| Source:
P.MacSuibhne in 1972 in his book 'The Parish of KILLESHIN, Graiguecullen'
pp74..
|
- OUR HERO'S MONUMENT of 1798
- Well they fought for dear old Ireland,
- And full bitter was their fate;
- Oh! what glorious pride and sorrow
- Fill the name of ninety-eight.”
The United Irishmen of Carlow mustered on the lawn of Sir Edward
Crosbie’s residence near Carlow town on the night of the 24th of May,
and at dawn next morning set off for Carlow. The men of Ballon parish,
Kellistown and the surrounding districts met them at the Broken Stones,
a large quarry on the Carlow Tullow road. The entire body entered Carlow
without opposition in the early morning of the twenty-fifth. Meanwhile
the English garrison at Carlow, having secret information of the
intended attack on the town, had taken possession of the houses and
occupied all the points of vantage in that vicinity, with the result
that the United Irishmen were completely taken by surprise: volley after
volley was poured into their ranks with deadly effect. The houses in
Tullow St and Barrack St were set on fire by the enemy, and those of the
United Irishmen that had taken refuge in them were literally roasted
alive. Those who fled from the burning houses were mercilessly cut down
on the streets. Of the first detachment that entered Carlow on that
fatal morning, May 25th, 1798, the burned and charred corpses of upwards
of five hundred gallant Irishmen lay strewn around in the smouldering
ruins in the highways and byways of the town ere the sun set on this
fatal day.
The informer and the hangman were kept busy for some days after the
outbreak, resulting in the deaths of some two hundred additional
victims. The total loss of lives on the 25th May and subsequent days
numbered some six hundred and forty souls. In Sleibhte-Graig, on the
west side of the Abhainn Bheara, the remains of the heroic dead lie
interred.
- God rest ye, rest ye Ireland’s dead,
- Ye who for Erinn bled.
At Carlow-Graigue, or Graigue-Cullen as it is now known, are to be
seen the graves of the Carlow United Irishmen, and the other victims of
the Carlow Reign of Terror 1798. To the Parish Priest of Sleibhte-Graig,
Fr. Daniel Byrne, and the Gaels of Carlow and Graigue is due the credit
of the erection of the grand memorial Cross here and the artistic
railing enclosing this sacred spot, where lies the dust of those gallant
men
- Who rose in dark and evil days
- To right their native land.
The Irish inscription reads:
“I gcuimhne ar sé céad fear agus da fhichid d’fearaibh Eireann d’imir
a n-anam agus do dhóirt a gcuid fola ag troid mar catha ar an Iáthair
sen in agaidh Gall, an c~igeadh là fichead do Bheattaine san mbliadhain
d’aois an Iigherna mile seacht gcéad nocha a h-ocht. Suairnhneas
siorruidhe go dtugaidh Dia dóibh. Amen.” “Gaodhil Ceaharlocha agus na
Gráige agus a ~àirde amuigh a~Js a rn-belle is ad do rinne an Roilig sen
do chlaidh agus an Chros Bheannuighthe seo do chur sues na Bealtaine
mile ocht gcéad nocha a hocht.”
Translation: “In memory of the six hundred and forty United Irishmen
who gave their lives for their country at the battle oh Carlow, May
25th I798. May God grant eternal rest to their souls. Amen.”
“The Gaels of Carlow and Graigue and their friends at home and abroad
had this burial ground enclosed and this Holy Cross erected in the month
of May, 1898.”
A writer in the Nationalist and Leinster Times of 21
April 1898, gives a graphic account of the battle of Carlow in 17981. The
reader of that time is asked to enter Carlow from Carlow-Graigue, but
beforehand he should visit the Croppy Hole which was then, as now, a
place of pilgrimage.
He writes: “A handsome monument marks the grave
which has been enclosed by a wall and railing. These were paid for with
funds raised by the G.A.A. A memorial slab on the gable of a nearby
house was the gift of a former Orangeman,
2 Rowan MacCombe.
The slab is
inscribed:
"To the memory of the 640
United Irishmen who fell in Tullow Street, 25 May 1798"
This was the tribute of a generous foe.
MacCombe
may have been an Orangeman in his native Co. Antrim, but in Carlow he
seems to have adopted to a great extent the outlook of the people of
Carlow. Rev. Mr. Gash, Archdeacon of Carlow about 1958, met MacCombe’s
people in Co. Antrim and put them in touch with Mr. Paddy Purcell who
wrote a fine article on Rowan MacCombe in Carloviana 1964. MacCombe
lived opposite a house later occupied by Freemans and opposite the
P.P’s gate in Graiguecullen. He had a printing press there and wrote
several books, It was probably Michael Brophy, author of Carlow Past and
Present, who wrote for the Nationalist. He goes on to say that an
auxiliary corps of 600 pikemen and 200 gunmen under Captain William
Murphy and Myles Doran had assembled at Ballickmoyler in Queen’s Co.
with the object of joining in operations. The Queen’s Co Corps were to
march against the town first and having arrived at Graigue on their own
side of the Barrow, they were to fire three successive volleys as a
signal to their Carlow brethren. But at dusk on 24 May the crown troops
quietly took up their assigned positions. A squadron of 9th Dragoons
posted themselves on Hanover Bridge while Graigue Bridge was occupied by
a strong corps of yeomen with two nine pounders and grapeshot. The
Queen’s Co. auxiliaries started for their destination at the appointed
time but when they reached Graigue they learned that the bridges were
occupied by the military. They decided to retrace their steps. The
insurgents on the Carlow side waited in vain for the pre-arranged
signal.
- Notes.
- 1. See MacSuibhne '98 in Carlow pp. 107-9.
- 2. 'Former Orangeman' is probably accurate: an
Orangeman before he came to Carlow-Graigue.
At last the commander-in-chief, Captain Roche,
ordered his force to march. Day was dawning when the insurgents
reached Staplestown Road. The column advanced rapidly; soon it lost
all regular formation, so that it was a disordered mass as it entered
Tullow Street. Not a sound issued from the grey closed-up buildings of
the narrow street; not a soul appeared to be stirring within.
Elated
over what seemed an easy victory, the deluded “croppies” gave a yell
of exultation. Immediately as if by magic the window shutters on both
sides flew open and a fearful volley brought down half a hundred of
the insurgents. From every window, from every roof-top death rained on
the attackers.
These raw fighters quickly lost their self-possession.
They were seized with panic and in rushing for shelter they plunged
headlong into the army ambuscade in Barrack St. There they were caught
in a murderous cross-fire which brought down whole ranks as well us
many of the leaders. The poor wretches who had escaped the lead threw
away their weapons and dashed into the adjoining houses. These were
immediately set on fire. A hundred and fifty houses were consumed as
well as 200 of the inmates.
A gate of the college from Lowry’s Lane
now Dempsey’s timber yard was open and 600 insurgents escaped into the
college grounds. For ten days some 200 insurgents were brought into
the barracks, now the Sacred Heart Home; they were tortured with great
barbarity there and hanged. Six hundred and forty victims are buried
in the
Croppy Grave at Graiguecullen.
Sir Richard Musgrave
He was born in Ireland about 1757. He sat for Lismore from 1778
until the Union and was a strenuous supporter of the government. In
1782 he was made a baronet. On 1 November 1799 he wrote to Secretary
Cooke hinting that a position should be secured for him before he
voted for the Union. He was appointed Receiver of Custom in Dublin at
a salary of £1,200 a year. In 1801 he published his Memoirs of the
Different Rebellions in Ireland with maps and plans chiefly dealing
with 1798. Three large editions were sold out in a few months.
The
book contains many valuable particulars not found elsewhere, but it is
a party work abounding in misrepresentations. He showed such animosity
against the Catholics and outraged public decency by his defence of
torture and free-quarters that the Irish government thought it
necessary to disown all connection with the author and withdrew its
patronage from him. Notwithstanding this, his work on ‘98 is very
valuable; all subsequent historians seem to have read it and many have
borrowed largely from his. He died in Dublin 1818.
This BOOK - Sir Richard Musgrave's 'Memoirs Of The Irish Rebellion
Of 1798', Second reprinting of an 1802 classic, with a new &
comprehensive index! - is still available.
Memorial to the Men of
'98
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