NEW ONLINE MAP FOR THE WAR OF INDEPENDENCE IN WATERFORD
The 11th July 1921 is the day that the truce was called at noon on the War of Independence and negotiations began to bring an end to the war. To mark the end of this chapter in the Decade of Centenaries and the start of the next, Waterford Commemorations Committee have compiled and made available an online Story Map to tell the story and map the events of the War of Independence in Waterford City and County. Explore the map and find out more about the events of the War of Independence in Waterford from the link available on the Council website https://bit.ly/32yD0PV
Image copryight to and courtesy of Waterford County Museum
The StoryMap aims to map the events, political, personal and military of the War of Independence and provide the story of these events. There are maps showing the attacks on the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks; the ambushes and raids made by the I.R.A. Brigades and actions of the West Waterford Flying Column. In addition, the Story Map provides the story behind these and other events, such as, the British Army raids on the Corporation and Council offices; British Army reprisals on the towns of Dungarvan and Lismore and the tragic deaths of civilians
A particular tragedy in Waterford was that the truce came too late to save the lives of those who died due to a trap mine at Kilgobnet on 8th July 1921. those who died were:
Thomas Dahill, a 27 year old road worker from Kilnafrehan West
James Dunford, a 19 year old farmer’s son from Knockaunagloon
William Dunford, a 29 year old labourer from Kilnafrehan
Richard Lynch, a 29 year old from Inchindrisla
John (Seán) Quinn, a 19 year old farm labourer from Ballymacmague South and I.R.A. Volunteer
Thomas Burke, 32 years old from Inchindrisla, a farmer’s son
This is just one of the events of the War of Independence documented on the Waterford War of Independence Story Map.
The information for these maps and the accompanying text was researched by Niall Murray for the Waterford Commemorations Committee, input by Joanne Rothwell, Waterford City and County Archivist and edited by Cian Flaherty. Waterford County Museum kindly provided many of the images used to illustrate the text and maps and many of the more recent images were provided by the Heritage Officer, Bernadette Guest. This project was supported by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht Sport and Media, Decade of Centenaries 1913-1923 Programme.
Michael Farrell, Chair of the Waterford Commemorations Committee says on making the map available to the public “The Committee is committed to document and sharing the history of the Decade of Centenaries with the people of Waterford and in collaborating with individuals and groups to ensure that this history will be recorded and available for future generations. We would also like to call on the public for their help in providing images (recent or older) of the Royal Irish Constabulary Barracks. If you have any images or information that you would like to contribute to facilitate the updating of this map please contact the Archivist at archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie”
The map is not intended to be a static record – new research continues to open up new evidence for events and hopefullly, with the public’s help, new images can be located to add to the map.
You can find the link to the Story Map along with details of the programme of projects for 2021 online on the website www.waterfordcouncil.ie or https://bit.ly/32yD0PV
