School: Christian Brothers, Athlone
- Location:
- Athlone, Co. Westmeath
- Teacher: Brother Meskill
Archival Reference
The Schools’ Collection, Volume 0749, Page 250
Image and data © National Folklore Collection, UCD.
See copyright details.
DownloadOpen data
Available under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
- XML School: Christian Brothers, Athlone
- XML Page 250
- XML “Some Historical Notes on Athlone and the Castle”
- XML “How Sergeant Custume Defended the Bridge of Athlone”
Note: We will soon deprecate our XML Application Programming Interface and a new, comprehensive JSON API will be made available. Keep an eye on our website for further details.
On this page
- (continued from previous page)During the Jacobite Wars Athlone figured very prominently having sustained two Sieges.
The Jacobites having been defeated at the Boyne, 1st July 1690, decided to retreat into Connacht and hold the line of the Shannon. King William despatched Lieut General Douglas with 12,000 men, 12 Field Pieces and two Mortars against Athlone, where a strong body of Jacobite troops had congregated. Douglas appeared before the town on the 17th July 1690. This Commander of Athlone was Colonel Richard Grace, a fine old soldier who broke down the bridge and refused to discuss terms. Douglas having bombarded the town for a week raised the Siege and marched to join the Williamites before Limerick. So much for the first siege.
- How Sergeant Custume Defended the Bridge of Athlone
Now after James' defeat at the Boyne 12th July 1690, the Irish Army collected and reorganised, drew back to the West to hold the line of the Shannon, with thier principle strongholds at Limerick and Athlone. The Williamite Forces, having failed to secure Limerick, chiefly by Patrick Sarsfield's brilliant attack on their Siege Train at Ballyneety retreated slowly to Dublin, whilst William himself hurried to England for reinforcements.
On 30th May, 1691, a reinforced Army of Williamites, under Godart Van Ginkle, a Dutchman, set of from Dublin to capture Athlone, the "Key of Connacht".
Ginkle was joined at Mullingar by further reinforcements, making in all 18,000 men, "their ranks", says McCauley, "one blaze of scarlet and their Artillery such as had never before been seen in Ireland.
One his march to Athlone, he overpowered the Irish Garrison at Ballymore and was further reinforced by 7,000 foreign mercenaries, bringing his total force up to 25,000 men.(continues on next page)
