Battle of Tubberneering and the 1798 Rebellion

The Battle of Tubberneering was one of the most significant engagements of the 1798 Rebellion in north County Wexford. This page examines the events of 4 June 1798, the routes taken by the opposing forces, the people associated with the battle and the records and memorials through which it continues to be remembered.

Battle of Tubberneering

The Battle of Tubberneering was fought on 4 June 1798 between Crown forces and United Irish insurgents at Tubberneering in north County Wexford.

The insurgents, led by Fr John Murphy, ambushed a Crown column of approximately 400 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole. The force included cavalry from the 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards, together with militia and yeomanry units.

On 2 and 3 June, the United Irish insurgents had been encamped on Mr Donovan’s lands at the foot of Carrigrew Hill under Fr Murphy’s command. This brief respite from marching and hostilities gave them an opportunity to rest and regroup following earlier skirmishes. Some also received permission to visit their families before rejoining the camp in preparation for the planned advance north towards Gorey.

On the morning of 4 June, Lieutenant-General Loftus and Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole marched out of Gorey with a combined force of 1,200 men, intending to attack the insurgent encampment at Carrigrew. Lieutenant-General Loftus led 600 men along the Ballycanew road to approach the camp from the east, while Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole headed south through Clough to attack it from the northern side.

According to Miles Byrne’s later account, the insurgent force numbered between 10,000 and 12,000 men and intended to advance on Gorey to release the prisoners held there. Having received advance warning of the Crown forces’ plans, the poorly equipped insurgents left Carrigrew Hill and marched through Ballyoughter towards Tubberneering.

As the insurgents approached Tubberneering, their vanguard was warned by a scouting party returning from Clough that British forces were advancing towards them. An ambush was quickly prepared, with musketeers positioned on top of the rock at Tubberneering and pikemen lying in wait inside the roadside ditch south of Cain Bridge.

When Walpole and his column rounded the bend at Cain, the musketeers opened fire and a bloody battle followed. Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole and approximately 100 of his men were killed. The surviving soldiers discarded their weapons and uniforms and fled into the surrounding countryside, mainly in the direction of Gorey.

The insurgents captured three artillery pieces—two six-pounder cannon and a howitzer—together with a large supply of ammunition. The captured artillery was subsequently used against British troops at Gorey and later during the Battle of Arklow.

Many books have been written about the 1798 Rebellion, and they provide differing accounts of the events at Tubberneering. Some suggest that Walpole was killed at Tubberneering, while others claim that he retreated from the battlefield and was killed at Clough while awaiting reinforcements from General Loftus.

Battlefield Map

Reconstructed routes and principal sites associated with the Battle of Tubberneering, 4 June 1798. Troop movements and historic road alignments are based on surviving accounts and should be regarded as approximate.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

Historical Accounts and Further Reading

Daniel Gahan’s The People’s Rising: Wexford 1798, Gill & Macmillan, 1995.

For a detailed and well-researched account of the rising, Daniel Gahan’s The People’s Rising: Wexford 1798 provides a compelling examination of the rebellion. Gahan, a Wexford native and respected historian, consulted a wide range of primary and secondary sources in preparing the book.

The Memoirs of Miles Byrne

The Memoirs of Miles Byrne provides an insurgent’s perspective on the realities of the battles fought during the 1798 Rebellion. Byrne’s account follows the events surrounding the Battle of Tubberneering, beginning with the insurgents’ encampment on Carrigrew Hill on the day before the battle and continuing through to its conclusion. The account begins on page 72 of the memoirs, corresponding to page 88 of the PDF document.

Click or tap the image of Miles Byrne to enlarge it.

A Folklore Account

The Dúchas Schools’ Collection preserves a short oral account known as The Battle of Ballyoughter 1798. Collected in the 1930s, it reflects how the battle was remembered in local tradition rather than providing a contemporary military record.

Newspaper Commemorations

The newspaper extracts below show how the Battle of Tubberneering and its anniversaries were reported and commemorated by later generations.

Newspaper images are reproduced with the kind permission of MediaHuis (formerly Independent News and Media PLC).

Key Figures

The Battle of Tubberneering is closely associated with two contrasting figures: Fr John Murphy, one of the best-known insurgent leaders of the rebellion, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lambert Theodore Walpole, who commanded the Crown column ambushed at Tubberneering.

Fr John Murphy

Fr John Murphy was born at Tincurry, near Ferns, in about 1753. After studying for the priesthood in Seville, he returned to County Wexford and served as curate at Boolavogue.

Although initially reluctant to support an uprising, Murphy emerged as an effective and resourceful commander during the Wexford Rebellion. Later accounts attribute several tactics to the insurgents under his command, including placing hats on pikes to draw Crown gunfire before attacking while the soldiers reloaded. Murphy is also associated with the use of cattle to create confusion and provide cover during attacks on defended positions.

Following the defeat at Vinegar Hill, Murphy left County Wexford. He was captured near Tullow and executed on 2 July 1798. He was later commemorated in Patrick Joseph McCall’s ballad Boolavogue, written for the centenary of the rebellion in 1898.

Later accounts state that his body was brought to Ferns for burial, while his head was buried separately at Tullow.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lambert Theodore Walpole

Lieutenant-Colonel Lambert Theodore Walpole (1757–1798) served as Deputy Adjutant-General in Ireland and as an aide-de-camp to Lord Camden, the Lord Lieutenant. On 4 June 1798, he commanded the main Crown column taking part in Lieutenant-General Loftus’s operation against the insurgent encampment near Carrigrew Hill. The plan required Walpole to march south from Gorey through Clough with the main body of troops, accompanied by two six-pounder cannon and a howitzer, while Loftus advanced along the Ballycanew road. The two forces were intended to approach the insurgent position from different directions before joining near Ballymore.

Historical accounts state that Walpole had been instructed to proceed cautiously and report any developments to Loftus. However, his column continued in close formation into the narrow, hedge-lined road at Tubberneering, where the surrounding ditches, banks and thick vegetation provided concealment for the insurgents. One nineteenth-century account states that Walpole fell during the opening musket fire. His death, together with the loss of the artillery and the resulting confusion among his troops, contributed to the collapse and retreat of the Crown column.

The precise location of Walpole’s death remains uncertain. Some historical accounts place it within the ambush at Tubberneering, while Miles Byrne later referred to Clough as the place where Walpole was killed. This may reflect the use of “Clough” for the wider area in which the fighting occurred, although other traditions suggest that Walpole survived the first attack and was killed after retreating towards Clough.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

Commemorations

The events of 4 June 1798 continue to be remembered through monuments at Tubberneering and nearby Clough. Although different in design and date, both memorials commemorate the United Irish insurgents and the local significance of their victory over the Crown forces. The Tubberneering memorial marks the landscape most closely associated with the ambush, while the monument at Clough commemorates the priests, leaders and followers connected with the wider campaign. Together, they show how the battle remained an important part of local memory long after 1798.

Clough 1798 Monument

The monument at Clough was erected in 1940 and takes the form of a cut-limestone Celtic High Cross standing on an inscribed, stepped base. Its Irish and English inscriptions commemorate Fr John Murphy, Fr Michael Murphy and Fr Philip Roche, together with their fellow leaders and followers. The inscriptions record their victory over the British Army at Tubberneering and Clough on 4 June 1798. The monument stands within a landscaped roadside plot enclosed by posts and chains, making it a prominent reminder of the rebellion and those who participated in it.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

Tubberneering 1798 Memorial

The memorial at Tubberneering consists of a large, naturally shaped standing stone bearing dark commemorative plaques. Crossed pikes and the date 1798 appear on the upper plaque, which records that the memorial was erected by Comóradh ’98 Gorey on behalf of the people of the area. A second plaque recalls that, at Tubberneering on 4 June 1798, the United Irishmen engaged and defeated the forces of the Crown “for the cause of liberty.” Its simple form and rural setting connect the memorial directly with the landscape in which the battle took place.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

Tubberneering Rock in the Lawrence Photograph Collection

This historical photograph of Tubberneering Rock was taken by Robert French for the Lawrence Photograph Collection. The National Library of Ireland dates the image to between approximately 1865 and 1914. It provides an important visual record of the landscape associated with the Battle of Tubberneering.

Click or tap the image to enlarge it.

1798 Compensation Claims

In the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion, people who claimed to have remained loyal to the Crown could apply to the government for compensation for property lost or damaged during the fighting.

The surviving claims from the wider Ballyoughter area provide valuable information about local people, occupations, households and property. Most of the claimants listed came from Ballymore and Tubberneering, the area through which the insurgent army moved before the Battle of Tubberneering.

The absence of claims from some nearby townlands may have several explanations. Residents may have suffered fewer losses, may not have qualified for compensation, may have chosen not to submit a claim or may have been reluctant to identify publicly with the loyalist claims process.

Two civilian deaths are recorded in the claims. Margaret Standford’s husband was killed by insurgents at Tubberneering, leaving her with five children. Mr Tompkins from the neighbouring townland of Ballygullen was murdered by rebels.

Transcribed from original documents held in the National Library of Ireland, courtesy of historian Ian Cantwell. Original spellings have been retained.

The amounts are recorded in pounds, shillings and pence, written as £/s/d. There were 20 shillings in one pound and 12 pence in one shilling. Where two figures appear, the first is the amount claimed and the figure in brackets is the amount allowed.

Surname	Occupation	Townland	property or goods Lost	Amount claimed (Amount Allowed) £.s.d.
Hill, John	Farmer	Tubberneering	Potatoes, Furniture, Corn, Profit of Cows, Provisions	60/4/4 (60/3/6)
Davis, William	Farmer	Tubberneering	Crop, Corn, Profit of Cows, Potatoes, Turf	22/2/6 (22/2/6)
Hill, Mary		Tubberneering	Bed, Cloaths, Furniture, Tobacco, Cash	29/2/10 (29/2/10)
Hill, Thomas	Carpenter	Tubberneering	Beds, Cloaths, Books, Furniture, Linen	50/14/0 (50/6/5)
Radwell, Patience	Servant	Tubberneering	Cloaths	-/17/6 (-/17/6)
Moulds, Anne		Tubberneering	Cloaths	7/3/6 (7/3/6)
Dobbin, Bartholomew	Farmer	Tubberneering	House, Offices, Furniture, Cloath, Mare, Provisions	85/8/8
Dobbin, Elizabeth	Widow	Tubberneering	House, Furniture, Cloaths, Corn, Crop, Profit of Cows	127/14/10
Rynhart, Henry	Farmer	Tubberneering	Cloaths, Provisions, Furniture	18/15/4
Rynhart, Henry Snr.	Farmer	Tubberneering	Cattle, Cloaths, Furniture, Provisions	70/16/1 (65/11/-)
Rynhart, Mary	Widow	Tubberneering	Cash, Cloaths, Provisions, Furniture	35/18/3 (34/3/8)
Rynhart, Peter	Linen Weaver	Tubberneering	Wearing Apparel, Bed, Bedding, Cash	33/11/8 (33/11/8)
Standford, John		Tubberineering	Cloaths, Furniture, Farming Utensils, Potatoes	19/14/2 (19/14/2)
Stedmond, Nathaniel	Farmer	Tubberneering	Furniture, Cloaths, Profit of Cows, Corn	38/14/1 (37/18/1)
Stedmond, Jane		Tubberneering	Cloaths	6/8/6 (6/8/6)
Stedmond, Michael	Carpenter	Tuberneering	Cloaths, Saw	4/13/4 (4/13/4)
Taylor, Elinor		Tubberneering	Furniture, Crops growing, Cloaths	57/0/3 (56/7/8)
Taylor, Robert	Shoemaker	Tubberneering	Leather, Working Tools, Loss of Trade	14/19/0 (6/3/0)
Fennell, John		Tubberneering	Houses burned, Two Colts	77/14/10
Rynhart, Humphry		Ballygullin	Cattle, Cloaths, Furniture, Provisions	22/1/6 (16/17/6)
Hill, William	Yeoman	Ballygullin	Cloaths, Bed, Bedding, Shop Drawers and Weights	55/16/11
Tompkins, Jane	Widow	Ballygullin	House, Furniture, Cloaths, Profit of Cows, Debts, Cattle, Car, Tackling	250/3/3 (205/15/3)
Tompkins, William	Farmer	Ballygullin	Crop, Profit of Cows, Cloaths, Cattle, Car, Tackling	273/12/1 (240/12/2)
Donovan, Richard	Esquire	Ballymore	Horses, Carriages, Corn, Crop, Wine, Spirits, Cloaths	498/13/3
Bass, Ann	Shopkeeper	Ballymore	Shop Goods, Horse, Cloaths, House Linen	718/14/1 (692/12/1)
Fitzhenry, John	Farmer	Ballymore	Crop, Cattle, Corn, Profit of Cows, Provisions	109/15/3
Hawkins, George	Farmer	Ballymore	Provisions, Corn, Crop, Furniture, Cloaths	30/14/11
Lynch, James		Ballymore	Cloaths, Books	5/14/0
Moulds, Edward	Servant	Ballymore	Cloaths, Cash	12/19/4
Restrich, William		Ballymore	Cloaths, Furniture Repairs	16/3/5 (16/3/5)
Rinehart, John	Farmer	Ballymore	Cloaths, Meadowing, Potatoes, Provisions	25/17/7 (24/7/7)
Swain, William	Shoemaker	Ballymore	Furniture, Cloaths, Cattle, Crop, Leather, Tools	46/12/8 (46/12/8)
Winter, James		Ballymore	Corn, Hay destroyed, Cloaths	5/17/6
Rigley, Mary	Widow	Cain	Furniture, Provisions, Cloaths	27/10/8 (27/10/8)
Owen, Roger Rev.	Rector	Toome	Cattle, Oats, Provisions, Wearing Apparel	248/8/10

On This Page