THE BATTLE OF LOUGH RASKA
The Burren Whiskey Distillery in County Clare, Ireland, is a stone's throw from where the Battle of Lough Raska took place on 15 August 1317 near Corcomroe Abbey in the Burren. It was a pitched battle between Diarmait Ó Briain's commanded forces loyal to Muircheartach O'Brien, King of Thomond, against Donnchadh Ó Briain, an ally of Mathghamhain Ó Briain and the Anglo-Norman lord Richard de Clare. Both armies were about 9,000 strong. Diarmait Ó Briain's forces were victorious. The Battle of Lough Raska was the precursor to the Battle of Dysert O'Dea, establishing Ireland's unity and independence from Anglo-Norman rule.
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The Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh is an ancient document written in 1509 by Sean Mac Ruaidhrí Mac Craith, mostly prose. Below is an excerpt from this old vellum of the Battle of Lough Raska, which inspired the Burren Whiskey Distillery mural. The mural features the portraits of the directors and distillery staff in the battle scene. Below is the flora and fauna of the Burren with the insignia of barley wheat and the cow's skull. The cow was the monetary stabiliser for the ancient economy.
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The clans are embattled at dark Corcomroe,
And proudly, their trumpets and warhorns blow;
The blood, bone and strength of all Thomond are there,
With lances in rest and broad-swords bare.
The chivalrous powers of Clan Cullein march on,
With the proud MacNamaras, like towers, in the van;
The plumes of their legions are nodding on high,
Like tall forest tops waving dark in the sky.
(The Bard of Thomond)
The clans encamped for the night, securing their cattle within the boundary walls of the monastery. Many slept on the church floor, some in cubicles, but others passed the night in mirth around their blazing bivouac fires. They were the MacInerneys, Lorcains, O'Claras, Mannions, O'Molonys, O'Hallorans, O'Currys, O'Slatterys, O'Hassetts, O'Malleys, O'Hartigans, O'Haleys, O'Condergans, O'Conways, O'Meehans, O'Mahons, MacMahons, O'Lynchs and O'Kellys of Galway. O'Regans, O'Griffys, O'Howards, Mahownas, MacEncros of Inagh, O'Galvins, O'Liddys, O'Doyles, O'Kellihers, O'Cunneens, O'Gerans and the clan Giolla Maoel.
Donough Brian Rua's followers were assembled on the Burren hills westward of the abbey. In the early morning, he marshalled his forces and marched to meet his foes. Reaching the shores of Lough Raska, he and his men met with a strange apparition, described by MacGrath as "the monstrous and distorted form of a lone, ancient, hideous hag, that stooped over the bright lock's shore. The creature's semblance was this; she was thatched with elf locks, foxy-grey and rough as heather; long as sea-wrack, inextricably tangled; she had a bossy, wrinkled, foully ulcerated forehead, every hair of her eyebrows was like a strong fishhook, and from under them, bleary dripping eyes peered with malignant fire between lids all rawly crimson-edged. The crone had a cairn of heads, a pile of arms and legs, and a load of spoil, all of which she rinsed and diligently washed so that by her labour, the lake's water was covered with hair and gory brains. The army hushed, intently and long gazed at her, but the chief spoke to the beldame;
"What is thy name, what people are a thing, or who are these the so maltreated dead on this moist shore?"
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She nothing loth replied; “The Dismal of Burren I am named always, ’tis of the Tuatha de Danann I declare myself, and royal chief; this pile stands for your heads, in their midst thine own here; which now thou carries it, yet no longer is thine. Proudly as thou goest to battle, the time is not far from thou when all to a very few ye must be slain.”
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References
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Mac Ruaidhrí Mac Craith, Sean. Caithréim Thoirdhealbhaigh, Royal Irish Academy, 1509, https://celt.ucc.ie/published/T100062.html.
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Power, Joe. The Normans in Thomond, Clare Library, https://www.clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/history/norman.htm.
Coordinates
Battle of Lough Raska Mural at the Burren Distillery by artist Letitia Hill. Details of the portraits of the Board of Directors and Employees.
Battle of Lough Raska Mural at the Burren Distillery by artist Letitia Hill. Details of the flora and fauna of the Burren, Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland.
Battle of Lough Raska Mural at the Burren Distillery by artist Letitia Hill. Burren Distillers, Burren, Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland.
Battle of Lough Raska Mural at the Burren Distillery by artist Letitia Hill. Details of the portraits of the Board of Directors and Employees.
THE BATTLE OF LOUGH RASKA
Technical details
ORIGINAL TITLE:
THE BATTLE OF LOUGH RASKA
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REGISTRATION NUMBER:
M0100I
ARTIST:
LETITIA HILL
DATE CREATED:
2020-2021
OBJECT TYPE:
Mural
MEDIA:
Acrylic Paint, Matt Varnish
DIMENSIONS:
6.6m width x 4m height
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LOCATION:
Burren Irish Whiskey Distillery, Newtown, Ballyvaughan, Co. Clare, Ireland
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CREDITS:
Assisted by Paige Twyman and Tiffani Love
COPYRIGHT:
©LETITIA HILL, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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