An exciting archive discovery in County Wexford

As plans proceed apace for commemorating the centenary of the 1916 Rising both locally and nationally, the unexpected discovery of a hitherto unseen historical document from the 1916 period is an exciting occurrence.

Providing a rare contemporaneous account of events over a 10-day period during the 1916 Rising in Dublin and Enniscorthy, this journal account written by Goddard H. Orpen of Monksgrange is an important historical source.  Written from the perspective of a member of the local gentry, it richly documents how events both inside and outside the county during this turbulent period indirectly impacted on a family that found themselves isolated and vulnerable to the threat of attack.  As part of the extensive estate and family paper archive now being structured and catalogued at Monksgrange Archive, it represents an ‘alternative’ viewpoint to other extant accounts of the 1916 Rising.

A digitised version of the original Orpen document and a transcription of same by Jeremy Hill has been kindly reproduced on this website courtesy of Monskgrange Archives.

Gráinne Doran,
Archivist, Wexford County Archive

Training Order Book, Richard Hanrahan, Adjutant, ‘A’ Company, 1st Battalion, South Wexford Brigade, IRA (1921-22)

Two prison autograph books belonging to Seán Sinnott, Adjutant, 4th Battalion, South Wexford Brigade (1917 and 1921)