The Bandon Valley Massacre
Introduction from Chronology
In the early hours of April 26th and the following
nights, thirteen Protestants are killed in the Dunmanway-Clonakilty-Bandon area
of west Cork. This became known as the Bandon Valley Massacre.
These killings became highly controversial. They resulted in many Protestants
leaving Cork City and County.
More Detail
In
the early hours of April 26th, IRA men from the Bandon Battalion
(including Michael O'Neill, Acting O/C, his brother Stephen O'Neill and Charles
O'Donoghue) broke into the house of Thomas Hornibrook at Ballygorman (about
half-way between Cork and Bandon). Michael O'Neill was shot dead.
The IRA left but returned with re-enforcements and laid siege to the
house. Three of the Hornibrook family (Thomas, his son Samuel and his
son-in-law Capt Herbert Woods) surrendered - they were taken away and shot
dead.
In
the late hours of April 26th and the early hours of April 27th,
David Gray, Francis Fitzmaurice and James Buttimer were shot dead in the
doorways of their homes on the Main St. in Dunmanway and a number of other
Protestants in Dunmanway were attacked.
Next
evening, two men (Robert Howe and John Chinnery) were shot dead at their farms
in Ballaghanure, east of Dunmanway. In the nearby village of Ballineen, a
16 year-old, Alexander McKinley was shot dead. In the nearby Murragh
rectory, the son of the rector (Robert Harbord who was himself a curate) was
shot in the legs but survived. In a house in Caher (to the
west of Ballineen) John Buttimer and Jim Greenfield were shot dead. Ten
miles away, Robert Nagle was shot in his home in MacCurtain Hill in
Clonakilty. Other houses in Clonakilty were raided.
The
following night (April 28th), John Bradfield was shot dead in his
home in Killowen, east of Murragh and other Protestant homes raided.
Hughes
quotes Alice Hodder, writing to her mother, saying that “For two weeks
afterwards there wasn’t standing room on any of the boats or mail trains
leaving Cork for England. All
loyalist refugees who were either fleeing in terror or had been ordered out of
the country.”
These
killings have been the subject of an on-going controversy. Much has been written about the Bandon
Valley Massacre. However, with the
exception of the killings of the Thomas and Samuel Hornibrook and Herbert
Woods, there would seem to be little agreement on who carried out these
killings and what was their motivation.
One possible explanation is that they were revenge killings by a number
of different battalions of the 3rd Cork Brigade of the IRA for the
killing of the Michael O’Neill.
However, many questions remain around who was targeted and why.
One
of the most detailed expositions on the Bandon Valley Massacre is Barry
Keane’s Massacre in West Cork
– The Dunmanway and Ballygroman Killings published in 2014. There is also an excellent documentary on this massacre made by Jerry O’Callaghan
called Maru in Iarthar Chorcai: Cogadh Saoirse no Cogadh
Seicteach which was screened on TG4 in December 2022.