Programme for the Day

PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY 1.00pm Remembrance Mass in St Senan’s Church, Kilkishen, celebrated by Fr. Hugh O’Dowd and Fr. Harry Bohan 2.00pm Assembly at Glenwood Site. (cars to arrive via Fox’s Cross) 2.15pm Welcome by Chairman; Patsy Neville Unveiling of Memorial Wreath laying ceremony Address by Minister Tony Killeen, TD Military salute 3.00pm Blessing of Site Fr Bohan’s address Beautiful Vale of Belvoir sung by J P Guinane 3.15pm Mock Ambush by K McCormack re-Enactment Group 3.45pm Safe exit from Site 4.00pm Refreshments in Donnellan’s, Kilkishen 1 FÁILTE ON gCATHAOIRLEACH Is cúis mór athais dom fiorchaoin fáilte a fhearadh romhaibh go léir don áit seo inniu. On behalf of the Glenwood Ambush memorial committee it is my plea- sure to extend a warm welcome to you all on this very special day when we mark to spot where the Glenwood Ambush took place all of ninety years ago. This entrance here in Glenwood was also the location where later in the same year in Dec 1921, Eamonn DeValera reviewed the 1st Western Division I.R.A. under the command of Michael Brennan. It is widely believed that it was the same day that the treaty was signed in London. As we commemorate the bravery of the men from the active service unit of the East Clare Brigade I.R.A. for the stance they took here at Glenwood, we also recognise the very important support role played by their families and friends during the war of independence and the role played by Cumann na mBan. We are aware that for years after this en- gagement the participating volunteers were slow to discuss the events of that particular day and its understandable as there was loss of lives. Should we have any relatives of the victims with us today we thank you for coming and offer you our hand of friendship. I want to pay a special tribute to all who helped in any way to making today’s event possible including those who gave donations to finance the project. I want to thank the Minister for Defence Tony Killeen for taking time out from his busy schedule to unveil our memorial. I want to thanks the memorial committee for their unselfish dedication to the project and their hard work over the past eleven weeks which was a rather short plan- ning window for such a major undertaking. Patsy Neville memorial committee chairman 2 INTRODUCTION On the 20th of January, 1921, at about 4pm, a motorised patrol of ten armed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) and Black and Tans, travelling from Sixmilebridge to Broadford, approached the back gate of Glen- wood house. Waiting for them, concealed behind the walls of the Glenwood estate, was a group of approximately 37 armed volunteers from the East Clare Brigade of the IRA, led by Michael Brennan of Meelick As the patrol passed by the gates, a fusillade of gunshot, fired by the waiting group, struck the patrol. Six RIC and Black & Tans were killed, two were injured and two escaped unhurt. One IRA volunteer was injured. The ambush party withdrew in good order through the forest and mountains to the East of Glenwood, towards Oatfield. The surviving members of the patrol made their way back to Sixmilebridge. The local people, on hearing of the news of the ambush, braced themselves for the inevitable retribution which would follow. In an orgy of vio- lence, on that evening and in the following days, Black and Tans and Auxiliaries burned houses, destroyed property and terrorised and as- saulted local people. All the participants in the ambush are now deceased. However, the location of the ambush, the ambush itself and its aftermath and the people who were involved stayed in the memory of local people, with stories and anecdotes passed on. A primary purpose of this booklet is to preserve these memories for future generations. Today is about remembering those tumultuous times during which the Republic of Ireland was born, and the people of East Clare who lived through them. 3 BEFORE THE AMBUSH The political situation in Ireland Since the 1880s, Irish nationalists in the Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP) had been demanding Home Rule, or self-government, from Brit- ain. Fringe organizations, such as Sinn Féin, led by Arthur Griffith, instead argued for some form of Irish independence, but they were in a small minority at this time. The demand for Home Rule was eventually granted by the British Government in 1912, immediately prompting Ulster Unionists to form an armed organization—the Ulster Volunteers — to resist this measure of devolution. The unionists resisted the idea of being governed by a majority Nationalist and Catholic population and regarded Home Rule as a form of Rome Rule. In turn, Nationalists formed their own military organization, the Irish Volunteers. Branches of the Volunteers were set up throughout Ireland. The implementation of the Home Rule Act was postponed by the out- break of the First World War in August 1914. The majority of Nation- alists followed their IPP leaders’ and John Redmond’s call to support Britain and the Allied war effort by joining Irish regiments of the Brit- ish Army, the intention being to ensure the commencement of Home Rule after the war. But a significant minority of the Irish Volunteers opposed Ireland’s involvement in the war. The Volunteer movement split, a majority leaving to form the National Volunteers under John Redmond. The remaining Irish Volunteers, under Eoin MacNeill, held that they would maintain their organization until Home Rule had been granted. Within this Volunteer movement, another faction, led by the separatist Irish Republican Brotherhood (IRB), began to prepare for a revolt against British rule. 4 The Easter1916 rising was a military failure but the execution of its leaders and the arrest of thousands of nationalist activists swung popular opinion behind the desire for full independence from Britain, as proclaimed by the IRB. The surviving members of the rising, led by Éamonn de Valera, joined Sinn Féin, a small party at the time, and took it over. Sinn Féin contested the 1918 election and won 73 out of 105 seats. They refused to sit in Westminster and in 1919 convened the first Dáil. The Dáil reaffirmed the 1916 declaration and issued a message which stated that there was an “existing state of war between Ireland and England”. The Dáil directed that the Irish Volunteers be re- constituted as the ‘Irish Republican Army’ or IRA. The IRA was thus perceived to have a mandate to wage war on the British administra- tion. This was the official beginning of the War of Independence. The Situation In East Clare Volunteer Units had been set up in Clare in 1915. Training, drilling and public parades had continued in the intervening years. However, the organisation had become moribund with no more than 25 turning up when summoned. Michael Brennan of Meelick who had been in the IRB, had been arrested, interned and had been on hunger strike was re- leased in a general amnesty in 1918. He returned to Clare in early 1918 and took part in DeValera’s election compaign. While he was away, Clare had been divided into three Brigade areas; East, Mid and West Clare. Each brigade area was subdivided into battalion areas. Each battalion had its own structure. For example, Kilkishen was in the 5th. battalion area. Joe Clancy of Kilkishen was the training officer because he had been in the British Army during WWI. Jack Egan of Pollough was the battalion’s intelligence officer. Quartermasters (QM) stored weapons for the battalion. Paddy Cox was the QM for the neighbour- ing 1st. battalion and he used the Hickman premises in Fenloe. Major Hickman was an officer in the RIC and did not stay in his house. 5 Michael Brennan was appointed officer commanding the East Clare brigade and he set about revitalising his area and restoring morale to his volunteers. He was 23 years old at this time. Drilling and training re-commenced, weapons were procured via raids on big houses and sometimes sent down from HQ in Dublin. Brennan suspected Michael Collins of favouring his native Co.Cork when it came to the delivery of weapons. Money was needed to buy these weapons from Collins which was of course not readily available. However, in a raid on Lim- erick post office, Brennan obtained sufficient funds to allow the brigade to equip itself. Vacated RIC barracks were burned and occupied ones attacked. Michael Brennan’s book; “The War in Clare” describes a slow build up of attacks on the enemy. The volunteers were initially constrained by lack of experience, lack of weapons and lack of knowl- edge of which houses and places were safe to hide out in. With the passage of time, all of these constraints were resolved. By the time of the Glenwood ambush, his guerilla force was well trained and expe- rienced. The volunteers overwhelmingly came from a rural background. The majority were aged in their 20s. They came from small farms, typically 10 to 40 acres. They lived in houses which typically contained 2 parents, 4 to 6 children, 1 or 2 grandparents and sometimes a servant. In East Clare, there were no combatants from large farms or business- es. That the volunteers were strongly politically motivated is without doubt. This can be shown by the way families split after the Treaty in July 1921 when brother argued with brother. Michael Neville of Kilkishen tells the story about his father and his two uncles.

Load more