It is placed approximately 500m away from the spot where some children found the skeletal remains of one of the Fenians who took part in the insurrection almost a hundred years later.
The aim of the Fenian uprising on the 5th of March 1867 was to topple British rule and establish an Irish Republic. Less than twenty years beforehand, during the Great Famine, tens of thousands of families were evicted from their homes by landlords and historians claim that a million people starved to death while the British government did little to help.
The Fenians planned to set up a decoy on Tallaght Hill to draw British forces out of Dublin so that an insurrection in the city could be a success. From the start, however things went wrong and the rebellion was aborted and dubbed as a “A teacup rebellion”.
The Irish Constabulary, whose barracks was on the Greenhills Road close to Tallaght village were forewarned that men were assembling on Tallaght Hill above Jobstown. There were only fourteen Irish constables and a head constable called Sub-Inspector Burke on duty that night in Tallaght. Meanwhile in the city centre extra troops had been drafted in and no one stirred or fell for the ruse.
The former Barracks
It turned out to be one of the coldest nights of the year. An old Fenian who died in 1946 gave an account of a heavy snowfall and hungry men who were unprepared for battle. They were ordinary men who lacked military training and they retreated when fired upon by the constables. They had taken up positions at the crossroads between Tallaght Village, the Greenhills Road and another road leading to Terenure (which was then called Roundtown). The constables were trained, armed and intent on preventing the Fenian men from reaching their destination on the hill.
The first group of 40 Fenians heading to Tallaght hill came pushing a cart full of ammunition. One Fenian, Thomas Farrell, who was a confectioner, was wounded by a bayonet in the stomach and his body was later found by the roadside near Terenure.
While Inspector Burke certainly did his job well, considering how outnumbered he was, he was filled with regret and said:
“Although I did my duty, I will regret to my last day that the life of one of my countrymen should have been sacrificed.”
Irish Constabulary Sub Inspector Burke, March 8, 1867
The victory by the Irish constables over the rebel Fenians in 1867 led to them being awarded the title ‘Royal’ Irish Constabulary; previously they had been known as the ‘Irish Constabulary’.
It was thought that somewhere between 4000-7000 men were waiting in vain on that bitterly cold night on Tallaght Hill. Due to a lack of leadership many Fenians dispersed and around 200 were arrested.
Elsewhere in the other towns around Ireland things had not gone according to plan. Many rebels went home and hid their weapons, or flung them into fields. Following the battle a Mr. William Hancock, a Tallaght landowner and Magistrate for County Dublin found cart-loads of rifles and ammunition in a field close to his house.
The Irish Times said that the rebels,
“who have inflicted the greatest amount of trouble on the government, loyal people and filled with alarm the isolated houses of the gentry…have shown themselves excellent at everything except actual rebellion”.
12 people were killed on March 5th, eight of whom were Fenians.
There is a plaque commerating the Battle of Tallaght on the wall beside the Dragon Inn pub in Tallaght.
In 1963 some children were playing near the Badminton Club on Whitehall Road beside an old dead tree stump. They noticed that it was hollow. Inside they found a skeletal remains holding a sword-bayonet and a water bottle. Once moved the water bottle and shreds of clothing fell to pieces . However a Mr. Valentine Mc Donagh who lived on Whitehall road kept the sword-bayonet. It was thought to be the remains of one of the Fenians who may have taken shelter there after the battle of Tallaght.
He may have died from his wounds or was frozen to death
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The cache is a lock top container with enough room for trackables
Please rehide carefully
Happy hunting
Sources:
Handcock, W (1988) The Battle of Tallaght, in The History and Antiquities of Tallaght In The County of Dublin.
Healy, P (2004) All roads lead to Tallaght, South Dublin Libraries
http://www.theirishstory.com/tag/battle-of-tallaght/#.VPsNuemzVjo