Deposition of Henry Hughes

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818
Henry Hughes of Knock Any in the Countie of Limerick gent servant to William ffytton Esquire sworne & examined deposeth & sayth That since the begining of the present Rebellion & by meanes thereof, his this Deponents brother Humfrey Hughes (being a souldier vnder the Command of Sir Charles Coote Barronet) was by the Rebells slaine att the Battaile of kilmore in the County of Roscomon, And this his sister Jane Hughes was nere Galway driven & forced into the sea & drowned by the Rebells: And this deponents vncle David Hughes was seased on & surprised by the Rebells at Aghomeny in the County of Leitrim & hee & his wife, three children & family putt to death by the Rebells there; And further saith That the Rebells in the County Limerick robbed & dispoiled the said William ffitton of the most part of his goods & chattells & expelled him from his Landes esteemed to be worth Eight hundred Powndes per Annum And they alsoe robbed and dispoiled him this Deponent of his horses <A> swyne, debts & hindered in his imployment & way of liveing & in his Corne to his damage of tenne powndes or thereabouts And <symbol> further sayth That the Erle of Thomond of this Deponentes owne knowledge rydd freely vpp and downe a hunting and at his pleasure in Thomond, where he lived amongst the Rebells Whoe are protected by himselfe & yet they robb the protestantes as they fynd them And alsoe saith That this deponents said Master & himself (fleeing for safety of their lives) to Bunratty, the howse of the Erle of Thomond, were not admitted to enter into his Lordships howse vntill they had delivered vp their weapons to the porter, Howbeit one of the Mr [ ] Maghons that liveth at Downhaassaghe nere Limerick had free admittance into & out of the said howse, with his sword Carbyne & skeane & was there entertained (though he was a Rebell, & soe were divers other Rebells that his Lordship protected, And namely (amongst the rest) Conner ô Brian (whoe liveth neere Bunratty) <B> was protected by the said Erle & was lodged & entertained in the said Erles howse after he was a knowne Rebell & hadd deprived & dispoiled an English gentlewoman whoe regulated Captaine Courtneys howse, of her goodes chattells & clothes, And it was a Comon report in Thomond (especially by the English, That the Erle

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<C> Erle of Thomond in the begining of the presente Rebellion tooke away from the English in Thomond their Armes & implojed & trusted the Irish to looke vnto & defend that Country, & that therevpon those the Irish went into Rebellion, & robbed the English their neighbors of their goodes, and afterwards had free recourse vnto the said Erle of Thomonds howse, And although this deponent is satisfied & partly knoweth that all the Irish (which are many in number) <D> in Thomond were & are Rebells, yet the said Erle ordinarily & comonly did send & imploy his Bailiff & a footeboy to gather receave distreigne for & fetch home to Bunratty his rents out of & from his tennantes, a greate circuite in the Cuntry of Thomond, And they brought home the same accordinglie from amongst the Rebells, And this deponent hath <E> credibly heard (& beleeveth the report to bee true) That about threescore English protestantes men women & children flieing from their habitacions & from the Rebells to save their lives to the howse or Castle of one John ô Kenedie at Downalley in the County of Tipperary, Those poore protestantes being then one nighte secured from danger (as they Conceaved, were then and there all murthered & putt to death by Hughe ô Kenedy brother to the said John ô Kenedy & such bloody Rebells as he imployed in that Merciles and Inhumane acte, And this deponent alsoe heard that the said Hughe ô Kenedy afterwards being at the taking of a Castle much desired that he might putt all the English there to death, But becawse it was denied vnto him, he fell into that rage & desperate passion, that he drowned himself
<f> And further saith that hee this Deponent about a yere since heard one Robert ffreeman of KnockAny aforeaid gent (but a most dangerous Rebell say, That after they (meaneing the Irish) had banished the English out of Ireland they would have noe Relation to England at all but have a new king of their owne And that they then but made vse of the kinges name for their owne ends, & to cleere the Cuntrie of the English, And this deponent heard it credibly reported

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<g> reported that Bourk the lord of Castle Connell desired one Mr Creagh whoe was then Maior of Limerick in the yere 1642 to turne out of the same Citty of Limerick all the protestantes that he might putt them to death, But the said Maiore denyed his request, soe as the protestantes then escaped his Crueltie: And it was Comonly reported amongst the English, & (amongst the rest) by one Henrie Tanner that had lived at the Castle of Limerick, Whilest it was beseeged by the Rebells) That there died of English Protestants within the Castle aforesaid, whilest it was beseeged) a greate number by tenn eight seven & six on a day
And further sayth That an Englishman whoe was a souldier to the Lord of Inshequin geoing about a miles from Corke to fetch wood was hanged vp by some of the Rebells then letten downe & stript of his clothes, & although left for dead yet he recovered & returned almost choaked & scarse able to speake Jur xiijo July 1643 Coram Henr Brereton & Willo Aldrich
Henry Hughes
Copia [ ]

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Edmund Mainwaring
Co: Clare &
Henry Hughes Co: Limericke
Clare

E Thomond