Shrule

History

1570 battle of Shrule

Connacht in the 1570s was divided between English control and Irish clans and families. The two branches of the Burke family, the MacWillams of Mayo and the Clanricardes of Galway, held a lot of territory and influence. The two branches fought with each other and with neighbouring clans, leading to the Elizabethian Lord Deputy of Ireland Henry Sidney to appoint a new Lord President to the province, Edward Fitton, to regain control. After breaking out from a siege in Galway, he besieged Shrule Castle with the support of Richard Burke, Earl of Clanricarde.

On the 21st of June, the MacWilliam Burkes and their allies provoked a set-piece battle against the besieging forces. Fitton was dug in around the castle, and the MacWillams lined up their infantry and dismounted cavalry uphill from the defences. Fitton refused to budge from behind the siegeworks, so the enemy decided to attack. They pushed through the cannon and musket fire, hitting the besiegers with momentum. The besiegers broke and started to run for their camp a few miles away. The MacWilliam infantry followed closely to push their advantage, but this allowed Fitton and his cavalry to get behind them and attack the usually exposed rear. However, the MacWilliams held their shape in the face of this onslaught, until their own cavalry could pour in. A very tough fight broke out.

Fitton was badly injured in the face, and his troop's ammunition was beginning to give out. He was rescued when the MacWilliams disengaged and marched northwards from the field in formation. The battle was inconclusive, the Mac Williams caused more casualties but did not remain in place to benefit strategically. Fitton could later take Shrule castle and slaughter the defending garrison.

The castle afterwards passed into the possession of William Burke of the Clanricharde Burkes.

1642 massacre of Protestant refugees

On 18 February 1642, during the Irish Confederate Wars that followed the Irish Rebellion of 1641, a number of English settlers, including John Maxwell, the Protestant bishop of Killala, surrendered to Confederate Irish rebels at Castlebar in the hope of saving their lives.

After staying at Shrule Castle in the company of Miles Bourke, 2nd Viscount Mayo, Sheriff of County Mayo, for more than a week, the group was given an escort with orders to take them 14 miles toward the border of County Mayo and County Galway, where other forces would assume the escort duty and take them on to the Galway fort.

Religion

Saint Joseph's Church in Shrule is a Roman Catholic church in the Diocese of Galway, Kilmacduagh and Kilfenora.

Education

The village has one pre-school, one primary school, and no second-level school. Second-level students usually attend Presentation College Headford which is seven kilometres away in Headford.

Sports

The local Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) club, Shrule-Glencorrib GAA, is associated with Shrule and nearby Glencorrib.

Notable people

• Conor Mortimer, Gaelic football manager and former player
• Christopher O'Dowd, native of Shrule, was an original member of the Special Air Service British regiment

References

Sources

• The Dublin Penny Journal, Volume 1, Number 33, 9 February 1833 at Library Ireland

Notes

References

1. "Census 2016 Sapmap Area: Settlements Shrule". [[Central Statistics Office (Ireland)]].
2. [http://www.logainm.ie/en/1413515 Shrule] Placenames Database of Ireland. Retrieved: 2014-08-25.
3. Richard Bagwell (1909) ''From Ireland under the Stuarts and during the interregnum'' Volume 2, Longmans, Green, 1909. p. 6
4. After provisioning the Maxwell family with horses, Lord Mayo set out for [[Cong, County Mayo. Cong]]. Mayo handed over his prisoners at Shrule, on the border, as his authority only existed in County Mayo. Edmond Bourke, an Irish soldier who led the escort duty, and a cousin of Lord Mayo, then ordered their troops to begin killing their settler charges. Estimates of the dead ranged from less than 30 to as many as 65. Survivors were taken to [[Headford]] by monks from [[Ross Errilly Friary. Ross Errilly]]. Though Mayo's son [[Theobald Bourke, 3rd Viscount Mayo. Theobald]] tried to save some prisoners, and had to be driven away, he was executed in 1653 by a [[Roundhead. Parliamentarian]] inquiry for complicity in the killings that was held after the [[Cromwellian conquest of Ireland]].[http://1641dep.abdn.ac.uk/items/show/42344 Lord Mayo's deposition of Nov. 1652]
5. "Shrule Glencorrib GAA & LGFA Club".