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Deposition of Henry Langford, Robert Browne and James Browne

  • Reference:  MS 830, fols 036r-037v
  • County: Sligo
  • Date: 18/7/1643
  • Type: Dublin Original
  • Nature of Deposition: Assault, Captivity, Death, Desecration, Multiple Killing, Robbery, Stripping
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  • How to Cite
    • fol. 36r


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    Henry Langford of Abbey Boile in the Countie of Roscommon Clothier Robert Browne Late of Ardneglasse in the County of Sligoe Merchant, and James Browne his sonne sworne and examined depose and say And first the said Henry Langford for and by himselfe saith That William John Langford his brother Clothier, since deceased: & hee att the begining of the present Rebellion hadd at Dunmoran & other places nere the same in the County of S l igoe and were Jointly possessed & interressed as partners of an estate Consisting of Corne cattle howseholdstuffe & other thinges: But for the values thereof hee Leaveth the same vnto the apprisement & expression of the other deponents: Thone of which vizt the said Robert Browne was trusted with the manageing thereof And the said other deponents Robert Browne, and James Browne further say That the said william Langford their Agent whoe was then aliue and their neere neighbor being in the begining of the presente Rebellion affrayd that the Rebells would take away his liffe & resolveing to leave that part of the Countie of Sligoe where hee then was, did then deliuer into the handes and custody <A> of Edmond Mc Swyne and Roger Mc Swyne of Ardneglas in the said Countie of Sligoe the said his and his said brothers goods and chattells vizt Corne Cattle and howsholdstuffe, worth ffive hundred threescore and seventeene powndes sterling vpon speciall trust and promisse of the said Edmond & Roger Mc Swyne. to keepe the same saffely and to redeliuer the same to him the said William Langford or the said Henry & John Langford when they should demande the same: Howbeit the said Edmond and Roger Mc Swyne did apparantly since run into Rebellion and not only they but all the rest of their name and sept thereabouts became and were absolute Rebells Soe as theis deponents are verely perswaded that the said goodes are quite lost from the said owners thereof: And theis deponents further s Robert Browne and James
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    <A> Browne further sajth That Hugh ô Connor Coll oge ô Connor brother to the cheefe Rebell there Teige oge ô Conner all of Sligoe Hughe Mc Toole ô Gallogher of in or nere the County of Donegall: & others (all notorious Rebells) at Sligoe aforesaid Committed to Prison one Robert Gambell then provost of Sligoe & a Brittish honest protestant William Welsh a gent of good accompt & his wiffe & one of their children Sampson Port and his wiffe Sergeant John Lewis & his wiffe: William Braxton John Gate James Scott & his wiffe Thomas Stewart and his wiffe and 2 children William Sheele and his sonn Robert Scyance the yonger one Abraham an ould man another ould man that was a Cutler William Chapman St & divers others in number to t Amounting to about ffortie about thirty nyne all good protestants & forced them all into the Common gaole of Sligoe & about Christmas 1641: And then and there those wicked & bloudy Rebells together with divers other murtherers in the night time stript all those protestants stark naked: & that done most cruelly & barbarously stabbed slashed hackt & hewd into peeces and murthered them all: Howbeit saveing the said Robert Gambell & John Gate: which said Robert Gambell haveing twoe thrusts vizt one in his head and another in the side of his belly crept behynd the said Tho: Stewart whoe was a very bigg & fatt man & sheltered behynd him & when the said Thomas Stewart fell downe dead: Hee the said Robert Gambell fell downe with him behynd at his back and partly pulled the fatt man vpon him and lay as he were dead And then alsoe the said John Gate haveing a wound fell downe amonst the rest as if hee had beene dead alsoe: & hee & the said Gambell lay bleeding in that state and predicament vntill all the rebells went away & left them all for dead. And not long after the Rebells were gone. the dores of the prison being left open the said Gambell and Gate taking hould of that advantage and of the darknes of that present night secretly crawled vpp & fledd away and escaped: & afterwards theis deponents meeting him the said Gate recouered
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    of his wowndes and in saffty at Relee in the said Countie of Sligoe Hee there informed and tould them of the strippings & murthers aforesaid in the gaole of Sligoe and how hee and the said Gamell escaped away wounded as aforesaid: And further <B> sayth that the Rebells with at Ardneglasse and Skreene in the County of Sligoe aforesaid murthered and putt to death by hanged hanging and the sword about thirty protestants people of men women and children: And it was & is a Comon report that the Rebells at Shrewle murthered and putt to death fowrscore and tenn protestants that came from Killalley in the County of Mayo and the parts thereabouts Many of them being ministers & the rest gentlemen of the Cuntrie of good value: And the Rebells alsoe att the Moine in the County of Mayo stript stark naked ffifty nyne protestants & then and there with th swords skeines pykes & other weapons slasht hackt hey hewd stabbd and cutt in peecs all those poore naked people & soe most barbarously murthered them <E C.> all: And the said Robert Gamble and John Gate confidently tould them theis deponents, (and they themselues verily beleeue are assured the [their] report is true) that when the Rebells hadd in the gaole of Sligoe cutt the protestants in peeces & one Limbe from another they the Rebells att length gathered vpp the peeces and Limbes & Joined or sett them againe to the bodies and layd the bodies of those soe martired men in most base & scornfull manner betwixt the womens leggs: & there left them: Howbeit one Robuck ô Crane a Merchant of that towne: buryed them all in a hole together as was credibly reported & bestowed wynding sheets vpon some of them: which, (as was alsoe reported) the Rebells afterwards stript and robbed them of. And the deponent James Browne further sajth that hee heard it credibly reported that twoe of the sonns of one Mr Mountgomery a minister were murthered by the Rebells as they were comeing towards <D.> the Moine. And the deponents Henry Langford and Roberte Browne further say that there were at the begining of the Re b ellion of theis deponents Knowledgs
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    about One hundred and fforty familyes within the County of Sligoe of the English & Scottish protestants: ffew very few of which escaped with Liffe (that the deponents could heare of): But were almost all murthered by the Rebells as that theis deponents could heare of: Hee this deponen{t} Robert Browne haveing Lived amongst them a yere & a half after the Rebellion began, but still in great danger of his liffe, And this deponent Robert Browne further sayth that since the begining of the present Rebellion and by meanes thereof: Hee was and is deprived, robbed, or otherwise dispojled of his goods chattles & meanes at Ardneglass & elswhere of the value of twoe hundred Powndes sterling at the Least
    Henry Langford
    robert broun
    James Browne
    Jur 18o Julij 1643
    Joh Watson:
    Hen: Brereton.
    William Aldrich

    Com Roscomon.
    Henry Langford
    Robert Browne.
    James Browne
    Jurat: 18o Julij. 1643.
    Intw hand w Exr
    169

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    to that
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    4)



    Henry Brereton
    John Watson
    William Aldrich



     

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