Seneschal Henry Harrington had been heavily defeated…
June 1599 CE
Seneschal Henry Harrington had been heavily defeated on the 29th of May in Wicklow by the rebel Phelim MacFeagh O'Byrne.
A month after this defeat, Essex marches over the Slaney with twelve hundred fighting men and a host of churls and horseboys, deciding to approach Dublin by the Wicklow coast, rather than risk a passage through the foothills.
Hs men torch villages and houses along the road until confronted by O'Byrne with one thousand rebels four miles south of Arklow on the Clonnough river.
Southampton crosses in deep water with the horse, and Ormond leads the army over a ford near the sea.
There is skirmishing on the left flank but the rebels will not close until they see from their vantage point that the baggage train is vulnerable.
They sweep down and plunge into a hard fight, and have almost carried off a victory, when Southampton's cavalry forces them back.