# dungannon defenceheritageni

OTD 1597 Report that Tyrone and Red Hugh O'Donnell's meeting with Spanish at Killybeggs did not go well. Frustrated by lack of Spanish landing reported O'D accused Spain of deceitfulness. Despite promises nothing but a little powder sent 'which they reckon not of'

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2022-04-09

OTD 1600 Bishop of Cork reported while Tyrone was in Munster 'had taken a full view of the harbours of Cork & Kinsale'. Was it at this point Tyrone decided on plan to land Spanish at Kinsale? Year & a half later Carew had lifted all Tyrone's allies-Munster pacified

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2022-04-02

OTD 1595 While Tyrone's modernised forces were tearing up Crown armies in the north, traditional forces remained the norm in relatively peaceful Munster. Estimate put numbers at 1,360 galloglass remain in the province.

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2022-03-26

OTD 1597 news of Tyrone's proclamation in for the raising of 3,000 troops for 3 months. They would receive 1 month up front and be paid 12d per day. Morgan Kavanagh, a veteran of the Low Countries arrived to take up a command in the earl's army.

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2022-03-22

OTD 1601 Scots merchant Thomas Douglas watched a Spanish officer drill Tyrone's pikemen in Dungannon. Surprised that experienced troops didn't use tight formation the Spanish officer replied that close order would 'avail them nothing' in constricted Irish terrain

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2022-03-17

OTD 1596 Capt Dowdall reported Tyrone's had 'drawn the greatest part of their kern to be musketeers & their gallowglass pikes, they want no furniture neither of muskets, fowling pieces, calivers, swords, graven morions, powder and shot'..'how cometh?'-good question

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2022-03-09

OTD 1600 Outrage as reports Tyrone passed within a musket shot of the gates of Cork in broad daylight 'but not one shot discharged at them..the mayor would not suffer one shot to be made'. Also serious doubts about the 'disloyal dealings of the citizens of Limerick'

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2022-03-05

OTD 1594 Bad day for Bagenal as Art MacBaron's son (Tyrone's nephew) with 400 troops stole the marshal's stud, taking them over the R. Bann. Irish threatened to burn Carrickfergus, should have made good as Carrick was key staging area for English throughout the war

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2022-03-02

OTD 1603 dark days for the Irish as Tyrone took refuge in the forests around Toome with just 60 men 'shifting his lodging both night and day' to evade capture. Worse, Cormac MacBaron, Tyrone's brother and possibly finest field commander submitted to Sir Henry Docwra

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2022-02-23

OTD 1594 Report Red Hugh O'Donnell planned to bring 4,000 Scots redshanks to L. Foyle and Swilly. Plan fails & Scots troops have small role in war. Tyrone doesn't like using them due to indiscipline but powerful shock element missing from Irish army for rest of war

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2022-02-17

OTD 1594 Dowdall re-edified Enniskillen & put 30 men in garrison. Castle was isolated at the end of vulnerable supply line, but assured by his spies that Hugh Maguire has 'not 8 horse and 20 foot' & all in Fermanagh loyal saving 1 or 2- Dowdall needed better spies

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2022-02-15

OTD 1595 report from Scotland that Tyrone and James MacSorley MacDonnell bought £500 of gunpowder in Glasgow and shipped to Ireland. Glasgow merchants were key to providing war material to the Irish, helped by James VI turning a blind eye for most of the war

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2022-02-10

OTD 1600 Recommendations made to bring over Scots 'who of all others are fit for Irish service..if good security might be had for their faithful service and safe withdrawing'. 4,000 could be shipped and well-maintained for the price of 1,000 English troops-bargain

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2022-02-01

OTD 1603 Victory assured, but M'joy's grip on Ireland tenuous. He rejected religious zealotry, fearing it could spark a rebellion 'I am loth to contradict any of their proceedings in matters of religion..a violent course..will do little good to win men's consciences

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2022-01-20

OTD 1597 As Norreys gathered forces to break through to the garrison in Armagh, Tyrone suddenly relented, allowing English to pass. The earl had deliberately drawn the English out of Connacht, clearing Red Hugh O'Donnell's path to raid all the way to Galway suburbs

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2022-01-19

OTD 1602 Tyrone in Dungannon after a harrowing retreat north. Many deserted to shift for themselves while others drowned in swollen rivers. Worse, many Irish took their opportunity to exact their revenge & prove their loyalty to the Crown by attacking the Ulstermen

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2022-01-10

OTD 1596 Confirmation of Mabel Bagenal, Countess Tyrone's death [Tyrone's 3rd wife]. Married in a protestant service in 1591. Tyrone was anything but a doting husband. His affairs and attempts to kill her brother drove her to return to Newry where she died age 24

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2022-01-03

OTD 1599 Enfant terrible Capt Humfrey Willis proposed plot of forts in Ulster, inc. Derry, Lifford, B'shannon, Cavan, Armagh, C'fergus, Coleraine and Toome. His incursion into Fermanagh sparked war in 1593. Fought throughout but killed in mopping up op. summer 1602

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2021-12-19

Occasionally a bit turns up from the Troubles. Watergate from the former Masserine barracks site. Royal Marine patrols used this to access L. Neagh during the 90s, in a quirk of history its (almost) the same place Chichester raided from 1600-1602

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2021-12-17

OTD 1598 Arrival of 1,000 troops from England. They were 'well chosen, their furniture...good, but they are raw and inexpert'. Some were 'overburthened with heavy muskets'. Muskets were powerful but unsuited to fast-paced Irish warfare-good officers didnt want them

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2021-12-09