Battle of Vinegar Hill Reenactment

Judgement Day

The cynic in me has been quietened for a while and by all accounts the 1st Battle of Vinegar Hill Reenactment was a great success. In all fairness it could have been better titled "The Skirmish of Vinegar Hill" given that one reenacter represented about 1,000 participants that were present on the 21st June, 1798. That said, it was a great first attempt and from little acorns... The site lends itself to a really big reenactment - perhaps even an annual one? Perhaps then attention could be given to persuading Steven Spielberg to come back to Ireland and make that epic 1798 movie that he once mooted? Something really beneficial could be done for the town and surrounding area provided the project is handled with care. In the meantime here are some pics by 'she who must still be obeyed' enjoy.


Father Murphy or is it Bishop Casey?

Cantona's Collars

From the angle of the photo's JD, you must have been standing near me.Well done to all involved today.Not even the rain seemed to dampen people's spirits.

I have imagined a '98 movie several times,would make a great blockbuster.

Tzar Chasm

That IS Fr Murphy

As in he's a priest nam ed murphy

Great day out was had by all, I would be in favour of making it an annual thing but in july around the aniversary

Tzar Chasm

Any more closeups of the pikemen?

Judgement Day

This is the only other shot.

Tzar Chasm

Ah ell i'm not in that one either, I had the steel pike and brown hat

byhookorbycrook

What a pity this wasdn't widely advertised. I wonder were all the 1998 pike groups contacted?Would have swolllen the numbers.

Tzar Chasm

No, it was a bit of a clusterfcuk as far as orgsnisation went, they had the redcoats and the cavalry reasonably sorted but it seemed like a case of just see who shows up as far as the pikemen went, I was talking to bill Murray on Saturday and he said that the pikemen organization hadn't been officially approached so it was only a few of us who were willing to change our plans at short notice.
I only found out about it myself on thursdsy, I had planned to go to the jousting

Still tho let's hope that interest grows and next year we'll be able to muster a decent show

Cantona's Collars

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

No, it was a bit of a clusterfcuk as far as orgsnisation went, they had the redcoats and the cavalry reasonably sorted but it seemed like a case of just see who shows up as far as the pikemen went, I was talking to bill Murray on Saturday and he said that the pikemen organization hadn't been officially approached so it was only a few of us who were willing to change our plans at short notice.
I only found out about it myself on thursdsy, I had planned to go to the jousting

Still tho let's hope that interest grows and next year we'll be able to muster a decent show

Noticed that myself,many faces missing that would have been there in a heartbeat.
Facebook is a great tool,plus these newfangled things called phones are useful for contacting people.

Looks like just the Enniscorthy Pikemen were contacted & they told a few contacts,that's the organisers job.

However on the positive side,it was a good spectacle & can get bigger & better.

byhookorbycrook

I'd say most of the pike groups would only be mad for another outing!!2018 is a long way away.

FRIENDO

A great day, pity about the rain.
Well done to all and I found it emotional to hear the singing of Boolavogue by the Pike men and woman at the end.

Thanks to all

vicwatson

If they can do it in Massachusetts they can do it in Enniscorthy I say -

http://www.bostoncentral.com/events/patriots_day_lexington_ma_reenactment_battle/p901.php

Tzar Chasm

FRIENDO wrote: »

A great day, pity about the rain.
Well done to all and I found it emotional to hear the singing of Boolavogue by the Pike men and woman at the end.

Thanks to all

ah the rain wasnt that bad, at least it got people to stay in ranks for a bit of shelter
the boolavouge thing at the end was fairly much a spur of the moment thing, glad people enjoyed it, it kinda started organicly and I have to say it felt right as we were doing it.

St Senan

vicwatson wrote: »

If they can do it in Massachusetts they can do it in Enniscorthy I say -

http://www.bostoncentral.com/events/patriots_day_lexington_ma_reenactment_battle/p901.php

Hopefully it will grow from strength to strength. The turn out in the market square was poor as the Red Coats and Pikemen marched past. Maybe next year it will be better prepared. All in all it was a brilliant event and much needed.

vicwatson

Only place I heard about it was on boards. Hopefully it builds and it gets better advertised next year

Cantona's Collars

vicwatson wrote: »

If they can do it in Massachusetts they can do it in Enniscorthy I say -

http://www.bostoncentral.com/events/patriots_day_lexington_ma_reenactment_battle/p901.php

A video of the Lexington reenactment,TV stations were even present.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saf2BBdJ4Yc

Hopefully next year the organisers will get even more people involved,imagine taking some of the battle to the streets of the town before moving onto the hill.It would make a great spectacle.

St Senan

zerks wrote: »

Hopefully next year the organisers will get even more people involved,imagine taking some of the battle to the streets of the town before moving onto the hill.It would make a great spectacle.

Thats what people thought would happen. I only heard of the Battle from a friend last Wednesday.

paulaa

Some more photos from Facebook, a relation took them

Judgement Day

One of the famous postcards of the battle below:



Charge of the 5th Dragoon Guards on the insurgents – ”a recreant yeoman having deserted to them in uniform is being cut down” – William Sadler (1782-1839)

http://enniscorthytoday.wordpress.com/visitor-attractions/

and the other one:

Judgement Day

Two indispensable books for the Vinegar Hill 'enthusiast'.



Full of actual stats - numbers on each side, weaponry etc. and loads of maps. This 1998 reprint is still available and can be strongly recommended.

http://countywexford.blogspot.ie/search?updated-min=2011-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&updated-max=2012-01-01T00:00:00-08:00&max-results=32

and essential reading for the reenacter:



And by chance my own copy of "Weather & Warfare" (below) just arrived in the post this morning - it's in the library too. Gives a battle by battle account of how the weather affected the outcome of each engagement. Produced in the style of something like Met Eireann miight put out.

Tzar Chasm

Yaaay i'm in one of the photos

Tzar Chasm

And we did at least try to create a bit of a spectacle on the street, the redcoats were doing a fliogging in the castle so we went down to liberate our brethren, weren't enough of us tho so they ended up with an extra prisoner.

The main thing to remember is that this was a start, we know we're doing it again next year so let the preperations commence

vicwatson

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Yaaay i'm in one of the photos

Yeh?

Which one are you? :D:D

vicwatson

zerks wrote: »

A video of the Lexington reenactment,TV stations were even present.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saf2BBdJ4Yc

Hopefully next year the organisers will get even more people involved,imagine taking some of the battle to the streets of the town before moving onto the hill.It would make a great spectacle.

It's a real big deal over yonder. NO reason why it couldn't happen here and be turned into a weekend spectacle.

Have a look on youtube there are loads (mind you they do luv their battle reinactments in USA !) - http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=battle+reenactment+civil+war+&oq=battle+reinactment&gs_l=youtube-reduced.3.3.0i10l4.18172.24047.0.27641.20.16.1.2.2.0.266.1937.7j6j2.15.0...0.0...1ac.aVBYOWdXob8

Bearhunter

Looks like a great day out. And special mention to whoever was carrying the Union Flag. It would be a braver man than me who'd carry that up the Shannon....

Croppy Boy

The Red Coats didn't march up the Shannon, they went out the Oulart road and the United men went up the Shannon.

Tzar Chasm wrote: »

Yaaay i'm in one of the photos

I'm there too. I'm the one in the long coat loading my musket.

Bearhunter

Croppy Boy wrote: »

The Red Coats didn't march up the Shannon, they went out the Oulart road...

Typical. Cowards!

TheChevron

Congratulations!

The reenactment has made the front page of the Irish Times website.

http://www.irishtimes.com/
http://www.irishtimes.com/videoplayer/#video

Cantona's Collars

Bearhunter wrote: »

Typical. Cowards!

They went for realism & sent 'em out to where the original attack on the rebels came from in '98.

The redcoats got a bit of good natured heckling though & played up to the bad guy role perfectly.