Oliver Cromwell’s war crimes: The Sack of Wexford on this day in 1649

After the most notorious massacre in Irish history, Oliver Cromwell's siege of Wexford took place until October 11, 1649.

The Siege of Wexford took place during what was the most violent century in Ireland's history. Indeed during the 17th century, the island was one of the most violent countries in Europe. Beset by almost constant warfare historians estimate the Irish population fell by 20% between 1641 and 1652.

This short podcast, the second in the “This Week in Irish History" series from the Irish History Podcast, looks at the story of the siege of Wexford which took place in 1649. The siege began when the town was surrounded by Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army.

Cromwell had landed in Dublin in the summer of 1649 and within a few weeks, he had besieged the town of Drogheda. This ended in what is still regarded as one of the most notorious massacres in Irish history. Large numbers of soldiers, as well as civilians, were killed inside the town when Cromwellian troops forced their way into Drogheda on September 11.

Having sacked Drogheda Cromwell marched down the east coast of Ireland arriving at Wexford in early October. Inside the walls of the town, the population of Wexford was petrified, fearing what had happened at Drogheda a few weeks earlier would be repeated.

Check out this podcast to hear what happened in the following days...

* Editor's Note: This article is part of a 2019 IrishCentral series called “This Week in Irish History" from the Irish History Podcast.

Fin Dwyer is a historian, author, and creator of The Irish History Podcast. Over the last seven years, he has been creating free podcasts which makes Irish history accessible to new audiences. He has covered diverse topics from the Middle Ages to modern history. He is currently focusing on the story of the Great Hunger. With over three million individual downloads, the show is one of Ireland's most popular podcasts. You can find his podcast on iTunes.

This article was submitted to the IrishCentral contributors network by a member of the global Irish community. To become an IrishCentral contributor click here.