Battle of Kilcoole

Kilcoole is a village just south of Greystones and just south of the Barony of Rathdown. The Battle of Kilcoole took place in the mid seventeenth century during the Irish Rebellion and was a battle between the O’Toole clan and Sir Charles Coote and his soldiers. It occurred on the 1^st of December 1641 when Sir Charles was coming back from Wicklow, where he had recaptured the Black Castle, and when he reached Kilcoole he was attacked by a force led by the O’Toole Clan. The battle was a short battle, lasting only an hour, though twenty-seven men were lost, which included the leader of the O’Toole forces.

Sir Charles Coote

Sir Charles Coote the son of the son of a English settler in Ireland and by 1642 was the Governor of Dublin. Sir Charles later became a field commander against the rebels in the Irish Rebellion. In 1645 he was appointed President of Connacht and later in 1650 was appointed a commissioner for Connacht and later was appointed to the governmental commission to rule Ireland. He was awarded the earldom of Mountrath (County Laois) and died in 1661 of smallpox and was buried in Christ Church Cathedral in Dublin.

The Irish Rebellion

The Irish Rebellion started in Ulster on the 23^rd of October 1641 as a challenge between the Gaelic Irish and the New English challenge and influence and quickly spread across the country to include the Catholic Old English in the struggle against the New English. It lasted up until 1653.