105 anni dall’incendio di Cork

Auxiliaries laid waste to Cork City during the War of Independence on the night of the 11th-12th December 1920.

After an IRA ambush earlier in the evening at Dillions Cross on troops moving from Victoria’s Baracks to the City centre, Auxiliaries, Blank and Tans, and members of the RIC, some of whom were drunk, entered the city and began breaking into and looting shops and businesses in the City centre.

Major fires were set in the city destroying much of Patrick Street, while British forces prevented firefighting efforts by cutting fire hoses.

The damage cost roughly £3 million, the modern equivalent of €150 million and left countless homeless and without jobs.

Rebuilt.