Borrisokane - History

History

During the Norman invasion of Ireland, the area now known as Borrisokane was the property of the O'Carrolls of Ely who claimed to be descendants of the 'Clan or Cian or the Cianacht. The O’Kennedys were another significant ruling family, owning tower houses in surrounding townlands.

During the Cromwellian Plantation, Arthur Annesley, 1st Earl of Anglesey, the Earl of Cork and the Earl of Arran were among those granted lands at Borrisokane. Arran hill, a townland of Borrisokane, is thought likely to be named after the latter.

Local population changes throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries have underlined the great social and economic challenges that Ireland as a nation itself faced during these times. The population of the parish in 1831 was 2, 634 and in 1841, it had risen to 3, 175. Due to reasons of famine and emigration, this number has fallen steadily to 1, 145 today.

During the War of Independence, and the Civil War which followed, Borrisokane was witness to local hostilities. On the 26 June 1920 about 200 IRA volunteers attacked an RIC barracks at Borrisokane, currently the town's Garda Station. The attack was unsuccessful, but the building was so badly damaged that it was evacuated the next day. One Volunteer was killed in the action, and a plaque commemorates him today as Micheál Ó Cinnéide, Uncle of the former Government Minister Michael O'Kennedy.

The Modreeny Ambush took place on the 3 June 1921, during the Irish War of Independence. The ambush was an attack on an RIC and Black and Tan patrol en route to the local Petty Sessions in Borrisokane Courthouse. It was committed by a Flying Column led by Sean Gaynor at Kallegbeg Cross, between Borrisokane and Cloughjordan and resulted in the deaths of four RIC/ Black and Tan members. Later that same day, a branch of the "Munster and Leinster" bank was robbed of £2,000. Borrisokane Courthouse and its jail were also burned.