It was 351 years ago today (15 Aug 1649) that Oliver Cromwell arrived in Ireland, landing at Ringsend, Dublin, with 12,000 troops. There is no more reviled figure in the sordid history of English occupation in Ireland. Though it can gice no consolation to the thiousands murdered by Cromwell' :Model Army", nor the thousands sold into slavery at a handsome profit by Cromwell himself, their descendants, as well as those of freedom-loving peoople everywhere, might find some sense of balance in Cromwell's own misfortunes and posthunous indignities.

Modern scholars have concluded that Cromwell suffered from malaria most of his life and died of a "tertian ague" on 3 Sept 1658. Two years after his death the monarchy was restored and royalists went looking for revenge. They disinterred Cromwell's body from Henry VII's Chapel at Westminster Abbey, and hanged it to the accompaniment of cheers and jeers of an enthusiastic mob at Tyburn. The body was then decapitated and the head was spiked on the roof of Westminster hall, were legend holds it stayed for a quarter century, until it was blown down by gusting winds, landing at the feet of an unknown sentry who, sensing a windfall (pun intended), took it home. Roughly a hundred years later, an actor named Russell sold the head to a museum (curiosities dealer?) near Clare Market, and the museum resold it to Josiah Wilkinson for #230, a substantial sum in those days. Wilkinson gained a bit of notoriety by his habit of taking the head to parties. Wilkinson's grandson Horace ultimately presented the head to Cromwell's old college, Sidney Sussex in Cambridge, where it was authenticated by close comparison th Cromwell's death-mask. A key observation was a distinctive mark over the right eyebrow, near the bridge of the nose, where Cromwell's "famous wart" had been. The head was reportedly then reinterred at Sussex College, with its location known only to a select few of the college staff.

Here's the song challenge part of the thread. I've encountered the odd reference (no pun intended) to Cromwell in several songs, but I don't recall ever hearing or encountering a song specifically about him. Can the brilliant minds that comprise the wonderful world of Mudcat come up with a song or songs about him? Put your words to a singable tune and I'm pretty sure I know at least one pub band that will give it a go.