Battle of Scarrifholis
1650 battle
The Battle of Scarrifholis, also spelt Scariffhollis was fought on 21 June 1650, near Letterkenny in County Donegal during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. A force loyal to the Commonwealth of England under Charles Coote defeated the Catholic Ulster Army, commanded by Heber MacMahon, Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher.
Although outnumbered, most of Coote's troops were New Model Army veterans, and had three times the number of cavalry. After an hour of fighting, the Ulster army collapsed and fled, losing most of its men, officers, weapons, and supplies. The battle secured the north of Ireland for the Commonwealth and cleared the way to complete the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Background
The Irish Confederate Wars, sparked by the 1641 Rebellion, were initially fought between the predominantly Catholic Confederate Ireland, and a largely Protestant Irish Royal Army, led by Ormond. Both claimed to be loyal to Charles I, while there was a three sided war in Ulster. The latter involved Royalists, Gaelic Catholic leader Eoghan Ó Néill, and Presbyterian militia, known as the Laggan Army, supported by Scots Covenanters under Robert Munro.
In September 1643, Ormond agreed a truce, or 'Cessation', with the Confederation, freeing his troops for use in England against Parliament in the First English Civil War. Some Irish Protestants objected, and switched sides, including Sir Charles Coote, who became Parliamentarian commander in Connacht.
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Contemporary correspondence, administrative files and participant testimony can test how later narratives organized the event or institution. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q493609. The Library of Congress control number is sh2002003931. Authority coordinates are 54.932, -7.800. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1650, 1641 and 1643.
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This entry incorporates text from “Battle of Scarrifholis” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.