Independence Museum Kilmurry

The Independence Museum Kilmurry is a local history museum in the village of Kilmurry, near Lissarda and Macroom in County Cork, roughly a half-hour drive from Cork city. It was opened by President Michael D. Higgins in August 2016 and continues the work of the earlier Terence MacSwiney Memorial Museum, one of the first local history museums established in the years after Irish independence.

The museum’s permanent exhibition focuses chiefly on Ireland’s struggle for independence in the early twentieth century, telling the story of how ordinary people in the surrounding community were drawn into the events of the War of Independence and the Civil War. Its collection includes weapons, everyday objects, photographs and ephemera, alongside material tracing the wider social history of the region across the centuries leading up to that period. Figures with strong local and national connections feature throughout, including Terence MacSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork, who died on hunger strike in 1920.

Kilmurry sits close to several places central to this history. Béal na Bláth, where Michael Collins was killed in 1922, is only a short drive away. Visitors are advised to check the museum’s website for current opening times before travelling.