1641 Depositions

Deposition of John Powell

Reference: MS 821, fols 197r-199v
County: Tipperary
Date: 15/7/1645
Type: Dublin Original
Nature of Deposition: Assault, Death, Military Action, Multiple Killing, Robbery, Stripping, Succour

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<A.> John Powell of the silver mynes within the territory of Ormond and Countie of Tipperrary Refyner gent sworne & examined deposeth and saith That about the 7th of Allhollantide 1641 this deponent liveing at the Silvermynes aforesaid amongst divers other English, And heareing of the Insurreccion & Rebellion in the north of this kingdome, & yet being was tould & perswaded by one John Kenedie of Downally in the said <A> Countie of Tipperary Esquire, that it was likely that these Irish of the north would Martch into those parts: And that therefore it were both pollicy and safetie for this deponent and the rest of thEnglish his neighbors to bring and carry their goodes into his Castle being a place of strength, to thend they might be there preserved against the surprizall of those Irish when they shold come, But And with all faithfully promissed to restore them to the owners at any time vpon demand wherevpon not only this deponent, but many others of the English therevponabouts carried their goodes into the said Mr Kenedies Castle, and entrusted him therewith, and alsoe withdrew themselues & their families thither alsoe, & kept Centries watch and ward there, And afterwards the said Kenedie as it seemeth haveing a plott to take away the lives of some of them drew them out one night which was about the viijth of december 1641, with him to goe (as he said said to the rescowing of an English mans goods that some of the Irish were in takeing away, Att which tyme they meeting with some of the Irish layd & prepared in Ambush (as this deponent verely thincketh) by him the said Kenedie, not soe much as a myle from his said Castle, those Irish soe layd in Ambush suddenly assaulted & sett vpon them: Howbeit these English then and there soe besturd themselues in skirmish & at lenth by flight that they came off with their Lives although some of them were wounded, The next day the said
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whenas the said Kenedy perceived that his ouernight plott had taken noe effect, Then he told this deponent and the other English whoe had trusted him with their goods, that hee durst keepe none of them the English any longer, in his Castle ffor if he did such was the hatred of the Irish to the English that they would robb and pillage him of all he had for harbouring of them & surprize his castle and putt the English to the sword & therefore advised them to remove to Limerick or some other saffe place, and [ ] he would keepe their goodes in safety and restore them at their returne, & gave them his bond of the penaltie of Twoe thowsand powndes to that purpose, wherevpon this deponent & his wife & child together with about 140 more of thEnglish removed from thence to L the Citty of Limrick, where they were not admitted to enter within the gates of at least a fortnight, but were kept out by Mr ffanning <A> the then Maior & the rest of the Irish popish Citizens soe as they were pillaged on the outside of the gates and in of some of the clothes, & of some other parts, in the way thither, Howbeit whenas one Captain Courtney came to the Citty this deponent and the other English that came with him by his meanes were admitted to come into the Citty and after into the Castle, where the deponent (takeing vpp armes for the king) had his residence, where he had not bin long: but the said Maior & other the papists of the Citty that is to saie about tenn dayes before Ester 1642 next after the Rebellion began robbed and pillaged the protestants in the Citty & contynued their pillaging soe as they spared few noe protestants at all, noe not soe much as those that were the protestant Alderman And att length those p the Maior and the rest of the papists of the Citty assisted by the Papists of the Cuntry assaulted & beseiged the Castle for soe straitly & for soe Long together that the protestants in the Castle being very many & wanting fresh meate & other necessaries fell into sicknesses soe that there died within six months of them the number of 360 & od persons: And the seige still increaseing & divers mynes sprung whereby the wall of the Castle was in dayly danger to be subverted, the
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Castle at the length was surrendred vpon quarter to the said <A> Maior of Dublin Lymerick & generall Barry their great Comander, But saith that although this deponent and divers of the English aforesaid came from the silvermynes & from the said Mr Kenedies Castle to Limrick yet there were divers of the English that went from the silvermynes to a place castle belonging to Sir Tho: Meredith Knight called Ballycahell 2 myles from the mynes & alsoe carried their goodes thither, Where after they had contynued for a few about six weekes the said John Kenedie and <B> others of the Irish papists perswaded them to yeild vpp that Castle & goe to and live at the mynes againe and pro worke there, promissing that none should hurt nor pilladge them of any thing: Wherevpon those poore credulous & Innocent people returned with their wyves children and families to the mynes aforesaid, but they hadd not long contynued there <C> But that one Hughe Kenedy brother to the said John Kenedy together with oneGlisson a Masse preist and John Glisson his brother of the Parrish of Kilmore & County of Tipperary aforesaid gent, Turlogh Bane of the same Laborer one one that is called great Daniell ô Glisson of Gourtrahenie in the same parrish gent, and his wife John ô Kenedie of Ballycahell in the same County gentleman, & one that was a Butcher whose name this deponent knoweth not together with divers other Rebellious persons being Armed some with skeanes hatchetts & other weopons a on a sabbath day very nere Candlemas 1641 came suddenly into the refyneing howse of the mynes aforesaid, And then and there fynding the English persons herein hereafter mencioned did [ ] suddenly in Rebellious and cruell manner then and there first stript them naked & that done assault sett [ ] vpon and most barbarously forced forced them into seuerall Roomes of that howse & compelling some of them to kneel downe vpon their knees they then with their skeanes & other weapons stabbed slashed
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cutt knockt in the heads and soe mortally wounded them that they then & there died: And saith that the names of those that were soe murthered there were as followeth vizt John Brock and his wife & his sonn and Daughter Robert Watson and his wife & daughter ffrancis White, his wife and twoe sonns George Kelly and his wiffe Robert Langley & his wife Christopher Howard John the Miller, the wife of one Tho: Ladeley, and the wife of one Thomas Clark (whoe was great with child) and her sonn: And further sayth that the said Tho: Clarks wife (being the last that was murthered) did before she was wounded or her sonn were wounded in most pittifull manner say vnto the principall murtherer Hugh ô Kenedy theis words or <A> to the effect following, vizt Sir I haue but one shilling I will give it yow to speare my sonns lyfe: But hee (void of Mercy grace or pitty) tooke the boy being about twoe yeres old by the Leggs and Laying him vpon his shoulder dashed his head against a stone wall & perceiving the stroake not to kill him, hee the said Ken Hugh Kenedy tooke a stone weighing about 3 or fowre pownd in his right hand, holding the childs leggs in his left hand & laying his head vpon another stone did with that stone in his right hand beat then and there beate out the chy boyes braines, And that done the said Hugh Kenedy cawsed one of his bloody partakers with his skeane to ripp vp the womb of the said boys mother (soe with child Soe as the child wherewith she was great fell out from the place of its conception, And then all the rest of those English being before named being murthered dead & stript naked those savage & barbarous Rebells in a shameles & imodest manner Layd them all soe murthered both men & women some vpon their backs some on their bellies exposeing them to open view & soe left them there vnburied Howbeit not long after others more mercifull then they) buried them all in a hole or ditch together, Where afterwards (by report) the swyne or doggs easily uncouering them
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fed vpon som of their flesh And saith that one Tho Ladeley & Thomas Galopp an Englishman was & his wife were then and there alsoe by the Rebells aforesaid most cruelly and desperately wounded and left for dead stript naked yet afterwards by gods providence & mercy they both crawled vpp & gott away after the murtherers were departed from them, & with much difficulty gott to the good Lady Hamilton sister to the most honorable the Lord Liuetenant generall of this kingdome: A By whome not only they but many other of the distressed English mett with ample releefe, that otherwise had (without doubt) perished
John Powell: Refiner:
And the said John Powell the deponent vpon his oath aforesaid further sayth That Randall Bigford now servant in howse to the right honorable the Erle of Clanrickard, was present and his wife were (as they told this deponent) present & eywitnesses of the murthers aforesaid at the silver mines, And one Robert Richardson servant to old Sir George Hamilton of Roscreagh in the County of Knight, wo and his brother Cardiff Richardson that liveth nere at the Silvermynes aforesaid, & one John Grymes & his wife whoe now live in Sct Patrickstreete Dublin were alsoe all present and know of the same murthers, & gave relacion thereof to this deponent And one William Tems now of the silver mynes can give a Relacion of the passages aforesaid & proseedinges at Lymerick
John: Powell Refiner
Jur xvo Julij 1645 coram
Hen: Jones.
Hen: Brereton
and this deponent saith, that some of those persons were murthered in a howse of Sir George Hamiltones [ ]

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Tipperary
Mr John Powell Jur
xvo Julij 1645
Intw Exr

360 Eng murtherd
at limerick
siluermines

w +
mr John Powel C Tipperary

411

Henry Brereton
Henry Jones