Monday, September 20, 2010

The Insurgents






 Concluding our brief historical tour of the Glenmalure Valley, Co Wicklow, we're near the Barravore Ford, where we find monuments to the 1798 Rebellion and the romantic insurgents led by Michael Dwyer who held out in this area for nearly six years after the uprising had been suppressed.
Thinking that he was surrendering on his own terms, Dwyer was led to believe that he would be granted passage to the fledgling United States of America. However, once the authorities had their man, they ignored the terms that were agreed and imprisoned him in Kilmainham Gaol along with some of his men.  Michael Dwyer was held there for some eighteen months before being sent to the penal colony of Botany Bay in Australia.



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