Introduction:

The silver sixpences and shillings of this issue are more easily obtained at auction than the much less well preserved farthing issues. Modern fakes exist, so do make sure to buy from a reputable source. See below (Coins of Necessity: Cork) for details of the genuine coins.

Protagonists of the Great Rebellion 1641-52

It should, however, be borne in mind that there were at least five opposing parties during the rebellion, which have been described by Carlyle as follows :

• The Catholics of the Pale demanding freedom of religion
• The Old Irish Catholics demanding not just religious freedom but also full independence from Protestant England, and unable to agree with the Catholics of the English Pale
• The Ormonde Royalists of the Episcopalian and mixed creeds, strong for King
  without Covenant
• Ulster Presbyterians, strong for King and Covenant
• Michael Jones and the Commonwealth of England (Cromwell’s Parliamentarians), who wanted neither King nor covenant

Leaders from each group switched sides, and some even switched back again in order to progress personal ambition and/or to survive the pendulum of fortune of the English Civil War. Military actions in Ireland were seasonal and individual campaigns ebbed and flowed in sych with happenings in England and Scotland – hence the term War of the Three Kingdoms.

Cork in 1641

From 1641, the English had put into action a scorched earth policy to cripple the insurgents: starvation and famine were recognised throughout Europe as a brutally effective stratagem of bringing rebels to heel.

• By September 1642 England had descended into Civil War.
• The leaders of the Crown forces in Ireland realised, too late, that their tactic of scorched-earth was ultimately self-destructive. British supply ships that had previously succoured the soldiers of the Crown armies were needed back home, and the supply of munitions and victuals from Britain fell to a trickle.
• Agriculture in many regions of Ireland had been devastated, so there was little relief from that quarter.
• Essentially, the Crown army in Ireland now found themselves in the same boat as the Irish Insurgents.
• The shortage of food invariably led to outbreaks of deadly disease.

Murrough O’Brien, the Baron of Inchiquin and leader of the Munster Protestant forces described his condition as desperate in a letter to Parliament in May 1643. In reality, his forces seem to have been in a better shape than those of the other regions of Ireland, having by then taken control of most of the towns of the province of Munster. Killamock, a central Munster town located almost exactly halfway between the chief Munster Cities of Limerick and Cork, was Inchiquin’s next target.

• The capture of this town would allow the Protestant army to expand their quarters and increase their food supply.
• In 1644, the English garrison of Cork, under Lord Inchiquin, unhappy with the Royalist truce with the Irish Confederates, declared for the English Parliament, who were to remain hostile to Irish Catholic forces throughout the 1640s.

Coins of Necessity: Cork

According to Nelson this coinage was struck during the stay of Murrough O’Brien, 6th Baron & Lord Inchiquin (1618-1674), in May 1647. This infamous O’Brien leader was also known as Murrough of the Burnings – testimony to his ‘scorched earth’ policies in Munster and beyond. The City of Cork, in the 1640s was a strongly fortified town surrounded by waterways and could be supplied by sea. It was a safe haven for refugees from its surrounding rural hinterland.

Like the Lord Justices’ Money in Dublin (1642) and the Ormonde Money of 1643/44, the emergency issues of Cork were struck from pieces of silver plate. Unlike Dublin, they also produced smaller denominations from base metals.

Even after the Great Rebellion was over and Cromwell’s forces finally subjugated Ireland there was a very uneasy peace and, when Cromwell’s son resigned from the Commonwealth, Charles II was invited back to reign as King, albeit with a very strict covenant. With rumours rife of him being a secret Catholic and his likely successor James II being ‘outed’ as a practising Catholic, Ireland became engulfed in a sectarian conflict known as the Williamite Wars – an extension of a greater, European War – of which, Ireland was the last battlefield. Once again, Cork became a Protestant City of Refuge in the south of Ireland and, once again, the citizens of Cork were forced to issue ’emergency coinages’ in order to facilitate local commerce. Typically, these pieces comprise 17th C Irish traders tokens countermarked with “Corke” on the obverse.

Modern Forgeries

These are rare coins and seldom seen at auction. Sadly, they have been subject to forgery during the 20th C and collectors need to be very careful when buying coins from an unreliable source, i.e. from someone other than a reputable dealer or established auction house.

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Other Coins in this Series:

• 1646-47 Coinage of the Southern Cities of Refuge
  • Bandon (Bandon Bridge)
    • Farthing (three castles)
  • Cork
    • Shilling (octagonal)
    • Sixpence (octagonal)
    • Farthing (rectangular, Cork in double circle)
    • Farthing (rectangular, Cork in circle of pellets)
    • Cork countermarked on a copper coin
  • Kinsale
    • Farthing (chequered shield)
      • Pellet between (and after) KS within a circle of pellets / Rev: Shield
      • Similar, but dotted circle + heavier flan
  • Youghal
    • Square Farthing (Bird above YT, facing right / Rev: ship)
      • Pellet between KS and date below / Rev: galley in double circle
      • Similar but no date / Rev: galley in double dotted circle
    • Square Farthing (Bird above YT, facing left / Rev: ship)
      • No Pellet between YT
    • Square Farthing (No Bird, YT / Rev: ship)
      • Pellet between KS and date below / Rev: galley in double circle
    • Square Farthing (Branch above YT / Rev: ship)
      • Pellet between YT, within 2 pellet circles / Ship in circle of triangular pellets
    • Round Farthing (YT / fish or whale?)
      • Pellet between YT / Fish in dotted circle

Further Reading:

• Charles I (1625–1649)
  • O’Brien Coin Guide: Richmond ‘Patent’ Farthings (1625-34)
  • O’Brien Coin Guide: Maltravers ‘Patent’ Farthings (1634-36)
  • O’Brien Coin Guide: Maltravers ‘Rose’ Farthings (1636-42)
• Rebellion in Ireland
  • O’Brien Coin Guide: Introduction to the Emergency Coinages of the Great Rebellion of 1641-49
    • Timeline 1640 – Prologue to Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England 
    • Timeline 1641 – The Great Rebellion breaks out in Ireland 
    • Timeline 1642 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England 
    • Timeline 1643 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England
  • O’Brien Coin Guide: The Ormonde Money of 1643-44
    • Timeline 1644 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England
• • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: The Confederate Catholic ‘Rebel Money’ Coinage of 1642-43
    • Timeline 1645 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England
    • Timeline 1646 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England

• • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: The Ormonde Gold ‘Pistole’ of 1646

• • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: Coinage of the Cities of Refuge (Bandon 1646-49)
  • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: Coinage of the Cities of Refuge (Cork 1646-49)
  • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: Coinage of the Cities of Refuge (Kinsale 1646-49)
  • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: Coinage of the Cities of Refuge (Youghal 1646-49)
    • Timeline 1647 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England
    • Timeline 1648 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England
    • Timeline 1649 – The Great Rebellion in Ireland & Civil War in England

• Charles I Executed / The ‘Interregnum’ Begins
  • O’Brien Rare Coin Review: The Posthumous Ormonde Money of 1649
    • Timeline 1650 – The English Civil War is extended to Ireland
    • Timeline 1651 – The Cromwellian Campaign in Ireland
    • Timeline 1652 – The Cromwellian Campaign in Ireland

• • Blog Post: Monetary Crisis (1652), as Cromwell’s Irish Council limits the amount of foreign coin that can be used in a single transaction
  • Blog Post: Monetary Crisis (1652), as Cromwell’s Irish Council complains about “counterfeit and clipped English money and base Peru pieces in Ireland”
  • Blog Post – Selected Biographies of the Great Irish Rebellion & English Civil War
  • Blog Post – Economic Ruin, Land Confiscation, Transportation & More Adventurers
    • Famine & Disease in Ireland (25% of the population die)
    • Act of Settlement
    • The Civil Survey & the Down Survey
    • Trans-Plantation to Connacht, or Transportation to the West Indies