CASTLES OF IRELAND
[Illustration:
_Frontispiece._
ADARE CASTLE.]
Castles of Ireland
Some Fortress Histories and
Legends
BY
C. L. ADAMS
ILLUSTRATED BY REV. CANON LUCIUS O’BRIEN
[Illustration]
LONDON
ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C.
1904
INTRODUCTION
The Castles of Ireland are far too numerous for any single volume
to contain their separate histories, and all that I claim for the
present work is that it includes epitomised accounts of those of chief
interest, as well as some regarding which I had special facilities for
collecting information. It is, I also believe, the first collection
of such records, and therefore I hope but the forerunner of similar
works which may be issued in the future, so that the time will yet come
when all these interesting relics of a troubled and stormy past may
be classified and chronicled, and the present obscurity in which the
history of so many of them is shrouded be entirely cleared away.
The number of ruined castles in Ireland is always a matter of surprise
to visitors from the Sister Isle, and perhaps they help us, of less
stirring days, to realise more fully the continual state of warfare in
which our ancestors must have lived than printed records can ever do.
These castles range in dimensions from the few blocks of protruding
masonry on the green sward, which mark the foundation of a ruined
peel tower, or the scarcely traceable line of wall which was once a
fortified bawn, to the majestic ruins of castles like Adare with its
three distinct and separate fortifications one within the other, or
royal Trim, deemed strong enough to be a prison for English princes.
Yet in the majority of cases little or nothing is known locally about
the builders, owners or destroyers who have left us these picturesque,
if somewhat sad, mementoes of their warfaring existence. Three items of
information will in all probability be supplied to the enquirer--that
they were built by King John, occupied by the Geraldines, and
demolished by Cromwell in person, and indeed if the hill from which
the bombardment was carried out is not shown to the stranger his
informant is lacking in the general art of story-telling. In some cases
the origin of the castles is boldly attributed by tradition to the
Danes, thereby unconsciously introducing the much wider controversy
as to whether such stone fortresses were known in Ireland before the
landing of the Normans at Wexford in 1169. Be this as it may, it was
only subsequent to this date that they were built in any number. Both
invaders and invaded relied chiefly on these strongholds for obtaining
supremacy in their constant struggles. Grants of land were generally
given with the condition of erecting a fortified residence. It was only
when the introduction of gunpowder rendered such buildings untenable
in war, that they were very generally deserted for more comfortable
dwellings, and jackdaws alone keep watch to-day from many a crumbling
battlement that once echoed a sentinel’s tread, and bovine heads
protrude from the doorways from which mailed knights rode forth to
battle.
I regret to say that space forbids my mentioning by name all those
owners of castles and others who have so generously assisted me in
compiling the following accounts, but perhaps I may be allowed to
specially acknowledge the valuable help I received from the Librarian
and Assistant Librarians of the National Library, Dublin, Lord Walter
Fitzgerald, and Mr. Herbert Wood, of the Public Record Office.
C. L. ADAMS.
LONDON, 1904.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION v
LEGEND OF KILKEA CASTLE xi
ADARE CASTLE 1
ANTRIM CASTLE 9
ARKLOW CASTLE 15
ARTANE CASTLE 18
ATHLONE CASTLE 22
BALLYMOTE CASTLE 27
BALLYSHANNON CASTLE 31
BALLYTEIGUE CASTLE 37
BARBERSTOWN CASTLE 39
BARGY CASTLE 42
BARRYSCOURT CASTLE 45
BIRR CASTLE 48
BLACK CASTLE, WICKLOW 54
BLARNEY CASTLE 57
BUNRATTY CASTLE 65
CARLOW CASTLE 71
CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE 77
CARRICK-ON-SUIR CASTLE 85
CARRIGOGUNNEL CASTLE 90
CASTLE BARNARD 97
CASTLE BORO 101
CASTLE DONOVAN 104
CASTLE KEVIN, COUNTY CORK 107
CASTLE KEVIN, COUNTY WICKLOW 109
CASTLE SALEM 114
CLOGHAN CASTLE 116
CROM CASTLE 121
DOE CASTLE 126
DRIMNAGH CASTLE 133
DUBLIN CASTLE 137
DUNDANIEL CASTLE 142
DUNDRUM CASTLE, COUNTY DOWN 148
DUNDRUM CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN 152
DUNLUCE CASTLE 157
DUNSOGHLY CASTLE 165
ENNISCORTHY CASTLE 168
ENNISKILLEN CASTLE 172
FERNS CASTLE 177
FERRYCARRIG AND SHANA COURT CASTLES 182
GEASHILL CASTLE 185
GLENARM CASTLE 191
GLIN CASTLE 193
GREENCASTLE, COUNTY DONEGAL 198
GREENCASTLE, COUNTY DOWN 202
HOWTH CASTLE 209
KILBARRON CASTLE 214
KILBRITTAIN CASTLE 217
KILKEA CASTLE 220
KILKENNY CASTLE 228
KILLIANE CASTLE 235
KILLYLEAGH CASTLE 239
KING JOHN’S CASTLE, CARLINGFORD 244
KING JOHN’S CASTLE, LIMERICK 250
LEA CASTLE 257
LEAP CASTLE 264
LEIXLIP CASTLE 272
LISMORE CASTLE 280
LOHORT CASTLE 285
LOUGH CUTRA CASTLE 287
MACROOM CASTLE 289
MALAHIDE CASTLE 292
MALLOW CASTLE 297
MAYNOOTH CASTLE 305
MONGEVLIN CASTLE 311
MONKSTOWN CASTLE, COUNTY CORK 313
PORTUMNA CASTLE 316
ROSCOMMON CASTLE 318
ROSS CASTLE 325
ROSSCLOGHER CASTLE 330
SHANE’S CASTLE 336
SWORDS CASTLE 344
TILLYRA CASTLE 350
TIMON CASTLE 351
TRALEE CASTLE 353
TRIM CASTLE 359
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
ADARE CASTLE _Frontispiece_
ANTRIM CASTLE 8
BIRR CASTLE 49
BLACK CASTLE, WICKLOW 55
BLARNEY CASTLE 59
BUNRATTY CASTLE 64
CARLOW CASTLE 72
CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE 79
CARRICK-ON-SUIR CASTLE 84
CARRIGOGUNNEL CASTLE 91
CASTLE DONOVAN 105
CROM CASTLE 120
DRIMNAGH CASTLE 132
DUBLIN CASTLE 136
DUNDRUM CASTLE, COUNTY DOWN 149
DUNLUCE CASTLE 156
DUNSOGHLY CASTLE 164
ENNISKILLEN CASTLE 173
GLENARM CASTLE 190
GREENCASTLE, COUNTY DONEGAL 199
GREENCASTLE, COUNTY DOWN 203
HOWTH CASTLE 208
KILBARRON CASTLE 215
KILKEA CASTLE 221
KILKENNY CASTLE 229
KILLYLEAGH CASTLE 238
KING JOHN’S CASTLE, CARLINGFORD 245
KING JOHN’S CASTLE, LIMERICK 251
LEA CASTLE (INTERIOR) 258
LEA CASTLE (EXTERIOR) 262
LEAP CASTLE 265
LEIXLIP CASTLE 273
LISMORE CASTLE 282
MALLOW CASTLE 298
MAYNOOTH CASTLE 304
ROSS CASTLE 324
SHANE’S CASTLE 337
SWORDS CASTLE 345
TRIM CASTLE 361
THE LEGEND OF KILKEA CASTLE.
It is seven years since they last awoke
From their death-like sleep in Mullaghmast,
And the ghostly troop, with its snow-white horse,
On the Curragh plain to Kilkea rode past.
For the Lord of Kildare goes forth to-night,
And has left his rest in the lonely rath.
Oh, roughen the road for the silver shoes,
That they wear full soon on his homeward path.
So thus to his own he may come again,
With a trumpet blast and his warriors bold,
And the spell that was by his lady cast
Will pass away as a tale once told.
For dearly she loved her noble lord,
And she wished that no secret from her he kept,
So she longed to know why in chamber small
He watched and toiled while the household slept.
But the Wizard Earl would not tell to her
The secret dark of his vaulted cell,
“For fear,” he said, “in the human frame,
Lets loose the power of furthest hell.”
But she feared for naught save his waning love,
And at length to her wish he bent an ear,
So flood, and serpent, and ghost gave place,
For the lady’s heart had shown no fear.
Then her lord to a bird was soon transformed,
That rested its wing on her shoulder fair;
But the lady screamed and swooned away
When a cat sprang forth from the empty air.
For a woman must fear for the one she loves,
And a woman’s heart will break in twain,
When she knows that her hand has struck the blow
To the man she had died to save from pain.
And thus the Earl must sleep as dead
Till the silver shoes of his steed are worn,
By which every seven years, they say,
To Kilkea and back to the rath he’s born.
And swiftly they pass, that phantom band,
With the Earl on his charger gleaming white,
So we think ’tis the shade of a cloud goes by,
With a shifting beam of the moon’s pale light.
PEERS HERVEY.
_ADARE CASTLE_
“Peaceful it stands, the mighty pile
By many a heart’s blood once defended,
Yet silent now as cloistered aisle,
Where rung the sounds of banquet splendid.”
GERALD GRIFFIN.
This name is a corruption of Athdare, or Ath-daar, signifying “The ford
of oaks.” The present village is situated on the west bank of the River
Maig, nine miles south-south-west of Limerick.
Desmond Castle, on the east bank, commands the river pass, and near the
northern entrance to the castle were formerly the remains of a gateway
and wall, traditionally supposed to have belonged to the ancient town
of Adare.
The ruins of the fortress are extensive. They consist of an outer and
inner ward, separated by a moat, which in former times was crossed by a
drawbridge.
There are three entrances to the outer ward, the chief being a square
gate tower in the west wall which was defended by a portcullis. There
is another entrance on the north, as well as a doorway opening on the
river.
The chief buildings are situated near the water’s edge. They consist
of the great hall which is 75 feet long by 37 feet in breadth. It is
lighted by three windows of rough masonry in its south wall and by one
on the west, with fifteenth-century “ogee” heads inserted in the older
workmanship.
The doorway on the east opens to the river. The chief entrance and
porch were on the north side. The base of one of the sandstone jambs
remains, showing it to have been of thirteenth century date. The walls
are 3 feet thick, and the roof, which had a very high gable, was
supported by four pillars.
At the eastern end are the buttery and smaller offices, while separated
from them by a passage is the ruined kitchen (45 feet by 19 feet),
which contains the remains of an oven and also a small well of river
water. A curtain wall running west, connects these building with a fine
oblong, two-storey structure, 56 feet by 31 feet, which is remarkable,
inasmuch as the walls of the top storey are thicker than those below,
the extra width being supported by projecting stones. The top room,
which has loops splayed for archery, was reached by an exterior stone
stair. The floor was supported on beams, and the lower room seems to
have been used as a stable.
Adjoining the building is a small square tower, which projects into the
river that flows under it through an archway in the basement. A wall
connects this tower with the gateway.
The inner ward is now reached by a small wooden bridge. The gate tower
is connected with the S.E. angle of the keep by a thick curved curtain
with an embrasured and looped parapet. A turret protected the juncture
of the outer and inner walls. A semicircular tower also projects from
the boundary wall on the left of the inner court. It was loopholed, and
divided into two storeys.
The keep, which is in the inner court, is about 40 feet square and 67
feet high. Only the north wall and the portions adjoining it remain at
their original height. The side next the river is entirely broken down,
tradition saying it was destroyed with cannon in Cromwell’s time from
the opposite hill. The angles of the remaining wall are crowned with
turrets.
The doorway leading to the vaults being of later date than the rest
it is supposed they were of more recent insertion. One of the dungeons
seems to have been used as a prison. It is lighted by a loop of
peculiar construction.
A staircase leads to the chief apartments, and a well of river water
is within the walls. The height of the keep seems to have had a
third added to it after its original construction as is shown by the
old weather-tabling of the roof. The present building was divided
into three storeys above the ground floor, which was vaulted. The
stairway was in the thickness of the west wall. Small cells occupy the
projecting portions at the angles.
From the objects that have been found in the moat which surrounds the
keep, it has been thought likely that it occupies the site of a rath,
as some of the relics are of much anterior date to the Norman Conquest.
The fortress is supposed to have been formerly a stronghold of the
O’Donovans until they were dispossessed by the invaders.
The architecture of one of the windows seems to be that in vogue during
the close of the twelfth century.
Lenihan states that Adare was famous for its castle and church in the
reign of Henry II.
Geoffrey de Mariscis, Justiciary of Ireland, was granted permission
to hold a fair in his manor of Adare in 1226, but according to the
Spanish historian, Lopez, it had passed into the hands of the “Earls”
of Kildare in 1227, when (still according to him) the Earl of March
came from Scotland to Adare on shipping business, and the “Earls” of
Kildare, not deeming the accommodation at the inn fit for his rank,
insisted that he should come to their castle. During the visit he spoke
in such praise of the Trinitarian order that the Earl’s father said he
would found a priory at Adare. The story is probably inaccurate. In
the first place the Earldom of Kildare was not created until 1316, and
Lopez speaks of “Earls” in the plural. It is also hard to imagine what
shipping business could have been transacted in an inland town. Yet no
doubt there is some foundation for the record, as in 1279, 1315, and
1464 other abbeys were founded at Adare by the Kildare Geraldines.
In 1290 the manor of Adare was in the possession of Maurice FitzGerald,
5th Baron of Offaly, and his wife, Lady Agnes de Valence, cousin of
the King. Their claim being disputed, a charter was issued in 1299
confirming the grant.
The castle was rebuilt in 1326 by the 2nd Earl of Kildare.
Edward III. granted the lands of Adare to the Earl’s stepfather, Sir
John Darcy, during the Earl’s minority in 1329, and it was probably
at this time that the inquisition was held in the report of which we
find the first authenticated mention of the castle. It is described as
having a hall, a chapel with stone walls and covered with thatch, a
tower covered with planks, a kitchen covered with slates, and a chamber
near the stone part covered with thatch.
Turlough O’Brien burned it sometime during the fifteenth century.
The estate was forfeited by Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, for his
adherence to the cause of Perkin Warbeck, but it was shortly afterwards
restored.
When the 9th Earl of Kildare was summoned to London to answer the
charge of allowing the Earl of Desmond to evade arrest, it is likely
that he set out from Adare, as he was in that part of the country. It
was during this trial in 1526 that Cardinal Wolsey cried out, “The
Earl, nay, the King of Kildare--for, when you are disposed, you reign
more like than rule the land.”
Upon the confiscation of the estate after the rebellion of “The Silken
Thomas,” in 1536, the Earl of Desmond became possessed of Adare, which
he leased the following year from the Crown. He seems to have done so
with the intention of restoring the lands to his kinsman, the young
Gerald, then in hiding from the Government.
The castle remained in the Earl of Desmond’s possession (with
intermissions) until his death in 1583, when it reverted to the Kildare
branch of the Geraldines. His name still clings to the ruins, no doubt
because of the stormy scenes that occurred at Adare during his short
ownership.
Here in 1570 the celebrated Leverus, Bishop of Kildare, sought shelter
with the Earl of Desmond. He had been tutor to the young heir to the
Earldom of Kildare, when a price was set upon his head after the
rebellion of the Lord Thomas. Leverus had saved his pupil, who was ill
with smallpox, by putting him in a basket, wrapped in blankets, and
taking him from Kildare to Thomond.
In 1578 the castle was taken by Sir Nicholas Malby after a siege of
eleven days, and garrisoned by English under Captain Carew.
Sir John Desmond, the Earl’s brother, shortly afterwards assaulted it
in vain. The following year saw continual warfare round the town of
Adare between the two parties, and a garrison of English was placed
there by the Lord Deputy, who was accompanied by the Earl of Kildare.
Desmond made every effort to recover the castle in 1580. He resorted to
several stratagems, one of which was to send a beautiful young woman to
the constable, by whose means he hoped the castle might be betrayed.
But upon hearing from whence she came, the officer tied a stone round
her neck and threw her into the river.
The following year, however, Colonel Zouch, having disbanded part of
his forces, the Earl gained possession of the castle, and put the
garrison to the sword. Fresh forces arriving from Cork, Zouch marched
on Adare, only to find it deserted; but he pursued the Irish to
Lisconnel, where he defeated them in an engagement.
Captain Mynce was recommended as custodian in 1585, and in 1598 Mr.
Marshal’s castles of Bruff and Adare were reported to have been taken.
In 1600 the Sugan Earl of Desmond occupied Adare, but upon the
approach of Sir George Carew, in July, the Irish burnt the castle
and fled. He reports it as “a manor-house belonging to the Earls of
Kildare, wholly ruined by Pierce Lacy.”
This Lacy was one of the Earl of Desmond’s supporters.
Insurgents seized the stronghold in 1641, but were driven out by the
Earl of Castlehaven, and the castle is said to have been dismantled in
1657 by Cromwell’s orders.
The lands remained in the possession of the Earls of Kildare until
1721, when they were purchased by the Quin family, now represented by
the Earl of Dunraven.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
J. Dowd, “The County of Limerick.”
The Countess and Earl of Dunraven, “Memorials of Adare.”
Marquis of Kildare, “The Earls of Kildare.”
M. Lenihan, “Limerick: Its History and Antiquities.”
J. Ferrar, “History of Limerick.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Calendar of State Documents.
Calendar of Carew MSS.
[Illustration: ANTRIM CASTLE.]
_ANTRIM CASTLE_
“Brown in the rust of time--it stands sublime
With overhanging battlements and towers,
And works of old defence--a massy pile,
And the broad river winds around its base
In bright, unruffled course.”
Antrim town is situated in the county of the same name, on the right
bank of Six-Mile-Water just before it enters Lough Neagh, a little more
than thirteen miles north-west of Belfast.
The castle, sometimes erroneously called Massereene Castle, was erected
in the reign of James I. by Sir Hugh Clotworthy, a gentleman of
Somersetshire.
Hugh and Lewis Clotworthy were amongst those who accompanied the Earl
of Essex in his expedition to Ulster in 1573, and in 1603 Captain Hugh
Clotworthy was doing garrison duty at Carrickfergus under Sir Arthur
Chichester. In 1605 he received a grant of the confiscated lands
of “Massarine,” and erected a residence on the site of the present
building. This consisted of a moated courtyard flanked by towers.
Shortly afterwards he was knighted, and married the beautiful Marion
Langford “of the flowing tresses.”
In 1610 Sir Hugh Clotworthy commenced to erect a castle according to
the undertaking of the grant, and it was completed in three years.
It consisted of a quadrangular pile, three storeys in height, which
enclosed a small courtyard, and was flanked at the angles by square
towers. The walls measured 6 feet in thickness. A short flight of
granite steps led to the entrance hall, which contained a great open
fireplace. On the right of the hall was the “buttery,” where at about
3 feet from the floor was a small square door through which food was
distributed to the poor. The townspeople had the privilege of passing
through the hall by the buttery to a pathway leading to the lake.
The river protected the castle on the west, while on the other sides
it was surrounded by a moat. The “Mount” to the east of the castle was
furnished with ordnance. Two bastions commanded respectively the town
on the south and the lake on the north. The whole fortress covered more
than five acres of ground.
Extensive alterations were made in the castle in 1813 by Chichester,
fourth Earl of Massereene. At present it consists of a square embattled
building of three storeys with a long wing at the same elevation
running northward, flanked by two castellated towers near the end. At
its extremity rises a very high tower in Italian style, which gives a
most picturesque appearance to the stables when viewed from the lough.
The grand entrance hall is square, and the wall which once divided it
from the centre courtyard has been replaced by oak pillars leading
to an inner vestibule and staircase which occupies the site of the
former open space. From this a passage extends the whole length of the
castle to the Italian tower. The oak room is a magnificent apartment,
wainscotted in dark Irish oak, relieved with lighter shades and
exquisitely carved. The panels are painted with armorial bearings.
There is a beautiful carved chimney-piece at the lower end of the
apartment set with the grate in one frame. Upon touching a secret
spring this all swings out and discloses a recess large enough to hide
in. The furniture of the room is also Irish oak. Here is preserved the
“Speaker’s Chair” of the Irish House of Commons.
The drawing-room and library are both very handsome rooms, and with the
oak room, breakfast-room, parlour, and dining-room, form a splendid
suite of rooms, opening one off the other. There is a very valuable
collection of family portraits in the castle.
The Italian tower contains the chapel, record-room, and a small study.
The first of these is in Gothic style and beautifully proportioned.
Among the treasures to be seen here are Cranmer’s New Testament and
Queen Mary’s Bible.
Over the front entrance is a stone screen slightly raised from the
wall and ending in a pointed arch under the parapet wall. It is about
8 feet in width, and is handsomely sculptured with arms, mottoes, and
events connected with the castle and its owners. At the top is a carved
head representing Charles I., supposed to have been placed there by
the first Viscount when he added to the fortress in 1662. Lower down
are the arms of the founder and his wife, with the date of erection
(1613), &c. Immediately over the hall door is a carved shell supported
by mermaids, which represents the Skeffyngton crest.
The two ancient bastions have been formed into terrace gardens, and the
grounds of the whole castle are most beautifully laid out. A splendid
view is obtained from the old “Mount,” the summit of which is reached
by a winding path.
The demesne is entered from the town through a castellated entrance,
surmounted by a turretted warder’s lodge, which upon state occasions
in modern times has been sentinelled with warders garbed in antique
costume, battle-axe in hand.
Near the gatehouse upon the angle of the southern bastion is the carved
stone figure of “Lady Marion’s Wolfdog,” representing that splendid
Irish breed now extinct. At one time this statue surmounted a turret
of the castle, where the great animal appeared to be keeping a “look
out” over the lough. Local superstition said that it had appeared there
without human agency on the night after the incident occurred with
which the legend connects it, and that as long as it keeps watch over
the castle and grounds so long will the race of Lady Marion Clotworthy
continue to live and thrive.
The story is as follows:--The lovely bride of Sir Hugh Clotworthy
wandered one day in his absence outside the bawn walls along the shores
of Lough Neagh. Hearing behind her a low growl, she turned round to
find a wolf preparing to spring. In her terror she fell to the ground,
and with the force of the animal’s leap he passed beyond her. Before he
had time to return to his victim a large wolf-hound had seized him in
mortal combat. The lady fainted at the sight, and when she recovered
consciousness the dog was licking her hands, while the wolf lay dead.
She bound up the noble animal’s wounds, and he followed her home, being
her constant companion for many a day, until he suddenly disappeared
and no trace of him could be found.
Shortly after this the castle was built, and one wild, stormy night
the deep baying of a wolf-hound was heard passing round and round
the walls of the fortress. The warders, scared by the unusual sound,
kindled the beacon on the mount, and by its light discovered a band of
natives making preparation for an attack. A few shots dispersed them,
but before they left a howl of pain was heard near the entrance gate,
where a few flattened bullets were found the next morning. Then upon
the castle tower the affrighted warders perceived the stone figure of
the dog.
It is probable that Sir Hugh had the figure carved to please his lady,
and after the attack considered its mysterious appearance on the
fortress the best protection against a superstitious enemy, who had
most likely destroyed the beautiful original, which had come from the
Abbey of Massarine to warn its former kind friend of danger.
Sir Hugh Clotworthy was succeeded by his son, Sir John, afterwards
first Viscount Massereene. He sat in both the Irish and English Houses
of Commons, and was one of Stafford’s chief accusers. He was in London
when the rebellion of 1641 broke out. The insurrection was in part
prevented by a retainer of his, one Owen O’Conally, called “the great
informer.”
Sir John’s brother, James, secured the castle in his absence from
attack, and the owner returned to it at the end of the year, and took
command of the forces in the district. He was imprisoned in 1647 for
three years for censuring (with other Members of Parliament) the
seizing of the King. During this time his mother, the Lady Marion,
occupied the castle. O’Conally commanded Sir John’s regiment in his
absence, and in 1649 it was joined to General Monk’s forces. Oliver
Cromwell made O’Conally commander of the regiment then at Antrim
Castle, and Monro marched against it and killed its leader, but the
castle still remained in possession of the troops.
Sir John was raised to the peerage by Charles II. in 1660 as Viscount
Massereene. He had no son, and was succeeded in the title and estates
by his son-in-law, Sir John Skeffyngton, and henceforward his surname
was added to the family name of Clotworthy.
James II. conferred several honourable appointments on him,
nevertheless the “Antrim Association” was formed in the castle upon the
beginning of the revolution, and the Viscount’s eldest son, Colonel
Clotworthy Skeffyngton, was appointed Commander-in-Chief.
The Jacobite General, Hamilton, pushed on to Antrim after his success
at Dromore, and Lord Massereene fled from the castle at his approach.
The family plate, valued at £3,000, which was hidden before the family
left, was shown to the newcomers by a servant, and was seized by them.
Colonel Gordon O’Neill, son of the great Sir Phelim, occupied the
fortress in 1688-89, but Lord Massereene recovered his property when
William came to the throne.
His grandson was created an earl in 1756, but this title expired in
1816, when Harriet Viscountess of Massereene succeeded to the estates,
and through her they passed to the present Viscount.
The last time that the castle figured in history was during the battle
of Antrim in 1798. The yeomanry bravely held the castle gardens against
all comers, while the great gun of the mount, “Roaring Tatty,” was
drawn from its position and fired on the town. One, Ezekiel Vance, gave
the signal to the military outside the town to advance by waving a
woman’s red cloak from one of the towers of the fortress.
The present Lord Massereene is the 11th Viscount.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
C. O’Neill, “Antrim Castle.”
O’Laverty, “Diocese of Down and Connor.”
Smith, “Memoirs of ’98,” in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
_ARKLOW CASTLE_
The town of Arklow is thirty-nine miles and a half south by east of
Dublin, in the County Wicklow.
Joyce thinks the name may have a Danish origin, but others believe it
comes from the Irish word _Ardchoch_.
The ruins of the castle are situated on high ground on the south side
of the Ovoca River, and consist of a ruined and now ivy-clad round
tower, which protected the northern angle. This building is broken on
the riverside to about 12 feet in height, but on the south side it
measures some 46 feet.
About 10 feet from the ground is a pointed doorway, which leads to a
stone floor formed by the arch of the lower chamber. Thirty-four stone
steps in the thickness of the wall give access to the top of the tower
from this platform.
This building is one of similar flanking towers which defended the
walls still running south and west, the remains of some of the other
turrets having only disappeared during the last century.
A barrack for two companies of soldiers was built near the former site
of the castle, and the walls of the latter were incorporated with those
enclosing the yard of the new building.
A monastery was founded at Arklow by Theobald FitzWalter, hereditary
Lord Butler of Ireland, who also built the castle.
Lord Theobald Walter le Botiller died in the castle in 1285, and was
buried in the convent of the Friars Preachers in Arklow, beneath a tomb
ornamented with his effigy.
In 1331 the castle was attacked by the O’Tooles, but Lord de Bermingham
came to its relief with a small party, and drove the enemy off with
considerable loss. The same year, however, the Irish got possession of
it by treachery.
The Lord Chief Justice again re-captured it in 1332, with the help of
Dublin citizens and the English settlers in Wicklow, so that it was
once more in the King’s hands, and at this time it was partly rebuilt.
In 1522-24 Sir Piers Butler was accused of being in league with the
O’Mores, and of using the castle of Arklow to rob both by land and sea.
The following year the Earl of Kildare made a series of charges against
the Earl of Ormond through Lord Leonard Grey, amongst which was that of
keeping a ward of evil persons in Arklow Castle to rob the surrounding
neighbourhood.
A few years later (1532) the Earl of Ossory and Ormond complained to
Thomas Cromwell that the Earl of Kildare was trying to get some of his
castles into his possession (amongst which he mentioned Arklow), under
the plea of holding them by lease from the Earl of Wiltshire. He states
these fortresses “bee the veray keyes of the cuntrey,” and that the
King ought to prevent Kildare becoming too powerful. Sir Thomas Bullen
had then been created Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire by Henry VIII.
During the rebellion of “the Silken Thomas” in 1536 the King had to
send “an army royal” to get the castle of Arklow and others into his
possession.
The following year the manor was re-granted to Peter Butler, Earl of
Ossory and Ormond.
In 1578, when forming the county of “Wicklo or Arcklo,” the castle of
the latter is mentioned as the chief place, and belonging to the Earl
of Ormond, who was also Lord of Arklow.
The Lord Deputy placed a garrison there in 1581.
In March, 1589, Feagh M’Hugh O’Byrne seized the wife of Hugh Duff
O’Donnell, uncle to Sir Hugh O’Donnell, who was a tenant of the Earl of
Ormond in Arklow Castle. In the autumn of the same year O’Byrne tried
to force an entrance into the castle “to execute his malice” upon Hugh
O’Donnell.
The land was laid waste round the fortress in 1600, but the castle was
held for the Queen by the Earl of Ormond at his own expense.
In the rebellion of 1641 the Irish surprised the fortress and killed
the garrison. It remained in their possession until 1649, when it was
captured by Cromwell’s forces, of which the following is the account:--
“The army marched through almost a desolate country until it came to
a passage of the River Doro, about a mile above the Castle of Arklow,
which was the first seat and honour of the Marquis of Ormond’s family,
which he had strongly fortified; but it was upon the approach of the
army quitted, wherein he (Cromwell) left another company of foot.”
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
MS. Ordnance Survey.
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
Grose, “Antiquities of Ireland.”
Bagwell, “Ireland Under the Tudors.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Carew MSS.
State Papers.
Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.”
Griffiths, “Chronicles of County Wexford.”
Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
_ARTANE CASTLE_
The name was originally Tartain, and is probably derived from Tortan,
meaning a diminutive _tor_, being a small knoll or high turf-bank. The
site of the former castle is situated on the southern border of the
Barony of Coolock, in the County of Dublin, about three miles from the
city.
The Artane Industrial School now occupies the castle grounds, and the
manor house is used as the residence of the Christian Brothers. Lewis
states that this house was built of stones from the old castle, but, at
any rate, the present dining-room is supported by beams taken from the
fortress.
A hen-run belonging to the school is now on the site of the former
stronghold not far from the present house.
The manor of Artane was acquired by the family of Hollywood, or “de
Sacro Bosco,” in the fourteenth century, by Robert de Hollywood, one of
the Remembrancers, and afterwards Baron of the Exchequer.
In 1416 and 1420 the King committed the custody of the lands to
Philip Charles and Richard FitzEustace during the minority of Robert
Hollywood, the King’s ward, son of the late Christopher Hollywood.
On the 27th of July, 1534, the rash Lord Offaly rose in rebellion,
and threw the Sword of State on the Council table in Dublin, upon the
rumour of his father, the Earl of Kildare, having been murdered in
London. He left the presence of the assembly with armed men to muster
fresh forces for the rising, and Dublin was at once seized with panic.
John Allen, Archbishop of Dublin, was then in Dublin Castle, and having
been as bitter and relentless a foe of the Geraldines as his patron
Wolsey, he decided to fly when news of the outbreak reached him. He had
with him a trusted servant named Bartholomew FitzGerald, who urged him
to sail to England, and offered to pilot him across. The Archbishop
seems to have had implicit faith in his follower, although a Geraldine,
and it has never been actually proved that it was misplaced.
The Prelate and his attendants embarked in the evening at Dames Gate,
but owing, some say to adverse winds, and others to the design of the
pilot, the little vessel stranded at Clontarf.
The Archbishop at once made his way to the house of his late friend,
Thomas Hollywood, at Artane, whose hospitality he had commemorated in
his “Repertorium Viride.”
At this time the wardship of the heir, Nicholas Hollywood, was in the
hands of Richard Delahide and Thomas Howth.
It seems hardly possible that the Lord Thomas FitzGerald could have
heard of the mishap so quickly unless treachery had been employed. Be
that as it may, he and a band of armed followers arrived at Artane in
the early morning, being the 28th of July, and surrounded the castle
while the Archbishop still slept.
Among the party were the young Vice-Deputy’s uncles, Sir James and
Oliver FitzGerald, James Delahide, and about forty men.
He sent two Dublin yeomen, John Teeling and Nicholas Wafer, into the
house to bring out the Archbishop. They dragged him out of bed, and
brought him before the Lord Thomas “feeble for age and sickness,
kneeling in his shirt and mantle, bequeathing his soul to God, his
body to the traitor’s mercy.” He “besought him not to remember former
injuries, but to consider his present calamity, and whatever malice he
might bear to his person to respect his calling.”
It seems that the “Silken Thomas” was touched by the appeal of his
helpless foe, and turning his head aside, he said, “_Beir naim an
bodach_,” meaning, “Take the churl away from me,” and, no doubt, as he
afterwards said, he only intended them to imprison him. His followers,
however, put a different interpretation upon his order, and immediately
murdered the Archbishop, who was in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
Some say he was dragged within the castle hall, and there put to death,
while others say that the spot on which he was slain was hedged in and
shunned as an unholy place for many years.
Lord Thomas could not have been ignorant of what had occurred, as he
sent Robert Reilly the same day to Maynooth with a casket which had
belonged to the murdered prelate.
Lord Offaly was excommunicated for the crime in St. Patrick’s Cathedral
with great solemnity.
Shortly after this Thomas Howth, _alias_ St. Laurence, one of young
Hollywood’s guardians, went to live at Artane.
This Nicholas Hollywood also died while his son Christopher was a
minor, and in 1570 the wardship and marriage of the boy was granted to
John Bathe, of Drumcondra. In 1585 a Charles Hollywood is referred to
as being of Tartaine.
Nicholas Hollywood possessed the manor and lands of Artane in 1587.
They contained one castle, six messuages, and one hundred and ninety
acres of land held of the King, _in capite_ by knight’s service. He
died in 1629.
During the rebellion of 1641 Lord Netterville’s son, Luke, possessed
himself of the castle, and established a body of Royalist troops in
the stronghold. He met with no opposition, as one of the Hollywood
family named Christopher was a partisan, who afterwards sat in the
Council of Confederate Catholics at Kilkenny.
Nicholas Hollywood forfeited the estate at this time, and John
Hollywood, one of the signers of the Roman Catholic Remonstrance, came
into possession.
In 1680 the King granted the estate for one thousand years to Sir
Arthur Forbes, one of the Commissioners of the Court of Claims.
Lewis says the old Castle was pulled down in 1825 by Mathew Boyle,
Esq., who erected the present manor house with the material. He also
says it belonged to the Callaghan family in 1837, while D’Alton states
Lord Maryborough owned it in 1838. The Butler family resided there at a
later date.
A tomb of Elizabeth, daughter of John Talbot of Malahide, and wife of
Christopher Hollywood, is in the old churchyard adjacent. She died in
1711, and her husband in 1718.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Marquis of Kildare, “The Earls of Kildare.”
J. D’Alton, “History of County Dublin.”
J. D’Alton, “Memoirs of the Archbishops of Dublin.”
S. Lewis, “Topographical Dictionary of Ireland.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Fiants of Elizabeth.
_ATHLONE CASTLE_
The castle of Athlone is situated on the Connaught side of the river
Shannon in the Barony of Athlone, County Roscommon, sixty miles
west-by-north of Dublin.
The name is derived from _ath_, “a ford,” and _luain_, “the moon,” and
signifies “the ford of the moon,” to which it is supposed to have been
dedicated in pagan times. Some gold lunettes and crescents found in a
neighbouring bog seem to bear out the statement.
The castle commands the bridge, and is built upon a spur of the hill
upon which the town on the Connaught side is built. It is overlooked by
the houses of the town, while on the river side it is supported by a
great buttress of masonry.
The entrance is on the road which leads from the bridge up to the town,
and is by a modern drawbridge.
The fortress consists of a strong curtain wall having circular towers
mounted with cannon at irregular intervals. Most of them have been
restored with fresh blue limestone.
The Connaught tower, which stands isolated in the courtyard, is
considered the oldest part of the fortress, and usually supposed to
have formed the keep of the first Norman castle built in King John’s
reign. It is decagonal in form, but owing to having been pebble-dashed
and whitened of late years, it does not retain an appearance of
antiquity.
The English stronghold was erected on the site of an old Celtic
fortress of the O’Connors. It is recorded that the castle and bridge of
Athlone were built in 1129 by Turloch O’Connor, “in the summer of the
drought.”
The following year they were demolished by Murogh O’Mleghlin and
Feirnan O’Rorke, and in 1153 the castle was burned.
Between 1210 and 1213 the Norman fortress was erected by John de Grey,
Bishop of Norwich, in his capacity of Lord Justiciary of Ireland.
During its building a tower fell and killed Lord Richard Tuit, who
founded the Cistercian Abbey of Granard, County Longford.
Athlone Castle was built on abbey land, and in 1214 King John commanded
Henry, Archbishop of Dublin, to give the monks a tenth of the expenses
of the castle in lieu of the land used, in accordance with the
conditions agreed to by the Bishop of Norwich when he was fortifying
it. After this there are several references in the State Documents to
the tithes and other compensation due to the monks.
In 1221 the King instituted a fair to be held at the castle.
The fortress being situated on the border of Irish territory, its early
history has an exceedingly stormy record. In 1226 Geoffrey de Marisco,
who was then Justiciary of Ireland, complained that as the King of
Connaught refused to come to Dublin, he had appointed to meet him at
Athlone, although the castle was fortified against the Crown.
In 1232 an order was issued to Hubert de Burgh to deliver the castle to
Peter de Rivall, and the next year one to Richard de Burgh, who was to
surrender it to Maurice FitzGerald, Justiciary of Ireland.
Walter de Lacy received twenty marks for the custody of the fortress in
1240, and eleven years later a tax was levied for its repair.
It was granted to Prince Edward, the King’s son, in 1254; and during
the years 1276-77 it was repaired.
Richard de Verdon was besieged in the castle in 1288 by Richard de
Burgo, and the same year John, Archbishop of Dublin, took up residence
there to oversee its better fortification, and to try and make terms
with the Irish.
In 1305 Richard de Burgh, Earl of Ulster, was constable.
The castle was “obtained” for the King in 1537, having been in the
hands of the Irish for many years. It contained only one piece of
broken ordnance, and there is a request that another piece should be
sent.
During Queen Elizabeth’s reign it was the residence of the President
of Connaught, and also the Chief Justice and Attorney-General for
Connaught.
Tradition states that the Earl of Essex frequently stayed in the
castle, and some of his letters to the Queen are dated from Athlone.
The O’Conor Don was imprisoned in the fortress in 1570 while Sir E.
Fitton was constable, as a hostage for the good behaviour of his sept.
Some of his followers, however, brought a “cot” under the castle walls,
into which the captive stepped, and so escaped.
In 1585-86 it is described as being a fitter residence for the Chief
Commissioner of Connaught than the Lord Deputy in the following
words:--“That the castle is conveniently furnished with buildings and
other necessaries fit for the said Commissioner, but far too mean for
the Lord Deputy and the train that must follow the state.”
It was ordered to be garrisoned in 1599, and the following year it
was to be entrusted to none but a “sound Englishman.” In 1606 it was
repaired and added to.
Two years later it was seized by the Earls Tyrone and Tyrconnell. It
passed again to the Crown, and the Earl of Clanricard was constable in
1610.
Thirteen years later it was repaired, and a curious tax is mentioned
with regard to the operations, which is, that the sept of Kellyes was
bound to supply three hundred labourers yearly for work in the fortress.
The Court of Claims sat in the castle during the Commonwealth.
In 1682 Sir H. Piers writes of it:--“In the centre of the castle is
a high raised tower which overlooketh the walls and country round
about. On the side that faceth the river are rooms and apartments which
served always for the habitation of the Lord President of Connaught
and Governor of the castle, the middle castle being the storehouse for
ammunition and warlike provisions of all sorts.”
After the battle of the Boyne in 1690, Lieut.-General Douglas, with
ten regiments of infantry, three of horse, two of dragoons, twelve
field-pieces, and two small mortars, endeavoured to take possession of
Athlone. The bridge across the Shannon was broken, and he erected his
batteries on the Leinster side of the river.
He continued the cannonading for eight days, but his powder running
short he was obliged to retire. In his despatch he stated he had done
his best, and that it was his opinion Athlone Castle was “of the
greatest importance of any in Ireland.”
Colonel Richard Grace held the fortress for King James.
The following year the main division of William’s army, under de
Genckell, laid siege to the town. At once seizing that portion of it
that is in Leinster, he began to play his batteries on the north-east
side of the castle on June 22nd. By seven in the evening he had made a
large breach in the walls.
Firing continued all night, and by five in the morning the side of the
castle next the river was completely broken down, and the garrison was
obliged to go in and out by a hole made in the wall on the western side.
The following evening the castle garrison raised two batteries above
the castle, and some others, but the firing had little effect. The
bridge was slowly and surely gained by the besieging troops, and their
guns played constantly on the fortress, wrecking the Connaught tower
and walls.
Two officers deserting from the town informed William’s troops that
the best regiments had been withdrawn by St. Ruth, and thereupon a
concerted and sudden attack was made on the 30th of June, which carried
the bridge, castle, and town by storm.
Repairs were at once begun by the victors on July 3rd, and in 1697 the
castle was the chief depôt of military stores in the west.
It is now used as a barrack, and officers’ quarters and other buildings
have been erected inside the walls.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Weld, “Statistical Survey of Co. Roscommon.”
Joly, “Old Bridge of Athlone.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
State Documents.
State Papers.
Carew MSS.
O’Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.”
D’Alton, “History of Drogheda.”
Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
In Journal of same, Langrishe,
“Walls of Athlone,” and “Sieges of Athlone.”
_BALLYMOTE CASTLE_
This fine old ruin is situated in the Barony of Corran, County Sligo,
about twelve miles north-west of Boyle.
The name signifies the “town of the moat,” and was not used before the
building of the Norman fortress. Some think “mote” is derived from
“mound,” but it is more likely to refer to the ditch which surrounded
the castle until the close of the seventeenth century. The place was
formerly called Athcliath-in-Chorainn, or “the hurdleford of Corran.”
The castle fell to ruin after the rebellion of 1688. The curtain walls,
which are 9 feet thick, were flanked by six round towers, one of them
still being about 60 feet in height. The courtyard which was thus
enclosed contained 150 square feet.
A passage about 3 feet wide ran round in the thickness of the walls,
and communicated with the towers and defences. The state-rooms were on
the north side of the courtyard, and some of them were fine apartments.
The Survey of 1633 calls this part “the Court.” A few traces of
outworks remain.
About twenty years ago the present Rector of Ballymote was told by an
old man that an underground passage was locally supposed to lead from
the castle to the abbey, a distance of about 200 yards. Upon further
investigation Canon Walker discovered two arches, one in the vestry of
the abbey and the other within the castle, apparently leading in the
same direction. Both are now choked with rubbish. The entrance in the
castle is exceedingly narrow, and was reached from the castle yard by
descending steps.
Ballymote was erected by Richard de Burgo, “the Red Earl,” in 1300.
It was dismantled in 1318, and twenty-two years later it was in the
possession of Turlough O’Conor, King of Connaught, who was besieged in
it by MacDermot. Peace was afterwards concluded.
In 1346 it was restored and garrisoned by John de Kerrew.
Two years later it is referred to as belonging to Rory O’Conor, and it
was by that family entrusted to the MacDonoughs to hold against the
Burkes. These MacDonoughs seized the castle of Ballylahan in 1381, and
taking its gate to Ballymote, there erected it.
In 1470 Brian MacDonough, who was lord of Ballymote, was slain by
Teige MacDonough, who took possession of the castle. It was still in
this family’s possession in 1522 when the famous parchment “Book of
Ballimote” was sold by the MacDonough of the time to Hugh Oge O’Donnell
for the large price of 140 milch cows, he having first obtained the
consent of his family to the transaction.