Second Battle of Athenry

On 10 August 1316, Rickard de Bermingham and William Liath de Burgh led an Anglo-Irish force to victory over Fedlim Ó Conchobair, Tadhg Ó Cellaigh and Donnchad Ó Briain at Athenry in County Galway. Common report claims five thousand died and one thousand five hundred heads were cut off, yet no surviving account describes the fighting itself. The battle remains a dark hole in history where numbers are enormous but the human experience vanished without a trace.