We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
Portadown, 1641: Memory and the 1641 Depositions.
- Authors
McAreavey, Naomi
- Abstract
The mass drowning of Protestants in Portadown is the defining cultural memory of the 1641 rebellion, yet it is a little known and highly contested incident. In this essay I return to the earliest recorded memories of the massacre found among the 1641 depositions to show how the Portadown drownings were represented by eyewitnesses as well as through rumour and hearsay; by survivors and by the bereaved; by refugees speaking within weeks and months of the event, to those recalling the event over a decade later. Identifying different 'stories' of the atrocity, and considering how they were shaped by time and circumstance, I discuss how a range of deponents diversely remembered the Portadown atrocity, and illuminate the tensions, inconsistencies and contradictions in their memories. By recovering part of the history of 1641 memories, I suggest that the 1641 depositions are a rich resource for memories of the rebellion but not its 'facts'.
- Subjects
IRELAND; DROWNING; MASSACRES; DEPOSITIONS; ORANGE Order; IRISH Rebellion of 1641
- Publication
Irish University Review, 2017, Vol 47, Issue 1, p15
- ISSN
0021-1427
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.3366/iur.2017.0254