The cache is placed near to the location where, on 22nd August 1922 during the Irish Civil War, Michael Collins, Chairman of the Provisional Government and Commander-in-chief of the National Army, was assassinated in an ambush here by Anti-Treaty IRA forces while traveling in convoy back to Cork, from Bandon.
While traveling to Bandon on the day before, the convoy stopped to ask for directions, little realising that the person they asked was a member of the local Anti-Treaty IRA who assumed they'd be coming back the same way the next day, since many of the other roads between Bandon and Cork were virtually unusable.
An ambush was set up at this location by placing a brewery cart in the middle of the (then narrow dirt track) road. When Collins' convoy stopped, the ambushers opened fire from the embankments above the road.
Collins was killed in the gun battle which lasted about 20 minutes and he was the only one killed. For some reason he ordered his convoy to return fire rather than take the safer option of entering the armoured vehicle that was in the convoy and retreating. The exact spot where Collins fell is marked by a small white monument with a small cross on it.
Immediately next to this small marker is the memorial cross which was erected in 1924. Today, many people (often thousands) converge on this location on the nearest Sunday to the anniversary of Collins' death.
The cache is placed a discrete distance from the memorial so finding it shouldn't be a problem. Visiting the memorial itself is also something I'd encourage, but please respect the fact that many people come to visit this site even today to respect Collins and what he did for Irish politics in the early 20th century.
Please hide the cache as well as possible once you've signed the log.
