 |
| BOYLE ABBEY, COUNTY ROSCOMMON.-These venerable monastic remains stand on the banks of the river Boyle, close to the important town of that name, in the county of Roscommon. The abbey was built by one of the princes of Connought early in the Twelfth century, and remained intact until the terrible Elizabethan wars, called by the English, "the Great Rebellion of Tyrone and Tyrconnell," led to its destruction about the year 1601. Even at this day, the ruins are beautiful and imposing, showing many graces of architecture, and deeply bearded with the venerable Irish ivy. In the grass-grown aisle are still to be seen the tombs of many Irish bishops and chiefs, but the epitaphs on nearly all the tablets are so worn as to be illegible, except in a few unimportant cases. The English army, under General Clifford-one of the stoutest Englishmen that ever fought in Ireland-camped around the abbey on the night of August 12, 1599. Thence it marched northward and encountered the Irish of Tyrconnell, under their redoubtable leader, Red Hugh O'Donnell, in the passes of the Corslibh (Curlew) mountains, on Lady Day, August 15. A bloody battle resulted. Clifford, his second in command, and fifteen hundred English soldiers were slain; and the rest retreated in terrible disorder. The action is known in history as the Battle of the Curlew Mountains. |
 |  |