Monuments To Our Past
Monuments To Our Past - a new book just published from authors Kieran Doyle and Alan O’Rourke will be of interest to many in our area as it details all monuments of interest from the 1914 to 1923 period of our history.
In acknowledging the support received from Cork County Council’s Commemoration Committee and financial backing of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media, Kieran also thanks Philp O’Gorman (Kilworth) for his help with details from the Mitchelstown/Fermoy area.
In the introduction, the authors state that public memorials of the War of Independence are by far the most prominent, totalling 193 in all in Cork County. There is no other period in Irish history as richly commemorated in Cork as the period 1914-23. The book not only focuses on particular events and personalities from the period, but also captures and maps every memorial in Cork from this era.
It reveals a physical imprint of the War of Independence, a bitter divide between Republicans and Free Staters, a massive under-representation of female participants and a shocking whitewashing of civilian deaths.
The authors also point out that the picture painted in this book would be incomplete if it did not include ‘ a more hidden type of memorial’ - those of the Great War.
While the book charts memorials from all over Cork County, it includes numerous memorials from TheAvondhu readership area and from the adjoining villages and towns. The memorials featured in the book include their history, design details and exact locations including GPS coordinates.
The book will be of immense interest to those with an interest in the period and is now available in all good bookshops or can be purchased from the author (0861666562).