The Battle of Tara Hill was fought on the evening of 26 May 1798 between

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

forces and

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

rebels involved in the

Irish Rebellion of 1798 The Irish Rebellion of 1798 ( ga, Éirí Amach 1798; Ulster-Scots: ''The Hurries'') was a major uprising against British rule in Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced ...

, resulting in a heavy defeat for the rebels and the end of the rebellion in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the ...

Background

Following the outbreak of the rebellion signaled in Meath by the prearranged signal of the seizing of a

mail coach A mail coach is a stagecoach that is used to deliver mail. In Great Britain, Ireland, and Australia, they were built to a General Post Office-approved design operated by an independent contractor to carry long-distance mail for the Post Office. M ...

near Turvey hill, road blocks were posted on the Navan road

United Irishmen The Society of United Irishmen was a sworn association in the Kingdom of Ireland formed in the wake of the French Revolution to secure "an equal representation of all the people" in a national government. Despairing of constitutional reform, ...

and rebels in Meath began to assemble at the

hill of Tara The Hill of Tara ( ga, Teamhair or ) is a hill and ancient ceremonial and burial site near Skryne in County Meath, Ireland. Tradition identifies the hill as the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland; it also appears in I ...

. Tara was chosen as it provided strategic control of road access to the capital Dublin and cultural significance as the former seat of the high kings of Ireland. Between 4,000-7,000 rebels gathered at the hill. There were incidents of violent encounters throughout the countryside as rallying rebels made their way to Tara from the outbreak of the rebellion on the 23rd to the day of the battle on the 26th.

Battle of Tara

Picking up

yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles. History Origins In the 1790s, f ...

reinforcements along the way, the combined

fencible The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...

, yeomanry and

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

forces formed up at the bottom of the hill to attack the rebels who had established a large camp on the hill. The lack of any cannon or cavalry placed the rebels at a great disadvantage despite their numbers. Disciplined volley fire and flanking cavalry action combined with withering

grapeshot Grapeshot is a type of artillery round invented by a British Officer during the Napoleonic Wars. It was used mainly as an anti infantry round, but had other uses in naval combat. In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of ...

delivered from a 6 pounder cannon drove the rebels to within graveyard walls at the summit. There at dusk, the rebels made their last stand on the hill until a final grenadier assault finished them. The loss to the fencibles, yeomanry and militia was minimal. However rebel casualties have estimates running from several hundred to several thousand dead and many wounded. Many bodies were removed during the night of the 26th and 350 dead were counted still lying on the battlefield the following day. Witnesses to the burial recollect many more bodies of those rebels who died of their wounds during the night being collected from the surrounding countryside in carts. It was noted by the witnesses that the bodies were universally disembowelled by the victors. The dead were buried in a

mass grave A mass grave is a grave containing multiple human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. The United Nations has defined a criminal mass grave as a burial site containing three or more victims of execution, although an exact ...

marked by the Lia Fail standing stone which was moved to mark the burial site. The defeat effectively ended the United Irishmen's rising in Meath.

Background

Battle of Tara

References

Further reading