07Jul-Photo Release – We made this trip after I retired and also after I had calmed down enough to travel out of work. I wasn’t too calm without a job to take up my day.
I’d been to Clonmel many times towards the end of my career and came to feel at home there. The people, as I’m sure you know, are the best on earth. The Irish have such an incredible thirst for an love of life, it’s infectious. Leaving the crazy tune life of Silicon Valley behind for two to three months at a time, may be the only reason I didn’t have to retire even sooner. The only down side was being away from Donna and the kids for so long.
The first part of this shoot shows the Hotel Minella, my home away from home. I spent almost 8 months there in 2011. I didn’t know at the time it would be my last time sent there. The owners, John Nallen and Liz Nallen-Bowen we’re so welcoming I loved staying there. When I wasn’t working or travelling around being a tourist, I was spending my time with the Nallens. They invited me to family functions, and off on daytrips with them out to John’s farm/Ranch. John also runs Minella Racing. If you have the time, take a peek at the links above. If you travel to Ireland and spend your time in the south, Clonmel is a reasonably central area with easy access to all the main travel routes. You’d be an hour and a half from Dublin, and hour from Waterford, and Cork. Two hours from Wexford and a bit more than that to Killarney. Galway is easily reachable too. You’ll not enjoy better lodgings anywhere in Ireland as far as I’m concerned.
07Jul-Photo Release – The first image show the entrance to the now world famous #7 Hurder Residence at the Hotel Minella. Note: if everyone passes this post along, it will become world famous, thus proving me correct. So everybody share. 😋There are a few images of the hotel grounds. Minella sits on the shore of the River Suir. The river provided me with the picture perfect place for my daily walks and imaging galore. The central structure in the main bldg. is the only original building on the property. John parents purchased it in the early 60s if I remember, and built it up for John and Liz to carry on. To me it’s the only five-star hotel worth its weight in repeat visits.
There are three images of our apartment #7. Oddly enough – to us – the bedrooms are on the first floor, which they refer to as the ground floor. The upstairs or first floor, holds the kitchen and living room. Two baths on the bottom floor, none up top. We did a fair amount of grumbling about the stairs.😋
07Jul-Photo Release – The last part of the shoot is of Clonmel proper Across the river and a mile away. The history of this town is remarkable. I recommend it as good reading. Find a short about it at the end of the post.
07Jul-Photo Release
Clonmel August 09, 2019
Clonmel V Cromwell
The Siege of Clonmel in May 1650 stands as Oliver Cromwell’s most devastating military setback during his conquest of Ireland, proving that even his seemingly invincible New Model Army could be outmatched by brilliant defensive tactics.
Holding the town was Hugh Dubh O’Neill, a veteran of the Thirty Years’ War, commanding an under-resourced garrison of around 1,500 Ulster troops. When Cromwell’s heavy artillery successfully breached Clonmel’s medieval northern wall, O’Neill did not try to defend the gap directly. Instead, he anticipated the English tactics and engineered a deadly trap inside the town.
Directly behind the breach, the defenders built a massive, V-shaped earthen breastwork, essentially a “coupe”, lined with hidden muskets and packed with stones and chain shot. When Cromwell ordered his elite infantry to storm the breach at dawn, they poured into the opening, only to find themselves funneled into a narrow, dead-end killing zone.
“They fell upon us like a lightning bolt, and for four hours, the breach was a slaughterhouse.” – Adapted from a Parliamentarian soldier’s account.
O’Neill’s men opened fire from the front and flanks, while hidden defenders rained stones and logs down from nearby houses. The New Model Army was shattered, losing roughly 1,500 to 2,000 men in a single afternoon. That was more casualties than Cromwell suffered in his entire Irish campaign combined.
Ultimately, Clonmel’s victory was short-lived. By nightfall, O’Neill had completely run out of ammunition. Recognizing he could no longer hold the town, he masterfully slipped his garrison across the River Suir under the cover of darkness. The town’s mayor, John White, then negotiated a peaceful surrender with Cromwell, who was entirely unaware the soldiers had fled. Though Cromwell secured the town, O’Neill’s tactical triumph at the breach forever punctured the myth of Cromwellian invincibility.
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