Tirrell (No. 2.) family genealogy

Of Brenockstown, County Westmeath

Arms: Gu. two bars erm. betw. seven crosses pattée, three, three, and one or, on a chief ar. a demi lion ramp. guard. sa.

Richard Duffe Tirrell, of Brenockstown, had:

2. William, who had:

3. Philip, who had:

4. Richard,[1] who had:

5. Walter (the second son), of Brenockstown, who d. 26th July, 1637. He mar. Elizabeth, dau. of Walter Tirrell of Clonmoyle, county Westmeath, gent., and had: 1. Walter, who d.s.p.; 2. Thomas.

6. Thomas: second son of Walter; m. Mary. dau. of Walter Browne of Kilpatrick, co. Westmeath.

Notes

[1] Richard: This is the Captain Richard Tirrell who is mentioned under A.D. 1597, in the Annals of the Four Masters. In a note at page 621 of Connellan’s Edition of that great Work, it is stated that the said Captain Tirrell was “a gentleman of the Anglo-Norman family of the Tyrrells, lords of Fartullagh in Westmeath. He was one of the most valiant and celebrated commanders of the Irish in the war against Elizabeth; and, during a period of ten or twelve years, had many conflicts with the English forces in various parts of Ireland. He was particularly famous for bold and hazardous exploits, and rapid expeditions; and copious accounts are given of him by Fynes Morrison, MacGeoghagan, and others. After the reduction of Ireland, he retired to Spain. The battle of Tyrrell’s Pass is described by MacGeoghagan, and mentioned by Leland and other historians; it was fought in the summer of 1597, at a place afterwards called “Tyrrell’s Pass,” now the name of a town in the barony of Fartullagh, in the county Westmeath. When Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, heard that the English forces were preparing to advance into Ulster, under the Lord Deputy Borrough, he detached Captain Tyrrell, at the head of four hundred chosen men, to act in Meath and Leinster; and, by thus engaging some of the English forces of the Pale, to cause a diversion, and prevent their joining the Lord Deputy Borrough, or co-operate with Sir Conyers Clifford. The Anglo-Irish of Meath assembled at Mullingar to the number of one thousand men, under the command of Barnwall, Baron of Trimblestown, intending to proceed to and join the Lord Deputy. Tyrrell was encamped, with his small force, in Fartullagh, and was joined in command by young O’Connor Faley of the King’s County. The Baron of Trimblestown, having learned where Tyrrell was posted, formed the project of taking him by surprise, and for that purpose, dispatched his son (young Barnwall) at the head of the assembled troops. Tyrrell, having received information of their advance against him, immediately put himself in a posture of defence, and, making a feint of flying before them as they advanced, drew them into a defile covered with trees, which place has since been called Tyrrell’s Pass; and, having detached half of his men under the command of O’Connor, they were posted in ambush in a hollow adjoining the road. When the English were passing, O’Connor and his men sallied out from their ambuscade, and with their drums and fifes played “Tyrrell’s March,” which was the signal agreed upon for the attack. Tyrrell then rushed on them in front, and the English being thus hemmed in on both sides, were cut to pieces; the carnage being so great that out of their entire force only one soldier escaped the slaughter, who having fled through a marsh carried the news to Mullingar. … Young Barnwall being taken prisoner, his life was spared, but he was delivered to O’Neill. A curious circumstance is mentioned by MacGeoghagan, that, from the heat and excessive action of O’Connor’s sword-arm on the occasion, his hand became so swelled that it could not be extricated from the guard of his sabre until the handle was cut through with a file.”