Battle of Tallaght

Although this is not one of my usual posts regarding an ancient ruin or historical place it does have a huge historical significance for the area and is quite interesting. On the wall beside the Dragon Inn pub in Tallaght village there is a commemorative plaque from 1967 for the men whom fought at the Battle of Tallaght. It was part of the Fenian rising in Dublin around March 1867. Many men had gathered on Tallaght hill armed and ready for a rebellion. The old constabulary barracks on the main street which is now a funeral home, was the scene of the engagement known as the Battle of Tallaght

A separate contingent had planned to take the RIC barracks on the main street in Tallaght. The first wave came from the Greenhill’s area but unknown to them the RIC had been made aware of the plans and were well prepared to fend off their attackers.  There were fourteen constables and a head constable on duty under Sub-inspector Burke at Tallaght, and they took up a position outside the barracks where they commanded the roads from both Greenhill’s and Templeogue. The initial attack came under heavy police fire and resulted in a retreat by the rebels whom would not have been as well trained or equipped as the police.

The next band of rebels to attack came from Templeogue, but these were also easily dispersed. In 1936 a skeleton, sword-bayonet and water bottle were found in a hollow tree stump near Terenure. It is thought that these were the remains of one of the Fenians who had taken refuge there after the Battle of Tallaght and either died of his wounds or was frozen to death. The real disaster in this story was that the large gathering on Tallaght were left leaderless and the hope of a successful Rising faded out. The image above is of a Fenian flag that had been captured in the skirmish. The 32 stars represented the 32 counties of Ireland.

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