The Butcher’s Column – Birr, County Offaly

The Butcher’s Column – Birr, County Offaly

Birr’s Cumberland Column, erected in 1747 to honour the Duke of Cumberland’s Culloden triumph, was once crowned with a Roman-style statue and is Ireland’s oldest pillar. Parsons and Chearnley dreamed of Gothic grandeur, but only the column stands. Become a member of...
The Butcher of Culloden

The Butcher of Culloden

Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-65), the son of George II, was in disgrace after he led his army to inglorious defeat at the battle of Fontenoy. And then, like a football manager whose luck changes, he destroyed the Scots at Culloden. His brutal...