Deposition of Raph Walmisley
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Raph Walmisley late of Ballinegulshey nere vnto the Birr in the Kings Countie farmer sworne & examined deposeth and saith That about the midst of November 1641 he when the Rebellion of the Irish began in the Kings Countie & at other tymes since Hee this deponent (amongst others of his English neighbours thereabouts) was at Ballinegulshey aforesaid forceibly deprived robbed and dispoiled of his goodes & chattells Consisting of Cattle horses Corne hay & howsholdgoods & was expelled and driven from his habitacion together with his wife and 3 Children (though hee this deponent & they were all Romish Catholicks) Whereby he was and is damnifyed & hath lost the summ or value of Sevenscore Powndes att the least, And further saith That the parties that soe robbed and dispojled him the deponent as aforesaid were theis Rebells <A> following vizt Art ô Molloy now of Tulloghmore in the kinges County Esquire: Neille ô Molloy of Bollinarrick in the same County gent Donogh ô Dallaghan late of Ballinarrick aforesaid farmer t en n sin since tennante to Garrett Moore of Lismogh in the County of Galway gent Loghlin ô Horan of Lismogh aforesaid Murtogh ô Horan of Lismogh aforesaid farmer, & others their Confederats all tenannts to the said Garrett Moore whose names this deponent is not able to expresse, Cormuck Coghlan of Delvin in the kings County far gentleman & his confederats asyet v vnknowne to this deponent, And further saith That Nicholas Harbert of Ballycollin the yonger in the Kings County this deponents landlord, did about Michaelmas 1642 (when it was conceived that the English would be victors in those parts) receive into his hands tenn Cowes one Bull & five heffers, all of English Race worth 40 li. ster, besides the value of v li. sterling in Butter of this deponent s vpon agreement to keepe this deponents wife & children for three yeres & then to restore the Cattle &
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half of their breed: Howbeit whenas the said Harbert had gotten the said goodes into his possession & that he heard that Sir Charles Coote was dead, & that noe releefe was like to come to the Birr which the Irish had then beseiged then he casheered & turned away from him and his proteccion both him this deponent & his wife and turned & hath deteined & still doth deteine the said goodes: In which Iniurous Act: the said Mr Harbert was not without the speciall incytacion & instigacion of his wife wherevpon this deponent with his wife and children for safety <B> & shelter fled to their true true frend John Mc ffarrell of Ballycaly in the Kinges County gentleman, (being also a generall Releever & frend to the English, whoe did not only saffly defend them and their small goods left & protected them against the fury of the malicious Irish, but at length procured them a safe convoy to Portumny the howse of the most honorable Vllick Lord Marquesse of Clanrickard where this deponent with his family have remained in safety vnder his good honors protection euer since; Howbeit before such tyme as either this deponent came to Portumny or to the said John Mcffarrell vizt whilest he was vnder the proteccion of the said Harbart, he was <C> soe threatened by one Owney McTeige Molloy of Ballyoran in the Kinges County gent & by others the souldjers of the said Art ô Molloy that he durst not lodge with his wife in the nights at t vpon the said Harberts land. but divers nights for safety fled to the howse of one Tirlogh Moloy of Rammakilladuffe in the Kings County aforesaid gent, whoe kyndly entertained & vsed him protecting him alsoe against all danger (as hee had done likewise of this deponents owne knowledg to one Richard Elmer an English protestant and his wife and children) And this deponent is very confident that both the said Tirlagh Moloy & John mcffarrell much greeved at the evill intreatie & robbery of the English: for soe it still appeared not only by their loveing words but by their reall Curtesies done vnto divers of them at seuerall tymes: Howbeit hee saith That he too well knoweth that the parties hereafter mencioned were notorious robbers oppressors & pillidgers of the English spareing none that they could possibly light vpon, noe not soe
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much as any of the old Romane Catholicks if they were of the English kynd or race Nor those that through feare or for safety of life or goodes had revolted from the protestant Religion and turned to Masse and such as by their preists, had bin reconcyled therevnto, nor those whom others of the Irish had taken into proteccion But in pursueing of their enveterate hatred & & mallice to their English and of their generall designe & resolution to destroy, and root all out of the kingdome, soe as neither roote nor branch of them should be left: And this deponente (whoe (for his owne part was robbed & spoiled of his meanes & driven farr from his habitation) though he and his wife had be e ne still Romish Catholicks yet had he [ ] not escaped with his Life as he thincketh but that he looked narrowly to himself and divers tymes stood vpon his owne guard for otherwise he with others of the English had as he is verely perswaded perished & beene slaine by the wicked Irish Rebells hereafter mencioned vizt the said Art ô Molloy: Neille ô Molloy aforesaid and Lawrence his sonne. Donogh ô Dallaghan aforenamed <D> the said Garrett Moore, Loghlin ô Horan Murtoghe ô Horan: Nicholas Harbert aforenamed (whoe amongst other Robberies deprived & despoiled Captain Chidley Coote of five or 6 Acres of very good wheate & cou erted conuerted it to his owne vse) John ô Carroll of Clonliske in the Kinges County Esquire Captaine John ô Carroll his sonn. & heire (after made a Colonell) Luke Delahide of Castletowne in the kings County gent Donnell Carroll of Camgort gent, Captain Brian Molloy of Balliboy gent The wife of the said Nicholas Harbert the yonger, (whoe seemeing then to this deponent to favour & love the English was intreated by him this deponent about the begi ning of March 1641 to prevaile with Mr William Parsons then gouernour of the Birr to meete him this deponent att Ballendowne within a myle of the Birr & withall to tell him that the then Irish camps that layd at the Eglisse (being the said Chidley
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Cootes farme) had almost noe gunpowder left, & that this deponent would show the said Mr Parsons a way how to surprise or defeate that Irish campe: & that he this deponent would bee the first man to lead the m him & the English on: But the said Mris Harbert (though she promised to impart soe much to the said Mr Parsons & had free accesse betwixt the Irish & English yet she (contrary to the trust, fayled, where otherwise that Campe had bin vndoubtedly defeated & spojled & could not to have staid there as they did to furnish themselves with powder Armes & souldjers to beseige and surprise <e> the Birr as they afterwards did: And the said Mris Harbert often told this deponent, That one John McGarrett Coghlan did besiege the kinges fort of Bannogher in the kings Countie then held & possessed by Sir Arthur Blundell knighte: And that Owen mcGillefoile of Shinrone gent leman in the kinges County gentleman had forceibly & rebelliously surprised & taken the howse of one Mr Medop of, or nere kisnebrasney in the same County gent from him: And that shee sawe some part of the goods that were taken by the Irish from the howse of the said Mr Medop, in the howse of Nicholas Herbert the elder of killion in the kings County Esquire her husbands father: Hee further saith That about <ff> the month of July 1642 the said Nicholas Harbart the father & Nicholas Harbert the sonn roade vpp & downe & bought powder for the Rebells & kept the store howse thereof: After the comeing of which powder the Irish campe was removed from Eglisse aforesaid to Clanaghill Mr Parsons his howse, twoe myles nerer to the Birr then Eglisse was, & indeed within twoe muskett shott of the Birr: And further saith that one John Heywood of Creenekell in the kings Countie whoe in the beginning of the Rebellion harboured & releeved divers Rebells at his said howse (some of which by credible report) shott through the thigh, before the said howse a Scotishman, that was one of the troopers of Birr: Hee alsoe saith that although this deponent att the first had a mynd to goe away & soe escape the danger of the Rebells yet becawse Thomas Walmisley this deponents owne father & his wife the deponents mother & Edward Swansey an infant (about 4 yeres old, their granchild lived all in the Birr; whom this deponent had a great mynd to releeve, if occasion served, he stayd for that purpose in the howse of the said Nicholas Harbert the sonn (vpon the bargaine aforesaid for some
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tyme vizt from about the first of August 1642 vntill Michaelmas then next following, when the said Nicholas went about to Casheire him. A little before which tyme this deponent sent private word to his said father and mother to gett leave to come from the Birr & to come to him this deponent, which message comeing vnto them about <G> the begining of September 1642 This deponents said mother, with her said granchild the infant, gott leave & came out from Birr aforesaid to the howse of the said John Heywood (about a myle from Birr aforesaid, In hope there to gett entertainement and a Convoy to the said Nicholas Herbert the yongers howse, where this deponent was, Howbeit such was the neglect and cruelty of the said Mr Heywoods wife that sh e would not suffer her to come within her howse, But directed one an Irishman whose name the deponent knoweth not that was a servant to Teige ô Carroll of Cree in the Kings County gentleman, to carry this deponents said mother & her said granchild, & another English gentlewoman that was in their Company, to the Irish campe then lying at Clonaghall aforesaid nere the Birr, which that wicked fellow vndertakeing he carried them thence part of the way towards the Irish Campe: And then setting vpon them gave the said gentlewoman soe many wounds, with his skeane that she thereof died Then with the same skeane he cleft the childs head in sunder & soe then and there most barbarously murthered him, Then and there alsoe he gave twoe most terrible wounds to this deponents said mother the one a deepe one in her neck the other through her eare to her mowth & left her there for dead: Howbeit when he was gone she crawled vpp & with much difficulty was brought to this deponent back to the Birr where she stayd some twoe nights. And then by meanes of a present parlie then had betwixt the Irish Campe and Mr Parsons aforenamed, this deponents father by lycense from Mr Parsons and Mr Chidley Coote, came out of the Castle of the Birr & brought with him
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this deponents wounded mother to him this deponent to the house of the said Nicholas Harbert the yonger Where the said Nicholas <H> Harbert (being vnwilling to harbour them: but as it seemeth willing to turne off this deponent and his family & to defeate them of their said goods which he had in his Custody) said that his Cowes, should not releeve the Rebells of the Birr, And his wife the said Harberts wife then and there alsoe saide that she had lost more by the English then euer shee hadd gotten by them: And that from thence forth noe English should live vpon her Land; And soe they takeing away all his Cowes from this deponent & denying his said Parents releefe: His mother for want of succour & things necessary & of her said wounds then and there died And this deponent & his said wife & family with his weake family father (casheered from thence) fled for succour to the howse of their good frend John Mcffarrell aforenamed whoe succoured & freely releeved them vntill he gave them the safe Convey aforesaid: Hee alsoe saith that one Anthony Carter a tennant to the said Nicholas Harbert the yonger being gone into England <J> before the Rebellion began about his necessary occasions Left his wife & family with a good quantety of corne vpon his farme which he soe held from the said Nicholas Harbert the yonger: But shee and her family in the begining of the Rebellion beinge inforced to fly for safety of her life to the Birr aforesaid was not suffered but hindered by the said harbart to have anie releefe out of her owne Corne & goods: But the said Harbert sold and disposed thereof to his owne vse & suffered her and her yong child to perish starve & dy for want of victualls & other necessaries att the Birr aforesaid
About lent next ensueing the begining of the said Rebellion A frier (whoe was called father John) came with <k> an Irish souldier to this deponents then dwelling howse nere the Birr within night & knocked but the dore being not readily opened the said frier then said you would be readier to lett in the English & became very angrie: Wherevpon the deponent (not dareing to keepe them out) opened the dore, & the frier comeing in demanded to
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have a bed to lodg in: which the deponent (although he had but one left for himself) affording, vnto him: the frier went into the roome where the bed was And a servant maide of the deponents carrying him & Candle thither (her name being Mary Redferne) The said frier would needs in force he to ly with him, but she refusing and crying out, he layd his hand vpon his skeane & threatened to kill her, if she made any noise Howbeit this deponents wife mistrusting him and hearing her Cry suddenly called & tooke her from him where otherwise she had beene ravished as the same maid protested And then the holy frier being in drinck fell layd him downe on the bed in his clothes & slept there till morning, but the souldjer went presently to the Campe, when he had brought the frier thither
And further to demonstrate the IrrReligious course of one other of theis seeming devowt men This deponent saith That about 2 yeres since oneSkerrett of Portumny in the Countie of Galway by his last will guive vnto the parrish popist preist there named father Darby a legacy in money & left Ellis Skerrett his wife to pay it. But shee not having it soe soone as the preist desired it, he then and there told her that he had kept her husbands soule in purgatory all that tyme becawse, his legacy was not paid, And that if she did not pay it, her husbands sowle should never goe to heaven: The simple woman beleeving him wept exceedingly & complained vnto her mother in law, what the Preist hadd said, whoe told her that if that were soe that Preist owed her more then the legacy came vnto: & she would allow the legacy thereout, which being proposed to the preist he consented that way to accept it & said he would therevpon releas the sowle out of purgatory: which thing was credibly told and averred to him this deponent not only by one Ann Chanceler a papist inhabitant at Portumny, but by one Mr Tho: Allen a gentleman in that towne and by one Samm a Taylor servant to the Marquesse of Clanrickard & by divers others of credditt & the report (as this deponent is verely perswaded in his Conscience) is moste certenly
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true certenly true
About a yere since one Hugh ô Madden a frier at Portunmny told and averred to this deponent (as he hath done divers tymes <M> since) to one Mr Curwen a protestant minister at Portumny aforesaid That the present and or late Rebellion or Comotion of the Irish was grounded vpon a nationall quarrell and inveterate mallice, which the Irish had & bore to the English & was do begun of purpose to roote all thEnglish out of the kingdome, or to that effect, as the said Mr Curwen (whoe is a very credible man averred to him this deponent seuerall tymes
And this Deponent hath many tymes both in the begining of the Rebellion and often since heard the most of the friers and Preists of and at Portumny say and averr that the pope of Rome his holynes did not only promote & Commend the warrs of the Irish papists against the protestants but had contributed & would yerely contribuite both money Armes & men & munition for the strengthening & manteyneing of the same: And that his holines would alsoe reconcile all the differences betwixt by twoe kingdome of ffrance & Spaine soe as they should send forces Armes and Amunition to help the Irish in the same warr
And divers tymes since the first Cessation of Armes proclaimed this deponent hath heard one of the Moloys (whose <N> Christen name (as this deponents thincketh was Tibbott) Liuetennant to the said Art ô Moloy) and on e protest and say that vnles the kings Maiesty of England would doe as they the Irish Romish Catholicks would have him: That they would stand for themselves in opposition against his said Maiestie: And further saith that About the some tyme a fter that the Popes Nuncio or legate came Last from Rome to Kilkenny (which the deponent taketh to bee aboute half a yere since) hee this deponent heard one Dominick ô Conwell a frier that liveth at Portumny confidently averr and say That his holines would not suffer the Irish papists to have any peace att all with his Maiesty or his protestant subiects vnles they m i the said Irish might have all their Churches in their
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their owne handes & have freedome of Religion and all things else that they desired in the kingdome: The Deponent alsoe saith That when the Irish Campe lay at Egliss in the kinges County aforesaid vizt about Christmas 1641 It was a Common report amongst the Irish Comanders & souldjers there that there was or would be greater warrs in England then there was in Ireland And that when they the Irish had cleered the kingdome of the Ireland of the English then they would goe over into England and help to distroy all the protestants there & soe establish the Romish Religion in that England: And withall saying that the English had noe right to the kingdome of Ireland, but if they would have bin saffe they might have kept them in their owne Cuntrie
And as to other murthers and cruelties comytted by <O> the Irish popish Rebells vpon and against the persons & estates of the English in the said kingdome of Ireland, hee this Deponent saith That one Edmund Coghlan now of Clancarbon (the Erle of Kildares land, late in the possession of the said Captaine Chidley Coote) in the kinges County gentleman, about Candlemas 1641 did with some other of his Confederats whose names he this deponent knowes not, att a place: nere the said Luke Delahides howse in the Kinges County most barbarously kill and murther three English men (whose names are alsoe vnknown to him the deponent, howbeit as this deponent hath credibly heard those men were then vnder the protection of the said Delahide, & that one of those English men (after he was wounded) was then and there buried quick: for which fact the said Edmund Coghlan being questioned & tried for his Life at a late Assizes kept by the Rebells att the Birr, he was then and there acquitted for that none would give evidence against him Howbeit this deponent since heard the wife of the said Nicholas Harbert the yonger confesse & say That she knew whoe cold depose that the 1280 1270
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said Coghlan was guiltie of that bloody fact: Neuertheles the <P> said Nicholas Harbert being a Justice of the peace vpon the bench att the tyme endeavoured all he could to free the said Coghlan therof.
About the moneth of Aprill 1642 the wife of one Roberte Ward of Dowras in the kinges County farmer & 3 of her children (being protected by the Irish) were all putt to death vpon a Sunday in the morning nere killjon the said Mr Harberts howse, The mother hanged, & the children killed with skeins darts or such like weapons, by the souldjers of the said Art ô Mulloy of Tullaghmore as this deponent hath beene often credibly told and verely beleeveth
An English man that was servant to one Mr Robert Leicester of kilcormuck in the kinges County Esquire beinge revolted from Church to Masse was neuertheles surprized and apprehended at kilcormuck aforesaid about Aprill 1642 by one of the lieut Moloys whoe was Lieutennant to the said Art O Molloy which Lieutenant Comanded that he shold be shott to death: Wherevpon one shooting at him but missing him A frier was fetched presently thither, vnto whom the poore man makeing his confession vpon his knees one Tibbott Molloy (one of the said Art Moloys company (a great villaine <Q> came behind the poore man as he was vpon his knees and then and there suddenly with a great broad twoe handeed sword, Cutt off his head: That wicked murtherer then saying that he was affraid of nothing but that the soule of that poore man would then goe to heaven becawse he was turned to his Religion: But being an Englishman he he said hee shold be glad enough if his sowle shold goe to hell, or to that effect.
One William Reed an Englishman being turned papist & lyving vpon his owne farme nere the glasse howse in the kings
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kings County some twoe of the Rebellious souldjers of the Company of the said Art ô Moloy came vnto his howse about Ester 1642 towards night, where they feasted themselues all night, The next morning they told the said William Reed that they were to carry him before their Comander Art ô Molloy & soe constrained him to goe with them towards to the Campe then att Eglisse aforesaid. But in the C way vizt vpon the <R> landes of Neille McTibbot Moloy at Bollenarrick aforesaid those wicked villans killed and murthered him And then forthwith came to the deponents howse & there bragged of their fact, And having thither brought with them the said William Reeds bloudy shirt, They forced the deponents Mayd Servant to wash the same. The Roagues name that soe brought the shirt was Phillip ô Rely but what his fellowes name was the deponent cannott tell
Att the Castle of knocknamese in the kinges County when it had bin long beseiged by the Rebells the holders or dwellers therein were driven to that want That one woman there (forced by extreame hungar) killed her child, & did eat part of its flesh And one of the beseeged souldjers was alsoe soe hungar starved that he tooke vpp a man that was dead & eate part of his flesh This was often earnestly protested to by him this deponent att Portumney by one Mris Browne & Sarah her Maide & one Mris Phillips Henry Phillipps since deceased and divers others of creditt whoe protested & voluntarily swore they were then in the said Castle & ey witnesses of what they soe protested
This deponent lastly alsoe saith That on the vijth day of this instant March 1645 hee this deponent comeing to the Naas in the County of Kildare in the company of Mris Pelly of Portumney aforesaid nere kinswoman or alliance to Mr Neve of Dublin esquire128 2 1272
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<S> was then and there told by one Mr Moore, (whoe now liveth in the said towne of the Naas) That he the said Moore had lately sene certeine Articles that came from kilkenny by which the pope of Rome had agreed & vndertaken to manteine fynd & keepe fowre thowsand souldjers with pay Armes and Amunition in Ireland soe long as the warrs should last against the English. And that soe t And that the said Pope would alsoe contribute and give to and w towards the manteinance of the Warrs in England against the protestants, One hundred thowsand Pownds monthly during those warrs, provided that his supremacie & the Romish Catholick Religion might be established both in England & Ireland, & that the Romish Catholick Clergy might enioy their churches and Church liveing with free exercise of their Religion or to that effect: And
This deponent hath beene often told both soone after at the begining of the Rebellion and at divers tymes since the Rebellion began aswell by Rosse mckeda h Mulloy of <T> divers friers in the kings County gentleman as by divers others That the gran Rebell Colonell Preston with (when he with his Army beseeged the kings forte of Bannagher aforesaid) pretended that he had a Comission from his Maiesty of England for takeing in of that fort & for the doeing of what he did, And that the said Colonell Preston att the takeing of Banagher aforesaid shewed such a Comission to the right honorable the Lord of Castlestewart then gouernor of that fort, But whether that report bee true or noe he cannott tell, but leaveth the truth thereof to be related by the said Lord of Castlestewart.
<Dominus Clogh: W A>
Signum predicti [mark] Radolphi Walmisley [mark]
Jur xjo Marcij 1645 cor1283 1273