Offaly Historical & Archaeological Society Newsletter - October 2007

OFFALY HISTORICAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Bury Quay, Tullamore, Co. Offaly

Web site: www.offalyhistory.com   Email: ohas@iol.ie     Telephone: 057-9321421                                           

NEWSLETTER October 2007

11/13 October 2007, Slieve Bloom Story Telling. Details on Web site www.slievebloom.ie .  It commences at Roundwood House on the 11^th of October. Kinnitty Castle on the 12^th of October and with a tour on Saturday. Further details in the Local Press or from the Society. On the 8^th of October the launch of the festival took place at Kinnitty Castle with Paddy Heaney acting as story teller.

22 October 2007 The story of Judge O’Connor of Gortnamona,  Tullamore, 1824 – 1904

Illustrated talk from Michael Byrne regarding the life and writings of Judge O’Connor of Gortnamona, 1824 – 1904. Please note the title of this talk has been substituted from one on the legal profession in Offaly to one of its members, Judge O’Connor Morris, who is more remembered for his literary and historical  contribution then his pronouncements off the bench.

Birr Historical Society,

Lecture, 15 October, 8 pm Dooly’s Hotel, Birr.

The South Offaly No. 2 Brigade Irish Republican Army 1920-21

This will be an illustrated lecture by Trinity College postgraduate student Philip McConway and is based on research work carried out over the course of a year. His previous lecture last January in Tullamore, at the OHAS Research Centre, entitled ‘The Intelligence War in Offaly 1920-21: Spies, Informers and Militant Loyalists’ proved to be highly popular attracting a maximum audience. His article ‘Offaly and the Civil War Executions’ will shortly be published in the OHAS annual journal Offaly Heritage.

 Maps, graphs, tables, photographs, and original primary source documents will be employed to reconstruct the activities of the South Offaly No. 2 Brigade IRA. Priority will be given to the experiences of individual Volunteers where their activities will be described, as often as possible, in their own words.

On 2 June 1920 the IRA attacked Clara RIC barracks signalling the start of the War of Independence in Offaly. Up to 200 Volunteers were involved in the elaborate operation which failed owing to defective explosives. Three Volunteers were seriously wounded, one of whom later died of his injuries.  

In August 1920 the Offaly IRA was split into two separate brigades. The No. 2 Brigade was responsible for most of south Offaly comprising four battalions covering the areas of Clara, Cloghan, Kilcormac, and Birr. Insights will be provided into how the Brigade was organised, the senior leadership, and some of the major operations conducted. It was not until 21 September 1920 that the first RIC member was fatally wounded. Sergeant Denis P McGuire, 44, was shot through the right eye by an IRA sniper at Ferbane.

Low risk sabotage was the Offaly IRA’s main forte. While sensational ambushes and high enemy fatalities stole the limelight and enraptured public opinion in other areas, the less glamorous sabotage tactics of the Offaly IRA were often ignored. The IRA journal An tÓglách feted the sabotage tactics of the No. 2 Brigade in an effort to inspire other units throughout the country. Effective sabotage partly compensated for the deficiencies in launching successful ambushes. The latter activity required meticulous planning, military skill, and above all decisive leadership a trait badly lacking in the Offaly IRA. Chronic leadership shortcomings plagued the Offaly IRA for much of this period.

There will be a minute examination of the Kinnity ambush. On 17 May 1921 an IRA Active Service Unit (ASU) numbering five Volunteers ambushed an RIC patrol serving jury summonses on men at Cadamstown. On their return journey through Kinnity a section of the patrol was ambushed. Two constables were fatally wounded while another two received serious injuries.

The Offaly IRA submitted itself and followed the lead of GHQ. The GHQ tentacles in Offaly were strong and grew progressively more powerful as the war ensued. Attention will focus on the failings and deficiencies of the No. 2 Brigade as much as successes and achievements. The IRA Chief of Staff, Richard Mulcahy, directed severe criticism at the No. 2 Brigade after botching a key operation to ambush a troop train at Clara. Mulcahy berated the No. 2 Brigade O/C for incompetence and slovenliness. The Brigade O/C was reproached for ‘tinkering with the honour of the nation and playing with the lives of the men who are acting under you.’ Mulcahy was considering purging Brigade officers unless they started realizing their responsibilities. Between 1920-21 at least three GHQ organisers were sent to south Offaly to stimulate resistance, with mixed levels of success. One of these organisers was a native of Portumna and a medical student attached to the Dublin IRA. Sent by GHQ to escalate the war in south Offaly this man was later elevated to be the new Brigade O/C in May 1921. He was instrumental in reviving the fortunes of the much criticised Brigade by steering the IRA in a more clinical and ruthless direction.

Within Offaly, Rahan native Joseph Connolly emerged as a fearless and audacious leader. Connolly did much to change the Offaly IRA from being characterised as a timid, hesitant and lenient unit to one representing a far more lethal threat. Poorly armed and ill-trained the odds were heavily stacked against local IRA units. Connolly can arguably be considered the best, certainly the most effective, IRA leader in Offaly. His vigour and determination to achieve military success never received the same public recognition bestowed on IRA leaders in other counties. The little known Connolly was the closest Offaly ever came to having the calibre of IRA leadership to compare with elsewhere such as Sean MacEoin in Longford, Tom Barry in Cork, and Dan Breen in Tipperary.

Aspects of the intelligence war will be explored. A spy was executed near Mountbolus in May 1921, while an informer at Cloghan and another near Belmont were shot the following month.

In what promises to be hard hitting lecture, challenging new evidence will be presented on the Pearson militant loyalists and informers of Coolacrease, Cadamstown. The family were Cooneyites, a secretive millenarian sect infamous for their uncompromising zeal.  In late June 1921, shortly after midnight, the three eldest Pearson brothers, Richard, 24, Abraham, 19, and Sidney, 20, fired with shotguns on IRA Volunteers engaged in a road block operation near Coolacrease. Two Volunteers were wounded, one of whom received a serious stomach injury. On 30 June 1921 Richard and Abraham were executed by the IRA and their house burned down. The subterfuge of William Pearson will be exposed in his attempt to gain financial compensation for the execution of his two sons.

Mr McConway provided research assistance to a forthcoming RTÉ Hidden History documentary on the Pearsons. He will briefly highlight concerns that the documentary may be unfairly biased.

The O’Connor Faly Lordship of Co. Offaly in the medieval period. Dr. Cormac O’Cleirigh

Our thanks to Dr O Cleirigh for his lecture.   A copy of his thesis is in our library as is an article he published in the proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy.

2/4^th November 2007 Roscrea Autunn Conference on aspects of Irish Books and Irish Book People down the ages.  Details from Mount St. Joseph 05/05/21711.

Current research in Offaly natural history

14^th November 2007 will see a lecture hosted at OHAS by the Offaly Naturalist Field Club and the subject will be current research to consist of three twenty minute papers and discussion and to commence at 8.30p.m. The talk will be chaired by John Feehan.

26 November T W Rolleston by Dr Maria O’Brien

The story of this literary life of a man born at Glasshouse, Shinrone by Dr O’Brien who is a native of Ferbane – details to follow.

 2 December 2007  Annual Christmas lunch

Annual Christmas lunch at Bridge House Tullamore, Guest Speaker is Paul Gibson.  Mr. Gibson has lately published a very handsome book on the heritage landscape for County Offaly and other Midland counties and his talk which will be held after the lunch.  More details in November.

New Local History Publications for sale

 The Jesuits of Tullabeg,  by Fr. Laheen S.J. This handsome book is now available for purchase at the Research Centre and is hard back book of circa 100 pages and is available for €20.  Only a very small number of copies were printed so if you want a copy you should call to the centre and collect it as soon as possible or email us and we can post it to you for a sum of €25 in total to an Irish address only otherwise you need to contact us by email to ascertain the full postage charge of overseas.

Ciaran Reilly of Edenderry has published a book entitled  Edenderry, County Offaly and the Downshire estate, 1790-1800.   This is one of seventy five books in the Maynooth Studies in Local History series and the second on County Offaly.  The first was published back 10 years ago on Ferbane. He has also lately published an historical survey of Edenderry which should be available from the Centre shortly.

Paul Gibson’s book entitled Heritage Landscape of the Irish Midlands is available for purchase at €20 at the centre. Other publications for sale can be viewed on our internet site www.offalyhistory.com.

Ballykane Bog Medieval Bog Crannogs

The most recent issue of Archaeology Ireland (autumn 2007) contains an article by Sinclair Turrell and Jane Whitaker on discoveries at Ballykane Bog, Co. Offaly.  A copy is available in the Society.

Military History Society Programme for 2007/2008 We have now received details of same with lectures being held on the Friday of each month for anybody who wants information it can be obtained at the Society.

Geashill Historical Papers One of our members has kindly emailed to us details of papers in the Dorset Record Office relating to Geashill Estate.  If you would like a copy per email would you please email us and we can forward you same.

Phase Three of Offaly People and Lore Series

The Society has agreed to make a cash contribution to the cost of phase 3 being 50 CDs of people in Offaly  talking about their recollections.  The project is being undertaken for us by Maurice O’Keeffe following his successful phase 1 and 2. If you have names of people you think would be agreeable to be recorded for a one hour CD would you please forward details by email or per letter/ phone to us at ohas@iol.ie or as above.

18^th February 2008

Darrell Hooper  on Pre Christian Offaly