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The escape through 10-17 Moore Street - A question

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  • 29-03-2016 12:34am
    #1
    mystic86
    Registered Users Posts: 2,983 ✭✭✭


    I was at a talk today where the speaker was talking about Moore Street and the events 100 years ago. He mentioned that the Rebels, escaping the GPO, and avoiding gunfire coming from the Mary's street end of Henry street, escaped along Henry Place to 'The White House' and 'O'Brien's' (Where they were shot at again from the end of Moore Lane. Then, knowing that stepping out on to Moore street would result in being shot at from the Parnell Street barricade, they knocked a hole into number 10 Moore street. The speaker then mentioned that there was circa. 350 people that had escaped the GPO, and this number likely required knocking the wall into number 11 to accommodate the large numbers.

    What I don't get is, why did they proceed to numbers 16 and 17 on Moore street? What was their aim? Where were they going? The speaker mentioned that when they originally fled the GPO they had a plan to take over a jam factory on Moore street as their new HQ, but, having entered number 10 to escape gunfire coming from that exact location (the Parnell street end of Moore street where the jam factory was), why did they then proceed through the buildings towards the barricades? Thanks :)


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    #2
    A Dub in Glasgo
    Registered Users Posts: 17,180 ✭✭✭✭A Dub in Glasgo


    You have got to remember that the whole area around GPO and Henry St was an inferno with British soldiers solidly surrounding them. They wanted to establish a new HQ at the William & Woods jam factory on Parnell St. The O'Rahilly led an advance party and they were shot down on Moore St. with O'Rahilly to die a slow death. The rebels broke into the Moore St houses to escape the snipers and proceeded to knock through the walls of all the adjoining houses to protect from possible British incendiary and artillery fire. They appointed McLoughlin as effective military commander at this point as he knew the warren of laneways and side streets and he was trying to get them to join up with the Four Courts group although having to leave the wounded behind (bar Connolly). This did not materialise as the Military council surveyed the destruction and dead bodies on Moore St, they offered surrender.

    There is a very good account of this in The Easter Rising book by Foy & Barton

    You can read a few pages of the book by opening the Look Inside bit and typing miscalculation into the search box. This will take you to page 199 which is around the bit in the book that discusses the evacuation of the GPO


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