20 Sheares Street

Today the street known as Sheares Street, near the Mardyke, was once known as Nile Street, named in 1798 after an Admiral Nelson victory. Decades later the street was renamed after the Sheares Brothers from Glasheen who were martyred for Ireland after the United Irishmen Rebellion in 1798. Those continuing the struggle of the United Irishmen moved into  No.20 Sheares Street in the early 20th century. 

The St Francis Total Abstinence Society was founded in 1900 and had its premises at No. 20 Sheares Street. In February 1915 the Irish Volunteers signed a lease on the hall. 

The Volunteer Hall at No.20 Sheares Street.

The Cork brigade of the Irish Volunteers was established following a rowdy meeting in Cork City Hall in December 1913. They had their HQ at No. 19 Fisher Street until the movement was split between those who favoured fighting in WWI and those who did not. 

Irish Volunteers membership card.

Those who favoured the fight in Flanders rather than the fight at home became known as the National Volunteers and they kicked out the members who opposed them from Fisher Street. Those who remained as The Irish Volunteers went and  set up their HQ at Sheares Street which became known as The Volunteer Hall. 

The large rooms in the building  proved a perfect place for the volunteers to practise drilling, hold lectures and conduct first aid classes.

Rifle used for drilling in the Sheares Street hall.

 On Easter Sunday 1916 163 Volunteers gathered at the hall for what was to be a rising across the rebel county. From Sheares Street they set off with their leader Tomas Mac Curtain for the train to Crookstown and from there the plan was to meet up with other battalions but, conflicting orders marred their plans. 

Military Witness Statement of Patrick Harris.

The Volunteers went back to their hall on Sheares Street and for the week they stayed there. After a peaceful negotiation involving the Lord Mayor and the Bishop, the volunteers surrendered to the authorities at the end of the week and they were all shipped off to different prisons across Britain.

In 2016 the hall was brought back to life with a centenary commemoration and the unveiling of a plaque on the building while across the street information plaques were placed on a wall. In 1966 34 survivors of the 163 who gathered there on Easter Sunday 1916 assembled for a 50th anniversary commemoration there. By then it had reverted back to being known as St Francis Hall, a place which held dances and plays. 

Group of Irish Volunteers at the Volunteer Hall, Sheares  Street. 

Grave of William Horan, St Josephs Cemetery. He was the caretaker of the hall. The father of 7 died in 1918.

The Cork Volunteer Pipe Band also used No. 20 Sheares Street as their base and continued to use it up to the 1930s. Following the Easter Rising the Republican movement on Leeside had grown and had many different premises across the city. When the War of Independence began the Volunteer Hall on Sheares Street was by then playing second fiddle to the Ashe Hall on Morrisons Quay which became the HQ of the IRA in the city. 

Sean MacDiarmada seated in civvies next to MacCurtain at front.