to two IRA ambushes, now known locally as the Egg Shed Ambush and the Cnocán Mór Ambush. The egg shed in Milltown is a small shed with a red door and a sloped roof, located in front of the housing estate at Millbrook. The egg shed was once used for sorting and storing eggs for collection by egg buyers from other regions. In April 1921, two RIC constables returning to their barracks after patrolling the railway station, were attacked by local volunteers at the egg shed. The ambush was carried out by ten to twelve local men to take the policemen's rifles and ammunition. However; it was not long before a number of armed policemen and Black and Tans rushed to the scene from the nearby police barracks and managed to retrieve the rifles. The Cnocán Mór Ambush occurred on 27 June 1921 on the Milltown-Tuam road. A flying column of seven local volunteers under the command of Tom Dunleavy, lay in wait for a combined RIC and Black and Tan patrol close to Carrowreagh. Two members of the patrol were killed, Sergeant James Murrin and Constable Edgar Day, while a policeman was wounded and a Black and Tan named Carter escaped. Sergeant Murrin was to have retired on a pension a week earlier but due to a problem with his final documentation, he was required to remain at his post. Constable Day was a young man from Nottingham. After the Cnocán Mór Ambush, many arrests were made and many of those arrested were beaten. The Black and Tans carried out cruel reprisals by setting fire to the house of David Flannery in Liskeavy, but thankfully the fire was put out by family members and neighbours before it became too severe. However; the Hannon family of Belmont fared much worse as their home was burned to the ground. Curfew was also imposed. Civil War The Irish Civil War lasted from 1922 to 1923. The cause of the conflict was a split over the Anglo-Irish Treaty (1921) between those who supported it (Pro-Treaty), and those who opposed it (Anti-Treaty). A number of local men who had fought side by side during the War of Independence now fought each other. The most renowned incident of the Civil War in the locality took place at the gates of Milbrook House in an event later to become known as The Grand Gates Ambush. A