Top Issue 1-2024

27 August 1998 Edition

Resize: A A A Print

1798 - 1998: The pikes are carried again

Roisín de Rossa examines the extraordinary rise of the pike men and women in County Wexford

A rebel hand set the heather blazing,
And brought the neighbours from far and near
For Father Murphy of County Wexford,
Sweeps o'er the land like a mighty wave

A `mighty wave' it is.which has swept Co Wexford this year. Pike men and women from every parish in the county have gone out in their thousands, in this bi-centenary year, to live again the battles of 1798, to rediscover their ancestors and to honour their part in the fight for Ireland's freedom, 200 years ago.

The laneways, the quiet villages `o'er the pleasant Slaney' the hilltops where the United Irishmen once gathered, echo the ``Clé! Dheas! Clé!'' of the volunteers who march in silence and seriousness of purpose as they retread the steps of their own families.

Bill Murray, who has organised thousands of pike men and women accross South Wexford, and presented a honorary pike to Gerry Adams on Vinegar Hill in February, explains, ``We're honouring our families and what they did. This has been the driving force. Every pikeman in Wexford today knows of the sacrifices made in `98, and it's a small thing that we do. And it won't be done again in our generation.

``For some of us it is only four generations back - with the poverty, fellows married so late in life. The youngsters today knew nothing. 1798 is not taught in the schools. But now they all know. Every village has played its part, every parish has dug into its history, researched their families.

``In 1798 no one dared reclaim the bodies of their dead - it meant death, torture. Today people are reclaiming their ancestors and their history. 1798 has swept the county.''

 


``It all started six years ago,'' says Johnny Dempsey, one of the main organisers of the Oulart Hill Co-operative Committee, ``when just a few came together to reconstruct the battlefield of Oulart Hill and to build a memorial to those who died.''

Standing on Oulart Hill in brilliant sunshine - as it was that Whit Sunday in 1798 - Brian Cleary tells the story (recorded on video) as if it only happened yesterday, how the United Irishmen routed the well armed North Cork Militia in a brilliantly planned ambush, how the rebels went on the next day to a three hour engagement, door to door hard fighting, to take the town of Enniscorthy, and after the victorious battle at Three Rocks, set up the Wexford Republic.

The victories of Wexford after the defeats earlier in the week in Dublin, had an electric effect on the county; the people flocked to the banner of the United Irishmen.

The ambush on Oulart Hill was won by Fr.John Murphy, General Myles Byrne, from Ballylusk, and General Edward Roche of Garlough, Castlebridge, whose property had been confiscated by Cromwell's men.

General Roche hid the pikemen behind the tall banks facing down the hillside from which General Lombard brought his North Cork Militia. As the militia approached, the pikemen and their followers, who were always with the troops for safety, began to flee. General Morgan Byrne, 18 years old, with the red coat of the yeomanry he had deserted that morning held high on his pike, rallied the fleeing troops with the cry ``is it the red rag you are afraid of?''

But Lombard thought they had the pikemen beat. ``Up lads!'' he cried, ``The coast is clear'' and rode straight into the ambush.

The pikemen hidden behind the ditch jeered on Lombard's men by placing their caps upon their pikes, and as the militia came in the rebels leapt the ditch and fell upon the North Cork Militia. Only three militia returned to Wexford after those in flight were ambushed at the foot of the hill by the leader of the Ballyvalden men, Michael Cullen, who was killed the next day in Enniscorthy. Johnny Dempsey tells how the gravel to resurface the laneway, known since as the North Cork Laneway, was taken from Ballyvalden as a mark of respect to Cullen's men.

Brian Cleary standing by the very ditch in which Michael Cullen hid his men, recounts how the last man killed was a drunken drummer found later by Joseph Cullen and Edward Reilly, ``two powerful men, who did for him. The United Irishmen hated the drummers above all as it was they who carried out the flogging. The previous day drummers in the parish of the Bannock, had flogged six women and two men, one to his death.''

 


And on 24 May, Whit Sunday, this year, pikemen and women, grandparents, and children, came in their hundreds to retrace the battle, and to commemorate the six rebels who died that day, the descendants of Roches, Donovans, Crowleys, Byrnes, Dempseys and Kellys. ``It is not a commemoration but a celebration,'' Johnny Dempsey says. ``Every one of the pikemen is thinking, `were my ancestors here', and nobody knows, but every parish has its history in the 1798 revolution. Every area has its story to tell. Only this year the Oulart Hill people learned the name of the sixth man who died on this battlefield, Quincey.''

 


The then US Ambassador, Jean Kennedy Smith, took the salute to the pikemen and women who marched past. They came from Piercetown, Murrintown, Oulart Hill, the `bright May meadows of Shelmalier', from Castlebridge, Screen, Currasloe, from Blackwater, Enniscorthy. Monageer, Glynn, Ballygarrett, Horetown, Crossabeg, Castledockrell, Monaseed, Killmuckridge, Tommahurra and Scarawalsh. They came from Killarney, from Tipperary, from all around Ireland. Fifty Ancient Hibernians came, representing the 40 million in America who claim Irish descent.

``As they marched, nobody talked, nobody laughed. They were celebrating the bravery, the courage of these men and women. There were tears in the eyes of some of the older people,'' Maurice Roche, a descendant of the United Irish leader, recalls. Thousands came to watch and cheer on the pikemen and to pay respect to the 30,000 men, women and children who died in a county of 120,000 people.

The AOH presented a Commodore Barry medal to John Brown, Chairman of the Council. Jean Kennedy Smith was given a bronze pikeman, and they thanked her for her part in the peace process. Jean Kennedy Smith, so bright, so alive, so evidently enjoying the celebration talked of her brother and his affection for the Boulavogue song and its memories. History coalesced.

The first commemoration on Vinegar Hill was in February where Gerry Adams addressed the thousands who walked up the hill. Many did not go as pikemen - ``it was too political'' - but they went in `civvies'. Thousands walked up Vinegar Hill that day and they heard him talk of the ideals of the United Irishmen, of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.

 


Tony Furlong, ex-Free State army, who had served along with Conor Cruise O'Brien in the Congo (``we were all certain he cut back our rations'') trained the pikepeople of Shelmalier. ``We started in April. They couldn't put one foot in front of the other. I thought they'd never learn. But now I'd recommend them to join the army.

``They trained themselves. They were so interested. There was never any problems. It was our little contribution to Ireland. I'd call it Republican. We were showing our appreciation for what they'd done for Ireland. At first they didn't know their left from their right, but they got so good, I said to them another week and you can go to the border.

``The whole county is alive with it. Every village is represented. Everyone had a little commodore. They all got their OCs and their drummers. We learned and sung all the rebel songs. I learned Billy Reid. I carried the words in my pocket. There more were more nights than enough spent carousing and singing all the rebel songs.

``The people came to see the situation in a different light. Anyone with a bit of Irishness in his heart - no matter what his politics - went out and he marched. Our fellows were mad to be marching. They had pride in it. Castlebridge formed a guard of honour for Pat Doherty when he stood in for Gerry Adams in taking the Wexford Senate seat on 7 June. We trained for three hours for this, without a stop. People felt it was an honour.''

``And we started the Castlebridge Fife and Drum Band, we had 30 youngsters. They were brilliant''. Tony Furlong laughs with delight and breaks into the song, the Enniscorthy Pikemen, composed to the tune of Cullen's Son.

Women marched alongside the men. They too were brilliant. A young pikewoman led out the march in Enniscorthy. People watching said, ``look at the girl in the lead, how straight she is.'' One teenager, Roisin Cullen, explained, ``When you're marching by, and the people applauding, it's very emotional, you feel it is something special. They are not applauding you, but what you represent. It is a strange feeling.''

Tony Furlong talks of local rivalries. Who had the best pikemen. ``There were the Boolavogue marchers, they were called the `square bashers'. They have metal tipped boots, and smashed their feet down on the roadways. I doubt the pikemen even had boots, let alone metal tips, but it made a great noise!

``A thousand pikemen lined the bridge for a mile in Enniscorthy for the Tour de France as it passed by. They were all there from six in the morning. RTE never covered it. We were all so angry about that. It wasn't `politically correct' they thought. But they covered Paisley's mob alright!

``Radio South East started each morning with the `78 calendar of events. It was great. Everyone knew what was going on, where they had to be.''

 


What has inspired so many? Paddy Dobbs of Enniscorthy, quiet and intelligent, explains: ``I came into it mostly out of civic pride. I wanted our town to have pikemen. It would be a shame if we couldn't do something. We didn't want to be outdone. To me it was our pride in the town. This town was a dull town. Now it has come alive. At the first meeting there were 12. At the next there were 50. Everybody is proud of the town now. The crowds came out in throngs to the commemorations. Everywhere there was a battle, there was a commemoration.

``It sounds soppy perhaps, but walking up to Vinegar Hill, the hair would stand on your head. We all felt it. People with pikes - after all it's not much of a weapon - to fight against cannon and muskets. You didn't have much of a chance. They were brave men. I just know that we all had that goosepimply feeling as we marched up the hills, Vinegar Hill, Slieve Coillte, to the battle.''

Paddy drove up to Carlow one day, to find out about his people, his roots. He stopped at an old farmer's house. The old farmer came out to him and said, ``I don't like Wexford men''. ``Why?''

``Because Rebel General Thomas Cloney, as he led the retreat from Vinegar Hill through Sculla Gap, said he didn't get a cup of tea in Carlow'', and the farmer looked across the Valley below him, named the names, and said 200 people here were murdered because they covered Cloney's retreat. Paddy returned to Co Wexford happy. The farmer told him that Dobbs were decent people. History lives on.

``Colonel Anthony Perry was one of these `decent men'. Anthony Perry, an Ulster Protestant and landlord, joined the yeoman, who were based in the valley just below the beautiful house where he lived, beneath the Wicklow Hills, with his young wife, daughter of a local landlord. When he saw what the yeoman did, he deserted. He walked back to his home, up the hill and joined the United Irishmen..

He fought with the rebels, was captured and then tortured, twice with the pitch cap, where gunpowder was mixed with pitch and set alight on his head. After two months he was released. He returned for a week to his house on the hill and then rejoined the rebels. He was captured again at Clonbollogue, Co Offaly, along with another field commander, Fr Mogue Kearns, from Kiltealy, Co Wexford. Both were hanged at Edenderry and lie buried side by side in a 14th century graveyard of Protestant and Catholic and not ten feett away from their executioner's grave.

The Pikemen from Gorey, with their green ribbons on their pikes, and pikemen from neighbouring villages, marched up to his house to unveil a stone memorial. ``The Ballad of Boolavogue was sung in the courtyard. There were tears in many eyes,'' says Joe Cullen who organised many of the North Wexford pike groups.

 


After the victories of Oulart Hill, Enniscorthy and Three Rocks, the United Irishmen returned to Wexford and set up the Republic. 500 principle citizens from county and town, who took their authority from the people, were chosen for the Senate, which then appointed Bagenal Harvey as Commander in Chief and John Horton, as the first admiral of the fleet. The directorate was established of four Presbyterian and four Catholic.

``Did they ever think, those who would make the 1798 rebellion out as a Catholic uprising against Protestant; those who for the last centenary hijacked a portrait of F. Murphy to paint on a dog collar round his neck; did they ever look at the ideals of the Wexford Republic? Did they look at the writings of Tone; that `to unite Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter' were his means; or at Colonel Perry and Fr Mogue Kearns, who fought alongside each other and lie buried side by side? Did they ever look at the founders of the United Irishmen, where 26 out of 28 were Presbyterian, and two, Hope and Tone, were members of the Established Church?''

The Senate abolished the old sectarian Wexford Corporation and replaced it with a committee of Public Safety, on the model of the French Revolution, to protect person and property, which ran the town successfully. For three weeks people were no longer subjects but citizens in a Republic of their own land.

In 1998 there were plans to set up a Senate. Every parish in the county was entitled to two seats, at a cost of £2000 each, and to choose their own senators. Business corporations could take a seat for £10,000. So the Senate would represent not just the county but the diaspora. It would become a permanent forum composed of people chosen in and by their parishes. The resources raised would be for each parish and its commemoration projects. It was a radical concept in 1998 as it was revolutionary in 1798.

And to the amazement of the people like Matt Bolger, Brian Cleary, who toured the county, parish by parish, to encourage involvement, village by village, the money was collected. One parish collected, door to door, £1,500 in a night. In another one farmer pressed a cheque for £1000 anonymously into Matt's hands. The money was to be for the benefit of the people in the county. But plans for the Senate veered off track. The ideas of 1798, it seems, rocked too many boats in 1998.

Seamus Dooley, Wexford County Manager, and Rich Howlin, a member of the Fianna Fail fundraising committee, began to allocate multiple seats to the corporate sector, such as Irish Life (of which Howlin is a director), which got five seats, and awarded a stream of seats to other County Managers.

The parishs didn't want to put their funds in under these conditions. The key organisers like Matt Bolger, Brian Cleary, withdrew from the Committee. The Wexford Republic and its senate fell for a second time in history.

People in Wexford ask was it the councillors who were afraid of such a body politic, a fear that perhaps it would not go away when 1998 ended, or was it the power of money, the attraction of using the Senate to raise funds that overcame the project; or was it the democratic nature of the Republic and its senate that politicians feared?

Whatever is the correct answer, fear of the revolutionary ideas of 1798 existed, especially amongst the politicians. Seamus Brennan, who was invited to address The Vinegar Hill commemoration, when the battle and the Republic were lost, thought `that it would be better to leave the pike in the thatch.' The Wexford pikemen and women were disgusted. Bob Kehoe of Ballyhague explains. ``Why did we get Seamus Brennan, TD, anyway, ex-minister, party whip? People felt slighted. At the 150th commemoration De Valera gave the address.

``And the Taoiseach's Office sent a letter to tell the Comoradh Committee planning the £3 million Interpretative Centre in Enniscorthy, that the pikes planned for the frontage water pools were to be removed. They were. Somehow pikes weren't `politically correct'. Marching pikemen weren't `all inclusive', not of the politicians anyway.''

 


But there is a spirit abroad in County Wexford which will not be crushed by such machinations. It is the spirit of the pikemen and women who have continued through 1998 to go out in their hundreds to relive the hard battles of their people and the ideas they fought for.

And did these many Wexford people make the connection, Tone's `execrable' connection', with the besieged and beleaguered people of the North still fighting for equality and freedom - those very same ideals which inspired their ancestors to such bravery? Did the pikemen think of Garvaghy Road as the hair stood up on their heads in fear as they marched with their pikes to Vinegar Hill?

For some, yes. But for most, no. It's the love of their own land. Only for `98 and for 1916, do we own our own land. It is gratitude for this which has inspired the Wexford pike men and women' citizens in the Republic of our own land.

An Phoblacht
44 Parnell Sq.
Dublin 1
Ireland