The Clare Champion Clare news, sport, entertainment and local notes
THE centenary of the Glenwood Ambush will be celebrated on Sunday next (October 31).
Proceedings will begin with a centenary mass in Kilkishen church at 1pm and this will be followed with the unveiling of a Sculptured Plaque at the ambush memorial site in Glenwood immediately after the Mass at around 2.15pm.
Free bus transport will be provided from the church to Glenwood directly after mass. A Glenwood Centenary Book will also launched. This 150-page publication will provide detailed accounts of the ambush by different people and including the reprisals by British forces in its aftermath. The plan is to have it on sale over the weekend, after masses, and at the commemorative event in Glenwood
The ambush marks the 100th year since the ambush in January of 1921. Because of the lockdown at the start of this year, ceremonies were deferred.
Sunday’s events will mark the incident in which a motorised patrol of ten armed Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) members and Black and Tans, travelling from Sixmilebridge to Broadford, were ambushed as they approached the back gate of the now ruined Glenwood House.
Thirty-seven armed volunteers, from the East Clare Brigade of the IRA, led by Michael Brennan of Meelick ambushed the forces of the crown. As the patrol passed by the gates, a fusillade of gunshots fired by the waiting group, struck the patrol. Six RIC and Black and Tans were killed, two were injured and two escaped unhurt. The ambush party withdrew in good order through the forest and mountains to the East of Glenwood, towards Oatfield. The surviving members of the patrol made their way back to Sixmilebridge. The local people on hearing of the news of the ambush, braced themselves for the inevitable retribution which would follow. In an orgy of violence on that evening and on the following days, Black and Tans and Auxiliaries burned houses, destroyed property and terrorised and assaulted local people. The ambush is considered to be one of the most notable events of the War of Independence in East Clare.
