Battlefield

The National Monuments Service's description

The coordinates provided for this record refer to the area named 'Site of Callan Battlefield' recorded on the OS 1st ed. 6-inch map (surveyed 1841): it was named 'Callan Battlefield (Site of)' on subsequent surveys and revsions. The source of this location may be ascribed to John O'Donovan who identified the site as the English Callann, ‘about five miles eastward of Kenmare, in the parish of Kilgarvan, in the barony of Glenarough, and county of Kerry’ (AFM iii, 382, fn. u). All subsequent commentators have followed this interpretation. An assessment of the evidence does not confirm the OS position as the precise location where the battle was fought and elucidation of its true location must await further investigation.

The battle was fought on 24 July 1261 when septs of the McCarthy Mors defeated John Fitz-Thomas of the Geraldines. This battle was the first real defeat of the Anglo-Normans and, as a consequence, south Munster effectively was free of invasion for the next three hundred years (Casey 2000, 20).

Compiled by: Paul Walsh

Date of upload: 20 March 2014

References

AFM - Annála ríoghachta Éireann: Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. J. O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint Dublin 1990, de Búrca Rare Books.)