Day: October 5, 2018

On this day one hundred years ago (Oct 5th 1918) West Cork Riding was declared Special Military Area. Nobody could enter area without a permit from the military authorities in Bandon. Measure was a direct (albeit belated) response to July 1918 Irish Volunteers Beal an Ghleanna Ambush that left 2 policemen injured. It was the first attack on the RIC since 1916. Fairs, markets, commercial travel and other business were severely restricted over the following months, as was personal travel, with military checks at trains arriving into stations on the many rail lines running through West Cork a century ago. West Cork Riding covered most of west half of county; not west Cork as we think of it today. Very roughly, imagine a diagonal line running from immediately west of Kinsale, through area west of Rylane, then, between Millstreet and Banteer, turning west toward Kerry.

[read more …] “When Millstreet was declared part of new Special Military Area”