03/11/2025
Followers of this page would have read numerous posts over the past 12 years relating to the the O'Kelly Lords of the Manor of Screen and their hugely significant role in the major wars of the 17th century. Colla O'Kelly fought at Kinsale with Mountjoy and was rewarded with vast lands, castles, and commercial enterprises. His son John fought against Cromwell and was one of the last to surrender to the Roundheads in Connacht. He had command of the fort of Jamestown on the Shannon. His sons Charles and John fought in the Williamite War, Col. Charles writing the only account of the war from an Irish combatants perpective. He wrote it in Aughrane Castle in Ballygar, shown in this photo, in the section marked as 'Towerhouse'. For info on all these men put their names in a search on this page and plenty of material will come up. Very little is known however about the only son of Colonel Charles O'Kelly, namely Captain Dennis O'Kelly, who fought in the Williamite War and had his horse shot dead from under him at the The Battle of Aughrim. He went from Aughrim to Limerick and was present at the capitulation of the city in 1691, and was there at the subsequent signing of the Treaty of Limerick. Dennis, his father Charles, and uncle John, were dismayed when the Treaty was signed, they believed the fight should have continued and better terms secured. This resentment festered at Dennis from this time on and would explode into rebellion again in the Atterbury Plot in 1722. He married Lady Mary Bellew in 1702, daughter of Walter Bellew, 2nd Baron Bellew of Bellewstown in Co. Meath. They spent some time at Aughrane but spent most of their time in England, where Dennis became heavily involved in the Jacobite cause, leading to the Atterbury Plot in 1722, which was a conspiracy led by Francis Atterbury, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Westminster, aimed at the restoration of the House of Stuart to the throne. It followed the unsuccessful Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1719, at a time when the Whig government of the new Hanoverian king was deeply unpopular. Dennis played an active part in this plot, together with his cousin George Kelly, who was one of the main leaders. Dennis was arrested as he was leaving to go over to France to update the Jacobites there about the state of affairs in England. Dennis and Lady Mary were about to take a ship which went fortnightly from London to Rouen and the customs officers found an iron trunk containing papers in the ship which were examined by the Council. Dennis was found to be carrying £4,000 to take over to France for the Pretender’s use (the 'Pretender' was James Francis Edward Stuart, 1688 – 1766, only son of James II). In his papers were found ciphers and a list of all military forces in Britain. The authorities wanted to take Lady Mary O'Kelly into custody as a regular citizen but she told them she was 'from as noble a family as his and that it was her privilege by birth to be sent to the Tower'. It was through her intervention that on 30th July Dennis was sent to the Tower of London rather than to face the horrors of Newgate. The authorities arrested the master, the entire crew, and the passengers of the ship on which the O'Kelly's were to sail and impounded the ship’s cargo. Lord Bathurst, who was related to Lady Mary, interceded on her behalf so that she and her daughter were not questioned, but ordered to stay in their lodgings, while their servants remained in custody. On the 28th May 1723 Dennis O'Kelly was bailed for the sum of £4,000 and a surety of £1,000, and released. Many of the main conspirators were charged with treason and were deprived of their estates. The Plot was later considered the greatest threat to the Hanoverians between the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. Dennis died in 1740, just 5 years before the Jacobite Rising of 1745, when Charles Edward Stuart, son of the Pretender. landed in Scotland with French and Irish support. Ending of course in defeat at The Battle of Culloden, on 16 April 1746, the first Stuart battle in over 100 years without some form of O'Kelly Lord of the Manor of Screen involvement. Dennis O'Kelly would be the last of the family to be Catholic, having left Aughrane and all the lands around Ballygar to his cousin John Kelly of Cloonlyon, who had coverted to the Established Church in 1729, (albeit his wife Lady Honora Burke, daugher of the Earl of Clanricarde, remained Catholic, search Lady Honoras road on this page). There was an impressive portrait of Captain Dennis Kelly hanging in Aughrane (Castle Kelly) at the time this photo was taken, one wonders where it ended up. It is ironic that a descendant of John Kelly's, who beared the same name as his illustrious relative Denis, would be the last of this famous line, the historical castle and the large estate having to be sold due to vast debt. This Denis was a self proclaimed 'Orangeman' who became leader of the Dublin branch of the infamous militant Anti-Catholic Group the 'Brunswickers' in 1822, exactly 100 years after his namesake was being held in the Tower of London for supporting the return of a Catholic king. This new Denis was also the only member of the Galway Grand Jury to vote against Catholic Emancipation. This will all be examined in great detail in my upcoming Masters of History Thesis, entitled: 'From Jacobites to Brunswickers - The O'Kelly Lords of the Manor of Screen', lots of excitement in the University of Galway about this one!! PC (photo courtesy of the late Patrick Kelly, a great friend, RIP)
