Tom Reilly (author)
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Tom Reilly (born 1960) is an Irish author and former regional newspaper columnist (''Life of Reilly'', ''Drogheda Independent''), who has written books on
Oliver Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English statesman, politician and soldier, widely regarded as one of the most important figures in British history. He came to prominence during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, initially ...
and religion, (''Hollow Be Thy Name'') as well as a book based on his own newspaper columns. Reilly is not an academic historian, and his theories about Cromwell have little support among academic historians who study the
Cromwellian conquest of Ireland The Cromwellian conquest of Ireland (1649–1653) was the re-conquest of Ireland by the Commonwealth of England, initially led by Oliver Cromwell. It forms part of the 1641 to 1652 Irish Confederate Wars, and wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three ...
.


Biography

Reilly is currently the manager of Ardgillan Castle, located between Balbriggan and Skerries in Ireland. He has published ten books, three of which have been conventionally published, the other seven have been self-published. A native of Drogheda,
County Louth County Louth ( ; ) is a coastal Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. Louth is bordered by the counties of County Meath, Meath to the ...
, Reilly is a director of a local printing company, Burex Manufacturing Ltd. of
Dunleer Dunleer () is a town and townland in County Louth, Ireland. Dunleer is situated midway between Dundalk and Drogheda and is located on the junction of the R132, R169 and R170 regional roads that intersect the town. As of the 2022 census, th ...
, Louth. He spent most of his working life in the printing and allied trades and is an avid local historian. He set up the Drogheda Heritage Centre along with his wife, Noeleen in 1999 in St Mary's Church of Ireland, Drogheda, the site of Cromwell's entry into the town in 1649. The Centre caused local controversy when Cromwell's death mask was displayed for two months under the slogan 'He's Back!' While the death mask was on display protests were led by the Deputy Mayor of Drogheda, Frank Godfrey daubed tomato juice on the walls of the graveyard surrounding the centre. 'Cromwell Was Framed (Ireland 1649)', the first major book from new imprint Chronos Books appeared on the bookshelves in 2014. Drogheda's Forgotten Walls (and other stories) was published in December 2015. He is married to Noeleen (Crinion) and has two children, Cathy and Eoin. Reilly's best-known work on Cromwell, ''Cromwell – An Honourable Enemy: The Untold Story of the Cromwellian Invasion of Ireland'' (1999), which holds that Cromwell did not intentionally target civilians during the campaign. He was quoted as stating: ''"Cromwell's entire Irish mission was fought on a purely military basis, and it is to his enormous credit that he never once departed from those parameters."'' The central thesis of this argument has been challenged by leading Irish historians.


''Cromwell – An Honourable Enemy: The Untold Story of the Cromwellian Invasion of Ireland''


Negative reviews

* Eugene Coyle's lengthy review of ''Cromwell – An Honourable Enemy'' concludes: "it is written in an emotive, excitable style with irrelevant extraneous material... He contradicts what has been established by a large number of modern professional historians such as Michael Burke, Peter Gaunt, John Morrill, Antonia Fraser and others...''There is a need for a new book on the Irish Cromwellian campaign but unfortunately this is not it''." * ''Rewriting Cromwell: A Case of Deafening Silences'', by historian and President of the Cromwell Association, Professor John Morrill, opined that the work constituted a ''"major attempt at rehabilitation was attempted by Tom Reilly ... but this has been largely rejected by other scholars."''


Bibliography

* * * * *''Joe Stanley – Printer to the Rising'', Brandon Books (2005); *''Tracing Drogheda's Medieval Walls'', North East Printers (1995) *''The Story of Drogheda'', North East Printers (1998) *''Drogheda United – The Story So Far'', Anglo Printers (2007) * ''Cromwell Was Framed (Ireland 1649)'' April 2014. Chronos Books (An imprint of John Hunt Publishing) * ''Drogheda's Forgotten Walls (and other stories'') Beula Print (2015)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Reilly, Tom (author) 1960 births Living people Irish columnists 20th-century Irish historians 21st-century Irish historians Irish non-fiction writers Irish male non-fiction writers People from Drogheda Date of birth missing (living people) Revisionism (Ireland)