ArrowRock Hostel

Ballynary, Lough Arrow, Sligo. Ireland. Tel: ++353 (0)71 9666073

Chilean Visitors to ArrowRock Hostel
at the Ambrose O’Higgins Memorial, Ballynary.

O’Higgins Memorial Garden next to ArrowRock Hostel opened by the Chilean Ambassador in 1999

Ambrose O’Higgins Viceroy of Chile
& Peru Born Ballynary 1720

Cromwell led an army against the English monarchy, it resulted in King Charles I being beheaded in 1649 at the end of the civil war, Cromwell ruled as Lord Protector from 1653 until his death in 1658 he temporarily turned England into a short lived Commonwealth Republic. But his Commonwealth collapsed after his death and the royal family was restored in 1660.  He was buried in Westminster Abbey. After the Royalists returned to power, 3 years after his death they had his corpse dug up, hung in chains, beheaded and displayed on a stake, eventually ending up in a rubbish pit.

Cromwell landed at Ringsend in Dublin 1649 with his 3,000 battle hardened Ironsides. The civil war in England was over, Charles I had been executed seven months earlier. In  Ireland, however, the Roman Catholics had been in revolt since 1641 and held much of the island. They had generally taken the King's side though some had seen in England's turmoil a chance to restore Irish independence. Cromwell entered Dublin as "Lord Lieutenant and General for the Parliament of England". A fanatical Protestant, he intended to offer no quarter to papist rebels. In Ireland, he could use confiscated land to pay off debts to his troops and to the
so-called "Adventurers"  who had financed the parliamentary cause.

Most Irish remember him as the man responsible for the mass slaughter of civilians at Drogheda and Wexford and for the greatest episode of ethnic cleansing ever attempted in Ireland. Within a decade, the percentage of land possessed by Catholics born in Ireland dropped from sixty to twenty percent. He adopted a deliberate policy of crop burning and starvation, which was responsible for the majority of an estimated 600,000 deaths, some 25% of the total Irish population.

Oliver Cromwell Lord Protector
1653 to 1658

Back To our Ambrose O’Higgins Story

Getting back to Ambrose, he is referred to as Ambrosio O’Higgins in the Spanish speaking world and just a sample of his many titles give some idea of his colourful life. Don Ambrosio O'Higgins, 1st Barón de Vallenar (a town in Chile named after Ballynary), a title awarded by the King Carlos III of Spain in 1788 and 1st Marquis de Osorno, awarded by King Carlos IV of Spain in 1792.  He was also Viceroy for the King of Spain in Peru and Chile from 1796-1801.

Ambrose and his parents finally moved to live with relatives in Meath. Ambrose left Ireland for Spain as soon as he could and in 1751 emigrated to South America, and, after some time getting involved in various enterprises he finally established a postal link across the Andes between Argentina and Chile. As a reward for this he was brought into the Spanish administration and never looked back.

In 1778 Ambrose fathered Bernardo O’Higgins, Bernardo’s mother was from a well connected Spanish family but they never married and indeed Ambrose and Bernardo never met. Despite this, Ambrose paid for most of Bernardo’s education, sending him to London at 17 years of age. It is here that Bernardo became acquainted with the ideas of Liberalism & Nationalism but although he returned to Spain in 1798 it was another 4 years before he returned to Chile and yet another 8 years before he became a key player in Chile’s fight for independence.

Chile’s fight for independence went on for many years during which time one of Bernardo’s key tactical advisors was Juan McKenna (another Irish connection). Bernardo finally became First Director of a free Chile in 1817 during which time he sent armies into Peru to again drive out the Spanish.

Bernardo O’Higgins Son of Ambrose
Liberator & 1st President of Chile