Bonniconlon War of Independence Commemoration

10/08/2021

Situated right on the border between Mayo and Sligo, the pretty village of Bonniconlon is a microcosm of the North Mayo region.

02/08/2021

IN 1915 – NATIONALIST JEREMIAH O’DONOVAN ROSSA IS BURIED IN GLASNEVIN CEMETERY, DUBLIN.

“WHATEVER HIS CRIME, THERE WAS A GREATER CRIMINAL THAN HE –
THE ENGLISH GOVERNMENT WHO MADE HIM WHAT HE WAS.”

On his deathbed at age 83, Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa sent for his old friends, John Devoy and Richard O’Sullivan Burke. He died a tired old warrior on 29 June 1915 in St Vincent’s Hospital on Staten Island, New York after a two-year illness. Devoy, aware that when Young Irelander Terrence Bellew McManus had died in San Francisco in 1866 the funeral procession became a massive propaganda coup, he contacted Tom Clarke in Ireland, himself a Clan na Gael member, and Rossa’s remains were sent home.

Read more | https://stairnaheireann.net/?p=62860

Image | Jeremiah O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral, Glasnevin cemetery | Courtesy of Glasnevin Trust

01/08/2021

23/07/2021

Thanks to all our volunteers helping out over the last couple of Saturdays

21/07/2021

Hi, we are raising funds for all work that has been carried out and for a… Pierce Durcan needs your support for Bonniconlon War of Independence Commemoration

20/07/2021

All donations are greatly welcomed!!

Hi, we are raising funds for all work that has been carried out and for a… Pierce Durcan needs your support for Bonniconlon War of Independence Commemoration

14/07/2021

From our War of Independence Exhibition;

Postcard depicting Éamon de Valera & the Irish Delegation leaving Dun Laoighaire ahead of the Peace Conference with British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, this week one hundred years ago.

Following a Truce ending 131 weeks of hostilities between the IRA & Crown Forces, de Valera & his delegation set sail for London, to meet face to face with Lloyd George- nicknamed ‘The Welsh Wizard’ , at 10 Downing Street.

Crowds of well-wishers had gathered at Downing Street, eager to show support for De Valera. A chorus of hopeful prayers & songs rang out as ‘The Long Fellow’ arrived at the first meeting a century ago, described as Lloyd George as ‘ a moment in history’ .

Four intense meetings took place over seven days. Ahead of the final meeting, Lloyd George sent a document to the Irish delegation, who were staying at the Grosvenor Hotel. It was entitled ‘Proposals of the British Government for an Irish Settlement'.

The proposal offered dominion status within the British Empire to Ireland, with provisions for Irish autonomy in relation to areas such as the judicatory, policing, the army & education. However, Ireland would
remain subject to the British Crown.

De Valera met with Lloyd George and told him that the proposal would be “totally unacceptable” to the Irish people.

The Welsh Wizard & The Long Fellow were at an impasse.

The Irish delegation traveled home & on 20th July, Lloyd George’s proposals was put to a vote in the Dáil. It was unanimously rejected.

In the weeks & months which followed, De Valera & Lloyd George continued to correspond via a series of highly charged letters ( available to read online at www. dfa.ie).

De Valera invoked Ireland’s long & troubled history under British rule & asserted her right to complete sovereignty. Lloyd George stressed that Britain would never allow Ireland to become ‘a foreign power’ & threatened that the Truce would end.

Eventually, in September 1921, plans for a second peace conference were put in place, paving the way for the historic Anglo- Irish negotiations of December that same year.

On that occasion, de Valera did not attend - a decision which remains the subject of much scrutiny & debate still to this day.

Pictured below from left to right are
Arthur Griffith, Robert Barton, Eamon de Valera, Count Plunkett and Lord Mayor Laurence O'Neill.

To learn more about the Irish War of Independence & to see unique materials & artefacts from the period, visit our Exhibition currently on display.

Mayo County Library
Mayo.ie
Decade of Centenaries

11/07/2021

IN 1921 – THE TRUCE | ACTIONS COMMANDED BY IRA H.Q. ENDED IN THE SOUTH AT MIDDAY UNDER THE TRUCE.

‘At this moment, there is more ill-will within a victorious assembly than ever could be anywhere else but in the devil’s assembly. It cannot be fought against. The issues and persons are mixed to such an extent as to make discernibility an utter impossibility except for a few.’ –Michael Collins

Although the Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1922 often carries the blame for the split among nationalists which brought about the Irish Civil War, history has shown that there was friction among those who pursued Irish independence long before then. However, it was the signing of the Truce and what happened afterwards that first exposed this animosity to the wider public and was the earliest indication of the potential for civil war – a war that left bitter divisions which have been felt across the island of Ireland ever since.

Read more | https://stairnaheireann.net/?p=62440

09/07/2021

09/07/2021

Hi all,

We will be back in the Graveyard at 9am to 11am Saturday morning! All help is welcomed.

Anyone coming a wire brush and gloves are the best tools to bring.

Also we would like to thanks everyone who has being helping out over the past couple of weeks. Here are some pics of the gang at work.

05/07/2021

IN 1918 – SINN FÉIN, THE IRISH VOLUNTEERS, CUMANN NA MBAN AND THE GAELIC LEAGUE WERE ALL PROCLAIMED AS ILLEGAL ORGANISATIONS BY THE LORD LIEUTENANT, VISCOUNT FRENCH.

The proclamation stated that the proscribed organisations are dangerous and a ‘grave menace’ designed to ‘terrorise the peaceful and law-abiding subjects of His Majesty in Ireland’.

It goes on to say that these associations ‘encourage and aid persons to commit crimes and promote and incite to acts of violence and intimidation and interfere with the administration of the law and disturb the maintenance of law and order’.

21/06/2021

Some before and after pictures of the grave restoration!!

The committee would like thank G. J. Ginty & Sons Ltd for all the amazing voluntary work done in restoring the Republican plot. We can't thank them enough for there flawless work and all there support.

I think the pictures speak for themselves!!!
Go check there page out at
https://m.facebook.com/G-J-Ginty-Sons-Ltd-110312847330406/posts/?ref=page_internal&mt_nav=0

Just a reminder we will be at the graveyard on Saturday from 9am to 11am and hope to see you there.

19/06/2021

Some great work getting done this morning by our volunteers.

We will be there every Saturday 9am-11am and we look foward to seeing new recruits every week.

Can you like and share and spread the message around the parish. Thank you.

18/06/2021

Hi all,

Bonniconlon War of Indpendence Committee are looking for volunteers to help clean up the old Graveyard in Kilgarvin in preperation for the comemoration on the 1st of august.

We will be up in Kilgarvin tomorrow morning at 9am and anyone who wants to help is more than welcome.

Anyone who does come if they could bring there own tools...brushes , hoes, strimmers, clippers, shovels and Wire brushes etc.

Thanks again and if you could foward this message on that would be great!!

15/06/2021

Hi folks,
Just let to ye know as a commitee we have decided that over the next couple of weekends that we plan to begin tidying up in and around Kilgarvan graveyard in preparation for the unveiling of the Commeration plaque on Saturday the 1st of August.

We would appreciate anyone who is willing to help and we plan to start this Saturday at 9 o'clock in the morning for 2 hours, we will space this out over the next couple of weekends so we should have everything in order above in Kilgarvan well in advance of 1st of August.
We would appriciate if ye know of anyone else that might also be interested you are more than welcome to tell them come along, it will be for a few hours each weekend.

Any equipment you may have also to help in cleaning/tidying up in and around the graveyard brought will also be greatly appreciated
Hopefully will see ye all over the next few weekends above helping prepare for the Commeration and again pass on this information to anyone who you know that might want to get involved.

If you could all LIKE & SHARE that would be great.

Bonniconlon Gaa Bonniconlon GAA Bord na nÓg Bonniconlon Drama Society Bonniconlon ICA Bonniconlon Agricultural Show Jackie Clarke Collection

21/05/2021

On this day in 1918 – SEVENTY-THREE SINN FÉIN PRISONERS ARE SHIPPED TO BRITAIN, AFTER BEING ARRESTED ON 17 MAY BY POLICE AND MILITARY AUTHORITIES.

The arrests caused a public sensation; newspapers were snapped up by those eager for details of what happened.

It is understood that twenty-four of the arrests took place in Dublin, the most recent of them involving Maud Gonne MacBride, who was seized while returning from a visit to George Russell. Also in Dublin, the Sinn Féin headquarters on Harcourt Street and the National Aid offices on Bachelor’s Walk were raided, with papers removed from the former.

19/05/2021

WOI Centenary Timeline

This day 100 years ago IRA attacks on Crown forces at Kilmeena, Mayo resulted in significant losses for both sides of the conflict.

After a restructuring of the Mayo IRA in July 1920, during which Michael Collins dispatched an organiser in the shape of Peadar MacMahon, the IRA units of the county had become increasingly active. In January 1921 the leaders of Mayo’s four brigades pledged to increase their large scale attacks. They were still poorly armed however, and that was to prove an obstacle.

On 18 May attacks were made on police barracks in Newport and Westport, hoping to draw Crown forces into the countryside. The attacks achieved their goal and a convoy of two lorries and a touring car was attacked on the road between the two towns the following day. After a two-hour gunfight which resulted in the death of one of the RIC party, the British forces were able to regroup and launch a counterattack. This attack killed four IRA volunteers and wounded seven more. The IRA fled and disappeared deep into the mountains to safe houses in the Skerdagh area. Unfortunately for them, they were tracked by Crown forces and another firefight broke out. This time the British party lost two of their number, with one of the IRA being killed.

The IRA bodies were taken to Westport and thrown on the street outside the barracks. Revulsion for this treatment of the dead was so widespread that even the Marquis of Sligo made his objections known. The bitterness was further enhanced when all but the immediate families of the dead were prohibited from attending their funerals, and the families were prevented from placing the Tricolour on the coffins.

Due to a lack of armaments and a variety of other reasons, Mayo had been a comparatively quiet county. Now it was a powder keg. From a republican perspective, the west was awake.

Pictured: Members of the West Mayo Flying Column taken June 1921