Kilkenny Buttermilk Stopped Cromwell
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Did Cromwell Camp in Glenmore?
Recently when we published a short article on Kilmakevoge, Glenmore, Richard Fitzgerald, of Aylwardstown, forwarded a short newspaper article printed in 1943. This article appears to have been printed in a newspaper or trade paper called Irish Travel. It appears that Irish Travel was an Northern Irish publication. The 1943 article is entitled, “Kilkenny Buttermilk Stopped Cromwell,” and recites local Glenmore folklore concerning how a woman from Kilmakevoge [now Glenmore] stopped the burning of her home with a churn of buttermilk. This story is not the usual sort of Irish story associated with the much hated Cromwell and his troops.
“Kilkenny Buttermilk Stopped Cromwell”
The Exile or tourist visiting Kilkenny county now cannot fail to be deeply impress with the change of scenery, brought about by the increased tillage, wherein the former grassy slopes of the undulating hills and green-carpeted plains have given way to the soft brown silky furrows in the wake of the farmer’s plough. It is a pleasing sight to take a look over the wide ridges and rolling plains of this fertile county, down the happy valley of the Nore, with miles and miles of the richest land, well streaked with the trail of industrious cultivation from Urlingford, in the North, to the golden vein of the Sur valley in renowned Mooncoin, home of some of Ireland’s greatest Camán players in the past.
A field recently to come under the plough is one at historic Kilmakevogue, Glenmore, owned by Mr. Richard Fitzgerald, M.C.C., which has not been tilled for a period of two centuries. An interesting little bit of local history is associated with this field. It appears that when Cromwell and his army were marching from New Ross to Waterford in 1650, they encamped in this field, adjacent to the little hamlet of Kilmakevogue. They did not get a very friendly reception, and, incensed by this attitude of the people, Cromwell ordered his soldiers to burn the cluster of houses which comprised Kilmakevogue, and they set about doing so in callous fashion. One woman whose home adjoined the field, implored Cromwell’s men to save the house as her husband was seriously ill, and offered them a churn of fresh buttermilk if they would do as she wished. Eventually her pleading had the desired effect; they accepted the gift and spared the house, which still stands amidst the ruins, and is the object of interest to passing tourists.
The cyclist making his way down the excellent roads, a tribute to the County Surveyor and his staff, will find many a local tale and quaint sport like that on the road in Kilkenny (June 1943, Irish Travel). Richard Fitzgerald was able to identify the field and where he thinks the house in question stood. “There was a ruin of a house where Kathleen Aylward now lives opposite Pat Ryan in that field in front of Kilmakevogue old church, this could have been her house. The field across the road is called Sheanstraid there were houses there too.” [Kilmakevoge Church ruins is also referred to as Kilivory locally.]
Brief Background to Cromwell’s Invasion
Irish Rebellion 1641
In 1641 an Irish rebellion took place leaving most of Ireland under the control of the Irish Catholic Confederation. Demands included an end to Anti-Catholic laws, greater self-governance and the return of confiscated lands. During the 16th and 17th centuries land in Ireland was seized by the Crown and then colonised with men from Great Britain. It was hoped that the plantations would control, anglicise, and civilise the Irish.
Both King Charles I and Parliament wanted to stop the Irish rebellion but neither side trusted the other with control of an army. Some English troops landed in Dublin in December 1641 and recaptured much of the Pale. A large area around Cork was also re-captured. In March 1842 the Adventurer’s Act was enacted which was “for the speedy and effectual reducing of the rebels …in Ireland.” The Act allowed for the funding of military operations by the seizing of rebel land. In April 1642 an army landed in Ulster and quickly captured most of the eastern side of Ulster. Especially in Ulster the rebellion led to the death or eviction of Protestant settlers who responded in kind. Protestant settlers formed a militia in Donegal and controlled the northwest of Ulster. Outside of the Pale, Cork and Ulster the remainder of Ireland was not controlled by the Crown.
The Irish Catholic Confederacy 1642
Ireland’s Catholic Bishops met in Kilkenny in May 1642 and took steps to gain control of the rebellion with the Catholic nobility. The Irish Catholic Confederacy government was formed. The Irish Catholic Confederation remained in place for almost a decade mainly due to the fact that the first English Civil War commenced in August 1642. This led to the second English Civil War and ultimately the execution of King Charles I on 30 January 1649.
In early 1649, the Confederates joined with the English Royalists, who had lost the English Civil war. The English Royalists were led by Charles II, the eldest son of the executed Charles I. Charles II was proclaimed King of Ireland in January 1649 following his father’s execution. The Royalist forces in Ireland were led by the Marquis of Ormond, James Butler, of Kilkenny Castle. He later became the first Duke of Ormond.
Invasion of Ireland
Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) with his New Model Army, invaded Ireland in 1649. Although much has been written and said about Cromwell he actually only campaigned in Ireland for 9 months. In that short period he took 28 towns and cities. This was accomplished because he made an example out of cities or towns that refused to surrender such as Droheda and Wexford. “He offered generous terms elsewhere and honoured them to the letter whenever they were accepted. Most remarkable was his restraint at Clonmel. He lost 2,000 men in a foiled assault there. He then took the town on terms and honoured them, although perhaps 200 retreating soldier were chased and killed” (John Morrill (2000) “Was Cromwell a War Criminal?” The Cromwell Association Website www.olivercromwell.org).
New Ross
Cromwell arrived at New Ross on 17 October 1649. The governor of New Ross, anxious to avoid the fate of Drogheda and Wexford persuaded the Marqus of Ormond to allow the town to surrender if Cromwell succeeded in breaching the city walls. On the 19th of October Cromwell’s artillery began bombarding the town walls resulting in a breach. The Governor sought terms. Cromwell in order to demonstrate that he would grant lenient terms in order to induce other towns to surrender, allowed the Governor and his soldiers to leave with their weapons. He also stated that the town would not be plundered and the civilians could remain unmolested or leave with their belongings. However, the practice of Catholicism would not be tolerated.
It took Cromwell’s troops about two weeks to build a bridge of boats across the Barrow. Cromwell’s field army was reduced to about 5,000 men as men were posted to garrisons to hold captured towns and fortresses. When Cromwell and his army crossed the Barrow they entered Co. Kilkenny on 15 November. Cromwell was ill. While other officers took the troops toward Kilkenny City they were forced to return to New Ross because Royalist troops had destroyed the bridge at Thomastown. A large group of calvary were sent from Thomastown to Carrick-on -Suir. The town fell without Cromwell losing a single soldier. The bridge at Carrick allowed Cromwell an easy route from New Ross into County Waterford, to approach the City of Waterford from the west along the southern side of the River Suir.
Did Cromwell Pass Through Glenmore?
Cromwell was not able to take Waterford City in 1649. The following year Cromwell’s son-in-law did succeed in taking the completely isolated Waterford City. Per the Down Survey Map the most direct route from New Ross to Waterford was the old road through Glenmore that was still in use in 1798. However, it does not appear from the history books that Cromwell used this direct route in 1649. He and his troops apparently went to Thomastown then turned to take Carrick-on-Suir. The Glenmore road would also have been the most direct route to Carrick as well as Waterford, but we have not been able to locate any texts that provide any route from New Ross other than Thomastown. If the incident in Kilmakevoge occured during the second attempt to take Waterford in July 1650, Cromwell was not present as he returned to England on 26 May 1650.
Cromwell’s Legacy
By May 1652, Cromwell’s army defeated the joined Confederate and Royalist army, and occupied Ireland bringing to an end the Eleven Year’s War or Irish Confederate Wars. Plague then swept across the battered country. Cromwell passed a series of Penal Laws against Roman Catholics and confiscated their lands. The Act of Settlement 1652 legalised the change of land ownership with over two thirds of land in the country changed hands. The displaced were sent to Connaught, deported to the continent, or sold into indentured servitude on the Caribbean sugar plantations.
Last year Sarah Covington’s, The Devil from Over the Sea: Remembering and Forgetting Oliver Cromwell in Ireland was published. In this interesting work the author explores the many ways in which Cromwell was both remembered and pointedly forgotten in Ireland over the centuries after his conquest. The author investigates his continued presence in folklore, the landscape, in ruins and curses. What emerges is how successive generations have remembered or forgotten Cromwell and his legacies to shape and re-shape Irish political discourse and history. The author commences her book with an oral tradition found in County Meath concerning Cromwell.
John O’Donovan and Cromwell’s Legacies
Amazingly the author reveals some local information provided by the Irish scholar John O’Donovan (1806-1861) concerning his own ancestors and Cromwell’s legacies. (For information on O’Donovan’s family see our post of 13 March 2021.)
John O’Donovan recalled an ongoing dispute that his ancestor had with Robert Snow, of Snowhill, accusing Snow of being “descended from a weaver who came over with Cromwell and his pickpockets.” Snow “who was a very sensible man,” argued that in the end “all bloods were equally red and equally old; and that it would be found that all bloods were good or bad according to the kind of food the possessor used.” To this William O’Donovan, O’Donovan’s great-grandfather replied “families settled by Cromwell had never any food but what they stole or earned by mean trades.” Sarah Covington (2022) The Devil from Over the Sea: Remembering and Forgetting Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, p. 162-163; citing John O’Donovan, “Ancient Tribes and Territories of Ossory,” No. II, Transactions of the Kilkenny Archaelogical Society.”
O’Donovan alleged that his mother, Eleanor Hoberlin (sic), of Rochestown, [later to become Glenmore] was descended from a soldier who came to Ireland with Cromwell. She married Edmond Donovan and freed herself from the grasp of “puritanical preachers, converted to Rome and strange to say, learned to hate and despise Cromwellian settlers.” (Sarah Covington (2022) The Devil from Over the Sea: Remembering and Forgetting Oliver Cromwell in Ireland, p. 163, citing John O’Donovan, Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland, by the Four Masters, vol. 3 (Dublin: Hodges and Smith, 1848, p. 2158).
The featured photo above is from the Down Survey Map (1656-1658). The map is available at Trinity University. The drawing of Cromwell is courtesy of the New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library. Oliver Cromwell. Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47df-3223-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99.
Special thanks to Richard Fitzgerald, of Aylwardstown, for sharing his newspaper clipping and information.
Please send any corrections or further information to glenmore.history@gmail.com. Are there any other oral traditions regarding Cromwell in Glenmore?
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh