Portadown Bridge massacre

During the Great Rebellion in Ireland (1641-49), killing of Protestant planters (settlers) by Irish rebels at Portadown Bridge, County Armagh, in November 1641. The rebels attacked a group of English and Scottish planters who had been settled by the English government on confiscated Catholic Irish lands during the Plantation of Ireland. The planters were tortured, robbed, and then taken to Portadown Bridge where they were forced into the icy River Bann to drown. The event was regarded by Protestants as justification for the further removal of Catholic lands and rights.

The roots of the massacre came from the problems of poverty and resentment caused among the Irish by the English government's policy of plantation. The Irish feared the increasing power of the Protestant Puritans in government and Parliament, and resented the rule of Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, the lord deputy of Ireland appointed by the English government.

The events on Portadown Bridge were the bloodiest of the rebellion. A pregnant woman was mutilated and drowned, and others had their feet held over hot coals to make them reveal where their money was hidden. Finally the planters were taken to the bridge at Portadown and forced to walk off it into the freezing water. Those who refused were pushed in. To ensure that they drowned, the rebels went out on boats to push any survivors back under the water again.

Following the rebellion, a royal commission was set up by the English government to look into the incident. The Puritans in Parliament exaggerated the confrontation to whip up anti-Catholic enthusiasm in England. The massacre had a long-term impact on Ireland. It acted as a source of fear for Protestants in the 17th century. The Protestant planters felt threatened by the Catholics and took steps to protect themselves. This included the further denial of lands and rights to reduce Catholic Irish power. In 1649 the massacres at the Battle of Drogheda and Battle of Wexford, committed during Cromwell's Irish campaign (1649-50) by Parliamentary forces under Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, were partly in revenge for the events at Portadown Bridge in 1641.