The Siege of Drogheda - 1641

The early part of 1641 had been a turbulent time in many parts of Ireland as friction between Catholics and Protestants manifested itself violently on numerous occasions.

In October of that year Conor Maguire, Hugh Og MacMahon and Phelim O'Neill planned an insurrection, however, they were forced to hasten their action due to the fact that their plan had been relayed to the authorities and as result they took Charlemont Fort in Ulster and several other key positions in the Province.

By late October two of the men, Maguire and MacMahon had been arrested for what was described by the Government of the time as "a conspiracy intended by some evil-affected Irish papists”.

However, Sir Phelim O'Neill continued and by the start of November of 1641, insurgents held numerous towns including, Newry, Dundalk and Carrickmacross. In realisation of the graveness of the situation Sir Henry Tichbourne, the Governor of Drogheda, started to fortify the Town in case of impending trouble.

The rebel movement had spread to parts of Connaught, Wicklow, Carlow, Killkenny and Wexford. On November 21st, the insurgents took Mellifont and laid siege to Drogheda. At this time Drogheda was considered to be a town of significant importance and relative to the rebel cause it's capture would have been a serious strategic acquisition.

As the siege wore on much of Ireland had fallen into turmoil. Although Government forces had been defeated at Julianstown by Rory O'More, Sir Charles Coote (soon to be the Governor of Dublin City) had relieved Wicklow Castle, inflicting great cruelty on the locals of the town.

In light of the situation of unrest and several reports of Protestants being burned to death. The English Parliament decided that Catholics should not be tolerated in any part of the Kingdom.

During all this time Phelim O'Neill was consistently repulsed as he continued his siege of Drogheda. By early January, O'Neill had decided that he may have a better chance of success by starving the town into surrender.

Government ships managed to break the siege in March of 1942, and this ended the siege with the town firmly intact. At the time, few could have foretold that another siege would occur at the Boyneside strong- hold just seven years later , this time with a far more violent outcome.