page_title: Siege of Cahir Castle
section_title: Siege
hierarchical_section_title: Siege of Cahir Castle / Siege
caption_attribution_description: English: The earl of Essex bombarded the castle with heavy canon in in May 1599, this is one of those cannon balls still lodged in the castle wall.
context_page_description: The Siege of Cahir Castle took place in Munster, in southern Ireland in 1599, during the campaign of the Earl of Essex against the rebels in the Nine Years War. Although the castle was considered the strongest fortress in the country, Essex took it after only a few days of artillery bombardment. However, Queen Elizabeth dismissed her commander's achievement, claiming the defenders were merely a "rabble of rogues".
context_section_description: On the morning of 25 May, Essex divided the army into three battles, the vanguard to lead and the main battle to assemble on the fair green a mile outside Clonmel. Artillery (a cannon and a culverin) was brought by water into the quay under Essex's supervision. With the protection of the rearguard and a troop of horse, the guns were dragged by hand the 10 miles to Cahir (for want of draught horses), in poor weather over bridges that groaned under their weight. Essex rode ahead with the army and overtook the vanguard; they stopped a mile short of the castle and waited for the artillery.
  Lord Cahir was sent ahead (with Henry Danvers, lieutenant general of the horse) to call on his brother to surrender and allow an English garrison to enter; he was answered with threats and insults by those who came out to parley with him, and was then accused by Essex of breach of faith. He proposed a further parley, but Essex was determined to capture the castle, and Cahir and his wife were placed under guard.
  A council of war was called in the presence of the Earl of Ormond. The army was stationary, with supplies running low, and in poor weather on a flooded river plain the hazard of disease was increasing. There was also a rumour that a rebel force of 5,000 had mustered in the vicinity. Orders were given to procure more munitions from Waterford, as well as victuals from the town and surrounding country.
  In the evening, Essex surveyed the castle with George Bingham, who had successfully besieged Maguire's island castle in Enniskillen in 1594. It was decided that approaches should be made along the east bank by way of old ditches and a wall, and that a trench be dug close up to the riverbank, within 50 paces of the castle, where a platform for the cannon might be erected. The engineers worked under cover of the musketeers and caliver men, with gabions (wicker baskets filled with earth) to shield them from hostile fire. The culverin was to be placed further back, with a wider view of the castle flanks.
  On Saturday the 26th, the vanguard and main battle moved closer to the castle to camp on the east bank. Essex could have surrounded the castle by occupying the west bank with a detachment, but chose otherwise for fear his men would be unable to make it back to fend off any attack. In the afternoon, there was free traffic in and out of the castle, and he ordered a detachment of 300 to seize the orchard garden on the southside, which had been plashed on its outer edges: this was readily achieved with the loss of only a few men, although the English had been especially vulnerable as they crossed the river.
  Late in the day, the rearguard arrived with the artillery. After a night of preparation, the guns were in place on the east bank on Whitsun Sunday, the 27th, and opened fire. The cannon was at point-blank range, but its carriage broke at the second shot - the damage took a day and a half to repair. Then a ball stuck in the culverin, but this was quickly cleared, and fifty shots were fired, until the garrison was silenced: they dared not stay in any tower or fight on that side of the castle. During the cannonade, Lord Cahir and his wife were said to have wept like children.
  From the west bank, the White Knight relieved the castle with a few score kerne, withdrawing those unfit to defend. Essex sent Christopher St Lawrence, son of Lord Howth, and a colonel of foot, to an island on the north-east, which carried two bridges connecting the castle to the west bank; the bridges were broken, and the island was victualled by bringing boats overland past the castle and setting them in the river upstream.
  In the evening, the cannon was reset on its carriage and the culverin drawn a little closer. On the 28th, the cannonade resumed at close quarters, and the east wall was breached. Preparations for an assault on the following morning were made: engineers made climbing ladders, scaffolds and sows (moveable protective screens); and petards (wooden cases of gunpowder, for blowing in doors or barricades) were assembled to undermine the walls. The plan was fo
caption: A cannon ball still lodged in the wall of the main tower
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