Thank you to everyone who joined us in the Knocklong Community Centre for our second last revolutionary workshop. It was a pleasure seeing your objects and chatting with you about the archaeology of the revolution in your area.
Throughout the evening, the community contributed to the project by pinpointing safe houses, ambush sites and arms dumps on our map, which was fantastic. They also shared their stories and objects, including a copy of a letter from IRA Volunteer Dan Breen, one of the famous ‘big four’ involved in the Knocklong Rescue. The original letter was handwritten on Dáil headed paper on New Year’s Eve 1960 and referred to events forty years previously which you can read below.
The letter was addressed to Tom Fox, who had been a Private in the British Army during WWI and fought in Germany. He was on the train to Cork that was transporting the imprisoned Seán Hogan in 1919. Tom was travelling in uniform in a carriage full of fellow military personnel at the time of the famous attack. According to local newspapers, witnesses claimed that Tom had shouted ‘Up the Republic’, ‘Up Dev’ or similar words supporting Sinn Fein out the window at the attacking IRA Volunteers. This ties in with what Dan Breen recounts in his book My Fight for Irish Freedom, where he mentions an unnamed soldier was later court-martialled for shouting “Up the Republic”.
When the train stopped, Private Tom Fox was arrested and later tried by the District Court Martial in Cork in June 1919. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment on a charge of “Military conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline.” A copy of the prison record for Private Fox of the Black Watch, attached 5th Labour Company, can be read below.
During the evening, we were also told about Michael O’Meara, a local National School teacher who helped Crown Forces in return for money to fund his alcohol addiction. On several occasions, he had been seen getting out of Black & Tan vehicles after raids and orders were soon given to IRA Volunteers Patrick Meehan and Jim O’Brien to arrest Michael O’Meara.
IRA Volunteers Meehan and O’Brien dressed up in disguise and entered O’Meara’s house, where they arrested and transferred him to a safe house. He was held in a number of places over the following weeks, including the Flynn’s house near Ballylanders. He was held in their cow shed, and food was often brought to him by a daughter of the family in a bucket so as not to arouse suspicion.
Michael O’Meara was court-martialed and found guilty of collaborating with Crown Forces. While he was being held, some IRA Volunteers had been killed during raids, perhaps based on information he had passed on, so it was decided that he would be executed. His body was found on New Years Day 1921 by locals in the Kiltankin area. A note had been left with him saying ‘shot as a spy’.
You can read the witness statement of Sergent Patrick Meehan, who arrested Michael O’Meara, by clicking here.
If you or someone you know have any interesting stories, memories or objects connected to the War of Independence or the Civil War, please come along to our final revolutionary workshop, which will be held in Kilmallock Library on Tuesday the 25th of July at 7 pm. All are welcome to attend!
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Special thanks to everyone who came along and shared their stories and objects in the Knocklong Community Centre last week. It was a pleasure discussing the revolutionary history of your area with you.
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The Archaeology of the Irish Revolution in East Limerick project is funded by the Irish Research Council COALESCE fund, which funds excellent research addressing national and European-global challenges across a number of strands. This project is part of the INSTAR+ awards, funded by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage in partnership with the Heritage Council. It is being undertaken by University College Dublin School of Archaeology in partnership with Abarta Heritage. Other partners on the project include Dr Damian Shiels, the National Museum of Ireland, Limerick Museum, Heritage Maps, and local historians of the War of Independence and Civil War eras.
Landscapes of Revolution 