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An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 by Mary Frances Cusack

M >> Mary Frances Cusack >> An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800




The English officers and their men fled to Armagh, and shut themselves
up in the Cathedral; but they had left twenty-three officers and 1,700
rank and file dead or dying on the field. "It was a glorious victory for
the rebels," says Camden, "and of special advantage; for thereby they
got both arms and provisions, and Tyrone's name was cried up all over
Ireland." Ormonde thought that the "devil had bewitched Bagnal," to
leave his men unsupported; the Irish annalists thought that Providence
had interfered wonderfully on their behalf.[452] O'Neill retired for a
time to recruit his forces, and to rest his men; and a revolt was
organized under his auspices in Munster, with immense success. O'Donnell
was making rapid strides; but a new Viceroy was on his way to Ireland,
and it was hoped by the royalist party that he would change the aspect
of affairs.

Essex arrived on the 15th of April, 1599. He had an army of 20,000 foot
and 2,000 horse--the most powerful, if not the best equipped force ever
sent into the country. He at once issued a proclamation, offering pardon
to all the insurgents who should submit, and he despatched
reinforcements to the northern garrison towns, and to Wicklow and Naas.
He then marched southward not without encountering a sharp defeat from
Rory O'More. Be attacked the Geraldines, without much success, in Fermoy
and Lismore, having, on the whole, lost more than he had accomplished by
the expedition. An engagement took place between O'Donnell and Sir
Conyers Clifford, in the pass of Balloghboy, on the 16th of August, in
which Conyers was killed, and his army defeated. His body was recognized
by the Irish, towards whom he had always acted honorably, and they
interred the remains of their brave and noble enemy with the respect
which was justly due to him.

Essex wrote to England for more troops, and his enemies were not slow to
represent his incapacity, and to demand his recall: but he had not yet
lost grace with his royal mistress, and his request was granted. The
Viceroy now marched into the northern provinces. When he arrived at the
Lagan, where it bounds Louth and Monaghan, O'Neill appeared on the
opposite hill with his army, and sent the O'Hagan, his faithful friend
and attendant, to demand a conference. The interview took place on the
following day; and O'Neill, with chivalrous courtesy, dashed into the
river on his charger, and there conversed with the English Earl, while
he remained on the opposite bank. It was supposed that the Irish
chieftain had made a favourable impression on Essex, and that he was
disposed to conciliate the Catholics. He was obliged to go to England to
clear himself of these charges; and his subsequent arrest and execution
would excite more sympathy, had he been as amiable in his domestic
relations as he is said to have been in his public life.

Ulster enjoyed a brief period of rest under the government of its native
princes. In 1600 O'Neill proceeded southward, laying waste the lands of
the English settlers, but promoting the restoration of churches and
abbeys, and assisting the clergy and the native Irish in every possible
way. Having lost Hugh Maguire, one of his best warriors, in an
accidental engagement with St. Leger, the President of Munster, he
determined to return to Ulster. A new Viceroy had just arrived in
Ireland, and he attempted to cut off his retreat ineffectually.

O'Neill had now obtained a position of considerable importance, and one
which he appears to have used invariably for the general good. The fame
of his victories[453] had spread throughout the Continent. It was well
known now that the Irish had not accepted Protestant Reformation, and it
appeared as if there was at last some hope of permanent peace in
Ireland.

[Illustration: Interview between Essex and O'Neill]

Sir George Carew was sent over as President of Munster. He has left an
account of his exploits in the _Pacata Hibernia_, which are not much to
the credit of his humanity, but which he was pleased to consider refined
strokes of policy. The English Government not only countenanced his
acts, but gave the example of a similar line of conduct. James, son of
Gerald, Earl of Desmond, who had long been imprisoned in London, was now
sent to Ireland, and a patent, restoring his title and estates, was
forwarded to Carew, with private instructions that it should be used or
not, as might be found expedient. The people flocked with joy to meet
the heir of the ancient house, but their enthusiasm was soon turned into
contempt. He arrived on a Saturday, and on Sunday went to the Protestant
service, for he had been educated in the new religion in London. His
people were amazed; they fell on their knees, and implored him not to
desert the faith of his fathers; but he was ignorant of their language
as well as of their creed. Once this was understood, they showed how
much dearer that was to them than even the old ties of kindred, so
revered in their island; and his return from prayers was hailed by
groans and revilings. The hapless youth was found to be useless to his
employers; he was therefore taken back to London, where he died soon
after of a broken heart.

Attempts were made to assassinate O'Neill in 1601. L2,000 was offered to
any one who would capture him alive; L1,000 was offered for his head;
but none of his own people could be found to play the traitor even for
so high a stake. The "Sugane Earl" was treacherously captured about the
end of August, and was sent to London in chains, with Florence
MacCarthy. But the long-expected aid from Spain had at last arrived. The
fleet conveyed a force of 3,000 infantry, and entered the harbour of
Kinsale on the 23rd of September, under the command of Don Juan
d'Aquila. It would appear as if Spanish expeditions were not destined to
succeed on Irish soil for only part of the expedition arrived safely,
and they had the misfortune to land in the worst situation, and to
arrive after the war had ceased. The northern chieftains set out at once
to meet their allies when informed of their arrival; and O'Donnell, with
characteristic impetuosity, was the first on the road. Carew attempted
to intercept him, but despaired of coming up with "so swift-footed a
general," and left him to pursue his way unmolested.

The Lord Deputy was besieging Kinsale, and Carew joined him there. The
siege was continued through the month of November during which time
fresh reinforcements came from Spain; and on the 21st of December,
O'Neill arrived with all his force. Unfortunately, the Spanish general
had become thoroughly disgusted with the enterprise; and, although the
position of the English was such that the Lord Deputy had serious
thoughts of raising the siege, he insisted on decisive measures; and
O'Neill was obliged to surrender his opinion, which was entirely against
this line of action. A sortie was agreed upon for a certain night; but a
youth in the Irish camp, who had been in the President's service
formerly, warned him of the intended attack. This was sufficient in
itself to cause the disaster which ensued. But there were other
misfortunes. O'Neill and O'Donnell lost their way; and when they reached
the English camp at dawn, found the soldiers under arms, and prepared
for an attack. Their cavalry at once charged, and the new comers in vain
struggled to maintain their ground, and a retreat which they attempted
was turned into a total rout.

A thousand Irish were slain, and the prisoners were hanged without
mercy. The loss on the English side was but trifling. It was a fatal
blow to the Irish cause. Heavy were the hearts and bitter the thoughts
of the brave chieftains on that sad night. O'Neill no longer hoped for
the deliverance of his country; but the more sanguine O'Donnell proposed
to proceed at once to Spain, to explain their position to King Philip.
He left Ireland in a Spanish vessel three days after the battle--if
battle it can be called; and O'Neill marched rapidly back to Ulster with
Rory O'Donnell, to whom Hugh Roe had delegated the chieftaincy of
Tir-Connell.

D'Aquila, whose haughty manners had rendered him very unpopular, now
surrendered to Mountjoy, who received his submission with respect, and
treated his army honorably. According to one account, the Spaniard had
touched some English gold, and had thus been induced to desert the Irish
cause; according to other authorities, he challenged the Lord Deputy to
single combat, and wished them to decide the question at issue. In the
meantime, O'Sullivan Beare contrived to get possession of his own Castle
of Dunboy, by breaking into the wall at the dead of night, while the
Spanish garrison were asleep, and then declaring that he held the
fortress for the King of Spain, to whom he transferred his allegiance.
Don Juan offered to recover it for the English by force of arms; but the
Deputy, whose only anxiety was to get him quietly out of the country,
urged his immediate departure. He left Ireland on the 20th of February;
and the suspicions of his treachery must have had some foundation, for
he was placed under arrest as soon as he arrived in Spain.

The siege of Dunboy is one of the most famous and interesting episodes
in Irish history. The castle was deemed almost impregnable from its
situation; and every argument was used with Sir George Carew to induce
him to desist from attacking it. It was then, indeed--

"Dunboy, the proud, the strong,
The Saxon's hate and trouble long."[454]

But the Lord Deputy had resolved that it should be captured. The Lord
President considered the enterprise would be by no means difficult, for
"he declared that he would plant the ordnance without the losse of a
man; and within seven dayes after the battery was begun, bee master of
all that place."[455] There was considerable delay in the arrival of the
shipping which conveyed the ordnance, and operations did not commence
until the 6th of June. The defence of the castle was intrusted by
O'Sullivan to Richard MacGeoghegan. The chief himself was encamped with
Tyrrell in the interior of the country. The soldiers were tempted, and
the governor was tempted, but neither flinched for an instant from their
duty. The garrison only consisted of 143 fighting men, with a few pieces
of cannon. The besieging army was about 3,000 strong, and they were
amply supplied with ammunition. On the 17th of June, when the castle was
nearly shattered to pieces, its brave defenders offered to surrender if
they were allowed to depart with their arms; but the only reply
vouchsafed was to hang their messenger, and to commence an assault.

The storming party were resisted for an entire day with undaunted
bravery. Their leader was mortally wounded, and Taylor took the command.
The garrison at last retreated into a cellar into which the only access
was a narrow flight of stone steps, and where nine barrels of gunpowder
were stored. Taylor declared he would blow up the place if life were not
promised to those who surrendered. Carew refused, and retired for the
night, after placing a strong guard over the unfortunate men. The
following morning he sent cannon-ball in amongst them, and Taylor was
forced by his companions to yield without conditions. As the English
soldiers descended the steps, the wounded MacGeoghegan staggered towards
the gunpowder with a lighted candle, and was in the act of throwing it
in, when he was seized by Captain Power, and in another moment he was
massacred. Fifty-eight of those who had surrendered were hanged
immediately; a few were reserved to see if they could be induced to
betray their old companions, or to renounce their faith; but as they
"would not endeavour to merit life"[456] they were executed without
mercy. One of these prisoners was a Father Dominic Collins. He was
executed in Youghal, his native town--a most unwise proceeding; for his
fate was sure to excite double sympathy in the place where he was known,
and, consequently, to promote double disaffection.[457] O'Sullivan Beare
assigns the 31st of October as the day of his martyrdom.

The fall of Dunboy was a fatal blow to the national cause. The news soon
reached Spain. Hugh O'Donnell had been warmly received there; but the
burst of grief which his people uttered when they saw him departing from
his native land, was his death-keen, for he did not long survive his
voluntary expatriation. The war might now be considered over--at least,
until the victims recovered courage to fight once more for their own;
but the victims had to be taught how dearly they should pay for each
attempt at national independence. Captain Harvey was sent to Carberry,
"to purge the country of rebels"[458] by martial law. Wilmot was sent to
Kerry, with orders to extirpate whole districts, which arrangement is
called "settling the country," in the official document from which I
quote. On one occasion a number of wounded Irish soldiers were found,
who are described as "hurt and sick men;" they were at massacred, and
this is called putting them out of pain.[459]

Donnell O'Sullivan now found his position hopeless, and commenced his
famous retreat to Leitrim. He set out with about 1,000 people, of whom
only 400 were fighting men; the rest were servants, women, and children.
He fought all the way, and arrived at his destination with only
thirty-five followers.[460]

O'Neill now stood merely on the defensive. The land was devastated by
famine; Docwra, Governor of Derry, had planted garrisons at every
available point; and Mountjoy plundered Ulster. In August he prepared to
attack O'Neill with a large army, and, as he informs Cecil, "by the
grace of God, as near as he could, utterly to waste the country of
Tyrone." O'Neill had now retired to a fastness at the extremity of Lough
Erne, attended by his brother, Cormac Art O'Neill, and MacMahon.
Mountjoy followed him, but could not approach nearer than twelve miles;
he therefore returned to Newry. In describing this march to Cecil, he
says: "O'Hagan protested to us, that between Tullaghoge and Toome there
lay unburied 1,000 dead."

The news of O'Donnell's death had reached Ireland; and his brother
submitted to the Deputy. In 1603 Sir Garret More entered into
negotiations with O'Neill, which ended in his submitting also. The
ceremony took place at Mellifont, on the 31st of March. Queen Elizabeth
had expired, more miserably than many of the victims who had been
executed in her reign, on the 24th of March; but the news was carefully
concealed until O'Neill had made terms with the Viceroy.

Trinity College, Dublin, was founded during this reign. Sir John Perrot
had proposed to convert St. Patrick's Cathedral into an university; but
Loftus, the Protestant Archbishop, would not allow it, because,
according to Leland, "he was particularly interested in the livings of
this church, by leases and estates, which he had procured for himself
and his kinsmen." When the Deputy, whom he cordially hated, had been
withdrawn, he proposed a plan which gave him the credit of the
undertaking without any expenditure on his part. The site he selected
was in what was then called Hogges-green, now College-green; and the
place was the "scite, ambit and presinct"[461] of the Augustinian
Monastery of All Saints, which had been founded by Dermod MacMurrough,
King of Leinster, A.D. 1166. Dr. Loftus, after obtaining this grant, and
such rents as still belonged to the old Catholic monastery, endeavoured
to raise a subscription to supply the further funds still necessary to
complete the work. In this he signally failed; for those to whom he
applied excused themselves on the plea of poverty. Other funds were
therefore sought for, and easily obtained; and the revenues of some
suppressed Catholic houses in Kerry, Mayo, and Ulster, were taken to
endow and erect the Protestant University.

[Illustration: RUIN--BLACKWATER.]

[Illustration: TULLY CASTLE, COUNTY FERMANAGH.]

FOOTNOTES:

[444] _Dr. Saunders_.--He has given a full and most interesting account
of this expedition, in a letter to the Roman court. The original has
been printed by Monsignor Moran, in his _Archbishops_, a work which
every reader should possess.

[445] _Dr. Allen_.--He was a medical man, and was killed in an
engagement immediately after the arrival of the expedition.

[446] _Camp_.--Dr. Saunders' letter, Moran's _Archbishops_, p. 202.

[447] _Official_.--Lord Grey says, in his official despatch to the
Queen, dated "From the camp before Smerwick, November 12, 1580:" "I sent
streighte certeyne gentlemen to see their weapons and armouries laid
down, and to guard the munition and victual, then left, from spoil;
_then put in certeyne bandes, who streighte fell to execution. There
were 600 slayn_." After this exploit, "Grey's faith"--_Graia
fides_--became proverbial even on the Continent. Grey appears to have a
touch of the Puritan (by anticipation) in his composition, for we find
him using very unctuous language about one John Cheeke, who "so wrought
in him God's Spirit, plainlie declairing him a child of His elected;"
and he calls the Pope "a detestable shaveling." Raleigh is said to have
had the execution of this butchery; his friend, Spenser, was "not far
off," according to his own account. He has attempted to excuse his
patron, Lord Grey, but his excuse simply shows that the massacre was
reprobated by all persons not destitute of common humanity.

[448] _Castle._--The Four Masters give a detailed account of this
treachery, taken from the life of Hugh Roe O'Donnell, which was written
by one of themselves. A copy of this work, in the handwriting of Edward
O'Reilly, is still preserved in the Library of the Royal Irish Academy.

[449] _Him._--This document was written by Captain Lee, and presented to
the Queen in 1594. It is printed in _Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica_, vol.
ii. p. 91.

[450] _Deputy._--Four Masters, vol. vi. p. 1878. The State Papers
clearly prove the Deputy's guilt.

[451] _Hanged_.--It was usual to hang the Franciscans by their own cord,
or to tie them together with their cords and hurl them from the summit
of a tower or from a high rock into the sea.

[452] _Behalf_.--The Four Masters give copious details of this important
engagement, which O'Donovan has supplemented with copious notes, vol.
vi. pp.2061-2075.

[453] _Victories_.--The victory of the Blackwater was hailed with salvos
of artillery from S. Angelo. The Pope and Philip III. of Spain
corresponded with O'Neill constantly, the one about the affairs of the
Church, the other with generous offers of assistance. At one time the
Emperor sent him 22,000 crowns of gold.

[454] _Long--Dunboy and other Poems_, by T.D. Sullivan, Esq.

[455] _Place--Hibernia Pacata_, vol. ii. p. 559.

[456] _Life.--Hib. Pac_. vol. ii. p. 578.

[457] _Disaffection_.--Dr. Moran quotes a letter from Dublin, written
26th Feb., 1603, which says that he imparted great edification to the
faithful by his constancy, and that the whole city of Cork accompanied
him with its tears.

[458] _Rebels.--_Commission from the Lord Deputy to Harvey.--See the
document _in extenso, Hib, Pac_. vol ii. p. 447.

[459] _Pain.--Hib. Pac_. p. 659.

[460] _Followers_.--The father and mother of the celebrated historian,
O'Sullivan were amongst the number of those who reached Leitrim in
safety. Philip, the author, had been sent to Spain while a boy in 1602,
for his education: the whole family joined him there soon after. Dr.
O'Donovan is not correct in his genealogy. It is well known that the
real representative of the family is Murtough O'Sullivan, Esq., of
Clohina, co. Cork.

[461] _Presinct.--History of the University of Dublin_, by W.B.S.
Taylor. London, 1845.




CHAPTER XXVIII.

Accession of King James--Joy of the Irish Catholics--Their
Disappointment--Bishops, Priests, and Laity imprisoned for the
Faith--Paul V. encourages the Catholics to Constancy--Plot to entrap
O'Neill and O'Donnell--Flight of the Earls--Ulster is left to the Mercy
of the English Nation--The Plantation commences--Chichester's
Parliament, and how he obtained Members--Death of James I., and
Accession of Charles--The Hopes of the Catholics are raised again--They
offer a large sum of Money to obtain "Graces"--It is accepted, and the
"Graces" are treacherously refused--The Plantation of Connaught--How
Obedience was enforced and Resistance punished--Conspiracy to seize
Dublin--Sir Phelim O'Neill-Massacre of Island Magee.

[A.D. 1605-1642.]

Great was the joy of the Irish nation when James the First of England
and the Sixth of Scotland ascended the throne. The people supposed him
to be a Catholic in heart, and a prince in feeling. They should have
judged less favourably of one who could see his mother sacrificed
without making one real effort to avert her doom. His weakness,
obstinacy, and duplicity, helped to prepare the way for the terrible
convulsion of English society, whose origin was the great religious
schism, which, by lessening national respect for the altar, undermined
national respect for the throne.

The Irish Catholics, only too ready to rejoice in the faintest gleam of
hope, took possession of their own churches, and hoped they might
practise their religion openly. The Cathedral of Limerick was
re-dedicated by Richard Arthur, the Cathedral of Cork and Cloyne by
Robert Urigh, the Metropolitan Church of Cashel by Thomas Rachtar, the
churches of Wexford by John Coppinger. Dr. White restored himself the
churches of Clonmel, Kilkenny, and Ross, and other clergymen acted in
like manner in other places. But the most open and remarkable
manifestation of devotion to the old faith was in Cork, always famous
for its Catholicity, for the generosity of its people, and their special
devotion to literature and religion. All the Protestant Bibles and
Prayer-books were publicly and solemnly burned, the churches were
hallowed, and Smith says: "They had a person named a Legate from the
Pope [Dr. Moran, who quotes this passage, supposes him to have been a
Vicar-Apostolic], who went about in procession with a cross, and forced
people to reverence it. They buried the dead with the Catholic
ceremonies; and numbers took the sacrament to defend that religion with
their lives and fortunes."[462]

But the Catholics were soon undeceived. King James drank "to the eternal
damnation of the Papists"[463] solemnly at a public dinner, no doubt to
convince the sceptical of his Protestantism; and he divided his time
very equally between persecuting the Puritans and the Catholics, when
not occupied with his pleasures or quarrelling with his Parliament. The
Puritans, however, had the advantage; popular opinion in England was on
their side; they were sufficiently wealthy to emigrate if they pleased:
while the Catholics were not only unpopular, but hated, and utterly
impoverished by repeated fines and exactions.

James' conduct on his accession was sufficiently plain. He was
proclaimed in Dublin on the 28th September, 1605. A part of his
proclamation ran thus: "We hereby make known to our subjects in Ireland,
that no toleration shall ever be granted by us. This we do for the
purpose of cutting off all hope that any other religion shall be
allowed, save that which is consonant to the laws and statutes of this
realm." The penal statutes were renewed, and enforced with increased
severity. Several members of the Corporation and some of the principal
citizens of Dublin were sent to prison; similar outrages on religious
liberty were perpetrated at Waterford, Ross, and Limerick. In some cases
these gentlemen were only asked to attend the Protestant church once,
but they nobly refused to act against their conscience even once, though
it should procure them freedom from imprisonment, or even from death.
The Vicar-Apostolic of Waterford and Lismore wrote a detailed account of
the sufferings of the Irish nation for the faith at this period to
Cardinal Baronius. His letter is dated "Waterford, 1st of May, 1606." He
says: "There is scarcely a spot where Catholics can find a safe retreat.
The impious soldiery, by day and night, pursue the defenceless priests,
and mercilessly persecute them. Up to the present they have only
succeeded in seizing three: one is detained in Dublin prison, another in
Cork, and the third, in my opinion, is the happiest of all triumphing in
heaven with Christ our Lord; for in the excess of the fury of the
soldiery, without any further trial or accusation, having expressed
himself to be a priest, he was hanged upon the spot."

He then narrates the sufferings of the Catholic laity, many of whom he
says are reduced to "extreme poverty and misery;" "if they have any
property, they are doubly persecuted by the avaricious courtiers." But
so many have given a glorious testimony of their faith, he thinks their
enemies and persecutors have gained but little. Thus, while one party
was rejoicing in their temporal gain, the other was rejoicing in
temporal loss; and while the former were preaching liberty of conscience
as their creed, the latter were martyrs to it.

Another letter to Rome says: "2,000 florins are offered for the
discovery of a Jesuit, and 1,000 for the discovery of any other priest,
or even of the house where he lives. Whenever the servants of any of the
clergy are arrested, they are cruelly scourged with whips, until they
disclose all that they know about them. Bodies of soldiers are dispersed
throughout the country in pursuit of bandits and priests; and all that
they seize on, they have the power, by martial law, of hanging without
further trial. They enter private house, and execute whom they please,
vieing with each other in cruelty. It is difficult to define the precise
number of those who are thus put to death. All who are greedy and
spend-thrifts, seek to make a prey of the property of Catholics. No
doors, walls, no enclosures can stop them in their course. Whatever is
for profane use they profess to regard as sacred, and bear it off; and
whatever is sacred they seize on to desecrate. Silver cups are called
chalices, and gems are designated as _Agnus Deis_: and all are,
therefore, carried away. There are already in prison one bishop, one
vicar-general, some religious, very many priests, and an immense number
of the laity of every class and condition. In one city alone five of the
aldermen were thrown into prison successively, for refusing to take the
nefarious oath of allegiance, on their being nominated to the mayoralty;
in another city, no less than thirty were likewise thrust into prison at
Easter last, for having approached the holy communion in the Catholic
Church."

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Murder One closing so did we commit this crime?
Articles published by guardian.co.uk Books

Poetry Workshop creature features

For many years my local corner shop displayed a large sign in its window telling local residents to "use us or lose us!" It always looked a rather toothless threat to me. After all, if I didn't use them, what difference would it make to me if they weren't there? And surely a corner shop, one that had been there for years, would have enough customers to survive without recourse to such apocalyptic warning? But it didn't and was soon converted into flats.

This community shop was destroyed not so much by the pressures of the supermarkets or people's commuting patterns, but simply by customer apathy. It's something to think about as crime writers and readers across the world mourn the imminent passing of Maxim Jakubowski's celebrated Charing Cross Road bookshop in London, Murder One.

Apathy is a strange word to connect to a bookstore that thrives on passion. It's noticeable when you walk through the door, when you speak to the friendly, knowledgeable staff, when you look at the shelves and see the vast range of titles on offer. This isn't your regular kind of bookstore: the first time I visited spent a whole lunch break looking up and down, from floor to ceiling from table to table; it was an hour that changed my perception of both crime writing and of bookselling.

Murder One was – and for a few weeks will remain – a shop that took crime seriously. Not in the sense that it intellectualised it, or made unsubstantiated claims for its importance, but in the way that it treated crime writing with the respect it was due. With a genre that has so many off-shoots, branches and sub-genres, it took a shop of Murder One's calibre to show just how diverse, interesting and mentally stimulating crime could be – far more than the guilty pleasure I had, until then, considered it.

Thanks to judicious recommendations, enticing table displays and hours of foraging among the stacks, I discovered writers that I would never have picked up, let alone read. You could always get the latest blockbuster, but delve a little deeper and you'd find books that were not stocked anywhere else, novels that, like the perfect crime, were hidden from public view. The Martin Beck novels by Sjöwall & Wahlöö – probably my favourite sequence of novels in any genre – were introduced to me via Murder One, as were Kem Nunn, Sue Grafton, and Henning Mankell. It's also the staff of Murder One who piqued my interest in the inimitable Fred Vargas, and I can't thank them enough for the introduction.

Inclusive and without snobbery, Murder One amply demonstrated that the best bookshops are places not just of commerce, but of community; places that make feel you belong. It's the kind of store that bibliophiles dream about: well-stocked, well-staffed and shabby enough to lose days browsing within. It's just unfortunate that such shops don't have enough paying customers to keep them afloat, or that these customers visit all too infrequently – something of which I'm certainly guilty.

These kinds of shops are facing a long, bloody battle – and one which, without significant reinforcements, they are likely to lose. As we hear of the travesty of another brilliant independent going down, we'll mourn the loss, wring our hands and damn Amazon and the supermarkets and Waterstone's. Yet perhaps the most important detail we'll probably keep under wraps: the last time we actually spent any money there.

Murder One closing its doors for the final time is undoubtedly a .38 shell for independent bookshops, but whether it's body blow or a warning shot all depends upon us, the consumers. No one, no matter how iconic or established, can exist on fond memories alone: just ask Woolworths. Use these shops now, because it doesn't take a master sleuth to deduce what will happen if we don't.

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