ENNISCRONE ATTACK 100 YEARS AGO
100 YEARS AGO THE NORTH MAYO BRIGADE OF THE IRA ATTACKED AND DESTROYED THE COASTGUARD STATION IN ENNISCRONE. FRANK FAGAN RECALLS THE EVENTS
THE 26 th of August may not immediately come to mind as a significant date i n Irish histor y, but f or the beautiful village of Enniscrone, that date will mark one hundred years since its Coastguard Stati on was attacked and completely destroyed by upwards of one hundred and f i f ty members of the North Mayo Brigade of the IRA.
A century later there may be no physical trace left of the substantial building which once stood close to the Pier (during WW2 what remained of the structure was levelled and used in the foundation of what is locally known as the Burmah Road, which joins Cliff Road to Pier Road) but within Enniscrone itself, there are still those living who have a direct link with the dramatic events of Thursday 26 th of August 1920.
A file I recently discovered in the British National Archives Office contains the most extraordinary detail of the events which took place, and the individuals whose lives were about to change as a result of their involvement in this particular action of the War of Independence.
Previous to the unearthing of this file, historians of the period could refer to various Republican accounts or newspaper reporting of the event.
The excellent online resource of the Irish Military Archives has over 50 references to
Enniscrone in the Military Service Pension applications released so far, and likewise the Bureau of Military History Witness Statements have 10 references.
Possibly the most detailed account of the attack given by one of the participants, is the interview given by Matt Kilcawley from Enniscrone, which was conducted in November 1951. It was published in “The men will talk to me, Mayo interviews by Ernie O’Malley.”
“The operation was timed for 8.20pm and one Company was mobilised at 7pm. We entered Enniscrone with the people in threes and fours and some of the lads remained in doors of houses.
“People walked past the walls of the Coastguard Station. It is near the Pier and there is a local house near the slip.
“The Pier is a centre for gathering and for bathing also.
“The original plan was not changed, and at ten past eight on the cliff road, mid way between the village and the pier, and at least 300 yards from it, the plan was to rush the Watch House which was independent of the Coastguard Station, and usually a Coastguard was there on watch with a telescope.
“We came down the sea road, the Cliff Road, and we stopped near the boat house, and we checked up on the placing of the men.
“There were quite a number of visitors about at the time, at least a couple of hundred of them.
“Four men who were armed with revolvers jumped the wall and held up the two armed guards and got them, and then they pushed them in the front door of the station.
“The arms of the garrison were on the first floor opposite the stairway over the entrance. When the two Coastguards had been held up, twelve men jumped over the wall and followed them in the door to get control of the arms room first.
“Another group of men went to the rear of the building and stood to guard the doors which opened on to the sea and out offices, which were separated from the main building. They did duty there at night.
“There was a wall to the rear with these openings so a group of us entered there from the sea and had the windows under fire. Cocks of hay gave an ideal approach to the openings, under cover.
“I was with the group on the openings and a brother of mine was on the rushing party.
“We carried the barrels down the leg of our pants, and/or you stuck it under the coat, and you walked stiff legged.
“I have shot deer at night with a ball cartridge and a torch. A ball cartridge is deadly accurate up to seventy yards.
“We had ball bearings of bicycles and scrap iron in our cartridges. The ball is effective now matter where it hits, and is over half an inch in diameter, and we would run it in candle grease.
“There were two Marines on this corridor but one of our fellows got panicky and started to fire. One of the Marines blazed all around him with a revolver.
“He did fire out at the fellows who were outside close to us before he was overpowered. They were shot at also, but no one was wounded. The rifles and the revolvers were taken out.
“They had revolvers on the ends of their beds, four revolvers there.
“On our way down to the station at Tighes corner, two Coastguards pulled up, a Marine and a Coastguard with supplies were captured and two more Coastguards were taken at Mahon’s, the nearest pub in the village as they were drinking.
“That disposed of ten plus four Marines. There were Officers in the building then for us to disarm, six rifles and six revolvers. The old rifles were much heavier than the Long Lee Enfield.
“They took a .303 cartridge, and they were lovely rifles for sniping, and they were more accurate than the Short Lee Enfield.
“At least six to eight revolvers, a big amount of ammunition.
“They had bell-mouthed guns for signals and telescopes and binoculars, a big amount of .45 and .303 ammunition. Very pistols also.
“There was a good deal of gelignite there, for after the RIC vacated the barracks, the gelignite was kept there for County Council work and
detonators and fuses as well.
“After clearing the arms out to my home place, one and a half miles away, we buried it. By the shore way you could come up under my home.
“The other party then remained behind and burned the building with petrol and paraffin.
“These had been brought down that evening. “Also there were men with ladders on the north side of the station. With crow bars and sledges with a view to getting on to the roof on the north side if we didn’t get in the front door.
“These tools had been hidden away the previous night and some of them were brought in that evening.
“The local people were one hundred per cent reliable.
“When the attack started a party moved in behind a ditch and hid in under the wall which was five feet high.
“)We came up towards the village then for the public didn’t know except for the sudden shots.
“The furniture and stuff was taken out and their personal property was not destroyed. But any of the Station stuff was destroyed. We did not destroy either their boat or the boathouse and into this latter they stored their personal belongings.
“The women, four of five of them, were very aggressive, the men were not. The building was completely destroyed and our fellows cleared away from it at 12 o’clock.”
I also discovered that amongst the Volunteers who took part in this attack, was Frank Shouldice, a native of Ballaghadereen, who had fought in the 1916 Rising (his sister Eva had been engaged for a period of time to Harry Boland).
He had surrendered at the Four Courts, was deported to Stafford Gaol and then transferred to Frongoch.
Arrested again in May 1918 under the “German Plot” he was held in Usk Prison from where he escaped in January 1919. In May of 1919 he took part in the burning of Ballaghadereen Courthouse.
An unusual aspect to the life of Frank Shouldice was the fact that he ran a mobile cinema business, and for a period of time rented the townhall in Enniscrone for his cinema.
A more familiar name from Ballina also appears on the list of Volunteers who participated that night, and in a sworn statement made before the Pension Advisory Committee on the 19 th of March 1937,
Phelim Calleary confirms that he had been armed with a revolver and had been one of the party who held up the Coastguard in Enniscrone.
THE FACT THAT AN OPERATION ON THIS SCALE COULD BE LAUNCHED SUCCESSFULLY BY UPWARDS OF 150 MEN AND THAT THERE WERE NO CASUALTIES ON EITHER SIDE IS INCREDIBLE IN ITSELF.
- FRANK FAGAN, HISTORIAN