On that day, the tricolour was hoisted over the island for the first time, with de Valera present.Īn Echo article from that day captured the sense of excitement on the momentous occasion. The British base at Spike Island was the first to be handed over, on July 11, 1938. The Innisfallen at anchor in Cork Harbour in 1938, preparing to evacuate British troops from harbour forts.Ī British garrison remained on Spike Island until 1938 when Éamon de Valera negotiated the return of the ports.
Spike island free#
When the war ended and Ireland became a free state, the terms of the Anglo-Irish Treaty were that Britain would hold on to Spike Island as part of three ports that were viewed as essential for defence purposes. Many of the men, Spike Island’s museum says, “were simply lifted off the streets and imprisoned without fair trial, although the British intelligence was very good and mostly accurate”. In February 1921, Spike Island became an island prison for the third time.īetween February 19 and November 18, 1921, 1,200 republicans, or those suspected of being republicans were held on Spike Island. Local women at Cobh celebrate the evacuation of British troops from nearby Spike Island, in 1938. The number of fireworks represented “a tribute to each of the 1,300 convicts who never left the confines of our harsh Victorian and Modern prisons,” Spike Island attraction noted. It was Jthat Spike Island was eventually handed from British to Irish control, 17 years after Irish Independence.Ī spectacular display of over 1,300 fireworks attracted crowds in their droves to the island, as well as boats in the harbour and onlookers back on the mainland. Spike Island and Cork Harbour were lit up with a display of over 1,300 fireworks last Sunday to celebrate Independence day on the island.
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