The Cross Guns

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It All Began in 1798

Dating back to the 1700s the building that is now The Cross Gubs held a prominent position at a major junction. In Fact, the laneway that runs alongside The Cross Guns was, during these times, the main road between Belfast and Galway.

The building’s use changed from a mounting house, where horses were mounted and dismounted as well as cared for, to its current use as a place of hospitality during the 1700s. Those travelling from the North to West would stop to refresh both horse and self on what was then a journey that lasted for days and not the hours that it is now.

1798 is a key year in Ireland’s history and the start of the Irish Rebellion against British rule was hallmarked that year. When the disastrous Wexford rebellion of June 1798 had run its course, the badly defeated Croppies (so-called because the fighters were primarily made up of crop workers armed with pikes and other basic farm tools) retreated to Co. Meath, losing many men on the journey through militia-controlled areas. Once they reached the area of the Cross Guns, the local battle of Kingstown ensued, which saw over 400 croppies slain, with those that survived taking refuge in the fields, ditches and buildings surrounding this crossroads.

The gunfire and bloodshed that dominated the following weeks around The Cross Guns, as these men and woman were executed on sight, became engraved in local folklore and is what gave The Cross Guns its name.