OBELISE DESTROYED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18458, 23 July 1923, Page 9

OBELISE DESTROYED.

THE BOYNE: MEMORIAL., .WftECKED BY LAND MINES. The obelisk at f Drogheda, which was erected in 1736 to commemorate the victory of King William 111. in' the battle of the Boyne in 1690, was blown to pieces at about three o'clock on the morning of May 31. ,■. '.. . ' , Of the. obelisk, which was 150 ft. high, nothing ; remains but its rock and even these are shattered. It is believed that they were drilled to receive three powerful land mines. No clue ,to the identity of the perpetrators of the outrage has been found, but people living in the neighbourhood declare that they noticed several strangers • loitering in the neighbourhood' of the, obelisk late at night... . ' ' - • '■ ' The great stone column was lifted from its base by the explosion and thrown on to the road leading to the bridge across the Boyne. The column was smashed and the roadway blocked with the ' wreckage. Great pieces of stone were scattered" over a radius of ' 200 yds. One piece, weighing half-a-ton, was thrown into the river-bed, and the slate which recorded the fact that the monument was erected "to.the glorious memory of King William III." was smashed. . . ':■•'•;■'■'■~ _ .':■■:' The battle commemorated by. '* King Billy's - monument," as it was known locally, was fought between the forces of William 111. 'and James 11., and resulted in the total defeat of the latter. The result was regarded as a gr,eat triumph for Protestantism, and the* monument has always bean cherished by Ulster Protestants*