A War Between Friends

Letter from Ireland September/October 2026

How IRA volunteers survived the Irish Civil War in a secret mountain hideout
James Bosnall
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Tormore Cave (location indicated by arrow) in the Dartry Mountains of northwest Ireland was used as a hiding place for more than 30 Irish Republican Army volunteers during the country’s brutal civil war, which lasted from 1922 to 1923. The yellow and brown trees that form a Celtic symbol known as a Trinity Knot were planted in the mid-1980s.

The Dartry Mountains in northwest Ireland have such a mystical air that legend has it fairies and otherworldly spirits haunt their majestic cliffs, cav

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