John Colclough of Tintern Abbey, Co. Wexford, was the second son of ‘Sir’ Vasey Colclough. As his older brother was in France, John took control of the family home and lands after his fathers death in 1794 and was seen as a productive and improving landlord. His right-hand man and agent was Thomas McCord.

At the outbreak of hostilities in 1798, Colclough, McCord and their respective families fled the area, taking refuge in a teeming Duncannon Fort. Due to the overcrowding, they decided to flee the country. A ship, the sloop Sweet William of New Ross (and possibly owned by McCord), had already loaded a cargo of 200 bags of flour from the Colclough Mill on the Tintern estate. It was consigned to a buyer in Dublin. Instead, the Colclough party and others boarded the sloop and, along with the cargo, headed to Wales, arriving in Fishguard seeking sanctuary.

Tintern de Voto, Co. Wexford. Home of John Colclough.

Instead of sanctuary, however, intrigue followed. The Colclough name was also well known and represented on the rebel side. His cousin John Henry Colclough of Ballyteigue Castle, Kilmore Quay, was both a catholic and a United Irishman. He was also a leader of troops that led an attack on New Ross. Following defeat, John fled with his wife and child to Great Saltee Island.

A commemoration stone in Tintern Abbey car park.

On the 23rd June 1798, local yeomanry under Dr Richard Waddy set sail from Wexford in search of John Henry in the cutter Rutland (10 guns) under the command of Captain Willoughby. They were accompanied by a tender boat from a man-of-war containing a party of armed sailors.  Arriving off the Saltees, they went ashore and, after flogging an old man to give them information, eventually discovered their quarry, with an added bonus of the commander of the Wexfordmen, Beauchamp Bagnal Harvey. On the 24th they returned to Wexford harbour at about 9pm, but as the tide was out their prisoners were not committed to jail until the following morning. Both Colclough and Harvey were subsequently beheaded (28th June) on the bridge of Wexford.

Meanwhile, in Wales, John Colclough of Tintern found himself under suspicion. His cargo was seized, and he was imprisoned. His accuser seems to have been rival landlords of New Ross, the Tottenham family.

Another of those who had fled Ireland on the Sweet William was Samuel Elmes Jnr. Samuel was a tenant on the Colclough estate and was later married to Ann McCord. He wrote to his father (Samuel Snr) from Fishguard on 21 June 1798 via Captain Owens of Chef Point -(AKA Thomas Owens of the mail packet service then based at Cheekpoint)  to tell him that he was safe, having escaped on the sloop owned by Thomas McCord. Samuel described his leaving as follows;

 “After I heard the firing at the mountain of Fort over I went to Tintern to hear the fate of the battle where I met Mr. Thos. Mc
Cord who told me the Rebels had got the victory and advis’d to go on board his Sloop with his family. I thought it the best way tho’ being unprovid’d in the extreme having no cloths but what I had on and no more cash than a two guniea bank note”

The letters confirm that the authorities put pressure on a number of people known/related to Colclough in an attempt to prove some rebel sympathies. With no evidence forthcoming, John Colclough was released after 5 months of confinement. The sloop and cargo were another matter, however. As late as 1802, John Colclough was still approaching men of influence requesting help in getting both the sloop and its cargo released.

The Colclough Mill at Tintern was driven by water power provided by the stream. It burned in an accident in the late 1800’s.

In 1807, whilst standing for election in Wexford, John Colclough was shot in a duel with one of his political opponents, William Congreve Alcock. Alcock was a brother of John’s fiancée and a relation of the Tottenhams. He accused Colclough of tenant vote poaching (apparently because some of Alcock’s tenants preferred to vote for Colclough). Following a slap across the face with a glove, Colclough demanded satisfaction. His satisfaction was a musket ball through the heart. Two years after the duel, the victor was committed to an asylum due to failing mental health.

This blog is based on conversations with my OPW colleague Alan Ryan, guide at Tintern Abbey, the original research of Sean Cloney and Hilary Murphy and other online sources. One of which was the Elmes letters.

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