Deposition of Suzanna Stockdale
- Reference: MS 810, fols 092r-095r
- County: Dublin
- Date: undated
- Type: Waring Copy
- Nature of Deposition: Arson, Assault, Captivity, Military Action, Multiple Killing, Signs and Wonders, Stripping, Succour, Words
- How to Cite
fol. 92r
<146> Suzanna the wife of George Stockdale of the Citty of dublin formerly sworne & examined vpon oath, doth in addition to her former Examination depose & saie, That divers yeres before this rebellion began it was a Comon report by & amongst the Irish her neighbours in the Kings Countie, and especially by John ô Carroll of the Leape Esquire Daniell Carroll of Ballymonine Esquire John Con Molloy of Longford gent James ô Heenan of ffeeogh yeoman Rory Begg of Breghmoe gent, & a great number of other Irish (too many here to name) that there was & had beene for a longe time a Prophecie of Callum Kellee alias Kollum Kill That the Irish in the yere 1649 should weepe over the graves of the English which they had then formerly slayne, But that nevertheles all the Irish should be then either distroied or banished saveing a fewe that should be kept to be slaves, And that fortie yeres afterwards those of the banished Irish & their posterity should come againe into Ireland, & then conquere and distroy the English & Scotts there, & none of either nation should ever inhabite possesse or dwell in that Kingdome any more but that the Irish should for ever afterwards, without disturbance possesse & enioy the same, & not be Subiect to England, or to that effecte, which prophecie the Irish before particularly named & other their neighbours gave soe much creditt vnto, That when the Rebellion began some of them were loath to rise, for (said they) whether wee doe or not, wee have but a short tyme of raigning or being in this kingdome of Ireland, but must be subdued according to the Prophecy aforesaid, Another Prophecie they have of the said Collum Kelly alias Kill, That the sunne should not shyne vpon Leape Castle (being the howse where the said John ô Carroll doth now dwelle, And that never any male child which should be borne in that Castle should live to anj any considerable age or strength, but all die in their infancy, This deponent, for her owne part lived but twoe myles from the said Castle of Leape for twentie twoe yeres together, & but five myles off it for five yeres more, & in those times had occasion to see it very often, And shee hath beene at the Chrissening of seventeene male children within
82
fol. 92v
the same Castle, all borne there, Howbeit all those children died quickly after, None of them (as farre as shee can remember liveing half a yere after his birth. And for all the greate number of tymes that shee sawe the the said Castle, shee never did see nor observe the Sunne to shyne thereon, And many of their neighbours out of their sight experience, and observation thereof, have very often protested and affirmed the like vnto her And dureing all the time of her stay in that Cuntrie it hath passed for a common & vndeniable truth amongst all the people thereabouts that the sunne was never seene to shyne on the said Castle by them, or any that they could heare of, in the tyme of anie mans memory. The reasons that the gentrie of this Cuntrie give for this curse vpon that Castle, is, For that the ancient houlders & owners thereof did formerly committ most great & heinous murthers there, And there was noe report more then that of a later time in Tirones warrs when one Sir Charles ô Carroll, a papist, (yet on the English partie) was proprietor and owner of that Castle, Hee entering into treaty with many of Tirones Comanders Officers & souldiers, & sweareing & promissing vnto them a saffe Conduct, l gott them all, being about 2000 or 3000 into and about that Castle, And when he had well feasted and made them drinck very much, hee gott in all his tennants & the neighbours he could, Whoe by his direction did in the dead of the nighte perfidiously slaughter & kill them all, burying them all on heapes in a feild there, which is hitherto called by the Irish the feild of Blood
The Irish in the Kings County aforesaid have another Prophecie as from one whom they calle St Keron (said by them to be St Patricks Maister) which Prophecie is to this effecte That after a great number of the Irish should be destroied, and the most of the rest banished out of the kingdome, there should be by the Brittish built, at or nere Keron Abbey in that Countie a stately & goodly Citty Where should be seene to walke 24r Aldermen of the Brittish all in theire skarlett gownes, which should be one of the richest Citties of Ireland & that the streets thereof should be paved with marble, or to that effect, And the Deponent further saith That after her said husband Mr George Stockdale
fol. 93r
147
Stockdale hadd ridd long vpp & downe the kingdome of Ireland with Brandan Conner the frier and had escaped from that frier & the rest of the Irish to Sir Charles Coote to informe him of the Strength & plotts of the Irish, & of the intentions & passages amongst them, Then divers desperate & powerfull Rebells of the Irish, vizt Richard Delahide of Castletowne in the Kings County Esquire & Luke Delahide of the same Esquire, Anthony Carroll of Camgutt in the same County Esquire, Charles ô Carroll of Ballidungirt in the same County Esquire Daniell ô Dunne of Duragon in the queens County Esquire, William ô Delahunt of Kilkincourse in the Kinges County gent, Art Molloy of ffercall in the Kinges Countie Esquire, Owen ô fflanegan of Clonley in the same County gent, Teige ô Carroll of Aghagurt in the Kinges County sonne to Daniell ô Carroll of Ballymonine Esquire, William mc Redmond of Drakeele in the same Countie gent John White of ffiogh in the same County gent Nicholas Harbert the yonger of Killiow in the same County gent Teige ô Carroll of Rathmore Esquire, & Teige his sonne John ô Carroll of Clonliske in the same County Esquire, John ô Carroll gent his eldest sonne, Teige ô Delahunt of Cree in the same county gentleman & Rory Delahunt his eldest sonne, William Owre ô Carroll of Clonley aforesaid gentleman, & William Owre Carroll his eldest sonne, being all notorious Rebells, & about 700 of their rebellious souldiers, about a weeke before Ester 1642 came in forceible manner, & assaulted the Castle where this deponent then was, & brought scalleing ladders whereby to come over the walls & take the same, which Castle, not being able to hould out, yeilded, And then they took the deponent prisoner & stript her of the most of her clothes, & it being frosty weather, they pinnioned & tied fast behind her her Armes & drave her through a deepe River, & soe vyolently, & in most disgracefull manner carried her to Breaghmore her owne howse (out of which they formerly had expulced her) And then and there tied her in noe better a place then a dogkennell or outhowse, where shee & her husband before vsually kept their doggs, Where they gave her onely course bread & water & kept her there fifteene daies, & in that tyme carried her
83
fol. 93v
three severall times to the gallowes, & vowed & threatned to hang her, vnles her husband would come & be amongst them againe Howbeit neither hee nor shee desireing to be amongst them, & shee conceaveing that if once againe they gott her husband amongst them they would destroy & kill him, shee rather chose to adventure herself then to write effectually for him to come vnto her. And although those Rebells of most accounte could not of a longe time fynd out one that would consent to hang her, becawse of the feare or affection they bare to some of her frends, yet at length one covetous wicked & bloodie villaine, (whom her former husband Nog Noah Vaghan Esquire had formerly saved from the gallowes) came in & said, that shee meaneing this deponent hadd a newe gowne, & why might not hee have it aswell as another And therevpon that vngratefull & divellish Roague offered to be her Executioner for her clothes Vpon which one mr Daniell Carroll of Ballymonine (whoe had nothing to doe amongst them but came onely to save this deponents liffe) heareing that Roagues speeches & offers, forthwith drew his sword & cutt off his arme vttering theis wordes to that maimed villaine, If thou shouldest hang her, then the ould Proverb would be verefied vizt Saue a theefe from the gallowes & hee wilbe first to hang yow: And this Deponent being cheefely by the meanes of the sayd Daniell Carroll of Ballimonine (whoe without doubt, was gods imediate Instrument at that tyme to saue her liffe) carried her back to her former prison the Dogkennell aforesaid, where she tarried, as formerly she had done (every howre in danger to be murthered) vntill Monday then next following, When on a sudden by the further mercie of providence of god her said honorable frend Sir Charles Coote with his forces came to the said howse to redeeme her, as hee presently did, Howbeit the guard of the Rebells that were placed in that howse, & which were her keepers haveing some little foreknowledg of Sir Charles Coots approach suddenly ran away, & left her pinnioned, bound & imprisoned as aforesaid, And when the said Sir Charles tooke her awaie he &
fol. 94r
148
he & his souldiers (by this deponents consent) burned & spoiled all that her howse lest it should be (as otherwise it should would have bin) vsefull for the Rebells to have contynued theire garrison there, which was within three myles of the English quarters
She further saith that the other parties that were in Rebellion & have bin in Armes against his maiestie & the Englishe protestants & which haue done & Comitted divers outrages & cruelties vpon and against the persons & estates of the English protestants are theis that followe vizt. Terrence Coghlan of within ffercalle gentleman, Whoe vnder coulor of love to his Maiestie & the English & vpon vowes & protestations of loialtie) deceaved the honorable Sir William Parsons Knight & Barronet, & the rest of the privie Counsell of a great quantety of Armes, & when he had them, then he proved a most subtill notorious and envious Rebell, And once he said to her this Deponent that if her husband would not not come out of the Birr garrison from amongst the English, that he the said Terrence hoped ere long, those that were the hungrie leane English there, would mutiny rise, kill & eate the fatt ones, for which this deponent (takeing the boldnes to reprove him, he the said Terrence (addresing his speech to divers other cruell Rebells) said vnto them, If yow doe not hang her (meaneing the deponent) presently, shee will doe yow as much mischeefe as her husband hath done, The other Rebells soe in action as aforesaid are theis that followe, The Lord Bourk of Kilconnell, the Lord Bourk of Brittas, Sir John Bourk of Kilmaghah in the County of Limerick Knight & John Bourk of Clinnadrummon in the County of Clare Esquire, Teige ô Rian of Cappeinenanagh in the County of Limerick Esquire whoe married this deponents sister, & Darby Rian his eldest sonne her nephew George Courtney ofin the County of Limerick Esquire Phillipp Digan of Balliduffe in the Kinges County gentleman Redmond Bourke of Tennerannagh in the County of Clare gentleman sonne of the said John Bourk of Clinnadrummon Daniell mc Nemarrah of Tennehinch in
84
fol. 94v
in the Countie of Clare Esquire the Lord Mc Cartie <quer> of VpperOssery & the Lord ffitzpatrick of lower Ossery within the Countie of Tipperary, The lord [
<B> And this deponent further saith ThatBarnwell of Turvie in the County of Dublin Esquire in the begining of the Rebellion (as it seemeth) much fearing the designes of the Irish Rebells, & yet not dareinge visibly to offend, fledd over into Walles with the Countesse his wife, & seuerall preists & others of his family and staied there for the space of two yeres or thereabouts vizt vntill the 17th of March 1643 which was after the Cessation in Ireland, and then comeing over in Captaine Bartletts shipp in this deponents company This deponent being of his neere kinred asked him, why those gentlemen of the Palle that were anciently discended of the English could for pitty robb & distroy the English protestants as they did, wherevnto he answered that the poore Irish had the blame of all, But if the papists in England had but had as much power amongst themselues in England, as the Irish hadd in Ireland the Englishe Papists would have risen against the Protestants in England first, soe as the poore Irish (as he called them) should not have bin putt to begin their quarrell there the first, further saying to this deponent theis wordes, Doe you thinck Cozen that
fol. 95r
that the Irish durst begin as they did, but that they conceaved themselues sure of the like riseing about the same tyme in England, according to the plott that the papists of bothe Kingdomes had amongst them, Soe as there could come noe aide or assistance out of England to the protestants in Ireland or to that effect, And then alsoe the said Mr Barnwell seemed & expressed in words himself to be vexed for soe leaveing his cuntrimen & frends the papists in Ireland as he did, and goeing into Walles where he had spent soe much money, further saying further that if he had stayed still in Ireland he might haue done his Cuntrimen the papists of Ireland more good there then he did by goeing into Walles, & besides might have saved his owne estate from the English, but (said hee) I feared because I lived as in the mowth of the state of dublin I should never have bin quiett if I had staied vnles I should haue bin of the Englishe protestant party against my poore cuntrymen the Irish, whoe were of my owne Religion & therefore I went away into Walles or wordes to that purpose to this deponents now best remembrance, And this deponent landing with the said Mr Barnwell & the rest at Dublin, and being with him & the Countesse his wife in a howse in Castlestreete there, the said Mr Barnwell seemeing to take care of of her, said, Whither will yow goe Cozen for yow have noe howse to goe vnto now, if you please you shall goe home with mee to Turvie, wherevnto, becawse shee was confident what popish preists and Rebells would haunt his howse, she answered I thanck yow Sir, but I dare noe more goe into the hands of the Rebells they vsed mee soe cruelly when they had mee, Vpon which the Countesse his wiffe replied, in some angrie & scornfull wordes, Noe, noe, I am glad of it, for god would never blesse the howse (if yow were in it in regard of your Religion And then one father John her popist preist or frier (being present) answered, Noe noe, there can none worke vpon her, she hath been long enough in handleing, but none could convert her, or to that effecte,
Jur vt supra coram Johanne Watson: Henr Brereton et Willelmo Aldrich
85
Henry Brereton
John Watson
William Aldrich