Qualla: Holywell ambush https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:12 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Holywell ambush https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush Holywell ambush: Introduction https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. On Saturday 31 July 1920, a British military lorry carrying petrol slid off the road between Claremorris and Ballyhaunis and sank into the soft bog along its edge. The convoy moved on, leaving a guard of about twelve to twenty soldiers from the 2nd Battalion Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders to watch over the stranded vehicle. The soldiers set up camp in a small derelict house nearby, threw a tarpaulin over the holes in the roof, lit a fire in the broken fireplace, and posted two sentries on the road. They thought they were waiting for a recovery vehicle. They were waiting for the local IRA.

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Holywell ambush: The Train and the Steel Shutters https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. That same night, IRA Captain Martin Forde of Bekan Company led a unit of 25 armed and masked men in stopping a train running from Ballyhaunis to Westport. The cargo included steel shutters intended for the Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Westport - part of a country-wide pro...

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-the-train-and-the-steel-shutters.mp3 0:06 2 full Holywell ambush: The Cigarette and the Count https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. About forty IRA volunteers assembled and marched on the British camp. Their first problem was that they could only see one sentry, and they did not know how many soldiers lay beyond him. An IRA officer simply walked up to the sentry and asked for a light for his cigarette. The se...

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-the-cigarette-and-the-count.mp3 0:06 3 full Holywell ambush: Twenty-Four Hours of Preparation https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. There was a sports day in Aghamore that Sunday and many of the battalion's volunteers were easily located. By nightfall the IRA had mobilised everyone available - around 188 men, many of them unarmed, set to scout the surrounding roads, dig a trench across the road to delay Briti...

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-twenty-four-hours-of-preparation.mp3 0:06 4 full Holywell ambush: The Engagement https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. The attempt to take the weapons did not work as planned. The Highlanders woke. Kenny's men managed to put three of them out of action immediately, but the rest organised a defence and returned fire. The IRA party retreated to positions behind a fence and kept up steady fire on th...

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-the-engagement.mp3 0:06 5 full Holywell ambush: The Long Recovery of Patrick Kenny https://qualla.com/holywell-ambush/ Photo credit Nilfanion, CC BY-SA 3.0. The aftermath says something about how the rural war of independence was fought. Kenny was carried from the field by volunteers Jack and William Caulfield, taken first to a house nearby, then to Pat Healy's house, then to Mayo County Infirmary, where Dr McBride treated him. Withi...

Read more: Holywell ambush on Qualla

Image: Nilfanion | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Sat, 23 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/9/9/holywell-ambush-wp/gc99-holywell-ambush-the-long-recovery-of-patrick-kenny.mp3 0:06 6 full