The Battle of Tubberneering (also Tuberneering or Toberanierin) was a battle of the
Wexford Rebellion
The Wexford Rebellion refers to the outbreak in County Wexford, Ireland in May 1798 of the Society of United Irishmen's rebellion against the British rule. It was the most successful and most destructive of all the uprisings that occurred throu ...
fought on 4 June 1798 between
Crown forces
The Crown is the state in all its aspects within the jurisprudence of the Commonwealth realms and their subdivisions (such as the Crown Dependencies, overseas territories, provinces, or states). Legally ill-defined, the term has different ...
and
United Irish insurgents, at Tubberneering (modern
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
s of Toberanierin North and Toberanierin South) south of
Gorey
Gorey () is a market town in north County Wexford, Ireland. It is beside the main M11 Dublin to Wexford road. The town is also connected to the railway network along the same route. Local newspapers include the ''Gorey Guardian''.
As a growi ...
in the north of
County Wexford. The rebels ambushed and routed the British.
The battle was an ambush of a British force of 400 men under Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole, containing one troop of regular cavalry (the
4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards) and
militia
A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...
and
yeomanry
Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army Reserve, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of different military roles.
History
Origins
In the 1790s, f ...
auxiliaries. They were ambushed in a narrow
defile by United Irish rebels. Walpole and 100 men were killed, the rest, throwing away their weapons and uniforms, fled. The regular dragoons made an attempt to fight back but they were in a bad place for cavalry so they withdrew. This defeat allowed three cannon to be captured which were subsequently used against British troops at the
battle of Arklow
The second Battle of Arklow took place during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 on 9 June when a force of United Irishmen from Wexford, estimated at 10,000 strong, launched an assault into County Wicklow, on the British-held town of Arklow, in an att ...
. The rebels were unable to take Arklow however. The day after the engagement at Tubberneering, the United Irishmen also tried to take
New Ross in the south of
county Wexford but were repulsed at a heavy cost.
Tubberneering
History of County Wexford
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