John Arnold: We still have reminders around us about battle in Cork 191 years ago
Though involved in the GAA since the early 1970s, this was my first ever venture into the running of the GAA outside of my native Cork.
Well, I accepted the invitation and, in truth, I found the experience simply outstanding. In fairness, there was a lot of travelling with meetings in Dublin and Thurles as we made plans for the 125 celebrations.
The particular project I was mainly involved in was to ensure the original seven founders of the GAA in 1884 were properly remembered.
We know for a fact Cusack, Davin, Wyse Power, McCarthy, Bracken, McKay, and Ryan attended the first meeting in Hayes’ Hotel, Thurles, on November 1, 1884. Evidence points to the fact others were also present and subsequent research by Donal McAnallen and others would indicate that maybe 12 or more attended.
Well, we completed the project, which included the erection of stones on two previously unmarked graves, and the cleaning, re-lettering and refurbishment of the others. For me personally, it was a labour of love because remembering those gone before us is so important.
In the Bible Book of Deuteronomy, it is written: ‘Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen’. Yes indeed, those gone before us and their deeds, whether large or small, deserve - indeed, demand - to be preserved in the memory.
It is the poet Rudyard Kipling who is credited with the original use of the phrase ‘lest we forget’ - which comes from the Bible reference. When our 2009 GAA project was completed, I produced a little booklet outlining our work of remembrance. I called it - I felt it was important to record for the future the story of our Committee’s work.
More research remains to be done and is being done - all of which will add to the store of information being built up. The human mind and memory are brilliant, but writing down what we find out is so important. Our past shapes our future and, without those gone before us, we are nothing.
Just last week, I knelt by a headstone in a little East Cork country graveyard and wept. This was no new headstone, but it bore a new inscription remembering a historic and tragic event of 191 years ago.
I live in the townland of Garryantaggart and Ballinakilla is on our ‘bounds’ ditch. The Ryan family live there today, as did their ancestors back in the 1820s and 1830s.
In that townland in December, 1834, the Battle of Gortroe was fought, a bloody and murderous affray in the so-called Tithe War.
Basically, the unjust system of collecting tithes or ‘dues’ for the upkeep of an alien clergy was resisted boldly all over Ireland. On December 18, 1834, a force of around 120 calvary and foot soldiers gathered at the Widow Ryan’s farmyard, demanding a payment which she refused.
Several hundred locals and supporters from neighbouring parishes gathered to offer passive resistance. Around noon on that December day, the order was given to the soldiers to ‘Fire’. In total, 67 shots were fired with awful consequences. Nine men were shot dead on the spot and three more died of their wounds.
It wasn’t until 150 years later, in 1984, that a suitable monument was erected to recall the sacrifice of the 12.
Local lore and tradition identified where the victims had been buried - the cemeteries only in most cases, but unfortunately not the actual graves. In December, 1984, wreaths were taken by relatives and others to the cemeteries to remember the fallen 12. Back then, the phrase ‘Lest We Forget’ was on everyone’s lips.
Remarkably, after four more decades, two of the victims, brothers John and Michael Collins are now recalled and remembered.
At the time of the Tithe War, the Collins family - their mother was a widow - were living at Hightown, Bartlemy. Like so many other small, tenant farmers of the era, the family moved around to different parts of East Cork. Their ancestral burying place was in Templecurraheen graveyard in the parish of Carrigtwohill. On high ground looking down over Cork harbour, this ancient burial ground is still in use.
We all know of the original Reformation, but truly the ‘Reformation’ of Templecurraheen has been remarkable. Over the last few years, Michael has literally transformed the place. Now completely accessible and weed-free, all the headstones have been ‘read’ and the inscriptions recorded.
All the work has been done without interfering with the graves or the stones - even the footstones and rough-hewn markers have not been moved. A numbering and lettering index has been compiled which will be of immense benefit to historians and researchers in the future.
A magnificent job of work has been done by Michael and his family and a few helpers.
The partially sunken Collins family headstone was found. Now raised and cleaned, the names of John and Michael Collins have been added -written in stone forever more. In the near future, it is planned to erect an information board outlining the full story of these brave brothers and the others who fell by their side ’neath a hail of lead.
Back in 1834, Fr Matt Horgan, then PP of Blarney, visited the scene of the Gortroe ‘Massacre’. A historian, writer and poet, he was deeply affected by what he saw in and around the haggard of the Widow Ryan. He wrote two long poems in Irish, Widow Ryan’s Lament and the 22-verse Widow Collins’ Lament - the opening lines of which are;
Recently during reclamation work on a farm at Hollyhill, Bartlemy, an old rusted bayonet was found. We got it examined and dated by two experts in the field of old and ancient weaponry.
Both agreed it was a bayonet from a British Army ‘Brown Bess’ musket - in use until the late 1830s. It was found yards from the road travelled by the soldiers on their way to and from the farmyard of the Widow Ryan in December, 1834 - the day the Collins brothers died.
Could it have been a bloodied weapon discarded by one of the 29th Regiment that day as they marched back into Fermoy Barracks?
The events of December, 1834, seem a long time ago but, in 2025, we have reminders all around us - lest we forget.
App?
