Deposition of John Mayre

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John Mayre of the Citty of Kilkenny yeoma gentleman sworne and examined deposeth and saith That about the xxth day of December <A> 1641 The Lord Mountgarrett and divers Rebells vnder his Comand att Kilkenny aforesaid robbed and dispoiled all the English people att Kilkenny aforesaid of all their goodes and meanes & left many of them they left them not soe much as their clothes but stripped them naked And whenas some of those stripped people with ropes & strawe couered part of their nakednes Some of those wicked rebells with hott Irons burned and sett the strawe on fyre and soe burned & greivously scorched those English, And those Rebells wo alsoe most greivously slashed and wounded divers <A> of those robbed people And one Mr Hill a Justice of peace & his sonne, being pursued by the Rebells into Kilkenny aforesaid & there imprisoned, were afterwardes taken out of prison there carried to Balliraggett and from thence to a wood neere hand & then and there both hanged & left vnburied Soe as the doggs fedd vpon their flesh: And this deponent for his owne part was at the time of the said robbing and surprisal in Kilkenny deprived and robbed of his apparell money one silver spoone a Ring debts & other thinges worth above 20 li., And was alsoe driven from his imployment which was formerly worth vnto him Coibus Annis 30 li. yerely Whereof he accompteth 4 yeres proffitt to be lost worth 120li. And this deponent flying for safty of his life to the house of one Mris Manwaring with{in} the walls of Kilkenny he with some others stood vpon their guard there, vntill necessitie & want of strength and meanes inforc{ed} them to yeild yet vpon Quarter to goe away with haue their Liues and not to be inforced to goe to Masse or from the protestant Religion
Wherevpon this deponent & one Ro b Tobin William Lawlis and about Arthur
1) 1043

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Hardy & the wife of lieutennant Gilbert stayd with the said Mris Manwaring for about half a yere after or above, And then <B> one Robert Tobin of the same the Citty merchant William Lawlis their Marshall and about 6 more Rebells came on the Sabbath day about 6 a clock at night, with force and Armes & searched them for letters which they pretended this deponent & the said Hardy & Mris Gilbert to haue from thEnglish, but fynding none those Rebells carried them all 3 to prison & there kept them in durance 3 months And gave Comandment to the souldjers at the gate of the prison to take and keepe from this deponent and the other 2 prisoners such viandes or meat and drinck as the said Mris Manwaring should send vnto or towardes them, which these souldiers (void of all pitty) did accordingly euer as they meat or releefe was brought vnto them: So e for about 3 dayes together, Soe as they were almost starved, haveing neither meat drinck, nor soe much as water allowed them Howbeit vpon their cries & complaintes to the said Lord Mountgarrett his Lordship after those 3 daies comanded that releef should be brought vnto them such as the said Mris Manwaring would afford vnto them: Soe as by her charity & goodnes they subsisted vntill she procured their Releas & sent them away for Dublin which was about six months after their first comittment, And further saith That whilest this deponent an English woman whoe was fellow prisoner with this deponent had alsoe a passe for herself & 3 children from the Lord Mountgarrett to goe from thence to Ballinakill, Howbeit as she endeavoured to goe with her 3 children out of the Cittie divers bloody Butchers which were Rebells in that Citty furiously assaulted and sett vpon her and her Children and with their skeanes stabbed and wounded her in 15 or 16 placs of her body And soe wound one of them threw his skeane at the bodie of one of her children being
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a daughter and hitting her on the belly ripped and opened the same soe much that her bowells fell out and the skeane fell into the [water?] And the poore girle carrying vp her bowells in her Armes & [ ] & shee and her an other sist of her sisters (having divers other morta{l} woundes) att length crawled and gott away into a ditch where the{y} both died. But whether the mother and her other child lived or died or noe he cannott tell; howbeit he w this deponent was a miserable ey witnesse of their wounding cruelty and barbarou{s} vsage aforesaid, but durst not helpe them nor soe much as take notic{e} < [B] > of them nor once speake on their behalf: And further saith That one Captain Harpoole & his wicked souldjers haveing apprehended one and taken prisoner one Captain Chambers charged the said <C> Mr Chambers did afterwardes att Kilkenny aforesaid hang {the} said Captain Chambers and after cutt off his head & privy mem{bers] & cast them vp and downe the streets
He alsoe saith that a little before his this deponentes imprisonment That 6 of Captains ffarrers souldjers & 2 boyes being taken that had quarter given them to come from Castle Comer to Ballil{ } were neuertheles the night afterwardes taken out of a howse in their way and all brought to Kilkenny & there all hanged in t{he} deponentes sight: And a little after the same tyme this depon{ent} <D> sawe one James Brenan w at Castle Comer of Castle Comer aforesaid when hee with his sword cleft a little English boys head (aged about 6 yeres) & after dragged him in a rope and hanged him on the gallowes of Castle comer aforesaid & he then and there alsoe hanged another <c> English mans child of about the same age
<D> This deponent alsoe saith That hee hath bin credibly inform{ed} by divers English people of good creditt, and by divers of the Irish alsoe ( and he this deponent hath great cawse to beleeve their Infor{mation} to be true) That at the Graige or Iron works belonging
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Sir Richard Butler knighte, divers Rebells there murthered about threescore men women and children, And buried soe many of them alive that the very mowldes or earth where with they were couered and was seene to rise and falle after they were buried and putt therein: And that they were neuertheles soe kept & held in their graves with waight of earth stones and rubbish that they were not able to to gett vpp nor goe out of their graves but there were smoothered and famished, & died, And this deponent was an ey witnesse when the Rebells brought to the towne of Kilkenny the heades of Lieutennant Gilbert of Mr William Alfrey sonn and heire to Mr Alfrey the lord lieutennantes Comptroller Mr Bingham a minister with and of 4 others, whose names he remembreth not, And then those Rebells tooke hold of the hair of those heads & knockt them against the stones in most furious manner and when they most greivously wounded slashed and cutt the facs and heades aforesaid, And amongst the rest one <E> Walter Derry a Cooke with a skeane which he had cutt most of those heades especially the said Alfreys and Binghams head most pittifully: And before those heades were broughte to Kilkenny the Rebells (as this deponent after observed) had burned and scorched in the fire the head face of the said Mr Bingham And not soe contented they afterwardes bade that head of the said Mr Bingham preach if he could and scornfully layd a leafe of a booke before him Saying he might preach for his [ ] mowth was open wide enowghe: And the Rebells alsoe at Kilkenny robbed in most sacraligious manner robber the Churches there, made gunpowder in some of them, And swore they would turne all the English that had bin buried within 12 months before, out of the graves <F> And the said William Lawlis bett the pulpytt in Sct Maryes church all to peecs
<Jur Dr J: H B>
John Mayer
Jur 29o May 1645
Hen Jones Hen Brereton
1047
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