History - West Cork People

History

Remembering Fr James O’Callaghan 100 years on

WCP Staff May, 2021

On Whit Sunday, May 15, 1921, 38-year-old Fr James O’Callaghan was shot dead by Crown Forces in the house of Liam de Róiste TD, on the northside of Cork City. Pauline Murphy marks the centenary of his death with a look at the life of this West Cork native. Fr James […]

‘The Young Fella’ documentary uncovers the deeper story of Michael Collins

WCP Staff April, 2021

Much has been said about Michael Collins’ life but the focus is nearly always on his later years. Biographies of ‘The Big Fella’ tend to dwell very little on the first two thirds of his life and focus heavily on the revolutionary activity that dominated his final decade. But what […]

Casualties of Crossbarry

WCP Staff March, 2021

As the main base for the famed West Cork Flying Column, the area around Crossbarry was a hotbed of Republican activity in 1921. To deal with this, the British decided to converge on this small village near Innishannon and wipe out the Column. They hadn’t bargained on meeting with the […]

Remembering the victims of the Upton Ambush 100 years on

WCP Staff February, 2021

Shortly after 9am on February 15, 1921, a train heading westwards from Cork City, pulled in to Upton railway station, midway between Crossbarry and Innishannon. One of its carriages was carrying members of the dreaded Essex Regiment and IRA Brigade Commander Charlie Hurley was lying in wait with an ambush […]

History

The action-packed life of Dunmanway’s Fightin’ Tom

WCP Staff December, 2020

Fightin’ Tom Sweeny, a US Army General and Fenian, was born in Dunmanway town on Christmas Day two centuries ago. He now lies in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York. Pauline Murphy shares her research on the extraordinary life of this born survivor . Thomas William Sweeny was born in […]

History

Remembering RIC Constable John Hodnett on the centenary of his death

WCP Staff December, 2020

RIC officer John Hodnett, a native of Ardfield Rathbarry, lost his life at the Rineen Ambush in Co Clare 100 years ago. Conor Nyhan recounts the life and death of Constable Hodnett, a story that is symbolic of so many others in the Irish War of Independence but one that […]

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