Their Wars are Sad

One of Irelands most impressive and least used natural amenities is the Curragh ‘grasslands’. Rated among the finest alluvial plains in Europe, it stretches for 5,000 uninterrupted acres. The grass grows no higher than on a golf fairway and is interrupted only by clumps of yellow furze and small trees.

It would seem an obvious place for peaceful monastic settlements but in fact the Curragh’s history is more of competition and war. The dwellings on if were mainly raths (raised forts). 

It is known for its battles.  One of the earliest was in ‘the year of the world 4608’ when Laoghaire Lore, ‘King of Ireland’, was slain there by his own brother. The military tradition took a new turn when the British army opened a camp there in 1855 to train 10,000 Irish soldiers for is wars. The traces of pillboxes, used for World War l training, still dot the landscape. The huge camp, almost empty, is now part of the Irish army.

A memorable combat took place in nearby Donnelly’s Hollow in 1815. Prize fighting wasn’t legal so the bare-fist contest between the Irish champion Dan Donnelly and the British George Cooper was held ‘out of sight’ in a natural amphitheatre in the Curragh.  30,000 people crammed in and Donnelly won.

However not all the encounters on the Curragh are so fondly remembered. 77 years earlier a tragic event took place at nearby Gibbert Rath.

Raths (raised forts) have stood in one form or another on the Curragh since Fianna times and Gibbert Rath seemed a natural place for rebel forces to gather during the 1798 Uprising.  

Initially the Kildare United Irishmen had some success against local British forces but a lack of leaders meant they had little chance of continued success.   

Several thousand at nearby Ailinne Hill surrendered to General Dundas and were allowed to disperse. Encouraged by this example the two thousand at Gibbet Rath also decided to submit but were treated differently. What happened on 29 May was described in a report written later that day to his superior, General Lake, by the officer in charge, General Duff.

‘My Dear General, I have witnessed a melancholy scene. We found the rebels retiring from this town (Kildare) on our arrival armed. We followed them with the Dragoons. I sent on some of the Yeomen, to tell them on laying down their arms they should not be hurt. Unfortunately some of them fired on the troops, from that moment they were attacked on all sides, nothing could stop the rage of the troops. I believe from two to three hundred of the rebels were killed. They intended, we are told, to lay down their arms to General Dundas. We have three men killed and several wounded.‘

G.K. Chesterton said of the ‘great Gaels of Ireland’, ‘All their wars are merry and all their songs are sad’.  The Curragh is a reminder that this was not always so.  

Photo: A pillbox bunker on the Rath,