Excavations could soon start in Belgium to find the skeletal remains of 17th Century Irish Earl Patrick Sarsfield.
Sarsfield was the 1st Earl of Lucan and was literally a giant of his age, measuring an estimated 6’ 6”, and famously led the resistance of Irish Catholics in Limerick against England’s King William III.
Historians say he prevented the total destruction of the city – which has named a bridge, a bank and a square in his honour – before he fled to France with King James Stuart II after the 1690 Battle of the Boyne.
In France, Sarsfield became Field Marshal of the army of King Louis XIV and died fighting in 1693 during the battle of Landen-Neerwinden and is buried in Huy, Belgium.
His exact burial location has been a mystery for hundreds of years but Loic Guyon, the Honorary Consul of France to Ireland, launched an extraordinary project in 2020 to find his resting place.
Loic found a first mention of the death of Earl Lucan Sarsfield in a document of August 13, 1693, that specified that he died from his injuries in Huy “where he had been taken”.
Loic said: “His death would be approximately between August 3 and 11, 1693.
“French officers were buried in the Saint-Martin Church and there is also mention of two anonymous French officers.”
He believes Sarsfield was buried in the grounds of the old Saint-Martin church, which is to be an abandoned housing area, and has pinpointed the grave site at 21 Avenue des Fossés.
The entire avenue was recently bought by the authorities of Huy to transform it into a future administrative centre – so they have agreed first to carry out an archaeological dig of the site.
Loic said “it is a sign of fate” and added that Sarsfield “was particularly tall for the time, but that would only be a clue, so we needed DNA.”
To get the DNA, he mapped the Sarsfield family tree to trace his descendants and found Timothy Sarsfield in Cork whose DNA has been provided to allow genetic matching.
Loic said: “Thanks to the Irish subsidiary of the International Society of Genetic Genealogy, we were able to have this sample analysed by the American company FTDNA.”
He explained to the Irish Mirror: “I launched the Sarsfield Homecoming Project back in November 2020 with the aim of locating the remains of Patrick Sarsfield and bringing them back to Ireland.
“My interest in Patrick Sarsfield stems from the Limerick Bastille Day Wild Geese Festival, which I launched in July 2019 to commemorate the Flight of the Wild Geesse and celebrate the longstanding friendship between Ireland and France.
“Over the past 15 months, I carried out extensive research to find out in what circumstances Sarsfield died and where he was buried.
“There are many versions of his death, of the date when he died and of where he was buried.
“The city of Huy sent me a number of useful documents and I also received the help of the French Ministry of Defense that gave me access to some of their archives.
“I believe I have located the exact location where Sarsfield was buried.
“With the help of the local authorities of Huy, we will be carrying out an archeological dig next year.”
He added: “In relation to the DNA side of the project, in 2021, I was approached by descendants of the Sarsfields of Cork.
“They provided me with important genealogical information thanks to which I was able to produce the first family tree of the various branches of the Sarsfield family.
“These are the Sarsfields of Lucan, to which Patrick Sarsfield belonged, and the Sarsfields of Cork and Killmalock.
“Patrick Sarsfield and Thimoty Sarsfield of Cork had a common ancestor who lived in the 14th century, a certain David de Sarsfield.
“This meant that both Timothy and Patrick Sarsfield carry the same Y chromosome, which is transmitted generation after generation from father to son.
“Timothy’s DNA will enable us to ascertain whether the remains we find in Huy are indeed those of Patrick Sarsfield.”
Agreement has already been reached that if the remains in Huy are that of Sarsfield, then he will be repatriated to Limerick with the support of Limerick Civil Trust director David O'Brien.
Limerick’s new mayor Cllr Francis Foley has worked with Loic on the exciting project and told the Irish Mirror that the “plan is to repatriate the remains to Limerick”.
Limerick County Museum curator Dr Matthew Potter believes the repatriation could spark to a tourism boost, similar to that enjoyed in Leicester when England’s King Richard III’s remains were discovered under a car park in 2012.
He told the Irish Mirror: “It also reminds me of the excavation [in 2020] in Valladolid in Spain for the remains of Red Hugh O'Donnell.
“A great deal can be discovered in excavations, such as finding the Pharaohs in Egypt.
“Richard III was said to have a hunch and the excavation confirmed that.
That dig created interest for Leicester and the same could happen for Limerick.”
Red Hugh O’Donnell and his father-in-law Hugh Mór O’Neill controlled the north of Ireland and started the Nine Years’ War to drive out the English.
Hugh went Spain to ask King Philip III to send troops to help and historians believe he died in Valladolid, then the country’s capital, in 1601 or 1602.
British Egyptologist Howard Carter excavated the tomb of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun - nicknamed King Tut - in the Valley of the Kings in 1922.
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