[6] In the previous year they had retreated into Connacht behind the easily defensible line of the Shannon, with strongholds at Sligo, Athlone and Limerick guarding the routes into the province and the western ports.

William besieged Limerick in late August 1690 but, suffering heavy casualties and losses to disease, he called off the siege and put his army into winter quarters.

[10] Saint-Ruhe, accompanied by lieutenant-generals de Tessé and d'Usson, arrived at Limerick on 9 May, bringing sufficient arms, corn and meal to sustain the army until the autumn, but not the troops or money the Jacobites desperately needed.

[13] By late spring 1691, however, Ginkel became concerned that a French convoy could land further reinforcements at Galway or Limerick, and began planning to enter the field as quickly as possible.

[15] Ginkel breached the Jacobite lines of defence and took Athlone on 30 June after a bloody siege; Saint-Ruhe was unable to relieve the town and fell back to the west.

[20] While it is not now possible to establish with certainty which Jacobite infantry regiments fought at Aughrim, at least 30 have been identified as likely present, including the Foot Guards, Talbot's, Nugent's, Fitzgerald's, Boffin's, Cormack O'Neill's, Saxby's and Iveagh's.

The composition of Ginkel's army is better documented than that of the Jacobites: in addition to English regiments, it included a large number of Anglo-Irish Protestants as well as Dutch, Danish and French Huguenot contingents.

The left flank was also bounded by "a large Red Bogg, almost a mile over",[23] through which there was only one causeway, overlooked by the deserted village of Aughrim and a ruined castle: Saint-Ruhe deployed the bulk of his cavalry here under Parker, Luttrell and Purcell, under the overall command of Dominic Sheldon.

On the right flank where the Tristaun stream ran through the "Pass" of Urraghry or Urachree, much the more open and weaker position, Saint-Ruhe placed his best infantry and the cavalry regiments of Abercorn, Tyrconnell and Edmund Prendergast, all under his second-in-command, the chevalier de Tessé.

[25] Ginkel planned to avoid fully joining battle until the next day; he ordered a probing attack on the Jacobites' weaker right flank led by a captain and sixteen Danish troopers, followed by 200 of Cunningham's Eniskillen dragoons.

[29] Appearing to believe that the battle could be won, he was heard to shout, "they are running, we will chase them back to the gates of Dublin", before riding across the battlefield to direct the defence against the Williamite cavalry on his left wing.

[30] However, as he rode over to rally his cavalry, Saint-Ruhe paused briefly to direct the fire of a battery, and was decapitated by a cannonball;[18] his death was said to have occurred around sunset, shortly after eight o'clock.

[32][33] At around nine o'clock towards nightfall the Jacobite infantry were finally pushed to the top of Killcommadan hill and broke, fleeing towards a bog in the left rear of their position, while their cavalry retreated towards Loughrea.

[34] Sarsfield and Galmoy briefly tried to organise a rearguard action but as in many battles of the period, most of the Jacobite casualties occurred in the pursuit, which was ended only by darkness and the onset of mist and rain.

[35] An eyewitness with the Williamite army, George Story, wrote that "from the top of the Hill where [the Jacobite] Camp had been," the bodies "looked like a great Flock of Sheep, scattered up and down the Countrey for almost four Miles round.

[46] Irish tradition came to refer to the battle as "Eachdhroim an áir" – "Aughrim of the slaughter" – after a line in a poem by Irish-language poet Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta, the "Elegy for Sorley MacDonnell".

Many dogs resorted to this aceldama [Potter's field] where for want of other food they fed on man's [sic] flesh, and thereby became so dangerous and fierce that a single person could not pass that way without manifest hazard".

He ends the description with the story of a faithful greyhound belonging to a Jacobite killed in the battle who remained by his master's body defending it until shot by a passing soldier in January of the following year.

[citation needed] While Aughrim remained a powerful symbol of disaster for Irish Catholics, it was also the focus of Loyalist (particularly Orange Order) celebrations in Ireland on 12 July up until the early 19th century.

[48] In 1804 it was noted of Ashton's play that "a more popular Production never appeared in Ireland; it is in the hands of every Peasant who can read English; and [...] is committed to memory and occasionally recited".

It houses artefacts found on the battlefield site, as well as three-dimensional displays and a documentary film that explains the course of the battle and its significance in the wider context of the history of Ireland.