Cromwells Fort (Site of) — Singland

At the beginning of the campaigning season in 1651 the only major towns not yet captured by Parliamentary troops were Sligo, Galway and Limerick. In May 1651, Lieutenant-General Henry Ireton advanced towards Limerick with an army of 8,000 and on 3 June they arrived on the Clare bank of the river Shannon to the north of the city. After his attempts to enter the city from this side were repulsed, he decided to besiege it and starve the garrison into submission. He now moved the bulk of his army back across the river to the south of the city. By late June Ireton’s engineers began constructing an extensive network of ditches, earthen ramparts and forts to encircle the southern section of the city, known as Irish Town. The siege works effectively surrounded Irish Town and ran in an arc from Singland Hill on the north to the river’s edge on the west. They are represented on a detailed map of the siege drawn in 1651 (O'Flaherty 2010, Map 10) as incorporating four separate bastioned forts placed at strategic locations. The largest of these, at the northern end of the works, is referred to in the 17th century sources as ‘Ireton’s Fort’ (LI005-113----). This was located on an eastern spur of Singland Hill. To the south on another spur of the same hill was ‘Cromwell’s Fort’ (LI005-028----) and beyond this to the west were two further forts linked by earthen ramparts. Both Ireton’s Fort and Cromwell’s fort were garrisoned with 800 soldiers (IBP Report 2009 – Limerick, 1651). The siege of Limerick continued throughout the summer and conditions for the inhabitants and defenders were grave. Contemporary accounts indicate that by September, the city was suffering greatly from a shortage of food and provisions and plaque was taking its toll. By late October the Parliamentary army looked to bring the siege to a rapid conclusion and decided to mount a further assault on the city. The engineers had by this time identified a section in the town’s defensive wall, which had not been reinforced by earthen ramparts, and so was more vulnerable to artillery fire. Ireton established a battery of 28 siege guns directly opposite this point of the wall and the Parliamentary army began battering this position in preparation for an assault. The effect of this battery seems to have finally convinced many within Limerick that the town had to surrender before it was sacked. On 27 October 1651 Limerick surrendered and the Parliamentary Army occupied the city. As the siegeworks were no long necessary they were abandoned. The siege works erected by Ireton were used again during the War of the Two Kings, 1689-91. King William came before Limerick with a large army in August 1690. The army chaplain and chronicler, George Story, has recorded what happened on this occasion. The defending Jacobites had refortified the works and had placed a number of companies in Ireton’s Fort (LI005-113----). However, on seeing the Williamite army approach they abandoned the fort without firing a shot. (Story 1693, 114-5). The Williamites immediately took the forts, moved four field pieces into Cromwell’s Fort and began firing on the city and its outworks. After an unsuccessful and bloody assault on a breach in the wall of Irish Town (where the Williamites suffered huge casualties and were forced to retreat) William decided to raise the siege, and on 30 August he took the road for Waterford from where he sailed to England, never to return. His army then left the city to go into winter quarters. The Williamites returned in the following year and Story records that the defenders had refortified the various forts, including ‘Cromwell’s Fort’. The Jacobites had built a fort around the site of an old church (LI005-029001-) and placed two field artillery pieces in Ireton’s Fort. On the 25 August ‘When the greatest part of our army was got up, our detached body of foot, under the Command of Lieut. Gen. Mackay, was ordered to attack Ireton’s Fort, and the old Church-Fort, where we expected the enemy had lodged a party; our men made a line cross the fields, and were sustained by several entire regiments of foot and a body of horse. We advanced towards both the forts at one tune, and found the upper one deserted: and when we came almost within musket-shot of Ireton’s Fort, the Irish quitted that also, and retired towards a little stone fort nigh the outworks of the town. Our men seeing them draw off, rushed forwards and fired; but to no great purpose, for the enemy, after some faint returns, presently lodged themselves in the other fort: and towards the evening Count Nassau with a party attacked Cromwell’s Fort, standing to the left of the other, which the Irish had made pretty defensible, and wherein they had then about 500 men lodged: our grenadiers were in the front, who were saluted with a volley of shot from the enemy; but this being a thing they were now pretty well used to, they ran forwards, and threw in their grenades; and then being followed by the whole party, the Irish in less than half an hour left the fort to our discretion: we had only two or three killed, and the enemy about ten, though some made them a great many more.’ Ireton’s Fort and Cromwell’s Fort ‘were now ordered to be called Mackay's and Nassau’s forts’ after the two officers who commanded the troops that took them on that day.’ (Story 1693, 187-9) The forts were then garrisoned by the Williamites who placed gun batteries nearby from which to bombard the city which eventually surrendered with the signing of the infamous ‘treaty’ of capitulation on 3 October. The Williamites withdrew their army from the various outworks and forts and left a garrison in the town. The fort is shown on the map of the city published by Story (1693, facing 224). The northern section of the fort appears to have been levelled in the first half of the 18th century. Only the southern half is represented on William Eyres’ map of the city c. 1752 (O’Flaherty 2010, map 16) where it is incorrectly named in the index (marked C on the map) as ‘MacKay’s Fort’ (meaning Ireton’s Fort). The majority of the remaining part was removed when a reservoir was built on the site in 1834 (from Limerick archives; SMR file) though remains of the western section and adjoining south-eastern bastion are indicated on the late 19th century OS 1:2500 survey. Archaeological monitoring was undertaken on this section in 1996 (96E0200) and the remnants of a cobbled road were uncovered. The excavator noted that the remaining section of the fort was probably removed when the housing and amenities were built in this area (https://www.excavations.ie/report/1996/Limerick/0002385/). Compiled by: Paul Walsh Date of upload: 28 February 2018