an average of 60 per annum. Almost a quarter of what they once had been. The effects in the parish (including emigration effects) are indicated in the marriage records, with an average of 55 marriages per year prior to 1844. While, in the decade immediately after 1847, the figure had been halved, and by 1888, there were just 2 weddings in the parish of Imogeela. War of Independence The War of Independence also affected the village. For example, on 9 February 1920, Castlemartyr's local Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks was seized by a company from the Irish Republican Army (IRA). At the time, the barracks housed a garrison of eight men, including RIC Sergeants O'Brien and O'Sullivan. Earlier that the day, Diarmuid O'Hurley, the officer commanding the Midleton Company of the IRA, learned that two of the Castlemartyr RIC were on duty at a fair in Midleton. As part of a plan to capture the barracks, O'Hurley decided to capture these two men as they returned to Castlemartyr later in the evening. About 5pm, after their bikes were blocked by a farm cart pushed through a gateway, the two RIC men were rushed by volunteers with revolvers drawn. The unarmed RIC men were bundled into a nearby farmyard where they were blindfolded and handcuffed. At approximately 7pm an RIC constable was captured by two volunteers as he emerged from the barracks, and held captive outside the town. O'Hurley, coming from Midleton with several other volunteers, picked up the two RIC prisoners at Churchtown and advanced to Castlemartyr, before knocking at the barrack door. A constable inside, sensing danger, slightly opened the door (which had a chain on the inside), thrust out his revolver and fired. O'Hurley got his own revolver through the opening also but it failed to fire, so he struck out at his opponent's head, injuring him with a blow of his revolver and, at the same time, snapping the chain with a thrust of his foot. O'Hurley and his men were soon inside, and the remaining RIC men, under Sergeant O'Sullivan, surrendered. The volunteers removed all military equipment from the barracks without further opposition. Separately, on the evening of 27 November 1920, Liam Heffernan, from Conna, was shot dead in the village. Heffernan was a member of "B" Company, First Battalion, First Cork Brigade (IRA), and employed as a chauffeur. The car he drove was sometimes used