Boland's Mill

1916 Easter Rising

During the 1916 Easter Rising, the area around Boland's Mills (including what is now the Treasury Building and Boland's Bakery) was headquarters to the 3rd Battalion of Irish Volunteers under Éamon de Valera. From Easter Monday, 24 April 1916, a unit of Irish Volunteers occupied the area intending to control the main approaches from Dún Laoghaire (then Kingstown) towards the city centre. De Valera raised a green flag with a golden harp, the symbol of an independent Ireland, on the mills. On Wednesday 26 April 1916, a detachment of Sherwood Foresters, sent to Dún Laoghaire from England, made their way into the city via Mount Street Bridge. The ensuing engagement, the Battle of Mount Street Bridge, saw the first direct engagement with the Boland's Mills garrison. The west side of the mills was subject to "unceasing sniping, which lasted all the week up to Saturday", returned fire from the Boland's Mills garrison kept British forces at bay until Patrick Pearse's surrender order was received on 30 April. Patrick Whelan, an Irish Volunteer of the Boland's Mills garrison killed on 26 April 1916, was posthumously awarded the 1916 Medal.