Bealnablath
| Bealnablath Irish: Béal na Bláth | |
| County Cork | |
|---|---|
 Michael Collins memorial, Bealnablath | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | W 41056 63584 |
| Location: | 51°49’18"N, 8°51’20"W |
| Data | |
| Local Government | |
Bealnablath is a small village on the R585 road in County Cork. The area is best known as the site of the ambush and death of the Irish revolutionary leader Michael Collins in 1922.
Name
The original version of the village's name has become obscured with the passage of time. The Irish-language name is Béal na mBláth, which may be translated as "mouth of the flowers/blossoms", and this is widely used. However this version does not fit with the pronunciation used by the last native Irish-language speakers in the area (who survived until the 1940s). This spelling of the name, and the associated translation, most likely arose through folk etymology among non-native speakers.[1]
One proposed reconstruction of the original name is Béal Átha na Bláiche, meaning "mouth of the ford of the buttermilk", by analogy with a similar place-name in County Limerick; another version attested in literature is Béal na Bláth, which can either mean "mouth of the blossom" or "mouth of the buttermilk".[1] As of 2012, the Irish Placenames Commission considers Béal na Blá to be the most accurate version of the original placename. The meaning of "blá" is unclear in this context, but it may mean "green" or "lawn".
Michael Collins
On 22 August 1922, during the Irish Civil War, Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief of the National Army, was killed in an ambush here by anti-treaty IRA forces while travelling in convoy from Bandon. The ambush was planned in a farmhouse in Bealnablath close to The Diamond Bar.[2] Commemorations are held on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of his death. A memorial cross stands half a mile south of the village, at the site of the shooting on a local road which was a dirt road when Collins was shot. A small white pillar marked with a cross, located just to the right of the steps, marks the exact spot where he fell.