100 years ago today IRA Volunteers successfully assaulted a semi-fortified RIC Barracks at Carrigtwohill, #Cork. It was the first in a series of attacks which for many marked the transition of the conflict into what could be called a war. 1/7
The violence of the engagement was seen as particularly noteworthy, and was a harbinger of things to come. Here is how Mick Leahy, the Volunteer who led the attack, remembered the event 2/7
Another Volunteer involved was Michael Burke from Cobh. Here is his account of the action: 3/7
Although the RIC Barrack building itself is no longer extant, elements of the archaeological conflict landscape do survive today. These include buildings opposite the Barracks that were occupied by IRA Volunteers during the firefight 4/7
The laneway that ran beside the RIC Barrack building which was an important landscape feature utilised by IRA Volunteers on the night of the attack is also still in existence 5/7
As are various elements such as stone walls that are likely contemporary with the event and behind which Volunteers positioned themselves. As with the majority of Revolutionary-era sites, no landscape audit has ever been conducted. 6/7
The story of the Carrigtwohill attack and the surviving landscape is one of those I covered in my 2016 book for Cork County Council. It examines the history and archaeology of the Revolutionary Period in Cork, and is available for free online here: corkcoco.ie/sites/default/… 7/7
Although there is an odd variance in published dates between 2nd and 3rd for the attack, as @niallmurray1 points out the assault was actually launched on the 3rd, so 24 hours early!
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This is one of the very best images of Irish troops from the American Civil War. Surprisingly, it's not very well known, despite Thomas Francis Meagher's presence. Taken in the summer of 1861, it contains lots of fascinating details. A short🧵on some of them👇#IrishDiaspora
This is Meagher before he was a General, taken only a short time before he and the men around him - Zouaves attached to the 69th New York State Militia as Company K - would see action for the first time at the Battle of Bull Run on 21 July 1861.
The image offers incredible detail of some of the men. Many would have been born in Ireland, and many, if not most, would have been Famine emigrants. The “69” on their caps is clearly visible, as is a white Havelock (left), which some of the 69th NYSM wore at Bull Run.
100 years ago today the most intensive day of fighting in the Battle for Cork was taking place around Rochestown. To mark the anniversary of the bloodiest engagement of Cork's revolutionary period, this🧵explores some of the archaeological traces left behind. #BattleforCork100 /1
The National Army had landed in Passage West the previous day, moving to engage IRA defenders on the high ground to the west. Some of the very first fire of this engagement can be traced today- these are impact scars from National Army bullets on buildings opposite the docks. /2
The IRA defence was aided by fire from Carrigaloe across the Lee Channel on Great Island. Fire from buildings here directed at the National Army landing force smacked into buildings in Passage West, especially those on higher ground. Here are impacts in Passage from that fire. /3
The Irish and the start of the American Civil War-A Short Thread. The conflict began today in 1861, when Confederates opened fire on Fort Sumter, Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Within the Fort's walls, there were more Irish-born than American-born soldiers. 1/9 #IrishDiaspora
Within the Fort, Captain Abner Doubleday is regarded as the man who gave the command to return fire- the first U.S. shot of the war. Galwegian Private James Gibbons (below) may well have served that gun. Years later he would claim to be the man who physically fired that shot. 2/9
The Confederates had opened fire due to the imminent arrival at Fort Sumter of provisioning U.S. vessels. Many of those ship crews were also Irish-born. Dubliner Stephen Rowan held a key role during the operation, as Commander of the sloop-of-war USS Pawnee. 3/9
The taoiseach: “iconic and historic locations such as this should be preserved or at a minimum incorporated into any new developments” But successive govts have not acted to identify & map these sites so they can be considered in planning. Thread /1 irishtimes.com/news/ireland/i…
The damage and destruction of revolutionary sites is wholesale around the country. For a small number of them (not many), a public outcry has occurred, but almost always late in the planning process (e.g. Moore St/O'Rahilly home). Very few have any significant protection. /2
Our legislation is extremely limited- we refuse to consider post 1700AD sites archaeologically, making it hard to protect them as historic landscapes. The protected structure mechanism works only in certain circumstances, and is also a limited form or protection. Fundamentally /3
We have to try and start to resist the temptation to place new memorials and "tidy up" already memorialised revolutionary sites for the centenary when there hasn't been landscape archaeological assessments. Aside from other issues, we have no clue about any damage being done.
Having been banging on about if for years it's a bit exasperating to see additional memorialisation is still the unquestioned mainstay of remembrance. We need some funding guidelines at Council level. It would be great to see @HeritageHubIRE develop best practice guidelines.
Memorialisation has its place, but when as a State we are not prepared to place any protection on these sites, or even require that we understand them as landscapes, we have to try and be extra careful about the potential unintended damage we can cause them with new memorials.
An urgent appeal re Vinegar Hill. Planning permission is being sought for a major development that will have an irreversible and catastrophic impact on the 1798 battlefield site. Details here. Time is short, but anyone who can should seek to lodge objections this week. Please RT
We have recently lost one portion of the battlefield in the vicinty of Green Hill, but this development will be even more detrimental. Located on the site of the former golf course, on 21 June 1798 it was within the United Irishmen's lines and is part of the core battlefield area
For those familiar with Vinegar Hill, if granted permission, the development (a nursing home and major residential estate) will be sited below the current battlefield carpark, forever impacting the visual setting of the Monument. Its detrimental impact can't be overstated.