Massacre of Dunlavin Green

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The massacre of Dunlavin Green refers to the summary execution of 36 suspected rebel prisoners the British military shortly after the outbreak of the rebellion of 1798.

[edit] Background

For several months prior to May 1798, county Wicklow and many other areas of the country had been subject to martial law which had been imposed in an effort to crush the long threatened rebellion of the United Irishmen. The campaign was also extended against the military itself as some corps of yeomen and militia, especially those with Catholic members, were suspected as United Irish infiltrators who had joined to get training and arms. Several days before the outbreak of the rebellion, the yeomanry and militia at Dunlavin were called out on parade and informed by their commanding officer that it had been brought to his attention that there were sworn United Irishmen among them. Urging those who had sworn to confess, some twenty-eight did so in hopes of receiving clemency but were immediately arrested and imprisoned with several subjected to flogging in an effort to extract information about the rebels plans and organisation.

[edit] Massacre

News of the outbreak of the rebellion had reached the garrison at Dunlavin, and particularly of an attack on Ballymore-Eustace where soldiers from the same regiment as the garrison were stationed. After hearing of losses among their comrades, the twenty-eight imprisoned soldiers and eight civilians accused of rebel sympathies were marched to the town green where they were lined up and executed in batches of five. The motive appears to have been simple revenge rather than fear of the prisoners and the raging rebellion but the public exhibition may also have been designed to intimidate and discourage rebels in the immediate area from taking to the field. However, news of the massacre, and of another at Carnew, spread rapidly and played a part in rapid mobilisation of the rebels in north county Wexford over the next few days.

[edit] In song

The story of the massacre at Dunlavin green was quickly commemorated in the famous ballad Dunlavin Green , which tells the story from the view of a sympathetic local eyewitness, and is one of the best known songs of the era.