Sun 27th-Mon 28th Sept: Edinburgh Pt 2

Thurs 24th-Sat 26th Sept: Edinburgh Pt 1

Wed 23rd Sept: To Edinburgh

Tues 22nd Sept: To Lanark

Monday 21st Sept: To Ayr

Sun 20th Sept: Back to the mainland

Sat 19th Sept: Around Islay

Fri 18th Sept: Onto Islay

Thurs 17th Sept: Island hopping

16th Sept: To Scotland

Jan 1589 Journey through the north

As Christmas of 1588 approached De Cuellar was becoming unsettled at Rosclogher. Having refused MacClancy’s offer of marriage to a sister his request for a guide to bring him to the north coast where he might find a boat to take him to Scotland was declined. De Cuellar started to become uneasy around MacClancy fearing, perhaps, hidden purpose behind his friendship towards the Spaniards. He heard rumours of MacClancy’s intention to forcibly detain him and the other Spaniards whom he wanted to remain as his personal guard. Had he heard of the plots for a rebellion. One of MacClany’s sons told him he wouldn’t allow them to leave until further aid arrived from Spain. Through the Winter rumours were rife of the impending arrival next Spring of an army from Spain under William Stanley which would signal a general uprising in the west. In any future uprising the Spaniards would undoubtedly see action. They had already proved their mettle defending Rosclogher against The Lord Depty’s men. How did the Spaniards feel about forming the personal bodyguard of a Gaelic warlord? MacClancy was prepared to imprison the Spaniards in order to prevent them leaving. Knowing of MacClancy’s intentions De Cuellar met with four of his companions to discuss their predicament. They seem to have been informed of the escape route to Scotland other survivors had taken through the north. They were aware that Spaniards were receiving help from chieftains on the north coast and felt that, if they could make it to the north coast, then there were good odds on them finding transport to take them to Scotland. The five resolved leave Roclogher secretly at the earliest opportunity. Before dawn ten days after Christmas, on January 4th 1589 De Cuellar and his four companions stole quietly away from the shores of Lough Melvin in darkness.

It is interesting that De Cuellar decided to leave Rosclogher ten days after Christmas. It makes a curious coincidence in the discrepancy between the two forms calendars which was in use at this time. On Friday 15th October 1582 the Gregorian calendar, which is used today, was introduced by the Papacy. It was a modified and more accurate version of the older Julian calendar which, it was calculated, was no longer synchronized with the seasons. When the Gregorian calendar was adopted ten days were dropped (5th to 15th October, 1582) to bring the modified calendar back into alignment with the seasons. Catholic nations adopted the new calendar. However during this era of Reformation, Counter Reformation and religious wars Protestant states refused to introduce it to their realms. The result was that across Europe two calendars were in use each ten days apart. In Ireland the rebel Catholic chieftains adopted the Gregorian calendar in defiance of the English administration which retained the old style. Spies watching Brian O’Rourke noted that he had disloyally ‘kept his Christmas according to the Pope's computation. That winter Tadhg MacClancy with his Spanish contingent celebrated Christmas ten days before their Protestant counterparts. De Cuellar and his companions set out on their trek on what was Christmas day according to the Old style calendar.

Leaving Rosclogher the first major obstacle confronting the Spaniards was the river Erne. It is a wide, deep river with only three convenient crossing points, Ballyshannon, Belleek and Enniskillen. The closest of these to Rosclogher was Belleek, a twelve mile walk from the southern shore of Lough Melvin. The chief of the O’Gallaghers, Owen MacTool resided here. An important figure in southern Donegal he was loyal to the crown and had aided Fitzwilliam in his attempt to take Rosclogher. But after escorting the Lord Deputy to Donegal castle he had then been taken prisoner. He remained with Fitzwilliam through his circuit of Ulster and, on his return to the capital, was imprisoned in Dublin castle as a surety for the payment of crown rents by his Hugh Dubh O’Donnell. He was kept there until 1594. A group of English captains were then set loose in Donegal. Captains Connell and Bowen were given charge of Donegal and ran amok. If an English garrison had been placed at Belleek the Spaniards may have hoped they would be inside celebrating Christmas while they slipped quietly across the river nearby. The twelve days of Christmas may have been a good time for the small group to attempt the dangerous journey through the north.

Tadhg MacClancy when refusing to supply a guide for De Cuellar to reach the north coast gave as his reason that the roads were unsafe. While this may simply have been a convenient excuse to detain the Spaniard it was, nevertheless, true. Since the arrival of the Armada the English garrison in Ireland had been doubled. Bands of soldiers were still active in the north looking out for renegade survivors. In western Ulster existing tensions amongst some of the principal families in the north had been heightened by the events surrounding the Armada. Recriminations and accusations began to fly almost as soon as the Girona departed from Killybegs on its ill-fated journey around the north coast. The lord of Tirconnel, Hugh MacManus O’Donnell had shown himself to be very weak during the Armada crisis. The imprisonment of his son, Hugh Roe, in Dublin castle affected him greatly. He had sided with the Government and did nothing to aid the Spaniards while many others had put themselves at great risk by aiding the Armada survivors. Fitzwilliam created further tensions in the region during his expedition to the northwest when he apprehended Eoghan MacTool O’Gallagher and Sean Og O’Doherty. The act was seen as treacherous as O’Gallagher and O’Doherty were loyal to the government. The bickering between Turlough O’Neill and O’Donnell became hostile. Threats were issued against O’Donnell. In a Letter to the Privy council Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam wrote of the disgust O’Neill felt for O’Donnell’s betrayal of the Spaniards ‘Tyrone hath bitterly reproved O'Donnell, saying he and his posterity may seek a dwelling in another country for having betrayed the Spaniards their only refuge. O’Neill lent his support to the O’Donnells of Castlefinn in their attempt to depose the vulnerable chieftain and claim the Lordship of Tirconnell for themselves.

Through 1588 and 1589 Donegal was falling into turmoil. Hugh Gallagher, a son-in-law of Calvagh O’Donnell of Castlefinn led the opposition to the ruling O’Donnells. Ineen Dubh had him murdered by her Scots bodyguards at Mongavlin crannog. Donnell MacHugh, who had been appointed Sheriff of Donegal by Fitzwilliam, together with the O’Gallaghers, made an attack on Conn O’Donnell of Castlefinn, chief of the rival branch. Preys were taken and Calvagh Og, a son of Conn’s, was killed. In the aftermath of Fitzwilliams expedition Hugh McHugh Dubh O’Donnell seized Belleek castle. O’Donnell himself with a large band crossed the river Finn to raid Turlough Luineach’s lands. It was reported that O’Neill ‘with the assistance of Capt. Merryman and some English soldiers followed him, and not only rescued the prey but also killed some of O'Donnell’s chief leaders and people’. O’Neill and the Castlefinn O’Donnells then combined and retaliated. They attacked the O’Gallagher territories of Tirhugh between Belleek and Donegal town. After a hard fought battle in which the Gallaghers and the MacSweeneys were defeated O’Neill’s men came away enriched with spoils. Leaders of the MacSweeney Banagh sept began attacking each other for control of their territory. Meanwhile the English Captain Connell, who had gained the confidence of Hugh O’Donnell, took the Lord prisoner. While he would later be rescued the Lordship of Tirconnel was becoming riven with animosity and dissension. The chaotic mess made it too dangerous for Ineen Dubh, the formidable wife of O’Donnell, to remain at Donegal. She fled temporarily, to her kin, the MacDonalds of the Isles, burning the castle and hall to prevent an English garrison being installed there.

De Cuellar doesn’t describe the route he took to the north coast. It is unlikely that the group journeyed through Donegal as it was becoming too dangerous and, in any case, it was known that Spaniards trying to make their way home were leaving from the north Antrim coast. Francisco merely says that they ‘went journeying through mountains and deserted places, with great hardship’ before arriving at Dunluce after twenty days on the road. It is about one hundred miles from Rosclogher to Dunluce. The Spaniards were making this journey when the days were at their shortest and during the coldest time of the year but even so, they must have covered more than five miles each day. There is no indication from De Cuellar’s account of any assistance being given to the Spaniards though they had to find food and shelter somewhere on the journey. Places where they could have expected to find shelter were at Strabane, with Turlough Luineach O’Neill, Dungiven with the O’Kanes or even Dungannon where Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, resided. Had they stayed with these chieftains De Cuellar would presumably have mentioned this. So to guess from his brief description of the route and his subsequent experiences it seems the De Cuellar followed a route across the Sperrin mountains through central Ulster to the coast finding some shelter along the way but not with any of the principal lords of the province.

The Spaniards reached Dunluce around January 24th. This was the territory of the MacDonnell clan, a Scots gallowglass family from the Western Isles who, under the warrior Sorley Buidhe MacDonnell, had established themselves along the north coast of Antrim known as ‘The Route’. The Girona was wrecked in this district, not far from the Giants causeway on October 28th with terrible loss of life. Alonso De Leyva and almost 1,300 men went down after the ship’s rudder failed causing the ship to drift onto rocks where she broke up. Nine men were pulled alive from the water and given shelter by the MacDonnells. They also recovered numerous barrels of wine, valuables and two cannons which were dragged to Dunluce and mounted on the castle wall. Five of these survivors accompanied Sorley Boy when he travelled to Strabane to seek the hand of Turlough Luineach O’Neill’s daughter in marriage. They and thirty two survivors from the massacre of Alonso De Luzon’s force at Illagh were given aid by Sorley Boy who under pressure from Fitzwilliam defiantly refused to hand over the survivors. They were subsequently transported to Islay, the island stronghold of the MacDonnells across the North channel. From there they were brought to the Scottish mainland at Ayr where the townspeople were hospitable. The Spaniards were even given new shoes to help them on their way out of town. At Edinburgh the King, James VI, ordered accommodation to be provided for them. Before Christmas transport and letters of safe conduct had been arranged and they embarked for France, arriving in Le Havre on December 26th.

Sun 13th Sept: To Lough Swilly & Fahan

Derry: The rebel City

Sat 12th Sept: The Causeway Coast to Derry

Fri 11th Sept: Ballintoy

Fri 11th Sept: To the Antrim Coast

Thurs Sept 10th: Through the Sperrins to Maghera

9-9-9 Here we go again

Beautiful sunny weather this morning and more to follow over the next few days. A perfect opportunity to poke my head outside and scuttle up the road to Omagh. Finally, after all the heavy rain its great to have blue skies and no wind. Time to get back on the road.....
It's nearly two weeks since I turned for home on that rain sodden road on Boa Island. I didn't think I'd be at home for another fortnight But I have no regrets. From the moment I phoned home to say I was heading back I had no regrets. I'm well dressed for the bad weather now and, I suppose, the ironic thing is I'm heading up the road in bright warm sunshine.

As I cross the river Erne once more Belleek village looks a lot better than it did two weeks ago. A Triclour flies cheekily from the hill overlooking the village across the river on the Donegal side. Heading up the road I'm passing through countryside which, on the previous occasion had been invisible under a mist and sheets of rain. Off to the right green, rolling fields lead to high hills which are topped by wind generators. On the left good land gives way a few hundred yards away to moorland and bog which blankets the nearest hills. I'm heading for the village of Pettigo, a slightly different route to the last time which avoids Boa Island, best to avoid bad memories. As it turns out the road onto Boa is blocked either for road works or due to flooding. I settle into a rhythm on the pedals and push through the countryside.

Its very obvious when you've crossed into the north as the road signs and road markings are all very different to down south. Distances are in miles and not kilometers. So it was a big surprise for me at a junction a mile from Pettigo to see familiar looking road signs of the Republic in front of me. Somewhere along the way the road crosses back into the south but there's nothing to indicate this. Pettigo is in Donegal so. I always thought it was in Fermanagh.

It's a quaint enough wee cross roads village, a border village that featured in the War of Independence. There's a monument to locals who took part in the fighting. The village stradlles the border. It's built on a river which forms the border line so those living on the far side of the river live in the north. Immediately across the river the road markings, traffic and bus stop signs all change once more and its back into Northern Ireland. There's no looking back now.

The village of Kesh lies five miles down the road and the first tangible evidence of the different political jurisdiction is the sight of the local D.U.P party office. I'm heading for Omagh and from here there's two ways to go. Follow the main road down to Irvinestown and cross the lowlands up to Omagh or follow the quiet road over the mountains. I'm taking the scenic route. This road passes through the villages of Ederney and Lack on the way up to a mountain pass that divides counties Fermanagh and Tyrone. Ederney is the larger of the two, the gateway to the hills which rear up behind village a few miles away. Ederney was typically rural, quiet and sleepy. Only for there were a group of men working on some major road works the place would have been deserted.

Leaving the village I passed by the local Orange Lodge, the first one I've seen. Naturally I had to stop and get a photo. The Lodge itself was a pretty nondescript building but over the front it had a colourful depiction of Prince William of Orange in action at the Battle of the Boyne on 'The Glorious Twelfth', as its referred to by some of a political persuasion down here. Obviously there's a Unionist presence in this community. An Orange lodge is something so far removed from southern culture that you can look at them with a certain wonderment or, perhaps, hostility, if your politics so dictate. For me it was a curiosity, like looking at some old relic of the past, but representing something slightly sinister. Obviously I didn't get too close, God forbid! but I did take the photo. On the one hand the lodge is such an inoccuous building, the picture on its front so simple a child might have drawn it yet, the imagery and symbolism it displays is so potent in this part of the world. One element in an array of powerful tribal symbols that has defined the outlook and marked the dividing lines between one side and the other in these parts over generations. I left Ederney and its Orange lodge behind and travelled along the Queen's highway, as is my right and has been the right of my predecessors for generations.

I pushed on for the mountains and strained into the road as it began to rise up the slope. My legs aren't fit yet so I was sweating heavily in minutes. Two thirds of the way up the slope I entered Lack, a tiny village. 'What in the name of Jaysus had them building a village up here?' I wondered to myself. It was a real 'toad-in-the-hole', an 'in-the-middle-of-nowhere' kind of place. Beautifully kept, it had won awards in tidy town competitions but was virtually deserted and halfway up a mountain. 'What kind of folk live in this hill country?' Blue or Green? What kind of music, Queen or Country?? Then they appeared. Two young lads on bikes, watching me intently, bleached blonde crewcuts and dressed in Rangers tops. Noooooo!!!

As I approached the younger of the two, about 8 or 9yrs old, challenged me. 'Ya wanna race hai!! He probably thought I was a foreigner touring the country. Little did he know he was challenging a feckin southern Fenian taigue!!. This felt a bit like a twisted version of the film Deliverence. Swap the river for a mountain and the banjos for a BMX. I laughed warily. 'Go on so' - in a pseudo French drawl (No point in being rumbled just yet. 'Ah aint gonna be squeelin like no pig').

Cue the music!!. Without another word the two Rangers lads took off up the road furiously. I followed behind half-heartedly wondering what I was doing. The race was to the end of the village where two speed signs marked the open country. I let the two lads go ahead not really wanting to race these kids but at the same time not wanting to lose to the Rangers jersey either. What changed my mind was the point at which the road dipped into a hollow for 50-60 yards. My bike, with all its weight, took off on its own momentum. The gap closed and the race was on. I dropped the gears, pushed and very quickly caught the younger lad who'd challenged me. The older lad was still ahead, I was closing on him but he was closing in on the finish. I had to start pushing now. With about 10m to go I drew level. I had him. I lingered to let him think he had a chance, let him pedal as hard as he could, and then just eased in front as we crossed the line. 'Never in your dreams Sonny boy' . I pushed away from the village not noticing the last climb to the top of the mountain. I was too busy humming 'The fields of Athenry' and 'Ole, Ole, Ole' to notice. How juvenile can you get!! Still it certainly shortened the climb up that mountain. Minutes later I crossed into Tyrone and was free wheeling downhill towards Omagh.

Will continue this later........

A Gambler's chance

Setting up camp at Ballyshannon Fitzwilliam sought to exert his authority over the area. He had now entered the trouble zone where most of the Armada survivors had been sheltered during the previous weeks. MacClancy and O’Rourke strongholds lay south of the river while to the north the MacSweeneys occupied Killybegs and west Donegal. Fugitive Spaniards were finding shelter across Donegal and with Turlough O’Neill at Strabane. Further north in Derry the O’Cahan’s were providing help to Spaniards from their strongholds at Dungiven and Castleroe, near Coleraine, while on the Antrim coast the MacDonnells were defying the authorities as they sheltered many survivors.

There was a strong O’Donnell castle here commanding an important ford on the river Erne at the point where it entered the sea. Presumably Fitzwilliam based himself within this castle while he sought to bring the local chieftains to account. During the recent crisis English spies had found great difficulty passing through this area as they tried to get reports through to Bingham and the English authorities at Sligo about the activities of the Spaniards and those aiding them. The MacClancy’s blockaded the coastal route preventing messages getting through to Sligo with the result that rumours spread like wildfire through that town creating panic amongst the forces stationed there. At one stage in the middle of October the sheriff of Sligo believed the Spaniards and their supporters were on the march advancing towards Sligo. His appeals to Dublin and Athlone for aid rang with a note of hysteria. Ballymote had already been attacked by a combination of local rebels. A march on Sligo by the Spaniards would have resulted in a general rising of the clans of the northwest. If this had happened the Sheriff was ill-equipped to confront such a force. The Spaniards never left Killybegs and so the crisis passed. The Spaniards sailed away to their deaths at Lacada point near the Giants causeway allowing Fitzwilliam and the authorities to advance and reassert their authority over the region

When Owen MacTool O’Gallagher was summoned to Ballyshannon Fitzwilliam would already have known that MacClancy and his contingent of Spaniards lay nearby. Naturally he wanted to dispose of those Spaniards, recover any treasure that MacClancy may have acquired from the wrecks at Streedaagh and bring the wayward chieftain to heel for his actions. O’Gallagher would be able to guide his men to Lough Melvin to confront this rebellious chief. O’Gallagher was seen as a loyal chieftain. He doesn’t appear to have been active during the Armada crisis yet he was about to suffer as Fitzwilliam stamped his authority on the region. It was a time of acute danger for everybody in the area but particularly at Rosclogher. Five miles away as Fitzwilliam’s soldiers set out to march on Lough Melvin.

At Rosclogher De Cuellar and the eight other Spaniards discussed their options. They could flee to the mountains with MacClancy and his people or they could stay in the castle and make a stand. ‘I told them that they were aware of all our past misfortunes and of the approaching one, and that, to avoid more, it was better to make an end of it honourably, once and for all. And since we had a good chance of doing so, there was no point in waiting any longer, or in fleeing naked and barefoot through mountains and woods in such bitterly cold weather. As the savage was so upset about abandoning his castle, I argued that all nine of us Spaniards should get inside it and defend it to the death.’ One of the advantages the Spaniards would hold by remaining in the castle was that it would be particularly difficult for any attacking force to storm the stronghold. The castle was surrounded by water. It had been built on the foundations of an old crannog 150m from the southern shore of Lough Melvin. The northern shore lay more than four hundred metres away while the lake stretched for five miles to the east and a mile or so to the west. South of the lake the Dartry mountains, to which MacClancy and his people had fled, cut off all approaches from that direction while the land to the west formed a deep impenetrable marsh making an attack from the coast extremely difficult.

‘Having weighed all this up, we decided to tell the savage that we wanted to hold his castle and defend it to the death; and that he should with all dispatch lay in provisions for six months and some arms. So thrilled was the chieftain and to see our courage that he wasn’t long in making all the provisions with the cooperation of the principal men of his town, and everyone was pleased about it. But to be sure that we wouldn’t deceive him he made us take an oath that we wouldn’t abandon his castle, nor hand it over to the enemy as a result of any pact or agreement, even though we were dying of hunger, nor open the gates to let in any Irishman, Spaniard, or anyone else until he himself returned, as he fully intended to do. So, after the necessary preparations, we went inside the castle with all the ornaments and trappings from the church and a few relics that were there, and we put three or four boatloads of stones inside, and six muskets, six arquebusses and other arms. Then the chieftain embraced us and withdrew to the mountains where all his people had already gone; and he immediately spread word around the country that MacClancy’s castle was ready to be defended and not to be surrendered to the enemy,’

Did Fitzwilliam hear such defiant boasts? Did O’Gallagher inform him of the difficulty of taking the castle? Regardless of these boasts within days The Lord Deputy’s men appeared on the north shore of the lake. De Cuellar describes how they ‘came to a halt a mile and a half from it, unable to get closer because of that stretch of water between us. And from there he tried to frighten us, hanging two Spaniards and inflicting further harm to intimidate us. Using a trumpeter, he asked us several times to let him have the castle, for which he would spare our lives and grant us passage to Spain. We replied that he should come closer to the keep because we couldn’t understand him, always showing that we paid little heed to his threats and words.’

From Fitzwilliam’s point of view it was important to take Rosclogher. MacClancy was a noted belligerent, regarded as a right hand man to Brian O’Rouke who, if he revolted, had the capability of putting up to 1,000 men in the field. Rosclogher was the first location to offer open defiance to the Lord Deputy. It was a pretty audacious act and one the Lord Deputy would have felt honour bound to suppress. He could not allow such open defiance to his authority. He woud have to take the castle and make an example of MacClancy. He had already swept through the lands of the O’Hartes along the coast north of Sligo. These had offered no resisitance but they had none of the defences encountered at Rosclogher. Castles at Ardtarmon, Lissadell and Grange would have been searched for fugitives and Armada loot. Anyone who hadn’t managed to flee to the mountains before the arrival of Fitzwilliam’s force would have found themselves in great danger. A number of O’Harte men were imprisoned and spent the winter locked up. They were interrogated and tortured by the Sheriff of Sligo in an effort to force them to reveal the location of Armada treasures. De Cuellar himself alludes to reports that chieftains who’d sheltered Spaniards had been apprehended. ‘…he seized three or four savage chieftains who had castles where they had sheltered some Spaniards, took both parties prisoner, and marched them along the entire coastline until he came to the part where I was wrecked’. Two of these Spaniards had now been put to death in front of the defenders of Rosclogher castle as Fitzwilliam tried to intimidate De Cuellar’s men.

Despite the sight of the large force arrayed along the north shore De Cuellar was confident of holding out against the English. The Spaniards were well stocked with provisions and food. They had weapons and ammunition and, unlike the English force, they had warm shelter against the winter cold. Very quickly Fitzwilliam would have found himself in a quandry. He had no artillery, a necessity to batter the castle walls and, encamped on the north shore, the castle was out of musket range. There was a small boat available in which he sent a trumpeter across the lake to demand the surrender of the castle but this was totally inadequate as a means of assault. Fitzwilliam would have been in a much better position to take the castle had he established himself in MacClancy’s village on the southern shore of the lake but not knowing how get through the deep marshes surrounding the village the closest he could get to the castle was from the north shore.

The English attempts to take the castle soon became futile. The worst of the exchanges between the two camps were verbal. The Spaniards, confident in the strength of their position, taunted their opponents. Unable to mount an assault across the water they tried to besiege the Spaniards and starve them into submission. De Cuellar reckoned he had supplies enough to last a number of months. There were only nine men to feed in Rosclogher whereas the English had to find provisions enough over 1,500 men. Squads of men were normally detailed with duties to scour the countryside for provisions. Normally provisions would have been taken forcibly from local inhabitants. Herds of animals would have been rounded up and herded into camp while haggards would have been sought out for supplies of grain. Unfortunately for Owen O’Gallagher his haggards at Belleek were ransacked for provisions. For over two and a half weeks the English remained on the shores of Lough Melvin but then the weather intervened. Winter storms began to hit the area and, in an ironic reversal of fortune, the weather, which had been such a factor in destroying so many Armada vessels now came to the Spaniards rescue. ‘For seventeen days he had us besieged, but Our Lord deigned to come to our aid and deliver us from that enemy with severe gales and great blizzards which so swept down on us that he was compelled to raise the siege and march back with his army to Dublin, where his residence and garrisons were located. From there he sent us warning to keep out of his clutches and not to come within his power, threatening to return to that country when the weather improved.’

Fitzwilliam was forced to raise the siege of Rosclogher. His men retreated to Belleek where they consumed what remaining provisions were to be had. Failure to take Rosclogher was a setback for Fitzwilliam. Time and weather was against him otherwise he could have devoted more time to taking the stronghold. Rosclogher was merely a sidetrack on Fitzwilliam’s tour of the north. But it must have been extremely annoying for him to raise camp with the taunts of De Cuellar and his companions ringing in his ears. In response to a final warning from the departing English De Cuellar says ‘We answered him in a way which pleased both us and our castellan who, as soon as he got the news that the Englishman had withdrawn, came back to his town and castle, calmed down and relaxed now, and regaled us with all kinds of things.’ It was a great victory of sorts for the Spaniards, equally so for MacClancy whose castle and village remained intact

Fitzwilliam’s had been detained at Lough Melvin for the best part of three weeks. It was certainly the longest delay he would encounter in an otherwise whirlwind tour of the northwest. He had left Dublin on November 3rd and would return there on December 23rd having spent seven weeks on his circuit. He returned to Belleek with O’Gallagher. In subsequent reports of his progress he never mentions his attempt encounter with the Spaniards at Rosclogher. However he does allude to the fact that he was at Belleek with O’Gallagher. ‘…by courteous entreaty I had drawn thither to help the compounding of some good course for the well ordering of his country’. While he was at Ballyshannon he wrote to London to explain the difficulties he was experiencing in rounding up those Spaniards who remained in the area. ‘I am proceeded in my journey against the remain of Spaniards left straggling in the north parts of this realm, who I understand are in number 400 or 500 dispersed in poor estate into divers parts, and yet so favoured and succoured by the country people, as it will be hard to hunt them out, but with long time and great labour’. These were the only allusions Fitzwilliam makes to his confrontation with the fugitives. He certainly wasn’t going to admit to the Rosclogher episode where his men sat shivering on a lake shore for almost three weeks before retiring under a barrage to taunts and cat calls from a handful Spaniards. The rest of his report tells of a triumphant procession into Ulster where he dispenses the Queen’s justice, resolving disputes and enforcing his authority over the great lords of the O’Nells and the O’Donnells.

From Belleek Fitzwilliam compelled O’Gallagher to escort him to Hugh MacManus O’Donnell, Lord of Tirconnell, who was then at his principal castle in Donegal town. O’Gallagher, wary of Fitzwilliam, agreed to accompany him to Donegal but no further. Despite his loyalty O’Gallagher was not faring well out of this visit by the Lord Deputy. ‘Before the Deputy's departure out of Sir Owen's town, his haggard was all burned, and the town spoiled. Such was the reward that the old knight had for his services to her Highness’. At Donegal O’Donnell came out to greet Fitzwilliam. In spite of the earlier agreement O’Gallagher was not dismissed from The Lord Deputy’s side but instead was ordered to remain at Donegal. Fitzwilliam remained with O’Donnell for four days while he was attended by various chieftains of Tirconnell who made a show of loyalty. There remained the business of rents owed by O’Donnell. His rents had remained unpaid indefinitely despite the imprisonment of his son Aodh Rua in 1587 as a pledge against non-payment. The amount owed by O’Donnell was agreed and a date for payment was set. Owen O’Gallagher and Sir John O’Dogherty of Inishowen were then retained by the Lord Deputy as pledges for payment. O’Gallagher was imprisoned in Dublin alongside O’Donnell’s son and would remain so for six years. Harsh treatment for an innocent, and more particularly, loyal noble. Fitzwilliam moved onto Turlough Luineach O’Neill at Strabane and then Dungannon where he was entertained by Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone before returning to Dublin via Newry on Dec 23rd. He happily to reported ‘The country standeth generally at this present in good and quiet terms and so continued during the journey, albeit at my going out it was doubted’. Contrary to his triumphant report of his proceedings Fitzwilliam had managed to exacerbate tensions in the northwest. He had been unable to round up any of the Spaniards in the region who remained at large. His treatment of senior figures in the north left a legacy of resentment and his only military action, the attempt to take MacClancy’s castle on Lough Melvin, had been an abject failure.

At Rosclogher Tadhg MacClancy made a joyous return from his mountain hideout. Given the stand that De Cuellar and his colleagues had made in the face of such a large force of English soldiers they must have been elevated to a heroic status in the eyes of their hosts. Having defended their homesteads and saved the village it appears they showered the Spaniards with gifts. ‘He solemnly confirmed us as very loyal friends, offering us whatever was his for our use, as did the principal men of his territory. To me he gave a sister of his so that I should marry her. I thanked him very much for the offer, but said I’d be happy enough with a guide to direct me to some place where I might find a boat to take me to Scotland’. How quickly fortunes change. It is said that fortune favours the brave but De Cuellar probably wasn’t expecting this sort reward when he aimed his musket in the direction of the English soldiers. Given all of his stated admiration for the beauty of Irish women the moment of truth had arrived. Facing the prospect of marriage with a local noble lady he promptly asked for a boat to get him out of the country!!

The dogs of War

As soon as the reports began circulating of Spanish ships approaching the west coast rumours began to percolate of the treasures and loot that were to be found in those ships that were wrecked and on the bodies of Spanish sailors both living and dead who were washed ashore. The sense of crisis which swept over the country and the northwest in particular as Spaniards came ashore began to fade once it became clear the only reason the ships had come to these shores was to find fresh supplies, to carry out repairs or because the ships were lost. For five or six weeks a force of about 1,500 men under the leadership of Don Alonso de Leiva encamped at Killybegs while repairs were administered to the Galleass ‘Girona’. This was the only group that posed any real threat to the authorities but there was no will on their part to attack English forces in this realm. When the Girona set sail for Scotland on October 26th the threat of invasion dissipated. All that remained for the authorities was to attempt round up isolated groups of Spaniards roaming around the countryside and those being sheltered by sympathetic Gaelic chieftains.

There was also the question of the loot from the ships. Everybody wanted a part of it. Some twenty six ships had been wrecked on the Irish coast and while some were not accessible others were. Those that could be reached had been picked clean of anything of value by locals who were first on the scene. At Streedagh the waves tossed up great quantities of items which were picked up by large numbers of people combing the beach. In Blacksod bay in Mayo where a local sheriff was to quick to arrive at the wreck of the Duquesa Santa Ana he could only watch as a group of locals rowed out to the wreck and loaded up their small boat with salvageable. Fighting subsequently broke out when the Sheriffs men tried to intervene but the looters slipped away with their valuable cargo. The scene was repeated around the coast as local officials arrived too late to claim the contents of the Armada ships for the government. As the wrecks were looted stories spread of great treasures which were spirited away by locals. In the months which followed officials would be instructed to seek out where all the loot had been hidden by locals. In Mayo and Sligo tensions between locals and the English authorities would be exacerbated as unscrupulous officers used their commissions to ransack areas where Spanish treasure was suspected of being hidden. Men suspected of having obtained some of the loot were imprisoned and tortured to reveal the whereabouts of the stash.

In a region already agitated by the sudden appearance of the Armada and where earlier resistance to English officials had been crushed with extreme violence rebellion was not far from the surface. The autumn of 1588 brought a potent mix events which could very easily destablise the region. Fear, suspicion and resentment pervaded the region. In Dublin the Lord Deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam, watched the events of September and October 1588 unfold from a distance. A constant stream of reports, rumour and counter rumour poured into Dublin Castle from his officials, agents and informers. The growing anxiety of the first few weeks gave way to a sense of relief that no major invasion force was advancing from the West. However there was a lingering worry that with Spanish soldiers on the loose in the countryside a belligerent Catholic clergy might encourage disaffected chieftains to take up arms. There was a fear that rebellion could erupt if action wasn’t taken. Spies were dispatched to monitor activities of suspect chieftains. He also needed to meet with his own officials to assess their activities.

While the Lord Deputy remained in Dublin he could never feel he had proper control of the situation. He felt he had to move West in order to assess the situation for himself. He was suspicious of some of his own officials particularly Sir Richard Bingham, the Governor of Connacht. Bingham was a dangerous man, a loose cannon and the two men didn’t particularly get along. Bingham had powerful friends at London. He was turning Connacht into his own personal fiefdom and had undermined Fitzwilliams predecessor, Sir John Perrot, when he tried to block his activities. It wasn’t just rebellious natives that Fitzwilliam had to contend with. While Bingham had kept the Lord Deputy informed of the developing situation with a succession of reports detailing his activities it seem he wasn’t informing his superior of everything. Despite ordering the execution of all captured Spaniards Fitzwilliam was hearing rumours that Bingham was now keeping a number of aristocrats alive in order to ransom them back to the Spanish authorities, a highly lucrative trade and a common practice at the time. So Bingham was defying his direct orders and in the process appeared to be attempting to line his own pockets. The question of loot from ships also arose. What was Bingham doing with this? Where was it? Would he keep this for himself as well? Clearly Fitzwilliam had to act to bring his own men into line. He had to go west young man.

By the first week of November, it was clear no more Spaniards were going to land. There did, however, remain a residue of survivors who had been given shelter by Gaelic Lords in various parts of the West and northwest. Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam signaled his intention to travel to Connacht and Ulster to review the situation. Reports suggested sizeable numbers of Spanish in the northwest which continued to brew a dangerous cocktail with the Irish. In a letter to the Privy Council he outlined his plans. ‘We send your Lordships of the Privy Council certain advertisements by which your Lordships may see that as some of the Spaniards seeking to steal away in a galley were wrecked, so it appears that the residue of the numbers of Spaniards remain, and are relieved by the M'Sweenys and others, and received into their castles by troops, to the end. to cherish them and make them the stronger for any bad enterprise which they will draw them unto, which is to us a vehement reason to hasten towards them, and make head against them, lest the longer they tarry the more infection they make, for that we find already that the name of the Spaniards worketh much in the hearts of the Irishry, which I will labour in this journey to remedy, by rooting out of their minds all bad impressions. And though some of them in some degree may have dangerously erred by practising with the Spaniards, yet I mean not so to lay those faults to their charge as thereby to move any stir or disturbance, but rather to defer them until in a better time they may be called to reason.

He left Dublin on November 3rd for a tour of the country just as winter was descending. It was seen as a risky venture by his advisors who cautioned against him taking such an arduous journey given the time of year and the potential dangers he was about to face. The Lord Deputy overrode all objections, mobilized 1,500 troops who would escort him and attempt to reassert both his and the Queen’s authority in Connacht and Ulster.

Fitzwilliam travelled first to Athlone to meet with Sir Richard Bingham. He ordered those prisoners remaining alive to be dispatched and, after receiving a further appraisal of events of the past weeks from Bingham, the Lord Deputy prepared to march to Sligo.

Accompanied by the governor of Connacht, The Lord Deputy’s entourage marched north to Sligo Ballymote castle was the main stronghold of the Bingham administration in the north of the province and was the scene of an attack by a combined force of Sligo clans and O’Rourke men when the Armada ships first arrived. The castle hadn’t been taken by the rebels who claimed to be acting for the King of Spain but Fitzwilliam would have seen the damage that had been inflicted on the village and buildings adjoining the castle. He would have recieved a report of the situation in the Sligo area from the Sheriff of Sligo, George Bingham. Establishing himself at Sligo town the Lord Deputy was reinforced by bands from Munster and Leinster. Here he met with shipping from Dublin and received much needed supplies for his men. Correspondence had been sent to him from Dublin and London and so the Lord Deputy was delayed in Sligo for a short time while he attended to some administrative business, writing instructions for the governor of Munster and replying to several letters received from Dublin and London. While he was in the town Fitzwilliam also appointed David Gwynn to oversee the recovery of Armada loot from ships in the Sligo area.

Departing Sligo Fitzwilliam and his entourage moved towards Ulster while he dispatched his messengers with various letters by ship to Dublin. He stopped, briefly, to survey the wreckage at Streedagh. As I passed from Sligo, having then gone 120 miles, I held on towards Bundrowes [in the county of Leitrim], and so to Ballyshannon the uttermost part of Connaught that way, as some say, but denied so to be by O'Donnell and his followers, and riding still along the sea coast, I went to see the bay where some of those ships wrecked, and where, as I heard, lay not long -before 1,200 or 1,300 of the dead bodies. I rode along upon that strand near two miles, (but left behind me a long mile and more), and then turned off from that shore, leaving before me " a mile and better's riding," in both which places they said that had seen it, there lay as great store of the timber of wrecked ships as was in that place which myself had viewed, being in mine opinion (having small skill or judgment therein) more than would have built five of the greatest ships that ever I saw, besides mighty great boats, cables, and other cordage answerable thereunto, and some such masts for bigness and length, as in mine own judgment I never saw any two could make the like’.

Bingham accompanied Fitzwilliam as far as Ballyshannon. As the Lord Deputy’s train proceeded along the coast most of the inhabitants fled. Fitzwilliam ‘found all the country and cattle fled into the strong mountains and fastness of the woods in their own countries and neighbours' adjoining, as to O'Rourke, O'Hara, the M'Glannaghies, Maguire, and others. And so found I until I came to Donegal, the ancient and chief house of the O'Donnells’. At Ballyshannon Bingham turned back for Sligo taking his bands of foot and horse with him. Owen M’Tool O’Gallagher was summoned from his castle at Belleek. O’Gallagher was an important figure in south Donegal, a confidante of the ruling O’Donnell clan and marshall of the O’Donnell forces. O’Gallagher would be able to appraise The Lord Deputy of the condition of the surrounding area. Fitzwilliam was now only six miles from Lough Melvin and the MacClancy stronghold at Rosclogher.

For a month or so De Cuellar had enjoyed his time at Rosclogher, flirting with the locals and making up stories as he read their palms. However, as Fitzwilliam and his men marched through Connacht on their way to Sligo news of the Lord Deputy’s approach went before him. By the time he was leaving Sligo all of the region had been alerted. Many of the inhabitants made their preparations and fled to the mountains. O’Rourke strongholds at Newtown on Lough Gill and at Dromahaire would have been abandoned for fear of an attack by the Lord Deputy or by Bingham. O’Rourke and his group of Spaniards would most likely have retired to his castle at Leitrim or one of his other castles away from the coast, deep within his territory. Messengers arrived at Rosclogher with word that Fitzwilliam was at Sligo and that Bingham was with him. It was alarming news. Bingham was familiar with the area and people were familiar with what that man was capable of. Two years earlier he had destroyed of force of Scottish mercenaries who were marching through to support the Burkes of Mayo who were in revolt. The Scots force had over twice the number of men Bingham had at his disposal but they had been routed on the banks of the river Moy near Ballina and only a handful of survivors had escaped to tell the tale. No Scots warriors had ventured into the province since then. That rebellion had been crushed mercilessly. The rebels finally submitted in fear lest Bingham laid waste to the whole region.

On the shores of Lough Melvin De Cuellar and his hosts listened with growing anxiety as messengers brought news of the progress of the Lord Deputy’s men. The Queen’s governor ‘set out at once with seventeen hundred soldiers in search of the shipwrecks and the people who had escaped. There couldn’t have been many, fewer than a thousand men, roaming naked and unarmed in the places where each ship foundered. Most of these the governor caught and hanged at once; he inflicted other penalties too, and imprisoned the people he found sheltering us, doing them all the injury he could, so this journey cost us dear. And he seized three or four savage chieftains who had castles where they had sheltered some Spaniards, took both parties prisoner, and marched them along the entire coastline until he came to the part where I was wrecked.’ As Fitzwilliam marched along the coastline inspecting the beach at Streedagh and then advancing to Ballyshannon it was the turn of the people of Dartry to run. ‘One Sunday after mass, the chieftain, his locks down to his eyes and burning with anger took us aside and told us he couldn’t delay any longer and had decided to flee with all his people, cattle and families; and that we should think about what we wished to do to save our lives. I replied that he should calm down a bit and that we would soon give him our answer’. For De Cuellar and his companions the situation was stark. They had to decide what they were going to do and they had to decide fast. Their own hosts were about to flee high into the mountains. The Queen’s deputy was hunting for them, he was close by and he knew where they were. The dogs of war were on their way.