Essex in Ireland - Return To Dublin

Return To Dublin

On the 29th of May, Seneschal Henry Harrington had been heavily defeated in Wicklow by the rebel Phelim MacFeagh O'Byrne. A month after this defeat, Essex marched over the Slaney with 1,200 fighting men and a host of churls and horseboys, deciding to approach Dublin by the Wicklow coast, rather than risk a passage through the foothills. Along the road, his men torched villages and houses, until confronted by O'Byrne with 1,000 rebels four miles south of Arklow on the Clonnough river. Southampton crossed in deep water with the horse, and Ormond led the army over a ford near the sea. There was skirmishing on the left flank but the rebels would not close until they saw from their vantage point that the baggage train was vulnerable. They swept down and plunged into a hard fight, and had almost carried off a victory, when Southampton's cavalry forced them back. Essex then led the army to Dublin, where it arrived on July 2.

At the end of 8 weeks of marching, Essex could barely muster 300 horsemen. Not a single rebel commander had submitted to the crown, and no district was left subdued. A significant number of troops had been left in garrisons throughout Leinster and Munster, and the fighting capability of the army was much reduced because of disease and desertion. At the same time, Essex was being discredited at court in London for having effected badly needed defensive measures, at a time when the Armada scare of that summer was at its height in England

A second offensive into Offaly went ahead, despite the queen's disapproval. Maryborough and Philipstown (where 60 men had just been lost in an ambuscade) were resupplied, by Blount and Essex respectively, around 25 July. Essex then fell into sharp fighting on the border of Westmeath with the rebel Captain Tyrrell. Clifford came from Connacht to reinforce Essex, and lost many men; but the O'Connors were surprised, with their children exposed to the full force of the crown campaign, and 500 cows were taken from them in thick woods and their corn was burned by Essex. Harrington was involved in the expedition, but again Essex had failed to draw the main rebel force into battle, and his army retired to Dublin.

Clifford returned to Connacht, where he was killed and his forces routed at the Battle of Curlew Pass. This defeat - along with that of Harrington in Wicklow - was rated by Cecil as the heaviest blow ever suffered by the English in Ireland, and Essex received the blame at court. O'Donnell and O'Neill were now free from any threat from the west, and a land attack by Essex in to Ulster through Armagh was rendered highly improbable..