The Defenders were a Catholic secret society founded in Armagh in the 1780s. Though originally formed for local defence against the Protestant ‘Peep O’Day Boys’, by the 1790s they had adopted a militaristic approach to land reform and were organised into lodges, much like the Freemasons, and swore oaths influenced by French republicanism.1 The Defenders soon spread into counties Louth, Meath, Cavan, Monaghan and Dublin.
The Defenders on the Meath-Cavan border were said to be particularly active and even marched about in open day, though only a few of these were armed.2 Concerned by the sudden increase in Defender activity, many local Protestants formed a militia-like organisation called the ‘County Meath Association’. A conflict was inevitable, and in January 1793, both groups met on a small hillock in Coolnahinch.
Sources vary of the exact number Defenders mustered at Coolnahinch and what their intentions were, though it is thought that the Association had infiltrated their ranks and learned of whatever it was they were planning.3
In one account,4 the Association armed 40 of their members, and supported by 20 regular soldiers, approached the 600 Defenders who were gathered on the hill. The Defenders opened fire first and wounded two of the soldiers, but soon found themselves on the back foot and were forced to flee. When Captain O’Brien from Moynalty got shot in the thigh, it was said that the Defenders were greatly discouraged and this led to their retreat.5 In total 38 Defenders were killed, 20 of those from their wounds later on, and a further 35 were arrested or imprisoned.6 It is recorded that some of those fleeing the chaos took refuge in the nearby Tucker house along with some farm labourers who were mere onlookers. This led to the:
“…innocent and guilty…(being) dragged from their hiding places and butchered in cold blood.” 7
A different account8 states that only 150 Defenders had gathered on the hill and their aim was to march to Bailieborough to free some of their members who had been detained there. However, upon learning that the Association would pass their position while escorting a captured Defender to Kells, they decided to lay in wait behind a wall and set an ambush.9 The members detained in Bailieborough may have been the Donegan brothers from Newcastle, as another source10 says that the Defenders mobilised when it became known that the brothers were to be evicted. Regardless of who ambushed whom, or how many Defenders were present, the death toll in both accounts is the same. For those killed during the battle, local tradition has it that:
“the burial place…is reputed to be a long row of beach trees by the roadside to the front of Tucker’s house.”11
In the weeks following the battle the Association were said to lay waste to the surrounding countryside. The leader of the Defenders, Captain Geraghty from Ballymakane, initially escaped but was later captured and executed for his part in the battle. He is buried in the old graveyard in Kilmainhamwood.12
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References
- Alvin Jackson, Ireland 1798-1998: War, Peace and Beyond, 2nd ed. (Oxford, 2010), p. 14
- Thomas Wright, The History of Ireland; from the Earliest Period of the Irish annals to the present time, Vol. 2 (London and New York, 1854), p. 568
- Valentine Farrell, Not So Much To One Side (Moynalty, 1984), p.164
- Jim Smyth, The Men of No Property (London, 1998), p. 78
- Farrell, Not So Much To One Side, p.164
- Ivan F. Nelson, ‘The first chapter of 1798? The Irish militia roots of 1793’ in Irish Historical Studies, Vol. 33, No. 132 (2003), p. 375
- Smyth, The Men of No Property, p. 78
- Wright, The History of Ireland, p. 568
- Peter Connell, The Land and People of County Meath, 1750-1850 (Dublin, 2004), p. 89
- Seamus Ó’Loingsigh, ‘The rebellion of 1798 in Meath’ in Ríocht na Midhe, Vol. 5 (1971), pp. 62-74
- Ó’Loingsigh, ‘The rebellion of 1798 in Meath’, pp. 62-74
- Danny Cusack, Kilmainham of the Woody Hollow, Kilmainhamwood Parish Council (1998), p. 129