O'Hanlon — Site of Battle of " Pass of Plumes." 287 



bably -with trees or copsewood, afforded very safe coverts for the 

 lightly armed and nimble-footed Leix Kerne. Attack in the mode of 

 skirmishing on their part, and defence, in a confused and irregular 

 array on the English side, give us the most correct idea of a serious 

 action, in which some hundreds of dead bodies covered the line of march. 



The rear-guard of the English appears to have suffered very con- 

 siderable loss.* The very old peasantry of this neighbourhood state 

 it has been constantly handed down to them in tradition from their 

 forefathers, that after the battle commenced, it continued over the 

 road nearly half a mile in extent. It ended afterwards in the marshy 

 ground a little towards the east. Here great numbers fell on both 

 sides, so that to the present day the spot is known by no other name 

 than Moneen na fullagh, or the "little bloody bog."f Coarse reedy 

 grass grows in the lower parts of a field, and northward of an old pass- 

 way that debouched on it, but on a higher slope from the old Dublin 

 road, and leading in the direction of Cherry Hill. Numbers of skulls 

 and human remains have been exhumed from time to time, especially 

 in the moister and moory parts of this field. It lies within the pre- 

 sent townland of Ballyheyland. 



According to the statement of Sir John Harrington, " His Lord- 

 ship was this daye in all places, flyinge lyke lightninge from one parte 

 of the army to another, leaclinge, directinge, and folio winge in the 

 vanguarde batle and reareguarde." This was the first rude shock he 

 had experienced in conducting his disastrous southern expedition. 

 It appears to have impressed him with a great respect for the bravery 

 of his opponents, and a dread of their tactics, as developed in this 

 attack. It is evident, from the letter of Essex, dated Kilkenny, this 

 20th May, 1559, he had sinister forebodings regarding his future suc- 

 cesses. He there writes : "All that I can comment upon this plain 

 narration is, that this war is like to exercise both our faculties that do 

 manage it, and Her Majestv's patience that must maintain it." See 

 " The Devereux, Earls of Essex," Yol. ii. Chap. 1, p. 28. 



The Irish accounts of this engagement, so far as they are known, 

 appear to be altogether defective in details. The Pour Masters only 

 state in general terms that Owney O'More and his allies made fierce 

 and desperate assaults, and furious, irresistible onsets on Essex in in- 

 tricate ways and narrow passes. There we are told, "both parties 

 came in collision with each other, so that great numbers of the Earl's 

 people were cut off by them."J Philip O'Sullivarj Beare only tells 



* 0' Sullivan Beare. as quoted further on. 



t In Bourehier's "Earls of Essex," this encounter with the Irish is described as 

 " a slight skirmish." It is incorrectly said, moreover, to have occurred at the Park 

 of Cashel. See Vol. ii., chap, i., p. 27. It was fought before Essex reached that 

 point, nor is it clear the O'Moores renewed their attack there. 



J See Dr. O'Donovan's " Annals of the Four Masters," Vol. vi., pp. 2112, 2113. 

 The learned editor, in a subjoined note, alludes to the attack in a defile " called 

 Bearna nagCleti," i.e., "the Gap of the Feathers." He adds: "This name is 

 now obsolete, nor has any evidence been yet discovered to prove the exact situation 

 of the place." See n. (w) Ibid. For want of better information at the time of 



6ER. II., VOL. I., POL. LIT. AND ANTIQ. 2 S 



