Abstract:
On October 15, in the early evening, a crisis developed in Compound 13. A prison officer over stepped the accepted procedures and forced the hand of the O.C. into implementing a long-standing procedure whereby an ‘undesirable prison officer’ can be asked to leave the compound by the Compound O.C. This procedure was adopted a long time ago in an attempt to prevent situations developing in the camp which would endanger the relations between prisoner and prison officer. In the past it had proved absolutely successful on the occasions it was used, with no embarrassment on either side. This time, however, the procedure failed because the prison officer in question refused to leave the compound when asked to do so by the O.C. From that point on the situation escalated!
 |
| The British Army actively engaging in beating and torturing prisoners in the aftermath of the fire. |
 |
Kevin Hannaway speaking about events as they unfolded in Long Kesh at the 1916 Society Event. |
On the thirty ninth anniversary of the burning of Long Kesh, The Joe Mc Kelvey 1916 Society, in Stewarstown Tyrone launched the re-printed and updated version of the book ‘The Flames of Long Kesh 15-16 October, 1974.’
Tyrone for many of us had now become quite familiar territory. This familiarity had come about due to the unfaltering assistance we had received from The 1916 Societies from that area during the Marian Price campaign. In the light of this commitment to us, it was a pleasure to be invited back there to remember a time that held individual memories for so many of us.
In many respects, I should imagine that this evening would have been different from any similar Long Kesh events that had gone before. One reason for that difference would lie in the fact that, those chosen to speak on the panel, would do so in a capacity that would provide firsthand and factual accounts of the burning as it happened and a quite interesting account of how their female comrades in Armagh prison responded.
Marty McNulty, who would be the last speaker at the event would provide the audience with a deeply poignant and intimate account of Hugh Coney’s brief life and brutal killing, this killing would take place in a relatively short time after the fire.
We had travelled from Belfast with two of the speakers for that evening, Kevin Hannaway, who was an internee in Long kesh in 1974 and Eibhlin Brady a former Republican ex-prisoner who was in Armagh at that time of the burning.
Other Republicans and former prisoners made up our group and as we journeyed to Tyrone each of us in turn, reflected on our own memories and everyone had their own unique tale to tell about this turbulent time.
Those in the car, who had been prisoners in Long Kesh in October 1974, recalled how horrendous it was to experience the burning and the aftermath as it unfolded.
The Republican women imprisoned in Armagh, spoke about their response to the burning, which was the unplanned taking of the prison Governor and a few female screws hostage.
My own memory of that time in 74 was as vivid as it was personal. My brother Tom had been interned in Cage 6. Like so many others at that time, he had been released from prison after serving time for arms charges only to be re-arrested and sent back to Long kesh.
As a family and again like many other families the burning and the aftermath proved a deeply worrying time.
 |
| The Nissan huts at a disused RAF airfield that became known as Long Kesh detention centre. |
Long Kesh concentration camp stood about
20 miles south of Belfast. An old RAF base, it was converted in
1970 to a prison when internment was introduced by the ruling Unionist party with the backing of the British Government.
In order to contain the civil rights protests and the subsequent armed insurgency, referred to euphemistically as the ‘Troubles’, Long kesh was hastily put together and put together in such a way that, its layout and conditions resembled a Second World War prisoner-of-war camp, with Nissan huts and relatively free association within each compound. (1)
This gift of ‘free’ association would be,
begrudgingly extended to the sentenced prisoners. The gift i.e. concessions, came about as the
result of a hunger strike by Republican prisoners in the Crumlin in 1972. Special category or (political) status was
a de facto prisoner of war status, providing prisoners
with some of the privileges of POWs such as those specified in the Geneva
Convention. This meant, prisoners did not have to
wear prison uniforms or do prison work, were housed within their own factions,
and were allowed extra visits and food parcels.
Conditions in the camp were dire. Long
kesh was described as ‘squalid, nasty, brutish, seriously overcrowded and a
‘seriously grim place’ by Harold Wilson. A report from the International Red
Cross on a visit to Long Kesh in October 1971 bore witness to both the grim and
underlying volatile nature of the place.The constant presence of the British Army around the internment camp
seemed to be a factor making for tension which could not but increase in time
and could in the long run constitute an explosive mixture.(2)
The internee, unlike the convicted man:
suffers mental anguish. He believes himself to be unjustly arrested and he
cannot calculate the number of days he has to wait for release. His morale is
rapidly affected. The herding together and the
cheek-by-jowl existence with the internees of all ages; the impossibility of
obtaining any privacy; gives the appearance that the internee is a man without
a future.
 |
| Burnt cages 1974 |
In December 1972 the Red Cross further reported: It has been admitted, however, that during this visit the delegates found that the atmosphere in the camp and the morale of the internees had suffered a grave deterioration. (3)
In the opinion of the International Red Cross
delegation, this deterioration may be traced to two causes. The first must be
sought amongst the internees themselves. Each man lives in a state of mental
stress, convinced that he has been wrongly deprived of his liberty. He preys on
the mental distress generated by the uncertainty as to what is in store for
him, and by the anguish he feels at the thought of his family.
Morally weakened such a person slips into a state of neurosis and his decline is all the more rapid as all those around him are in a similar condition of mental anguish.
Again in July, 1973, the Red Cross
report reminded the British Government of the tensions that were building up. They further reported that the, security
measures within the camp were at least partly responsible for the increased
psychological tensions amongst the detainees.
In 1974 the Red Cross posed serious questions around the entire issue of continuing detentions. They felt that much more consideration should be given as to whether the present system of detention answers the situation; whether the army is the appropriate instrument for searches. They were also concerned about long term psychological effects of detention on detainees whose average age is around 20.
The seriousness of the situation prior to the fire is recollected by a former Republican prisoner. (4) Conditions in the camp were dire and concessions minimal. Any concessions to Irish Republicans were resented by both the prison authorities, mostly Unionist and their political masters, the British Government.
Periodically, the British army would raid the camp. These raids were pretty regular, at least once a month.
The raids would begin at dawn. Prisoners would usually be awakened by soldiers standing at their beds barking orders. Prisoners would then be strip searched and made to run a route lined with soldiers armed with batons and dogs to make their way to the canteen.
Protests by prisoners against the brutality and mindless violence inherent in these raids, ended in a settlement. The crux of this settlement was, British soldiers no longer be deployed within the cages. On October 14th 1974, that agreement was broken.
On October 15th 1974, at approximately 4pm a prison officer in Cage 13 was asked to leave the compound. The principle officer was informed of this, a standard procedure in such cases and usually adhered to by the prison authorities. (5)
At approximately 7.15 p.m. the order to be prepared was issued by the camp spokesman. The group committees were informed and all prisoners were confined to their huts with instructions to prepare themselves for action.
At this stage vocal contact was established with internees in Cage 7. As the 9.00 o clock lock up approached, camp and prison officers inquired as to their position. They were informed by assistant spokesman Paul Magee in Cage 20 that Republican prisoners would not be locked up. At 9.05 p.m. all men were paraded into the compounds.
At 9-30 p.m. the senior men ordered the burning of the camp. Each group systemically began its work of demolition. Brick-facings were attacked by groups equipped with makeshift tools. The interiors of the huts were torn down and incendiary materials spread through the debris.
Within moments the whole camp was ablaze. The internees, seeing the flames, began to burn their section of the camp as well.
The first speaker introduced by the Chair of the evening Caroline Quinn, was Jim McCrystal from Lurgan. Jim had been a sentenced prisoner in Cage 16 when the order had been given to raze the Kesh to the ground.
Jim began his recall by focusing on the issues that were ongoing in the camp before the fire. He described the precarious settlement that had come about after a hunger strike for better conditions. He talked about the stodgy uneatable food, inadequate cleaning of bedding, extensive and intrusive searching and ongoing harassment of visitors and prisoners alike. Jim also outlined how, the IRA prison leadership tried to stave off the seemingly inevitable.
The liberal stance never materialised nor did the compassion. Instead, these issue as well as others such as the condition of food, laundry, general conditions, brutality of prisoners were never addressed, but rather simply left to fester.
The incident that would provide the catalyst began in Cage 13. A fight between a prisoner and screws ended with a large number of screws entering Cage 13 with batons drawn. These screws were overpowered and made to leave, tempers had flared but there was hope amongst the prisoners and their O/C that a resolution would speedily be found.
Many of the prisoners had experienced exposure to CS gas in riot situations prior to their capture.
No one was prepared for the impact of CR gas. One prisoner reports, ‘I thought they were using flame throwers and I was on fire. Everyone who still could was screaming.’
The gas induced an intense burning sensation to any exposed skin. The pain has been described as ‘overwhelming.’
Those exposed to the CR gas describe it as being totally immobilising coupled with a sensation of being totally disorientated.
The British army eventually gained control of the Camp. Captured POWs were beaten, brutalised and humiliated. Later the British government denied the use of CR gas.
Kevin had been one of the first of 342 people arrested during Operation Demetrius, which was carried out on the 9th and 10th of August 1971.
Kevin was also one of the people, who became known as ‘The Hooded Men’. This name was sadly applicable to people who had endured the worst kind of physical and mental torture meted out by the British in the North.
Kevin was in Cage 22 when the order went up to burn the Camp. He told how, he was amongst the first internees to ‘cut through the wire and meet up with those already engaged in a pitched battle.’
At this stage the fighting was intense, helicopters were circling very low and dropping, ‘serious’ amounts of gas. (10) The army concentrated on gas attacks, backed up by salvos of rubber bullets fired at those in close proximity. At this stage the helicopters were extremely potent, sweeping right down over head, spreading gas with their whistling blades.
In this situation the groups were caught in a seemingly inescapable position and yet, time after time, they launched determined assaults forcing the Brits to retreat in panic. In one instance, a fierce counter-attack literally resulted in the Brits beating each other in a desperate attempt to get through a narrow gateway.
Earlier in the evening Jim Mc Crystal had stated that, ‘Loyalist prisoners took no part in the burning of the camp.
Yet quite ironically, Gusty Spence and a delegation from the Loyalist cages arrived in the intensity of the battle to request to go through the gates to speak with the British O.C. Spence would return from his meeting several minutes later and relay a message which basically stated, if the men return to their compounds they will not be hurt.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. According to Kevin Hannaway’s account of what happened, when the men disarmed and attempted to return to the burnt out cages there was mayhem.
‘Those men caught on the football pitches were subjected to vicious beatings. Men were dragged to the wire, spread-eagled and forced to stand with their finger tips against the fencing for periods of up to ten hours. Anyone, who moved or attempted to turn their heads were beaten severely with rifle butts and batons. (11)
British soldiers, obviously encouraged by their officers, openly indulged in an orgy of brutality. Men were batoned until they fell unconscious to the ground, then they would be kicked until they rose again. Troops with war dogs walked the lines of men, from time to time letting the dogs loose to bite defenceless prisoners.
The badly injured were refused medical treatment. Men lay against the wire with blood flowing from their wounds. Men suffering from broken arms, legs and ribs just remained where they fell. The cruelty, the beatings and the lack of any sort of intervention medical or otherwise continued for at least another five hours.
Prisoners reported being savagely beaten
and bitten by dogs as they made their way through the delegated route. Often, prisoners would have to remain in
the prison canteen for long periods, sometimes eleven hours while the British
army rampaged their living quarters.When the prisoners would eventually be
allowed to return to their cages, they would find that most of their personal
belongings smashed and destroyed.
Protests by prisoners against the brutality and mindless violence inherent in these raids, ended in a settlement. The crux of this settlement was, British soldiers no longer be deployed within the cages. On October 14th 1974, that agreement was broken.
On October 15th 1974, at approximately 4pm a prison officer in Cage 13 was asked to leave the compound. The principle officer was informed of this, a standard procedure in such cases and usually adhered to by the prison authorities. (5)
On this occasion the prison officer
refused to leave. An argument developed, in the course of which he directed
threatening remarks at the spokesmen of the men in Cage 13. He was then struck.
Prison officers who came to his aid were lined against the wire, then removed
from the compound.
The authorities then demanded that the spokesman and his assistant leave their compound. This was rejected. Camp spokesman David Morley in Cage 16 was informed and offered to mediate in the dispute, assuring the authorities that the matter could be quickly resolved within a matter of minutes. The assistant Governor on duty refused Morley’s request, despite the fact that movement of this type had been granted by Ministry officials as part of the settlement reached by the recent food and facility strike. The authorities then brought the British Army on to the scene, ignoring the stern warning previously issued by the men within the camp.
The authorities then demanded that the spokesman and his assistant leave their compound. This was rejected. Camp spokesman David Morley in Cage 16 was informed and offered to mediate in the dispute, assuring the authorities that the matter could be quickly resolved within a matter of minutes. The assistant Governor on duty refused Morley’s request, despite the fact that movement of this type had been granted by Ministry officials as part of the settlement reached by the recent food and facility strike. The authorities then brought the British Army on to the scene, ignoring the stern warning previously issued by the men within the camp.
At approximately 7.15 p.m. the order to be prepared was issued by the camp spokesman. The group committees were informed and all prisoners were confined to their huts with instructions to prepare themselves for action.
At this stage vocal contact was established with internees in Cage 7. As the 9.00 o clock lock up approached, camp and prison officers inquired as to their position. They were informed by assistant spokesman Paul Magee in Cage 20 that Republican prisoners would not be locked up. At 9.05 p.m. all men were paraded into the compounds.
At 9-30 p.m. the senior men ordered the burning of the camp. Each group systemically began its work of demolition. Brick-facings were attacked by groups equipped with makeshift tools. The interiors of the huts were torn down and incendiary materials spread through the debris.
Within moments the whole camp was ablaze. The internees, seeing the flames, began to burn their section of the camp as well.
 |
| The speakers at the launch: Left to right, Marty McNulty, Kevin Hannaway, Eibhlin Brady and Jim Mc Crystal. |
Thirty nine years had passed between the
flames engulfing Long Kesh and the audience taking our seats in the Square in
Stewartstown yet, the setting for the evening, the prison artefacts, the
photographic exhibition and other paraphernalia, provided an atmosphere that
conjured up feelings and memories that had remained ember like, long after the
fires that had fuelled the prison battle were put out.
The first speaker introduced by the Chair of the evening Caroline Quinn, was Jim McCrystal from Lurgan. Jim had been a sentenced prisoner in Cage 16 when the order had been given to raze the Kesh to the ground.
Jim began his recall by focusing on the issues that were ongoing in the camp before the fire. He described the precarious settlement that had come about after a hunger strike for better conditions. He talked about the stodgy uneatable food, inadequate cleaning of bedding, extensive and intrusive searching and ongoing harassment of visitors and prisoners alike. Jim also outlined how, the IRA prison leadership tried to stave off the seemingly inevitable.
In what has been describes as, the final act in a tragedy, the
commanders of the four factions in Long Kesh met to discuss matters that were
causing instability and great concern. (6) Top of the list of grievances was the
issue of compassionate parole. Difficulties on this matter had been the
cause of a prolonged hunger strike by Provos in the camp in the earlier part of
the year.
During the time of the hunger strike
assurances were given by the ‘Northern Ireland’ office that a more liberal and
compassionate stance would be recommended in such instances in the future.
The liberal stance never materialised nor did the compassion. Instead, these issue as well as others such as the condition of food, laundry, general conditions, brutality of prisoners were never addressed, but rather simply left to fester.
Jim went on to describe, how on many,
many occasions prisoners had been brought to the brink but then retreated to a
non-violent stance in the hope that a solution could be found to the
increasingly appalling situation.
‘Things were at boiling point a number of times and we always resorted to non violent protests but then on Tuesday the 15th we decided to go all out and show that we would end Long Kesh and expose it for what it is. We were all aware of the hardships that would follow but not one of us objected or dropped out.’
‘Things were at boiling point a number of times and we always resorted to non violent protests but then on Tuesday the 15th we decided to go all out and show that we would end Long Kesh and expose it for what it is. We were all aware of the hardships that would follow but not one of us objected or dropped out.’
The incident that would provide the catalyst began in Cage 13. A fight between a prisoner and screws ended with a large number of screws entering Cage 13 with batons drawn. These screws were overpowered and made to leave, tempers had flared but there was hope amongst the prisoners and their O/C that a resolution would speedily be found.
The resolution the prisoners had hoped
for though differed greatly from the one the prison authorities had decided
upon.
‘The
next move was that the army would be sent in to get the boys and bring them to
the punishment cells, but we weren’t going to stand back any longer and let
those things happen. Word was passed along the cages that we would all refuse
to be locked up unless the threat of the army being sent in was withdrawn.’ (7)
It wasn’t withdrawn and the order to burn was issued. As the flames
devoured the huts, the situation facing the prisoners was daunting.
Overwhelmingly outnumbered and virtually defenceless, the odds of surviving,
let alone putting up a fight were slim. But there they were, the vast majority
only teenagers, dressed in jeans and Ben Sherman shirts waiting to take on the
might of the British army.
As the men awaited the arrival of their comrades,
the sight of old friends running across from the internee’s cages provided a
very welcome distraction as they were reunited. 'We sat in the prison hospital, which was close to the recently liberated Cages and
even more recently charred remains of Long Kesh, reminiscing.’ (8)
Having secured the perimeter of the jail, the British army waited
until dawn before launching their offensive. As they massed at the entrance,
one Volunteer was sent to offer negotiations to a British army officer. ‘Tell
your O/C we will meet him on the football pitches’ came the terse reply. When
the Brits finally came in to ‘talk’ they came in dressed in full riot from gear
and from every feasible direction.
At the launch, Jim Mc Crystal provided
quite an entertaining account of how both he and another prisoner were ordered
to go into one of the watch towers and survey the camp.
‘Both
of us were ordered to break the locks on the gate to let the others out and
then take over the watch tower. At this point helicopters were flying about
with search lights and the Brits were surrounding the camp. M. Devine and
myself were doing look out and could view the whole Camp and kept reporting all
movements of the Brits and the prisoners to the Battalion O/C. As
we were standing in the watch tower, the phone rang and the voice at the other
end demanded to know who they were speaking to. We pretended it was the Camp
O/C, to which the voice replied. ‘Oh enjoy your stay.’ (9)
On the pitches, hundreds of rubber
bullets were fired and thousands of canisters of CS gas were released by the
British army as the soldiers and the POWs fought hand to hand. For hours the battle was intense. The
Brits gained ground and then lost it very quickly.
 |
| Clonard man, Eddie ‘Choc’ Carmichael with injuries he received during the burning of Long Kesh |
Many of the prisoners had experienced exposure to CS gas in riot situations prior to their capture.
No one was prepared for the impact of CR gas. One prisoner reports, ‘I thought they were using flame throwers and I was on fire. Everyone who still could was screaming.’
The gas induced an intense burning sensation to any exposed skin. The pain has been described as ‘overwhelming.’
Those exposed to the CR gas describe it as being totally immobilising coupled with a sensation of being totally disorientated.
The British army eventually gained control of the Camp. Captured POWs were beaten, brutalised and humiliated. Later the British government denied the use of CR gas.
 |
| The second speaker on the evening in Stewartstown was Kevin Hannaway. |
Kevin had been one of the first of 342 people arrested during Operation Demetrius, which was carried out on the 9th and 10th of August 1971.
Kevin was also one of the people, who became known as ‘The Hooded Men’. This name was sadly applicable to people who had endured the worst kind of physical and mental torture meted out by the British in the North.
Kevin was in Cage 22 when the order went up to burn the Camp. He told how, he was amongst the first internees to ‘cut through the wire and meet up with those already engaged in a pitched battle.’
At this stage the fighting was intense, helicopters were circling very low and dropping, ‘serious’ amounts of gas. (10) The army concentrated on gas attacks, backed up by salvos of rubber bullets fired at those in close proximity. At this stage the helicopters were extremely potent, sweeping right down over head, spreading gas with their whistling blades.
In this situation the groups were caught in a seemingly inescapable position and yet, time after time, they launched determined assaults forcing the Brits to retreat in panic. In one instance, a fierce counter-attack literally resulted in the Brits beating each other in a desperate attempt to get through a narrow gateway.
Earlier in the evening Jim Mc Crystal had stated that, ‘Loyalist prisoners took no part in the burning of the camp.
Yet quite ironically, Gusty Spence and a delegation from the Loyalist cages arrived in the intensity of the battle to request to go through the gates to speak with the British O.C. Spence would return from his meeting several minutes later and relay a message which basically stated, if the men return to their compounds they will not be hurt.
Nothing could have been further from the truth. According to Kevin Hannaway’s account of what happened, when the men disarmed and attempted to return to the burnt out cages there was mayhem.
‘Those men caught on the football pitches were subjected to vicious beatings. Men were dragged to the wire, spread-eagled and forced to stand with their finger tips against the fencing for periods of up to ten hours. Anyone, who moved or attempted to turn their heads were beaten severely with rifle butts and batons. (11)
British soldiers, obviously encouraged by their officers, openly indulged in an orgy of brutality. Men were batoned until they fell unconscious to the ground, then they would be kicked until they rose again. Troops with war dogs walked the lines of men, from time to time letting the dogs loose to bite defenceless prisoners.
The badly injured were refused medical treatment. Men lay against the wire with blood flowing from their wounds. Men suffering from broken arms, legs and ribs just remained where they fell. The cruelty, the beatings and the lack of any sort of intervention medical or otherwise continued for at least another five hours.
 |
| The ramifications of what was unfolding in Long Kesh Concentration Camp were to be felt far and wide. |
Eibhlin Brady, the third speaker at the
Tyrone book launch provided those in attendance with quite an interesting
account of the reaction to the unfolding events in Armagh Women’s prison.
‘The
plan that Eileen Hickey had talked us through the previous evening was put into
action the day after Long Kesh was burnt down.All
the women in Armagh Goal were organised into small groups with specific tasks
to focus on.A
group of the more able bodied women were sent to capture the screws on A2 and
B2 wings.
Groups
of women in threes were to take the cell doors off but to leave a few doors on
to lock up the screws taken on the wings. The reason why three women were
needed in each team was because one person had to stand inside the cell with a
hard backed book placed under the hinge while two women stood outside and
pushed the door with force, it worked the doors came flying off.
Other
groups of women were sent to smash the place up and wreck everything that could
be wrecked.
Prior
to this happening another group discretely went around the cells collecting any
food and it was all carried up to B3. That’s where we intended to go once it
all kicked off. It would allow us to block the stairs off on B2.
At
this stage there was no plan to take the Governor hostage as it would have been
impossible to get him unless he was on his walk around the wings and that
didn’t happen too often. As luck would have it on that day that’s exactly what
happened.
The
Governor, chief female screw and two other female screws came walking along A2
wing heading in the direction of B2. We
watched as they disappeared onto B2. Not too sure what was going to happen next
we just stood there watching and waiting on a signal to move.
The signal was that two or three women would walk alongA2 towards the desk at the bottom of the wing where the screws stood. The amount of women needed for the task would be determined by the amount of screws standing at the desk.That day there were only two screws. The order came, that if any screws escaped over onto A2 then they were to be locked up. The key was not to let any screws escape and make their way down onto A1, where the guardroom and alarms were situated.’
The signal was that two or three women would walk alongA2 towards the desk at the bottom of the wing where the screws stood. The amount of women needed for the task would be determined by the amount of screws standing at the desk.That day there were only two screws. The order came, that if any screws escaped over onto A2 then they were to be locked up. The key was not to let any screws escape and make their way down onto A1, where the guardroom and alarms were situated.’
In
order that the whole plan went over smoothly we were left with no choice but to
take the Governor hostage, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.Everything
went according to plan and things fell into place very quickly. The look of
terror on the two screws faces as they were taken from the desk to be locked up
was priceless.
Then, suddenly, all hell broke loose! Unknown to us women who remained in A2, two maintenance men were carrying out repairs in B2. The noise of everything being smashed up had alerted them to the fact something was wrong and one of them proceeded to make his way over to A2. A small corridor linked B2 to A2 and as the maintenance screw made his way over one of the women prisoners was in hot pursuit.She caught him and pinned him against the wall, terrified he lifted his hammer to hit her but she managed to get the hammer off him and hit him. The second maintenance man, witnessing what had happened to his mate offered no resistance and they too were placed in a cell.
Then, suddenly, all hell broke loose! Unknown to us women who remained in A2, two maintenance men were carrying out repairs in B2. The noise of everything being smashed up had alerted them to the fact something was wrong and one of them proceeded to make his way over to A2. A small corridor linked B2 to A2 and as the maintenance screw made his way over one of the women prisoners was in hot pursuit.She caught him and pinned him against the wall, terrified he lifted his hammer to hit her but she managed to get the hammer off him and hit him. The second maintenance man, witnessing what had happened to his mate offered no resistance and they too were placed in a cell.
When
we reached the stairs leading up to B3 wing the Governor was standing at the
bottom of one them. One of the able bodied women proceeded to get him in a bear
hug, he said to her,’ let me go I will walk up the
stairs myself.’
I actually felt sorry for him as he was the most decent Governor we ever had. Plus it would have been any man’s nightmare surrounded by all these women and not knowing his fate but he walked up the stairs with his dignity intact. The three female screws who accompanied him had already been taken up the stairs to be locked up. One actually, had to be carried as she had completely lost the power of her legs.
I actually felt sorry for him as he was the most decent Governor we ever had. Plus it would have been any man’s nightmare surrounded by all these women and not knowing his fate but he walked up the stairs with his dignity intact. The three female screws who accompanied him had already been taken up the stairs to be locked up. One actually, had to be carried as she had completely lost the power of her legs.
When
we were totally sure everyone had made it up to B3 we blocked the stairs off
with all the cell doors and any furniture we could find.We
were prepared to stay there until we got an assurance that all the men who were
injured in Long Kesh were receiving medical treatment and that the beatings and
ill treatment had stopped.
The
terrible goings on in the Kesh was considered a very serious issue for all of
us women prisoners in Armagh.Almost
all of us had brothers, fathers, boyfriends or some relative in Long Kesh.’ (12)
Eileen herself gave this account about
the burning of the Kesh and the women’s response some years earlier.We heard it on the radio. Lock up in
Armagh was bleak at the best of times. It was around 10pm, dark outside, inside
perpetually cold, but this news added to the bleak cold feeling.
We knew the camp had been destroyed and
the British army had been deployed in force. In such a scenario, injuries would
have been inevitable, fatalities possible, but for the moment no one knew. What the POWs in Armagh did know was
they would have to act and do so quickly and decisively.
‘The
only person Eileen, our OC, would trust was Fr. Murray our prison Chaplin. We
knew that he would find out what was happening and bring back the truth.Fr
Murray was brought into the gaol as our Negotiator. A Reverend was also brought
in as a few UDA prisoners had ended up in B3 with us.
The
only real food we had was some biscuits left over from our parcels. We shared
around the rations and then sat on the catwalk waiting for Fr. Murray.
When
he arrived we all sat in silence as Eileen stood at the top of the stairs
shouting down to him where he was positioned behind a door at the bottom of the
stairs.She
assured him that the Governor and the three screws would not be harmed and that
they would be released once we got a guarantee that the beatings had stopped
and that all the men injured were receiving medical treatment.
Reporters
had gathered outside the prison but we were under orders not to go near the
windows to speak to them.One
reporter was going nuts screaming for information, so we got a large white
sheet and wrote on it, ‘Governor and three screws taken hostage’ in large
writing and hung it out the window.
It
seemed a lifetime waiting for Fr. Murray to return. It began to get very dark
so the powers that be switched the electric and then the water off.We
knew the British army were in the Goal and the dogs were going mad barking,
then Eileen ordered complete silence.
We all sat along the catwalk in the dark listening to any movement from B2 below. We were listening for any noise that would indicate that they were trying to move in on us. We even thought that they might try and come in through the roof but then in reality we had four hostages and they ran the risk of putting them in danger.
We all sat along the catwalk in the dark listening to any movement from B2 below. We were listening for any noise that would indicate that they were trying to move in on us. We even thought that they might try and come in through the roof but then in reality we had four hostages and they ran the risk of putting them in danger.
Fr. Murray returned in the early hours of the morning assuring us that the men
were receiving medical treatment and that the beatings had stopped. He
also told us that the men were now out in the open without any type of shelter
because the huts had been burnt down.
After
a discussion with Eileen, it was agreed that we would come down and bring the
hostages with us. When
we arrived back on to our wings the screws had wrecked everything. All our
personal belongings had been torn up and thrown everywhere.A
bra was wrapped around a holy statue and another one glued to the wall with
toothpaste, but we got the last laugh because the screws couldn’t lock us up as
we had taken the cell doors off.
They
had to put extra staff on the wing until the maintenance men had put the doors
back on. The
Governor told Eileen that she had ruined his career. Under his watch there had
been an attempted escape and then he was taken hostage. The
last we heard was he was transferred to an all male prison vowing never to be
in charge in a female prison again’.
Some of the Long Kesh memorablia on display in Tyrone.
The last speaker at the launch was Marty
McNulty. Earlier in the night, we had heard the reasons for the burning
outlined. We had heard about the consequences and brutality especially in the
wake of the fire i.e. starvation, absolutely no shelter and over 180 prisoners
badly injured, some quite seriously. Marty McNulty talked about something
quite different. He spoke quite poignantly about a comrade and the harsh
brutality that ended his close friend Hugh Coney’s life in Long Kesh.
 |
|
Marty McNulty from Dungannon.
|
At the age of 24, Hugh Coney from
Coalisland was one of four hundred nationalists interned in the cages of Long
Kesh. Hugh Coney had previously spent 11
months on remand in the Crumlin Gaol before the charges against him were
dropped. Hugh was arrested again and interned without trial in Long Kesh
concentration camp. He would never leave his internment alive, some weeks after
the fire he would be callously shot dead.
Marty McNulty was in Cage 22 when it was
decided that prisoners had no other means of redress than to torch the
buildings that had housed so much misery. According to Marty, the treatment the
prisoners received in the wake of the fire was actually on an equal footing or even
more brutal than anything witnessed before.
‘We
were beaten, starved and left without any proper type of shelter. When we
returned to the cages, all the men had was the clothes they were standing in. Out
of the debris that was lying on the ground we put together a type of makeshift
shelter. For weeks and weeks there was no water and no toilet facilities. We
spent our days extremely hungry and our nights extremely cold.
An
escape had been planned from the outset. As soon as the camp was up in some
shape or form the digging began.It
was the prisoners themselves, who initiated an escape plan be put into action
immediately. We felt a real need to do something to keep morale high.
On
the night of the 5th or early hours of the 6th of
November the escape operation was well underway. It was about 12-30am when some of the
internees in Cage 4 heard live rounds being fired, followed by loud yells. The
anguish screams coincided simultaneously with shots being fired, alerted us to
the fact one of our comrades had been shot dead.
Shortly
afterwards I got the news that my friend and comrade Hugh Coney had been shot
without warning 20 yards from the perimeter fence outside Cage 5.’(13)
We got through the first row of barbed wire and then I heard the jeep pulling up behind me. I turned round and saw two Brits getting out, one with a flash lamp. He shone the lamp into the trench. He ran back to the jeep and got his rifle, and then he said, ‘Right you two, out.’
We hurried up and moved onto the next row of wire. We were starting to cross the second road, and we just got across it to the next fence when we heard a Brit shout: ‘There’s some at the far fence.’
Then I heard one shot and a few seconds later a second ... Someone shouted, ‘there’s a man lying in the wire here; he’s bad.’ We shouted, ‘get a medic’.
Then a Brit shouted: ‘All you bastards lie face down star shaped on the ground.’Then a van load of Brits arrived they pulled us up beat us and then made us lie down at the side of the road.
They started shouting, ‘There is a stiff lying here.’ They sent for soldiers with dogs and six arrived......
Then the jeeps and Saracens arrived, one Brit shouted, ‘run the jeep over the stiff.’ And they let the dogs bite at the dead body.
One of them shouted, ‘Who certified the c--- dead.’ One of them shouted back, ‘Nobody officially, but if you leave him out here for a half an hour he’ll die of pneumonia anyway.’
Another one said, ‘I wouldn’t like to be alive and walk round with a face like that.’
They shouted, ‘Who shot him?’ One of them shouted back, ’Reggie did.’ Another replied, ‘Good shooting but there should have been eight stiffs out there.’ After that they just kept on talking and shouting remarks back and forward to each other about the body.
This sad concluding recollection by Marty McNulty brought a quite memorable night to a close. The launch had provided many of us with an invaluable insight as well as a step back in time.
Stepping back to the ‘dark days’ wasn’t such a bad thing for us. The’ dark days’ that we are so avidly warned against appeared to be overshadowed and illuminated by the feeling of comradeship, togetherness and resolve.
The road back to 74 presented us with many things that were so worth remembering.
It presented us with a snapshot of a time that shaped our history and our lives. It also left some of us with our own guarded warning that, if we don’t take the time to remember then sadly, we are actively choosing to forget.
(1) Cathal McGlade, Journal of Media Practice Volume 7 number 2.
(2) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(3) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(4) Tom Boy Loudon, An Phoblacht February 1999.
(5) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974. reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(6) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(7) Jim Mc Cann, An phoblact 14th October 1999.
(8) Jim McCann, And the gates flew open Glen Door publishers, 1998.
(9) Jim McCann, And the gates flew open Glen Door publishers, 1998.
(10) The Flames of Long Kesh 1974 and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney.
(11) The Flames of Long Kesh 1974 and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney.
(12) An Phoblact (Eileen Hickey interview, 1999.)
(13) Brian Maguire Republican prisoner. The Flames of Long Kesh. 15-16 October. The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney 6th November By Fr. Denis Faul, Dungannon, Mgr Murray, Armagh.
We got through the first row of barbed wire and then I heard the jeep pulling up behind me. I turned round and saw two Brits getting out, one with a flash lamp. He shone the lamp into the trench. He ran back to the jeep and got his rifle, and then he said, ‘Right you two, out.’
We hurried up and moved onto the next row of wire. We were starting to cross the second road, and we just got across it to the next fence when we heard a Brit shout: ‘There’s some at the far fence.’
Then I heard one shot and a few seconds later a second ... Someone shouted, ‘there’s a man lying in the wire here; he’s bad.’ We shouted, ‘get a medic’.
Then a Brit shouted: ‘All you bastards lie face down star shaped on the ground.’Then a van load of Brits arrived they pulled us up beat us and then made us lie down at the side of the road.
They started shouting, ‘There is a stiff lying here.’ They sent for soldiers with dogs and six arrived......
Then the jeeps and Saracens arrived, one Brit shouted, ‘run the jeep over the stiff.’ And they let the dogs bite at the dead body.
One of them shouted, ‘Who certified the c--- dead.’ One of them shouted back, ‘Nobody officially, but if you leave him out here for a half an hour he’ll die of pneumonia anyway.’
Another one said, ‘I wouldn’t like to be alive and walk round with a face like that.’
They shouted, ‘Who shot him?’ One of them shouted back, ’Reggie did.’ Another replied, ‘Good shooting but there should have been eight stiffs out there.’ After that they just kept on talking and shouting remarks back and forward to each other about the body.
This sad concluding recollection by Marty McNulty brought a quite memorable night to a close. The launch had provided many of us with an invaluable insight as well as a step back in time.
Stepping back to the ‘dark days’ wasn’t such a bad thing for us. The’ dark days’ that we are so avidly warned against appeared to be overshadowed and illuminated by the feeling of comradeship, togetherness and resolve.
The road back to 74 presented us with many things that were so worth remembering.
It presented us with a snapshot of a time that shaped our history and our lives. It also left some of us with our own guarded warning that, if we don’t take the time to remember then sadly, we are actively choosing to forget.
(1) Cathal McGlade, Journal of Media Practice Volume 7 number 2.
(2) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(3) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(4) Tom Boy Loudon, An Phoblacht February 1999.
(5) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974. reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(6) The Flames of Long kesh and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney first printed 1974, reprinted 2013
Fr Denis Faul, Dungannon & Mgr Raymond Murray, Armagh.
(7) Jim Mc Cann, An phoblact 14th October 1999.
(8) Jim McCann, And the gates flew open Glen Door publishers, 1998.
(9) Jim McCann, And the gates flew open Glen Door publishers, 1998.
(10) The Flames of Long Kesh 1974 and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney.
(11) The Flames of Long Kesh 1974 and The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney.
(12) An Phoblact (Eileen Hickey interview, 1999.)
(13) Brian Maguire Republican prisoner. The Flames of Long Kesh. 15-16 October. The Murder of Hugh Gerard Coney 6th November By Fr. Denis Faul, Dungannon, Mgr Murray, Armagh.
Excellent Nuala, the savagery of the Brits would make your blood boil. There are still copies of the book for sale as far as I'm aware
ReplyDeleteThat's an great insight into things before my time. Arriving home from England at nine years old I was taken to see my dads brother who was interned. Two and a half years he was in there and was never convicted of any offence before internment nor after. My dads cousin was in there too during the fire. Good to read that. I remember my granny being angry they were teaching Gusty Spence Irish, now McGuinness is dining at Windsow and the Royal minions are tweeting in Irish about Mickey D's visit. Makes you think.
ReplyDeleteSean,
ReplyDeleteThank you! I loved writing it. It's one of those times forever etched in your mind for all the wrong reasons.
I particularly liked writing Evelyn Brady's account of the women in Armagh taking the governor hostage. Fascinating stuff.
you put a lot of work in to that piece Nuala.
ReplyDeletePeople are inquiring how it cen be obtained
Mackers,
ReplyDeleteThe Joe Mc Kelvey Society are selling the books but I will find out exactly where.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletean excellent article one that is worth reading twice or in my case 3 times as it if filled with some very interesting history not something we hear much about nowadays.
Understandably we tend to think about 76 and the blanket protest followed by the no wash ultimately forcing the hunger strikes. Your in-depth article is educational especially for the younger readers and those who didn’t know about the burning of the Kesh.
It highlights the severe brutality the prisoners were up against demonstrating even with Political Status the conditions in the Kesh were intolerable pushing the POWs beyond breaking point.
I doubt anyone could argue that the conditions were not that bad when the POWs decided it was better to take great personal risk burning the place down rather than let the Brits continue making their lives a living hell.
Again an excellent well thought out article and to think of all the wrong the British inflict upon us we now are forced to hear the treachery of dinner with their queen.
SF would prefer we forget and I hope their followers that read the Quill properly digest your article and remember as McGuiness sits upright like a begging dog that all the prisons are Her Majesties.
Tain Bo,
ReplyDeleteThank you. It's almost forty years now and it's good sometimes just to reflect and remember.
I have friends who still carry the scars from the burning.
Larry,
Glad you found it interesting.
Mackers,
Tyrone societies have 200 copies of the book. Just to let anyone interested know, there will be another promotion of the book for the fortieth anniversary.
Nuala,
ReplyDeleteis there any contact info? People abroad have asked and would need to sort postage and packaging
Mackers,
ReplyDeleteYes I will email you the details when I get them.
Fionnuala
ReplyDeleteWho was the Governor taken hostage in Armagh jail? I almost have a sense of empathy for him. Any idea what became of him? The experience of the two maintenance men was an eye opener too.
Larry,
ReplyDeleteThe Governor was Cunningham.
The women at the time said they also had great empathy with his plight as he was an absolute gentleman.
He left the prison vowing, never to be in a prison that held women again.
Evelyn Brady wrote the piece about the governor and the maintenance men and I incorporated it into the story as it was of such significance.
We hear and rightly so, the reaction to the fire in the Crum and Magilligan
Few ever tell about Armagh! Yet what was done was quite incredible!
ReplyDeleteNuala,
You are right we rarely hear about Armagh the history is just as important.
Have you considered putting together a piece on the Armagh POWs struggle?
Tain Bo,
ReplyDelete'In the Footsteps of Anne' covers it quite comprehensively.
I thought Eibhlin's piece on taking the Governor hostage was so unique and inspiring.
Every time I read this wee piece I think how great it was to have known them all.
'The women barricaded the stairs and confined themselves to B3 wing. The Governor and screws were locked in a cell. That night the authorities turned off the electric and water supply.
As we all sat around the catwalk on a mattress the OC,
Eileen Hickey gave the order for silence. We were listening for any movement from the wing below, an indication that the British were preparing to move in on us.'
Armagh women's struggle would be a biggy buy yes Tain Bo it would be nice to reflect on it all.
Nuala,
ReplyDeleteI have the book just haven’t had the time to sit and read it lately and nowadays I read at a snail’s pace.
I enjoy reading anything regarding the prison struggles more so now that what passes for republicanism is dismal anything that raises the spirit and is uplifting is a healthy distraction a silent reminder of comradeship before SF walked us straight back into Stormont.
Tain Bo,
ReplyDeleteEarlier today I read that it is thirty three years today since Bobby Sands was elected.
I remember that day like yesterday. I was working for a Dr at the time and I remember my Ma coming rushing in with our wee dog in tow to announce the results.
Caught up in the euphoria, the dog was charging round the place knocking bottles of urine and blood onto the floor.
People were so elated with the news. It was the best thing, we thought that could possibly happen to us.
No one could have seen the end result and the price that was about to be paid for nothing.
Just like the battle of the Kesh, young men taking on the might of the Brits and they did. At one stage the Brits were pushing each other out of the way to escape.
Heads smashed open, bones broken and lungs filled with CS gas and for what?
Book can be obtained via
ReplyDeleteM.jolene@ymail.com
Thank you, Nuala, for sharing this. I had read Evelyn's account of what happened in Armagh in "In The Footsteps of Anne" (which everyone should read, by the way). While Kevin has spoken of the fire at Long Kesh, he's never gont into such detail. It is appaling to think that as an Irish American who has spent decades studying Irish history, I never heard abou the fire (or many other things) until I had the privelege of meeting you all.
ReplyDeleteLauretta,
ReplyDeleteIt was a pleasure. It was like a journey back in time.
There is a deep sense of pride in this sort of recollection.
Young Irish men taking on the might of the British Army in hand to hand conflict and at one stage gaining the upper.
I am glad you enjoyed reading it, I really am.
Nuala,
ReplyDeleteit is strange how we remember some things other people remember what they were doing when someone famous died.
I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when the news broke there was a certain triumphant feeling and a lot of happy chatter hoping this would be enough to end the strike.
It didn’t last long and was replaced with the sad disbelief that Vol. Bobby Sands was dead and the sickening reality that 9 more men would die.
Back then we thought it was for something and it was another bitter reality that the RM was heading in the opposite direction.
There latest betrayal is just another in their long list where republicanism was sacrificed for a political party the untouchables for god knows what reason still masquerade as republicans and just as pathetic their followers still hail them as victors.
All for nothing and so we are in a worse place than 69 now we have former republicans propping up British rule with great vigor and determination if only they had displayed one tenth of that determination during the conflict maybe today they would be whistling Amhrán na bhFiann instead of god save their queen.
Tain Bo,
ReplyDeleteI remember my Ma's face the day he was elected I also remember her face when she came to see me in Town Hall St just hours before he died.
No one could have seen the treachery back then. We were much to absorbed in the belief that the goal was intact and that every sacrifice no matter how painful was taking us a step closer to the cherished goal.
No one, not even the most cynical of cynics could have spotted the cracks in 81.
People switched off when faced with the enormity of the treachery.
Your not going to take in what your mind can't handle.
I doubt those who fought in 74 despite their lungs being filled with CS gas, ever ventured the thought that the end game was sell out.
It leaves you in a sad place. A place where pride and sadness meet.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletethat’s an apt description that intersection where sadness and pride cross paths.
Some memories of each of the hunger strikers are etched engrained in my memory I am sure many others will never forget.
I doubt we would have believed anything different back in 80/81 and for the duration of both hunger strikes it seemed like that was all that people talked about we could never get enough news.
The highs and lows hopes and fears the feeling of not doing enough but doing all we could and that sense of comradeship people were bonded and united standing behind the POWs.
At the time there was no reason to even entertain the thought that something was terribly wrong.
Years later when Richard put out his narrative it certainly felt unbelievable the depth of deceit reinforced with 55 hours.
I can understand why people would shutdown and not want to believe that 6 men could have lived as the negotiators’ were literally sleeping certainly speaks volumes for where their true intentions were.
If the men of 74 had known like the rest of us what the end game was we wouldn’t be talking about the bravery and sacrifices made as the conflict would have came to a complete halt.
That is why it is important for articles like yours get penned they help us remember and that is something SF demand we do not remember even though it is an important part of our identity their preference is for denial and silence and the only reason they want that is of course to protect the party and its false image.
As far as they are concerned everyone else is a liar and their truth is the only thing people need to hear.
Tain Bo
ReplyDeleteOne of the worst memories for me was the day Tom Mc Ilwee died.
I was returning to the wing after my visit and Tom's fiancé was on her way down to see relatives.
For about a minute we were standing there as we waited for the screw to open the gate.
Dan my co accused had known Francis Hughes and talked about him often, but there was something very raw about being so near someone dealing with pain on that level.
I loved writing that article Tain Bo. It was a very welcome step back in time and I'm glad some people found. It of interest.
Nuala,
ReplyDeletethat is beyond raw being caged knowing that there was a great possibility her fiancé would not live I couldn’t begin to imagine her personal suffering.
I imagine for the POWs caged up at the time of the hunger strikes that was a different kind of hell.
It is a welcomed dander back in time with the SF backed new image I doubt we are supposed to remember let alone be grateful to those who endured so much only to be sold out for so little.
Fortunately with the internet history no longer belongs to the victor or with the puppets that hold onto the false power granted them for collaboration.