About

Study

Completed Masters in Local History (part-time), at University College Cork, September 2016. (Research thesis – Seeds of Revolution in Kilmurry, Co Cork 1914-1918: Laying the foundations for a Mid-Cork parish’s role in the Irish War of Independence.)

Above thesis focused on the early Irish revolution period in the mid-Cork parish of Kilmurry, near Macroom (political, military and social changes during the First World War period, including formation and early development of G and H Companies, 7th Battalion, Cork No 1 Brigade, Irish Volunteers/IRA).

 

Publications

‘Dáil Courts: a case study of mid-Cork, 1920-1922’ in John Crowley, Donal Ó Drisceoil, Mike Murphy and John Borgonovo (editors), Atlas of the Irish Revolution (Cork: Cork University Press, 2017)

Editor and contributor, Rising in the Regions, supplement in Irish Examiner, March 21, 2016. http://theirishrevolution.ie/rising-in-the-regions/#.Wbhr7MiGNPY

Editor and contributor,  1916: 100 Years – 16-week series of two-page feature spreads in Irish Examiner, January to April 2016. A mix of original features from leading scholars and historical author; weekly items from Cork Examiner news pages and archival material telling what was happening in the corresponding week in 1916 up to and during the Easter Rising; and a strong use of documents and artefacts from collections of Irish archives and museums, to tell the story of ordinary participants in, and witnesses to, the events.

Research interests

• Irish revolution in Cork, particularly Mid-Cork (Macroom/Bandon/Dunmanway districts) – particularly the Irish Volunteers/IRA/Cumann na mBan, and the impact on local communities of conflict and the counter-state (local government, Dáil loan, Dáil courts, etc.)
• Legal history and women’s history during the Irish revolution period.
• Social history of Cork, its places and its people, particularly of the 18th to early-20th centuries.
• Cork trade and industrial exhibitions and fairs (1852, 1883, 1902-03, 1932)

 

Collecting Cork

Glassware souvenirs of the Cork International Exhibition 1902 & 1903

I also collect books, images, ephemera, and other items of Cork historical interest – including many items related to the Cork exhibitions, some of which may well be featured here from time to time. Some were featured in Daniel Breen and Tom Spalding’s 2014 book The Cork International Exhibition 1902-1903: A Snapshot of Edwardian Cork (Irish Academic Press), and in a related exhibition at Cork Public Museum, May-July 2014.

Guy’s map of Cork city, 1893 (used by late city architect Tony McNamara’s as the end-papers of his 1981 book, ‘Portrait of Cork’)