The Fermanagh Campaign of 1689, history, memory and archaeology

Abstract

In his History of England, Macaulay described the 1689 Siege of Derry as the ‘most memorable in the annals of the British Isles’. He elevated the event to mythical status, comparing the city's walls to the ‘trophy of Marathon’, a reference to the Greek victory over the Persians. The comment points to the importance of Derry and the struggle of Protestantism and Presbyterianism in Ireland in 1689. This treatment reflected a larger theme in Macaulay's work, which presented the Whig-led Glorious Revolution as a complex, often conservative, affair despite its positive outcomes. The Williamite establishment is depicted as cautious and hesitant, particularly in their handling of the war in Ireland. Macaulay used the heroic imagery of Derry's walls to celebrate Protestant resilience in the face of apparent adversity.

That struggle, highlighted and recounted over centuries in history, lore, remembrance and legend, has heretofore been seen as the definitive authority in terms of how, when and why the beginning of the end of the War in Ireland, centred upon a few key turning points in 1689.

My contention in this thesis is that more than the potential associated with the crumbling walls at Derry, and those starving inside, Ireland could instead have been ‘lost’ in the bogs and loughs of Fermanagh. The siege notwithstanding, and the relative importance of breaking the walls and freeing up the fortified north to James’s Jacobites, it was the Enniskillen based force that struck Jacobite supply routes, that fielded a mobile, highly motivated band of mounted raiders, and fomented rebellion against the Jacobite cause until James’s ultimate failure in the north. This would herald the end of the Jacobite Army in Ulster.

MacCauley’s view that Derry would thereby dictate victory or defeat, ignores much of the evidence, folklore, and untold stories, that would centre upon Fermanagh, and the Jacobite inaction in the county. This ranged from incompetence, through deliberate avoidance, through misplaced strategy, in dealing with Enniskillener resistance.

The lack of remembrance, evidence, and even acknowledgement of the importance of this campaign in the overall narrative, is explored in this work, expanding upon the contention that Enniskillen and Fermanagh, were key to a blunted Jacobite strategy, with enormous implications for managing logistics and resources. A Jacobite victory in Fermanagh, during 1689, would have had severe implications for the conduct of the war to follow. The claim therefore, that Fermanagh is a forgotten theatre of the 1689-91 war, will be explored to determine if MacCauley’s assertion, that the Williamite War was won on the walls of Derry, is accurate in any measure.

Thesis is embargoed until 31 January 2028

Date of Award	Jan 2026
Original language	English
Supervisor	Eamonn O Ciardha (Supervisor) & Andrew Sneddon (Supervisor)