Battle of Portlester

Part of Irish Confederate Wars

Date	7 August 1643
Location	Portlester, Meath Ireland
Result	Confederate Victory

Belligerents

Irish Confederates

Irish Government forces

Commanders and leaders

Owen Roe O'Neill

Lord Moore†

Strength

1,500

3,400

Casualties and losses

Light

200 dead

The Battle of Portlester took place on 7 August 1643 near the town of Ballivor, Leinster in Ireland as part of the Irish Confederate Wars. It was fought between the Ulster Army under Owen Roe O'Neill and a largely Protestant government force from Dublin under Lord Moore, with both sides proclaiming their basic loyalty to Charles I. In the battle the two armies exchanged artillery fire, during which the Protestant commander Lord Moore was killed and his army driven off giving the Confederates victory.

Following their rebellion in 1641 Irish Catholics had formed a confederation declaring their support for the King in his Civil War with the London Parliament, claiming that the authorities in Dublin had sided with the Roundheads against the King's interest in both Ireland and England. The Confederates aimed to secure concessions for the Catholic church, while many Protestant royalists regarded the Confederates as rebels who had committed a series of massacres, and at the time were as opposed to them as to the Roundheads.

During summer 1643 O'Neill's Ulster Army had moved south into Leinster following their heavy defeat at the Battle of Clones. Alongside local Confederate forces they captured a series of Protestant-garrisoned towns notably Ballybeg where they seized a large number of supplies and Protestant hostages. O'Neill was supplemented by some troops from Longford under Richard O'Farell. The plundering of the area by O'Neill's forces led to intense hostility from local Catholic inhabitants against the Ulster Army which was to become a recurring feature during the war.

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