The Battle of Aughrim

These photographs were taken over a six-year period, between 2016 and 2022.

The battle of Aughrim was fought on 12^th July, 1691 in eastern Galway, between the Irish army of James ll and the combined forces of William lll. It was the last great battle in these islands. So intense was the fighting, the thunder of battle could be heard 30 miles away, here in Galway city. Aughrim was the decisive and bloodiest battle of Ireland’s Jacobite war (1689-91). The defeat of the Jacobites here was the last time an Irish army took to the field heralding one of the darkest periods in Irish history.

It was at Aughrim that photographer Nic Dunlop began taking photographs as a boy; an early beginning for a later career often working in areas of conflict. “Photojournalism relies on drama and people. At Aughrim, I was faced with the challenge of the ordinary, empty fields, a patch of bog and a landscape devoid of people. For weeks I wandered across those fields, one foot in the present, the other in 1691. With Richard Murphy’s poem The Battle of Aughrim as my guide, I photographed it in winter to better reflect the aftermath, and every image is informed by what happened that fateful day.”

©Nic Dunlop 2024, all rights reserved