placenamesLyre
An Ladhar
This Lyre near Clonakilty has a history recorded in a local Volunteer’s testimony, a Civil War fatality and a later memorial at Knockea Bridge.
The name
These Irish name elements are associated with this record in the Logainm glossary.
An element’s translation is a clue, rather than a complete explanation of the name. Its form and meaning depend on local history and the full Irish name.
Recorded forms
- An Ladhar · Irish · main form · validated name
- Lyre · English · main form
Place & story
Irish classes in local homes
Michael Dineen of Knockea recalled Lyre’s Gaelic League holding Irish classes twice a week before the 1916 Rising. Without a hall, members met in different houses, arranging the next venue at each gathering. Seamus O’Brien from Glandore taught language, singing and dancing for a small fee raised through subscriptions. Many League members also belonged to the Volunteers, and concerts and céilís provided both performers and funds for the local company’s activities. [2]
A fatal encounter in February 1923
During the Civil War, Laurence Cunningham was mortally wounded when National Army troops surrounded a public house at Lyre. University College Cork’s fatality register places the encounter on 11 February 1923, while noting a different date in his pension file. Cunningham was taken first to Clonakilty and then to the Mercy Hospital in Cork, where he died on 15 February. James “Spud” Murphy, another anti-Treaty fighter caught in the incident, was wounded but escaped. Cunningham was buried at Timoleague Abbey. [3]
The company remembered at Knockea Bridge
A memorial to the Lyre Company of the Irish Volunteers was unveiled at Knockea Bridge on 24 April 2016. Relatives of the Volunteers erected it during the Rising’s centenary year. The Michael Collins Centre’s account also recalls how members’ later paths diverged: some took opposite sides in the Civil War, while Seán O’Donovan went on to become a Fianna Fáil senator. The memorial commemorates the earlier company that had brought them together. [4]
Geographic information
- Place type
- Population centre
- County
- Cork
- Barony
- Carbery East (E.D.)
- Civil parish
- Desertserges
- Within
- Knocks
- Within
- Knocks
- Coordinates
- 51.67183, -8.93969 (approximate)
- Logainm ID
- 129585 ↗
Sources & further reading
- Logainm.ie — Lyre. Place names and geographic record, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
- Witness Statement WS 1563: Michael Dineen, pages 1–2 · Bureau of Military History, Military Archives
- Cork Fatality Register, 1923-15: Laurence Cunningham · University College Cork, The Irish Revolution Project
- Michael Collins News, 2016: Lyre Company memorial at Knockea Bridge · Michael Collins Centre
Name record retrieved 2026-10-25 · Source record modified 2025-01-10. How this page was prepared.