Longford's historic 1798 tree brought down by the Storm

The unprecedented Storm Éowyn left her mark in Ballinamuck as an historic 1798 tree was felled by the record winds.

The sycamore tree is estimated to be over 300 years old and played a significant yet tragic role in the Battle of Ballinamuck.

Chairperson of Longford Historical Society, Pat Donnelly explained the significance of the tree, he said he has been contacted by locals nonstop since the tree went down.

“Basically around that spot, the first shots were fired in the battle of Ballinamuck. It started there before it went to the battlefield in Ballinamuck which would be about a kilometre and a half.”

The tree is located near Kiltycreevagh.

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“What happened was when the battle was over people escaped from the battle,” described Pat, “The English thought that a lot of people were from the West so they would be heading back there, so they caught up with a few of them.”

“The point to note here is that they were hung from trees in the first available place.”
General George Blake, one of the leaders of the Battle was one of these unlucky few who was caught.

“General Blake was on his way back to the west and they caught up with him.

“He demanded a soldier's death, which was to be shot, or executed by gunfire but of course they humiliated him,” continued Pat, “They hanged him.”

It was on that very Sycamore tree felled by the storm on which General Blake lost his life.

“The Brits wanted the body for a trophy, they came back for the body but the body was gone, the body was taken down to McKenna’s Barn.”

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Pat explained how those who had cut the deceased General off the tree made a casket for him out of a dresser and buried him in Tubberpatrick graveyard, at first his resting place was hidden with grass and sticks but eventually he was given a headstone and remains there today.

The epitaph on General Blakes's stone is written in Irish, French and English.

The loss of the tree is a tough one for the Historical Society and the Ballinamuck Community.

“I’d done a tour the day before and there were people from Donegal and we had people home from America whose family would have fought at the battle,” recalled Pat.

“It’s a major setback but sure look as many have said it’s an act of God.

“I don’t know what Plan B is, some have said we could get a machine in and it could be restored. If some of the wings were taken off it could be put back and restored and hopefully have a mound of clay put on top of it.

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“March is the growing season so that might ignite it again.”

Regardless of the tree, the Longford Historical Society has had a tough go of it in the last few weeks, suffering the sad loss of their President Jude Flynn who was a founding member of the Society.