Burntollet Bridge incident - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from Burntollet bridge incident) 1969 attack in Derry, Northern Ireland

Burntollet Bridge ambush

Part of the Troubles

Date

4 January 1969

Location

Burntollet, Derry, Northern Ireland
54°56′24″N 7°12′56″W / 54.94000°N 7.21556°W / 54.94000; -7.21556

Goals

One man, one vote
Repeal of the Special Powers Act
An end to gerrymandering of electoral boundaries
Freedom of speech and assembly
Fair allocation of jobs and housing

Methods

Protesting & Marching
Mob ambush

Resulted in

People's Democracy march ambushed by Loyalists

Parties

People's Democracy & local protesters

Royal Ulster Constabulary, Loyalists,

B-Specials

Lead figures

Bernadette Devlin

Ronald Bunting

Number

400+

300
100

Casualties and losses

At least 100 injured

small amount of injuries

Location within County Londonderry

v t e The Troubles in Ireland
1960s and 1970s Battle of the Bogside/1969 riots RTÉ bombing Operation Banner Battle of St Matthew's Falls Curfew Crossmaglen bombing Scottish soldiers' killings Operation Demetrius Ballymurphy massacre Newry killings Red Lion Pub bombing McGurk's Bar bombing Balmoral showroom bombing Bloody Sunday Abercorn Restaurant bombing Donegall St bombing Battle at Springmartin Dungiven ambush Battle of Lenadoon Springhill massacre Bloody Friday Operation Motorman Claudy bombing Newry customs bombing Sanaghanroe attack Benny's Bar bombing Annie's Bar massacre Belturbet bombing Dublin bombings New Lodge Six shooting Coleraine bombings Rose & Crown Bar bombing Clogher barracks attack Dublin & Monaghan bombings Mountainview Tavern attack Bleary Darts Club shooting Strand Bar bombing Forkhill beer keg bomb Miami Showband killings Bayardo Bar attack Tullyvallen massacre October 1975 attacks Drummuckavall ambush Dublin Airport bombing Dundalk & Silverbridge attacks Central Bar bombing Reavey and O'Dowd killings Kingsmill massacre Castleblayney bombing Hillcrest Bar bombing Flagstaff Hill incident Charlemont pub attacks Store Bar shooting Chlorane Bar attack Ramble Inn attack Stag Inn attack Andersonstown incident Garryhinch ambush 1976 Balmoral bombing Jonesborough Gazelle shootdown La Mon restaurant bombing Warrenpoint ambush Dungannon land mine attack 1980s Dunmurry train bombing Lough Foyle attacks Altnaveigh landmine attack Glasdrumman ambush Divis Flats bombing Droppin Well bombing Ballygawley land mine attack Darkley killings Kesh ambush Strabane ambush Newry mortar attack Ballygawley barracks attack Birches barracks attack Clontibret invasion Loughgall ambush Remembrance Day bombing Milltown Cemetery attack Corporals killings Avenue Bar shooting Lisburn van bombing Aughanduff Lynx shootdown Ballygawley bus bombing Drumnakilly ambush Jonesborough ambush Derryard checkpoint attack 1990s Derrygorry Gazelle shootdown Downpatrick landmine attack Operation Conservation Armagh City roadside bombing Fort Victoria Proxy bombings Lough Neagh ambush Silverbridge Lynx shootdown Mullacreevie ambush Cappagh killings Craigavon mobile shop killings Glenanne barracks bombing Coagh ambush Musgrave Park Hospital bombing Craigavon Hyster killings Teebane bombing Sinn Féin Headquarters shooting Sean Graham bookmakers' shooting Clonoe ambush Cloghoge checkpoint attack Coalisland riots South Armagh sniper campaign Forensic Lab bombing James Murray's bookmakers attack Castlerock killings Cullaville occupation Battle of Newry Road Shankill Road bombing Greysteel massacre Fivemiletown ambush Crossmaglen Lynx shootdown 1994 Shankill Road killings Loughinisland massacre Killeeshil ambush Drumcree conflict Thiepval barracks bombing Coalisland attack 1997 riots Quinn brothers' killings Banbridge bombing Omagh bombing See also: The Troubles in Britain & Europe, Assassinations during the Troubles, and Loyalist feud

The Troubles
in Ireland

1960s and 1970s

1980s

1990s

Burntollet Bridge was the setting for an attack on 4 January 1969 during the first stages of the Troubles of Northern Ireland. A People's Democracy march from Belfast to Derry was attacked by Ulster loyalists whilst passing through Burntollet.

The march had been called in defiance of an appeal by Northern Ireland Prime Minister Terence O'Neill for a temporary end to protest. The Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and some Derry nationalists had advised against it. Supporters of Ian Paisley, led by Major Ronald Bunting, denounced the march as seditious and mounted counter-demonstrations along the route.

At Burntollet an Ulster loyalist crowd numbering in the region of 300, including 100 off-duty members of the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC), attacked the civil rights marchers from adjacent high ground. Stones transported in bulk from William Leslie's quarry at Legahurry were used in the assault, as well as iron bars and sticks spiked with nails. Nearby members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) did little to prevent the violence. Many of the marchers described their assailants' lack of concern about the police presence.

The violence was followed by renewed riots in Derry City. Terence O'Neill described the march as "a foolhardy and irresponsible undertaking" and said that some of the marchers and their supporters in Derry were "mere hooligans", outraging many, especially as the attackers had evaded prosecution. Loyalists celebrated the attack as a victory over Catholic "rebels".

The ambush at Burntollet irreparably damaged the credibility of the RUC.

References

Rosie Cowan and Nicholas Watt, End in sight after long march, The Guardian, 27 October 2001
Derry, the Walled City Archived 2007-10-26 at the Wayback Machine, Discover Northern Ireland, p. 7
Melaugh, Martin. "The People's Democracy March - Chronology of Main Events". CAIN. University of Ulster. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
"RTÉ Archives". rte.ie. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
Joe McAllister. "History – Burntollet". museumoffreederry.org. Archived from the original on 1 May 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
Susan McKay, Northern Protestants: An Unsettled People, Blackstaff Press, 2000, p. 315
Melaugh, Martin. "A Chronology of the Conflict 1969". CAIN. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
McEvoy, J. (2008). The Politics of Northern Ireland. Edinburgh University Press. p. 34. ISBN 9780748625017. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
^ "The People's Democracy March - Summary of Main Events". CAIN. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
Dillon, M. (2013). Stone Cold: The True Story of Michael Stone and the Milltown Massacre. Random House. ISBN 9781448185139. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
^ Egan, Bowes; McCormack, Vincent. "Burntollet: The Attack". CAIN. Retrieved 24 October 2014.
Coogan, Tim Pat (1997). The Troubles: Ireland's Ordeal 1966-1996 and the Search for Peace. Roberts Rinehart Publishers. ISBN 9781570981449. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
McCormack, Vincent (6 March 2013). "Route '68: to Burntollet and back". History Ireland. Retrieved 1 May 2015.
"Civil Rights Rioting in Northern Ireland Leaves 117 Injured" (PDF). The New York Times. New York. 19 April 1969. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
Egan, Bowes; McCormack, Vincent. "Burntollet: Some Consequences". CAIN. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
Moloney, Ed; Pollock, Andrew (1986). Paisley. Dublin: Poolbeg. p. 168. ISBN 0905169751. Retrieved 17 June 2015.
Hayes, Mark; Norris, Paul. "Policing after the Peace Process in Northern Ireland: The Continuing Dialectics Of State Coercion And Popular Consent". The Pensive Quill. Retrieved 2 January 2016.

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