All about Mayo

By Thomas Kennedy

The places, the history and the people of County Mayo, Ireland. Packed with little known facts in a dozen sections with area and town maps. This is the most comprehensive and up to date eBook about the county that goes far beyond the usual guides. Lots of information, much of which is little known even to those that live there.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thomas Kennedy
• Release date: May 3, 2022
• ISBN: 9781005781514

Thomas Kennedy

Irish writer of: Irish American Fantasy: Kate and the Raptor Dinosaurs Druids Raptors and Egyptians The New York Druid The Chicago Druid and the Ugly Princess The San Francisco Leprechauns The Boston Druid and the Wizard The Great Fury The Dublin Fosterling The God of Death takes a holiday Swan Magic Hard Boiled/Irish humor: Dark Drink and Conversation More Dark Drink and Conversation Romance/Thriller: The Irish Detective Love on the Dark Side of the City Twisted Love and Money Forensic Affairs Debits and Credits The Doorbell Went The Tigerman Young Woman Dead Madeline Goes Foreign These books are also available on Amazon.com (print), Audible, Kindle, Barnes and Noble etc,.

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Introduction

Beginning at least twenty if not more years ago, the facts, observations and lore presented here simply accumulated until a halt had to be called and something had to be done with the mountain of material. All About Mayo is the result, a compendium of miscellaneous information based largely on the expertise of others.

It would be impossible to acknowledge everyone who contributed, indirectly or directly, but local study publications, community websites, the schools folklore collection and blogs, some of which are exceptional, all added lots of material to the mix. Locally produced publications usually have a limited circulation but they have great value in recording the roots of who we are and where we came from.

Apart from family connections that go back some generations, my interest in Mayo was stimulated by youthful trips with my friend, Nial Leonard, to study the wildlife on lakes and offshore islands. Travelling around became a habit I continued to share with my wife. There is always something new around every corner and there is no end to the discoveries to be made in Mayo.

Far too easy to make a mistake, especially when merging all of these strands together, and thanks to Marie-Claire Cleary I recast a few obscure paragraphs and avoided going seriously astray as she weeded out some factual errors. My woeful tendency of leaving out linking words was ably caught out by Appie who also saved our readers from having to endure too many misplaced commas and avoid the confusion of inconsistent names.



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View towards The Reek, Croagh Patrick

A brief history

The first people to settle in Mayo arrived about seven and a half thousand years ago and it is thought that they were hunter-gatherers rather than farmers. It had taken about two or three thousand years for the land to recover following the retreat of ice enabling people to move up from the south. Conditions fluctuated, and when a warm period began, new arrivals, drawn to a fertile landscape and a near Mediterranean climate began to farm. From about 6,000 years ago the Neolithic population increased, and amazingly, traces of their well-ordered farms, such as those uncovered at the Ceide Fields near Ballycastle, occur beneath the blanket of peat throughout Mayo. Apart from the peat covered walls, the most visible traces remaining from this time, are the numerous burial places, court cairns, over 100 of which are known in Mayo.

After many centuries, apparently peaceful, the climate deteriorated. About 4,000 years ago a drop in temperature and increase in rain caused farmers to abandon the land. Wet conditions favoured the growth of Sphnagnum moss, an unusual plant in that it requires little nourishment, and can hold about ten times its own weight in water. Sphnagnum will even grow on top of itself, so over time layer upon layer builds up, excluding air and settling by compression into a blanket of peat. The peat advanced over everything, burying walls, fields, houses, and even obliterating great forests of oak and pine. Because the peat excludes air, nothing below the surface decays, and trees which fell on land abandoned by the first farmers remains perfectly preserved as bog oak and pine.

We do not know if the population just declined, or perhaps people departing in search of more favourable conditions, created the Atlantis myth. A number of theories have been suggested to explain this story, which was already old when the great pyramids of Egypt were being built. The ancient Egyptians maintained that there once had been a rich and fertile land somewhere beyond the Mediterranean, and this could well have been Mayo.

BRONZE AGE In time, another wave of people sailed up from the south west of Europe. Metal workers were attracted to the greenish ore which, when reduced to copper and alloyed with tin, produced the bronze that gave the era its name.

From the number of Bronze Age remains we know that Mayo and other parts of Ireland were well populated. In Mayo hundreds of Fulach Fiadh , Bronze Age cooking pits, have been found. When the hot stones, used for cooking, were discarded they formed characteristic crescents that remain to this day. Many of the standing stones, cist burials, and gold ornaments that have been found in Mayo are from this period.

IRON AGE About 2,400 years ago bronze gave way to iron, and this is the age that gave rise to the heroic sagas. It is thought that the new technology was brought in from the south east of Europe. Although often described as Celts, there is a great deal of uncertainty about the identity and origin of these people.

Hundreds of mounds scattered around the county remain from Iron Age farms. Within the earthen mounds, sometimes topped with a wooden fence, and entered through a gap, family and stock had some security, even if only against wild animals. At that time wild boars and wolves, now extinct in Ireland, roamed the countryside.

Ringforts, varying in size from 15 to 61 metres (49 by 200 ft.) in diameter, were in use right up to the 16th. century. Around Ballina, south-east to Swinford, and Castlebar the concentration of ring forts was particularly high.

All the old Irish stories, including The Tain , are deeply rooted in Iron Age culture. The culture was verbal, bards drew their inspiration from real events, and the written records only date from the end of this era. Gaelic society, as we know from the Brehon Laws, was well organised, and the rules were based on natural justice.

In late Gaelic times roads and trackways crossed the countryside, rivers had bridges, the arts were encouraged, apprentices learned crafts, and forest trees were protected.

Warriors were admired, raiding for cattle appears to have been common, as was the capture of slaves. In Niall of the Nine Hostage’s reign as High King, Patrick, a 16-year-old romanised Briton, was captured and put to work as a slave tending swine on Slemish, County Antrim. After six years, Patrick escaped and made his way back to Britain. A few years later, about 432, with the High King Laoghaire’s approval, Patrick returned to Ireland as the missionary saint.

VIKINGS Three centuries later the Norsemen, attracted by relatively easy pickings, began probing the coast, and the raids began with an attack on Lambay Island off the Dublin coast in 795. The Vikings introduced a level of violence that continued to increase, and no part of the coast, including the west, was immune from attack. The defeat inflicted on the Vikings in 1014 was not really the end of the matter, for the northern warriors were soon to emerge in another guise, as the Normans. The Vikings, having been allowed by the French king to settle in Normandy, became Normans, and as such invaded England in 1066.

NORMANS ARRIVE A few generations later, Henry II with the blessing of the Pope, got rid of the Norman trouble-makers by sending them to Ireland. In 1169 the Normans arrived and within three years Henry II found it necessary to come over to check the loyalty of his lords. The Normans, well armed, had cut through Ireland like a scythe, and local chieftains usually accepted their superiority and made a show of submission to their English king. In 1175 Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair , the last of the high kings, submitted to Henry II. Other Gaelic chiefs, realising that loyalty to the English Crown would give them some protection against the land-grabbing Normans, did the same.

In Connacht, the Norman Richard de Burgo, found himself competing with the Gaelic king, Feidlim Ua Conchobair , for Henry II’s favour. Henry, with good reason, distrusted the Norman lords, and it was Feidlim , rather than Richard who was asked to impose order in Connaught. Richard however, managed to win back the king’s favour and was granted Connacht in 1235, subject to paying over £2,000 for having displeased Henry.

Richard proceeded to attack Feidlim , and defeated, the Gaelic chief withdrew among his relations, the Uí Briain , in Tir Conaill . When peace was restored Feidlim was allowed back into Connacht where he proceeded to pull down Richard’s castle at Meelick.

By 1237 Feidlim was not just in conflict with Richard. The in fighting among the Ua Conchobair cousins had become a ferocious war over succession. With difficulty Feidlim finally restored an uneasy truce among the cousins.

The next Henry, like his predecessor, needed money. He had expensive wars to fight in France and Wales, so Feidlim offered his soldiers in return for the King’s protection. In 1245 the Irish went to Wales against Dafydd of Gwynedd. Richard de Burgo had died, and Feidlim ’s star might have continued to rise if only his son, Áed na nGall , had not attacked and killed the custodian appointed to look after Richard’s son, Walter, until he came of age.

Again Feidlim had to flee, staying with the Ua Néil l of Tir Eogain , while the Norman Maurice Fitzgerald, after ravaging the countryside set up another Ua Conchobair relation, Tairdelbach , as king. Feidlim , who died in 1265, and is buried in the Dominican abbey he founded in Roscommon, made a successful return, deposing Tairdelbach , but by then it was obvious that there was not much to be gained by pleasing English kings.

The Gaelic kings learned to live with the Normans, and eventually not only accepted the new order, but embraced it. Through marriages and mutual distrust of the English Crown, Norman and Gaelic interests merged.

BURKES SEIZE POWER The de Burgo hold on Connacht continued, but in 1333, with an infant girl next in line, two of her distant cousins, the brothers Edmund Albanach and Ulick de Burgo decided to seize the territory for themselves.

Edmund Albanach, who had spent some time in Scotland, landed in Mayo with a band of galloglaí , mercenary soldiers. He married Sadhbh , one of the O’Malleys, and established the MacWilliam Eochtarach , the Burkes of Mayo.

His brother, Ulick, seized the de Burgo lands in Galway, founding the MacWilliam Uachtarach family, later styled Earls of Clanrickarde.

Although the two branches of the family continued to rule, their seizure of territory was never recognised under English law. Not that this bothered the de Burgos, who by then had become totally Irish in style, habits and language.

Colonists who had followed the Normans felt abandoned, and complained to Edward III that a third of the conquered lands had reverted to Gaelic hands. In 1394 when the next king, Richard II, came to Ireland with a large force, few of his Irish lords, summoned to help him regain control, could even speak English. Refusal of the Irish to submit diverted Richard from trouble at home, and cost him the crown. Henry IV seized the throne and following civil war in 1455 the English kings were in no position to control their Irish lords. Attempts to maintain order, without the Irish-speaking lords, met with no success, and Henry VII’s prohibitions on Gaelic customs fell on deaf ears. When Henry VIII became king in 1509 the open defiance of Irish earls took on a new significance because England was at war with France and Spain. Disloyalty was one thing but the suspicion of good relations with enemy kings was something else. The Earl of Kildare, Garret Óg , the most powerful ruler in Ireland, was summoned to answer charges of treachery, and his son, by rebelling, provided Henry with the excuse he had been waiting for to crush any spirit of independence. However, the Irish lords could not be defeated by force, so Henry, unwilling to pay for a long and possibly futile campaign, granted them pardons and titles in return for promises to adopt English customs and renounce the Pope. Conn O’Neill, prince of Ulster, became Earl of Tyrone, Murrough O’Brien became the Earl of Thomond, and in the west Ulick de Burgo became Earl of Clanrichard, and of course none of the Earls had the slightest intention of keeping their promises.

ELIZABETH I and GRANUAILE Outside the settled Pale the old Gaelic traditions continued to dominate, and by Elizabeth’s reign the Crown had little control over the de Burgo network of Irish speaking descendants. The de Burgos were already fighting among themselves, a rivalry with roots in a bloody battle in which the Mayo de Burgos helped the Fitzgeralds in an attack in 1504 on the Galway Clanricard de Burgos.

In the 1560s Elizabeth’s representative, Sir Henry Sidney managed to get submission of the de Burgos, but less than a decade later, 1570, the Galway de Burgos joined the Crown’s forces in attacking the rebelling Mayo de Burgos at Shrule. The Mayo de Burgos submitted and two years later it was their turn to make a show of loyalty to the Crown. In 1572 the Clanrickard Galway de Burgo sons rebelled, but the Mayo de Burgos held Castlebar for the Queen, and Granuaile , the O’Malley sea queen , offered her galleys and 200 fighting men to support Lord Deputy Sidney in restoring order. Odd as it might seem, backing the invaders was one way of maintaining a hold on local power, a strategy that Granuaile adopted with great success.

By 1574 Granauile’ s second husband, Risteard an Iarainn , a Mayo de Burgo, caused more trouble, possibly because his claim to be the MacWilliam head of the Burke family was not being recognised by the Crown. He rejected the authority of the Queen until his claim to be chief of the Burkes, was recognised. In 1582 the Lord Deputy, Sir Nicholas Malbie, accepted the claim and Risteard was granted a knighthood.

Other Irish chiefs with no wish to follow Risteard’s example, retained the old Gaelic customs in defiance of the Crown while planning to seize power with the help of Catholic Spain. With such powerful allies, and approval of the Pope who had excommunicated Queen Elizabeth in 1570, the Irish chieftains must have been confident of success.

ARMADA The Spanish, enriched with gold plundered from South America, planned to capture Elizabeth’s kingdom. In 1588 when Philip II of Spain sent forth the Armada of 130 ships, the intention was to pick up troops from Holland before landing in England. At the same time rebelling Irish chieftains would have been ready to attack from the west.

The attack was a spectacular failure. The Spanish ships, defeated off the coast of Flanders, retreated north with the intention of sailing over the top of Ireland and down to safety along the western coast. Of the 130 ships that set sail from Corunna, only 67 arrived back in Spain. Of the 63 that were lost, 25 were wrecked, mostly along the Irish coast.

The fate of survivors depended on where they were washed up. Those who scrambled ashore in O’Donnell territory to the north were received as friends, but most of those who landed in Mayo were promptly slaughtered.

Although the Armada was a failure, the Irish chieftains remained confident that the Spanish would support a general uprising. In 1595 Hugh O’Donnell advanced, taking Sligo, and five months later he brought all the Irish chiefs together to agree on who would become the next head of the de Burgos, known as the MacWilliam. Under English rights of succession, Theobald, Tibbot na Long , son of Granuaile, and Risteard an Iarainn de Burgo , would have succeeded, but this would have frustrated O’Donnell’s rebellious plans. Granuaile and Risteard had demonstrated far too much support for the Crown, and Tibbot certainly could not be trusted to lead the de Burgos in behind O’Donnell and the defiant Irish chieftains in their bid to seize power. O’Donnell, backed by a show of force, insisted on choosing a rival, Theobald Kittagh, as the new MacWilliam. The de Burgos, insulted by this turn of events, choose to confirm their loyalty to the Queen, and all the rest rallied around O’Donnell.

In the north the great Earl of Tyrone, Hugh O’Neill who had been building up a secret army, inflicted a crushing defeat on the English, and O’Neill, aided by the O’Rourkes and MacDermotts had further victories in the Curlew Mountains, north of Boyle.

Queen Elizabeth, hard pressed, sent over the Earl of Essex, Robert Devereux, to restore order. He arrived in Ireland with 17,000 infantry and 2,000 horsemen, but instead of going after Tyrone, he literally marched the army up and down, Leinister, Munster, and back again to Dublin, wasting resources and energy. Elizabeth, furious, demanded that he go immediately to the heart of insurrection. Essex, apparently was following his own agenda, and instead of attacking the Earl, Hugh O’Neill, he went and had a friendly chat. It appears that Essex, a young and popular hero in England, already had a notion of taking Elizabeth’s place, for when he returned to England, the Queen, highly suspicious at the lack of results in Ireland, had him arrested. Essex, who managed to escape and call a small gang of supporters together, then tried to stage a real coup, and Elizabeth promptly had him beheaded.

In Ireland the rebellion ran into trouble. Spaniards who had come as support, had to be rescued, and in the following defeats Hugh O’Neill had to flee, and soon all the other chieftains were put to flight. In the 1607 Flight of the Earls Gaelic rulers dispersed to Spain, France, Austria and South America, and the Irish who remained found themselves dispossessed.

BINGHAM ARRIVES In Connacht, Richard Bingham who had been sent in as Governor, became so vicious in stamping out anything connected to the old Gaelic order that he became known as the Devil’s Sickle, Faix Diaboli . Bingham who killed without mercy, and burned the monasteries imposed such a reign of terror that Elizabeth had him recalled to answer charges of cruelty, only to let him loose again to resume subduing the Irish.

JAMES I When Elizabeth died in 1603 hopes that her successor, James I, might be more tolerant were quickly dispelled. Under James I the large-scale displacement of Gaelic inhabitants by loyalist planters in Ulster began.

James I argued that Catholics, by accepting the supremacy of the Pope, a foreign prince, could not possibly be loyal to him, so in 1605 all priests were banished. In 1606 the Gaelic Brehon laws were declared illegal and in 1611 James began creating ‘Protestant Boroughs’ a process of moving borders, which became notorious in later times as ‘gerrymandering’.

After a decade, the suppression of Catholics relaxed, bishops began reorganising parishes and by 1614 the four masters were at work writing The Annals , in which they compiled all that was known about ancient Irish history.

When Charles I succeeded James in 1625 this policy of tolerance, the lull before the storm, was continued in return for a £120,000 contribution towards the war against the old enemy, Spain.

Charles sent Sir Thomas Wentworth to Ireland as Lord Deputy, where he upset the English adventurers by putting an end to widespread cheating. The Earl of Cork, Robert Boyle, was fined £15,000 for seizing church land, and in Ulster loyal planters were fined because they had allowed Gaelic tenants to stay on the land. In Connacht Wentworth started preparing the way for a new plantation. In Galway and Mayo the de Burgos claimed to be in possession, but Wentworth argued that the deal with Elizabeth in 1585 was void because it had been made without the approval of Parliament. As far as Wentworth was concerned the last of the de Burgo line was the Earl of Ulster who died in 1333, leaving an infant daughter. As the daughter had married the son of King Edward III, Lionel, Duke of Clarence, all the territories seized by the de Burgo cousins had, in Wentworth’s view, reverted to the Crown.

PARLIMENTARIANS In return for rents, Wentworth granted back most of the land, while preparing the way for a large scale plantation similar to the one in Ulster. However, complaints about Wentworth mounted, and the Parliamentarians, eager to weaken the king, who had tried to rule without them, has the Lord Deputy recalled, and executed in 1641.

Trouble in Ireland boiled over into revolt. Sir Phelim O’Neill, Hugh McMahon, and Rory O’More, planned to take Dublin and the Gaelic and ‘Old English’ Catholics joined in demanding freedom of religion and an end to plantations. In Ulster the new settlers were attacked, and any venturing out without protection were set upon and killed.

CROMWELL In England the Puritans Parliamentarians whipped up a frenzy of panic, and 10,000 Scottish soldiers were sent into Ulster to protect the planters. The Parliamentarians set up a scheme to finance this invasion. Under the Adventurers Acts, cash could be advanced in return for a promise of land in Ireland. In response to this threat the Gaelic and Old English lords buried their differences to create a Catholic Confederation.

Charles finally paid for his disregard of Parliament with his head. Like Wentworth, Charles was beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell’s parliamentarians took over. In 1649 Cromwell with 12,000 soldiers landed in Dublin, and after butchering the garrison in Drogheda as a warning to the Irish, went south to Waterford, where again no one was spared. Cromwell only spent a few months in Ireland, but the campaign under his generals continued until Limerick was taken in 1652. With all opposition killed or banished, the Parliamentarians now had a free hand to settle Ireland in whatever manner they pleased. However the Parliamentarians were several million pounds in debt. The 1,300 adventurers had to get a return on their investment, and thousands of troops still had to be paid off with grants of land.

Connacht lands had already been surveyed, and in 1636 accounts for everything of value in the rest of the country were written down. Those who had openly opposed the Parliamentarians forfeited all their lands, with no distinction being made between Old English and Irish. Others were displaced and ordered to take a smaller portion of land in Connacht, where a wide strip was to be left along the coast for new English settlers.

Of course nothing went according to plan. Most of the soldiers sold their entitlements to senior officers, and while speculators accumulated enormous estates, former occupiers had to be retained, otherwise there was no one left to work the land.

IRISH SLAVES Many of the dispossessed took to the roads, so the Parliamentarians allowed merchants to buy thousands of them as slaves. At least 6,000 boys and girls were sent to plantations in the West Indies, which explains why the Jamaicans who came to London in the 1960s arrived with a melodious singsong Afro-Irish accent.

When Cromwell died in 1658, his son was unable to maintain control, so the late king’s son, Charles II, who had been in exile in Holland, was allowed return. Under Charles II the restrictions on Catholics were relaxed, but not removed, and the Church of Ireland was also allowed reclaim property that had been seized by Ulster Presbyterians.

Catholics continued to be suspect, and when a story began circulating that Charles II was going to be deposed in favour of his Catholic brother, James II, Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh was accused of being in on the plot and was hanged drawn and quartered, a particularly brutal form of execution.

KING JAMES II As it turned out, the execution was pointless. In 1685 Charles II died childless, and James became king. As a Catholic James was just about acceptable to the Parliamentarians because his daughter, Mary, was married to the Protestant Dutch prince, William of Orange.

James II removed the bar against Catholics entering public life, alarming Irish Protestants, who joined in supporting William of Orange against the king. William arrived in London, and James II fled to France. In France, the king, Louis XIV, welcomed James II as an ally against the League of European powers which William was leading. While England switched allegiance to William, Louis XIV supplied James with materials in a bid to secure a hold on Ireland.

In 1689 James landed at Kinsale with 400 French officers and 10,000 men. In Dublin James withdrew all the prohibitions against Catholics and he repealed the Acts of Settlement.

KING BILLY In spite of an additional 7,000 French troops, James was no match for William, and after fleeing from defeat at the Battle of the Boyne, he sailed away from Duncannon leaving the Catholic Confederates and the French to fight on until the final surrender at Limerick.

Although ‘King Billy’ became the hero of northern ‘Loyalists’ William of Orange was in favour of religious tolerance and in victory was not vindictive. About 11,000 Jacobean soldiers were sent back to France, and estates were given back to over 1,000 officers.

William’s Irish followers, appalled by his generosity, and terrified that the Jacobites would return from France, brought back the Penal Laws and this time made sure that Catholics would be excluded from every aspect of public life, and whenever a ‘Papist’ died, the property was to be divided among the sons.

ASCENDANCY While events at the Boyne, Dublin and Limerick might have seemed remote from Mayo, the rise of the Protestant only Ascendancy had a major impact on the west. Vast areas passed into the hands of a small number of ‘new-rich’ landlords. Different in religion, different in origin, and totally dependent on England for support, the Ascendancy had no real connection to the existing population, which they both feared and despised. Many of the Ascendancy, supported by rents and public appointments, inhabited an unreal world, and the Irish Parliament, which had only one election up to 1760, was just a sham.

BATTLE OF THE DIAMOND In the north confrontation between planters and those they had displaced continued. The Protestant ‘Peep-O-Day’ gangs, who were entitled to carry arms, began clearing out the Catholics, and on 12th July 1795, following an anti-papist rant by the rector of Portadown Episcopalian church, George Mansell, a mob, wearing orange cockades, attacked the 300 Catholic ‘Defenders’ who had withdrawn to a hill. By that evening, the attackers, claiming a ‘Godly conquest’ had begun to call themselves Orangemen, and this barbaric act of ethnic cleansing is still being celebrated by Orangemen as The Battle of the Diamond. Immediately afterwards gangs of up to 300 Orangemen roamed the countryside, driving out any Catholics. It is thought that 20,000 people fled to Scotland, 5,000 to America, 1,000 to Galway, and 4,000 to Mayo.

Because of the Battle of the Diamond, many families in Mayo have northern origins. Northerners from Armagh settled in Aughagower, Ballina, Castlebar, Crosmolina, Foxford, Louisburg, Newport and Westport areas, and with them came their weaving skills.

These skills were welcome as the linen industry had become important. Flax was being grown extensively, and many cottages had a loom. By the turn of the century the linen industry was worth at least £500 a week to Castlebar.

As happened with the Normans, and the Old English, the artificial barrier created to keep the Ascendency in power soon began to crumble. To keep their property some Catholics simply converted, and many families maintained a foot in both camps. In spite of the social barriers the 18th century produced a remarkable number of star performers in the arts and sciences, and among those allowed to be professionals, such as Wolfe Tone, the notions of liberty and tolerance began to spread. Reform from the Irish Parliament in Dublin seemed impossible, and with the formation of the United Irishmen, Belfast, of all places, became the hotbed of republicanism.

FRENCH ARRIVE Wolfe Tone, impressed by the Revolution in France, had convinced Napoleon that Ireland was ready to rise. In response, the Concorde , the Franchise , and the Medeé , set sail to Ireland with 1,100 French soldiers. Under General Humbert, the three vessels appeared in Killala Bay on the 22nd August 1798 flying the English flag to avoid raising an alert. Edwin and Arthur, the two sons of Dr. James Stack, Church of Ireland Bishop of Killala, rowed out to welcome the visitors and thus became the first to discover that Ireland, already disturbed, was being invaded. Only three weeks previously the United Irishmen had been defeated at Ballynahinch in County Down, and the Wexford rebellion had only ended two month before.

A local fisherman, Loughney, guided the French ashore at Kilcummin Strand. Fr. Henry O’Kane, Humbert’s friend and interpreter, kissed the ground three times, and the French flag was raised. Apart from O’Kane, Bartolomew Teeling, who had become an officer in the French army, and Matthew Tone, brother of Wolfe, and a man named O’Sullivan, was in the party. Fr. O’Kane explained what they were doing to curious locals.

As the invaders moved towards Killala the 80 yeomen and regular soldiers, who had barred their way, withdrew. Captain O’Kane went on into Killala, was fired on, but not hit. O’Kane shot a man who challenged him dead, and as the French moved in the opposition melted away. Some of the yeomen fled to the castle where they were captured, and Bishop Stack’s residence was taken over as headquarters for Humbert. By the evening of the 22nd August the English flag had been replaced by the green and gold Erin-go-Bragh banner.

After taking Killala about 50 soldiers under General Sarrazin went on to Ballina, but finding it securely held, came back. The English, assuming that this was a retreat, followed only to be challenged and driven back at Moyne friary. That evening the French went back towards Ballina. Locals lit some bales of straw to guide the French, along the road to Ballina known as Bóthar na Sop . The French dispersed 400 British soldiers, who then regrouped at Rosserk. A volley fired into the rear of the opposition caused the English to flee. Next morning the French entered Ballina unopposed but they were greeted by the sight of Patrick Walsh’s body. The previous day Walsh had gone forward as a scout, only to be captured and strung up by the retreating English.

Many of those who had been driven out of Ulster welcomed the French, and at Ballina 500 joined the volunteers. Humbert, ranks swelled by untrained volunteers, set off along the west shore of Lough Conn, taking the British at Castlebar by surprise. To mislead the British he had headed towards Foxford first, where the British lay in wait, and then switched towards Crossmolina. The French went on to Lahardane and over Barnageeha.

At Castlebar Humbert’s mixed forces faced 6,500 troops. Humbert, heavily outnumbered, spread out, so when the British fired, casualties were light. Lacking numbers, Humbert sent in cattle to cause confusion, and following a French bayonet charge the British withdrew, and began fleeing towards Tuam and Athlone in what became known as The Races of Castlebar.

Humbert sent his aide-de-camp, Teeling, to the British under a flag of truce to offer terms. After being shot at, and one of his escorts killed, Teeling was captured. The British General Lake threatened to hang Teeling like an Irish rebel, but then relented when it was pointed out that there were British prisoners in Castlebar. Teeling was released with his flag.

In Castlebar a Provisional Republic of Connacht was declared and on 31st August John Moore of Moore Hall became President.

On learning that a large force, under Lord Cornwallis, was approaching, Humbert decided to set off towards Sligo, and from there he intended to go through Leitrim and Longford towards Dublin. On 3rd. September he set off, leaving the wounded and a small force. Prisoners were set free, and one, Rev. Ellison, headed for Partry, where he told the British that the French had gone. Col. Crawford promptly went to Castlebar and placed Moore under arrest.

Another British party, under Captain O’Hara, headed towards Tobercurry in advance of Humbert. There they shot a man wearing a green neck-cloth. When Humbert’s forces reached Tobercurry there was a fight. The British, with three dead, withdrew, and Humbert, joined by men from Ballina under Captain O’Dowd, pressed on to Ballaghy. After passing through Collooney, Humbert’s forces were attacked by Colonel Verker and the Limerick Militia. Humbert managed to surround Verker’s men, but one of the gunners, Whittiker, continued to make trouble. Teeling then rode up to the gunner and dispatched him with a shot.

A large force of 16,000 men under General Lake was reported to be in position at Ballaghaderreen, so Humbert went towards Dromahair, and while resting at Drumkeeran, the British offered terms that were refused.

On 7th. September, Humbert crossed the Shannon. Colonel Crawford’s forces attacked, but had to retreat. Humbert then went on to Ballinamuck, Co, Longford, where Lake and Crawford made a combined assault, this time successfully defeating Humbert. As far as the British were concerned, the French had played the game of war, so they were taken prisoner and spared. The Irish, however, were slaughtered. About 500 were killed on the hillside of Shanmullagh, and any of those escaping were hunted down. Among the Irish to be killed were Col. O’Dowda, Capt. O’Malley, and Capt. Blake. Bartolomew Teeling and Matthew Tone were brought to Dublin where they were hanged at Arbour Hill.

The Irish at Killala and Ballina decided to continue fighting. After stiff resistance the Irish gave up Castlebar against an assault of 600 troops under Colonel Patrick Barrett and Captain Henry O’Kane, and withdrew to Ballina.

Residents of Carrocarden, loyalist and Protestant, were pressed into supporting the rebels. They had no choice, but to the advancing British troops they were regarded as traitors. As they fled back to the safety of their homes, Portarlington cut them down, before plundering and burning his way towards Killala.

To end the fighting Dr. Stack, the Bishop of Killala, suggested sending two representatives, one Catholic and one Protestant, to offer terms of surrender. General Trench’s offer to treat all prisoners well was just an empty promise. On taking Killala on 23rd. September, 300 were slaughtered on the streets or drowned as they tried to escape. With the invasion crushed, a reign of terror began, with about 600 being hunted down and killed in the area over the following weeks. Fr. Conroy was publicly hanged at Castlebar on the Mall, and another priest, Fr. Manus McSweeney was hanged from the market crane in Newport.

The French troops were sent back to France, and Humbert later went to Mexico, where be was killed during a rebellion against the Spanish.

John Moore, the captured President, was put up for trial, and when Denis ‘the rope’ Brown from Westport House offered to act as prosecutor George Moore, from Moore Hall, organised legal defence for his brother. A legal row dragged on until November 1799 when John was sentenced to transportation. While waiting to embark from Dungarvan John died, and many years later his body was brought back to Castlebar, where it now lies close to the 1798 memorial.

If Napoleon had been as powerful at sea as he had been on land, Ireland might have been taken. Rebellion and discontent had become widespread in Ireland, and the French were seen as liberators. However it is unlikely that the French would have brought independence. The ideals of equality and liberty, which Tone had so much admired, were no longer on Napoleon’s empire building agenda. Given victory Napoleon might have accepted some form of republic, if only in name, but in all probability he would not have been keen on allowing real independence.

LANDLORDS Crushing all opposition after 1798 did little to quell a rising tide of discontent. The gap between the Irish and the Anglo Irish landowners became wider, and while the poor often starved, the Anglo Irish landowners, who lost their Parliament in 1800, retreated deeper into an unsustainable world