Projectcode:KBFG14 Client:KnockrahaAreaHistorical&HeritageSociety Date:October2014 An Archaeological Assessment of the Knockraha Bomb Factory & Knockraha’s War of Independence Heritage ReportAuthor:DamianShiels ReportStatus:FinalReport Projectcode:KBFG14 Client:KnockrahaAreaHistorical&HeritageSociety Date:October2014 An Archaeological Assessment of the Knockraha Bomb Factory & Knockraha’s War of Independence Heritage ReportAuthor:DamianShiels ReportStatus:FinalReport AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage CONTENTS Page EXECUTIVESUMMARY 3 1 INTRODUCTION 4 2 THEBALLYNANELAGHBOMBFACTORY 4 2.1 Thearchaeologicalenvironment(Figure1) 5 2.2 Evidenceforthebombfactory(Figure3) 7 3 KNOCKRAHA’SWAROFINDEPENDENCEHERITAGE 12 3.1 Knockraha’sRoleintheWarofIndependence 13 3.2 KnockrahaWarofIndependenceHeritageSites(Figure1,2) 21 3.3 FutureResearch&DevelopmentPotential 24 4.CONCLUSION 27 BIBLIOGRAPHY 29 FIGURES Figure1. TheWarofIndependenceConflictLandscapeofKnockraha Figure2. KnockrahaVillage,WarofIndependenceConflictLandscape Figure3. BallynanelaghBombFactoryLocation PLATES Plate1. The1953drawingbyNedFitzgeraldoftheBallynanelaghBombFactory,who setitup.Notethesleepersusedfortheroof,andthevents. Plate2. ThesiteoftheBombFactoryinBallynanelaghtownland,lookingENEatthe ‘kink’inthetownlandboundary. Plate3. InterpretationofhowBallynanelaghBombFactorymayhavelooked,drawn byWilliamFitzgerald,KnockrahaAreaHistorical&HeritageSociety. Plate4. MetaltroughusedinBallynanelaghBombFactory. Plate5. Grenademouldsand‘blank’grenadesfromBallynanelaghBombFactory. Plate6. The‘crucible’usedformoltenmetalandfabricatedoutofanoldkettle,now withreplacementhandle.UsedinBallynanelaghBombFactory. Plate7. The men who operated the Bomb Factory at Ballynanelagh pose at the site withtheirequipment.Fromlr,MickHiggins,Unknown,DinBowen,Martin Corry(hislikenesswasaddedtotheimage),Unknown,DennyLynch. Plate8. InscribedwatchpresentedtoNedFitzgeraldfor‘SpecialServices’in1921. Plate9. The schoolhouse, where Sinn Fein Courts were held during the War of Independence. Plate10. O’Donoghue’sPub,Knockraha,formerlyCanavan’s,whereI.R.A.members wentfollowingtheClonmultAmbush. 1 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage Plate11. ThehouseandforgeofEdwardMoloney,Governorof‘SingSing’Prison. Plate12. Knockraha Church, where arms were stored during the War of Independence. Plate13. ‘LibertyHall’wheretheKnockrahaCompanywasformedin1917. Plate14. ‘SingSing’PrisoninKnockraha. Plate15. Interiorviewtowardsdoorof‘SingSing’Prison. 2 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage EXECUTIVESUMMARY Thepurposeofthisreportistoassesstheavailableinformationastothelocationof the Knockraha Bomb Factory in the townland of Ballynanelagh and its likely archaeological and heritage significance. In addition it seeks to assess the War of Independence heritage of Knockraha as a whole, providing a statement as to its importance and significance. Finally it provides a series of recommendations for bothfutureworkandthepotentialdevelopmentofthisheritageasatouristasset. 3 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage 1 INTRODUCTION ThevillageofKnockrahawasthelocationof‘E’Company,4thBattalion,CorkNo.1 Brigade of the I.R.A. during the War of Independence. The Company was commanded by Captain Martin Corry, who later served as a Fianna Fáil T.D. The evidenceillustratesthatKnockrahaservedasavitallogisticalbasefortheI.R.A.in both East Cork and Cork City throughout the conflict. The Company Area was, amongotherthings,thelocationoftwovitalbombproductionfactories,thesiteof theprincipalprisonfortheCorkNo.1Brigadearea,thefirsttrainingbaseforthe4th BattalionFlyingColumn,thesiteofkey4thBattalionareasafehouses,andalocation wherearmsandequipmentcouldbestored.Indeedtheactivitiesthattookplacein KnockrahaareofcriticalimportancewhenconsideringtheWarofIndependencein Co. Cork as a whole. Knockraha has also benefited from effortsby the Knockraha AreaHistoricalandHeritageSocietytointerviewformermembersoftheI.R.A.in thelocality,withaviewtolocatingsitesofhistoricalimportance.Theseeffortshave ledtotheidentificationof‘SingSing’,theCorkNo.1Brigadeprison,and‘Liberty Hall’,thebuildingwheretheKnockrahaVolunteerswerefirstestablished.Theyalso producedtherecordingsknownasthe‘CorryTapes’,basedoninterviewsbylocal historianJamesFitzgeraldwiththeformerCompanycommanderinthe1970s,and which have since been frequently referenced by noted historians throughout the country. 2 THEBALLYNANELAGHBOMBFACTORY Theprimaryaimofthisreportistoassesstheevidenceastotheexistence,location andformofthisbombfactory.Itwasamongalistofthreesites(togetherwith‘Sing Sing’and‘LibertyHall’)whichweresubmittedbyKnockraha AreaHistoricaland Heritage Society to Cork County Council requesting their inclusion as protected structures in the County Development Plan (dCDP14/1769). While acknowledging 4 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage the merit of including ‘Sing Sing’ and ‘Liberty Hall’, Ballynanelagh bomb factory wasnotincluded.TheChiefExecutive’sReportprovidedthefollowingresponsein relationtothefactory: ‘Theexactconditionofthebombfactoryhasnotbeendetermined.Theinformationon theBombFactoryisinconclusive.(TherearecommemorativeplaquesonbothLiberty Hall and Sing Sing prison).’(Cork County Development Plan Review, 2014 Vol.2,186) The Knockraha Area Historical & Heritage Society had explored the potential of conductingageophysicalsurveyatthesiteofthebombfactory,butthepresenceofa 220kV line immediately above the location is likely to interfere with the results of prospection. Rubicon Heritage Services Ltd was appointed to assess the available evidenceforthesite’sformandlocationandpresentitinthisreport. 2.1 Thearchaeologicalenvironment(Figure1) Ballynanelagh townland contains two recorded monuments, both of which are locatedtotheeastofthebombfactoryandneitherofwhicharedirectlyassociated withthesite.Theyareasfollows: CO064065BallynanelaghPossibleringfort Inpasture,onSFacingslope.Shownascircularenclosure(diam.c.40m)on1842OSmap. AccordingtoPower(1923,177)‘Thelios…hasdisappeared.OnGleeson’sfarmtherewasa secondlios,whichalsohasbeenlongsinceimprovedaway’.Levelled,novisiblesurfacetrace (Power1994,127). 5 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage CO064066BallynanelaghStandingStone Fieldlocallyknownas‘BannagCloch’field.AccordingtoPower(1923,177),in‘Banna gClochfieldofthepillarstones….Onlyasingledallánnowsurvives;thisstandsabout4feet by2feet’.Novisiblesurfacetrace(Power1994,8). Thereareanumberofotherrecordedmonumentswithinc.1kmofthebombfactory site,assetoutinTable1below. RECORDNO. TOWNLAND CLASSIFICATION CO064074 Killeena Ringfortrath CO064073 Killeena Ringfortrath CO064075 Killeena Enclosure CO064076 Killeena Bullaunstone CO064078 Ballinbrittig Ringfortrath CO064079 Ballinbrittig Ritualsiteholywell CO064028 KnockrahaEast Ringfortrath CO064029 KnockrahaEast Enclosure Table1.Recordedmonumentsinc.1kmproximitytobombfactorysite The townland – in Irish Baile na nGeimhleach may be that referred to in 1614 as ‘Ballynnenymelagh’ in the Calendar of Patent Rolls of James I, and it appears relativelyfrequentlyfromthispointforward(www.logainm.ie). Thesiteofthebombfactorydoesnotcurrentlyenjoyanyarchaeologicalorheritage protection.Despitethis,thereissubstantialandconvincingevidencetosupportthe precise location of the bomb factory within Ballynanelagh and documentary evidenceastoitsform.Thisevidenceisdiscussedindetailinsection2.2below. 6 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage 2.2 Evidenceforthebombfactory(Figure3) TwoI.R.A.bombfactoriesoperatedinKnockrahaduringtheWarofIndependence. OnewasrunbyCorkNo.1Brigade,whiletheotherthatlocatedinBallynanelagh wasoperatedbytheKnockrahaCompany(‘E’Company,4thBattalion,CorkNo. 1 Brigade). These factories were intended to produce bomb casings (mainly for grenades)withtheexplosiveaddedatseparatelocations.Thedocumentarysources aboundwithreferencestothesefactories.MichaelWalsh,aCaptainof‘C’Company, 2ndBattalion,CorkNo.1Brigaderemembered: ‘Early in 1921, an armed raid was carried out by our company on Messrs. Ford’s Factory,andalargequantityofpigironscrapironandmouldingsandtakenaway. This was brought by us to Cobh Junction where it was handed up to men of Knockrahacompany(4thBattalion,EastCork).InKnockraha(about7mileseastof Cork city) there was a bomb factory operated by men of the Knockraha Company underthecommandofMartinCorry,thepresentFiannaFáilDáildeputyforEast Cork’(WS1521ofMichaelWalsh). Seamus Fitzgerald, of ‘A’ Company (Cobh), 4th Battalion, Cork No.1 Brigade and T.D.wasofficiallyplacedinchargeoftheBrigadebombfactoryinKnockrahaduring theWarofIndependence.Hestatedthatinadditiontohisownbombfactorythere was‘anindependentKnockrahaone[bombfactory]welloperatedbyNedFitzgerald’(WS 1737 of Seamus Fitzgerald). Martin Corry elaborated on the origins of the BallynanelaghbombfactoryduringtheinterviewsconductedbyJamesFitzgerald: ‘Ned Fitz came home on his Christmas holidays to Knockraha and immediately reported to me for duty…I said to him drop over to the factory that was going in Blossomgrove at the time [the Brigade bomb factory, operated by Seamus Fitzgerald] and have a look around there and see if you can find anything to do 7 AnArchaeologicalAssessmentoftheKnockrahaBombFactory&Knockraha’sWarofIndependenceHeritage