Qualla: Battle of Scarrifholis

Battle of Scarrifholis: Introduction

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown, Van Brugens, Public domain. A Catholic bishop with no military experience stood on Doonglebe Hill above the River Swilly on the morning of 21 June 1650 and decided to ignore his officers. They had told him to wait. The Parliamentarian army facing him across the pass at Scariffhollis - smaller, but veteran New Model Army troops with three times his cavalry - would soon run out of food and have to retreat. Just hold the high ground, the officers said, and let hunger decide it. Heber MacMahon, Bishop of Clogher, ordered his army down off the hill anyway. An hour later, between two and three thousand of his soldiers were dead, his officers were being shot after surrender, and the Catholic cause in Ulster was effectively finished.

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: Unknown, Van Brugens | Public domain

Battle of Scarrifholis: How Ulster Ran Out of Armies

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edibobb, CC BY 3.0. By 1650, the wars that began with the 1641 Rebellion had ground through nine years of shifting alliances. Ulster had spent much of that decade as a three-sided fight: Royalists loyal to Charles I, the Gaelic Catholic forces under Eoghan Ruadh Ó Néill, and the Scots Presbyterian L...

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: Edibobb | CC BY 3.0

Battle of Scarrifholis: A Bishop Takes Command

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MaxPride, CC BY-SA 3.0. On 18 March 1650, the Catholic clergy and officers met at Belturbet and elected Heber MacMahon, Bishop of Clogher, to lead what remained. The choice was a political compromise between two factions of the Ó Néill family, none of whose preferred candidates was acceptable to both si...

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: MaxPride | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Scarrifholis: The Long March North

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MaxPride, CC BY-SA 3.0. MacMahon's plan was sound enough on paper. Drive a wedge between Coote's smaller force at Derry and Venables's army at Carrickfergus, establish a line of garrisons running north to Ballycastle, and force the Commonwealth to fight a divided campaign. The Catholic army crossed the ...

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: MaxPride | CC BY-SA 3.0

Battle of Scarrifholis: Down From the Hill

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Scoyle17 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. MacMahon moved his army to Doonglebe Hill, also called Tullygay Hill, overlooking the pass at Scariffhollis on the River Swilly west of Letterkenny. It was a strong defensive position - boggy ground below, high ground above, easy to hold and difficult to attack. When Myles MacSwe...

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: Scoyle17 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

Battle of Scarrifholis: An Hour, and the Aftermath

Sun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit MaxPride, CC BY-SA 3.0. Colonel Fenwick led the first attack with 150 men against the Catholic advance guard. He was mortally wounded in the exchange of fire that followed, but his troops held until Coote fed in reinforcements. The Catholic musketeers fell back on their main body, which had been drawn u...

Read more: Battle of Scarrifholis on Qualla

Image: MaxPride | CC BY-SA 3.0