholars such as Jenny Webb is more than just recovering the facts and figures of the various mill buildings. It seems also to be about recovering how it all worked, repairing the historical narrative, interpreting, re-interpreting, guarding and re-engaging it. However, for local historians such as Jenny it seems also to be about trying to find ways of re-building the story of the mills back into present day life. I have met local historians in the Lee Valley who use methods such as lectures, field walks and publications to ignite interest in a historical place or event that is usually familiar but generally forgotten. Such work I feel is crucial for building identity but also puts a meaning on a forgotten experience.

As one walks the regional park, the act of reflecting on the human experience of the site fleshes out the historical narratives and the processes themselves. The building blocks of memory are now gone. The sounds of the craftsmen, the coopers, the saw mills, the barge rowers in the canal, the family chatter in the houses at night – they can only be imagined now.

Today, the white washed gatehouse at the western section to the park provides an interesting contrast to the nearby skateboard park. The gatehouse was one of watchtowers built for security measures. Anyone entering the site was subject to a search. The danger of this leads to the explorer to ponder about the hidden away site (which possibly has contributed to the lack of memory of this site). If you worked within the walls, I presume you couldn’t talk about the layout and processes outside the complex. I wonder about the people who controlled the sluice gates to the canal and the people who used the canal carefully bringing the various processes together – whilst chatting about their own challenges in life.

The memories of the gunpowder mills are lying in pieces. For these pieces to be ever to be built up, guardians need to rise and find new strategies of integrating the heritage of this site into the fast globalised world we live in. However, this is not just a challenge for the Ballincollig site but for many heritage sites across the Irish landscape.

To be continued…

528a. Jenny Webb, local historian, leading a field walk of the Ballincollig Regional Park and former mills, winter 2006 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

528b. Exploring a magazine store on a field walk with Jenny Webb, winter 2006 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)