At the end of the18th century there was a penal Chapel at Davidstown Cross. It remained there until the present Church was built in 1877. After this, the chapel was demolished and the present school erected in its place. After the uprising of 1798 this Chapel was occupied by soldiers and from here the 89th regiment set out to apprehend Dwyer at Doirenamuc.
On the night of the 15 February 1799, there was a heavy snowstorm. Michael Dwyer and eleven of his comrades, looked for shelter in a place called Doirenamuc. There were three housed on this lane, first Hoxeys, the second Tooles and the top house belonged to a man named Miley Connell.
In the first house, Ned Lennon and Thomas Clerk took refuge. Walter McDaniel, John Ash, Patrick Toole, Darby Dunne, John Mickle and Hugh Byrne used Tooles as a hiding place, while Dwyer, Sam McAllister, Jogn Savage and Patrick Costello hid in Connell’s. It was not a lucky day for the men as a spy informed on them. He went a distance of 7-8 miles to Hacketstown on such a night to give information about the men. The army of over 100 men led by Captain Roderick MacDonald was immediately sent from Hacketstown. Very quietly they surrounded without much argument on condition that their lives by spared. They handed out their arms and then everyone in the house was tied up. The same happened in Toole’s house except that the men would have fought only for the women and children in the house.
Then the soldiers went on to Connell’s. When Dwyer discovered he was surrounded, he asked that the Connell family be set free and then he would see about surrendering. MacDonald agreed to this and the Connell’s were set free. When Dwyer was asked if he would surrender, he told them “We will fight until we die”. The cottage was then set on fire, but the four men inside still fought bravely. As the thatch went on fire, Dwyer forced his head through it and saw the positions of the men outside. Costello and Savage were shot dead and just as Dwyer and McAllister thought they would perish in the flames McAllister received a shot in the arm. He told Dwyer he could fight no longer.
Dwyer said he would die with him, but McAllister had a plan. He would go to the door and let the soldiers shoot; while they were reloading their blunderbusses Dwyer would rush and run to freedom.
This happened according to plan as Dwyer ran he slipped on a patch of ice and this saved him from the next shower of shots. Then a highlander sprinter ran after him. Just as he was about to catch him, Dwyer drew back his leg and kicked his pursuer, which sent the same flying and Dwyer ran on.
Dwyer then made for the house of his relative Thadeus Dwyer. While Mrs. Dwyer was warming milk for him, she saw soldiers approach and warned Dwyer. Dwyer was gone like a shot, still barefooted and with hardly any clothes on. The soldiers took up pursuit. Soon Dwyer reached the river and with one bound was across it. The soldiers fired but he was gone.
When the soldiers reached the river, they saw the blood, but they did not dare cross owing to the depth and roughness of the water. It is thought that Dwyer then went on to Stranahely and from there to the remote mountain village of Corragh.
The eight prisoners were taken to Baltinglass and court martialed on the 23rd February 1799. They were all hanged with the exception of Hugh Byrne who saved his life by informing on a man named Valentine Case.
Bushfield was about a mile form his birthplace. The school was obviously primitive. One of his sisters described it as “wretched”. Here he learnt how to read and write and exhibited a good aptitude for learning, particularly arithmetic and book keeping. According to biographer Luke Cullen, “during his time of going to school he was remarkably quiet. He had wit with and humour and was a favourite with all his schoolfellows (in fact he used to work out most of their sums). I never knew him to quarrel and yet I believe none of his equals would venture to provoke him to anger”. Michael Dwyer was the eldest of a family of seven, four sons and three daughters. The other sons were James, Peter and John and the daughters Catherine, Esther and Mary.
Michael Dwyer was born at the foot of Lugnaquilla in the townland of Camera in 1772. His father John Dwyer farmed a holding of mountain land there. The actual house is no longer standing, but the foundations can be traced at a spot almost half a mile east is Seskin three roads. The farm reached the left bank of the Slaney, extended as far east as the old road which crosses the river Slaney at a ford and steeping stones and west to within a short distance of Seskin bridge. When Dywer was twelve the family moved four miles away to a better farm of 24 acres at Eadstown.
The ruins of the military barracks built in 1803 to restrict Dwyer’s freedom of movement by garrisoning the neighbouring he frequented most and by placing watch over the mountain road to Glenmalure. This was a new military road guarded by a string of barracks at Imaal, Glencree, Laragh, Glenmalure and Aughavanagh. The Freemans journal 3rd March 1803 states that, @at the Glen of Imaal there is to be a barrack for a field officer and 200 men: a barrack for a captain and 100 men at Glencree etc.
A Cave, referred locally as Dwyer’s cave is situated high up on the south slope of Brittas Hill in the Glen of Imaal. Charles Dickson a biographer of Dwyer descibes how it can be found. “A quarter of a mile on the Kickeen side of Ballinclea crossroads, leave the road and follow the stone wall up the hill to a point fifty yards due east of this point, across the face of the gill there is a natural shelter among the rocks, with a narrow shelter among the rocks with a narrow entrance and room inside for three men. This was availed of frequently as a place of concealment by Dwyer and it commands a wide prospect southwards across the Glen of Imaal”.
Michael Dywer married Mary Doyle on the night of 16th October 1798. Before her marriage Mary Doyle lived in the townland of Knockendarragh which lies south-east of Donard. It is possible, but not certain that they were married at Davidstown Chapel. According to tradition they were married by Fr. Murphy and as he was parish priest in Imaal from 1798 until his death on 15th March 1801, it can safely be assumed that the ceremony was performed by him. Mary Dwyer accompanies her husband on the Tellicherry to New South Wales and she died at Goulbourn in 1861 at an advanced age.
In 1798 at this spot there was a Tavern owned by James Plant. A man called Stanbridge had been arrested by a party of Yeoman during a day on which races were held in Donard. He was charged with having used seditious language in a public house. A sergeant and four soldiers stationed at Leitrim had attended the races and as they returned they met the Yeoman and their prisoner.
Stanbridge was handed over for conveyance to Leitrim and the Yeomen retired to Plant’s Tavern at Castleruddery Cross Roads. These events were reported to Dwyer who happened to be in the vicinity and with a few companions he waylaid the convoy, rescued the prisoner and relieved the escort of their arms and equipment.
He then returned to the cross-roads suddenly appeared at a window and emptied his blunderbuss among the carousing yeoman. This Tavern remained in possession of the Plant family until sold in the 1920’s. The Plants also owned a forge and other property on the north side of the road opposite. A relative of that family told that on one occasion Dwyer escaped from a party of Yeomen by concealing himself in the forge.
Sam McAllister is commonly believed to have come from the North. Before he had joined Dwyer he had deserted from the Antrim Militia. After his heroic sacrifice at Doirnemuc he was buried at the Old Graveyard at Leitrim. Later it was decided to transfer his body from Leitrim to Kilranelagh.
In the autumn of 1798, Michael Dwyer wanted to question Mr. Steele was released unharmed and Dwyer led his men out across Colvinstown Hill and along the old road to Crossmona Rath. Here, Dwyer and his men dismounted and took cover near the Rath and engaged the Yeoman in a shoot-out. When the Yeomen reinforcements arrived, Dwyer had to retreat eastwards towards Keadeen Mountain. The Yeoman reached the area and a heavy exchange of gunfire was in progress. Dwyer set fire to the turf clamps in a nearby farm and the Yeoman were engulfed in smoke while Dwyer and his men escaped. The Battle of Keadeen was an inspiration to the succeeding generations of Irishmen.
On the 7/8th December 1803 while holed up in a cave near Wicklow gap in deep snow Michael Dwyer and about 10 other rebels held a “council of war on the subject of surrender”. Dwyers terms were “ a full pardon for him and his men and a passage to the United States”. On the nights of the 14th December 1803 Dwyer met Hume by arrangement at the three bridges outside the gate of Humewood where the M.P. for Wicklow resided. Instead of the US however Michael Dwyer was transported to Australia later the that year as it was less likely that he would return from there.
