Scullabogue Barn massacre

The Scullabogue massacre was an action committed in Scullabogue (Carrigbyrne), near New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland on 5 June 1798, during the 1798 rebellion when insurgents massacred 100-200 loyalists, both Catholic and Protestant, held prisoner in a barn.

Background

A farm and out-buildings in the townland of Scullabogue were used as a staging post for rebel forces before the 1798 Battle of New Ross. The main camp for the rebels was located a mile from Scullabogue on top of Carrigbyrne Hill. The rebels had rounded perceived loyalists of both sexes and all ages who were mainly held in a barn to prevent their supplying the military with intelligence of rebel movements. At dawn on June 5th, the bulk of the rebel army attacked the nearby town of New Ross leaving behind a small number of guards in charge of the captives. The battle at New Ross was a heavy defeat for the rebels who lost almost 3,000 men. Survivors who had fled the fighting had reached Scullabogue with news of the terrible losses while the battle still raged violently. News was also brought of a massacre by soldiers of 70 rebels trapped in the town who were burned alive and whose screams were reported to be audible above the din of battle by a loyalist witness, James Alexander.

Massacre

Thomas Cloney, a rebel commander present at the Battle of New Ross, reported that: "The wretches who burned Scullabogue Barn did not at least profane the sacred name of justice by alleging that they were' offering her a propitiatory sacrifice. The highly criminal and atrocious immolation of the victims at Scullabogue was, by no means, premeditated by the guard left in charge of the prisoners; it was excited and promoted by the cowardly ruffians who ran away from the Ross battle, and conveyed the intelligence (which was too true) that several wounded men had been burned in a house in Ross by the military." This news had incensed certain elements of the rebel force stationed at Scullabogue who joined with the deserters in agitating for revenge against the prisoners. The prisoners' guards twice prevented the gathering mob from harming the prisoners, but eventually gave in to the crowd by allowing the executions by musket-shot of over a dozen particularly hated individuals. However all semblance of control was quickly lost and the barn was soon torched. People trying to escape the barn were shot, stabbed and beaten to death or forced back into the flames.

Only two men are thought to have escaped the flames of Scullabogue Barn. One being Richard Grandy, and the other being Loftus Frizzel. At least twelve men alleged to have taken part in the massacre were executed after the rebellion was suppressed. Although the massacre has been regarded as sectarian in origin, at least 20 of the victims were Catholic and a number of the perpetrators were Protestants.

Memorials

There is a Scullabogue Memorial stone in the graveyard of Old Ross Church of Ireland church. The theme is one of reconciliation. The Scullabogue Barn itself was controversially knocked down and covered over by the now proprietor in the 1990s. Fact|date=September 2008 To date there is however no state memorial to the people who were massacred during this incident.

ources

"A personal narrative of Those Transactions in the County Wexford, in which the Author was engaged, during the awful period of 1798"- Thomas Cloney (James Mullen Pub. Dublin 1832)