26 May 1315: Edward de Bruce (the brother of Robert de Bruce of Scotland) and his fleet (estimated at in excess of 6,000 men) landed on the Irish coast at points at and between Olderfleet Castle at Larne and Glendrum on the north east coast of Ireland. This was the start of his ultimately futile bid to seize Ireland from the English – an attempt that was to cause much bloodshed and suffering here for three long years.
26 May 1798: United Irishmen defeated at Battle of Tara, Co Meath by the British Army. This broke the back of the Rising in County. The British, while relatively few in numbers (700 to 4,000), were much better armed and trained and a more cohesive force.
Outbreak of the Rising in County Wexford. Clash of arms at Boolavogue between a small band of insurgents under Fr John Murphy and a military patrol. That evening groups of men and women began to attack the houses of loyalists, especially those where arms were assumed to be stored. These attacks took place over a wide swath of country but all within the Blackwater/Ballygarrett/Newtownbarry triangle.
26 May 1868: Execution of John Barrett (Fenian). He was sentenced to death for his alleged part in the Clerkenwell Explosion even though he was in Glasgow at the time. The sentence was carried out before a crowd of some 2,000 and was the last public execution in England.
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