Exploring, Mapping and Safeguarding Irish War of Independence Sites for Current and Future Generations: The Making of The Loughnane Brothers Heritage Trail
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Keywords: Ireland, heritage, historical geography, War of Independence
Abstract Type: Paper Abstract
Authors:
Mark Patrick McCarthy, Atlantic Technological University
Eilish Kavanagh, Atlantic Technological University
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Abstract
Ireland’s War of Independence, which lasted from 21 January 1919 to 11 July 1921, was a guerrilla war fought by the flying columns of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) against the forces of the British government. This paper focuses on the case of Harry Loughnane and his brother Pat, who was an IRA volunteer. Following their capture by British forces at their farm in Shanaglish, County Galway on 26 November 1920, they were tortured and then shot dead by the Auxiliaries, who were a paramilitary unit of the police. The bodies were then burnt, before being deposited in a turlough. Photographs of the badly mutilated remains of the brothers in open coffins garnered significant international attention and turned the brothers into republican martyrs. With the passage of time, key historic sites associated with the story of the Loughnanes have become significant spaces of memory and post-conflict heritage. Using the methods of public historical geography, this paper overviews the making of two versions of The Loughnane Brothers Heritage Trail: Explore Historic Sites & Memorials of Ireland’s War of Independence (an ArcGIS ESRI StoryMap and a bilingual guide book). The trails draw together varieties of tangible evidence by geolocating, photographing, recording, and mapping eleven historic sites and memorials to the Loughnanes in south County Galway. The trails can lend much to current and future generations, especially to those interested in safeguarding and learning about the rich mosaic of historic sites and memorials that constitute the heritagescapes of the Irish revolutionary era.
Exploring, Mapping and Safeguarding Irish War of Independence Sites for Current and Future Generations: The Making of The Loughnane Brothers Heritage Trail
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Paper Abstract