The seventeenth century

Ballymore 1691

Colour photograph of a plate from Story

Ballymore 1691

Ballymore 1691

Colour photograph of a plate from Story

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By about 1600, Ballymore had become the property of Sir Francis Shaen, an Elizabethan soldier, who had been involved in the plundering of Multyfarnham Abbey. In 1636, the castle, manor and lake of Ballymore were granted to Nicholas, first Viscount Netterville.

At one point in the wars of the 1640s, parliamentary troops or 'Roundheads' occupied Ballymore and surrounding areas. Another incident, in 1648, was the crossing of the river Inny by Owen Roe O'Neill, leader of the Irish forces. The story, recounted by James Woods in the Annals of Westmeath, describes how the royalist army planned to allow O'Neill to approach Ballymore and then capture him. However, he learned of their intentions and halted at Shinglis, about a mile from the village. Some of his men were sent to engage the enemy, which instead of giving battle, actually began to retreat! The Irish pursued them, but O'Neill ordered that enemy soldiers were to be spared unless they resisted.

Writing in 1682, Sir Henry Piers referred to the strength of the garrison 'towards the latter end of the war'. According to him, the troops were stationed 'on the skirts of the lake' and were separated from the mainland 'by a graff deep and large, with ramparts of earth and bulwarks'. A draw-bridge was in use to facilitate entry.

Perhaps the most famous episode in Ballymore's history was the battle fought there in 1691. The Williamites briefly occupied the village in late 1690, but abandoned it. The Irish then moved in and used it as a base from which to attack the enemy in Streamstown and Mullingar.

There was a difference of opinion amongst the Jacobite leadership about Ballymore's strategic importance: Patrick Sarsfield believed it to be high, but the local commander, Colonel Robert Clifford disagreed. Sarsfield's view won out and the village remained garrisoned, although St Ruth, the other Jacobite general, did not provide reinforcements. The defenders consisted of about fifty officers, 800 soldiers and 250 Irish irregulars or 'raparees', all commanded by Colonel Ulick Burke.

The Williamite army, under General Ginkel, arrived at Ballymore on 7 June 1691, and camped on high ground near the lake. Captain Parker, one of the troops, described the desperation of those who had been expelled from the Irish camp during the winter in order to prevent famine. They were not allowed to enter his camp either and tried to survive in the 'no-man's land' between the two, resorting to 'devouring all the filth they could meet'.

A fascinating source of information about the battle and the topography of the area is the eyewitness account of a Williamite army chaplain, Rev. George Story (published as A continuation of the impartial history of the wars of Ireland, London, 1693). He described the Jacobite camp as being mainly on a piece of land extending into the lake. The defenders had only two small cannon, which left them in a very vulnerable position.

In one incident, an Irish sergeant and fifteen men, in a stone castle outside the fort, were cut off from the rest of the Jacobites. They strongly resisted the attack, killing two Williamites prior to the capture of their position. The sergeant was then hanged from a tree and his body allowed to remain in full view of the Irish as a warning of the fate that awaited them. On 8 June, a heavy bombardment of the fort began from fourteen guns and two mortars positioned on the eastern side of the lake. Ginkel issued a request to surrender, and Burke responded by asking to be allowed to take his men and arms to Jacobite lines, but that was refused. After another onslaught, Burke surrendered that evening. It has been estimated that between forty and 150 men were lost on the Irish side, compared with eight Williamites.

In assessing the battle, it is strange that the Irish either did not offer better resistance or else withdraw from the position before Ginkel arrived. During the short engagement, the village of Ballymore was destroyed. The Williamites encamped there for nine days after the battle, during which they carried out major renovations on the fort. On 18 June, the Duke of Würtemburg and his Danish troops arrived and he and Ginkel proceeded to Athlone, leaving Lieutenant-Colonel Toby Purcell in command at Ballymore.