Landscapes of Revolution Archaeology Project

14/11/2024

We were delighted to be part of the team that produced 'Researching & Protecting the Archaeological Heritage of the Easter Rising, War of Independence and Civil War'.

This publication is for anyone interested in learning about the material heritage of Ireland’s revolutionary period, including community and heritage groups as well as professionals in the planning and heritage sectors.

It can be downloaded from here; https://researchrepository.ucd.ie/entities/publication/f295851f-7593-4392-8a1c-53ecd3dcd55a/details
This publication was supported by National Monuments Service - Archaeology and funded by the Irish Research Council.

Image: Michael McDonagh, Chief Archaeologist National Monuments Service - Archaeology, Prof. Joanna Brück UCD School of Archaeology Dr Damian Shiels Irish in the American Civil War and Róisín Burke Abarta Heritage

17/07/2024

This arms dump is remembered locally but there are no historical documents referring to it. All that remained was a depression which was covered by leaf litter. Pulling this back revealed the upper rim of a milk churn, a well-known method used for small arms storage by IRA Volunteers in the 1920s.
Huge thanks to the landowner in this instance, who remembered where it had been pointed out to him many decades ago. There are other arms dumps in East Limerick Brigade area, recorded as 'a milk tankard dug into the plot fence' (BMH.WS1435,23)
This, and other arms dumps, give us a greater understanding of the Republican network in given areas. Frequently pension files allude to the storage and transport of weapons – particularly by Cumman na mBan – and it was important they were these places were hidden yet readily accessible.
This project is being undertaken through the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund, by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage .
National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage National Museum of Ireland Kilfinnane Moat Cappamore Historical Society Irish History Kilmallock Historical Society

15/05/2024

This promises to be a riveting seminar with a Q&A session to conclude.

15/04/2024

Our pop-up exhibition on objects of the Revolution in East Limerick is now at Cappamore Library until mid-May. Many thanks to the individuals and museums whose artefacts feature in the exhibition.

This project is being undertaken by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage through the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund. Cappamore Historical Society Cappamore
National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage National Museum of Ireland

12/03/2024

The photographic exhibition is at Kilmallock Library

From now until the 29th March we are delighted to be hosting a photographic exhibition "Objects of the Revolution in East Limerick" part of the Landscapes of Revolution Archaeology Project . Come and see this pop up photographic exhibition of artefacts and memorabilia from the War of Independence and Civil War in East Limerick which features fascinating insights into some of the people and events of the period, including in and around Kilmallock.

05/03/2024

Really excited to announce the publication of our new Archaeology Ireland Heritage Guide, “The Archaeology of Revolution in East Limerick”, available now from https://archaeologyireland.ie/. Archaeology Ireland UCD School of Archaeology Abarta Heritage Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council

06/02/2024

Fieldwork continues, and this week we have found the largest dugout yet. This was the Brigade HQ for East Limerick in 1921 and consists of an area a little over 7m in length, excavated out of the centre of a 'double-ditch' field boundary. The Brig. Adjutant gave an account of its construction, ‘an excavation was made to take a sectional wooden hut… carted to the site in sections… covered over with grass sods level with the surface of the rest of the bank. Access was by a trap-door, also sodded, and light was provided by a window hidden by a deep clump of briars. In its finished state it could not be detected visually by a stranger walking at the sides or even on top of the bank.’ (BMH.WS0883, 89 – 90). It had 4 bunks, an office and a cooking area and regularly housed three Volunteers up until the Truce. The roof has since collapsed.

Now located, it has been recorded fully, but photographs are particularly challenging due to the vegetation, even at this time of year. Sincere thanks to the landowners and the Kilfinane Historical Society for their help in finding and preserving this site.

This project is being undertaken through the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund, by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage.
National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage National Museum of Ireland Kilfinnane Moat Kilfinane Knocklong History Kilmallock Historical Society Bruff Heritage Group

22/12/2023

1916, a note penned by a future President of Ireland, Seán T. O’Kelly, or as he signed it ‘Seaghán T. Ó Ceallaigh’. This is within an autograph book that was passed into Reading Prison in 1916, where many Volunteers were imprisoned after the Easter Rising, and usually after a period in Frongoch. It belonged to Caitlín Ní Síoghradha, a teacher working in England but a native of Kilmallock, .

O’Kelly writes:
‘Go neartóidh Dia lámha clanna nGaedheal chun namhaid a dtíre do throid agus narbh fhada go mbeidh sé inár gcumas buille buaidheach do thabhairt don Sasanach agus deireadh do chur leis a réim agus a riaghal i nÉireann.’
Or in English...
‘May God give strength to the hands of Clanna Gael, to fight the enemies of their country, and may it not be long until it is within our ability to deal the English(man) the winning blow and end his regime and rule in Ireland.’
Here he identified himself at this stage as a Captain of the I R Army. He would take the Anti-Treaty side in the Civil War and be a founding member of . A TD, a Minister for Finance and , he served as President from 1945 - 1959.

This project is being undertaken through the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund, by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage
National Monuments Service - Archaeology Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage The Heritage Council National Museum of Ireland Kilmainham Gaol Fianna Fáil President of Ireland / Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D. Higgins

17/12/2023

Following the Easter Rising, many Volunteers were interned in England, largely with no regrets for what had happed. Autograph books, such as this one from Reading jail, passed in and out of prisons, and this one survived through a Limerick family called Searson. This entry is by Seán Milroy, later a TD and Senator, and is just one of 28 entries in this book. Milroy, who had previously be jailed in 1915 for speaking out against Irishmen fighting in World War I, was interned at , then transferred to Reading and was released in Dec 1916. He was to be imprisoned again in Lincoln Jail in 1918 for being the director of elections for Sinn Fein, and alongside Éamon de Valera and Sean McGarry escaped in early 1919.
This project is being undertaken through the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund, by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage
National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage National Museum of Ireland Kilmainham Gaol

15/12/2023

Arms dumps used during the War of Independence took on many forms – from underground bunkers to milk churns embedded in banks. A more unusual type was the reuse of a burial vault, as at Inch St. Laurence graveyard. Here, the Caherconlish Volunteers had stored whatever weaponry they had in a box within the Scott family vault. According to Richard O’Connell ‘All the shotguns and stuff that we did not need we dumped into the vault. When the Column would be anywhere around there, we used go there, clean all the guns and fix them up. We had a big box there which contained our stuff.’ (BMH.WS0656, 18). The key for the vault was supplied by P. Ryan of Doon. There was suspicion of a spy, as the arms were discovered in early 1921 while the Mid-Limerick Column were away from the area. Following the Truce, the RIC (Sgt. Healy) at Pallas told O'Connell that a 'Tan' had spied the arms through a slit in the vault and so the door was broken in. Such a 'silt' does exist on the east gable but considering the dark interior and storage within a box, it seems unlikely that it was stumbled upon. The plaque on this chest tomb is recorded at https://historicgraves.com/inch-st-lawrence/li-istl-0008/grave
This project is being undertaken through Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences COALESCE fund, by UCD School of Archaeology in collaboration with Abarta Heritage
National Monuments Service - Archaeology The Heritage Council Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage National Museum of Ireland Historic Graves