Battlefield in Rathmines Great,rathmines Little

Cowper Road runs through the main battlefield site for the Battle ofRathmines (1649). The lands surrounding Mageough House are shown as the 'Bloody Fields' on the OS 6-inch map (1843). Today there is mainly 19th-20th-century housing on the site (Ball 1903, 102-5, 108; Joyce 1912, 159, 182-188; Kelly 1995, 226-227). See description. P. Walsh, 20 March 2014. ____________________________________ Rathmines, 1649 - summary by Dr Gavin Hughes. Uploaded 10/06/2021 Olive Alcock By New Year 1649 the second phase of the Confederacy Wars (1641-1653), the War of the Three Kingdoms (England, Scotland and Ireland), was coming to its close. In Westminster, the Rump Parliament had tried King Charles I for waging war upon his own subjects and on 30 January, outside Whitehall, he was executed. In this, former bitter enemies throughout the three kingdoms were united in their horror at the execution of the king. With his death the Royalist cause proclaimed his heir, Charles Prince of Wales, as successor and began another war to reinstate the monarchy. The battle of Rathmines was instrumental in this campaign and, as it turned out, a pivotal engagement which possibly changed the course of Irish history. Most of the following primary accounts can by found in A great and bloudy fight in Dublin (Anon. 1649, 1-6) and Contemporary accounts of the battle of Rathmines 1649 (Ferguson 1999, 363-86). An interesting account of it is also provided in Ireland's Battles and Battlefields (Joyce 1888, 48-51). As King Charles II approached those disaffected with the new establishment and gathered support, in Scotland the Covenanters openly proclaimed him king and offered military backing. This was in return for the covenant's extension to England and Ireland and the removal of the king's Captain-General in Scotland, James Graham, earl of Montrose. In Ireland the situation was just as complex but offered more immediate help. In May 1648 the Protestant Munster army of the 1st earl of Inchiquin, Murrough O'Brien, signed a truce with the Confederation of Kilkenny, bringing their military strength along with them. At this point, the Confederation was opposed to any peace concord with the armies of the king. Yet, at the same time of his father's execution, James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormond, who commanded the Irish Royalist forces, finally secured an alliance with the Confederation. In a stroke he now had Inchiquin’s force and three large confederate provincial armies to command: Leinster led by General Preston, Munster led by viscount Taaffe, and Connacht led by the earl of Clanricard. In addition to all of these contingents, in May 1649, the Scots Covenanters in Ulster allied themselves with Ormond and the Confederation, bolstering the entire army. In fact only one significant Irish military leader withheld his support for Ormond - Owen Roe O'Neill. This was on the grounds that not enough special considerations had been given to Irish Catholics and, on this basis, O'Neill actively supported his old enemy - the English Parliamentary forces. As such, he was repeatedly harried by Inchiquin throughout Leinster in spring 1649, where Inchiquin captured Dundalk, Drogheda, Newry and Trim. By the summer of 1649 only Dublin, with its Parliamentary garrison commanded by Colonel Michael Jones, remained in the way of the Royalist-Confederation army. However, by the same time, Parliament had agreed to send an army of its own to Ireland, commanded by Oliver Cromwell. As the Royalist-Confederation drew up their own counter-strategy, it became obvious that they needed to deny Cromwell any landing point and, to do this, they required the recapture of Dublin. However, Ormond's assault on Dublin was inexplicably delayed and he had only reached Finglas (with around 5,000 infantry and 1,500 cavalry) on 22 June. Further reinforcements in the form of Inchiquin's army (4,000 strong) arrived and the two proceeded with attempts to reduce the Parliamentarian ensconcements north of the city, rather than attack Dublin directly (Anon. 1649, 1-6; Joyce 1888, 49). By 24 July Ormond's strength stood at c. 11,000 men (7,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry) whilst, at this point, it is thought that Colonel Jones had considerably less. For some reason Ormond felt he did not have enough men to take the city and did not push his advantage. Instead he moved his main base to Rathmines (in modern Dartry, near modern Palmerston Park) and posted 2,000 foot and 5,000 horse under Lord Dillon of Costello at Castleknock, on the north bank of the Liffey. He had intended to place an artillery battery at Ringsend to strangle any attempts to resupply the city but, two days later, on 26 July the first Parliamentary reinforcements arrived from Chester. These included three veteran regiments led by Colonels Venables, Moore and Thurkes, with 2,000 infantry and 500 cavalry under Colonel Reynolds, to bolster the Dublin garrison. As a rumour spread (possibly started by Jones) that Cromwell was preparing to sail from Bristol and land with a substantial army in Munster, Ormond held a Royalist-Confederation Council of War to discuss tactics. Following this council Ormond sent Inchiquin and 1,000 men south to meet the threat (Carte 1736, vol. 2, 78-9). The next day, on 28 July, as recounted by Sir Lewis Dyve (1650), the earl of Castlehaven (Touchet 1680, 96) and Carte (1736, vol. 2, 79), Ormond captured Rathfarnham Castle (DU022-015-4----) with minimal loss on either side and tightened his grip on the city. Following a meeting of officers on 1 August, it was decided to send a force of c. 2,300 under Major-General Purcell to capture and refortify the partly ruined Baggotrath Castle (DU018-055----). This was on the site of the modern Baggot Street bridge and had been reduced by Jones specifically because of it strategic position, overlooking the only meadows by the city walls where horses could be grazed. The distance between the Rathmines camp and Baggotrath Castle is just over 2 miles (3.6 km) and Purcell's force of 4,300 (including half their cavalry strength) arrived just before daybreak. The Royalist-Confederates swiftly took over Baggotrath, leaving Ormond's army in a line that stretched from this right flank all the way back to Rathmines on the left, with the central position, roughly located at the present-day the village of Ranelagh, held by Inchiquin's forces under Colonel Gifford. Early in the morning, Ormond left his camp to inspect the work at Baggotrath and was dismayed to find it still unfortified. Purcell explained to his commander that he had lost his way in the dark and had only just arrived himself. To make matters worse, it transpired that Jones was already aware of events at Baggotrath - as they unfolded - and had made preparations of his own. According to him, he had positioned most of his force, some 4,000 infantry and 1,200 cavalry, between Baggotrath and the city walls (Jones 1649, 3-8). These men were waiting unseen in a hollow at Baggotrath and on the south bank of the Liffey, with others hidden behind burnt out houses on Lowsey Hill (modern Townsend Street). As such, it is thought that Jones had deliberately razed these southern suburbs in order to provide tactical options against Ormond's impending assault. Interestingly, it seems as if Ormond and his officers at Baggotrath dismissed the notion that any attack by Jones was imminent. By 9 a.m. Ormond had returned to his tent at Rathmines to rest and, instead of work continuing on the fortifying of Baggotrath, the men were also allowed to rest. At 10 a.m. Jones launched his army forward, pushing back the larger Royalist-Confederate cavalry force under Castlehaven and Taaffe, and Sir William Vaughan, who was killed in the first charge. Purcell's infantry (and Lieutenant-Colonel Gerard's fusiliers) held their ground before being overwhelmed. It seems, according to Ormond, that the majority of his troops at Baggotrath fled off in the direction of the Wicklow hills due, in h