John Lawlor

I live about 200 metres from Baldongan Castle where, in June 1642, a 200-strong garrison of Irish rebels were put to the sword by English Parliamentary forces. The events surrounding the massacre stem from the Irish Rebellion of 1641, an uprising initiated in a time of deteriorating conditions in Ireland, which was under English rule, and a breakdown in relations between the English king, Charles I, and the English parliament. The 1641 rebellion in Ireland was undertaken in support of the king against the parliament, as the Irish feared that they would lose property and status if the powers of the king were limited and parliament prevailed. The parliament included a man who would be remembered in infamy in many parts of Ireland, Oliver Cromwell, prior to his brutal conquest of Ireland, which began in 1649 (with the infamous Drogheda Massacre).