Author Barry Keane delivered a talk, ‘Cork’s Revolutionary Dead’ to members of Skibbereen & District Historical Society, at the West Cork Hotel, on Thursday March 29, 2018.
Before a full house, Mr. Keane, gave a very interesting talk based on his latest book, ‘Cork’s Revolutionary Dead 1916-1923’. Mr. Keane, who is a history and geography teacher, has published a number of books, including his latest works, ‘Massacre in West Cork: The Dunmanway and Ballygroman Killings’, and ‘Cork’s Revolutionary Dead 1916-1923’, both of which were published by Mercier Press.
More than 700 men, women and children were killed in County Cork during Ireland’s revolutionary period, 1916-1923. In his talk, Mr. Keane dealt mainly with some of the most notorious events in the West Cork area. He also dealt in some detail with the ‘Siege of Skibbereen’ which took place between July 3 and August 9, 1922 and some of the incidents that took place in that period.
For much of the War or Independence period activity wasn’t as intense in the Skibbereen area as it was in other areas of West Cork, most notably around Bandon. However, there was a number or killings carried out around Skibbereen and Mr. Keane went into some detail about these incidents.
Anyone studying the period in West Cork should refer to Mr. Keane’s book, ‘Cork’s Revolutionary Dead 1916-1923,’ which is a comprehensive memorial to all those killed in the county during those years.
Mr. Keane was very generous with his time in a very generous questions and answers session after the talk in which quite a few people got involved in the discussion.