Battlefields›Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565
Tudor

Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565

1565
Tyrone, northern_ireland
Era
Tudor
Battle Type
Raid
Location
Tyrone, northern_ireland
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
MacDonnell Scots (Antrim/Route and Glens settlers) and, indirectly, English interests
VS
Victor
Shane O'Neill (temporarily)
Outcome
Shane O'Neill's forces routed the Antrim MacDonnells at the Battle of Glentaisie/Ballycastle (2 May 1565), killing James MacDonnell and capturing Sorley Boy MacDonnell, effectively breaking MacDonnell power in Antrim; rumours that O'Neill was in correspondence with Mary, Queen of Scots alarmed the English council, and Sir Henry Sidney remarked that 'Lucifer himself was not more puffed up with pride and ambition than O'Neill.'.
The Battle

History & Significance

Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565 was a Tudor raid, fought in the area of Tyrone, Northern Ireland in 1565. Shane O'Neill (temporarily) prevailed over MacDonnell Scots (Antrim/Route and Glens settlers) and, indirectly, English interests. Shane O'Neill's forces routed the Antrim MacDonnells at the Battle of Glentaisie/Ballycastle (2 May 1565), killing James MacDonnell and capturing Sorley Boy MacDonnell, effectively breaking MacDonnell power in Antrim; rumours that O'Neill was in correspondence with Mary, Queen of Scots alarmed the English council, and Sir Henry Sidney remarked that 'Lucifer himself was not more puffed up with pride and ambition than O'Neill.'. The precise site is not recorded in the surviving sources, so the location shown is approximate.

Approximate location. The precise site is not recorded in the surviving sources, so the marker shows the best available identification.
The ground

The ground they fought on

The site of Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565 lies on Tyrone Group, bedrock that formed in the Visean. The rock here is limestone, mudstone, sandstone and siltstone, with subordinate chert, coal and conglomerate.

Casualties & Losses
  • Sources describe the MacDonnells as 'almost annihilated' at Ballycastle/Glentaisie, with 'many of Sorley's men slain'; one secondary account gives over 700 MacDonnell dead including two of Sorley Boy's brothers, but exact contemporary figures are not established.
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Everything a full report reveals about Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565

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Overview
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Monuments
The legally protected scheduled monuments around the location, each with its period, type and significance.
Battlefields
The battles and sieges fought on this ground, mapped and set on a timeline of the wider conflict.
Roman World
Ireland was never conquered by Rome, so this traces the island's Iron Age kingdoms and its contact with the Roman world.
Historic Records
The 19th-century records of this place: valuations, Ordnance Survey memoirs and topographical accounts.
Civil War
The Civil War fighting, garrisons and recorded militaria in this area, woven into the arc of 1642 to 1651.
Geology
The bedrock beneath the site, its age and rock type, reaching back hundreds of millions of years.
Local Names
What the street and field names around here actually mean, and the history buried inside them.
Historical Maps
Ordnance Survey maps from the 1800s, layered over the location as it stands today.
Literature
The books, county histories, charters and archives that mention this place, quoted with their sources.
Legal
The protected sites nearby and the metal-detecting, access and treasure laws that apply to this ground.
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Protected heritage nearby

Scheduled Monuments near Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565

Dungannon castle, o'neill's castle. castle & house (site of)
Dungannon castle, o'neill's castle. castle & house (site of)
Scheduled monument · POST-MED · ~4.5 mi

Dungannon castle is a post-medieval fortification located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The castle served as a significant stronghold of the O'Neill dynasty, particularly during the sixteenth century when the O'Neills held considerable power in Ulster. The site represents both de…

Giant's grave. wedge tomb
Giant's grave. wedge tomb
Scheduled monument · NEO/B.A. · ~6.2 mi

Giant's Grave is a wedge tomb located near Cookstown, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. This Neolithic or Bronze Age megalithic monument consists of a stone-built chamber constructed to hold communal burials, characteristic of the wedge tomb tradition that flourished across Ireland during the late…

Ring barrow
Ring barrow
Scheduled monument · BRONZE AGE · ~7.3 mi

The Ring Barrow, Dungannon is a Bronze Age burial mound characterised by a circular earthen bank and ditch. Located in County Tyrone, the monument sits on bedrock of the Tyrone Group, a geological formation dating to the Visean period composed primarily of limestone, mudstone, sandstone and silts…

Martray fort. bivallate rath
Martray fort. bivallate rath
Scheduled monument · E.CHRIST. · ~8.1 mi

Martray fort is a bivallate rath, an early Christian fortified residence located near Dungannon in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. The monument comprises two concentric defensive earthen banks surrounding a central enclosure, a defensive arrangement typical of Irish raths dating to the early med…

Ballyclog old church. church & graveyard
Ballyclog old church. church & graveyard
Scheduled monument · POST-MED · ~8.5 mi

Ballyclog Old Church is a post-medieval ecclesiastical site comprising a church and graveyard situated near Cookstown in County Tyrone. The monument occupies bedrock of the Sherwood Sandstone Group, a geological formation of sandstone, siltstone and mudstone that dates to the Ladinian period and…

Architectural fragment
Architectural fragment
Scheduled monument · MEDIEVAL · ~8.8 mi

The Dungannon architectural fragment is a medieval stone element discovered at grid reference H7740153557 in County Tyrone. Protected as a scheduled monument by the Historic Environment Division, it survives as evidence of structured building activity during the medieval period in the Ulster regi…

Two crannogs
Scheduled monument · E.CHRIST. · ~1.4 miles
Hut platform
Scheduled monument · UNCERTAIN · ~1.7 miles
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In the same landscape

Battles near Shane O'Neill's Raid toward the Scottish Border, 1565

Battle site (Crosscavanagh)
1493
~2.2 miles away
Assassination of Matthew O'Neill, Baron Dungannon
1558
~3.5 miles away
Capture of Dungannon
1641
~4.4 miles away
Battle site (Shivey)
1068
~4.7 miles away
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