Deposition of William Gibbs

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William Gibbs of Belturbet in the County of Cavan Butcher sworne & examined deposeth and sayth That in the begining of the present Rebellion vizt about the third xxvijth of November 1641 <a> Owin Brady then cheefe servant to Phillip mc Hugh mc Shane ô Rely came to this deponents howse & then and there tooke notice of the Cattle & goods he had & bade him looke to them that none should take them away & if they did to make him acquainted with it: wherevpon this deponent for 6 dayes together kept his cattle lockt up in his howseing And then one Hugh ô Rely of Kilwater in the County aforesaid gent assisted with other Rebells broake downe the wall of the howse and forcibly tooke away his cattle worth xvj li. ster which And afterwards vizt about the later end of January then next following the Rebells Brian oge <b> Mulpatrick of Derriglush in the same County gent, and daniell oge Mulpatrick his brother Comanders of Rebells & their rebellious souldjers foreceibly entered the deponents howse and thence by the like force tooke & carried away his howsholdgoods provision apparrell & other <46 li.> things worth thirty pounds more: And then becawse the deponent was a Butcher they inforced him to stay and slaughter cattle & to sell the flesh & alsoe stayd his wiffe & 4 children: yet soe narrowly were they looked unto: That they durst not offer to escape away nor could depart thence vntill about the xxjth of June 1643 And then the deponent & his wiffe & one child (the other three being in the interim dead) by lycense from the said Phillip mc Hugh Rely came amongst others with a Convoy out of that County & soe along to Dublin But were within 4 myles of Kells stript of all their clothes by the Rebells Comanded by one Captain Davies: And further sayth That whilest he stayd at Belturbet aforesaid among the Rebells he observed and wel knew that one Knogher oge ô Rely of in the County of ffermanagh a notorious Rebell came to Belturbett & Joined with Brian oge o R ô Mulpatrick aforenamed & a great number of the sept of the Mulpatricks & other wicked Rebells And there & then vizt about the xxxth day of January 1641 those Rebells tooke about thirty fowre Brittish protestants men women and children vyolently & drowned them in the River of Belturbet After which tyme the plenty of fish formerly taken in that River went away: And the Rebells then and there hanged to death 2 other protestants vizt James Carr and Timothy Dickenson: And had a roape about the deponents neck whereby to have

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hanged him alsoe but that one donnell ô Rely the deponents old acquaintance saved his wiff liffe But then the Rebells did most cruelly wound and hurt the deponents wife in her head, and almost cutt of one of her eares: & thincketh thincking (as he conceiveth) they had killd her, they left her extreamly bleeding: Howeit it pleasd god she recouered: And further sayth That soe many of the parties protestants that as this deponent knew that were soe drowned at Belturbett aforesaid were thus named vizt John Jones Chem Carter Samuell walsh old William Carter, The wiffe of the said James Carr one Mris Phillips, widow Munday, Ann Cutler, Elizabeth Stainton, and 2 children of her owne, & 4 of her daughters children, the wiffe of the said Timothy Dickonson and fowre children, the wiffe of william Carter aforenamed, twoe of her daughters & 2 of her granchildren <d> but the rest he cannot name, And further saith that one John ogle late of Belturbet Tanner was hanged in the County of ffermanagh by some of the Maguires: And saith alsoe that on Palm sunday last the said Rebell Brian oge Mulpatrick & others of the souldiers of Phillip Roe ô Rely burned the towne Castle & Church of Belturbut aforesaid: And that long before that tyme, the Rebells of that Cuntry had robbed all the brittish protestants thereabouts of their goodes & estates & had murthered all those that fled not (to save their lives) or that other then those that were after long indurance sent away with a Convoy which were about 140 whereof about 15 or 16 were men & the rest women and children: And the Rebells in the said County of Cavan haue burned and distroyed the most of the howses that belonged to the English & Scottish & l e haue spared none but a few that they vsurpe and dwell in themselues
<Jur vlt. Jan. 1643 Dr J: H B>
signum predicti Willelmi Gibbs
[mark]
Jur vlt Jan: 1643
Hen: Jones
Hen: Brereton

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Cavan
William Gibbs Jur vlt Jan:
1643
Intc
Il
hand

[Copy at MS 832, fols 140r-140v]