Tags
Community Archaeology, Conflict Archaeology, Cork War of Independence, Midleton War of Independence
We have recently been trying to fill out the narrative of the Midleton ambush that took place on December 29, 1920. Valuable contributions from members of the community have helped to verify several locations associated with the ambush and consequent reprisals that took place on January 1, 1921. These include the sawmill, located on Free School Street, that served as the ambush command post as well as the locations on Main Street of two of the buildings burned during the reprisals. We also learned that Midleton roads were not paved until the summer of 1921, a finding that helps add detail to our visualisation of the ambush. It took place on hard packed dirt roads.
We still, however, have some important gaps we need to fill before we can build a complete picture of the ambush and its aftermath, so we are asking for your help. To date, we have identified No. 50, Main Street, as Edmond Carey’s, burned during the reprisals. We also know that O’Sheas was burned. At the time, it belonged to Paul McCarthy. We do not know the exact location of the third Main Street building burned.
Here, we are asking the community to once again help us. We need to know the location of the third building on Main Street burned during the reprisals, O’Shea’s grocery. We are also seeking the exact locations of the Cotter and O’Donovan houses in Ballyadam and the Dorgan and Aherne houses in Knockgriffin. All four of the houses were burned during the reprisals.
If you have any information concerning these sites, please email us at landscapesofrevolution@gmail.com.
