The legacy of Richard Street

RICHARD Street in Castlebar was named after the famous Sir Richard Bingham, who was born in 1528 and gave rise to the Bingham family who controlled vast areas of Mayo and Connaught from the late 1500s onwards, writes Tom Gillespie.

He embarked on a military career and fought in over 100 battles. He was sent by Queen Elizabeth I to quell rebellion in Ireland, which he did successfully, and was made Governor of Connaught. He defeated the O’Connors and the Bourkes of Castlebar, securing Connaught for the Crown. His job was to preserve the peace as well as plant the area with settlers from England.

Bingham appointed his brother John as Sheriff of Mayo and with the title, the Castle of Barry. It is John who is the direct ancestor of the ruling family, the Lords Lucan, who controlled the town for almost 400 years.

Richard led an eventful career, being a soldier on the continent and a respected sea commander.

He controlled the Mayo coast during the Spanish Armada. He was also accused of being involved in a plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the English throne and sentenced to be hung, drawn and quartered, but later pardoned.

Little is known of his early life, but he had embarked on a military career before turning 20, despite his small stature. He took part in Protector Somerset's Scottish expedition in 1547. A decade later, he served with the Spanish against the French at the battle of St. Quentin. In October of the following year, 1558, he took part in a naval expedition in the Western Isles in Scotland.

In the Mediterranean war against the Turks, Bingham fought under John of Austria (Don Juan de Austria) on the side of the Spaniards and Venetians. During this campaign he was engaged in efforts to save the island of Cyprus and at the crucial naval battle of Lepanto on October 7, 1571. The next two years were spent in the Low Countries, relaying intelligence to the queen's principal secretary, Lord Burghley.

In 1576 he attempted peace negotiations with Don Juan on behalf of the Estates General and, when the negotiations failed, fought valiantly for his employers at the Battle of Rijmenam. In the same year, 1578, the queen granted him an annuity of 50 marks in recognition of his military and diplomatic services.

In 1579, Bingham was sent to Ireland to aid in the suppression of the Second Desmond Rebellion.

In 1584 Bingham was appointed governor of the Irish province of Connaught, an office which led him into great controversy for the rest of his career. His brothers George and John were assistant commissioners, and he himself was knighted by Lord Deputy Perrot at Dublin Castle on July 12, 1584. But by 1586, Connaught had gone into general rebellion. At the Galway assizes early in the year Bingham presided at court, when over 70 death sentences for disloyalty to the crown were passed. Later in the year, he took Castle Cloonoan in Clare after a seven-day siege and had the O'Brien owner shot and put the garrison to the sword.

The principal agitators of the rebellion in Connaught were the MacWilliam Burke clan of Mayo. Bingham entered their territory in March, taking Castlehag in Lough Mask, and agreed to withdraw his forces only if the men of the country prosecuted the rebels.

Perrot then granted a three-month protection for the rebels, in return for pledges, and decided that the title of the MacWilliam should be abolished.

In July the Burkes rose out again with even more adherents and sent men to Ulster to engage the Scots. In a provocative move, Perrot invaded Bingham's authority by forbidding him from moving against them, and the rebel numbers doubled to 800. Bingham assembled his army at Ballinrobe in mid-July, and by the end of the month the rebel Burkes were ready to submit on the terms offered by him.

The costs of the rebellion were covered by cattle seizures and fines. Bingham confiscated parts of the Burkes' property, granting to his brother John the castle of Castle Barry in Castlebar, which had belonged to Edmund Burke, the 80-year-old leader, who had been hanged upon conviction at common law in August 1586 after being carried to the gallows on a bier. Perrot wanted an immediate peace, but Bingham insisted on good pledges, suspecting that the rebels were buying time to reap their corn. By August 26, peace had been made with all the Connaught rebels.

At the end of Bingham's first tour of duty in Connaught it was claimed that the province was so prosperous that it produced corn for the other provinces and even attracted settlers from the Pale, and that even the composition was being paid in money. By then, the governor had come to tolerate the composition, for all its faults, as an expedient means of governing once the septs had been reduced and Brehon law abolished.

In July 1587 Bingham left Ireland for service in the Netherlands, with the prospect of assuming command of England's expeditionary army at the end of the year upon the recall of the Earl of Leicester. His brother George took his place in Ireland in September.

Bingham married Sarah Heigham of Suffolk in January 1588, but left no male issue. His nephew, Sir Henry Bingham, 1st Baronet - son of George - succeeded to his estate. He died in January 1598 and is buried at Westminster Abbey.

* Read Tom Gillespie's County Town column in our print edition every Tuesday