Gaelic Chieftain

It’s the first of two travelling home days with little opportunity to blip so we turned off to see the Gaelic Chieftain before turning towards Dublin. The local guide book says, ‘Two miles north of the town of Boyle, is the site of the Battle of the Curlieus, which took place in 1599. It is commemorated by one of Ireland's most magnificent road-side pieces of sculptured metal of a Gaelic Chieftain, sculptured by Maurice Harron.

The Battle of Curlew Pass was fought on the 15th of August 1599, during the campaign of the Earl of Essex in the Nine Years' War, between an English force under Sir Conyers Clifford and a rebel Irish force led by "Red" Hugh O'Donnell. The English were ambushed and routed while marching through a pass in the Curlew Mountains, near the town of Boyle, in northwestern Ireland. The English forces suffered heavy casualties. Losses by allied Irish forces were not recorded but were probably minimal.’

We are now relaxing in the airport hotel , our flight home leaving in the early hours tomorrow.