North Gate Bridge - July 18 1920

It was a hot Summer Saturday night in Cork city when trouble broke out between retired and serving members of the British army. It began with the death of 42 year old James Bourke from Victoria Terrace, Blarney Street. 

James Bourke

Bourke was with other men at North Gate Bridge, making his way home from the pub. They got into an argument with two off duty soldiers and constables from nearby Shandon Street Barracks arrived to intervene but then, a lorry of the dreaded South Staffordshire Regiment who were on a curfew patrol arrived and used brutal force to disperse the men. 

North Gate Bridge in the early 20th Century. 

The South Staffordshires fired their guns and then proceeded to bayonet those who did not disperse. Mr Bourke, a former member of the Munster Fusiliers, recieved a bayonet in his side which ultimately killed him. 

View of North Gate Bridge from the south.

The following evening a group of angry friends of Mr Bourke aided by ex-members of the British forces gathered at the scene of his death at the North Gate Bridge. The night before as Mr Bourke lay dead someone had written, in his blood, on the quay wall where he was murdered: "RIP killed by military of Staffordshire Reg." It was still there when the angry group gathered the following evening. 

North Gate Bridge today.

The military arrived to disperse the crowd that had gathered at the bridge, and did so with brutal force. An armoured car arrived and unleashed a hail of bullets. As people screamed and scattered in all directions, William McGrath, a 34 year old from Coach Street and a former member of the Leinster Regiment, spotted a terrified girl huddled at the top of Angel Lane, off North Main Street. To save her from being trampled by panicked crowds or shot by the military, Mr McGrath scooped her up with his one arm (he lost the other one during his service in WWI) and managed to place her safely into a nearby house. 

Angel Lane, off North Main Street. 

As Mr McGrath emerged from Angel Lane and back onto North Gate Bridge a bullet from a military armoured car machine gun cut him down. William McGrath worked as a docker following his return from WWI with one arm and his widow was later awarded £1,500 compensation and each of his three children were awarded £300. 

William McGrath.

James Bourke who's murder sparked the outrage was buried at Curraghkippane cemetery following a large funeral from the North Cathedral. Former comrades carried Mr Bourke's coffin while the cortege contained  5,000 members of the Discharged and Demobilised Soldiers and Sailors Federation. One of the pallbearers was from it's Bandon Branch - Tom Barry, who served with the Royal Field Artillery in WWI. Four months later he would lead the IRA's attack against crown forces at Kimichael. 

87 St Patrick Street - November 18 1919

T.W Murray & Co. Ltd is one of the oldest established businesses on Cork City's main thoroughfare. 

The gun shop drew the interest of the Cork IRA in the early days of the War of Independence and on a Winters night in 1919 they decided to go there for a "shopping spree"!

Murrays on Pana, still trading today.

A party of ten IRA volunteers from the 1st Battalion Cork No.1 Brigade were involved in the raid on Murrays gun shop. 

Two men watched shop manager George O'Connell close the premises at 6pm and head for the tram home. The two IRA men followed him onto the tram and as they reached Commons Road the two IRA men took Mr O'Connell off the tram at gun point. 

The shop manager was taken to Lucy's Field where two other IRA men were waiting with ropes. They tied up Mr O'Connell and took his keys to the gun shop. While two IRA men stayed with O'Connell, the other two headed back to Patrick Street with the keys. 

Murrays on the left of this early 20th century postcard.

A car waited outside the shop while the IRA men were busy removing guns and ammo from it. The arms were wrapped up in canvas and taken from the shop to the waiting car. 

Among the guns taken were 7 single barrel shotguns which had been dropped into the shop for repair  by a local Anglo landlord. One of the shotguns was an antique priced at £500!

Even though there were four RIC men patrolling Pana that night they failed to notice the raid taking place at Murrays gun shop! 

The raiders took as much as they could and loaded up the car which then drove off unnoticed in the direction of Blarney where the arms were stored in an arms dump there.

 At 11pm Mr O'Connell was let go. He dashed back to the premises and found most of it's contents gone. He reported the raid to Tuckey Street RIC station and had less than kind words for the constables who failed to notice the raid!

Witness Statement from Lieutenant Stephen Foley, G Company, 1st Batt, Cork No.1 Brigade IRA.

St Patrick Street - April 21 1923

It was Saturday night and a number of youths were hanging out near the ruins of the Munster Arcade, burnt by British forces three years previously. A Free State officer walked past the youths who turned on him and then, all hell broke loose. 

The Munster Arcade on the right, Cash's in the background, in 1927 after the street was rebuilt. 


As the youths attacked the Free State officer he drew his gun and let off a round of bullets. One or maybe two of the youths also had arms and they returned fire. Just as this scrap was happening, 42 year old William Murphy and his brother were approaching from Robert Street.

      Robert Street, at the side of Penney's, today. The scene of the gun fight in 1923. 




A bullet hit William Murphy in his side just as he turned the corner from Robert Street onto Patrick Street. The Murphys Brewery worker was returning back to his home on 98 Street after an evening out with his brother Jeremiah.

         Then and Now: 98 Street where William Murphy lived.


Jeremiah held his brother William and managed to carry him from the scene of the shooting up the street towards the Victoria Hotel where William then collapsed in its doorway. 

 The Victoria Hotel, with the canopy, where the Murphy brothers ran to, from the top of Robert Street (at the corner of Penney's today!) 



William was placed on a side car outside the hotel and he was taken to the Mercy Hospital where he died hours later. 

St Patrick Street - December 8 1922

December 8th was not only an important date in the church calendar but it was also a day which saw an influx of shoppers into cities to do their Christmas shopping.

 In Cork in 1922 a Civil War was in full swing and the rebel city was partially in a state of wreck since it was torched by Crown forces two years previously but - such circumstances did not deter the throngs of festive shoppers venturing into the city that day.

                View of Patrick St from Daunt Square: Thompsons Cafe seen in the middle.




That day a car of Free State officers left the County Gaol (now UCC)  and headed for Patrick Street. The car parked outside Thompson's Cafe/Liptons shop and just as the driver cut the engine a man appeared from across the street and hurled a mills bomb at the Free State car. 

                                               Liptons on Patrick Street in the 1920s.



The bomb bounced off the car mud guard and rolled towards Lipton's window where it smashed through and exploded. 

                         Boots now occupy the site of Liptons and Thompson's Cafe.



The bomb caused damage to Lipton's and Thompsons Cafe nextdoor. Ten civilians were injured and one died. 

24 year old Katherine Feehely from Bachelors Walk was in Thompsons Cafe when the bomb exploded, she died days later from injuries she received . 

Miss Feehely

St Patrick's Quay - February 7 1921

It was 6 o'clock on Sunday evening when 17 year old Patrick O'Sullivan was hanging out at Patrick's Quay with his brother and some friends. The brothers were from the tenements on Broad Lane but only one of them would return there alive. 

                  Broad Lane - tenement dwellings in the marsh area of the city, no longer there. 




A drunk man stumbled out from a public house near where the O'Sullivan brothers and their friends were hanging out by the quayside. The drunkard had been ejected out of the pub and was wildly shouting about "Bastard Tans" and how he didn't care for them. It seemed as if a ruckus in the pub had spilled out onto the street and just as it did, two plain clothes auxies were crossing Patrick's Bridge and the commotion drew their attention.

                                              St Patrick's Quay in the early 20th Century.




As the drunkard was shouting, the two plain clothes auxies sprinted in his direction with their revolvers drawn, then one of them pulled the trigger and all hell broke loose. 

                                  Harley Street pictured from the MacCurtain Street side. 



The O'Sullivan Brothers, their friends, the drunkard and anyone else unfortunate enough to be on Patrick's Quay at the time fled the rain of bullets which the auxies recklessly fired. Patrick O'Sullivan and his brother ran up Harley Street but, a bullet brought the 17 year old down. He was later pronounced dead at the North Infirmary. 

               St Patrick's Quay, Harley Street is to the left, wedged between the buildings. 




The plain clothes auxileries fired six bullets, killing one young civilian and injuring another - Patrick O'Shea from Watercourse Road. The drunkard who drew their unwanted attention somehow managed to flee the scene without a scratch.

Princes Street/Patrick Street - November 23 1920

An explosion rocked the area where Princes Street meets Patrick Street on the evening of November 23rd 1920. It resulted in the deaths of three IRA men and the injury of 16 civilians along with damage to local businesses.

                                             Today - the area where the explosion occured.

1920s: Looking at the Pavillon Cinema from Princes Street, the scene of the explosion. 

Patrick O'Donoghue was one of those killed by the explosion. He was a French Polisher by trade and lived at 2 St Brighid Street, just off Barrack Street, with his wife Mary.

                                                   St Brighid Street, off Barrack Street.



O'Donoghue was Quartermaster 2nd Battalion Cork IRA No.1 Brigade and was 31 years old when he was killed in the explosion at the top of  Princes Street. Today Patrick O'Donoghue Place near The Lough is named after him. 

                                                                Patrick O'Donoghue.



James Mehigan was from 35 Friars Walk and worked at O'Brien's Mills at Clarke's Bridge. The 29 year old was Section Leader E Company, 2nd Batt, Cork No.1 Brigade IRA.  He died in the Mercy Hospital from the injuries he received from the explosion hours after it happened.

James Mehigan's home.

                                                                     James Mehigan.



Patrick Trahy was the most senior of the three IRA men to die on that Winters evening in 1920. From 6 Friars Walk, Trahy was Vice Commandant 2nd Battalion Cork No.1 Brigade. 

                                            Trahy - standing right of Terence MacSwiney

Home of Patrick Trahy.

Trahy was married with a three year old daughter and worked as a clerk for O'Callaghan's Leather Merchants on South Main Street. He joined the Irish Volunteers at it's founding in Cork in 1913 and won a prize for rifle range practise in a volunteer camp in Carrigtwohill in 1914. Patrick Trahy Road at the Lough is named after him.

The three IRA men from South Parish were buried with military honours in the Republican Plot in St Finbarrs Cemetery. 

The explosion which killed them has two stories attached to it. 

  The men were buried together in St Finbarrs Republican Plot.

The first story goes along the lines of a bomb being thrown at the men.

 Trahy, Mehigan and O'Donoghue were standing and talking with fellow IRA men at the top of Princes Street when a figure in British military attire appeared on the roof of the Pavilion Cinema and flung a bomb down on them. 

The Pavilion where one story relates to a figure on the roof who threw a bomb.

From the roof of the Pavilion to where the men were standing.

The area where the bomb exploded. The Pavilion can be seen across the street.

Another story tells how the men had just come from a brigade meeting in a local safe house on Oliver Plunkett Street and as they lingered at the top of Princes Street chatting, one of the men had a grenade in his pocket and unfortunately it fell through the pocket and hit the pavement where it exploded upon impact.

Whatever the right story is, what is true is that the Cork Brigade lost three vital members on that November night in 1920. 

In 1961 a plaque was unveiled at Friars Walk commemorating the lads of the local company who died during the War of Independence including Trahy, Mehigan and O'Donoghue.