Keep Your Powder Dry

A trip down south to that there London gave the ECWtravelogue an excuse to have a teeny detour on the way home to visit Chalgrove Field. April 1643, Reading falls to Parliament's field army led by the Earl of Essex: Oxford is now open to assault by Essex to the East; and Waller, and the Southern Association, who are in the Gloucester area. There is no love lost between Essex and Waller, which is fortunate for the King and Oxford, as if they had coordinated their armies on attacking Oxford the King would have been in very hot water. As it was, Waller became preoccupied by Hopton, and Essex was faced with the problems of  his men being sick, and disaffected due to not being paid. Then a stroke of luck for Charles: Sir John Hurry (often Urry) defects to the King (Sir John is oft described as a Scottish mercenary) providing details of Essex's garrisons and also a convoy carrying pay for Essex's men. Needless to say Prince Rupert is dispatched with a force of 1800 'hand pick...

After the trauma (!) of researching Turlough MacHenry O’Neill, I'm giving the O'Neills a wide berth for a wee while, and researching a not-O'Neill regiment. The monumental job of cutting and drilling away cast on pikes that are much too short The Farrells were rulers of Annaly, roughly the modern County Longford. They lost about a quarter of their lands in the plantation of Longford in 1618 but were still in control of the county at the outbreak of the 1641 rebellion. So it comes as no surprise that they joined the rebellion in 1641, setting out their grievances in a letter to Lord Dillon, who presented it to the Dublin government on their behalf: The Papists in the neighbouring counties are severely punished and their miseries might serve as beacons unto us to look unto our own, when our neighbours houses are on fire.  They expressed their support for the king and enclosed an oath of loyalty to him. However, they also voiced their disappointment that as Catholics their loy...

Those of you who have tried to visit either the BCW Project or Regimental Wiki will notice that it is 'down'. >>>>>>>>> Update June 2024: The data is safe, rest assured that the site will return. Day jobs, real life etc take precedence. >>>>>>>>> Update 6th December 2023: All of the data appears to be safe! The BCW Project and Wiki will be returning in 2024. >>>>>>>>> Update late November 2023:  Contact has been made with Dave's family, and I am sorry to share the sad news that Dave has passed away.  There are a number of people (but mostly Tim) working quietly in the background at getting the BCW Project and Wiki back up and running again. It will return, but in what timescale nobody currently knows; other than, it will return. Eventually.  One thing that we do know is that somebody has hoovered up the URL for the site, so unless the original URL can be resecured, it might have to return wi...

A trip to that there London saw the ECWtravelogue revisit a few entries that have already appeared in the numerous London entries. Hampton Court Palace appears very briefly in the ECWtravelogue, with just a mention of the Toy Inn plaque at the entrance to the Palace.  A word of warning, Hampton Court is ridiculously expensive. Prices in the ticket office have an added voluntary donation (the small print says that you don't have to pay this if you don't want to, I'm sure that the vast majority of foreign tourists fall for this ruse). I would also recommend taking your own food and drink with you, to eat in the grounds. The cafes are best avoided unless you have just had a big lottery win (£12 for a pie! Just a pie, no sides, just the pie. Yes. really.) Think of Hampton Court and you immediately think of the great Tudor Palace that it once was. Whilst a good percentage of the Tudor buildings exist, most of the visitor accessible parts are from much later rebuilds. The Tudor...

The first of the Irish Confederate fighting men to roll off the the production line here at Château KeepYourPowderDry. And there I was, thinking that fathoming out the history of the Scots gentry was complicated... Colonel Turlough MacHenry O’Neill was the son of Sir Turlough MacHenry O'Neill, who was the son of Sir Turlough MacHenry O'Neill; neither are to be confused with Sir Turlough MacHenry O'Neill who was the father of Sir Phelim Roe O'Neill of Kinard, who 'started' the 1641 rebellion. Or any of the other Turlough MacHenry O'Neills... Dissection of the name might help us understand who was who. The O'Neills were a large extended family who effectively ruled Ulster, the different branches of the family being chieftains/lords of smaller areas within Ulster, they are usually (but not always) differentiated by having the name of their lands in their title. The Fews was rough wild land, mostly upland, the name coming from the Irish  na Feá/Feadha which...