0:00:02 > 0:00:06This programme contains scenes of Repititive Flashing Images.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09Three hundred years ago,
0:00:09 > 0:00:13this river which cuts through the heart of Ireland ran red with blood.
0:00:15 > 0:00:17BATTLE CRIES
0:00:19 > 0:00:22It was the scene of a notorious battle
0:00:22 > 0:00:25that has deeper and more violent echoes
0:00:25 > 0:00:29than any other battle in the history of the British Isles.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34Together with my historian son Dan I've come to Ireland
0:00:34 > 0:00:41to piece together the chain of events that are celebrated by some with enormous fervour every year.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46The soldiers facing each other on either side of this river
0:00:46 > 0:00:50were fighting for their country and their religion.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54I'll show how they were divided by more than just a stretch of water.
0:00:56 > 0:00:59There were so many crossing that river.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03They almost seemed to have a dam built of men standing there.
0:01:03 > 0:01:07The battle played out on this riverbank
0:01:07 > 0:01:11was the last ever between two rival kings of Britain.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14It was July 1690
0:01:14 > 0:01:16and it was the Battle of the Boyne.
0:01:34 > 0:01:36FIRE CRACKLES
0:01:41 > 0:01:45Every year in the early hours of July 12th,
0:01:45 > 0:01:52Protestants in Northern Ireland remember an event that marks a turning point in their history.
0:01:53 > 0:01:55Three centuries ago,
0:01:55 > 0:02:01smouldering religious hatred in Ireland exploded into a full-scale war.
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Its climax was a battle that was fought in Ireland,
0:02:05 > 0:02:10but decided the future of the whole of the British Isles.
0:02:18 > 0:02:2117th-century England, Scotland and Wales
0:02:21 > 0:02:24were overwhelmingly Protestant.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Less than 2% of the population was Catholic.
0:02:28 > 0:02:33But in 1685 that tiny minority began to have greater and greater influence,
0:02:33 > 0:02:38thanks to the new King, and Catholic convert, James II.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43James was a brave but humourless character.
0:02:43 > 0:02:46The Scots nicknamed him Dismal Jimmy.
0:02:46 > 0:02:50He came to the throne in his early fifties
0:02:50 > 0:02:54and zealously promoted his new-found Catholicism.
0:02:54 > 0:02:59Britain's Protestants became increasingly alarmed at their new King.
0:02:59 > 0:03:03In their minds, Catholicism meant one thing -
0:03:03 > 0:03:07domination by a foreign Pope and all the Catholic powers of Europe.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10To them there was no doubt,
0:03:10 > 0:03:15a Catholic King was a danger to the British Protestant way of life.
0:03:26 > 0:03:31At his residence here at the Palace of Whitehall, James was unperturbed.
0:03:31 > 0:03:36He continued to advance Catholicism with scant regard for the consequences.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45There was one thing that made James bearable to his Protestant subjects,
0:03:45 > 0:03:49he was getting old and he had no male heir.
0:03:49 > 0:03:55On his death, the crown would pass to his eldest daughter Mary, who was still a Protestant.
0:03:55 > 0:04:01People were ready to wait it out and see the throne revert to Mary and Protestantism
0:04:01 > 0:04:03when James finally died.
0:04:03 > 0:04:08But then in 1688 James announced a bombshell.
0:04:08 > 0:04:11His wife was pregnant.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23The baby was a boy. James had a male heir.
0:04:23 > 0:04:25Everything had changed.
0:04:25 > 0:04:29Protestant hopes of seeing Mary on the throne were shattered.
0:04:29 > 0:04:35And when they heard that the baby had been baptised and the Pope himself was his godfather,
0:04:35 > 0:04:38they knew that their future king would be raised a Catholic.
0:04:39 > 0:04:42I baptise you in the name of the Father...
0:04:43 > 0:04:45..and of the son...
0:04:48 > 0:04:52In June 1688, seven Protestant politicians sent a letter
0:04:52 > 0:04:55appealing to James's daughter Mary
0:04:55 > 0:05:02and her powerful husband William Prince of Orange, the champion of Protestant Europe.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06William was a 38-year-old Dutchman.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10He was hunchbacked, pockmarked and asthmatic.
0:05:10 > 0:05:14But he was a respected and popular military commander.
0:05:14 > 0:05:20The English invited William to intervene to stem the growth of Catholic power.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23He jumped at the chance.
0:05:23 > 0:05:30On November 5th 1688, he landed at Torbay in Devon with a force of 10,000 men,
0:05:30 > 0:05:32and he headed for London.
0:05:43 > 0:05:49Hundreds of soldiers from James's army began to defect and declared their allegiance to William.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51The men and I
0:05:51 > 0:05:54got together...
0:05:54 > 0:05:56and we...
0:05:56 > 0:05:58we talked it over.
0:05:58 > 0:06:04I thought about my family and I thought, "I want them to live in a Protestant country."
0:06:06 > 0:06:09That made the decision for me.
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Some people might call me a traitor for that but I don't see it that way.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Almost overnight, James's rule collapsed.
0:06:17 > 0:06:21With many of his troops defecting, he took to his heels and fled.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24Parliament declared that he'd abdicated
0:06:24 > 0:06:28and that his daughter Mary, William's wife, should be queen.
0:06:28 > 0:06:30But this wasn't enough for William.
0:06:30 > 0:06:32He demanded the throne for himself
0:06:32 > 0:06:36and he was offered it in this very room.
0:06:38 > 0:06:43Two months later, William and Mary were crowned King and Queen.
0:06:43 > 0:06:49The Protestants' coup d'etat had triumphed, or so it seemed.
0:06:52 > 0:06:54But James wasn't finished.
0:06:54 > 0:07:00He fled to France, to the protection of the man who represented everything William hated,
0:07:00 > 0:07:06the most powerful man in Europe, the French and very Catholic King Louis XIV.
0:07:06 > 0:07:12With Louis' backing, James believed he would have all the men and money he needed
0:07:12 > 0:07:16to recover his crown and revive Catholic hopes.
0:07:16 > 0:07:19The tug of war for the throne was about to begin,
0:07:19 > 0:07:23but the battlefield would not be in England. It would be in Ireland.
0:07:25 > 0:07:32Within 18 months, a battle between the armies of two men who had been crowned King, James and William,
0:07:32 > 0:07:37would end in a bloody climax on an Irish hillside.
0:07:40 > 0:07:46Ireland, overwhelmingly Catholic, was the back door by which James hoped to re-establish his power.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51So he landed on the southern coast of Ireland in March 1689
0:07:51 > 0:07:54and headed straight here for Dublin,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57an exiled king in search of a lost throne.
0:07:58 > 0:08:03But if he was to reclaim his crown by seizing Ireland first,
0:08:03 > 0:08:06he faced a major obstacle.
0:08:15 > 0:08:19Protestants living in northern strongholds like Londonderry
0:08:19 > 0:08:23were virulently opposed to James's Catholic ways.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27The city was one of the last places in Ireland not under his control
0:08:27 > 0:08:31and was still held by a Protestant garrison.
0:08:31 > 0:08:37In 1688, a Catholic regiment was sent to Londonderry to bring the city to heel.
0:08:37 > 0:08:42These men were Scottish Catholics, fierce warriors from the Highlands and islands,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46each one of them at least six foot tall.
0:08:46 > 0:08:52They'd even earned the nickname Redshanks because they waded through rivers in the coldest of weather.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56But as soon as they had crossed the River Foyle to enter Derry,
0:08:56 > 0:09:00a group of young apprentice boys took the law into their own hands.
0:09:00 > 0:09:06Appalled by the thought of Catholic troops entering a Protestant city, they slammed shut the city gates.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12The apprentice boys were in no doubt.
0:09:12 > 0:09:17Their faith mattered to them far more than loyalty to any king.
0:09:17 > 0:09:21A tense situation developed into a full-scale crisis.
0:09:28 > 0:09:34In April, James himself came to Derry, riding up here to this very gate.
0:09:34 > 0:09:38He ordered the Protestants inside to open the gates.
0:09:38 > 0:09:43Their response - a volley of shots killing two soldiers of his personal guard.
0:09:43 > 0:09:48He was outraged and demanded their immediate surrender.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51But back came the message, "No surrender."
0:09:51 > 0:09:57With this act of defiance, James's path to the throne of England had been blocked.
0:09:57 > 0:10:04James saw no option but to wreak his revenge, and the siege of Derry began.
0:10:08 > 0:10:12James's Catholic soldiers, known as Jacobites,
0:10:12 > 0:10:14arrived at the outskirts of Derry
0:10:14 > 0:10:18determined to bring the Protestants inside to their knees.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21James's men expected a quick and easy victory.
0:10:21 > 0:10:24We had them trapped.
0:10:24 > 0:10:31They had no escape. They were like rats. We were delighted. There was elation outside among the men.
0:10:31 > 0:10:36It's...it's a good town to siege, you know, it's a walled town.
0:10:36 > 0:10:38We knew it was just a matter of time
0:10:38 > 0:10:42if we could hold them there and put the fear of God in them.
0:10:42 > 0:10:46In those days, Derry was a walled city,
0:10:46 > 0:10:53with fortified gateways and guns on the battlements, but it had a strong natural position too.
0:10:53 > 0:10:55The city was protected
0:10:55 > 0:10:59by a great bend in the River Foyle to its east and north,
0:10:59 > 0:11:03and to the west, by a great marsh, today called the Bogside.
0:11:03 > 0:11:09The river, which flowed up here through the narrows by a small ford at Culmore
0:11:09 > 0:11:15and then out to the sea at the top of Northern Ireland, was also the city's vital supply line.
0:11:15 > 0:11:19James's besieging army took up position here, off to the west,
0:11:19 > 0:11:25and here, on the east bank, from where the city's walls were just within cannon range.
0:11:25 > 0:11:30His troops also fought to secure Windmill Hill, closer to the city walls to the south,
0:11:30 > 0:11:34the perfect place from which to bombard them.
0:11:34 > 0:11:35Fire!
0:11:44 > 0:11:49Well, for a start you didn't know how much of an effect you were having.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54You didn't know what damage you were doing, how much casualties there must be.
0:11:54 > 0:11:58You couldn't see, you just bombed and bombed and hoped for the best.
0:12:09 > 0:12:15For the Protestants inside the walls, the pain of the siege was beginning to bite.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20We didn't know what we could do. We were being pelted by cannons and...
0:12:21 > 0:12:24..we were defenceless.
0:12:24 > 0:12:28When we closed the gates, there was no going back
0:12:28 > 0:12:30and you had to see it through.
0:12:30 > 0:12:34The Protestant supplies of ammunition were exhausted,
0:12:34 > 0:12:40but their defiance was wearing down the Jacobites, who were bombarding them from outside the walls.
0:12:40 > 0:12:44We could hear them cheering and chanting
0:12:44 > 0:12:49and I was sure that must be it, they've finally given in.
0:12:49 > 0:12:51They were chanting, "No surrender."
0:12:52 > 0:12:56After a month, James had gotten nowhere.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00He needed a new strategy to bring the Protestants to their knees.
0:13:00 > 0:13:06He ordered a wooden boom to be placed across the River Foyle where it narrows at Culmore Fort.
0:13:06 > 0:13:12He was going to cut the city's supply line and starve the Protestants into submission.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22We tried to ration, we tried to cut back on things, you know,
0:13:22 > 0:13:27so that, after time, we would have enough to...to keep us going.
0:13:27 > 0:13:29I mean, people were eating candles,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32sucking on dry bones.
0:13:32 > 0:13:34But when you see your own child...
0:13:36 > 0:13:38..from looking healthy...
0:13:39 > 0:13:43..to then seeing their bones, you know...
0:13:43 > 0:13:48sticking out from everywhere because they're not getting enough food,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51in fact, because they're not getting any food.
0:13:51 > 0:13:56By the eighth week of the siege, the population had halved.
0:13:56 > 0:13:59Ravenous citizens paid sixpence for a mouse.
0:13:59 > 0:14:05Some sent out their dogs to feed off corpses, then they'd kill the dogs and ate them.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07On top of this terrible deprivation,
0:14:07 > 0:14:11the rain of fire from the Jacobite army had increased.
0:14:11 > 0:14:14New guns had been brought in from Dublin.
0:14:14 > 0:14:19The people of Derry couldn't hold out for much longer.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47As the siege ran into months,
0:14:47 > 0:14:51William, still in London, decided he simply had to try and do something
0:14:51 > 0:14:55to rescue Derry's Protestant garrison.
0:14:55 > 0:14:57So he finally sent a relief convoy.
0:14:57 > 0:15:04In the summer of 1689, three merchant ships heavily laden with supplies
0:15:04 > 0:15:10sailed up the Foyle here to Culmore and headed straight for the boom.
0:15:11 > 0:15:17The boom across the river had blocked a vital supply line for months.
0:15:17 > 0:15:20William's ships had to break through it
0:15:20 > 0:15:24if they were to save the citizens from starvation.
0:15:38 > 0:15:43The first ship hit the boom but rebounded and ran aground.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47Sailors jumped into a longboat and attacked the boom with hatchets
0:15:47 > 0:15:50while the other ships protected them.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08The boom was finally broken
0:16:08 > 0:16:12and the merchant ships could tie up at the ship quay
0:16:12 > 0:16:18and unload their precious cargo of food for the starving citizens of Derry.
0:16:19 > 0:16:23It started off as a whisper within the city walls,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26"William's made it through."
0:16:26 > 0:16:29It didn't even matter what he had brought,
0:16:29 > 0:16:31someone else was coming to help us.
0:16:31 > 0:16:34After 105 days, the siege was over.
0:16:34 > 0:16:368,000 people had perished,
0:16:36 > 0:16:40but it only reinforced the Protestants' defiance.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43When we found out that it was...
0:16:43 > 0:16:47it was all the doing of William of Orange,
0:16:47 > 0:16:51I thought, for saving our lives, I'd do anything.
0:16:51 > 0:16:54I'd do absolutely anything.
0:17:08 > 0:17:12The failure of the siege was more than a temporary setback for James.
0:17:12 > 0:17:15His plan had completely misfired.
0:17:15 > 0:17:19William saw how determined the Protestants in the North were
0:17:19 > 0:17:23and decided to cash in on their support.
0:17:23 > 0:17:28He sent an army across to Ireland, but it failed to defeat James,
0:17:28 > 0:17:33and so in June 1690 he himself set sail for Ireland,
0:17:33 > 0:17:37determined to lead his troops into battle in person.
0:17:54 > 0:17:57With him were thousands of fresh troops,
0:17:57 > 0:18:01but oddly for an army coming to defend the throne of Britain,
0:18:01 > 0:18:03surprisingly few were British.
0:18:07 > 0:18:09William wasn't convinced
0:18:09 > 0:18:13that his new subjects had the heart to fight against their former King,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16so his ranks were filled with allied troops -
0:18:16 > 0:18:20Dutch, Danish, Prussians, Finns and even some French Protestants.
0:18:20 > 0:18:24The Williamite army was an amazingly diverse array of foreign troops
0:18:24 > 0:18:28coming to Ireland to fight in a British civil war.
0:18:30 > 0:18:35William's army arrived here in Belfast Loch on June 14th 1690.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41Into this great deepwater anchorage, he brought 300 ships,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44every available vessel he could find.
0:18:44 > 0:18:46When he landed,
0:18:46 > 0:18:50he declared he was not a man to let the grass grow under his feet.
0:18:50 > 0:18:54He assembled his army ashore here and then marched them south,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58determined to meet James and his Jacobite army face to face.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02Protestant volunteers from all over Northern Ireland
0:19:02 > 0:19:06joined William on the road, swelling his army to almost 36,000 men.
0:19:07 > 0:19:11He led all of them towards Dublin, 100 miles to the south,
0:19:11 > 0:19:13where James had made his base.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32James decided the best form of defence was attack,
0:19:32 > 0:19:37so he moved his forces north from Dublin to meet William's army
0:19:37 > 0:19:39which was moving south from Belfast.
0:19:46 > 0:19:51James decided to find a spot where you could make a stand
0:19:51 > 0:19:56to defend Dublin and to keep alive the dream of a royal Catholic dynasty.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01For the last time ever, two men who had been crowned King of England
0:20:01 > 0:20:03were to meet on one battlefield...
0:20:03 > 0:20:05the River Boyne.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35The Boyne was a formidable defensive position, well chosen by James,
0:20:35 > 0:20:40a fast-flowing, wide river with hills rising up on both banks.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45The Boyne flows out to the sea here, 30 miles north of Dublin,
0:20:45 > 0:20:49and it was the last natural barrier on the way south from Belfast.
0:20:49 > 0:20:52James crossed the river here
0:20:52 > 0:20:56and pitched his camp here on the south side, where I am now.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59Here's where James's forces were.
0:20:59 > 0:21:04His battle plan was to concentrate almost his entire force of 25,000 men
0:21:04 > 0:21:10around the village of Oldbridge, five miles in from the sea,
0:21:10 > 0:21:12where the river was shallow enough to ford.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15Here on the slopes behind his infantry,
0:21:15 > 0:21:20James placed his crack Irish and French cavalry, lent by King Louis.
0:21:20 > 0:21:23There was another ford across the river,
0:21:23 > 0:21:27here at Rosnaree, four miles west of Oldbridge.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Just in case William tried to cross the Boyne here,
0:21:31 > 0:21:35James sent an attachment of 800 men to guard it.
0:21:35 > 0:21:39James was as well placed as he could have hoped.
0:21:39 > 0:21:44Now it was just a matter of waiting for William and HIS men to arrive from the North.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01On June 29th 1690,
0:22:01 > 0:22:07the international forces of William's army arrived here on the north bank of the River Boyne.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09The troops were mostly professionals,
0:22:09 > 0:22:12they were well paid and recently fed.
0:22:12 > 0:22:16He'd thought of everything that you could possibly need.
0:22:16 > 0:22:19We were well armed, we were well fed...
0:22:19 > 0:22:21there was everything.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Here on the south side of the Boyne was James's Jacobite army.
0:22:26 > 0:22:29They weren't as well-equipped as William's men.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33Some of the Irish infantry only had scythes and farm tools,
0:22:33 > 0:22:38but morale was high and they had some of the best cavalry in Europe.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42They also had one advantage that their enemy did not - the river.
0:22:44 > 0:22:51For the Williamites, crossing the Boyne under fire and keeping their gunpowder dry would be a challenge.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Like them, I'm going to attempt to cross it,
0:22:54 > 0:22:58but instead of gunpowder, I'm gonna try and keep a bag of sand dry.
0:22:58 > 0:23:00What's the bottom like, Dan?
0:23:00 > 0:23:03It's, er... pretty deep at this point.
0:23:03 > 0:23:08- It's pretty rocky underfoot, very slippery.- You're doing well.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Don't fancy doing this with people trying to shoot at me.
0:23:12 > 0:23:16Now, we've picked a place we knew was a reasonably fordable spot,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20but for thousands of troops in lines trying to get through this river,
0:23:20 > 0:23:24some of them finding that they were out of their depth,
0:23:24 > 0:23:26it would be a terrifying prospect.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30In the middle now. Water just below the shoulders.
0:23:30 > 0:23:32Well done, you're doing well.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35- Are you keeping your powder dry? - Er, just about.
0:23:35 > 0:23:40Ah, it's getting shallower now. I think I'm through the worst of it.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43The river is fordable, but I've got two advantages.
0:23:43 > 0:23:47Nobody's firing at me, and my height - I'm six foot six.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51In 1690, the average soldier would have been around five foot three.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55OK? Now, this was dry sand when I gave it to you
0:23:55 > 0:23:57and...
0:23:59 > 0:24:01Not bad.
0:24:01 > 0:24:05So it can be done in certain places.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10William knew how perilous the river-crossing would be
0:24:10 > 0:24:14and he decided to investigate the crossing points for himself.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16From where he stood,
0:24:16 > 0:24:21William can have been in no doubt James was in a very strong position.
0:24:21 > 0:24:24But then, considering what he'd just seen,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27what William did next was quite extraordinary.
0:24:27 > 0:24:31He sat down just here with his staff to have something to eat.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35We heard he had been picnicking.
0:24:35 > 0:24:40He had a picnic on the side of... on the side of the river
0:24:40 > 0:24:44and that he had been spotted in his full military outfit.
0:24:44 > 0:24:50William had a reckless habit of wearing full regalia wherever he went.
0:24:50 > 0:24:54He was quickly seen by Jacobite officers who took a shot at him.
0:24:54 > 0:24:56Who did he think he was?
0:24:56 > 0:25:00He was such an obvious target. Of course you're gonna take him out.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15News of the attack spread amongst the soldiers of the Jacobite camp.
0:25:15 > 0:25:20The word was that William was dead. They couldn't believe their luck.
0:25:20 > 0:25:26From what I heard, somebody hit him high in the body, probably in the head,
0:25:26 > 0:25:28and then he was definitely dead.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Just by chance, by complete fluke...
0:25:31 > 0:25:33..we had killed William.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37It was such a great feeling that we...
0:25:37 > 0:25:41..the chance that we wouldn't have to do this, that it was over.
0:25:48 > 0:25:51But William was not dead.
0:25:51 > 0:25:55Luckily for him, the ball had only grazed his right shoulder.
0:25:55 > 0:25:59He shrugged off the attack saying, "It could have come closer,"
0:25:59 > 0:26:03and turned his thoughts to the battle ahead.
0:26:03 > 0:26:09He summoned a council of war here at Mellifont Abbey, just north of the Boyne, to plan his strategy.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12He'd decided not to start the battle that day
0:26:12 > 0:26:16because it was Monday and William believed Mondays were unlucky.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20The battle would begin the next day, Tuesday, July 1st.
0:26:20 > 0:26:24As to what he would do, there were two main options.
0:26:24 > 0:26:29His troops are positioned here on the north bank of the River Boyne.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34Option one was to send them straight across the river here at Oldbridge,
0:26:34 > 0:26:37right into the heart of the Jacobite army.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39Daring but risky.
0:26:39 > 0:26:44The other option was to swing round to the west in a flanking movement,
0:26:44 > 0:26:47cross at the next ford along at Rosnaree
0:26:47 > 0:26:51and then attack James's exposed flank,
0:26:51 > 0:26:54and perhaps even cut off James's retreat route to Dublin.
0:26:54 > 0:26:58William decided the first crossing would be at Rosnaree.
0:27:08 > 0:27:14That night, the soldiers on both sides prepared themselves nervously for the battle ahead.
0:27:14 > 0:27:16On the march down to the Boyne,
0:27:16 > 0:27:20they had stripped the lead off everything they could find.
0:27:20 > 0:27:25Now they made campfires and melted the lead down to make bullets.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29Then they prepared cartridges,
0:27:29 > 0:27:33rolls of paper into which they poured gunpowder and the bullet.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35In the heat of battle,
0:27:35 > 0:27:39the soldiers bit the top off these cartridges to release the gunpowder.
0:27:39 > 0:27:41They literally bit the bullet.
0:27:41 > 0:27:48In the Williamite camp around Mellifont Abbey that evening, the mood was sober.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52William himself rode amongst his men with his arm in a sling,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55after that near miss earlier in the day.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59He believed his presence would encourage his men.
0:27:59 > 0:28:04He even brought a portable wooden house so he could sleep amongst them.
0:28:04 > 0:28:08As for James, on the other side of the river, it was a different story.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13His personality did not give his men confidence in his leadership.
0:28:13 > 0:28:14James?
0:28:16 > 0:28:18Who's James?
0:28:19 > 0:28:21I never saw James.
0:28:21 > 0:28:23He was nowhere to be seen.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26There was no generals to be seen either.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30It was chaotic, nobody...nobody really knew what they were doing.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45A light mist hung over the still river the next morning,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49but the Jacobite sentries there on the southern bank heard a noise,
0:28:49 > 0:28:52the sound of an army marching.
0:28:54 > 0:28:58The Williamites were heading west towards Rosnaree.
0:29:13 > 0:29:18James had placed only 800 men guarding the crossing at Rosnaree.
0:29:18 > 0:29:22On hearing that thousands of William's men were heading this way,
0:29:22 > 0:29:26James called a hurried council of war.
0:29:26 > 0:29:28He had 25,000 men at Oldbridge,
0:29:28 > 0:29:32four miles to the east of Rosnaree, guarding the crossing there.
0:29:32 > 0:29:37James made the critical decision to lead nearly two-thirds of them,
0:29:37 > 0:29:40including his most seasoned troops, the French infantry,
0:29:40 > 0:29:44from Oldbridge to Rosnaree to stop William's troops crossing there.
0:29:44 > 0:29:48The question was, would he and his men get there in time?
0:29:48 > 0:29:51The 800 Jacobites already at Rosnaree
0:29:51 > 0:29:57felt they were in a strong position to hold the crossing till reinforcements arrived.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01They had three small cannon set out on the slopes of the hills
0:30:01 > 0:30:05and they'd taken up a defensive position overlooking the river,
0:30:05 > 0:30:10guarding a small glen that was the easiest way up from the Boyne.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14The men were led by a commander with a heart of a lion, Sir Neil O'Neil.
0:30:14 > 0:30:18If they could hold off the Williamites for long enough,
0:30:18 > 0:30:24the reinforcements James had ordered from Oldbridge might be able to stop William in his tracks.
0:30:35 > 0:30:41Before 8am, William's troops arrived on that far side of the river and prepared to cross.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45Although they massively outnumbered the Jacobites up here,
0:30:45 > 0:30:49they knew that once they were in that river, they'd be sitting ducks.
0:31:05 > 0:31:09O'Neil's men up here waited for the Williamites to make the first move,
0:31:09 > 0:31:12and as soon as they saw the Protestants enter the river,
0:31:12 > 0:31:16they opened up a devastating musket and artillery barrage.
0:31:38 > 0:31:42A hundred elite troops spearheaded the attack across the river
0:31:42 > 0:31:46and they were followed by a mass of reinforcements.
0:31:46 > 0:31:50The weight of numbers pushed O'Neil's men back up into the hills.
0:32:15 > 0:32:18With no sign of any reinforcements,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21the Jacobites here were taking a hammering.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25Even so, they managed to hold up the Williamite troops for nearly an hour
0:32:25 > 0:32:29until their leader, O'Neil, was fatally wounded.
0:32:29 > 0:32:34Williamite troops then dashed across the river and up this narrow ravine.
0:32:34 > 0:32:38The important ford at Rosnaree had been taken.
0:32:57 > 0:33:00By the time the Williamites had fought their way here,
0:33:00 > 0:33:04onto the south bank of the Boyne, it was 9am.
0:33:04 > 0:33:08This is where I am. They swung round and headed east.
0:33:08 > 0:33:12Meanwhile, James and HIS infantry had been marching west.
0:33:12 > 0:33:16The two armies were heading for each other on a collision course,
0:33:16 > 0:33:19both eager to get to grips.
0:33:19 > 0:33:22But when they were less than a mile apart,
0:33:22 > 0:33:28they were stopped in their tracks by an obstacle that proved harder to cross than the Boyne itself.
0:33:28 > 0:33:34The two armies found themselves standing on opposite sides of a boggy ravine.
0:33:37 > 0:33:41Soldiers on both sides looked down into this swampy valley
0:33:41 > 0:33:45and wondered how on earth were they gonna get at each other?
0:33:45 > 0:33:51OK, Dan, you're the scout. You go and see how boggy it is down at the bottom of the ravine.
0:33:51 > 0:33:53Yeah, it's not so much the gradient.
0:33:53 > 0:33:58I don't know if we can get through the wetness at the bottom on a bike.
0:33:58 > 0:34:03- We'll see what you look like afterwards. Mind how you go.- Right.
0:34:03 > 0:34:07- Good luck.- I'll see you later, if I survive in one piece.- OK, good luck.
0:34:10 > 0:34:14The things we do for historical accuracy!
0:34:14 > 0:34:16That's quite a steep slope, that is.
0:34:16 > 0:34:20And you can imagine the two armies, one on either side,
0:34:20 > 0:34:25sending scouts down the bottom there to see what that ravine was like.
0:34:34 > 0:34:41It's not just underfoot that it's very soggy and wet, it's these trees everywhere, big thick vines.
0:34:41 > 0:34:45It would have been impossible for horses to get through here.
0:34:51 > 0:34:52Oh!
0:34:54 > 0:34:59Even if you manage to get across the valley floor,
0:34:59 > 0:35:03which is pretty boggy, you've then got to get up the other side,
0:35:03 > 0:35:08and with that vegetation, I don't think anything could get up there.
0:35:08 > 0:35:12One of the easiest ways of getting round in here
0:35:12 > 0:35:14is actually in the river itself.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18I seem to be spending a lot of time in this programme in the river.
0:35:21 > 0:35:23Here comes the man from the bog.
0:35:23 > 0:35:28Even if it wasn't for the trees and the bushes and the nettles, it is incredibly boggy and wet underfoot.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33It's about a 50-metre-wide bog between the two sides of the valley?
0:35:33 > 0:35:36The sides of the valley come down very steeply,
0:35:36 > 0:35:40then there's 20-50 metres of river and bog in the middle.
0:35:40 > 0:35:45Even if you got a few horses across, after 1,000 horses, it would be churned up even more.
0:35:45 > 0:35:49You could not have got a proper attack across the river.
0:35:49 > 0:35:51If it hadn't been for this obstacle,
0:35:51 > 0:35:55the armies might have decided the outcome of the battle then and there.
0:35:55 > 0:36:02But the frustrating reality for both sides was that it was simply impassable.
0:36:02 > 0:36:04James is pondering his next move,
0:36:04 > 0:36:09when a red-faced messenger galloped up with some devastating news.
0:36:09 > 0:36:12William himself hadn't crossed at Rosnaree
0:36:12 > 0:36:16and, worse, neither had the bulk of his army.
0:36:16 > 0:36:23In fact, William's main force of 26,000 men were now surging across the river back at Oldbridge.
0:36:24 > 0:36:27James had made a terrible blunder.
0:36:27 > 0:36:34At dawn, the Jacobite sentries at Oldbridge had thought they'd heard a whole army moving off.
0:36:34 > 0:36:40What they'd actually heard was only 10,000 men of William's army on the move.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46The rest had stayed put back here at Oldbridge.
0:36:46 > 0:36:50William's aim in sending these men to cross here at Rosnaree
0:36:50 > 0:36:52had been to split James's forces,
0:36:52 > 0:36:55and it had worked better than he could ever have hoped.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59James had diverted nearly two-thirds of his army
0:36:59 > 0:37:03to chase what turned out to be less than a third of William's.
0:37:03 > 0:37:05Back at Oldbridge,
0:37:05 > 0:37:09there were barely 5,000 Jacobite foot soldiers and 2,000 cavalry.
0:37:09 > 0:37:14These men were now outnumbered three to one by William's troops.
0:37:14 > 0:37:19And then William gave the order to attack.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24The main attack began at eight o'clock that morning
0:37:24 > 0:37:28with a massive cannon barrage on the hamlet of Oldbridge.
0:37:28 > 0:37:33William's prize troops, the crack Dutch Blue Guards,
0:37:33 > 0:37:37were ordered to get ready to cross the river when the tides were right.
0:37:46 > 0:37:51Finally, at 10am, the river was low enough for the Dutch to form,
0:37:51 > 0:37:54and William gave out the order to cross.
0:37:55 > 0:38:00This is where they waded in, at the ford on the big Oldbridge bend,
0:38:00 > 0:38:04straight at the Jacobite defenders in the village the other side.
0:38:07 > 0:38:09They went in eight abreast,
0:38:09 > 0:38:13with their muskets held high above their heads.
0:38:13 > 0:38:18Everything depended on keeping their weapons and their powder dry.
0:38:18 > 0:38:24They went into the water, determined to force their way ashore and form a bridgehead the other side.
0:38:44 > 0:38:49It's funny, it seemed as if, because so many of us stepped in,
0:38:49 > 0:38:51it was as if the water stopped.
0:38:54 > 0:38:59You just look ahead and you think about what you've got to do,
0:38:59 > 0:39:04get across, keep yourself dry as much as possible
0:39:04 > 0:39:06and get ready to fight.
0:39:16 > 0:39:19Most of the Dutch made it across,
0:39:19 > 0:39:23but then the Jacobites resisted fiercely, fighting hand to hand.
0:40:06 > 0:40:10So I just tried to aim as straight as I could
0:40:10 > 0:40:13and shoot as clear as I could, reload as quickly as I could
0:40:13 > 0:40:16and shoot again and keep doing that.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20The men themselves were terrified, absolutely terrified.
0:40:20 > 0:40:22You could see it in their eyes.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56I'd never seen anything like this.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59It...it was horrible.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08And the noise was just deafening,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11matchlocks blowing in your ear.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55In the end, the attack proved too much for the Irish infantry
0:41:55 > 0:41:59who quit their positions and fled to the high ground above Oldbridge,
0:41:59 > 0:42:04giving the Williamites a vital foothold here on the southern banks of the Boyne.
0:42:04 > 0:42:09But then the Jacobites hit back with their most effective weapon.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14Irish horsemen were strengthened by elite French cavalry,
0:42:14 > 0:42:17loaned to James by Louis XIV.
0:42:17 > 0:42:21These men were some of the finest fighters of the whole of Europe.
0:42:24 > 0:42:26With swords and pistols drawn,
0:42:26 > 0:42:30they charged down this slope onto the exhausted Williamites.
0:42:33 > 0:42:39If the Jacobite cavalry could drive William's forces back into the river,
0:42:39 > 0:42:42victory would be theirs.
0:42:42 > 0:42:45It must have been terrifying for William's infantry
0:42:45 > 0:42:49with James's cavalry streaming down this hill towards them.
0:42:49 > 0:42:53They had these, muskets they could fire two or three times a minute.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55They took a long time to reload.
0:42:55 > 0:42:59When the cavalry were bearing down upon them, they weren't much use.
0:43:04 > 0:43:10To stop the cavalry simply crushing through the infantry, one man in five carried one of these,
0:43:10 > 0:43:14a 16½-foot-long wooden pole with a sharpened metal tip called a pike.
0:43:14 > 0:43:20These weapons caused mayhem amongst the cavalry and forced the horses to swerve away.
0:43:26 > 0:43:30To see the horses galloping towards you
0:43:30 > 0:43:31and the...
0:43:31 > 0:43:36the smash of them hitting the front ranks of our army
0:43:36 > 0:43:41was a...a noise I... I don't think I'll ever forget.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52Looking across the Boyne from the northern bank through his telescope,
0:43:52 > 0:43:58William could see his Dutch guards being repeatedly charged by the Jacobite cavalry on the other side.
0:43:58 > 0:44:02He was heard to lament about what he called his "poor guards"
0:44:02 > 0:44:06and he realised that the pressure simply had to be taken off them.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09He ordered a second crossing of the Boyne.
0:44:09 > 0:44:13To widen his front, he ordered it not to be here at Oldbridge,
0:44:13 > 0:44:17but several hundred yards downstream just here.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19And this time,
0:44:19 > 0:44:25it was the Protestant French, the Protestant Irish and the English infantry who plunged into the river.
0:44:39 > 0:44:43Again, the Jacobite cavalry charged with renewed ferocity.
0:44:43 > 0:44:49The Williamite troops had been struggling across this ford, but were thrown back into the river.
0:44:49 > 0:44:55The fight hung in the balance. They watched as their general rode in and tried to rally the troops.
0:44:55 > 0:45:01He roared his encouragement, but he was hit by three sabre cuts to the head and a musket ball in the neck.
0:45:01 > 0:45:03He died instantly.
0:45:08 > 0:45:13It was now 11 o'clock and the battle had been raging for three hours.
0:45:13 > 0:45:16Getting yet another line of troops across
0:45:16 > 0:45:19would stretch James's cavalry even further
0:45:19 > 0:45:21and might just break their defence.
0:45:21 > 0:45:25William turned to the commander of his Danish troops
0:45:25 > 0:45:29and told him to make a third crossing with a total of 12,000 men
0:45:29 > 0:45:34a few hundreds yards down from where that second crossing had been.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36This was a far trickier crossing,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39made even more perilous by the rising tide.
0:45:39 > 0:45:45By the time the Royal Danish guards entered the river, the water was up to their armpits or their necks.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49Some of them had to swim across. It was touch and go.
0:45:49 > 0:45:51If they made it to the other side,
0:45:51 > 0:45:55they had a steep hill to climb and face the Jacobite cavalry.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57They waited for the water to go low
0:45:57 > 0:46:02and then slowly but surely, one by one, they...they began to cross.
0:46:05 > 0:46:08We immediately started to fire at them.
0:46:10 > 0:46:14And we picked them off because they had no defence.
0:46:14 > 0:46:16And that held them off for a while.
0:46:16 > 0:46:22We thought, "Jesus, if we could do this all day, they'll never get across."
0:46:31 > 0:46:35But slowly but surely, there were so many crossing over that river,
0:46:35 > 0:46:39they almost seemed to have a dam built of men standing there,
0:46:39 > 0:46:44holding back the force of the water while the others crossed.
0:46:50 > 0:46:56There was too many. The bodies were just washed away immediately and there was another man.
0:46:56 > 0:47:00We couldn't load quick enough and they got closer and closer.
0:47:19 > 0:47:24As the Williamite infantry pushed through Oldbridge and into that field down there,
0:47:24 > 0:47:29the Jacobite cavalry attacked them time and time again.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33The Jacobite cavalry took terrible casualties
0:47:33 > 0:47:35both from the infantry fire
0:47:35 > 0:47:39and from the cannon on the far bank of the Boyne.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46And then to see these big horses,
0:47:46 > 0:47:50hear the ground shake behind you as they're coming behind you...
0:47:50 > 0:47:54They just charged down from that hill through the advancing troops.
0:47:54 > 0:47:58They'd turn around and go straight back up and come straight back
0:47:58 > 0:48:04and do it again and again and again, and nothing stopped them. They were a sight to see, I tell you.
0:48:13 > 0:48:17In one attack, of sixty horsemen who charged, only six survived.
0:48:43 > 0:48:47In spite of this, the fact was that after four hours of fierce fighting,
0:48:47 > 0:48:51William's original plan had stalled.
0:48:51 > 0:48:56The Jacobites still had his men pinned down on this southern riverbank.
0:48:56 > 0:48:59It was a knife-edge moment for William
0:48:59 > 0:49:03as he saw his bridgeheads held up by constant cavalry charges.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Now he decided to make one last throw.
0:49:07 > 0:49:10He'd take on their horsemen with his own.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12He hoped this final crossing,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16further downstream than the other three crossings,
0:49:16 > 0:49:19would spread the Jacobite line to breaking point.
0:49:19 > 0:49:23This time, he would lead the crossing himself.
0:49:24 > 0:49:31Just after noon William led his Dutch, Danish and English cavalry down to the riverside.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34He'd chosen the most difficult place yet to cross,
0:49:34 > 0:49:37where the banks were deep and muddy.
0:49:39 > 0:49:42It was to be a tough ordeal
0:49:42 > 0:49:45for such a slight asthmatic man carrying a shoulder wound.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48William was an accomplished horseman,
0:49:48 > 0:49:52but getting across the Boyne proved too much for him.
0:50:02 > 0:50:06The King's horse got stuck in the mud.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10In the effort of trying to escape, William got an asthma attack.
0:50:10 > 0:50:13One of his soldiers, a big man from Enniskillen,
0:50:13 > 0:50:17saw the King was in trouble, waded over, put him over his shoulder
0:50:17 > 0:50:21and carried him to safety on the south side of the river.
0:50:23 > 0:50:282,000 cavalrymen struggled across the river with William.
0:50:30 > 0:50:34He now had almost his entire army on the southern bank,
0:50:34 > 0:50:38fighting the Jacobites along a front a mile and a half long.
0:50:38 > 0:50:42At last, William's superior numbers were beginning to tell,
0:50:42 > 0:50:47and James's horsemen were now severely overstretched.
0:51:07 > 0:51:11For all their bravery, the Jacobites were heavily outnumbered
0:51:11 > 0:51:15and, by early afternoon, they were worn down by the relentless attacks.
0:51:15 > 0:51:21Their only chance now was to make a stand on some high ground, the hill at Donore.
0:51:23 > 0:51:27You'd run for two miles and then you'd get to the bottom of the hill
0:51:27 > 0:51:29and you'd have to run up the hill.
0:51:29 > 0:51:32I thought my heart was going to burst.
0:51:32 > 0:51:36Today nothing remains in the village of Donore,
0:51:36 > 0:51:40apart from the ruined church and burial ground on top of the hill.
0:51:41 > 0:51:45The beleaguered Jacobites ran up this hill,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48desperate to reach the safety of the churchyard,
0:51:48 > 0:51:51with the Williamite soldiers hot on their heels.
0:52:06 > 0:52:08In the middle of the afternoon,
0:52:08 > 0:52:13around the walls of this church, a Jacobite force took shelter,
0:52:13 > 0:52:17determined to make one last attempt to hold back the Williamite tide.
0:52:20 > 0:52:25Some of the bloodiest hand-to-hand fighting of the day took place here.
0:52:25 > 0:52:29William's men knew they needed to take the high ground
0:52:29 > 0:52:32and they moved forward on three sides.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36With so many men in such close proximity firing their muskets,
0:52:36 > 0:52:38there was a total melee.
0:52:38 > 0:52:40In the confusion and dense smoke,
0:52:40 > 0:52:44it was difficult to tell friend from foe.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34One Protestant soldier from Enniskillen was enraged
0:53:34 > 0:53:38when he saw 30 of his comrades cut to pieces by Jacobite fire.
0:53:38 > 0:53:42He took out his pistol and pointed it at the nearest soldier.
0:53:42 > 0:53:48Just in time, he realised that that soldier was none other than King William himself.
0:53:48 > 0:53:49He lowered his weapon.
0:54:30 > 0:54:33It was now late afternoon
0:54:33 > 0:54:39and, exhausted by eight hours of fighting in which they'd been constantly in the front line,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42the Jacobites up on this hill could hold out no longer.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44They were surrounded on three sides,
0:54:44 > 0:54:47there was no sign of any reinforcement
0:54:47 > 0:54:51and, in the end, all their resourcefulness and courage
0:54:51 > 0:54:55simply couldn't hold off the tenacity of William's assault.
0:54:55 > 0:54:58Their only option was to retreat.
0:54:58 > 0:55:01The Battle of the Boyne was over.
0:55:01 > 0:55:07King William had fought up here alongside his men till the battle was won.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10King James was still nowhere to be seen.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19It's one of the mysteries of this battle
0:55:19 > 0:55:23why James, who'd left Oldbridge earlier that morning,
0:55:23 > 0:55:26stayed at that ravine three miles away over there.
0:55:26 > 0:55:33He remained there all day, in spite of the fact that the battle was actually raging over here for hours.
0:55:33 > 0:55:37This extraordinary decision may well have cost James the battle
0:55:37 > 0:55:39because without those extra men,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43the plight of his army here at Donore had been hopeless.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47All he could do now was join what soon became a shambolic rout.
0:55:53 > 0:55:57The flight of the Jacobites was a pitiable end to a sorry day.
0:55:57 > 0:56:02As the terrified Catholic army sped down this road towards Dublin,
0:56:02 > 0:56:06they heard a rumour that their fearless leader James
0:56:06 > 0:56:11was miles ahead of them in an unsightly attempt to get to safety.
0:56:14 > 0:56:18Anything that weighed you down you got rid of.
0:56:19 > 0:56:24I saw men throwing their boots away because they thought they could run quicker.
0:56:27 > 0:56:31There was no sense any more of us being an army in any way.
0:56:31 > 0:56:33At this stage, it was just men...
0:56:33 > 0:56:36just men running for their lives, getting away.
0:56:39 > 0:56:41We weren't an army.
0:56:42 > 0:56:44We were fools.
0:56:48 > 0:56:52The fighting between the Williamites and the Jacobites
0:56:52 > 0:56:55rumbled on for nearly another year in Ireland,
0:56:55 > 0:56:57but after the Battle of the Boyne,
0:56:57 > 0:57:01it wasn't a matter of whether the Protestants would win, but when.
0:57:01 > 0:57:06The Irish Catholics who had fought for James II blamed him for their downfall,
0:57:06 > 0:57:11and they gave him the nickname Seamus a Chaca, James The Shit.
0:57:12 > 0:57:14FLUTE BAND PLAYS
0:57:16 > 0:57:20The memory of the Battle of the Boyne lives on to this day.
0:57:21 > 0:57:28James, Britain's last-ever Catholic King, died all but forgotten in France 11 years later,
0:57:28 > 0:57:30but William's legacy remains.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34Until the South broke away in 1921,
0:57:34 > 0:57:39the whole of Ireland stayed under Protestant British control.
0:57:39 > 0:57:46To this day, Protestant Orangemen celebrate William's victory over the Catholics.
0:57:47 > 0:57:51The echoes of those 12 hours in the summer of 1690
0:57:51 > 0:57:55still resound as loudly as the Lambeg drum.
0:57:58 > 0:58:02You can visit a living history encampment in Armagh this weekend
0:58:03 > 0:58:07to find out more about life in Ireland during the Jacobite war.
0:58:07 > 0:58:11For details about this and other events in your area,
0:58:11 > 0:58:15why not visit bbc.co.uk/history?
0:58:23 > 0:58:26The last major land battle fought in the British Isles
0:58:26 > 0:58:29was set in Scotland 250 years ago.
0:58:29 > 0:58:31In the next programme,
0:58:31 > 0:58:34we find out how an army of mainly Scottish clansmen
0:58:34 > 0:58:37rebelled against the British government.
0:58:37 > 0:58:43The Battle of Culloden was not only the last military rebellion in this country,
0:58:43 > 0:58:47its aftermath signalled the end of an entire way of life.