In the Steps of the 1798 Rising
From the French landing at Kilcummin to the last stand at Ballinamuck — a long day's drive across Mayo, Sligo and Longford, in the footprints of Humbert's rebellion.
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Walk the Path of Rebellion
A self-guided journey through the Year of the French — the 1798 Rising as it unfolded across the west of Ireland.
"I have spent my life in an endeavour to break the connection with England, the source of all our political evils, and to assert the independence of my country." — Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1798
On 22 August 1798, three French warships slipped into Kilcummin Bay on the north Mayo coast and put ashore some 1,100 soldiers under General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert. Within a week Killala and Ballina had fallen, a British garrison had been routed at the "Races of Castlebar," and a short-lived Republic of Connacht had been declared. Three weeks later it was over at Ballinamuck.
This tour follows that arc across Mayo, Sligo and Longford — six places where the Rising left a mark in stone, and where it is still remembered in ceremony and in school.
The Route
All six stops on a single map, with the driving line that connects them — from Kilcummin Head on the Mayo coast to Ballinamuck in County Longford.
The Tour, Stop by Stop
Six places in driving order, following Humbert's march from the Mayo coast to Ballinamuck.
22 AUGUST 1798
Kilcummin Head
"The French are on the sea — says the Sean Bhean Bhocht."
The tour begins where the Rising began: a windswept headland on the north Mayo coast where three French frigates put Humbert's 1,100 men ashore on the afternoon of 22 August 1798. A modest memorial stone marks the spot. Stand with your back to the sea and you are looking at the country Humbert marched into.
Parking is limited; the memorial is a short walk from the laneway end.
Killala Round Tower
"A quiet town, suddenly the capital of a republic."
Humbert's first target was Killala, and it fell within hours of the landing. The 12th-century round tower — already six centuries old when the French arrived — watched the garrison surrender and the tricolour raised above the bishop's palace. For a few weeks Killala was the unlikely seat of a provisional Irish government.
The tower is freely accessible at the centre of the town.
BALLINA
Humbert Memorial
"A foreign general, a local war, remembered together."
This memorial to General Jean Joseph Amable Humbert was raised in Ballina for the centenary of the Rising in 1898. It marks not only the French commander but the march south — Killala to Ballina to Foxford to Castlebar — that electrified the countryside in the last week of August 1798.
In the town centre; easily combined with lunch in Ballina before continuing to Castlebar.
CASTLEBAR
1798 Memorial, Castlebar
"The Races of Castlebar."
On 27 August a French and Irish force of some 2,000 faced down a British and loyalist force of 6,000 outside the town — and the British broke. Their retreat was so fast and so chaotic that it passed into folklore as "the Races of Castlebar." The memorial commemorates both the victory and the Republic of Connacht that was briefly declared after it.
Short stop; the memorial is central and signposted.
Battle of Ballinamuck Visitor Centre
"Over 500 lay dead; some 200 were later hanged."
The Rising ended at Ballinamuck on 8 September 1798. Humbert's outnumbered force of roughly 2,500 was overwhelmed in less than half an hour. The French were taken prisoner and repatriated; their Irish allies faced executions and deportations. The visitor centre and Garden of Remembrance tell the story honestly — both the courage and its cost.
Check opening hours in advance; the outdoor memorial is accessible year-round.
NATIONAL SCHOOL
Bonniconlon National School
"Rebellion lives in the classrooms too."
The tour closes with something quieter: a village primary school where the Rising is taught each year, where local children carry the names of 1798 into every new generation. It is a reminder that history is not only carved into stone memorials — it is also handed down in lessons, songs, and the ordinary rituals of a community that refuses to forget.
Please respect the school's working hours; the building is best appreciated from the roadside.
Why These Places Matter
Read in sequence, the six stops make a short tragedy: Kilcummin is the landing of hope, Killala the rising, Castlebar the taste of triumph, Ballinamuck the bitter end. Humbert is remembered in bronze; Bonniconlon carries the memory forward in children's voices.
For the O'Dubhda homelands specifically, 1798 is local history. The French came ashore in the old Tír Fhiachrach, and Humbert's march south passed within sight of several of our castle sites. To follow this route is to walk the same roads our ancestors walked in that year — and to be honest about the cost.
How to Travel the Route
Allow a full day. 283 km of west-of-Ireland driving is nominally four and a half hours, but the roads are winding and the stops deserve time. Start early; stretch it across two days if you can.
Begin at Kilcummin. Starting at the landing place keeps the narrative intact. Ballinamuck, at the end, is a longer drive east — resist the temptation to reverse the order.
Check visitor-centre hours. Ballinamuck in particular has seasonal opening times. The outdoor memorials are accessible year-round.
Travel gently. Several stops are in small towns where parking is limited. The route passes through country where many of the rebels' names are still on the doors.
This is not a triumphal tour. It is a meditation on rebellion — on courage and on its price, on how far ordinary people will go when they believe the idea of freedom is worth everything.
Curated by Andrew Dowds
This tour — the route across Mayo, Sligo and Longford, the six selected stops, and the first draft of the notes at each — was put together by Andrew Dowds, a previous Taoiseach of the O'Dubhda Clan, who drove the roads himself on the Clan's behalf so that others could follow them.
The history belongs to Ireland; the tour is Andrew's gift to the Clan.
Continue Exploring
Other self-guided tours and places to visit in the O'Dubhda homelands.
A Note from the Clan
These notes are drawn from published histories of the Year of the French and from local memory in Mayo and Longford. If you visit and find something out of date — a visitor centre that has moved, a memorial that has been re-sited, a date we have wrong — please tell us.
The Clan would rather hear from you than carry an error forward. Drop us a line.
