Shrule

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Shrule
Sruthair

Location

WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates:
53°31′00″N 9°04′60″W / 53.5167, -9.0833

Irish grid reference
M281523

Statistics

64 m

Population (2002)
- Town:
- Environs:

326
889

Shrule (Irish: Sruthair, also anglicised to Shruel, usage deprecated) is a village in County Mayo, Ireland. The boundary between Counties Mayo and Galway lies on the edge of the village. The Black River divides Shrule between Galway and Mayo.

The ruin of Shrule Castle, a fortification built by the Norman deBurgo family, dominates the view of the village as approached from the Galway side. The ruin is unsafe and is closed to the public.

A depiction of Shrule from the February 9, 1833 edition of the Dublin Penny Journal.

1 The massacre at Shrule
2 Religion
3 Education
4 References
5 See also

[edit] The massacre at Shrule

On February 18, 1642, during the war that followed the 1641 uprising, a large number of English Protestants, including a Dr. John Maxwell, the Protestant bishop of Killala, surrendered to Irish Catholic authorities at Castlebar on the condition that they could keep their weapons and obtain safe passage to Galway.

After staying at Shrule Castle in the company of Lord Mayo for more than a week, the group was given an escort with orders to take them 14 miles toward Galway, where other forces would assume the escort duty. After provisioning the Maxwell family with horses, Lord Mayo set out for Cong. Shortly after he left, Edmond Bourke, an Irish Catholic rebel who led the escort duty, directed his soldiers to begin killing their Protestant charges. Estimates of the dead ranged from less than 30 to as many as 65. Survivors were rescued by the local gentry and later taken to Headford by monks from Ross Errilly.

[edit] Religion

Shrule has a church, Saint Joseph's Church (Roman Catholic).

[edit] Education

Shrule has one primary school, and no second level school. Second level students usually attend Presentation College Headford, which is in Headford, County Galway, about 5 kilometers away