Duncannon Fort

{{Short description|Fort in County Wexford, Ireland}} {{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Use Irish English|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox military installation | name = Duncannon Fort | ensign = | native_name = Dún Canann | partof =  | location = Duncannon | nearest_town =  | country = Ireland | image = Duncannon_Fort,_Co._Wexford_-_geograph.org.uk_-_830116.jpg | alt = | caption = | image2 =  | alt2 = | caption2 = | type = | coordinates = {{coord|52.2208|N|6.9367|W|type:landmark_region:IE|display=inline,title}} | image_map = | image_mapsize = | image_map_alt = | image_map_caption = | pushpin_map = Ireland | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_alt = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_relief = | pushpin_image = | pushpin_label = | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mark = | pushpin_marksize = | ownership = Wexford County Council | operator =  | controlledby =  | open_to_public = yes | site_other_label =  | site_other =  | site_area =  | code =  | built = {{Start date|1587}} | used = {{End date|1993}} | builder = Kingdom of Ireland | materials = Old Red Sandstone | height =  | length =  | fate =  | condition = | battles = Siege of Duncannon (1645) | events = | current_commander =  | past_commanders =see Governor of Duncannon Fort | garrison =  | occupants =  | embedded = {{Infobox designation list | embed =yes | designation2 = National Monument of Ireland | designation2_offname = Duncannon | designation2_number = 668<ref>{{cite web |title=National Monuments of County Wexford in State Care |url=http://www.archaeology.ie/sites/default/files/media/pdf/monuments-in-state-care-wexford.pdf |page=1 |website=heritageireland.ie |publisher=National Monument Service |accessdate=23 November 2022}}</ref> }} }}

'''Duncannon Fort''' is a star fort and National Monument located in County Wexford, Ireland.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.fortified-places.com/duncannon/| url-status = dead| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20120724224703/http://fortified-places.com/duncannon| archive-date = 2012-07-24| title = Fortified Places > Fortresses > Duncannon Fort}} </ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZSpSsbAy0voC&q=duncannon+fort&pg=PT92|title=The Hook Peninsula: County Wexford|first=Billy|last=Colfer|date=1 January 2004|publisher=Cork University Press|isbn=9781859183786|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==Location==

Duncannon Fort is located in a strategic position on a peninsula in the eastern part of Waterford Harbour, giving access to Ireland's Three Sisters: the River Barrow, River Nore and River Suir.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j-M5CgAAQBAJ&q=duncannon+fort&pg=PA144|title=The 1641 Depositions and the Irish Rebellion|first=Annaleigh|last=Margey|date=6 October 2015|publisher=Routledge|isbn=9781317322061|via=Google Books}}</ref>

==History==

A fort was built on this site by Normans in the 12th century, and there may have been an earlier earthen fort built by Gaelic Irish.<ref name="dochara.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.dochara.com/places-to-visit/duncannon-fort/|title=Duncannon Fort|date=28 November 2008|publisher=}}</ref> The present star fort was built in 1587–88 by Queen Elizabeth I to defend Waterford from possible invasion by the Spanish Armada.

Duncannon Fort saw major military action during the Irish Confederate Wars. Commanded by the Royalist governor Laurence Esmonde, 1st Baron Esmonde, it was besieged and captured by Irish Catholic Confederation forces under Thomas Preston, 1st Viscount Tara in January–March 1645, the first time that mortars were used in Ireland. Oliver Cromwell failed to retake Duncannon in 1649, but it surrendered in 1650 after a blockade led by Henry Ireton.

In 1690, the fort hosted two kings. After the Battle of the Boyne and seeing little prospect of continuing his campaign, King James II fled to Duncannon and on 3 July sailed from there to Kinsale before departing for exile in France. Later that year, King William III stayed at the fort in September 1690 when bad weather delayed his return to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wexfordecho.ie/2015/09/16/conservation-plan-for-duncannon-fort/|title=Wexford Echo — Conservation plan for Duncannon Fort|publisher=|access-date=2016-09-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116005037/http://www.wexfordecho.ie/2015/09/16/conservation-plan-for-duncannon-fort/|archive-date=2017-11-16|url-status=dead}} </ref> The site where James' boat departed bears the name "King James' Hole."

A lighthouse was constructed in 1774 and remains in use.

The fort at Duncannon (commanded by William Fawcett) was one of the few places in County Wexford that did not fall under United Irishmen (Rebel) control during the 1798 Rebellion; the fort and town thus became a sanctuary for fleeing loyalists and troops in south Wexford and was also used as a prison and place of execution for rebels, from which it gained infamy as the Croppy Boy's site of execution in the song "The Croppy Boy." A force sent out from the fort to defend Wexford town was defeated at the Battle of Three Rocks.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.ie/regionals/newrossstandard/news/duncannon-invaded-for-military-reenactment-27497928.html|title=Duncannon invaded for military re-enactment - Independent.ie|date=9 June 2010 |publisher=}}</ref>

Duncannon continued to be used as a fort by the British Army, being handed over to the Irish National Army only to burn down in 1922 during the Irish Civil War. It was occasionally used by the FCÁ (Army Reserve) for summer camps before being given to Wexford County Council in 1993 and later opening as a museum.<ref name="dochara.com"/>

==Fort== thumb|left|Lower battery Duncannon Fort is a star fort. Along the sides were guns facing upriver and downriver. On the west end were artillery batteries facing across the entire inlet.

The landward defences had an angled redan projecting from the centre of the front, a deep ditch and a medieval wall. Primitive caponiers protect the ditch, and each counterscarp gallery had a sally port so that the garrison could enter the ditch without being seen.

A nearby hill, Windmill Hill, would offer a perfect site to bombard the fort. Recognising this, the English raised the east wall in 1606 to guard against this.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/onlineex/kinggeorge/a/003ktop00000055u042a0000.html | title=A Prospect of the Fort of Duncannon | publisher=British Library | accessdate=10 February 2020 }}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

Category:National monuments in County Wexford Category:Castles in County Wexford Category:1588 establishments in Ireland