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-VliSTMHATII
NCIENT AND MODERN
1L LUSTRA TED
DUBLI1
ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
ANCIENT AND MODERN
BY
JAMES WOODS
1LLUSTRA TED
DUBLIN: SEALY, BRYERS & WALKER
1907 [ All rights reserved 1
PRINTED BY
SEALY, BEYERS AND WALKER. DUBLIN AND MAYNOOTH. [Printed on Irish Paper.] _
PREFACE.
J DEEM it necessary to state that, but for the patriotic action of a few Mullingar gentlemen, this work would never be published, at least during my lifetime.
" Know most of thy native country before thou goest over the threshold thereof," is the sensible advice of an English Historian, " Old Fuller." But now-a-day folks, in search of the picturesque, unthinkingly rush off to the Continent of Europe or America, as if their native land had no scenery worthy of their attention, no localities linked with the memories of great achievements and noble aspirations. We have been surfeited with pictures of the Tyrol, Switzerland, and Italy, limned so vividly with pencil, and yet, nowhere, all the world over, can nature be contemplated in grander or lovelier aspects than in our own verdant county. Yes ! Westmeath is rich in places, hallowed by memorials of ancient nationality, to which they may well delight to make reverent pilgrimages. The ivied ruins of magnificent old Fore, where St. Fechin prayed and taught ; the venerable Abbey of Multyfarnham, which has com- pleted its six hundredth year, despite the ravages of time and persecution, and the beautiful sheet of water lying a short distance north of it — Lough Derravaragh — on whose waters the enchanted children of Lir, as swans, warbled for 300 years, are scenes worthy of the attention of the antiquarian, the tourist, and the traveller. Royal Uisneach, on whose summit St. Patrick preached, where St. Bridget made her religious profession, ami received the white veil from Bishop Macaile ; and where the pagan kings ruled in regal splendour long before Tara was known, an- sacred relics of the past. Lough Owel, with its many legends, arid where it is. said Turgesius, the Norwegian pirate, was drowned, < I. -serve a passing notice. Also Lough Ennel, in which is Croinis, now known as Cormorant Island, where Malachy II., King of Ire- land, had one of his royal residences. There is a peculiar charm
iv PREFACE.
about home scenery that belongs to DO other. Every lordly hill and tranquil valley, every lonely spring on which a stray sunbeam never glints ; every river whose silvery ripples, laughing and dimpled, seek the ocean ; every mound and cairn are, inseparably associated with the memory of a glorious past, and are a prolific source of poetry and romance. They are identified with an era when the chivalry and social history of the Island of Saints were preserved in the literature of her bards. Amidst our native scenic treasures, too, seated by the ingle nook, or perhaps within some fairy-haunted rath, we can listen in the midnight hour to —
Old legends of the monkish page, Traditions of the saint and sage. Tales that have the rime of age.
Ireland has had to complain of many things, but of none so much, perhaps, as that Irishmen are so much wanting in the knowledge of their own country. Their fatherland presents much to interest the inquiring traveller. Its varied surface, the strongly contrasted lights and shades of its society, and in its cities and rural districts, beauties of art and nature that may vie with those of any other country. In the memorials of man in bygone ages our country is well stored. The rude cromlech, the cairn, the rath, the moat, the simple oratory of the early Christian times ; the round towers, so peculiar to our island ; the abbey, the baronial castle, and the venerable triangular- gated mansions of the resident squires of former days — all these are to be found dispersed over its surface — and with their traditions supply food for pleasing contemplation and instructive thoughts.
The members of the Gaelic League are to be con- gratulated for their zeal and patriotism in reviving the language and customs of Ireland, and instilling into the hearts of our people a love for the old land, her history and traditions.
In conclusion, I beg to return my sincere thanks to the ladies and gentlemen who subscribed funds to enable me to publish my book.
JAMES WOODS.
Bally more, Westraeath.
15th August, 1907.
An Appreciation of the Author. By JOHN P. HAYDEN, M.P.
THERE is a double purpose in placing this book in the hands of the public. In the first place, it is considered advisable to preserve in this permanent form much of the valuable historical matter relating to the County Westmeath, which during a quirter of a century has been appearing in one of our local newspapers, so that it may be useful in informing the people of the county, now and in the future, of the facts and traditions connected with its past, and that it may be of assistance to a future historian. In the second place, it is a tribute to the labour and enthusiasm of a man who, whilst engaged in a struggle for subsistence, has devoted himself to the difficult task of research. The author is not a man endowed with much of the advantages that this world can bestow. His training and education were not in the direc- tion of history, or books, or literature. James Woods was the son of parents in an humble position of life. He was born in Patrick-street, Mullingar, in 1838, and at a very early age was put to learn the trade of housepainter. This has been his sole means of living until some years since, when he supplemented it by the remuneration he received as correspondent for a local newspaper. He lived in Mullingar until 1874, and pursued his trade in that town. Books always attracted him, and an oppor- tunity for indulging his taste was given to him when he was made Librarian of the Catholic Young Men's Society, which had its headquarters in what is now the Lecture Hall, in Bishopsgate- street, Mullingar. In passing, it may be mentioned that this building had been a National School previous to the advent of the Christian Brothers to Mullingar in the year 1856. None con- nected with this Society read so many of its books as did James Woods, and certainly no one retained what he read for such a long period. His memory is prodigious, as will be seen by what follows. His residence iu Mullingar was a small house in Mary-street, on portion of the site now occupied by the Bank of Ireland. In 1874 he removed to Ballymore, where he still resides. There he continued his trade, but his fondness for books remained, and, in fact, developed. Still, it did riot seem to occur to him to publish anything. Indeed, the facilities for a man in his position of life to get anything into print were very limited. Moreover, his life was one of constant toil for daily bread. It was not until in 1881 that he had any connection with the Press. In that year a few young men in Mullingar started a paper called the Westmeath Leader, which, however, lasted for only eight
vi APPRECIATION.
months. Its career was brief and brilliant. Mr. Woods became its Bally more correspondent. His reports were amongst its most attractive features. He exposed wrong-doing in scathing language. The poor and the oppressed found in him a sturdy champion. The most prosaic subject was made interesting by the humour and irony with which it was invested. Had greater opportunities and advantages been at his disposal Mr. Woods without doubt would have been a close rival of many men who have won fame and fortune in the field of letters. When, in the middle of 1882, the Leader ceased to exist, it seemed as if there were an end to this Occupation of Mr. Woods. However, fortunately this was not to be. Towards the end of that year the Westmeath Examiner came into existence, and from the beginning to the present Mr. Woods was a constant contributor to its columns. He became its Ballymore and Ballymahon correspondent. He had no training as a reporter, and knew nothing about shorthand writing ; but he had a most retentive memory. During all these years he has acted in the capacity mentioned, giving full reports of the pro- ceedings of public bodies and courts of law in his district without the aid of notes, and there has not been in that time a single com- plaint of inaccuracy. Articles on the history of some locality in the countyorsome well-known family began to appear from time to time. Portion of the almost forgotten folk-lore of the county was rescued by him from oblivion. After some years, with the aid of admirers, he published a small volume of these articles, and the demand was so encouraging that again he ventured, at his own risk, to issue a second volume. Since then he has added considerably to his col- lection. All this time he carried on his trade, until a few vears ago he had to relinquish it owing to failing sight, which, however, though it increased his difficulty, did not lessen his ardour as a reader and a writer, but left him entirely dependent on the earnings of his pen. A short time since it was suggested in the columns of the Kxaminer, that those who were interested in James Woods' work should subscribe for the purpose of its publication. The pro- ject was warmly taken up and a committee formed. Its Chairman was Mr. T. M. Reddy, J.P., of Culleen House, Mullingar, a gentle- man of fortune, who had lived for some years in Buenos Ayres, and is now resident in his native county of Westmeath. The treasurer is Mr. Stephen O'Halloran, the Manager of the National Bank, Mullingar ; and the Hon. Sec. is Mr. James Tuite, J.P. The other members of the Committee are : —
Messrs. Thomas Brophil, William Barry, Andrew Cleary, Christopher Downes, N. J. Downes, solicitor ; J. P. Dowdall, John P. Hayden, M.P. ; T. L. Hutchinson, Patrick Keelan, J.P. ; Patrick Maguire, J. J. Macken, solicitor; Richard Mullally, T. F. Nooney J.P • T. J. Shaw, J.P. ; Owen Wickhaui, J.P.
APPRECIATION. vii
An appeal for support was made to the public. The response was quick and generous. The list of subscribers appears on another page. It will be seen that it embraces all classes and creeds in the county, and that it includes the names of friends in various parts of Ireland as well as from across the sea. The proceeds from the sale of the book will be handed over to the author to help him in his old age and to reward him for the many days he has spent in gathering together the scattered fragments of the history and tradition of so many places in Westmeath. The book may prove a stimulus to some future historian to continue the work of Mr. Woods. The fact that he is so much appreciated should be an encouragement to any person with similar inclina- tion and taste. This poor man, who never knew prosperity, and whose early education was of the most primitive character, has accomplished a work which leaves his native county his debtor. Seeing what he has been able to accomplish, and the difficulties which stood in his way, it might well be asked what might he not have done for Westmeath and for Ireland were there educational facilities in this country such as exist in other countries. Even to the present day these are not at the disposal of the student in Ireland if he be poor. Thus many a brilliant mind is left undeveloped, and the nation is the loser.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
MR. WOODS, His HOME, Ac.... ... Frontispiece
ENTRANCE TO DONORE CASTLE ... ... ... 16
WILSON'S HOSPITAL ... ... ... ... 34
COOKSBORO' HOUSE ... ... ... ... 34
ANCIENT SEAL OF MULLINGAR ... ... ... 50
RUINS OF ST. MARY'S PRIORY ... ... ... 50
DUN-NA-SGIAITH (" The Fort of the Shields") LOUGH ENNEL 66
CRO INSHA (now Cormorant Island) LOUGH ENNEL ... 60
ST. LOMAN'S ORATORY, CHURCH ISLAND, LOUGH OWEL ... 80
MULTYFARNHAM ABBEY ... ... ... ... 114
BALLYMORE CASTLE ... ... ... ... 122
RUINS OF MULTYFARNHAM ABBEY ... ... ... 134
RUINS OF ST. CRIMMIN'S CHURCH, LACKIN ... ... 134
KNOCK EYON ... ... ... ... ... 142
CROSS INSCRIBED STONE AT RAHUE (ST. UUGfl's) ... 142
SAINT'S ISLAND, LOUGH REE... ... ... ... 146
*• The never-failing brook, the busy mill'' ... ... 154
" The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill " ... 154
" The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool " ... ... 158
" There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose ;
The Village Preacher's modest mansion rose" ... 158
PORTRAIT OF GOLDSMITH ... ... ... ... 172
A RELIC OF THE PENAL TIMES ... ... ... 194
AILL NA MEERAN " The Stone of the Divisions,1' UISNEACH 242
RUINS OF ST. BRIGID'S CHURCH, KILLARE ... ... 248
BENEDICTINE ABBEY, FORE ... ... ... ... 260
ONE OF THE ANCIENT TOWN GATES, FORE ... ... 260
CYCLOPEAN DOORWAY, ST. FECHIN'S CHURCH, FORE ... 274
ANCIENT CROSS, FORE ... ... ... ... 278
BARONSTON ... ... ... ... ... 304
TRISTERNAGH ABBEY AT PRESENT ... ... ... 304
THE PIERS' MONUMENT, TEMPLECROSS, TRISTERNAGH ... 306
TRISTERNAGH ABBEY BEFORE ITS DESTRUCTION BY PIGOT
PIERS IN 1783 ... ... ... ... ... 310
DELVIN CASTLE ... ... ... 324
ATHLONE CASTLK AND SITE OF THE DEFENCE OF 1690-91 ... 334
PETER LEWIS AND THE RAT ... ... ... ... 338
THE OLD BRIDGE OF ATHLONE 340
CONTENTS.
PAGES
WESTMEATH — Ancient Boundaries and Divisions, Baronies, Chief Towns, Parliamentary Representatives — Old Families in 1598 — Meath Divided into Two Shires — Clonmacnoise, part of Westmeath, down to the 16th Century — Westmeath in the Time of Cromwell — Battle of Finea — Second Attack on Finea — Edmund Nugent, of Carolanstown— Battle of Rathconnell— The Pass Betrayed— The Convent of Bethelem Plundered and Desecrated by the Roundheads — The Plunderers Pursued and Cut to Pieces by Young Dillon, of Kilkenny West — Colonel Hewson's Account of the Attacks on Finea — Siege of the Castle of Donore — Captured and its Defen- ders Slain— Breach of Faith— The Castle Plundered— The Castle of Ballinalack Taken by O'Neill — Retaken — Treachery of Captain
D , Multyfarnham — The Granary of the Confederate Army —
The Plunder of the Farmers and Peasants by the Followers of Crom- well and Ormond — The Friars compelled to Secrete themselves in Bogs and Woods — Battle at Ballymore — O'Neill Defeats the Crom- wellians and Foils the Plan of the Royalists to Entrap Him — O'Neill's Second Attack on the Enemy at Ballymore — The Battle of Cruchan Ruah — Complete Route of the Followers of Cromwell and Oraiond from Ballymore, Mullingar, Boardstown and Kinnegad — \\Vstrneath in 1797 and 1798 - - 1-20
BALLINALACK — Hempenstal, The Walking Gallows, at Work — Cold- blooded Murders of the Carrolls and Smyth, Blacksmiths, Moy- vore — Shot on the Fair Green, Ballymore, Whit Monday, 1797 — Other Atrocities Perpetrated by the Monster at Ballymore — Burns Forty Houses at Moyvore in one night — The Account in the " Press " Newspaper of the Murders and Burning — The Grand Jury <>f Westmeath at the Summer Assizes, 1797, Presents Hempensta] with the Service of Plate at the Expense of the Ratepayers us H Rsward for His Cruelty — The Names of Jurors who Voted Him the Plate— T.MJ Battle of Wilson's Hospital— Cruelty of the Yeo- manry— No Mercy — The Wounded and Prisoners Butchered — Numbers of United Irishmen Burnt to Death in a Farm House The Morning after the Battle — Lament for the Fallen — Cruel Camden — The Reign of Terror — The Defenders — Execution of the Brothers Kelly — The Maniac Mother — Reilly, the United Irishman, Almost Flayed to Death — Retribution, the Wild Justice of Revenge 20-49
MULLINGAR — Ancient Corporate Seal of Mullingar — The Petit Fiimily — Archdall's Annals of the Monasteries— Rev. A. Cogan's Account of tin-in — Lough Ennel — Death of King Malachy II. on Cro-Inis — His Palace, Dun-na-Sciaith — Lough Owel — Drowning of Turgesius — St. Loman's Oratory, Church Island — Cookesborough — Adolphus Cooke — Tom Cruise and Billy Dunne — The Gatekeeper and His Wife — The Drowning Bullock — The Old Turkeycock — The Yawning Chasm — Fowling Extraordinary — Levinge — Westmeath in 1815 — Watty Cox in M'llliugar — His Account of His Journey from Dublin l.y the R.,yal Canal — His Fellow-Travellers—State of the
Xll CONTENTS.
PAGES
County — Mullingar by Candlelight — The Old Market-house and its Occupants — The March Assizes — The Prisoners Tried — Judge Day's Charge to the Grand Jury — The Magistrates of the County — Seery, the Robber and Informer. - 49-113
MULTYFABNHAM — Its Ancient Abbey — Its Founders — Rev. Hugh Ward's Account of it — Dr. Brady, Bishop of Kilmore — Plundered and Dese- crated by Francis Shane — Arrest of Father Mooney, Dr. Brady and Other Friars by Shane — He Imprisons them in the Castle of Bally- more — Father Mooney Escapes from the Castle — Plunderers and Desecrators of the Abbey — Shane, Lambert, Fox, Rochford, Etc. — Its Defenders an the Penal Days — The Nugents, Delamers, Led- withs, Etc. — Piers' Account of Multyfarnham — The Cat's Hole — Derravaragh— Its Legend — The River Gaine — Knockeyon Hill — St. Eyon's Oratory — The Holy Well — Pilgrimages to it — Portnash- angan Lackin Monastery — St. Patrick at Lackin — Faughley or Fahaty — Retreat of Mortimer, Earl of March — The Abbey of Fahaty - - - 113-145
KILKENNY WEST — Ancient References — Its Abbey — Lough Ree and its Isles — Innisboffin — Innisclothrian — Inchmore, Etc. — Invasion of the Isles by the Danes — Bethelem — Muckenagh — The Dillon Family — Goldsmith— Scenes of His Childhood— His Tutor, Paddy Byrne— Tubberclair and its Pastors — Auburn — Drumraney — The Bruig- nean da Choga — Ancient References — Its Abbey — Ardnacrannie — Tang — Ballymahon — Ancient References — The Old Mill — Bevan Slator - 145-174
ABBEYSHRULE — Mill Lane and its Citizsns — Privileges and Immunities of its Old Inhabitants — Senor Bulfm's Account of the Tinkers of Tinker's Hollow — A Strange Family History — The Napers — The Poet " Leo" - 174-193
BALLYAIORE or " The Great Town of Lough Seudy " — Ancient References - — Tne Monasteries — Archdall's Annals of them — The Old Castles — An Altar of the Penal Times — Edward Bruce a Guest of De Lacy — Defended in 1691 against De Ginckle by a Sergeant and Twelve Men — Used as a Prison for Multyfarnham Friars in the Reign of Elizabeth— Lough Suedy — Legend of St. Patrick's Blackthorn — Piers' Account of Ballymore — The Old Fort Besieged in 1691 — Gallantly Defended by Colonel Ulick Burke — Its Brave Defen- ders Starved to Death — Ancient Ballymore — Temple Lynn — Tobarcormac — Its Monastery and Legend — Pastors of Ballymore — Killare— Its Ancient Monastery — St. Aedh — St. Bridget's Well 193-208
MOATE — Grace O'Melaghlin — Storey's Description of the Rapparees — Carmelite Community — A Priest-hunter — Knockastie — Knockdorn- iny — The Gap of the Wood — Bishop Geoghegan — The Robbers — Rosemount — Ancient References — Tubber — A Priest Hunter — Pastors of Tubber - 208-216
KILBEGGAN — Archdall's Annals of the Monastery — St. Hugh's Stone — Rev. Caesar Otway's Experiences in the Village — Sir Thomas Cuffe, the Innkeeper, and how He was Knighted — The Brutal Hessians — Durrow — Ancient Monastic Seals — Horseleap- -Conor MacNessa — MacGeoghegan and Stepney - 216-239
CONTENTS. Xlli
PACJES
ROYAL UISNEACH — The First Druidic Fire in Ireland — The Numedians — Tuathal the Acceptable — The Rock of the Divisions — Tuat- hal Forms the Kingdom of Meath — Ruins of the Ancient Palace — Hero Kings — The Banishing of Aengus — St. Patrick's Bed— Pagan Rites on the Hill — Mayday Sports on the Hill in Pagan Times — Great Gatherings and Ecclesiastical Conventions on the Hill — St. Bridget Makes Her Religious Profession at Uisneach— Killare 239-249
TYRRELLSPASS — The Family of Tyrrell — The Battle of Tyrrellspass — The English and Irish of the Pale Cut to Pieces— Ca-sar Otway's Testimony to the Chivalry and Strategy of Captain Richard Tyrrell — Mountjoy's War of Extermination — O'Conor Faily — Poem on the Battle of Tyrrellspass, By Dr. Dwyer Joyce - 249-258
FORE— Ancient References — Origin of the Name — Archdall's and Father Cogan's Account of the Old Abbey — St. Fechin — St. Fechin's Miracu- lous Mill — The Subterranean Stream — The Recluse of the Monastery — Turgesius' Hill — Lough Lene — Piers' Account of Ancient Fore — The Miracle of St. Fechin, &c. - - 258-280
CASTLEPOLLARD — Ancient Name — Rathgraff — The Pollard-Urquhart Family — Lickblea — Corueagh — Foyran — Lough Sheelin — St. Hugh's Well — The Earls of Longford — The Tithe Agitation — Massacre of the People in 1831 — A Brave Priest — Father Burke — The " Hollow of the Mass " — Castletown — His Trenchant Letter to the Castle Authorities on the Murder of His People in Cold Blood — Win. Cobbett and Father Burke — Mayne — Faughalstown — The Abbey — Float— Origin of Name— Derranagaragh— Gartlandstown - *280-289
BALLYNACARGY — Old Kilbixy Once Chief Town of the . County and a Stronghold of the English Pale — Its Ancient Grandeur — Public Buildings and Civic Rulers Described by Piers — Its Monastery, Leper House, &c. — The Malone Family — The Oldest in the County — Edmund Malone, the Barrister — The Ancestor of Three Genera- tions of Lawyers, Statesmen, and Writers — Opposes the Penal Statute of Queen Anne in 1703 — Anthony Malone, Member of Parliament for the County for Fifty Years — Advocates Free Trade and the Independence of the Irish Parliament — His Tenant, Kedagh MacGeoghegan — A New Way to Pay Old Debts — Kedagh's Practical Jokes — His Last Will and Testament — Judge Malone — Edmund .M alone — The Commentator of Shakespeare — Lord Sunderlin — An Anti-Unionist — Tristernagh — Described by Piers — Its Monastery — The O'Dohertys of Donegal Slain at Tristernagh — The Corpnu — Captain William Piers gets a Grant of the Fair Monastery and its Uidi Lands from Queen Elizabeth — Made Governor of Carrickfer- gus — Plots the Murder of Shane O'Neill— O'Neill treacherously uunated by MacDonnell and Others — Piers brings the Head of O'Neill to Sir Henry Sydney — Gets a Thousand Pounds — O'Doherty's Defeat— His Son, Henry Piers, a Great Traveller and Writer — TemplecroHs Chapel — The Piers Tomb — Priestpark — The Holy Well — Captain Kdwsird Piers in the Time of Cromwell — Tristernagh M mastery — Archdall's Annals — Father Cogan's Account of it — Desecrated by Sir William J'igot Piers — An Account, ofitsDesecra lion from the "Irish Parliamentary Gazetteer " — Sir John Piers iind Lady rinncurry— Tribute of Wolf l)..gs Si.nna- The Tuite Family— Anglo-Norman I'.arons — Sir Hugh Killed by Fall of a Tower of Athlone Cattle Foiiiu le« 1 the Monastery of Abbeylara —Several P.rau.-iies of The Tnites At.taint.ed anil their Property Confiscated at the Time »f Cromwell an. I William of Orange
XIV CONTENTS.
PAGES
Andrew Tuite — Lady Mabel Tuite — Sir Oliver Tuite, Bart. — James and Thomas Tuite — Sir George Tuite and His Spaniel Dog Murdered in Sonna House — Hugh Morgan Tuite, formerly M.P. for West- meath — The Old Mill of Mullinoran — Tragic Death of the Sons of Blathmac Within its Walls - 289-318
CASTLETOWN-GEOGHEGAN (Kinal Fiacha) — The MacGeoghegans — They defeat the English at Killucan — The Baron of Screeiie Killed — Jack the Buck — His Duels with St. Leger, Stepney and Du Barry -His Death - - 319-324
DELVIN — Druiclic Origin of the Name — The Castle — De Lacy — Druin- cree — Origin of the Name and Battles of Drumcree — The O'Fenolens Burning of Clonyn Castle— Killulagh — Dysart-Tola — Its Monas- tery, &c., &c. - - 324-328
ATHLONE— Origin of Name— Monasteries— The O'Fallons— Charters— Re- presentatives in Patriot Parliament, 1689 — Will Handcock — Athlone in the Days of Cromwell — Sir James Dillon — McAuley, &c — The Castle — Clanrickarde — Attack on the Castle — Arrest of Friars— Ac- count of Athlone in 1680 by Piers — Peter Lewis, the Apostate Monk and the Rat — The Siege — Heroic Defence of the Bridge, &c. &c. 328-345
AUTHORITIES QUOTED.
MacGeoghegan's " History of Ireland," Keatiug's " History of Ireland," Magee's " History of Ireland," " Annals of the Four Masters," Burke's " Peerages and Baronetcies," Burke's " Landed Gentry," Archdall's " Monasti- con Hibernicum," Rev. A. Cogan's " Diocese of Meath," Father Median's " History of the Franciscan Monasteries," Canon O'Hanlon's " Lives of the Saints," " Ireland in 1598," by Rev. Father Hogan, S.J. ; Preudergast's " History of the Cromwellian Settlement," Curry's " Review of the Civil Wars of Ireland," Gilbert's "History of Public Affairs in Ireland from 1641 to 1652," Lewis's " Topographical Dictionary of Ireland," Fitzpatrick's " Ire- land before the Union," Harrington's " Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation," Lyons' " Grand Juries of Westmeath," Piers' " History of Westmeath," Faulkiner's " Dublin Journal, 1796," ''Beauties of the Press (Newspaper), 1797," " Dublin Penny Journal, 1832," Duffy's " Hibernian Magazine, 1852," .Duffy's "Catholic Magazine, 1847," Joyce's "Irish Names of Places," " Columban Magazine," Gordon's " History of the Rebellion, 1798," O'Callaghan's " Green Book," '' Irish Parliamentary Gazetteer," * Watty Cox's Magazine," Washington Irvine's " Life of Goldsmith," D'Alton's " King James' Army List," A. M. Sullivan's " Story of Ireland," " History of the Dalcassian Clans of Thomond."
ANNALS OF WESTMEATH:
ANCIENT AND MODERN.
WESTMEATH is bounded on the east by the County of Meath ; on the west by Counties of Longford and Roscommon : and on the south by King's County ; and contains, according to the Ordnance Survey, 454,104 acres, of which 77,827 are under tillage, 284,647 in pasture, 7,758 in plantations ; 62,075 waste bog, mountain, &c., and 21.797 under water. South from Athlone to the boun- dary point south-east of Clonmellon, is 43 J statute miles ; breadth, from Finnea to Kinnegad, 26 miles; and from the River Inny, near Ballinacargy, to the boundary near Rahugh, 21 miles. The population in 1841 amounted to 141,300, and in 1901 to 61,629. The number of inhabited houses in 1841 amounted to 24,802, and in 1901 to 13,794.
This county formed part of the kingdom of Meath, when the island was divided into five provincial dynasties, and was then known by the name of Eircamhoin, or the Western Division. Its provincial assemblies were held at the Hill of Usneagh, sup- posed by some to be the Laberns noticed by Ptolemy as one of the inland cities of Ireland. In 1153, the northern part of the county became the scene of contention between the two sons of Dermod O'Brien, who terminated their strife by a bloody battle fought near Fore, in which Turlough, having obtained the vic- tory, became master of his brother's person, and put out his eyes !
The principal Irish families during this period were those of MacGeoghegan (chieftains of Moycashel), O'Mullrenan (or Brennan), O'Coffey, O'Mullady, O'Malone, O'Daly, O'Higgins, MacGawly, MacGan, O'Shannagh (afterwards changed to Fox), O'Finlan, and O'Cuishin. The annals of the religious houses prove that Westmeath suffered much during the period in which the island was exposed to the predatory incursions of the Danes, the town and abbey of Fore alone having been burnt nine times in the 10th and llth centuries either by the Danes or by the bordering Irish chieftains.
After the settlement of the English in Leinster, the county formed part of the palatinate of Hugh de Lacy, who allotted it in large tracts to his principal followers, the most remarkable of whom were Petit, Tuite, Hussey, D'Alton, Delamere, Dillon, Nugent, Hope, Ware, Ledwich, D'Ardis, Gaynor, and Constan- tine. Subsequently, the families of D'Arcy, Jones, Tyrrell,
2 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Fitzgerald, and Piers, settled here at various periods previous to the Reformation.
It is related that Mortimer, Earl o.f March, who married Phillippa, daughter and heiress of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son of Edward III., finding it necessary to conceal himself during the troubles that followed the deposition of Richard II., chose this county as his place of refuge, where he remained a long time in concealment.
In 1468, Delamere, Abbot of Tristernagh, was attainted by Act of Parliament for uniting with the Irish enemies and Eng- lish rebels in an insurrection in which the town of Delvin was burned. By an Act of the 34th of Henry VIII., the ancient palatinate of Meath was divided, the eastern portion retaining its former name (see Appendix), and the western being distin- guished by its present appellation. Longford was a part of the latter division until it was formed into a distinct county by Elizabeth.
Piers, in his " History of Westmeath," asserts that the rising in 1641 was concocted in the Abbey of Multyfarnham, but he supplies no proof — it is a mere conjecture. So great was the change of property by confiscations after the war of the revolu- tion, that not one of the names of the Catholic proprietors, who had formed the previous grand juries, are to. be found on the modern lists. The principal families who obtained grants of confiscated lands were those of Pakenham, Cooke, Winter, Smyth, Reynell, Levinge, Wilson, Judge, Rochford, Handcock, Gay, Handy, Ogle, Middleton, Swift, Burtle, and St. George. Those of Smith, Chapman, Fetherston, O'Reilly, Purdon, Blac- quiere, Nagle, and North, obtained by purchase or inheritance.
The surface of the county, though nowhere rising to a considerable elevation, is much diversified by hill and dale, highly picturesque in many parts, and deficient in none of the essentials of rural beauty. Knock Eyon and Knock Ross, on the shores of Lough Derravaragh, have on their sides much stunted oak and brushwood, the remains of ancient forests. The former of these hills is about 850 feet high. The lakes are large, picturesque, and very numerous, mostly situated in the northern and central parts, the southern being flat and over- spread with bog. The largest and most southern of the lakes is Lough Ennel, now called also Belvidere or Lynn Lake. It is nearly two miles frotn Mullingar, and studded with eight islands, the largest of which is Fort Island, which was garrisoned and used as a magazine by the Irish in 1641, and was twice taken by the Parliamentary forces, and ultimately held by them till the Restoration.
Lough Owel, two miles north of Mullingar, is very picturesque. Two streams, one called " The Golden Arm," and the other " The Silver Arm," formerly flowed from it — one from each of
ANCIENT AND MODERN 3
its extremities, but both have been dammed up, and the low grounds on the borders of the lake raised by embankments so as to increase the body of water contained in it, in order to render it the feeder of the summit level of the Royal Canal. This alteration has enlarged the surface of Lough Owel to an extent of 2,400 acres. The lake has tour islands, in one of which are the ruins of an ancient chapel of rude masonry, with a burial-ground attached, which was formerly resorted to by pilgrims from dis- tant parts. It is said that many Protestants concealed them- selves here during the war of 1641. The other islands are planted.
Further north is Lake Derravaragh, a sheet of winding water of very irregular form, eleven miles long, and three in breadth, whose waters discharge themselves through the Lower Inriy into Lough Iron, which is the most western lake in the county, and is likewise a long sheet of water, being about a mile long and half a mile broad, and very shallow. Its banks are enriched with some fine scenery towards Baronstown and Kilbixy. From its northern extremity the Inny takes its course towards the County Longford. Lough Lein, three miles to the east of Derravaragh, is of an irregular oval form, two miles long and one broad. Its waters are peculiarly clear, and remarkable for having no visible outlet, nor any inlet except a small stream, which flows only in rainy seasons. It is surrounded on every side by high grounds, which on the north and south rise into lofty hills from the margin of the lake, which are clothed to their summits with rich verdure and flourishing plantations. There are four fertile and well-planted islands in the lake. In the west is Lough Seudy, a small but romantic expanse of water near the old fortress of Bally more. Two miles north-east of Mullingar are the small lakes of Di-in, Cullen, and Clonsheever. Lough Drin supplies Lough Cullen, which, after flowing through a bog, falls into Clonsheever. whence the Brosna receives its supply, since the waters of Lough Owel have been appropriated exclusively to the supply of the Royal Canal.
Among the other smaller lakes scattered throughout the county the principal are Lough Maghan, and the two lakes of Waterstown, near Athlone. The fine expansion of the River Shannon, called Lough Ree, may be partially considered as belonging to Westmeath, as it forms the principal part of the western boundary between it and Roscommon. It is twenty miles long in its greatest length from Lanesborough to the neighbourhood of Athlone, and is adorned with several finely- wooded islands. Those adjoining Westmeath are Inchmore, containing 104 acres, once the site of a monastery built by St. Senanus ; Hare Island, containing 57 acres, and having the ruins of an old abbey erected by the Dillon family ; Innisturk, containing 24 acres ; and Iiinisbonin. containing 27 acres. An
4 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
old abbey built on this island by a nephew of St. .Patrick, was plundered by the Danes in 1089.
Lough Glin forms a small portion of the boundary towards Longford ; Loughs Sheelin and Rinale are on its north-western limit towards Cavan. The White Lake, Lough Deel, and Lough Bawn are small boundary lakes on the side of Meath. The water on the last-named of these has the peculiarity of being lower and more limpid in winter than in summer, and being highest in June and lowest at Christmas. In summer its colour is green, like sea water, but in winter it is as pellucid a:s crystal. The Brosna and the Inny are the only rivers of any importance in the county. The former rises at Bunbrosna, near Lough Owel. The Inny, issuing from Lough Sheelin, at the northern extremity of the county, forms the boundary between Westmeath and Cavan. The Royal Canal enters the county from that of Meath, two miles north of Kinne- gad, and passing near Killucan, Mullingar, Ballinea, and Ballina- cargy, after crossing the Inny by an aqueduct, enters the county of Longford, near Tenelick. The summit level at Mullingar is 324 feet above high mark in Dublin Bay. Many vestiges of very remote antiquity may be traced in the neighbourhood of Ballintubber; and others of a similar description are observable in Moycashel.
There are numerous monastic ruins scattered through the county, the principal being Clonfad, Kilcomeragh, Drumscree, Killucan, Lackin, Lynn, and Rahue, Farremanah, Kilbeggan, Kilmocahill, Fore, and Tristernagh, but the houses of the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Augustinians of Mullingar are utterly destroyed. The Franciscans still flourish in Athlone, on the eastern bank of the Shannon, and the same holy community are, like the old abbey family, rooted in Multy- farnham. The Carmelite Order still holds sway in Moate; and it is needless to say that the splendid church, school-house, and ground attached are living mouments of the piety, zeal, labour, and industry of the good fathers whose recent efforts to obtain (when abandoned by all others) comfortable houses for the poor labourers of the district, shall be long remembered by a grateful people. The monastery of Clonmacnoise, with the surrounding territory, was formerly within the county of West- meath, but was transferred to the King's County in 1638, in which it still continues to be included. The ruins of ancient castles, several of which were erected by Hugh de Lacy, are numerous. The remains of Kilbixy castle, his chief residence, though now obliterated, were extensive in the year 1680. Those of Horseleap, another of De Lacy's castles, and the place where tradition asserts he was killed by the hands of one of his own dependents, are still visible. Sonna, Killare, and Rath wire were also built by De Lacy. The second of these stands on the verge
ANCIENT AND MODERN 5
of a small but beautiful lake ; the third fell into the hands of the MacGeoghegans. the mansion of which family was at Castle- town-Geoghegan, and some remains of it are still visible. Other remarkable castles were Delvin, the seat of the Nugents ; Leney, belonging to the Gaynors ; Ernpor, to the Daltons ; Killinny and Ardnath, to the Dillons ; Bracca, near Horseleap, to the MacGeoghegans ; and Clare Castle or Mullaghcloe, the head- quarters of General de Ginckle and Douglas when preparing for the siege of Ballymore. Several castles of the MacGeoghegans were in the neighbourhood of Kilbeggan.
ANCIENT BOUNDARIES.
" This country containeth all land from the moor near Athboy to Shawnbeg, Delvin MacCoghlan, and in breadth from the King's Co. to the County of Longford, comprising all the MacGeoghegan, MacAwleys', and O'Melaghins' countries.
' ' It hath King's county east and south the Shannon, and part of the county Longford west, and the county of Cavan and part of Meath north. It had many fine lakes and marshes of fresh water, the greatest part of which falls into the Shannon above Athlone, and the rest into the Brosna River which also falleth into the Shannon beneath Athlone, not far from Millick. It had no noblemen in it only the baron of Delvin, whose name is Nugent, and is under the bishop of Meath as ordinary.
MARKET TOWNS.
" Mallingare (Mullingar), governed by a Portrive, lately been burned ; Fore, Kilkenny West, Athlone, Ballymore, Castletown, Delvin and Rathwire.
BARONIES.
" Delvin, the chief town, is possessed by the lord of Delvin. His chief house is called Clonyn. Other towns are Drumcree, Taughmon and Ballinamorrill. A great Sept of the Nugents inhabits this barony. Fore, the chief town is Fore. It is in- habited by the Nugents and the chief gentleman is the heir of Carlinstown. Cockaree, Multyfarnham, the chief town, is in- habited by the Nugents, of whom the best is Richard of Donore. Moyashel, possessed by the Nugents and Tuites, of whom the principal is Christopher Nugent, of Dardistown, and Edward Tuite, late slain in Connaught of Killenan. Forbil, Rathwire the chief town, inhabited by the Earl of Kildare, and Fertullagh, inhabited by the Tyrrells, Dundonnell inhabited by the Daltons. Edward Dalton, of Mullaghmeehan ; Peter Nangle, of Bishopstown ; and Francis Shane of Killare. Kil- kenny West, Dillon's country, possessed by James Dillon, son and heir to the late Sir Lucas Dillon, Chief Baron. The inhabitants for the most part are Dillons. Capt. Tibbet Dillon
6 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
resides at Killenfaghney, Magheradernon, inhabited by the Petits, Tuites, and some of the Nugents. The chief of the Petits, Thomas, lives at Irishtown, and the last of the Tuites at Tuitestown (Greenpark), and at Walshestown. Edward Nugent, Moygoish, chief inhabitants, Tuites of Sonna ; Henry Piers, of Tristernagh, and Richard Nangle, of Bally cork ey, and James Fitzgerald, of Laragh. Clonlonan, called the O'Meaghlin's country ; chief town, Clonlonan. Newcastle and Kilgarvan possessed by the O'Meaghlins. Calry, held by MacAwley, the chief town is Bally loghloe. Carne is annexed to Athlone. Moycashel inhabited by the MacGeoghegans ; Bryans at Donore ; Hugh, now High Sheriff, at Castletown ; Art, at Ballycommin ; Con, at Syonan. The heir of Thomas at Laragh, and the heirs of Rosse MacGeoghegan, who hold Killuber ; Moycashel, Knockastie, Lismoyney, and the Abbey of Kilbeggan (Perambulation of the Pale in 1596, Car. Cal.)
WESTMEATH FAMILIES IN 1598.
" Sir C. Nugent, of Moyrath, Co. Meath, and Farrow, West- meath, was son of Sir Thomas Nugent, M.P. for Westmeath in 1561, and of a daughter of Lord Delvin. In 1601 he married Miss Luthell, of Lutterstown. He died in 1619, and was buried in Taughmon Church. His son, Sir Francis, became a Capuchian Friar. His son. Sir Thomas, born in 1598, became a Baronet. His great-grandson, Col. Sir Thos. Nugent, followed James II, to France (Lodge's Peerage).
" Westmeath hath many goodlie lakes and marshes of fresh water of great quantities, whereof the greatest part falleth into the Sheynon, above Athlone, and the rest into the Brosnagh, which also falleth into the Sheynon, near Mellick. It hath 110 noblemen in it, but the baron of Delvin, whose name is Nugent, and under the bishop of Meath as ordinarie hereof. Whereinto is lately united by Parliament, the little diocese of Clone, in O'Meaghlin's country." —(Ireland in 1598).
" Clonmacnoise, now deported as part of the King's County, but of old not so, for this place and three hundred acres of land was in 1638, by the management and procurement of Terence Coghlan, through the favour of Dr. Anthony Martin, then lord bishop of Meath, but for what reason I know not, taken from our barony of Clonlonen, and annexed it to the barony of Garrycastle, King's County."— (Piers' History of Westmeath, p. 85.)
" In 1593, an Act of Parliament was passed in the preamble of which we read, for the division of Methe into two shires, because the shire of Methe is great in circuit, and the west part thereof laid about and beset by divers of the King's rebells, and several parts thereof, the King's writs, for lack of ministration of justice here, not of late have been obeyed, nor his grace's laws put into due execution." — (Lyons' Grand Juries of Westmeath).
ANCIENT AND MODERN
WESTMEATH IN THE DAYS OF CROMWELL.
FINEA.
Finea is a village in the barony of Demifore ; six miles north- west of Castlepollard, on the road from Oldcastle to Granard, and on the confines of the county Cavan, and was the scene of many bloody conflicts between the Anglo-Normans and the Cromwellian freebooters. The counties of Westmeath and Cavan are separated at this place by a stream connecting Lough Sheelin and Lough Kinale, and over which is a stone bridge of nine arches. In 1644 Lord Castlehaven as Lieutenant-General of the Confederate (Catholic) Army, was directed to march with his force into Ulster. As commander of the Leinster contingent he had under him three foot regiments from Munster and 200 horse. Purcell was his Lieutenant-General for that expedition. The finest army for the number that could be seen — b',500 infantry and 1,400 horse. With this small but brave army the Confederates marched for Finea. Before reaching it they were apprised by Owen Roe O'Neill, who was then encamped on the borders of Meath, that the enemy was moving in the direction of Finea. General Pur- cell, understanding the difficulties that beset his little army and the force opposed to him, commanded John Butler, brother of Lord Montgarrett, of the Leinster horse, to march in all haste to Finea and make good that passage. Butler, arriving at the place named, instead of adopting offensive or defensive measures, began drinking and carousing, which was a favourite pastime of his, and took no steps to defend the place, save to place a few soldiers near the bridge, on the Ulster side. The men thus posted were not long there when they observed what thev believed to be a scouting party of the enemy near at hand. The Irish went in pursuit to capture them. The pursued fled swiftly in the direc- tion of a valley which was partially concealed by surrounding hills. The Roundheads on the approach of Butler's troopers feigned a retreat, and when the Irish approached within pistol stiot they saw to their surprise the enemy in force concealed, who poured a volley into them which compelled them to return to the bridge of Finea. In this encounter the Irish lost thirty or forty men. Captain Gerald Fitzgerald, who was in command of the troopers, was the last to retreat, and before he was captured three Puritans bit the dust. After a desperate struggle he was dis- armed, and given in- charge of three troopers as a prisoner, while the remainder went in pursuit of Butler's men. Left alone with his three captors, Fitzgerald, who was a stout, burly man, took out his purse and held it aloft in his hand, after which he threw it away as far as he could from him. Two of the soldiers ran to
8 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
pick up the booty, and there was a struggle between them for the contents of the purse. Fitzgerald had no time to lose ; he had but one man to contend with, and if he delayed the other two would return and his fate would be sealed. Quick as lightning he drew from his girdle a skeine or knife, which he had carefully concealed, and plunged it in the heart of his guard, and triumph- antly rode off to join his frier, Is. Butler and his fine army, who were eager for fight, retired from Finea, which was considered a strong position, leaving it to the mercy of the enemy and marched to Mullingar. The Cromwellians entered the town, plundered it, after which they burned it to ashes. The noble house of Car- landstown, the residence of Sir Robert Nugent, shared the same fate, as did several houses in the district. The enemy, after burn- ing, plundering, and massacring the defenceless people, returned to the North.
SECOND ATTACK ON FINEA, 1650.
Gilbert, in his interesting work, " History of Public Affairs in Ireland from 1641 to 1652," compiled from original manuscripts preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, gives a har- rowing account of the condition of the inhabitants of Westmeath during the cruel and iron rule of the Puritans. He says : —
At the beginning of the year 1650 there was no martial man of any stand- ing to command the Confederate Force of Leinster, except two reformed regiments of foot, or rather deformed regiments of horse and foot, under the Earl of Westmeath ; all the rest went to Connaught, and those who remained played the part of tyrants, raising the price of food as they saw their neighbours distressed and short of food. These so-called defenders of faith and fatherland would not strike a blow in defence of the defenceless people unless they gave them all they possessed. The Cromwellians at this period scoured Westmeath in loose companies, plundering and slaying the poor peasants and farmers. The supposed defenders of the people, instead of striking a blow for their oppressed countrymen, followed the tactics of the marauding Roundheads by plundering the poor people and the Friars who sought refuge with their cattle on lonely and bleak hillsides, and in bogs and valleys. This year the Friars of Multyfarnham, with a number of their flock and little stock, sought refuge from the plunderers on the brink of a bog far from their monastery. The Westmeath Horse, wbich was supposed to be raised by the Earl of Westmeath, went in pursuit of the fugitives and ruthlessly plundered them. The Cromwellian freebooters, taking advantage of the disturbed state of the country without defenders, and those who should protect the people from the ravages of the English and Scotch robbers and murderers, marched to Finea, and demanded the surrender of the Castle and the fort. The Earl of Westmeath was in the castle at the time and had chief command, and though he refused to hand it over to the enemy he took no means to defend it. Some time prior to the attack on Finea the farmers were induced to store their corn and cattle in the castle, which, they were assured, would be defended to the last. Christopher Nugent was second in command, with three score of foot soldiers. His lordship's cavalry, as already stated, was scattered over the country plundering and harassing their friends. Captain Scurloge with his troop of horse went over to the enemy, and the Earl's Lientenant-Colonel
ANCIENT AND MODERN 9
of Horse, James Barnwell, brother of Sir Richard Barmvell, of Kirktown, also betrayed the cause. The house of Finea was left destitute of furni- ture, and'stripped of everything except the food and cattle of the people stored there. Everything of value was removed by the Earl to his fortress on the bank of the Shannon, county Longford, which was proof that he intended to hand over Finea treacherously to the enemy The Earl some time before the second attack on Finea went to the Ulster Provincial at Cavan and asked for assistance to defend the place. The answer he got was that it would be defended, not to oblige his lordship, but in defence of the cause. Philip O'Reilly and Alexander MacDonnell were despatched by the Council to defend Finea with their joint force. The Earl accompanied them part of the way, and he informed the two colonels that he would ride off before them to Finea and prepare for their safety, but when he got out of their sight he headed for Tarmonbarry. On their arrival at Finea 500 men were commanded to defend the Togher. The town abounded Avith pro- visions of all kinds and a plentiful supply of aqua vitai (whiskey) which the North men loved. The men placed at the Togher not being provided with the good things which abounded, abandoned it and went into the town, where they beheld their comrades all intoxicated. The wary enemy on learning that the defenders of the garrison were drunk and the Togher abandoned, hastily entered the town.
All was confusion and bustle, and then commenced the work of slaughter and devastation. The more sober of the party sought safety in flight. Philip MaeHugh O'Reilly, who was more temperate than the other Commanders, on seeing the sudden and unexpected entry of the enemy into the town, mounted his horse and fled. Many were killed and taken prisoners. Amongst the former were Colonel Manus Roe O'Cahan. Over 300 prisoners were taken, chief of whom was Colonel Alexander MacDonnell, Lord Antrim's brother. The fort was then attacked, and sur- rendered without a struggle, the defenders' lives being spared.
The Cromwellians having gained possession of Finea garrisoned it, and then marched for Mullingar. Some of the prisoners taken were savagely treated by the Roundheads, as they were compelled to drag their ordnance waggons. They were afterwards sent in chains to Dublin, where many of them died miserably, and those who survived were transported to one of the West India Islands. Colonel MacDonnell was sent a prisoner to Waterford, and from thence to London.
Some of the leading peers of the Confederation during the Clmstmas holidays (1646) stopped at Kinel Fiacha, Castletown G., and some at the Castle of Donore, and were guests of the MacGeoghegans, though Conly, the proprietor of the last-named place, did not appear. At the same time some hundreds of the soldiers under Ormond were quartered in the district, and great jealousy prevailed between them and the Leinster forces. The Ulster men did not care about either party. The Confederates marched from Tyrrellspass to Fartullagh, and from Shinee to Fearbiby and killed some twenty troopers of Ormond's force and drove the rest from the barony in the direction of Mullingar. Ormond remained here for a fortnight to give time to Preston to
10 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
reach Ballymore to intercept O'Neill, whom he feared would intercept them on their march to Dublin. Henry Roe O'Neill went in pursuit to Boardstown, through which place they passed and from thence to Killeton, where he was advised that the force at his disposal was not able to cope with that of Ormond.
The Cromwollians, after taking the Castle of Donore, overran the whole County of Westmeath, placing garrisons wherever they pleased. Ballymore was a strong fortress belonging to Lord Netherville, where he resided himself at the time. Netherville, who belonged to the Ormond party, and was a Catholic, invited the Roundhead General to his house on hearing that he was at Donore. The invitation was accepted. On arriving he care- fully examined the fortress, the strength, and how it would benefit the followers of Cromwell if they had possession of it, being a thoroughfare town, half way between Mullingar and Athlone, from each one day's march, and also an important station to curb the Catholics of Longford. Netherville had reason to be soon tired of his military visitor. In a couple of days the castle and town and the lives or property of the people were in possession of the regicides.
After the taking of Finea, the Roundheads roved over the county in loose bands of idlers, plundering and slaying the defence- less people. Not content with robbing them, they seized on their cattle, and compelled them to draw their ordnance baggages to Mullingar. They even forced the poor prisoners they had taken at Finea to draw their ambulances. After plundering Mullingar they started for Dublin, bringing with them many prisoners, one of whom was Colonel Alexander MacDonnell, who was sent to London closely guarded. The poor prisoners were transported to Barbadoes.
After the taking of Finea the Cromwellians plundered the country in every direction. The Convent of Multyfarnham was plundered and the house of the Friars demolished. Some of the party proceeded to Ballinalee and plundered the inhabitants, and killed those who offered resistance. — From the English Official Chronicle, 1649.
Colonel Hewson, Commander of the Parliamentarians, writes as follows : —
SIR — I marched from Dublin and the places adjacent with 1,600 foot and 700 horse on the 21st February, to reduce several garrisons in Westmeath, and prevent the raiding of forces there, which I had notice of when I came to Tyroghan. I heard Preston and Dungan did straiten a garrison of ours in the King's County. I marched to Tyrrell's Pass for its relief, and there heard that General Reynolds had dispersed them. I then wheeled for Mullingar, and took in Kilbride, defended against me, where I found 300 barrels of corn. The next day I marched to Mullingar. When I came the enemy quitted Tuitestown (Greenpark) and Dysart, both of which I have garrisoned. I heard that General Reynolds had taken the Castle of Donore (Horseleap), and 700 barrels of corn, and put most of them to the sword.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 11
I ro<le over to him, and \ve both agreed to fortify Ballymore, which the enemy had quitted, and is now made very tenable again. I marched to Ballinalack, a considerable pass upon the Aine (Inny), and took it and Sir Thomas Nugent'.- castle both in one day. Then I marched to Finea. as I had notice that all the Ulster forces would he there to defend it. The last night I encircled the castle up on to Togher, and erected a battery, and at the third shot the enemy abandoned the fortress. We pursued, killed, and devoured the most of them, and hastened to Finea, where Phelim M'llugh, with 1.500 foot, was marching away on the other side of the river. \Ve found an old ford, and marched over 400 horse and my regiment of foot, and sent them, under the command of SirTheophil'us Jones, who pursued them, fell upon them, and killed Colonel ( H 'ahan. and other officers, and about 700 private soldiers, and took the prisoners to the camp. In the interim I attempted to storm Finea, but drew off with the loss of two men. I commanded them to surrender, and they demanded hostages to come and treat. In the interim came General Reynolds, who was within three or four miles of us last night, and we jointly granted them the conditions enclosed; so that this place, which is of considerable importance, is reduced to the Parliament's obedience ; and I trust that this march will so startle the enemy that it will dishearten him. and I hope he shall have no opportunity to form an armv or raise forces on this side of the Shannon this year. (The letter concludes with the usual cant of the Puritans of the period.) And hereunto hath the Lord brought us, and manifested His presence with us.
Finnagh, 14-th March, HJoO.
" Articles of surrender agreed upon between General Reynolds, Colonel Hewson, and Christopher Nugent (Captain) upon the sur- render of Finnagh, this 14th March, 1650 : — 1st, that the garrison of Finnagh be surrendered within a half-hour to Captain Hoare, who is appointed to receive the same ; 2nd, that all ammunition, stores, and provisions that are in said garrison be delivered unto the said Captain ; 3rd, that the Governor of the said garrison, Major Christopher Dardis, shall be a prisoner of war, and shall have his parole for fourteen days after the date hereof ; 4th, and all the rest of the officers and soldiers that are in that said garri- son shall march forth with their arms one mile, at which place they shall deliver up their arms to those appointed to receive them, when the}- shall have a safe conduct to Ardagh, county Longford ; 5th, that the said officers and soldiers of the said garrison are permitted and suffered to their own garrison for three days, during which time no hostility is to be acted towards them, they acting nothing prejudicial to the State of England ; 6th, and that Captain Nugent and Captain Cruise remain hostages for the performance of the forementioned articles.
"Dated 14th March, 1650.
" JOHN REYNOLDS and JOHN HEWSON."
A list of prisoners taken at Finea by the Cromwellians : —
Colonel Alexander MacDonnell, Lieutenant-Colonel John MacDonnell, Major Darby MacDonnell, Captain Donald M'Kay, Captain Patrick M'Cormick, Captain Hector MacNeill, Colonel Turlough O'Quinn, Captain P. O'Mullen, Colonel Arthur MacDonnell, Colonel Donel O'Neill, Colonel Myles O'Reilly,
12 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Colonel Dcnel Brady, Farrell Magauley, Shane O'Keirnan, Lieutenants Owen Mackerry, O'Reilly, MacDonnell, MacDennis, Donnelly, Mulvey, Brien, Carney, Magee, Redan, M'Cormick, Quartermaster Hord', and 376 non-commissioned officers and soldiers.
In 1641 all Westmeath rose in arms. The following were sup- plied with arms and munition of war from Dublin : — Walter Nugent, of Rathaspic ; Robert Nugent, Carolanstown, Finea ; Andrew Tuite, Robert Tuite, Oliver Dalton, Richard Dalton, Sir James Dillon, Sir Thomas Nugent, Thomas Dillon, M. Talbot, Thos. Tyrrell, Edward Tyrrell, Barnaby Geoghegan, with his brother Art, Thomas Geoghegan, Charles M'Loughlin, Awley M'Gawley, and his son Redmond.
Some of the above gentlemen had 200 men each under their command, and as there were no garrisons in the county at the time these onlyacted on the defensive. Many of these named who obtained arms, used them against their friends. Captain Barnaby Geoghegan was informed that the Puritans of Oftally, under command of Sir John Giffard and Captain Digby, intended to march into South Westmeath to murder and pillage.
The marauders plundered the house of Richard Wilferton, who lived in King's County, near the borders of Westmeath, and took himself and Father Robert Geoghegan and Father John Fitzgerald prisoners.
The following day the Puritans divided their party — one to escort the prisoners and the other to guard the plunder. The brigands in their flight had to pass through a large bog, as there were no roads near the place at the time. Geoghegan, informed by trustworthy spies of what had happened, despatched a trusted messenger to young O'Connor of Gerhill to meet him next morn- ing at an appointed place, and to bring with him his followers. Geoghegan, true to his word, was at the place of rendezvous at the hour appointed. He saw the enemy there in force, but O'Connor was nowhere to be seen. Like a brave man, nothing disconcerted by the absence of his ally, he divided his small force into two parts, placing one under the command of his brother Art, whom he directed to go in pursuit of the party who had charge of the provender, and that he (Barnaby) would rescue the prisoners. Art went in pursuit of the parties who were under the command of Captain Digby, who had a troop of horse under him. Digby, observing the movement of Art, tried to get him between the bog and his cavalry. Geoghegan vigorously charged the enemy's horse, and with the first discharge Digby fell from the saddle mortally wounded. The Puritans, seeing their leader fall, fled in confusion. In their headlong flight they had the misfortune to fall in with Teige O'Connor's party, who was hastening to Capt. Barnaby's assistance, and he cut them off almost to a man and made prisoner of Lieutenant Moore. While the above stirring
ANCIENT AND MODERN 13
scenes were enacting, Barnaby was not idle. He quickly over- took Giffard and his ungodly followers, who intended to hang the two priests. The fight was short, sharp and decisive. Unable to withstand the fierce charge of the Irish Gallowglasses, the Cromwellians retreated, leaving many of their followers dead on the field.
Sir James Dillon, though sworn to the covenant and received arms from the State, stirred neither hand or foot on either side, but Thomas Dillon McTalbot was a firm supporter of the Catholic cause. He gave great trouble to the town and garrison of Athlone. He prevented markets being held there, and pillaged the Round- heads resorting there. All this time Sir James Dillon was in friendly correspondence with the Lord President of Connaught, who lived in Athlone and was frequently his guest. The Presi- dent requested Sir James to use his influence with his cousin Thomas to give up harassing him (the President), and that he would get protection and pardon for his past offences and be amply rewarded in the future. Sir James communicated the President's message to his cousin, who complied and disbanded his followers. Some days after the submission of Mr. Talbot the President was informed that he was absent from home and would be away some days, and taking advantage of his absence he sent a force of horse and foot to his house, who plundered it and after- wards burned it to the ground together with his haggard. Dillon McTalbot on his return home had nothing left him but the smouldering ruins of his once stately mansion.
Piers, in his history of Westmeath, tells us that there was a Convent here of the Order of St. Clare, which was plundered by the English soldiers from the garrison of Athlone, in 1641. The Mother Abbess was a daughter of Sir Edmund Tuite, Tuitestown (Greenpark), but this did not prevent the expulsion of the nuns, or the sacrilegious destruction of their house. The religious re- assembled at Athlone under the same Mother Abbess, and the soldiers who burned and plundered the convent were attacked by the people as they were retreating, and almost the whole party, to the number of sixty, including the captain and some of the officers, were put to death. The convent was situated in H picturesque spot close to the bank of Lough Ree. The following account of the plunder and burning of Bethlehem Convent is compiled from the History of Public Affairs in Ireland, 1641 to 1652. The Roundheads who were stationed in Athlone were ordered to gar- rison in the Dillon country, barony of Kilkenny West. There was a picturesque nook on the bank of Lough Ree. There was a nunnery belonging to the Nuns of the Order of St. Clare. On the news spreading that the Roundheads were going to quarter themselves in the fair barony above-named, the inhabitants, knowing well from past experience that their object was robbery and murder, sought safety by transporting themselves and their
14 ANNAL8 OF WESTMEATH
property to an island in Lough Ree, where they would be out of the reach of the plunderers and assassins. The flight of the nuns and inhabitants was so sudden that many of them left valuable property after them. The Roundheads, to the number of eighty, paid a visit to the convent which was deserted by its occupants, and after plundering it set it on fire. Not content with robbery of the place, some of the scoundrels donned the habit of the nuns, and mockingly solicited alms of each other, that they were poor nuns of the Order of St. Clare. In fancied security the pillagers started for Athlone with their booty, but fate, or rather God's providence, ordered it otherwise. The news of the flight of the nuns and the inhabitants of Bethlehem reached the castle of Sir James Dillon and two of his adherents, Captain Charles McLough- lin and Oliver Buoy Fitzgerald, with eighty men, started to intercept the robbers with their plunder. The little force under McLoughlin and Fitzgerald took up a position in a narrow defile through which the Cromwellians were to pass, carefully ambushed from view. When the robbers entered the gorge they were surrounded on all Asides by the followers of Dillon, who despatched ever}T one of them in a few minutes. There was only one casualty on the Irish side, and he was shot in mistake for a Roundhead. After the outrage on the convent, the people of Kilkenny West made it hot for the Cromwellians who were bivouacked amongst them, as they shot and piked them whenever opportunity afforded. The result of the vigilance of the people was that many of the Roundheads abandoned the temporary garrisons in which they were stationed and fled to Athlone and others to Dublin. Some days after the events narrated a young gentleman of the Dillons was riding over the rich lands of Tubberclare when he observed a party of Cromwellians marching in the direction of Ballymore. Dillon had only one companion, and it would be madness to assail such a strong force. So putting spurs to their steeds they galloped off for Cummerstown, where there was at that period a way-side inn or public- house where they were sure to find willing allies. They were not mistaken — there were about a dozen of stalwart men regaling themselves at the bar, and they told them to arm with such weapons as were at hand and to attack and cut down thfc enemies of their race and creed. Fortunately for the enterprise the publican had some muskets stored away, scythes, pikes, etc., and with these he armed the sons of toil. Young Dillon and his followers concealed themselves some distance from the public-house, and allowed the enemy to regale themselves with home-brewed ale. Acquainted with every defile, gorge, and mountain pass in the fair barony, the young chieftain led his rustic followers by a short cut to the hill of Baskin, about two miles west of Ballymore, and here in a secluded dell they awaited the arrival of the Puritans. They had not long to wait when the enemy approached, and assailing them on all sides the enemy
ANCIENT AND MODE1!.\ 15
offered little or no opposition as they were taken by surprise. The struggle was of short duration — in twenty minutes the Crom- wellians were killed, all but six men who fled into the bog, and the shades of evening falling prevented pursuit or they would have been captured or despatched. All their arms, ammunition and plunder, fell into the hands of Dillon's victorious followers, among whom he divided the spoils of victory.
CASTLE OF DONORE, HORSELEAP.
The Castle of Donore is situated in the parish of Horseleap, between Streamstown and that village, and was for centuries in possession of a branch of the MacGeoghegan family. They also had other castles in the parish — Bracca and Syonan. In 1641 Conly MacGeoghegan was sole proprietor of the castle and estate of Donore. In the month of December, 1646, the force under Sir James Dillon, Taaffe, Castlehaven, and Digby marched into Westmeath, using no act of violence on their way. They believed they were masters of the country.
Theonly thing they took from the inhabitants was food and drink.
The army entered Ballymore, where they heard of the move- ments of Owen Roe O'Neill. There the army separated, one division going to Castletown G., the other to Donore, the seat of Conly MacGeoghegan. It was Christmas week, and Conly kept out of the way, which caused much uneasiness to Ormond, as he was anxious to know of his whereabouts. The army was quar- tered on the people of the district for some days, after which they proceeded to Tyrrellspass, 1650. After the surrender of the city and castle of Kilkenny by Sir Walter Butler, he marched into Kiney Ferasha, Castletown G., and from thence to Horseleap to storm the castle of Donore ; but on learning the strength of the garrison he abandoned the attempt, and let loose his soldiers to pillage the unfortunate inhabitants of the district.
Not content with plundering the poor, they broke into the chapel of Horseleap, where the priest had a quantity of corn stored belonging to his poor parishioners, as he thought it was a safe sanctuary. The doors and windows' of the church were broken, and everything of value carried off by the sacrilegious plunderers. The chief actor in breaking into the church was Captain Gerald Fitzgerald. Sir Walter Butler did not check the ruffian soldiers or punish any of them for their sacrilegious conduct.
The same year the Cromwellians attacked the castle of Donore under General Reynolds and Major Starley. The former came from Kilkenny and the latter from Trim. The approach of the enemy was so stealthy that no one was aware of their coming till within a mile of the castle. Confusion and dismay followed.
The poor people, knowing by sad experience that the Round- heads would show no mercy to them, fled precipitately, taking
16 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
with them their cattle, leaving everything else behind them, and hastened north for the county Longford. Conly MacGeoghegan was from home at the time, and had a safe conduct from the Government, to whom he paid contribution. The defenders of the castle were fifty young men, and the steward, James Geoghegan. They knew nothing about warfare, nevertheless they boasted of their prowess. Conly before leaving told them, if attacked, to show the protection document which he held for himself and his people from the Government. Major Stanley was aware that MacGeoghegan was paying contribution to the Government and had protection, consequently he departed for Mullingar, leaving to Reynolds the work of murder and pillage. Reynolds, on arriving at Donore, demanded its immediate and unconditional surrender. The steward showed the protection to Reynolds, and requested that neither the castle or bawn should be entered, or use any hostility to the followers of MacGeoghegan. Reynolds said that no hostility would be shown by his soldiers, but that he (Reynolds) and his officers should lodge in the castle and the soldiers encamp in the town, and that they should be supplied with meat and drink. The steward requested Reynolds to put on paper his terms and what he required, but this he re- fused to do. The steward, relying too much on the good faith of the Cromwellian commander, offered to conduct him to the castle. The offer was accepted, and while on his way a sentinel on the battlement shouted out that if he approached any nearer he would shoot him. Reynolds had heard that the castle had plenty of provisions, drink, and munition of war stored within its walls, and the boast of the soldier on the rampart that he would shoot him afforded him an opportunity of breaking his word of honour that the place would not be attacked by his men. Reynolds ordered an attack on the bawn, and the brutal soldiers entered it, killing women, children, and defenceless men without mercy. The defenders of the castle were somewhat puzzled when they saw the steward of Geoghegan and Reynolds walking together apparently on friendly terms. They were thrown off their guard, as they did not anticipate hostilities in consequence of the protec- tion, but when they saw the mangled bodies of their murdered friends and neighbours in the bawn, they became conscious of their position. After massacring those in the bawn, the Round- heads proceeded to the castle gate, over which was a large dining- room, and meeting a small window in the wall they commenced to make a breach that would admit them. The steward observing the movements of the enemy, ordered three of his followers who were inside to fire on fche ports at the breach, which they did. The assailants fired in and shot the steward. For a time the entrance of the Puritans by the window was barred by the defenders till all were shot down except one man, William Day, and he courageously defended the entrance and would not desist
Entrance to Donore Castle,
Showing the original Iron Gate.
[.». T.
To face pa^t 1 6.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 17
till he extorted from Reynolds a promise of quarter of his life and those inside. The Cromwellians on entering the castle com- menced to plunder it of its contents. Rushing into the rooms they broke chests, boxes, trunks, drawers and presses. The castle contained rich booty — gold, silver, plate, broadcoth, Cambric, Holland linen, suits of armour. The castle was well stocked, too, with corn, provisions of all kinds, liquors and other com- modities such as the Puritans had not seen since they came to Ireland ; fifty persons were slain in cold blood. The next morn- ing, after stripping the castle of everything worth carrying off, the freebooters departed with their booty. Four months after, Conly MacGeoghegan was allowed to return and take possession of the bare walls of the castle.
BALLYMORE, 1648.
The Governor of Athy sent a message to Owen Roe O'Neill, who was then posted in the county Longford, that his position was threatened and that he required assistance from him to hold the town and castle of Athy. At the time Dillon, Taaffe, Sir Phelim O'Neill and other commanders in the royal cause, with a considerable force, were posted at Ballyinore for the purpose of preventing O'Neill crossing the Inny, and they swore that they would hold the passage of the river against all comers or perish in the attempt. Contrary to expectation, when Owen Roe ap- proached the river he saw no foe to obstruct his passage across. It appears that the day before O'Neill's arrival, Ormond's gene- rals at Bally more ordered their forces to fall back on Bally more and to offer no opposition to the Catholic General, as they nattered themselves that he would fall a prey into their hands. O'Neill was informed of the ruse, and the oath they had taken to capture him, and determined to test the sincerity of their boast- ing. On arriving at Shinglas, about a mile north from Bally- more, O'Neill observed the enemy, horse and foot, drawn up in battle array and apparently strong in numbers. The intrepid O'Neill ordered his men to advance with all speed and to charge the foe, but, strange to relate, when within a short distance of each other, the soldiers of Dillon and his friends put spurs to their horses and retreated towards Baskin, which was in the Dillon country. On observing their sudden and unexpected flight, O'Neill ordered some of the horse to pursue them and to watch their movements. The enemy were not aware that they were pursued until they reached the district of Baskin, a large portion of which was a swampy morass. On a sudden the followers of O'Neill appeared on the top of the hill over them. Fear and consternation took possession of Ormond's soldiers, and they fled in every direction from their avenging countrymen, some to Mullagmeehan, more to Carrickaneagh, Drumraney, Knockastar
18 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
and the barony of Clonloman. O'Neill ordered the fugitives to be pursued, but to kill none of them unless they offered resistance or in self-defence. None of the runaways offered the slightest resistance, and but for the humanity of O'Neill they would have fallen victims to the fury of the little band of Confederates. In their flight they were jeered by the soldiers of O'Neill, who called on them to halt, and to make good the oath they had taken at Ballymore not to allow O'Neill or his men to cross the Inny, and to kill everyone of them. The next day O'Neill marched to Clon- gowney (near Mullingar) where there was a castle, fortified and garrisoned for the King. The Governor of the Castle was Lord Clanmaliers, and he from the battlements of the fortress informed O'Neill that he would defend it to the last. O'Neill, ordering his army to advance and attack the fortress, Lord and Lady Clanmaliers parleyed with the General, and the former apologised for his utterance, whereupon O'Neill, after getting provisions and other necessaries for his men out of the castle, departed to relieve Athy, 1650. The Cromwellians, under Reynolds, after taking the castle of Donore, plundering it, and slaughtering in cold blood its defenders, overran a great portion of Westmeath, placing garrisons wherever they pleased. The castle and fort of Ballymore at that period belonged to Lord Nether ville, a Catholic nobleman. Netherville held the castle and sent for Ormond, but on hearing that the Parliamentary forces were within six miles of him at Donore, he invited the Cromwellian commander to Bally- more. The invitation was accepted, the wary Puritan observing the situation of the place, its strength, and it being a thoroughfare town between Mullingar and Athlone,.from each one day's march, and also an important seat to curb the county Long- ford, manned with Cromwellians the fort and castle, and in a short time Lord Netherville had reason to complain of his guests,
COMPILED FROM O'NEILL'S JOURNAL.
O'Neill, on learning that General Preston had taken the field against him, removed with his small army to Athlone to secure his men as well as that pass. Preston's army marched for Athlone and camped at Moy, near Moydrum. O'Neill within, and Preston without the town, spent a good deal of time in one another's neighbourhood without any other action but slight skirmishes, till O'Neill for want of provisions was forced to quit the place and march to Jamestown, leaving Theobald Magawley with some officers and soldiers of his own, to guard and defend the castle and the pass. From Jamestown, O'Neill marched to Mohill, and from thence to Ballinalee, county Longford, where he obtained information that Preston, Claiirickard, and all those that joined them, invested Athlone with a close siege on both sides of the
ANCIENT AND MODERN 19
river, whereupon he marched forward and resolved to try his fortune in raising the siege, when intelligence came to him that Lord Dillon, Lord Taaffe, Major Barnwell, and Colonel Purcell were posted at Ballymore with a large force of horse and foot to intercept him. However, O'Neill, no way deterred, crossed the Inny to encounter them at Ballymore. First, as he crossed the river, some diversion was offered by a party of the enemy. The next day proving very rainy obliged him to keep his camp all that day at a convenient distance from Ballymore without any alarm from the enemy. The following morning the weather was splendid, for it was in the glorious month of June. The purple summer heather, the wild briar, the long, yellow broom and honeysuckle that clambered among the cliffs loaded the air with rich perfume, while over the wild and picturesque hills of Mullaghcloe, Knockastie, and Royal Uisneagh, the rising sun poured a flood of golden lustre, bringing forward in strong light the wooded acclivities of those grand old hills, nature's bulwark against the tyrant and enslaver in the dark penal days, when it was treason to love and death to defend. It was the morning of battle, and the hearts of the gallowglasses and kerns under O'Neill panted for the fray. They had a thousand wrongs to avenge. Their fair country laid waste and plundered by the brutal free- booters of Cromwell, backed up by the descendants of the Anglo- Norman adventurers, and the recreant Irish of the Pale. They saw, too, lying on the roadside, dead and unburied, their kith and kin, who died of hunger after their crops were cut down and left to rot by the tyrants, who burnt their corn and destroyed every- thing of value that they could not carry off with them. This is not an overdrawn picture of the state of Ireland during the reigns of Elizabeth, James I., Charles I., and Cromwell. The Protestant historian, Morrison, who was Secretary of the Lord Deputy, Mountjoy, says — "No spectacle was more frequent in ditches about towns and countries laid waste, than the dead bodies of poor people, men, women and children, who died of hunger, their mouths all coloured green by eating nettles, docks, and all things they could get growing above the earth." They saw their churches desecrated, their religion banned and a price set on the head of their faithful soggarth aroon.
" Oh. these were the days of persecution and blood, When the home of the priest was the mountain and wood."
They remembered, too, their exiled lords and rifled shrines, and that the once happy homes of the nobility and gentry were seized by the plunderers. The Royalists on learning that O'Neill was close at hand, ordered that the old walls and ditches in and around the town, which was then a place of considerable im- portance, be lined with foot, and the horse to be drawn up in the centre within the town. O'Neill made a furious attack on both
20 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
horse and foot, and after a trifling resistance they fled helter skelter in the direction of Moate. At a fort called Cruachan Rhu, about a mile south-west of the village of Ballymore, the followers of Charles I. halted to retrieve the fortunes of the day, but O'Neill's intrepid warriors quickly overpowered them. Routed and dispirited, the soldiers of Dillon and Taaffe would have been slaughtered to a man were it not for O'Neill, who declared that he did not care to spill the blood of his own country- men. O'Neill lost only four men. Captain Barry, a Royalist, was taken prisoner.
BALLINALACK.
Ballinalack, during the wars of Ireland, was a place of consider- able importance, as it was the straight route to the county Long- ford and some of the counties of Connaught. The river Inny running through it and the close proximity of two lakes to the village — Lake Derravaragh and Lough Iron — it was considered by military men a position of strategetic importance in time of war. The passage across the Inny was perilous from the fact that a strong castle protected it on the west bank, belonging to the Nugents. In 1649, Major Swan with a strong force of Ulster- men, horse and foot, marched into Westmeath from the county Cavan, for the purpose of taking up winter quarters in the last- named county. On his march from Granard, O'Neill was informed that the castle of Ballinalack was strongly fortified and manned by Richard Nugent, thirteenth Baron of Delvin and second Earl of Westmeath. The Earl was appointed General of the Forces of Leinster by direction of the Kilkenny Council of the Con- federation, but he proved false to his trust, as he was an oppor- tunist like many others, at times and at the present period pre- pared to back up the strong side. At Finea he abandoned the little army he was to command against Reynolds and Hewson, the Puritan commanders, and fled to his castle at Tarmonbarry on the bank of the Shannon. The author of " Public Affairs in Ireland from 1641 to 1652," says that the force under Nugent at the castle of Ballinalack devastated the country for miles, and assailed all persons coming from the county Longford, and that he persecuted the clergy. {C Hugh O'Neill, on arriving at the castle, demanded its immediate, unconditional surrender. The reply was a defiant one — no surrender. The chivalrous Northerns, with the characteristic bravery of their race, made a vigorous onslaught on the fortress and its defenders, which compelled the garrison in half an hour to cry for quarter. Some of the West- meath followers who were captured and who had pillaged and maltreated the people of the district were hanged by order of O'Neill, others were allowed to live unmolested, The General placed Captain D s in charge of the castle to defend it, but
ANCIENT AND MODERN 21
he handed it over to the earl for a consideration, it was thought.
D s some time before that surrendered up the castle of
Athboy without striking a blow. D s and his followers
after quitting the castle lived at free quarters for a time, com- pelling the poor people to support them." In 1647 D s with
some followers held the castle of Athboy for the Confederates, but being hard pressed he wrote to O'Neill that his ammunition was exhausted, and that unless succour arrived speedily he would be compelled to capitulate. O'Neill sent him five firkins of powder, matches and shot, and exhorted him to hold out for four or five days, when he would come to his assistance. After receiving
the munitions of war the treacherous commander D s observed
a party of the enemy's horse outside the town ; he signalled to them to come to the gate, which was closed. They approached
it. and it was opened for them, and D s, contrary to his oath
of fealty, handed it over to the Roundheads. Some of his subalterns, who were ignorant of the perfidy of their captain, offered resistance, but they were overpowered and made prisoners of.
WESTMEATH 110 YEARS AGO. WALKING GALLOWS HEMPENSTAL AT WORK.
CHAPTER OF SAVAGERIES.
British misrule has been the curse of Ireland in the past, Ireland in return was the curse of England, round whose neck the Emerald Isle clung, as the old man of the sea clung to Sinbad, pulling him down. English preachers, English and Irish states- men, and orators of all measurements, were loud in indignant denunciations of the cold-blooded savagery of long- oppressed, outraged, wronged Ireland, particularly writers of the Mus- grave and Maxwell type, in their exaggerated accounts of the burning of Sculabogue. Truty Ireland, at the period of which we write, with her pockets rifled, her lands alienated, her ancient proprietors despoiled and expatriated, by the foulest force and fraud, the best and bravest in the land consigned to the gibbet, even women indecently and foully tortured, because they refused to betray their sires, brothers, husbands, and lovers, presents a picture of horror unparalleled in the modern annals of the world.
At the Midsummer Assizes of 1797, the Grand Jury of West- meath voted a service of plate to the officers of the Wicklow Militia, of which corps Hempenstal, the notorious Walking Gallows, was a lieutenant, in recognition of the splendid services they*rendered. to the Crown and Constitution. An indignant Westmeath freeholder, writing in the " Press Newspaper" early In August, '97, sets forth " the splendid services" of Hempenstal and
22 AXNALS OF WESTMEATH
his comrades which led to the generous gift of the Grand Jury out of the pockets of the ratepayers, who were powerless to prevent the presentation. The writer bitterly assailed the Grand Jury for rewarding men whose only claims to their generosity were a series of foul and cowardly murders, burnings, and other outrages, and quotes the following atrocities committed by them : In 1795 the Wicklow Militia were stationed at Strabane, county of Londonderry, and here is a specimen of the conduct of the heroes on whom the Grand Jury of this county showered fulsome praise. From the " Dublin Evening Post," 28th May, 1795, " To such of the Officers of the Wicklow Militia regiment as authorised the following Chef d'ceuvre of wit and decency in the ' Strabane Journal,' of 20th April, ' Wanted for the service of the officers who compose the mess of His Majesty's Wicklow regiment of militia, twelve beautiful girls who have not inhabited the town of Strabane since the 5th of April, 1796. As wages is by no means the object, it is expected that none will apply who do not produce a certificate signed by eight respectable matrons, of their having their virtue pure and unsullied. No girl will answer above the age of 18, or under that of 14. Application to be made to the regimental matron, Mrs. Catherine Smythe, Bowling Green, Strabane. N.B. — Growing girls of the age of IS if approved and highly recommended may possibly be taken."
The following is a copy of the letter of the Westmeath free- holder referred to — " Gentlemen, — The page of history will record with indignation a late transaction of yours. At the Midsummer Assizes you voted a service of plate to the Officers of the Wicklow Militia for their exertion in preserving the peace of your county. Before I animadvert on your conduct I shall take a short review of some of those transactions which recommended these gentle- men to your gratitude and favour. These men of blood from the moment they entered the service of the present Administration (I cannot say that of their country), foresaw that the highroad to preferment was to wade through blood, burn houses, immolate victims, no matter whether innocent or guilty, to support the system of terror, perhaps upon the false charge of the basest of assassins, or miscreants called an informer ; or perhaps their own suggestion, plunge the dagger into the breasts of hoary and help- less age ; deprive by fire and sword numerous and wretched families of the means of existence, and like their bloody proto- type, Cromwell and Bobespiere, hunt like wild beasts (or the Maroom of Jamaica), the object of their vengeance, whose greatest crime is perhaps their being Irishmen, and loving their country,**
Amongst the many cruelties practised by the officers and pri- vates of this regiment, I shall mention some few which for enormity have not been exceeded by the most sanguinary savages that ever disgraced human nature. Hempenstal, well known as the ' Walking Gallows/ with a party of his regiment marched to
ANCIENT AND MODERN 23
a place called Gardenstown, near Moyvore. Lovers of topography will search in vain the ordnance survey maps of Westmeath for the townland of Gardenstown. The name is obliterated from modern atlases of the county, and few there are who remember the locality by that name. It lay near the cross-roads of Moyvore, adjoining Templepatrick. On the publication of the first edition of the " Sham Squire," some of Hempenstal's Wicklow des- cendants attempted to deny that their unworthy relative converted his tall muscular frame into a temporary gallows to hang the Irish enemies of his gracious Majesty George III., but the author, the late Mr. W. I. Fitzpatrick, quoted the Walking Gallows's own admission on cross-examination on the trial of William Kennedy of Edenderry at Navan on the 8th August, 1797, that he placed a rope round his neck and threw him across his shoulder in order to extort from him the names of his accomplices. But Kennedy would reveal nothing and suffered the death sentence. Resembling,. as history and tradition presents him to our view, the crook- backed tyrant of England in his treachery and malignity of spirit, though exercising those qualities on a narrower field, the simili- tude was not borne out in all its points. Traditional reminiscences have not invested Hempenstal with all the poetic horrors which the rnuse of Shakespeare has blended with that of the blood- stained Plantagenet. Nevertheless, in ruthless murders and massacres were spent some years of his literary life, sometimes playing the fool, sometimes the hangman. Converting his huge body into a gallows, he seemed indeed to have an appetite for blood in general — Irish and Popish blood in particular. We were inclined to believe that the atrocities committed by Hempenstal in Moyvore were very much exaggerated, were it not for the proofs we have before us in a file of the " Press Newspaper," which coincides with the traditions of the peasantry.
At the period of which we write there resided at Gardenstown a blacksmith named Edward Carroll, and his three sons, John, Thomas, and Edward. The old man was 70 years of age at the time, but was vigorous and muscular for his years. The sons were stalwarth fellows, who could handle a pike, or forge them, to perfection. They were United Men to the core, and manufac- tured scores of pikes for the eventful struggle in '98, which they did not live to witness. They were long suspected by the local magnates, who ruled the district and who held the lives and liberties of the people in the hollow of their hand. Spies were hired to watch their movements, and a wretch named W— (as there are several of the name living in the Barony of Rath- con rath, and some in the Parish of Moyvore, we abstain from giving it, but there is no secrecy about it in the columns of the Press), accepted the blood money. The informer was a young man of dissolute habits, and was a member of a notorious band of outlaws and desperadoes, who infested South Westmeath at
24 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
that time. Under the guise of patriots they played the triple roll of defenders, thieves, and bullies, and spies when needed ; and they plundered indiscriminately friends and enemies alike. The rendezvous of the gang was on the north bank of the little lake, situated at the rere of Mount Dalton. In a deep glen, sheltered on every side by low Mils, and flanked by a rushing rivulet, was the outlaw's home. The situation chosen by
W and his comrades was undoubtedly convenient and
romantic, and was a safe place for shelter, and to hide stolen property. It was a wild night considering that it was early in June. The flood gates of heaven poured their torrents, the wind rushed angrily through the still darkness, a,nd the lightning flashed at intervals. A lawless gang of desperate men had assembled in the sheeling on the lonely bank of the little lake, whose waters were lashed to fury by the pitiless elements. After
food and drink had been distributed amongst W 's followers,
it was arranged that the night coach, which used to travel between Mullingar and Athlone, should be plundered, as the storm and darkness were favourable for such a rash and daring
enterprise. Lots having been cast, it fell to W to order
the coachman to stop, and the passengers to deliver up their money or their lives. The journey from Mount Dalton to Killare, though not long, was fatiguing and perilous, but the banditti knew every pass in the district. On sped the des- peradoes across Sugar Hill, and the marshy land lying east of Corr, till Royal Usnagh was reached. They entered on the dark pass enclosed on either side by precipices, which rose to an awful height above them in the dim starless sky. The terrific rage of the storm, added to the dead of night, sweeping across the wide historic hill, where kings and princes feasted and revelled a thousand years before, with its numerous legends of ghosts and fairies, had a strange effect on the heart of W— — , who was cruel, cowardly, and superstitious. More than once the robber quailed, but his comrades encouraged him on with deep draughts of " mountain dew," made on the bog of Killahee. On arriving at Killare the miscreants discovered that one of their companions was missing, and various surmises were afloat as to his absence. One said that he might have stumbled down the precipice, another that he might have dropped into a bog-hole, a third that he might have got entangled in the weeds growing in the bed of the river, which they had to ford, a fourth that he had run away, and was an informer. The last surmise turned out to be true. The plundering of the coach was planned some days before, and the missing comrade reported the intended outrage to an officer of the Athlone Yeomanry, who took immediate steps to frustrate the designs of the freebooters.
After refreshing themselves from a jar, they heard the rumbling noise of the expected vehicle as it approached. When
ANCIENT AND MODERN 25
it arrived opposite to where the attacking party was concealed, W— — shouted out in a husky voice to the coachman, " Pull up, or you are a dead man." The driver obeyed. The guard asked what he required. He replied, " money or your lives, and everything of value in the coach." The door was suddenly opened, and a discharge of firearms from the passengers inside, and those on the outside of the coach followed. An exclamation of terror burst from the lips of the midnight marauders, three of whom were fatally wounded. The unexpected resistance terrified
the plunderers, as they calculated on an easy victory. W
and three of his comrades were captured without a struggle and conveyed prisoners to Mullingar. The defenders of the coach were yeomen under command of an officer of the corps, and to
whom W 's treacherous comrade communicated. the intention
of the gang. The leader of the banditti swore against his three companions in crime, and they were hanged, and to save his wretched life he volunteered to betray the secrets of the United Irishmen of the district. Fortunately he knew nothing about their movements, save the manufacture of pikes, and where
they were hid. Two days after the events narrated, W was
brought to Moyvore under a strong escort, and handed over to Hempenstal, to whom he revealed all he knew, and what he did not know of the insurrectionary movement. The informer's first act of perfidy was to accuse Carroll and his sons of making the pikes, after which he piloted the military to the graveyard of Templepatrick where some of these weapons were found under tombstones and more were discovered in the bogs of Dalystowii and Williamstown. Hempenstal, in the presence of the traitor,
W , promised protection and indemnity to old Carroll and
his family if he would quietly surrender up all his arms. The unfortunate old fellow gave the monster three guns, which were no sooner received than he with his own hand sabred the old man through the heart, and then had the three sons, young men, butchered in cold blood, without the rites of the Church. The murderers then burned and destroyed their house, the hay, and in short, every bit of property of which they were possessed. The wife and child of one of the sons were in the house when set fire to and would have been burned had not one of the soldiers dragged them out. Hempenstal said that if the bitch (using his own words) returned or made the least noise, she should share the same fate as the rest of the family. This bloody transaction happened about two o'clock on Monday, 19th June. He then pressed a car on which the dead bodies were thrown and fro-n thence went to the village of Moyvore, about a quarter of a mile from the scene of the murders, where he arrested three other men— viz., Henry Smyth, John Smith, and Michael Murray, the latter, the son of a widow, under pretence of their being United Irishmen, and having tied them to the car on which
26 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
the mangled remains of their neighbours were placed, they were brought three miles to the village of Ballymore. In those days (as we had frequently to remark) arrest, trial, and condemnation hurried closely on the heels of each other. The condemned men were sons of poor widows, whose support they were, and whose comfort and happiness they so sedulously studied that their old days knew no want, and their humble home was one of un- broken quiet and uninterrupted repose. Judge, then, gentle reader, what a terrible reverse suddenly overwhelmed them, when their fine manly sons were mercilessly seized upon, torn from under their tranquil roof, dragged to a fair green, manacled and guarded, and shot for no offence save that of loving their country —on the testimony of an informer, a man of infamous character, a robber, and probably a murderer. The Lord help poor Ireland and the Irish, how little reason have they ever had to have in their hearts a single hour's good will towards the laws or the law- givers, who could leave such reminiscences as these to mark their cruel sway in the land and to show how the founts of justice may be muddled when merciless oppression becomes the order of the day. However, so it was, but our present tradition and report of this foul transaction reported in the columns of the Press do not end there. Oh, no, alas, the saddest part is yet to come — so sad indeed, that we face it with reluctance and think of it with a shudder. A glorious summer afternoon saluted the beautiful district. But what cavalcade is this that comes so rapidly and so boisterously along the old road ; here they come, let us look on. There was a troop of the Wicklow Militia, and yeomen under the command of Hempenstal. In the midst of their rank a common country horse and car ; the bottom of the vehicle was partially sheeted, and through the orifices the intestines of the murdered father Carroll and his three sons protruded and became tangled round the axle, a shocking spectacle to behold, whilst the crimson torrent of their life blood was traceable all along the route. The three boys were handcuffed and heavily ironed. At either side of the well- guarded vehicle marched a drummer and a fifer, who played away the well-known tune of " Croppies Lie Down" for the bare life ; but in truth, we must add, that this loyal tune was not so much intended to insult the manacled prisoners as to drown the shrill and tremulous screams of the sorely afflicted old mothers, and the wife of one of the Smyths, together with the female friends of the Carrolls, for none of the male relatives dare be present, at the peril of their lives, who sang a wild caoine of sorrow, interrupting now and then with fearful maledictions on the head of Hempen- stal, who kept in advance of his men, and appeared to care very little indeed for anything but the completion of the hideous task. The whole party soon reached the place of execution — the fair green of Ballymore, which at that time was an angle of the public road, shaded by ash and poplar trees. Hempenstal's object in
ANCIENT AND MODERN 27
bringing the dead bodies of the murdered Carrolls along with the two Smyths and Murray was to terrify the people, it being fair day. An old woman named McCormick, a native of Moyvore parish, who died in 1893, at the advanced age of 105, in- formed the writer of these sketches, that she had a vivid recollection of the transaction. She remembered seeing the car leaving Moyvore (which was a large village at that period, when we consider that 40 houses were burnt in one night. At present it contains only 12 houses), with its dead and living freight, and the blood-stained road. Hempenstal, on the morning of the day of the deliberate and sanguinary deed , invited several gentlemen to stay and see what he called " pigeon shooting." It is but just to remark that Lord Oxmanstown, who was present at the slaughter, and who appears to have been a humane man, re- monstrated and protested against the cowardly conduct of the " Walking Gallows," on the monstrous cruelty of putting men to death, who, if tried by the laws of the land, and an impartial jury, might be innocent of any crime. His Lordship begged and en- treated to have them sent to jail if they committed any offence, and prosecuted according to law, if any proofs could be brought against them. But his kind and Christian efforts proved un- availing. Hempenstal reminded him that he was in command. The three poor boys were then put upon their knees, and the merciless Hempenstal ordered his myrmidons to fire, which they did, and the victims fell to the ground, completely riddled, in presence of their afflicted mothers and the wife of one of them. The " Press " had the following letter and comment in its issue of June 29th, 1797. The following letter, the simple, unadorned, and genuine expression of misery, may serve better than the most laboured strains of eloquence, to show that the hideous system of Murat was never practiced in full vigour, but against the innocent, unresisting Irish peasant. We make no comment upon it. Our hearts are full of the sorrows of the poor sufferers. May Heaven comfort her in those afflictions, which nothing but the grave can cure : —
Moyvore, June 23rd, 1797.
DKAK JAMES. — To my great grief and sorrow I have to inform you of the untimely death of your two brothers, and alas, deprives me of a good husband. It is tedious to insert all the miseries the enemies of United Irishmen has brought upon this neighbourhood, but particularly of the town of Moyvore, where there were forty houses and tenements burned and
levelled to the ground, on Monday last, totally, by a boy named W .
son of Pat W , who was taken prisoner for robbery, and to avoid been
hanged or shot, turned informer, and brought in innocent and guilty. He first discovered where they were, found arms, and when that was found true, they gave him credit for everything he swore afterwards. The same day, after shooting four men, Ned Carroll and his three sons, where they found the arms, they took poor Jack and Harry, together with one Mick Murray, and when they could not get any information from them, after getting the rites of the church, they were shot on the fair green of
28 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Ballymore. We waked them in the chapel of Moyvore, where no man dare go near us, and applied to the Sculleys to show us where we Avould bury them in Moranstown, and not one of them would come near us ; nor could we get one to carry them, until Pat Flanagan gave us a bed to carry them to Templepatrick, where we buried them. Harry's little effects were saved, but on account of my going backward and forward to Ballymore. > all my effects were consumed to ashes, as there was no one to carry them out. So, my dear friend, I have no shelter here, and I will impatiently await your answer, or if you can afford me any relief let me know it, as poor Jack relied on you to relieve his children. So no more at present from your poor disconsolate widow, who subscribes herself your loving sister-in-law.
MARY SMYTH.
The murder of seven innocent men on the same day did not satiate Hempenstal's thirst for blood, as the following extract from the " Press " proves : —
On the fair day of Ballymore, a poor man of irreproachable character, named Keenan, after selling his cow, had his hand extended to receive the price of her, when this valiant soldier, Hempenstal, struck him with his sword on the shoulder, and almost severed the arm from his body. A young man named Hynes, a mason, passing through the fair on his way home, was attacked by the same ferocious savage, and in the act of begging his life upon his knees, was cut down by the Lieutenant's own ! hands, and was left lying for dead. A priest, at the imminent risk of his life, flew to the victim and administered the last consolation of religion, when three of the militia were ordered back, and, to make use of a vulgar phrase, made a riddle of his body. The clergyman, however, escaped unhurt. The Lieutenant got somewhat ashamed of this bxisiness, and by way of apology for his conduct, alleged that stones were thrown, though it is a notorious fact that no such thing happened. The Clerk of Mr. J)illon, Ballymahon, being in the fair transacting his master's business, was so maimed by this brave soldier and his party, that his life was despaired of. Sixteen persons (whose names I have carefully entered) were so cut, maimed, and abused, that many of them are rendered miserable objects for the remainder of their lives.
So much for keeping the peace of the country. The monster Hempenstal and his bloodthirsty band, not content with shedding the blood of seven innocent men, determined to have a bonfire to celebrate their atrocity by burning the village of Moy- vore. The feat was easily accomplished, as the houses were thatched, and it being midsummer, were highly inflammable. The chivalrous soldiers of his Gracious Majesty George III. selected the dead hour of night for the conflagration, and the scenes that followed were heartrending. The old, young, and infirm — men and women — huddled together. Some of them naked on the street, with no succour, as no one dare approach them, nor aid them, lest they might incur the displeasure of the tyrant — formed a scene of misery of no uncommon occurrence in Ireland at the period. The following account of the burning is from the " Press":—
The village of Moyvore was almost at the dead hour of night set on fire by
direction of Hempenstal and Captain O . and burned to the ground.
with the exception of six houses. Captain O possessing a little
ANCIENT AND MODERN 29
humanity, seemed to feel for the unparalleled distress the burning occa. sioned. while this modern Nero only laughed at the progress of the de- structive element, and called Captain *O a chicken-hearted fellow for
his seeming compassion, for feeling a pang at the miseries he himself had created. Seeing numbers of his fellow-creatures petrified with horror, at witnessing their little properties consumed, and afraid to make the least complaint, seeing that military execution was their ^inevitable fate should they make the least murmur.
Good God, is this the way to make the Constitution revered, or the Government respected. Had Lord North still lived, and had the confidence of his Majesty, he would never recommend the prac- tice of those measures to save Ireland. Now, gentlemen of the Grand Jury, if those and such like acts are the meritorious services whicli have rendered the gentlemen of the Wicklow Militia so amiable in your eyes, I blush for the country that gave me birth, and must declare that his Majesty has not greater enemies than the men who would commit, or the men who abet and encourage such crimes. What do you teach the great majority of the people to believe by such conduct, that the coercion of a foreign enemy would be a mercy compared to the generous efforts (beyond the law, as they are called), of your own military. But, gentlemen, let me ask you, would it not have been more decent, even com- plimentary, to the objects of your esteem, had you made a collection amongst yourselves for the service of plate than to attempt to saddle upon an injured county a tax for the remune- ration of murder. I shall now take leave of you for the present, trusting that you are, or will become, ashamed of your conduct. The avenging hand of God has struck one of the principal springs which heretofore set you in motion. He was called like the tyrant of Russia before that tribunal where no ascendancy will prevail, but that of virtue, truth, and justice.
The following are the names of the gentlemen who served as Grand Jurors at the Summer Assizes, 1797, and who generously voted a service of plate to Hempenstal, the Walking Gallows, at the expense of the ratepayers : —
Judges. — Hon. Robert Boyde, John Toler, and the notorious Lord Norbury,
Hon. Robert Rochfort, Hon. Thomas Pakenham, Sir Henry Tuite, Sir John De Blacquiere, Bart. ; Sir Benjamin Chapman, Bart. ; Sir Robert Hodson, Gustavus Lambert, Gustavus Roch- fort, William Smyth, James Nugent, Ralph Smyth, Richard Reynell, George Glib born, J. M. Barry, James Fetherstonhaugh, Cuthbert Fetherstonhaugh, Anthony O'Reilly, J. Fetherston- haugh, Richard Reynell, Charles Lyons, Alexander Murray, Philip Batty, Francis Evans, M. N. O'Connor, High Sheriff; Frank Battersby, Sub-Sheriff.
The Hon. Robert Rochfort, foreman of the Grand Jury, was third son of Robert, first Earl of Belvidere, by Mary, eldest daughter of Richard, third Viscount Moles worth. The Earl kept
30 ANXALS OF WESTMEATH
his wife a close prisoner for 27 years in Gaulstown House, which, at the present time, belongs to Lord Kilmaine. It is said that jealousy was the cause of it. He was born in 1743, married Frances, daughter of John Nugent, of Clonlost. He married secondly, in 1789, Anne, daughter of William Smyth, Drumcree, and died suddenly, without issue, in 1797, shortly after the Assizes, and before the service of plate was purchased. The Hon. Thomas Pakenham, born in 1857, was the third son of Thomas, iirst baron of Longford, created in 1756. He entered the Royal Navy and attained the rank of Admiral of the Red, and G.C.B. He married, in 1785, Louisa, daughter of the Right Hon. John Staples, and settled at Coolure. He died in 1836. Sir Henry Tuite, Sonna, born in 1741, was second son of Sir Henry Tuite, sixth baronet. He succeeded his half-brother Sir George, who was foully murdered on the 17th February, 1783, about 10 o'clock at night. He had a small favourite King Charles spaniel lying on a chair beside him, whose brains were beaten out as well as his master's by some blunt instrument. There was not any robbery committed, neither were the papers in the study disturbed. The murderer was never discovered. Sir Henry served in the Royal Navy. He married in 1784, Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas •Cobble, of Newbridge, and, dying in 1805, without issue, was succeeded in the title by his nephew, Sir George, only son of Mark Anthony, the second brother. Sir John De Blackquiere, afterwards elevated to the peerage for aiding Pitt and Castlereagh to accomplish the Act of Union, was of French descent. The first position he obtained from the Government was Ranger of Phoenix Park. The situation was a remunerative one, as he was permitted to feed any number of cattle he required on it. Eventually he became a Member of the Irish Parliament, and for a time was Ambassador to the Court of France. He was appointed as a spy to watch the movements of Prince Charles Edward, the Pretender, as his English enemies dubbed him on the Continent and his Jacobite followers. The following extract is from the late Mr. W. J. Fitzpatrick's work, " Ireland before the Union " : —
An impression that we are misinformed in reference to a statement made by us that the papers of Lord De Blacquiere. who, next to Lord Castle- reagh, proved the most efficient agent in seducing votes for the Union, were bought up by the Government from his descendants I have submitted the passage in question to the representative of the late Lord De Blacquiere. He .assured us that our assertion as regards the purchase is correct. The papers filled three volumes, bound with silver clasps. He required only ,£100 for each volume, and the papers having been examined at the Home Office, his terms were accepted. Previous, however, to receiving a cheque for the amount he was required to sign a document, pledging himself not to publish any copy of the letters thus bought. Lord De Blacquiere's family still hold ;i quantity of paper's of a political character, which they have courteously consented to let us see, if on inquiry the document which was signed does not present any legal obstacle. We are informed^that the most interesting
ANCIENT AND MODERN 31
of the three volumes was the one containing diplomatic inquiries and corre- spondence of Sir John De Blacquiere when Secretary to the British Embassy to France in 1771, and had immediate reference to the movements of the Pretender, Prince Charles Edward.
The historical works which have been written on the Union record the great exertion of Sir John De Blacquiere to promote it. Harrington, in his tf Recollections of his own Times," supplies the following account of the Union lord : —
Sir John De Blacquiere flew at higher game than the other baronets, though he occasionally fell into the trammels of Sir John Hamilton. Sir John De Blacquiere was a little deaf of one ear, for which circumstance he gave a very singular account. His seat, when Secretary, was the outside one on the Treasury Bench, next to a gangway, and he said that so many mem- hers used to come perpetually to whisper to him that the buzz of importunity was so heavy and continuous that before one claimant's words had got out of his ear the demand of another forced its way in, till the ear-drum, being overcharged, absolutely burst, which, he said, turned out conveniently enough, as he was then obliged to stuff the organ tight, and tell every gentleman that his physician had directed him not to use that ear at all and the other as little as possible.
He was in the habit of wearing his Star of the Bath over rather shabby clothes, and his black visage gave him the appearance of a Jew, and in one instance an honest rustic mistook him for one. This remarkable man, who, as Lord Cornwallis records, governed Ireland for years, died August the 27th, 18 — , aged 80 years, and was succeeded by his son John, who was born in 177(5. He en- tered the Austrian service early in life and was in several engage- ments and was twice wounded. He lived a very retired life, and dying unmarried in 1844 (he was father of Edmund De Blac- quiere, who died in November, 1896, at Portloman) he was suc- ceeded by his brother William, the third baron, who attained the rank of general in the army, died by his own hand in 1851. The De Blacquiere family is extinct in Westmeath. Edmund was the last of them. A brother of his, who earl}7 in life was a captain in the army, about 14 years ago tramped this county as a fashion- able mendicant. He was charged a few years ago in London with obtaining goods and money under false pretences, and suffered imprisonment. Sir Benjamin Chapman, the first baronet of the name, obtained the title in 1782. He married Miss Anne Lowther, and died without issue in 1810. Sir Robert Hoclson, first baronet of the name, resided at Tuitestown, now Greenpark. He was born in 1747 and obtained the title in 1789. He served as sheriff for the counties of Wicklow and Cavan, and this county in 1776. He married, first his cousin, Anne, only daughter of Foster Adair, of Hollybrook, in the county of Wicklow, by whom he obtained that estate. He had not by this marriage any issue surviving. He married secondly, Jane, eldest daughter of Brent Neville, of Ashbrook, county
32 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Dublin. He died in 1809. Gustavus Lambert— The first of this family, Sir Oliver Lambert, came to Ireland in the reign of Elizabeth as an officer under Essex. Charles Lambert was advanced to the dignity of Earl in 1647 as Earl of Cavan. The family ob- tained a grant of land in the barony of Moycashel. Gustavus who voted for the service of plate to Hempenstal and his friends, received from the Government in 1800, £15,000 for the dis- franchisement of the borough of Kilbeggan, of which he was landlord. Gustavus Hume Rochfort was nephew of the first Earl of Belvidere. He represented this county in Parliament for many years. It is said that he virtually held the lives and liberties of the people of Westmeath in the hollow of his hand. There are many dark traditions of his tyranny and cruelty still extant amongst the peasantry. He died in 1824. There were three William Smyths in 1797, landed proprietors, in this county — William of Drumcree, already referred to, William of Glenanea, or Ralphedale, and William of Barbaraville. William of the last-named place was born in 1761. He married in 1783 Catherine, daughter and heiress of William Meade Ogle, M.P. for Drogheda. He died in 1812. William Thomas, of Glenanea, married, in 1792, Anne Lucinda, daughter of the Right Hon. Thomas Loftus, of Killyon, county Meath. He died in 1818. There were two James Nugents in 1797 eligible to serve as Grand Jurors, viz., James of Clonlost, and James Count Nugent of Ballinacor ; consequently, we are unable to say which of them acted the generous donor to the officers of the Wicklow Militia. James, Count Nugent, was born in 1742. His mother was a daughter of Oliver D' Alton, of Mount Dalton. He succeeded to the title in right of his mother. He married, first, Mary, daughter of Henry Brown, Bushtown, county Dublin, Barrister- at-Law, and married, secondly, Matilda, eldest daughter of Con- stantine O'Donel, of Larkfield, in the county Leitram, and died at Ballinacor in 1811. James, of Clonlost, was born in 1766. He served as sheriff in 1799, and was Lieutenant-Colonel of the Westmeath Militia. He died in 1832. Richard Reynell, of Reynella. George Clibborn then resided at Moate Castle. James Middleton Berry — The family of Berry came originally from Wales, where they possessed a large estate called Middleton. They settled in Ireland in the time of Cromwell, and received a grant of Eglish Castle in the time of Charles II., where they re- sided for several years. James Middleton Berry, Ballynegal, was born in 1745. He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Longworth (who assumed the name of Dames on succeeding to the estates of his maternal grandfather, Thomas Dames). He died in 1823. James Fetherston-H. Bracklyn, from 1774 to 1822. He married Margaret, only daughter of Sir Richard Steele, baronet. Cuthbert Fetherston-H, son of Cuthbert, of Dardistown, was the first of the family to reside at Mosstown.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 33
He married, in 1 770, Mary, daughter of Theobald Wolfe (probably the maternal father of Theobald Wolfe Tone, the founder of the United Irishmen's Society) of the city of Dublin, Barrister at- Law. He died in 1817. Anthony O'Reilly, of Benison Lodge, in this county, was second son of James O'Reilly, county Cavan. He was murdered in Benison Lodge in September, 1803. The murderer was never discovered, but it was strongly suspected and generally believed to have been perpetrated by his steward, Charles Lyons Lediston, great grand-uncle of the present owner ; he was born in 1748, entered the army and attained the rank of
major in the Regiment ; was at the siege of Gibraltar,
during the blockade, with Captain Tuite, of Sonna, and Major Vignolles (who afterwards entered Holy Orders, and officiated for many years in the French chapel at Portarlington). He retired from the army, and died about the year 1709. Alexander Murray, Mount Murray. — The Murray family came to Ireland from Scotland. They were staunch supporters of the Stuart dynasty. Alexander entered the army as Captain in the 14th Regiment of Foot, and died, unmarried, in 1799. The family of Batty came originally from England, and settled, about the year 1690, at Bally healy in this county. Philip Batty was father of Espine, a distinguished member of the Irish Bar ; he was author of " Batty's Reports of Cases in the King's Bench." The family of Evans came from Wales, and has been resident in this county for many generations. They possessed estates in the counties of Mayo, Tyrone, Monaghan, Dublin, and Westmeath. Francis Evans, the donor of the service of plate, died about the year 1839. He resided, we believe, at Newforest, near Tyrrellspass. Maurice N. O'Connor, who served as High Sheriff, was son of John O'Connor, of Mountpleasant, King's County. He was grandson, on the maternal side, of Prime Sergeant Richard Malone, brother of the famous Sir Anthony Malone. The Prime Sergeant repre- sented the borough of Fore for years in the Irish Parliament.
THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S HOSPITAL.
CHAPTER OF BUTCHERIES AND BURNINGS.
Yet when the rage of battle ceased, The victor's soul was not appeased ; The naked and forlorn must feel The devouring flames and murderous steel. The pious mother doomed to death, Forsaken, wanders o'er the heath; The bleak winds whistle round her head, The helpless orphans cry for bread. While the warm blood bedews my veins, And unimpaired remembrance reigns, Resentment to my country's fate Within my filial heart shall beat
34 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
In the autumn of 1798, after the attempt of the people of Ireland to gain their emancipation had been completely defeated ; after every armed body had been dispersed or had surrendered except a few daring men that had taken refuge in the mountains of Wicklow under their intrepid leader, Michael Dwyer, while military tribunals, house burnings, shootings, torture, and every- thing of devastation were desolating and overwhelming the defenceless inhabitants, three French frigates anchored in the bay of Killala on the 22nd August with 1,000 Frenchmen fully equipped under General Humbert to aid the insurgents. Up to that period Westmeath was tranquil, save a skirmish near Kilbeggan on the 16th June. Of course there were many acts of cruelty and tyranny perpetrated by some of the ruling magnates, reprisals, and daring acts of individual bravery performed. On the news of the landing of the French being circulated through- out the country, numbers of the sturdy peasantry exhumed from bogs, glens and caverns their pikes and guns, and resolved to strike a blow for Ireland. The strength of their foreign allies was greatly exaggerated, as no one thought that the Government of the great French Republic would send the small force of 1,000 men to carry on a war against Britain, who had 80,000 regular troops to oppose them, exclusive of militia, yeomanry, and armed loyalists. On Wednesday, the 5th September, '98, a number of United Irishmen assembled at Skeagh Hill, a short distance west of the village of Rathconrath, and two miles west of Moyvore. They were under command of a brave young fellow, James Maloney, a native of the locality. At that time there resided a family at Skeagh named Turner, loyalists of the first order. The Turners made themselves obnoxious to their neighbours in consequence of their boasted loyalty to the person and throne of King George, and their contempt for the mere Irish and their
aspirations, whom they termed d d Papist rebels that should
be hanged. Many of the insurgents knew the Turners and their hatred of their rebel neighbours, and they resolved to punish them for their treason to Ireland, and their rabid animosity. A council of war was held, when it was unanimously resolved that they should be " smoked out," or in other words the house burned over them. Fortunately for the doomed family a farmer (Edward O'Neill (grandfather of the present Mr. Edward O'Neill) who had great influence with many of the United men, dissuaded them from the rash act. He pointed out that it would be mean and cowardly to attack a defenceless family, and not to imitate the example of the ruling classes. His intervention had the desired effect, and the Turners were spared. The insurgents marched to Ballynacargy, from thence to Baronston, which they surrounded. Richard Malone, better known as Baron Sunderlin, resided at the time in the ancestral mansion, but as he was a good landlord, kind and indulgent to his poorer neighbours and the
Wilson's Hospital.
[.I. T.
Cooksboro' House, showing tin- window- and door as altered l>y
Mr. Cooki- to tin1 pattern of his chairs. [j. T.
To face pagf, 34.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 35
good name his family bore for generations, they retired without doing the slightest injury to life or property. Forty thousand insurgents were expected to assemble at the Crooked Wood for the purpose of effecting a diversion in favour of Humbert, who was expected to take Granard and enter into Ulster, when the news reached them of an overwhelming force of royalists under Cornwallis, establishing their headquarters at Ballinalee. It was to join the Crooked Wood insurgents that the Skeagh contingent mobilized. It was believed in 1798 by the disaffected of the dis- trict that the arms and munitions of war belonging to the yeomanry corps of Ballinalack and Bunbrosna were stored in Wilson's Hospital, which is a short distance from the last-named village. On the summit of a hill stands the Hospital, founded and endowed by Andrew Wilson, of Piercefield, for the support and education of 160 Protestant boys, with whom an apprentice fee of ,£10 is given on leaving the schools, and for 20 old male Protestants. The inhabitants of Westmeath have the preference, but those of the adjacent counties are also eligible. The house is a handsome building in the form of a square, adorned with a cupola and two receding wings, connected by a corridor, one which includes the schoolroom and a dormitory, and the other the dining-hall and a dormitory, and there is a church handsomely fitted up. On the 5th September, 1798, a number of the Bun- brosna yeomen guarded the establishment, and, like their martial brethren of Killucan celebrated in a well-known song, they were not remarkable for any daring feats of arms, save to string up a poor croppy or a rebel from the nearest tree. It was dark when the insurgents surrounded the building, and when the gallant defenders were called on to surrender it a doughty little sergeant, who appeared to have been enjoying the good things provided, answered from a window, (l Ye can have it, jintlemen, and wel- come. Sarra bit of us are «oing to get our bones broke over it." The defenders retreated by a back way, felicitating themselves on
their happy escape from the b y rebels and croppies. On the
retirement of the defenders of the garrison the screams of the boys and old men were heartrending, as they expected an instant and ignominious death, but Maloney assured them that they were as safe as " meal in a chest ; " that the United Irish- men did not make war on old men and children, and he kept his word. Not one of the inmates was insulted nor molested. The following morning, Tuesday, 6th September, at an early hour, the temporary occupants of the hospital were roused into activity by the roar of artillery some distance north. A hasty council of war was held, when it was resolved that the building should be abandoned as they had no means of defending it or resisting a siege. The Rev. Mr. Gordon gives the following account of the battle, which does not agree with the tradition of the peasantry : —
36 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
This building had already been seized and plundered in the morning of the same day by another body of rebels, who, on the arrival of the defeated column from Granard, were taking measures, we are told, to butcher 28 Protestants the succeeding day, 6th September, who had been brought thither, presumably from the neighbouring county, when they were pre- vented by the approach of a small body of troops about four o'clock in the afternoon. This was under Lord Longford, Yeomen and the Argyle Fencibles, about 200 or 300 at a time. Major Porter, who had one field piece, commanded the Fencibles. About 500 rebels, armed with firelocks, marched from the Hospital to meet these troops near the village of Bun- brusna. After an abortive attempt of some of the party to seize the field piece by an imperilous onset, in which by a discharge of grape-shot many of them suffered, the rebels maintained the contest not long. In their flight a party of them took refuge in a farm-house and offices, which, in consequence, were burned, and many of the rebels perished in the flames. The troops, as daylight failed, lay on their arms all night, with intent to attack the Hospi- tal early next morning, but it was found to be evacuated by the rebels, whose loss of men is reported, by very doubtful authority, to have been near 200 killed and wounded, while that of the Soyal troops were only two men of the artillery, shot by one rebel from behind a hedge.
Gordon's account of the action reads like fiction. He estimates the British loss at two men killed by one rebel. We wonder what were 500 insurgents doing for three hours. His story about murdering Protestant prisoners is a pure concoction. The insur- gents had possession of the Hospital on the night of the 5th September, and not one connected with the establishment was injured. The tradition of the battle is that the loyalists had five pieces of cannon in the field, and these effected ruinous gaps in the ranks of the patriots, whose only arms were a few guns, pikes, scythes, and forks. Three times the devoted little band endeavoured to drive the artillerymen from the guns, exposed to a decimating discharge of grape-shot and harrassed in flank by the enemy's cavalry, and thrice were they repulsed with fearful loss. Unable to maintain their position they fled in all direc- tions. About a half mile from the scene of carnage some of the wearied and worn-out insurgents, particularly the Longford and Cavan men, sought safety and shelter in a farmhouse and offices, which the owner had abandoned to avoid the fury and cruelty of the yeomen, some of whom were his neighbours. The premises were quickly surrounded by infantry and cavalry, and what followed casts into the shade the burning of the barn at Sculla- bogue. Musgrove and other Government historians make no mention of the conflagration near Bunbrosna, although they devote whole chapters to the Wexford horrors. The night of the 6th September, 1798, was made hideous by the perpetration of that fearful deed of vengeance. The first act of the military was to set fire to the dwelling-house and offices, which were thatched. The insurgents inside had no means of defending themselves, particularly against the devouring element. They offered to surrender unconditionally, but this was refused, and as the unfortunate fellows rushed from the scorching flames they
ANCIENT AND MODERN 37
were mercilessly shot clown, and those who escaped the bullet fell beneath the sabre and bayonet of the savage foe. After about twenty minutes the roof of the burning building fell in, and not another groan was heard nor prayer for mercy. English ven- geance was satiated. The folio \ving day the houses of the peasantry within a radius of four miles were searched, and wherever a wounded insurgent was found or one suspected of being concerned in the rising they were unceremoniously butchered in cold blood. The loyalist force not being provided with ropes to hang the prisoners taken despatched them by the bullet. Even boys were thus murdered mercilessly, and the girls were subjected to a worse fate. Since the days of Cromwell there were no such atrocities committed in Westmeath as those perpetrated by the cowardly yeomen, and even after the lapse of time since then, the heart grows sick of the contemplation of them. In a house near Leney a number of insurgents sought safety after the engagement. Some women and girls of the neighbourhood assembled to inquire after their husbands, brothers, fathers and lovers. The house was surrounded by yeomen and fencibles. The weary rebels were dragged out and shot in pre- sence of the terrified females without any exception. Some of the condemned in the names of their wives, their little ones, and their aged parents entreated mercy at the hands of the officer commanding. Others sought pity where it was only to be found at the feet of the God of their forefathers, and some there were who waved their hands and shouted defiantly, " Erin-Go-Bragh." Castlereagh, writing to Mr. Wickham, Secretary to the Duke of Portland, says, " Letters from Mullingar state that a decisive advantage was gained yesterday at Wilson's Hospital, near that town, by a company of yeomen commanded by Lord Longford, supported by a detachment of regular troops. The rebels lost about 150 killed and were dispersed."
The morning after the battle, or rather massacre, the field of slaughter presented an appalling appearance. Numbers of un- buried United men were strewn about the lawn and adjoining field. There were no wounded, as they were mercilessly dis- patched by the savage yeomen, with barbarous ferocity ; and the bodies of those hanged the previous day, by orders of the ruth- less commander, were dangling, in the autumnal breeze, from the temporary gallows, hastily constructed for their execution, and to intensify the horrors of the scene, numbers of weeping women — the wives, sisters, mothers, and lovers of the slahi — were to be seen moving about the dead bodies, in search of their friends, and when one was discovered, the heartrending screams of the females were piteous in the extreme. No men were to be seen, as they dare not approach under penalty of death. Numbers of the United men had carried away their comrades who were slightly
38 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
wounded, and sought refuge on the islands in Lough Derravaragh and Lough Iron, while the tall bullrushes along the banks of the Inny afforded temporary shelter to others.
To the Memory of the Sleeping Brave, who Fell at the Battle of Wilson's Hospital, Thursday, September 6th, 1798 :—
THE^WAIL OF THE WOMEN AFTER THE BATTLE.
Alas ! how sad by Shannon's flood,
The blush of morning sun appears To men who gave for us their blood ;
Ah ! what can woman give but tears.
How still the field of battle lies,
No shouts upon the breezes blow, We heard our dying country's cries,
We sit deserted and alone.
Why thus collected on the strand,
Whom you the God of mercy saves ; Will ye forsake your native land —
Will ye desert your brothers' graves ?
Their graves gave forth a fearful groan,
Oh ! guard our orphans and our wives, Like us, make Erin's fate your own,
Like us, for her yield up your lives.
Why, why such haste to bear abroad,
The witness of your country's shame ; Stand by your altars and her God,
He yet may build her up a name.
Then should her foreign children hear
Of Erin free and blest once more, Will they not curse their father's fear,
That left too soon their native shore.
Though I can boast no animating song
To melt the lover or inspire the brave, Yet love of country bids me leave the busy throng,
To tread in sorrow o'er their bloody grave.
Then gracious power who taught the shepherd swains
To sing the glory of Immanuel's birth, Teach me in pious friendship's humble strain
To mourn the heroes Avho sleep beneath the earth.
For hear the brave, the generous men exclaim, When the degrading hurdle ceased to move,
And from his car the bloody hangman came, With terrors more than human strength to prove.
Hail ! harbinger of everlasting peace,
In manly accents they addressed the stage, When soon the sorrows of their souls would cease,
And join the saints of every former age.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 39
O'er thy loved grave the children yet unborn
May shed a tear, when told by history's page, How they from friends and aged parents torn,
Braved all the horrors of the bloody stage.
Sin-prised, perhaps, to read the mournful tale,
The rising youth will ask their aged sire — Was Ireland conquered, did her foes prevail?
(.) ! where was then your patriotic fire.
Or did British laws such a sacrifice require ?
No foreign foe that ever ploughed the waves, Or crossed the Shannon, methink the sire replies,
Could leave us weeping o'er so sad a grave.
For love of country they nobly died.
And many a patriot in the battlefield ; Though justice and mercy were to them denied,
Strong love of freedom did their bosoms swell.
And must we sink beneath oppression's weight,
Forbid it, Heaven ! O 1 may thy mighty arm Protect the friendless, the enslaved poor ;
O 1 let thy grace their sinking spirits charm, Be thou their stay, their refuge most secure.
However dark the present may appear,
Though those in power their dearest right deny,
Let truth and justice still their bosoms cheer, Till freedom's sun shall blaze o'er Erin's sky.
But night returns, with all her sable train,
And I must bid the lone battlefield adieu ; Yet never shall a graveyard contain
Brave hearts more faithful, honest, kind and true.
There piety, perhaps, weeps o'er a friend,
They, too, were pious, as their works can tell ; Say ye, who saw them in their latter end,
Could stronger faith in human bosoms dwell.
Though near this spot no marble statue stand,
No weeping angel pointing to the spot ; Their fame is known o'er all their native land,
And never, never, shall they be forgot.
CAMDEN'S AGENTS IN THE BARONY OF MOYGOISH.
Contemporaneous with the Whiteboys were the Northern Agrarians, called " Hearts of Steel," formed among the absentee, Lord Downshire's, tenants in 1762 "The Oak Boys," so called from wearing oak leaves in their hats, and the " Peep o' Day Boys," the precursors of the Orange Association. The infection of secret societies ran through all Ireland. The celebrated society of United Irishmen was the highest form which that principle, in our politics, ever reached. In its origin it was mainly a Protestant
40 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
organisation. From the first the Catholic bishops and priests strenuously opposed those secret organisations. The Bishop of Cloyne issued a reprobatory pastoral. For a county cir- cumstanced as Westmeath was at the period of which we write, it is natural to assume that the Defenders found many sympathisers amongst the peasantry, whose condition at the time was deplorable. Among the many busy subordinates of the " cruel Camden," who flooded Westmeath in 1696, were two
brothers, James and Thomas G . (We refrain from giving
the name, as we are informed there are some of their descendants in the barony still, from the female line. Their names are given in full in " Falkner's Dublin Journal," which lauds them in eulogistic terms for their loyalty, bravery, and devoted adherence to the Castle authorities. " Falkner's Dublin Journal " was the subsidised organ of the Irish Government during the reign of terror, and its praise of the brothers G — — is a proof that they were unscrupulous minions of the local tyrants who goaded the peasantry into armed resistance against their oppressors. The brothers resided in the parish of Ballynacargy, between that village and Bunbrosna, and were tenants of Sir John Bennett Piers. The brothers were barony constables, and in that capacity they ruled the district with a rod of iron, and they kept in their employment an understrapper more unprincipled than themselves. The following extract is from the newspaper, already referred to, of February 4th, 1796 :—
MULLINGAR, January 30th.
On the morning of the date named, Messrs. Thomas and James G ,
constables of the police district of Moygoish and Moyashel, in this county, apprised of the infamous villains, the Defenders, who were annoying the law-abiding inhabitants of the baronies named, robbing and pillaging, on private information proceeded in the direction of Bunbrosna, where they arrested eleven of the miscreants. In a bog near where the arrests were made were discovered twelve guns, which were recently taken from the houses of their owners by force. The prisoners were safely lodged. They were brought to trial at the Lent Assizes, before Judge Tankerville Cham- berlaine. Four of them turned approvers, and swore against their comrades, who were convicted. Five out of the seven suffered the death penalty, and the remaining two were transported for life. The informers swore against others who were not arrested at the time, and they, too, shared a similar fate. Two of the men hanged, named Kelly, were young boys, brothers, who lived on the North bank of Lough Iron, and sons and only support of an aged mother, a widow. In those barbarous times it was the custom of the Government officials to convey the condemned from the prison where they were confined to the locality where the alleged offence was committed for which they were convicted, and not unfrequently the scaffold used was a common car heeled up. On a cold, bitter morning, the first week in March, the two hapless youths were conducted from Mullingar to Bunbrosna to expiate for crimes of which they knew nothing.
That soil full many a wringing despot saw,
Who worked his wickedness in the form of law. — BYRON.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 41
In those (lays, as we have had frequently before occasion to remark, arrest, imprisonment, trial and condemnation, hurried so closely on the heels of each other, that they were all looked upon as links of one simultaneous event, and thus it was with the Kelly s on the present occasion, and now comes on the truly tragic part of this most heartrending narrative. The condemned men, as already stated, were the sons of a poor widow, whose support they were, and whose comfort and happiness they so sedulously studied, that her old days knew no want, and her humble home was one of unbroken quiet, and uninterrupted repose. Judge, then, gentle reader, what a terrible reverse suddenly overwhelmed her, when her fine manly sons were mercilessly seized upon, torn from under her tranquil roof, thrust into a foul prison, dragged into an open court manacled and well guarded, charged with the foul crimes of murder and robbery, condemned on the evidence of suborned informers, in face of innumerable noon-day proofs of their innocence and humanity, and to crown the bloody drama, sentenced to be hanged on a gibbet before that poor bereaved mother's door ; her two children to be hanged before her eyes, and before the happy home of their childhood. After an hour and a half driving the party reached the place of execution ; it was a little angle off the road shaded by a few drooping fir trees, and opposite the door of a low humble thatched cabin — the home of the doomed boys. Two of the Ballinalack yeomen were there before them for some time, as was evident from the amount of manual labour accomplished by them ; they had a large gibbet fully erected, with two strong ropes dangling from its transverse beam, and an old car with the bod)'- of it boarded over, lying beneath it. The yeomen of those days, indeed, had a marked taste for gibbetting and gibbet-making, and were to a man, yea to a boy, infamous. They slew or strangled, bless you, so very — so very effectively — very expeditiously, that professional hangmen were almost entirely superseded. The party stopped before the place of death, and the two yeomen of the gibbet forthwith seized their victims, and proceeded to drag them inhumanly one by one, over to the car, under the swinging ropes — here the cries and maledic- tions of the poor mother were frantic and ungovernable ; so much so. indeed, that the yeoman captain ordered the fife and drum band that accompanied the executioners to strike up the " Boyne Water " to stifle the screams of the old woman, who showered
curses on the heads of die brothers G , the murderers of her
children, but above drum and fife and every uproar, rang the wild shrieks and the wild maledictions of the woman, which the peasantry, now assembled in great numbers, heartily chimed in with. In vain the miserable culprits, as they stood with the ropes round their necks, called out to their poor mother to cease crying, to pray to God for the repose of their souls. Their voices seemed to strike her brain for a moment, but the next instant
42 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH.
she cried out, " My boys, my children, tell the Lord of Heaven and earth, did ye do the murder 1 " " No, mother, no, by neither hand, act, or part," replied the two youths simultaneously, " We are United Men and Defenders, that is our only crime. And we appeal to heaven for mercy which is denied us here by the brutal yeomanry and their captains. Pray for us, mother, you have no one now to protect or support you but the Almighty and kind neighbours in your old age." In a few minutes the dead bodies of the sons of the poor widow were dangling from the rude scaffold erected for their murder.
The next day their bodies were taken down at the request of a Protestant clergymen in the neighbourhood, and the mother was permitted to take them away. There they lay upon the floor of their old home, cold, stark, and dead, with broken necks and dislocated features, the neighbours weeping and shuddering about them, and the decrepit mother shouting out her untiring cry of real sorrow and hurling the direst denunciations against the authors of their dissolution. The people began to think the poor old creature insane, and so indeed she was, and no wonder. One other day and the corpses were buried in the churchyard of Templeoran, the humble funeral being followed by the whole countryside and still followed by the sad mother, who made the wild banks of Lough Iron re-echo with her painful lamentations, and ring again with her unceasing maledictions on the hated captain, his myr- midons, and the infamous brothers, the authors of her sorrow. Well, the grave was dug wide and deep, the clay and the tears were shovelled in upon the coffins, the priest and the people prayed silently over the poor mangled remains, the sad ceremonies were over, and the multitude moved away, each to their several homes, whilst the immediate neighbours took charge of the bereaved widow and brought her back to her lonely cabin in the bowery angle of the road and shaded by the green boughs. The night of that same day the inmates of G 's house were sud- denly disturbed from their slumbers by the baying of the watch- dog and the loud and menacing cries of a single human voice.
Thomas G was the first to spring from his couch, and after
cautiously undoing the window-shutter of his bedroom peeped out into the spacious lawn before his door. It was a bright, moon- light night — as bright as the day. He saw at a glance that the intruder was a woman and only a woman. The dogs, too, appeared to have recognised her, for as she threw them some brown coarse bread they fawned at her feet and were silent. The proprietor, encouraged by the sight and assured after a long pause that there were neither trap or danger in the way, boldly opened the window outright, and, in a voice of thunder, demanded what the old hag wanted and why she dared corne to disturb his house at such an unreasonable hour or at any hour of the night or day. To this indignant query he added a ferocious threat of shooting her
ANCIENT AND MODERN 43
without mercy if she did not immediately decamp. The woman looked up steadily towards him whilst he continued speaking, but when he ceased, she uttered out upon the quiet night one long continuous howl of hatred and defiance which froze the very blood in his veins. With her thin lank fingers she trailed back her long, dry grey hair from her face and flinging it over her shoulders, then indeed she commenced in horrid earnest the wild cry of affliction in Irish so sorrowful, so melancholy, interrupted now and then by execrations on barony constables, yeomen, informers, and other hirelings of the Government, that it was truly awful to hear. The destroyer of the old woman's happiness, of course, at once became aware that his midnight visitor was no other than the frantic mother of the murdered Kellys. Accordingly, he slammed down the window, shut close the shutters, and buried himself hurriedly under the bed-clothes. There he lay hour after hour, awake, nervous and horrified— it was impossible for him to feel otherwise, with the maniac cry of the bereaved mother ringing in his ears, and her fearful imprecations, weeping to heaven for vengeance on his head. Crouched under his window, with the excited ban dogs bounding and baying about her, there sat the poor insane widow — there she sat, wailing and cursing alternately, hour after hour, until at last a labourer in the employment of G — - was obliged to remove her by force. Kext day found the pitiable imbecile at the hour she was in the habit of bringing their meals to her poor sons, when they were at labouring work in the neigh- bourhood, sitting on their grave and calling them by name over and over as usual to come to her. A coarse napkin was spread, out upon the grass and upon it placed two plates and mugs, and two equal portions of common coarse food of the peasantry steaming hot, as she always prided herself in preserving it. She called and called, but seeing they did not come, she beat at the grave violently with her hands, beseeching them to hearken to her. At last she commenced to tear up the green sods with her nails, but the neighbours came upon her and by long and tender entreaties and after long expostulations induced her to go away with them. But night after night she was always sure to visit the house of the barony constables — at midnight or daybreak, in storm or moonshine, it was always the same — the same wailing and cursing were sure to mingle in with their dreamy slumbers or to rouse them from their deepest sleep. Many and many a time they had her removed miles away and watched by vigilant attendants in order to prevent her making her way to them, but all in vain. By the wayside amongst the mountain passes, amidst the distant hills, on the lonely banks of Lough Iron, wherever their horses tramped, or their footsteps wandered, she watched them, she tracked them, she rose up sud- denly before them, and always to curse and blight them, and invoke
44 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
the wrath of heaven upon their guilty souls. The look of the woman appalled them even more than her denunciations — her glaring eyes, lit up with the fire of insanity, the white, wiry hair dishevelled, floating wildly in the breeze, smote the hearts of the murderers whenever she crossed their path. On one occasion they proffered her a purse of silver, but she indignantly spurned the gift, telling them that it was portion of the blood-money they obtained from the Castle for hanging her children. On a cold night in November about five years after the execution of the brothers Kelly their wretched old mother was in the vicinity of Slanemore, which was one of her favourite haunts, as the people of that locality were very kind to her. She had heard that the destroyers of her happiness were in Mullingar at the fair, and would pass that way returning home. This intelligence pleased the poor maniac very much, as it would afford her an opportunity of pouring the phials of her wrath upon them. She concealed herself behind a tree and waited patiently for the arrival of the objects of her wrath. After a lapse of two hours she heard in the distance the tramp of horses hoofs. The two horsemen
approached — James and Thomas G . The old woman emerged
from her place of concealment and took up a position on the centre of the road. She wore a red gown and shawl, the costume of the peasantry women at that period. The moon was shining bright, and her weird appearance startled the riders. In an instant
they recognised the imbecile. " James and Thomas G ," she
exclaimed vehemently, "you have deprived me of the light of my life and the joy of my heart. You sent to an early and bloody grave my two boys for accursed lucre — gold — and to please the tyrants who are trampling on the poor. May God forgive you for your crimes. This is the last time I shall trouble you. For five years I have watched you unceasingly. I have been the bane of your existence, as your guilty consciences know." So saying she rushed through the hedge and disappeared. The following morning the poor creature was discovered dead in the ditch close to where she accosted the slayers of her children. The ashes of the wandering maniac repose in the graveyard side by side with her murdered boys. There is no stone to mark the resting place of those victims of cruel Camden's rule in Ireland, and their affectionate old mother. No weeping willows nor a tear to bedew their grave. Through the apathy of the people the spot where they repose is unknown. Unfortunately the peasantry of the present have ceased to be the faithful custodians of the traditions handed down to them by their ancestors.
CRUELTY OF THE YEOMANRY.
We do not look back to Ninety-Eight through any morbid love of depicting bloodshed or carnage, nor do we desire to
ANCIENT AND MODERN 45
rekindle the embers of bigotry and intolerance— happily ex- tinguished, and it is to be hoped for ever. Our object is simply to preserve the traditions of the dread period, and the gallant but ineffectual efforts of the brave men who forfeited everything that life holds dear to obtain civil and religions liberty , and how their aspirations were crushed by civil and martial law. Judge and judgment at that time went the same road, pointed out by the red finger-post at head-quarters. Suspicion was arrest — trial was death. But we will not stay to apostrophise those horrid days — that tyrannical epoch, whose memories still live in every hamlet — by every streamlet and river — by every mountain and morass — in every town and city, and wherever the innocent blood of an oppressed people was shed, whose only crime was to struggle against the enslaver of their creed and their country.
One Sunday, 9th September, 1798, the day after the battle of The Hospital, the country was scoured for miles by the Yeomanry and Militia, who mercilessly cut down all stragglers whom they suspected of having taken part in the insurrection, and the smouldering ruins of burned homesteads were visible on all sides. One of the marauding bands of loyalists was commanded by a
Major R , a furious and remorseless tyrant, who showed no
mercy to old or young who came in his way. Riding in their own furious and headlong fashion, they came up with a peasant whom they suspected as a rebel, and they immediately arrested and assaulted him. His name was John Reilly, an Irishman and a Celt to the backbone. He knew the intolerant despots he had to deal with, and that he had no mercy to expect from their hands. Accordingly his demeanour was firm and resolute, and neither insult nor violence could extract from him that slavish whine of terror and cowardice which his persecutors expected their presence would inspire. After rifling his pockets for a long time in search of some testimony of crime or treason, as luck should have it, one shrewd Yeoman discovered a piece of printed paper which was concealed under the rim of his hat — and a shout of triumph announced the discovery, and the document was forth- with presented to the Major. The gallant commander, however, was no scholar — at least he was not able to read French. The sergeant of the band thought it was in Greek. An old drummer, who had served in the line, and was for years on foreign service, pronounced it to be in Hebrew — that was enough. Of course it was rank treason, and the Major, off-hand, ordered the prisoner to be flogged to death. From a neighbouring farmyard a horse and car was at once procured, and the man strapped thereto with the belts of the Yeomanry. But now there occurred a little difficulty — the cats were wanting. That very necessary imple- ment of torture was for once forgotten in the outfit of the morning — an unusual oversight. " Break down some of the boughs from the tree yonder and scourge him with it," cried the loyal
46 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
commander. " It is an alder tree, your honour." " Well, Judas, they say, hanged himself from such a one — the better then it is to flog a rebel." Accordingly they pulled the boughs, and having stripped their victim, commenced the work of torture in right down earnest, one of the party driving the horse along whilst all the rest in turn, one after one, dismounted to inflict the punishment, taking the bloody cats from the hands of their tired companions. The sufferer bore all with scarcely a groan although the flesh was peeling away from his bare back from the unceasing flagellation. The major eagerly listened for a cry or even a murmur, but no — the helpless man never even winced, never even moaned. At length they came to a narrow mountain stream with a clean channel of sand and stones, and whilst the horse stopped to drink the yeomen amused themselves by rub- bing handfuls of the gritty siluvia into the wounds they had so mercilessly inflicted. This was too much for human nature to endure in silence, and so the poor fellow fairly cried out " Oh, God ! oh, God ! " "I don't pity you a bit, you damned rebel," scoffed the relentless major, thinking that he addressed himself to him. "You," replied the bleeding patriot scornfully, and looking up into his face, " You ! I do not mean you, you cowardly tyrant ! " " Untie the fellow, untie the fellow," commanded the discomfited major, afraid of a repetition of such contemptuous language in the hearing of his slaves, " untie him and we'll hunt him through the country." This was an admirable thought — a sport, indeed, frequently practised by the corps of which we write. The prisoner was unloosened. " Now, fly for your life, you dog, for the first man who overtakes you will cut you down." The mangled man was covered with blood, but never- theless his indomitable spirit was still alive. He stooped, and taking up the gory sticks with which he was tortured in one hand, he picked up a heavy stone with the other, and letting fly at the major he missed him, but struck his horse's head such a violent blow that the animal bounded in the air and threw his rider backward upon the earth. In the confusion away went the fugitive, still holding the crimsoned sticks within his grasp, and making for a boggy land which he knew must baffle his pursuers, he ran panting and bleeding, but still bearing up, as the prospects of escape became stronger and stronger. He gained the morass, popped over it lightly, just stopped to raise some water in the hollow of his hand to wet his parched lips and moisten his throbbing brow — then forward once more, though now more ploddingly and wearily, as he was becoming weaker and weaker. He was on the bank of a rivulet ; the tramps of the troopers' horses were momentarily audible and more audible. Well, he could crawl 110 further ; he dropped down into the river, just by a thick clump of rushes, and submerging his whole body, hid his head amongst them. At that moment the horsemen rode
ANCIENT AND MODERN 47
up — they rode past — he was safe ! He thanked God fervently as their wild halloes rang through the hills and their footsteps died away upon the wind. Reilly remained in his watery hiding- place until the shades of evening had fallen, when he contrived to reach the house of a hospitable farmer, who sheltered and succoured him till his wounds were healed. The following is a copy of the treasonable document found in Reilly's pocket, and for which he nearly lost his life : —
Far may the boughs of Liberty extend,
For ever cultured by the brave and free : For ever blasted be the impious hand
That lops one branch from this noble tree ! Patriots, 'tis yours to make her verdure thrive. And keep the roots of Liberty alive.
Three years passed away ; it was 1801. The Union plotters had completed their work, and Ireland was a mere province of the great British Empire. Martial law, transportation, and hanging laid waste many of the once happy homesteads of Frewin, and the destroyers gloated over their work, and were rewarded by the generous Government of the day with blood-money and snug
berths. The tyrant, Major R , who so mercilessly flayed the
intrepid Reilly, still lived, and was detested by the peasantry, particularly those whose friends he done to death ; but the hour of vengeance was fast approaching, when the wild justice of revenge was to be executed on the wretch for his many crimes against the people. On the 23rd of J une in the year named, the scourger was on a visit in the vicinity of Frewin with a brother yeomanry officer, and it is said that he indulged freely in the maddening cup during his stay. On the morning of the day stated, at an early hour, he left the house of his hospitable entertainer, and was proceeding along the road in the direction of Sonna when on a sudden a man jumped across a fence and seized the horse by the bridle. " Who are you, fellow, who dares to stop me on the King's high road 1 " vociferated the major. " I am your sworn enemy," replied Reilly, for it was him, " and I have long watched for the opportunity to wreak vengeance on you for all the innocent blood you have shed. I am Reilly, the man whom you so cruelly flogged and chased with your bloodhound Yeomanry across the bogs, on Sunday, 9th September, '98, the day after the battle of The Hospital." The cowardly wretch quailed beneath the scathing, honest outburst of pent-up rage, and shook with fear. " Would you murder me in cold blood ? " tremblingly exclaimed the Major. " Murder ! " shouted Reilly, laying strong emphasis on the word; " yes, scoundrel and poltroon, the term is familiar to you. You red- dened the bog, mountain, valley and hamlet with innocent blood, and spared neither age nor sex. You rascal, to talk of murder
48 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
in cold blood — your fate is sealed ! On the day my mangled body was immersed in the little brook, and concealed by friendly tufts of rushes from those whom you sent to hunt me to death, I registered a vow before high heaven to slay you at our next meeting, even at the risk of my life. The hour of my triumph, for which I yearned, has come ! " — so without further parley he shot the tyrant through the head, and thus avenged himself. There was a great commotion throughout the county when the news spread that the tyrant had fallen. Many said that it was an act of retributive justice. A wild panic of alarm ran through the aristocracy of the county, particularly amongst those who made themselves obnoxious, and some of them, to avoid a similar fate, sought pastures new. Large rewards were offered by the Government and some of the local gentry for the apprehension and conviction of the perpetrator, but no one was made amenable. On the evening of the day of the assassination a large bonfire was lit on an eminence near, which commanded a view of the surrounding country for miles. The fire served a twofold purpose — to celebrate the eve of St. John and Lhe downfall of the scourger. On that hill, on that night of midsummer, was assembled as picturesque a group of mortals as ever were painted by the magic pencil of Angelo. In the back- ground were some pikemen lying on the grass, each man with his weapon by his side, and the remains of a rude feast scat- tered about them. The pikernen collected for the purpose of pro- tecting their friends from any attack that might be made on them by armed yeomen or barony constables. Near them moved about a number of women and girls, who had of late been evidently engaged in a series of culinary undertakings, for a large pot hung from a triangle of poles, was still boiling merrily away, whilst the smouldering embers of turf and brambles were fuming beneath it. The foreground or brow of the hill was occupied by a huge pile of furze, bushwood, and other combustibles ready for the application of the torch, and promising a formidable blaze that would mount up furiously into the horizon. About these materials of a gigantic fire gamboled in continuous circles num- bers of men and boys all clad in their holiday attire, and as merry and excited as if they were about to celebrate some annual fete. They were waiting for the waning of the moon in order that their fire should shine with greater brilliancy and effect; besides, the darkness was to be the signal for other fires to be kindled simultaneously with their own. At length the propitious moment arrived, and a faggot of naming furze was seen moving' rapidly towards the pyre ; in another instant a vapoury cloud of waving smoke crept up lazily, swaying about in gusty volumes, and now and then darting forth a rapid serpent-like tongue of flame from its dark throat. Then a pillar of light stood up straight in the midst of the dull murkiness, and at last like a
ANCIENT AND MODERN 49
great sun, out opened a broad red sheet of unmingled light, swallowing up all the dense darkness as if at a single gulph, and making it midday all over the heathery hill. A loud shout heralded in the glorious conflagration, and was repeated again and again, as the reflection of the red glare danced upon the ruins of an old castle at some distance. At this moment a man was seen toiling labouriously and swiftly up the hill, and making towards the beacon — he came nearer and nearer — the people above recognised him — a deafening cheer followed the discovery : — it was the intrepid United Irishman, Reilly, the slayer of
Major R . Now he was in the midst of them, but to their
many warm welcomes and congratulations he made no reply. In his arm was a bundle of dried, crisp boughs. Few knew their significance ; he cast them into the midst of the blazing mass, and then watching them* as they quickly burned into ashes — " There ye go," he muttered, " follow him, follow him to ashes, into nothing. God forgive us all, poor sinners." The sticks thus reduced to ashes were the alder branches saturated with blood, with which poor Reilly had been nearly scourged to death.
MULLINGAR
MULLING AR in the happy days of agriculture was a great market town, and a Parliamentary borough prior to the Act of Union in 1800. The town returned two members to represent it in the Irish Parliament. In 1560 it was represented by Nicholas Casey and J. Relynge. Relynge obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of portion of the plundered monastery of Mullingar. In 1585 its members were C. Petit and R. Casey. In 1613 its representatives were R. Cannon and N. Casey. In the Patriot Parliament of James II., 1689, Sir Lucas Dillon, Prime Sergeant, and Edward Nugent, of Carolonstown, were its representatives. Its two last members in 1800 were Francis Hardy and Luke Fox. Hardy was the author of " The Life of Charlemont," a staunch anti-Unionist. Fox betrayed his country and his con- stituents by voting with the Government, and was rewarded for his perfidy by a judgeship in the Common Pleas. In 1901 the population of the town was 4,500. This was one of the ancient Palatine towns founded by the English settlers of Meath. Lewis, in his " Topographical Dictionary of Ireland," says : —
The town is finely situated on the River Brosna, nearly in the centre of the county and of Ireland, in a fruitful and open tract, about half-way be- tween Lough ( hvel and Lough Ennel. It is partly bounded on the north by the Royal Canal, from which it derives great increase of trade, and on the road to Athlone, Longford, and Sligo, which passes through it, affords addi- tional facilities of connection. It consists of one long street about a mile in length, from which several small streets branch off in every direction, and
E
.50 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
contains 786 houses, most of which are handsome and well built of stone and roofed with slate. There are barracks for soldiers and police, a jail, court- house, workhouse, and county infirmary, with a lunatic asylum. The principal trade is in wool, for which there is the greatest mart in the country. There is an extensive brewery and malting establishment, and three large tanneries in the town (This was in 1836.) The parish is Similes in length from east to west, and extends in breadth from Lough Owel on the north to that of Lough Ennel on the south, comprising 17,000 statute acres of profit- able land. There are numerous Danish raths in the parish. At Kenny are the ruins of an ancient clmrch. Tuitestown, now Greenpark, belonged for a long period to a branch of the Tuite family, but they were attainted in 1641 and 1691, and their property confiscated for their attachment to the old faith and the old land, and handed over to the freebooters of Cromwell and the troopers of William of Orange. At Boordstown are the remains of an ancient fortress, and also at Baltrasna several coins and ornaments of gold have been found in the neighbourhood, and in the bog near the town a torque of pure gold weighing 11 ounces. The head of the family of Petit was styled Baron of Mullingar in ancient times, which title was also conferred by William of Orange on Schomberg, whom he created Duke of Leiuster.
The following account of the Petit family is taken from King James' Army List, by D'Altoii : —
The Petit Family.
Soon after the English Invasion, Hugh de Lacy, the great Palatine of Meath, granted to William Petit a most extensive territory round Mullingar, of which he and his successors ranked as Palatine Barons. This William had also a patent exempting him from being sued anywhere but before the Kings. In 1191 he was Lord Justice of Ireland. In 1227, Ealph de Petit succeeded to the See of Meath. In 1301 de Petit was summoned by the King to do service against the Scots, and in 1319 Robert Petit was advanced to the See of Clonfert. In 1373, Myler and Laurence Petit were summoned to a great Coimcil, held in Dublin. In 1400, Alexander Petit, Bishop of Meath, was interred at Trim. In Queen Elizabeth's Parliament, 1583. Red- mond Petit was one of the representatives of Mullingar. The forfeiting Petits in 1692 were Garret, Thomas, Adam, and William, and their pro- perty then comprised 3,000 plantation acres. Those outlawed in 1691 were Edward Petit, of Baltrasna ; Lewers, of Irishtown ; and Thomas, of Taugh- mon, all in Westmeath.
The Ancient Corporate Seal of Mullingar.
In the Spring of 1880, a labouring man, while digging in the neighbourhood of Mullingar, found what he thought was a metal stamp for making butter prints. He brought the article to a local tradesman, who purchased it for one shilling and sixpence. The tradesman sold it for seven arid sixpence to a commercial traveller, from whom it was subsequently purchased at a very enhanced price by Mr. Robert Day, J.P., M.R.I. A., Cork, who has one of the most valuable private collections of antiquities in Ireland. The seal was exhibited by Mr. Day at the Irish Na- tional Exhibition of 1882, and attracted great attention, being one of the best preserved of the Ancient Corporate seals of Ire- land. It belonged to the Corporation which was established in Anglo-Norman times, when Mullingar was an important town of
Ancient Seal of Mullingar.
(Published by permission of the Council of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.)
Ruins of St. Mary's Priory, Mullingar, [•'• T,
As they appeared in the early part of last century.
(They stood close to present All Saints' Church). (From the " Dublin Penny .Journal," vol. IV., Feb., 183G.)
To face page 50.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 51
the Pale. The Corporation was dissolved in 1661 by Charles II., when all the Corporate lands comprising, according to the " Down Survey " ( " Lyons's Estates Forfeited in Westmeath"), four lots, amounting in all to 464 acres, were confiscated and granted to Sir Arthur Forbes, ancestor of the present Earl of Granard.
The seal is 2 J inches in diameter, and is made of bronze, with a flange-like handle at the back. In the centre is a mill-wheel within an archway, which, no doubt, represents the mill from which Mullingar derives its name. Over the archway is a heckle emblematic of the flax and woollen industries, for which Mullin- gar was famous in bye-gone times. On the left is a tower, from which springs a demi-Griffin, rampant. (The Griflin formed part of the arms of the Petits, who were Barons of Mullingar.) The meaning of the spire and tented field, with flag flying on the right, has not been determined. Around the seal are the words "Sigilliiun Comune de Mollingar." It is probably 15th century work.
A few years ago the Rev. William Falkiner, M. A., M.R.I. A., the popular Rector of Killucan, who is a distinguished anti- quarian, made an electrotype copy of the seal, which he very kindly presented to the Mullingar Town Commissioners, through Mr. James Tuite, J.P., who at the time contributed an interesting article on the seal to the local newspapers. The Commissioners now use Mr. Falkiner's copy for stamping their official documents.
Up to the time of the finding of the seal, the Arms of Mullingar were not known. The original is still in the posssssion of Mr. Robert Day, J. P., Cork.
The town is partly in the barony of Fartullagh, but chiefly in that of Moyashel and Magheradernon. In ancient times. Kilbixy near Baronstown, Ballinacargy, was the principal town of the county, but not a vestige of it remains, nor is there anything about it to denote that such a place ever existed. Mullingar, as already stated, derives its name from a mill which, stood on the river Brosna. For many years the town continued one of the great strongholds of the English Pale, which menaced, and oftentimes laid waste the territories of the neighbouring chieftains, and were as frequently plundered and burned by the avenging foe.
In 1328 (I quote the "Four Masters ") Lord Thomas Butler led a powerful army into Westmeath with the design of sub- duing that county. The day before the feast of St. Laurence he was met by MacGeoghegan, at the head of his forces, near Mullingar, at a place called Ardnorvich (supposed to be Ar- donagh, about two miles west of the town, on the road leading to Ballinacargy). They came to a bloody battle, which proved fatal to Butler — he htiving lost his life in the fight, together with some of his principal officers. Amongst those who fell were — John de Ledwich. Roger de Ledwich, Thomas de Ledwich, John
52 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Nangle, Moiler Petit, Simon Petit, David Nangle, John War- ringer, James Tyrrell, Nicholas White, William Freyne, Peter Kent, and John White, with a hundred and forty others whose names are not known. The Abbe MacGeoghegan adds —
It seems, from the honours which were paid to his remains, that Lord Butler was much regretted by his partizans. His body was removed to Dublin to the convent of the Dominicans, where it remained till the Sunday after the feast of the beheading of St. John, when it was carried with solemnity through the city, and back to the Dominicans, where it was interred.
The " Four Masters " supply the following notices of Mulliii- gar : —
1450 — Great depredations were committed by the son of MacGeoghegan on the English, during which he plundered and burned Rathwire, Killucan, Ballinagall, and Kilbixy, all in Westmeath ; and during the commotion he took Carbry the son of Lisagh, the son of Rossa (O'Farrell), prisoner, and slew the two sons of Tobias, the son of Hobard, and Bryan, the son of Lisagh, in the great town of Lough Seudy (Ballymore), and, in short, spoiled an immense deal during the war. The English of Meath and the Duke of York, with the King's standard, marched to Mullingar, and the son of MacGeoghegan, with a great force of cavalry, marched on the same day to Bally glass (near Mullingar) to meet the English, who came to the resolution of making peace with him, but they forgave him all they had committed on them, on condition of obtaining peace. The humiliating terms extorted from the English duke reads very much like a great defeat. 1464 — Mullingar was plundered and burned by the people of Managh. 1475 — The inhabitants of Mullingar purchased by presents peace of Red Hugh O'Donnell and the chieftains of Lower Connaught, who had wasted the English Pale with fire and sword. 1572 — Mullingar was plundered and burned by the Rurkes of Clanricarde, who were in arms against the Government. In that year the Burkes revolted against the tyranny of Fitton, the English governor of Connaught, and together with their allies, the Scotch, devastated the country for miles. Mullingar being a town of the Pale, was burned and plundered by them.
Tranquillity was at length restored, says Cox, "by a victory which Captain Collins gained over the Scotch, with one company of infantry. The O'Morrisses and O'Connors of Leinster made attempts to create a diversion in their favour. They burned Athlone, and made some incursions on the English province, where they committed terrible devastation."
1575 — A shocking plague devastated Mullingar and the surrounding districts for miles. The " Four Masters " add — " Great heat and extreme drought happened in the summer of this year, so that there was not rain for one hour either by day or by night from May till August. In consequence of this drought, loathsome diseases and afflicting maladies were generated in an excessive degree amongst the English and Irish in Dublin and Mullingar. Many a castle between those places was left waste, and withotit a guard ; many a flock without a shepherd, and many bodies even of the nobility were left unburied through the effects of this distemper."
A distinguished member of the Franciscan Order, Father John Glynn, thus describes the epidemic : —
"* This year, and chiefly in the months of September and October, great numbers of bishops and priests, and in general the people of both sexes> flocked together by troops on pilgrimages to holy places, inasmuch that many
ANCIENT AND MODERN 53
souls might be seen together for many .lays. Some came on the score of religion, but the greater part for fear of the plague, which raged at the time with great violence. It first broke out near Dublin, at Howth, and Dalkey ; and it almost laid waste Dublin and Drogheda, inasmuch that 'in Dublin alone, from the beginning of August, 14,000 persons perished. It then extended to Meath, the western portion of it. The inhabitants of Mullingar were almost entirely swept away by this fearful plague. The distemper pre- vailed in full force in Lent. On the 6th March eight Dominicans died. Scarce a single person died in one house, but it commonly carried away the whole family.
1430— Owen O'Neill, with the chiefs of the province, marched with a great force into Annaly, and proceeded to the old fortress of Longford. He went from thence to Coil Salaidh, where he re- mained for some time, after which he went to Freamhain, pro- bably Frewin Hill, near Mullingar, to which place the Irish of the South repaired to meet O'Neill to receive his pay — namely, O'Connor Farly, O'Molloy, O'Melaghlin, MacGeoghegan, and others, and they entered into Westmeath. Kilbixy was plundered and burned by these forces, after which the Baron of Delvin (Nugent), the Plunketts, the MacHerberts (Deleameres), and the English of Westmeath in general waited on O'Neill to pay him tribute on behalf of their country, which they did, and made peace. Owen then returned home victoriously and triumphantly, and took with him the son of O'Farrell (Buidhe) as 'hostage for O'FarreH's lordship. 1464 — O'Connor Fearly and the son of Richard Butler, marched to the Hill of Drumhurling, near Mullingar, and Collinstown. They had under their command one thousand horsemen, all helmetted,and undismayed, they sent for their horsemen and scouring parties to burn and lay waste the country in every direction. In the course of this contest, Felim Calvach O'Connor was made prisoner by the son of MacThomas. O'Connor received great presents from the English for granting them peace, as was always customary with those who held their place. 1464 — The town of Mullingar was plundered and burned by the people of Managh. 1472 — O'Kelly made a great attack on Monilea, near Mullingar, but he was overtaken by the English of Westmeath — namely, the Tuites, D'Altons, Petits, Tyrrells, and Darcys. O'Kelly was defeated. Donogh O'Kelly, with many others, were taken prisoners, and a number of their foot soldiers and kerns were slain. 1475 — Hugh Roe O'Donnell marched into Annaly to aid the son of Neal O'Farrell, who were his friends, and he burned and plundered the entire of Annaly, except the portion that belonged to Neal, whom he left in sway and power. He afterwards marched into Westmeath and burned and plun- dered the town of Delvin and the barony of Fartullagh. After this he en- camped one night at Kilkenny West. The Dillons and D'Altons came to him, and submitted and made peace. After that he marched to Mullingar. The people of the town presented him with money and valuable presents to spare the town from being burned and plundered. After having burned and plundered the country in every direction he went to Rahin at the in- stance of O'Melaghlin and plundered it. On that expedition he gained the battle of Garbh Eisgreach against O'Melaghlin, with all his forces. This was also called the Battle of Beulagh-na-Georgad (Bally-Corkey), near Baronstown and Ballynacargy, from the snares made of rushes, which the people of the country used to cast about the necks of some of the soldiers, which they effected by the narrowness of that pass. On the same day O'Donnell gained the battle of Ballyloughkoe (Mountemple), in which the son of MacAuley and many others fell.
1597 — Hugh Maguire and Cormac, son of Con O'Neill, marched with a force at the instigation of O'Farrells (of Longford) to Mullingar, in Meath. They preyed the country about them, and they completely plundered Mullingar itself, and they left no property in the town itself, of gold, silver. bronze, iron, cloths, or foreign goods belonging to the people that could be carried off or conveyed, that they did not take with them, and on their
54 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
return back they set fire to the town, into a dark bla/e of conflagration, and they afterwards returned safe to their homes. Mullingar Avas then in pos- session of the English of the Pale. 1598 — After the Governor of Connaught had parted in peace and friendship at the town of Athlone, in May, and when O'Rourke saw that the English and Irish were not in peace with each other, and that the English were not more powerful than the Irish on that occasion, he therefore dreaded that his country might be plundered by O'Donnell, so that he resolved to attend at his call, and on this resolution he acted by the advice of his people, for they preferred the Governor to be opposed to them rather than be threatened by the O'DonnelPs vengeance should they remain in alliance with the Governor. After O'Rourke had confirmed his friendship writh O'Donnell on that occasion, O'Rourke marched with his forces into Meath at the instigation of O'Farrell Bann — namely, Rossa, and they plundered Mullingar. From thence they proceeded to Bally- more, on Lough Seudy, which they plundered and burned. O'Rourke, with another force, the first month of harvest, marched southward, and did not halt till he reached Tyrrell's Pass and Kilbride, in the barony of Fatullagh. He took preys and slew many persons at Tyrrell's Pass, and he returned back to his country without receiving a wound or experiencing any danger.
1583 — Queen Elizabeth granted a patent for holding two fairs of three days each at Mullingar, the tolls of which were to be appropriated to the fortification of the town against the Irish enemy. 1597 — An army led by the Maguires wasted Mullingar, accompanied by the O'Neills, at the instance of the O'Farrells, and they preyed the country round them,and totally pillaged Mullingar itself, in which they did not leave any property of gold, silver, brass, copper, iron, armour, or foreign wares, or any other thing that could be carried away or driven. Upon their returning back they set fire to the town, and afterwards returned safe to their homes. Mullingar was then in possession of the English Pale. 1598 — MiTllingar was plundered by the O'Rourkes. In 1227, the priory of St. Mary, anciently called ' The Ilouseof God of Mullingar,' was founded by Ralph Petit, Bishop of Meath, for Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine. As the Petits were Barons of Mullingar and Dunboyne, the founder was enabled to endow the priory liberally. Amongst the benefactors of this monastery was Walter, Earl of Ulster, who granted to Lambert, the prior, the advowson of the Church of Bredath. In 1300, Donagh O'Flaherty, Bishop of Killala, the most eminent of the Irish for piety, died.at Dunboyne on his way to Dublin, and was interred with honour at Mullingar in the House of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1397, Adam Petit granted to Hugh, prior of Mullingar, 40 acres of land in Killucan. In 1597, Petit, prior of the monastery of St. Mary, died of the plague. The last prior of Mullingar was John Petit, and on the 28th November, 1539, he and his community were summoned by the Commissioners of Henry VIII, to surrender the priory and all its property, and to sign their own expulsion. In order to reconcile a few dignitaries of the priory, a yearly pension of £20 was promised to the late prior, payable out of the Church property in Slevin and Grange, and out of rectories of Dunboyne and Vastina, a Pension of 40s. was promised to John Kelly, 26s. 8d. to Thomas Relyng, and 26s. 8d. to Thomas Ledwich, out of the property of Dunboyne.
On the 20th January, 1560, the following grant of Church property was made by Queen Elizabeth to Sir Richard Tuite — " Grant to Sir Richard Tuyte, Knight, of the state, ambite, and precinct of the late monastery of Molingar, in the County of Westmeath, a small castle and five gardens, 59£ acres of arable land surrounding the said monastery ; and parcel of its demesne, with a mill, six cottages, 300 acres of arable and pasture land in Slevyne and Ballyclonen, Westmeath, to hold to the said Richard for life without impeachment of Avastes with remainder to William Tuyte, his son, and heirs male ; the remainder to Richard, son of the said William, and his heirs male, they to maintain two able horsemen of the English nation for the defence of the premises, to be held by military service — that is to say, by the
ANCIENT AND MODERN 55
fourth part of a knight's fee." This monastery, during its existence, paid four marks annually to the Bishop of Meath. The Sir Richard Tuite referred to lived at Tuitestown. A Dominican Monastery was founded in Mullingar in 1237, some say by n member of the Nugent family; others by one of the Petits. In course of time this house became conspicuous amongst the friaries of the Order, and hence we find general chapters of the Dominicans held here in 1217, 1292, 1308, and 1314. In 1439, Richard, Duke of York and Earl of Ulster, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, granted to this house 30 acres of arable land in Kilbride, near Mullingar, for the term of 21 years. On the 31st August, 8th of Queen Elizabeth, this friary, with the church, cemetery, and appurtenances, also the rectories of Vastina and Churchtown, were granted to Walter Hope at the annual rent of £10. Inquisition, 28th July, 29th same reign, finds that three acres of meadow in Piercetown, in the Parish of Dunboyne, in the County Meath, situate in the west of said town, near the river of Rathbeggan, of the annual value, besides reprises, of 3s. 4d., were parcel of the possessions of this friary. In the year 1564, the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland granted possession and custodian to Sir Thomas Goire of Friars Preachers of Mullingar, and of the parsonages of Vastina and Churchtown, in the county of Westmeath, until authority should arrive from her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, for granting a lease to him. In 1(522, it is said, the Friars of Multyfarnham commenced the erection of a Franciscan Convent in Mullingar, but it was never completed. The Capuchin Order, recommended by Dr. Dease, Bishop of Meath, was introduced into Mullingar in 1633, but there is no record to illustrate their subsequent history.
In Burke's Peerage we find that the first of the Granard family who obtained grants of land in Westmeath was Sir Arthur Forbes, born in 1(523. He was a person of great interest in the province of Ulster, and in the re- bellion was an officer of horse, and being zealously affected to the Royal cause, was a commander in the northern parts of Scotland for (King Charles II., which, as Sir Philip Warwick writes sometime after the Worcester fight, " cost the English some pains and marches, because the commanders were chosen men, such as Lord Glencairn, Sir Arthur Forbes, and another named Middleton."
After the defeat of the Royal army, he returned to Ireland, and was per- mitted by treaty to enjoy his estates. When the restoration was conceived, he was sent to Brussels by Sir Charles Coote to assure the king that if he would come into Ireland he would be declared for by that nation.
In 1660 he was made a captain of a troop of horse, and in 1661 was member of Parliament for Mullingar. The castle, the two dissolved monasteries, with the town of Mullingar and adjacent lands, were by Royal Charter granted to him by Charles II. as a reward for his loyalty. But when the star of the ill-fated brother of the ' merry monarch ' set in Ireland, the first Earl of Granard turned his coat, and Became a stout supporter of AVilliam of Orange. In 1671 he was appointed one of the Lords Justices of this kingdom, and again in 1676, and in 1675 was created Baron Clonhugh and Viscount Granard.
In 1689 he was made colonel of the Royal Irish Regiment of Foot and Lieutenant-General of the Army.and was advanced to the dignity of Granard. I M 1 H'.tii he was sworn of the Privy Council under William I'll. He took his seat in Parliament in 1692, and was appointed one of the committee assigned to prepare an address from the House of Peers to their Majesties, thanking them for the care they had taken in delivering Ireland from Popery and slavery. He died in 1696, having built the Church of Castle Forbes.
The second Earl of Granard was deprived of his colonelcy of the 18th Knyal Iri<h by William I II.. and imprisoned in the Tower of London. His lord.-hip served under Tunvrme, and took part in the battle of Saspach, and was present at the siege of Buda. He made a lease to the king in 1701, of the -round on the west side of the town of Mullingar, whereon the barrack was Ixiilt.
56 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
Mullingar remained in possession of the .Granard family till 1859, when it was purchased by Colonel Greville (afterwards Lord Greville, who was elevated to the peerage 18th December, 1869), father of the present Lord Greville. His lordship, it is said, paid £125,000 for it. The estate of Clonhugh was purchased at the same time by the same purchaser.
The charter granting Mnllingar to Sir Arthur Forbes, created it a manor, with very extensive privileges ; and for better peopling the said manor, the town was constituted the assize town of the county. The charter of Charles II. created no corporation, nor were any officers elected. The lord of the manor was empowered to appoint a clerk of the market, and the business of the town was done by his seneschal.
The Charter conferred on the freeholders of the manor the right of re- turning two members to the Irish Parliament, which they continued to do till the Union, when the franchise was abolished. The seneschal used to hold a court every Thursday, and debts to the amount of 40s. were recoverable ; and a Court of Record with jurisdiction to the extent of £100, which could be sued for, was established.
Archdall's Annals of the Ancient Monasteries of Mullingar (Monasticon Hibernicum) : —
This ancient town, held in fee by the Earl of Granard, returns two mem- bers of Parliament, and is seated in the centre of Westmeath, of which it is the capital. The Priory of St. Mary, which was formerly known by the name of the House of God of Mullingar, was founded in 1227 for Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustin, by Ralph le Petyt, Bishop of Meath, who died in 1229.
Lambert was prior of this house, and Walter, Earl of Ulster, granted to him, in perpetuity, the advowson of the church of Bredath. Notwithstand- ing this grant, a succeeding prior was under the* necessity of suing Eli de Dondonold for the said church. In 1302 this was enrolled.
1305 — Donat O'Flaherty, bishop of Killala, was interred in this priory.
1397 — Hugh was prior, to whom Adam Petyt granted 40 acres of land in Kilbrenan.
1426 — A suit having subsisted between the prior of this house and John Penbrugge, prior of Lanthony in Monmouthshire, for the recovery of £16 Is. 6d. arrears of an annual rent of £13 6s. 8d., payable to the said prior, he, in this year, brought a writ of error from the parliament of Ire- land to the King's Bench in England, which refusing to act therein, he there- upon petitioned to remove his suit to the House of Lords of England.
1464 — The town was burnt and destroyed by the people of Managh.
1467 — The prior, — Petyt, died of the plague.
1534 — John Petyt was the last prior. He granted to Sir John Waryuge, chaplain, and Thomas Casey of Athboy, merchant, all the tithes of grass and hay in the parish or Moynerd, county of Meath, for the full space and term of thirty years, at the annual rent of £10 13s. 4d.
1535 — The prior did also grant to the aforesaid Thomas Casey, the tithes, alterages, &c., together with the mansion house of Dunboyne, for thirty-one years, at the annual rents of ten marcs.
1536 — In this year the same prior granted to the said Warynge and Casey all the tithes of corn and hay in the parish of Dunboyne, and in the town- lands of Milleston, Connogs, Mayn, Brayston, Pierston, Luston, Beggeston, and Lord's Maynis, for thirty-one years, at the annual rent of £46 Irish money.
1537 — The same prior granted John Dacton, chaplain, and Thomas Stevens, the tithes of grass and hay of Clony, le Bridgestreet le Longsith, Foylleston Herbertston, Boithe, and Gallmolleston, and all the tithes of the parish of Kilbride in this county, for twenty years, at the annual rent of £20.
1538 — The same prior granted Thomas Casey the water-mill belonging to the priory in Mullingar, for thirty-one years, at the rent of 40s.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 57
All these several grants are set forth in the inquisition taken in the following year ;
And which inquisition, on the Monday next after the feast of St. David the bishop. 31st King Henry VII. finds, that the prior, John Petyt, was seized of this priory and its precincts, a garden, haggard and cemetery, annual value 20d.; also of a mill, with its water-course, in Mullingar, annual value, besides reprises, 40s. ; thirty-five acres of , arable and pasture, in Slewin in this county, annual value, besides reprises, £4; twenty-three acres of arable in le Grange, annual value, besides reprises, 40s. ; twenty-three acres of arable in the township of Mullingar, called The Prior's Demesne, annual value, besides reprises, 40s. ; five messuages in Mullingar, each of the value of 20d. ; three messuages in Mullingar, on the north of the priory, annual value, besides reprises, 3s. ; the rectory of Castle Killaleny, in said county, with the chapels thereunto annexed, annual value, besides reprises, £8 ; half
a carucate of arable land in , and a carucate of arable in Kathowan
and Walterstown, in the said county, annual value, besides reprises, 40s. ; a messuage called The Parsonage, and forty acres of arable land in Dunboyn, with the alterages and other ecclesiastical profits called The Door of St. Peter's church in Dunboyn, annual value, besides reprises, £6 13s. 4d. ; the prior was also seized of the rectory of the said church.
Inquisition 17th October, 13th Queen Elizabeth, finds, that the prior was seized of fifteen messuages, (with gardens adjoining) each of the annual value, besides reprises, of 6d. ; also of a croft adjoining the road, called IJater-fegre, annual value 4d. ; a meadow in Garyveel, containing one acre, annual value 8d. ; and a parcel of pasture, extending from the building called the Spittle to the water of Rathcohnel, near the King's high-way, annual value 12d.
Another inquisition, 29th same Queen, finds that the prior was also seized of three acres of meadow in Pierston, in the parish of Dunboyn, near the river of Rathbegan. annual value 4s. and of five acres of arable on the north of the said meadow, annual value 3s. 4d.
And thirty-third of same reign, it was found that in the townland of the Grange, near Mullingar, the prior was seized of a castle, eight messuages, eight gardens, thirty-eight acres of arable, twelve of pasture, and two of moor, called Moninbegg, annual value 13s. 0£d., Irish money ; all concealed, for the space of twenty years, by Sir John Bellew of Castletown, in the county of Meath ; and further, that the late prior and his predecessors had, from time immemorial, received from every house within the liberties of Mullingar and out of every brewing, one measure of ale, commonly called The Mary Gallon ; this also was valued yearly at 6s. 8d.
This prior paid annually four marcs proxies to the bishop of Meath.
26th January, 34th Queen Elizabeth, this priory, and the appurtenances within the site thereof, with fifty-nine acres of arable land, four of meadow, iiiid three hundred acres in and near the town of Slewyn and Ballyclouer in this county, were granted to Richard Tuyte, and after his decease to William, his second son. and his heirs ; and in default of such heirs, to Kichard, brother of the said William, and his heirs ; and in default thereof, to Walter, brother of the said Richard, and his heirs male ; in capite, by Knight's service, and at the yearly rent of £16 os. lOd. Irish money.
DOMINICAN FHIARY ;
The family of Nugent founded this friary in the year 1237.
A.D. 1278, 1292, 1308, and 1314, General chapters of the order were held here.
1425. Henry Dalton, a knight of the Garter, was interred here.
1459. In this year Richard Duke of York and Earl of Ulster. Lord Lieu- tenant of Ireland, granted to the prior of, this house thirty acres of arable land in Kilbride near Mullingar for the term of twenty-one yV:u>.
58 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
31st August. 8th Queen Elizabeth, this friary, with the church, cemetery, and appurtenances, also the rectories of Vastina and Churchtown in this county, were granted in capite to Walter Hope, at the annual rent of £10.
Inquisition 28th July, 29th same reign, finds, that three acres of meadow, in Pierston, in the parish of Dunboyne and county of Meath, situate on the west of said town near the river of Rathbegan, of the annual value, besides reprises, of 4s., and five acres of arable land on the north of said meadow, annual value, besides reprises, 3s. 4d. ; were parcel of the possessions of this friary.
Part of the bell-tower, and some other ruins of the building, still remain (see ilhtstration).
FRANCISCAN FRIARY ;
In the year 1622 the friars of Multifernam began to erect a house here for friars of the order of St. Francis ; this house was never completed.
" The Priory of St. Mary, anciently called the House of God of Mullingar, was founded in 1227 by Ralph Petit, Bishop of Meath, for Canons Regular of the Order of St. Augustine. As the Petits were Barons of Mullingar and Dunboyne, the founder was enabled to endow this priory liberally ; and in subsequent years we meet with the names of many scions of this house that sacrificed the world, and devoted themselves to God inside the monastic walls. Amongst the benefactors of this priory was Walter Earl of Ulster, who granted to Lambert, the prior, the advowson of the church of Bredath. In 1306, Donough O'Flaherty, Bishop of Killala, the most eminent of the Irish for piety, died at Dunboyne, on his way to Dublin, and was interred with honour at Mullingar, in the house of the Blessed Virgin Mary." — Four Masters.
From Cogan's " Diocese of Meath " : — Dominican Friary of Mullingar.
" This monastery was founded1 about the year 1237. In course of time this house became conspicuous amongst the friaries of the order, and hence we find General Chapters of the Dominicans held here in the years 1278, 1292, 1308, and 1314. In 1459 Richard Duke of York and Earl of Ulster, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, granted to this house thirty acres of arable land, in Kilbride, near Mullingar, for the term of twenty -one years." — King.
On the 31st August, 8th Queen Elizabeth, this friary, with the church, cemetery, and appurtenances, also the rectories of Vastina and Churchtown, in this county, were granted in capite to Waltor Hope, at the annual rent of £10. — Aud. Gen.
Inquisition2 28th July, 29th same reign, finds that three acres
1 There is no certainty as to the founder. Some say the Nugents, others the Petits. There are various authorities on both sides.
2 This inquisition seems to regard the Priory of St. Mary, and not the Dominican Monastery. In the year 1564 the Lords Justices and Council of Ireland granted "possession and custodiam to Thomas Gorie of the Monastery of Friars Preachers, of Molingar, and of the parsonages of Vastina and Churchtown, in the county of Westmeath, until authority should arrive from her Majesty (Queen Elizabeth) for granting a lease to him. — Calendar, p. 491. *
ANCIENT AND MODERN 59
of meadow, in Pierstown, in the parish of Dunboyne, and county of Meath, situate on the west of said town, near the river of Rathbeggan, of the annual value, besides reprises, of four shil- lings, and five acres of arable land on the north of said meadow, annual value, besides reprises, 3s. 4d., were parcel of the posses- sions of this friary." — Chief Remembrancer.
The Second Monastery.
During the long and wicked reign of Queen Elizabeth, the churches and monasteries of Ireland, the hospitals and schools, every remnant of Catholic piety and charity, underwent con- fiscation, passed into alien hands, and were torn down and uprooted, or sacrilegiously profaned:' The religious were put to death, or driven into exile, unless a few who sought refuge from their enemies on the hills, in the woods and caverns, or, clad in disguise, in the houses of the poor. The Dominican Fathers suffered the fate of others, and it must be remembered that, in the worst of times, some of their community braved capture and its consequences, in order to afford the consolation of religion to the Catholics of Mullingar. Elizabeth, so long the scourge and terror of the faithful, at length had to appear before the judgment-seat of God. James the First succeeded, and an effort was now to be made to save from extinction the Irish branch of the Dominican Order, by establishing in a foreign land, beyond the power and bigotry of England, a college and a monastery, which would prove a prolific source of future missionaries, and secure a home for the aged and infirm, who grew grey or were invalided in the service of the Church. Accordingly, a Dominican convent was founded at Louvain, in Flanders, and Providence assisted the good work by raising up. a burning and a shining light, who was pre-eminently instrumental in its growth and efficiency. This eminent servant of God was the venerable and reverend Father Roch M'Geoghegan,4 alias a cruce, a man of distinguished birth, an alumnus of Mullingar, who completed his ecclesiastical studies in Spain with the greatest applause. In 1622 he was made provincial of the order in Ireland, and by his tact and exertion Philip the Fourth endowed Louvain with an annual pension of ,£100, to which the Propaganda added, subse- quently, a donation of 1,000 florins, on condition that the alumni would pass thence to the Irish mission. At the earnest recom- mendation of all 'who love zeal and self-sacrifice, Father M'Geoghegan was consecrated Bishop of Kildare, and spent his declining days in building up once more the long prostrate temples of that ancient diocese. He was a man of great piety,
:! Hibernia Dominicana, ]>. l."><>.
1 Sri- bis letter of approbation prefixed to the Four Masters ; also to the
Martyrology of Donegal.
The Rev. .Arthur M'Geoghegan, another bright ornameii the Dominican Order, and an alumnus of Mullingar, studio Spain, and on his return to the Irish mission was arrested in land and imprisoned in London on a charge of high treasoi having said in Spain that it would not be a crime to kill the of England. What he did say, during a disputation on will," was that " if this doctrine were overthrown fanatii would find its excuse, even if a man were to assassinat monarch." All defence was useless ; he was put to death foi faith in 1633, and his bowels were cast into the fire. — Hib. pp. 419, 559, 560.
The Rev. Dominick Nugent, an alumnus of Mullingarjj rector of the Dominican convent of Louvain, in 1633, appointed, at a general chapter held in Rome, in 1644, one judges to determine the limits of the convents of Leinster.- Dom. pp. 115, 279.
The Rev. Stephen Pettit, sub-prior of the convent of Mulli a distinguished preacher, being recognised by his habit, as h<| hearing the confession of a dying soldier, at the village of linacurra, was shot by the heretics, in 1642, and died thej day, after having received the last sacraments.
In 1654, we find Rev. Cornelius Geoghegan, professl theology and prior of Mullingar. — (p. 473).
The Rev. Maurice Tyrrell, a distinguished scholar, beloi the Convent of Mullingar. He presided for some years of the Dominican colleges of Hungary, and, in 1650, in quality of Definitor of Ireland, assisted, in Rome, at the election of a general of the order. — Hib. Dom. pp. 117, 219.
The Rev. Gerald Dillon, a man of very exemplary life, and laborious in the discharge of his sacred duties, was frequently prior of the Convent of Mullingar. He died about the year 1688. —Hib. Dom. p. 580.
The Rev. George Nangle was prior of the Convent of Mullingar. He fled during the persecution of the Williamites, and died at Florence about the year 1705.— Hib. Dom. pp. 134, 371.
ANCIENT AND MODERN 61
The Rev. John Dillon, an alumnus of Mullingar, studied for a time in the Convent of St. Maximus, in France, and, subsequently, in that of St. Sixtus, in Rome, where he taught philosophy and theology. After his return to Ireland he became prior of the Dominican Convent of Trim, and chaplain to the Catholic army for seven years. After the so-called Treaty of Limerick, he sailed with the army to France, governed the schools of Lou vain, became doctor of divinity and prior of the monastery for three years. He was prior of the Dominican Convents of St. Sixtus and St. Clements, in Rome, from 1707 to 1710. He returned to Ireland, and died in 1716.
The Rev. James Fitzgerald, an alumnus of Mullingar, studied partly in Rome and partly in Lombardy, in which latter place he taught philosophy and theology ; became consulting theologian to the bishop, and, on several occasions, prior of the Dominican Convent. He was prior of the Irish Dominican house of Rome, from 1723 to 1726, and at the same time president of the schools. In the year 1724, he invested with the habit of the order the celebrated Thomas De Burgo (Burke), subsequently author of the Hibernia Dominicana (in which he filially and reverently refers to this event), and Bishop of Ossory. At the expiration of his priorship he returned to Lombardy, and remained there till 1740, when he was again elected prior of the Irish Convent in Rome. At length, at an advanced age, he died in Rome, in the year 1750, during the celebration of the General Jubilee, and was buried there with many of his brethren. The Dominicans were expelled from Mullingar after the siege of Limerick, and their magnificent convent was demolished. Dr. Burke tells us that in his time (1756) all that remained of the once famous monastery was a fragment of the bell-tower, together with a few old crumbling walls. The fathers were dispersed, but they lingered long in the neighbourhood, and returned, after some years, to resume their mission of charity and usefulness.
Hospital of Mullingar.
A priory was founded here, to which an hospital was attached, under the care of the illustrious and self-sacrificing order of Trinitarians. — (vol. i., p. 205.) When the Reformation was introduced into Ireland the monks firmly refused to waver in their allegiance to the Catholic faith and the Holy See, and hence many of the community were put to death ; others were banished and impoverished, and all were robbed and hunted from their once happy home. Dr. Moran, quoting from Domingo Lopez, the annalist of the Trinitarian order, tells us that 5 : — " So universal was the ruin that fell upon this religious order, that all vestiges
5 The Catholic Archbishops of Dublin, p. 2<>; Inquisitions at Philips- town, 13th March, 1637.
62 ANNALS OF WESTMEATH
of it disappear from the subsequent history of our Church." A Dominican father, writing in 1547, after describing the heroic death of some Trinitarian fathers in Mullingar, adds : — " Never in the time of Nero or Diocletian, or other enemies of the Chris- tian name, was a more fiery persecution witnessed than now raged against our Church ; its agents seem to have laid aside . all humanity, and to have transformed themselves into beasts, or rather into demons." — Cogan's " Diocese of Meath."
Archdall,6 quoting from Ware's MSS., tells us that in 1622, the friars of Multifarnham commenced the erection of a house of their order in Mullingar, but that it was never completed. Cobbett remarked of such an undertaking, at such a plundering, intolerant age, " like the lambs building amongst the wolves."
The Capuchins.
This order, warmly recommended by Dr. Dease, Bishop of Meath, and his successor, Dr. Geoghegan, was introduced into Mullingar, in the year 1633. I have met with