Shrule

Shrule (Irish: Sruthair, also anglicised to Shruel, usage deprecated) is a village on the N84 road in County Mayo in Ireland. The county boundary between Mayo and County Galway follows the course of the Black River on the south side of the village.

The ruin of Shrule Castle, a fortification built by the Norman de Burgo family, dominates the view of the village as approached from the Galway side. The ruin is unsafe and closed to the public.

Massacre of Protestant refugees

On 18 February 1642, during the Confederate War that followed the 1641 uprising, a number of English settlers, including a Dr. John Maxwell, the Protestant bishop of Killala, surrendered to Irish authorities at Castlebar, in the hope of saving their lives.

After staying at Shrule Castle in the company of the Sheriff of County Mayo, the third Viscount Mayo, for more than a week, the group was given an escort with orders to take them 14 miles toward the border of County Mayo and County Galway, where other forces would assume the escort duty and take them on to the Galway fort. After provisioning the Maxwell family with horses, Lord Mayo set out for Cong. Mayo handed over his prisoners at Shrule, on the border, as his authority only existed in County Mayo. Edmond Bourke, an Irish soldier who led the escort duty, and a cousin of Lord Mayo, then directed his men to begin killing their settler charges. Estimates of the dead ranged from less than 30 to as many as 65. Survivors were taken to Headford by monks from Ross Errilly. Though Mayo tried to save some prisoners, and had to be driven away, he was executed in 1652 by an English Cromwellian inquiry into the killings that was held after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.

Shrule (barony)

Shrule (Irish: Sruthail), sometimes called Abbeyshrule, is a barony in County Longford, Republic of Ireland.

Etymology

Shrule takes its name from Abbeyshrule (Irish Mainistir Shruthla, "abbey by the stream").

Location

Shrule is located in southeast County Longford, on the lower reaches of the River Inny.

History

Shrule barony was formed from was formed from parts of the territories of Moybrawne (Shrule), Clanconnor and Muintergalgan. Moybrawne was anciently part of a territory known as Bregmaine, or Mag Bregmaine, in Cenél Maine.

List of settlements

Below is a list of settlements in Shrule:

References