nineteenth century the present modern dwelling-house was erected. This
was at first inhabited by the Walsh family, and later Dr. Reichel,
Bishop of Meath, lived in it. Miss Hume is the present occupier.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
E. Dix, “Dundrum Castle,” in “The Lesser Castles in the
County Dublin”; F. Ball,
“Dundrum Castle,” both _Irish Builder_.
Ball and Hamilton, “The Parish of Taney.”
[Illustration: DUNLUCE CASTLE.]
_DUNLUCE CASTLE_
The ruins of this stronghold are picturesquely situated upon a rocky
promontory about three miles east of Portrush, in the County Antrim,
which is divided from the mainland by a chasm 20 feet wide and 100 feet
deep.
The name Dunluce, or _lis_, signifies “strong fort,” and in all
probability the castle is built on the site of an ancient _lis_.
The walls of the fortress are constructed of local basalt, and as the
columnar structure has been taken advantage of in the dressings of
windows and doors, it makes it a difficult matter to compare the date
of its erection with other castles by the style of architecture.
It seems likely that the fortress was built in the sixteenth century by
the M’Quillans (formerly M’Willies), who derived their title from De
Burgo, one of De Courcy’s followers. Experts think that no part of the
building is of fifteenth-century workmanship.
The castle was originally confined to the isolated rock, which was
connected with the mainland by a drawbridge. Now this part is reached
by a footway about 18 inches wide and 20 feet long, supported by an
arch.
The strongest walls are on the south and east sides. The drawbridge
formerly led into a small enclosed courtyard, at the lower end of
which stands the barbican, containing the main entrance, and with
an embrasure at one side commanding the bridge. This has corbelled
bartizans at the angles of the south gable, which are a Scotch type of
architecture.
A strong wall, following the cliff, connects the barbican with a
circular tower at the south-east angle called M’Quillan’s Tower. The
walls of this building are 8 feet thick, and a small staircase in them
leads to the top of both tower and wall.
Formerly another curtain extended from M’Quillan’s Tower along the edge
of the rock northward to Queen Maud’s Tower, which is also circular but
of smaller dimensions.
On the west and north the castle walls are not so thick as elsewhere,
and here the principal domestic offices are situated.
On the north side, over the mouth of the cave which penetrates below,
are the remains of the kitchen, where a terrible accident happened
during a storm. The date is placed at 1639. The young Duchess of
Buckingham, who had married the 2nd Earl of Antrim, was giving a great
entertainment, when suddenly the kitchen gave way, and eight servants,
including the cook, sank into the waters of the cave below, and were
drowned. It is said a tinker, who was sitting in a window mending pots
and pans, was the only survivor of those present, and “the tinker’s
window” is still pointed out.
The state rooms of the castle are situated behind the towers at the
eastern side. The great hall measures 70 feet by 23 feet, and has
a large fireplace and three bay windows, which were probably later
improvements made by Sorley Boy M’Donnell for his son Sir James, when
he took up his abode at Dunluce.
The castle yard is situated between the hall and the parapet wall, and
measures 120 feet by 25 feet.
A small vaulted room at the east side of the castle called the Banshee
Tower, is pointed out as a haunted chamber.
The oak roof of the chapel, which had been restored in the Duchess of
Buckingham’s time (1637-40), was afterwards used to cover a barn in the
district.
The buildings on the mainland are of much later date than those on the
rock. It is probable that they are later than 1640, though whether
they were built, as tradition states, because the domestics refused
to inhabit the older castle after the subsidence of the kitchen,
or whether the increase of the family’s importance required more
accommodation, it is hard to say.
In 1513 a dispute arose between the descendants of Garrett MacQuillin
and those of Walter MacQuillin for Dunluce, then in the former’s hands.
O’Donnell seems to have placed the Walter MacQuillins in possession.
Sir Thomas Cusake mentions the castle in his account of the expedition
against the MacDonnels in 1551, and four years later a fierce dispute
arose between the MacQuillins and MacDonnels for the chieftainship of
the Route district.
These MacDonnels were of Scotch descent, and in 1565 the famous Shane
O’Neill set out to expel the Scots from Antrim.
A great fight ensued, in which James and Sorley Boy (yellow or swarthy
Charles) MacDonnel were taken prisoners.
Dunluce held out for three days longer, but Shane kept Sorley
Boy without food until the garrison should surrender, which they
accordingly did for his sake as well as their own.
O’Neill then put his men in the castle, and is reported to have “kylled
and banyshed all the Skottes out of the north.”
James MacDonnel died in Tyrone Castle in 1567--probably from poison.
Two years later his death was avenged by one of the clan, who
assassinated Shane, and after this Sorley Boy was set at liberty.
At this time an English garrison was in possession of Dunluce, and
Sorley Boy crossed to Scotland, and returned with eight hundred picked
Redshanks to demand his castles and lands returned by a grant from the
Crown.
This request not being at once acceded to, he commenced hostilities,
and in a year had re-possessed himself of all his strongholds and
lands, except Dunluce. He then renounced all allegiance to the Oueen,
raised some more Scotch troops, and took the surrounding country
without opposition.
In 1573 he made a partial submission to the Crown, and asked to have
the part of the Glynns, which he claimed through the Bysetts, confirmed
to him by letters patent, but when the title deeds arrived he cut them
up and threw them in the fire, saying--
“By my sword I got these lands, and by the sword I will hold them.”
The next year Mr. Francis Killaway was granted Dunluce under Essex’s
scheme of plantation, but in those days possession was more than “nine
points of the law,” and when the Lord Deputy, Sir John Perrott, set out
with a great army against the Scots of Ulster, in 1584, Sorley Boy’s
warder occupied Dunluce.
In the official despatches it is styled the “impregnable” fortress.
The MacDonnels were unprepared for the attack. Cannon was landed at
the Skerries and drawn up by men, but when the castle was summoned to
surrender, the Scotch captain replied he would hold the fortress to the
last man for the King of Scotland.
The siege lasted nine months; the ward of forty men, mostly Scotch,
surrendering in September, 1585.
St. Columkill’s Cross was found amongst the treasure by Perrott, who
forwarded it, with a jeering letter, to Burghly. It has since been lost
sight of.
The Lord Deputy appointed a pensioner called Peter Carey as constable,
and a ward of English soldiers.
Perrott reports that Carey dismissed them, and re-filled their places
with Northerns, some of whom were in league with MacDonnel, and that
one night fifty men were drawn up the rock by ropes made of wythies. He
also says they offered Carey his life, but he refused, and retired to a
tower with a few men, where he was eventually slain.
This seems a rather unlikely story, and another account states a good
many of the garrison were slain, and that Carey being hanged over one
of the walls of the stronghold, the English soldiers fled. Carey’s
widow was granted a pension.
Having recovered his castle, Sorley Boy made overtures of peace to the
Government, which were eagerly accepted, and he travelled to Dublin
and prostrated himself before Elizabeth’s portrait. The Indenture,
dated 1586, amongst other things, states he was appointed Constable or
Keyholder of Dunluce Castle.
His son, Sir James MacDonnel, occupied the stronghold in 1597, and
the Governor of Carrickfergus lodged numerous complaints against him,
amongst which were his refusal to give up the ordnance he had taken
from Don Alonzo’s ship of the Spanish Armada, and his having fortified
himself in Dunluce.
The following year Tyrone’s two sons and their tutor were lodged in the
castle, and Sir Geffrey Fenton had suspicions that they were placed
there as hostages to the Scotch King.
Shortly afterwards open hostilities began between MacDonnel and the
Government until Sir James died suddenly at Dunluce in 1601.
The castle was granted to his son, Randel, by letters patent in 1614,
to be surrendered if required for a garrison, and he was created Earl
of Antrim in 1620.
His son, who succeeded in 1636, married the widowed Duchess of
Buckingham. The castle was summoned by the Irish in 1641, and they also
burned the town.
The Earl did not join the Rebellion, though many of his relations
were in arms. In 1642 Munro came to Dunluce on pretence that some
of the Earl’s tenantry were implicated. After having been well
entertained, he treacherously seized Lord Antrim and sent him prisoner
to Carrickfergus, at the same time plundering Dunluce.
The Earl escaped to England, and his lands, which had been confiscated
during Cromwell’s time, were restored to him in 1663; but in the
meantime Dunluce had fallen to decay, and does not seem to have been
inhabited since.
The Antrim family at present reside at Glenarm Castle.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
G. Hill, “Macdonnells of Antrim.”
Calendar of State Papers.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Proceedings of Archæological Association
of Ireland, Papers by R. Young and
J. O’Laverty.
Joyce, “Irish Place Names.”
“The Description and Present State of
Ulster,” in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_.
[Illustration: DUNSOGHLY CASTLE.]
_DUNSOGHLY CASTLE_
This castle is situated eight miles north-by-west of Dublin, near the
village of St. Margaret’s, off the Ashbourne road.
It consists of a splendidly preserved keep about 80 feet high, flanked
by four square towers which rise above the roof at each corner. One of
these contains a winding stair leading to the battlements, at the top
of which a flight of ten steps gives egress to the summit of the watch
tower.
The other three towers have little rooms opening off the different
storeys.
The ground floor, which was most likely a kitchen, is a large vaulted
apartment into which a door has been quarried in later years.
The first floor was once a fine wainscotted room, the walls of which
were yet hung with family pictures when D’Alton visited it in 1838.
A flight of wooden stairs connects this apartment with the ground.
The two upper storeys had wooden floors, and the building is still
covered by a good slated roof, which is evidently a modern addition. So
too are the large square windows, some of which are glazed and others
protected by wire netting. The doorways are Gothic.
In the south-west tower is the prison with no entrance except through a
hole in the roof by which captives and their food were let down.
Tradition states an underground passage connects the castle with St.
Margaret’s Church, as well as having many hidden vaults.
Beside the keep is the ruined chapel with an arched doorway, which
has been used as a cowshed. At the side towards the castle is a low
built-up archway over which is a slab carved with the symbols of the
crucifixion, and having under it the inscription:--“J.P.M.D.S., 1573,”
which is supposed to mean Johannes Plunket Miles de Dun-Soghly, 1573.
There seems to be no record of the building of the castle.
In 1288-89 it is noted that the rent paid for Dunsoghly by Geoffrey
Brun was 74s. and fivepence. Nearly two hundred years later (1422) the
King granted to Henry Stanyhurst the custody of all the messuages which
had belonged to John Finglas to hold rent free during the minority of
the heir. Two years later Roger Finglas is forgiven his arrears of
Crown rent out of the lands and tenants of Dunsoghly and Oughtermay.
Soon after this the land seems to have passed to Sir Roland Plunkett,
the younger son of Sir Christopher Plunkett, Baron of Killem, and Lord
Deputy of Ireland, 1432, this family being a branch of the Fingall
family.
In 1446 Sir Rowland Plunkett, of Dunsoghly Castle, was appointed Chief
Justice of the King’s Bench, and later his son, Sir Thomas Plunkett,
became Chief Justice of Common Pleas.
The Crown leased, in 1547, to John Plunkett, of Dunsoghly, gent., all
the tithes in Dunsoghly and Oughtermay, in the Parish of St. Margaret
of Dowanor, part of the possessions of the Chancellor of the late
Cathedral of St. Patrick, at a rent of five marks. He was also to
provide a chaplain for the church of Dowanor.
This John Plunkett was grandson to Sir Thomas, and also received
knighthood. He was made Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench in 1559. He
died twenty-three years later, seized of the manors of Dunsoghly and
Oughtermay.
Sir John built the private chapel belonging to the castle, and also the
chantry of St. Margaret’s.
In 1590 Christopher Plunkett, of Dunsoghly, is included in the list of
the English Pale; and twenty years later he surrendered Dunsoghly to
the King, who re-granted it to him with additional lands on account of
his own and his family’s service to the Crown.
Colonel Richard Plunkett, of Dunsoghly, was an active supporter of the
Lords of the Pale in 1641, and a reward of £400 was offered for his
head by the Lords Justices and Council.
In 1657 the Down Survey says that the “chiefest places in the Barony
of Coolock are Malahide and Dunsoghly.” “There is in Dunsoghly a good
castle, and a house adjoining it (James Plunkett).”
The House of Commons granted Sir Henry Tichbourne £2,000 in lieu of his
wardship of Nicholas Plunkett, of Dunsoghly, in 1666. This Nicholas was
succeeded by his son, at whose death the property was divided between
his three daughters, and the castle is still in possession of their
descendants.
The fortress is said to have been bombarded in Cromwell’s time from a
mound near, which is now occupied by a dwelling-house, and a long crack
made in the south wall by the cannon is still visible.
The castle was inhabited up to the middle of the eighteenth century.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
J. D’Alton, “History of County Dublin.”
Proceedings of Royal Archæological Association of Ireland.
W. Wakeman, “Rambles near Dublin,” in Dublin _Evening Telegraph_ Reprints.
Carew MSS.
State Documents
_ENNISCORTHY CASTLE_
Situated on the Slaney, about twelve miles north-by-west of Wexford,
in the Barony of Ballaghkeen, is the town of Enniscorthy. The origin
of the name does not seem to admit of a satisfactory explanation. Some
writers say that it was originally Corthæ, and the capital of Ptolemy’s
Coriandi. Hence the prophesy, “Enniscorthy was, Dublin is, and Drogheda
will be.” Again Enis-scorteach, signifying “the stud-house pastorage,”
has been mentioned as a possible explanation.
The castle is a massive square structure, flanked by three round
towers. It is in good preservation. Two of the towers can still be
ascended.
It is built of hard blue slate, dug on the spot, and the cases of the
doors and windows are of grey grit stone.
It is believed that the manor of Enniscorthy was granted by Strongbow
to Maurice de Prendergast, and that he commenced to erect the castle in
1199, it being finished by his son Philip in 1205 or 1206.
Again, it is stated to have passed to the De Prendergasts through the
De Quincey family, and that it was originally erected by Raymond le
Gros.
Between 1225 and 1228 it was walled in and entrenched by Gerald
Prendergast, who died in 1251.
The Rochfords held it from 1252 to 1327 through Maurice Rochford
marrying Matilda Prendergast.
The land had formerly been part of the MacMurroughs’ territory, and
they regained it in 1328, although their claim was fiercely disputed by
the Rochfords.
Donogh MacMorrough, King of Leinster, resided in the castle from 1368
to 1375, in which year he was slain near Carlow by Geoffrey Wall. Two
years later Art MacMurrough, King of Leinster, recovered the castle,
and held it until his death in 1418.
Donald Kavanagh, King of Leinster, lived in state in the castle from
1428 to 1476, and he it was who founded the Franciscan monastery close
to the stronghold in 1460.
Murrough, King of Leinster, died in the castle in 1518.
In 1550 it passed to the Crown after Cahir MacArt Kavanagh relinquished
the title “MacMurrough.”
Richard Kettyng complained in 1551 that the Council would not confirm
the King’s letters, which granted him the castles of Ferns and
Enniscorthy. He requested that they might be granted by patent.
The following year Enniscorthy was leased to Gabriel Blake.
In 1566 a ruined castle and the manor of “Innescortye” was leased to
Nicholas Hearon, Esq., for twenty-one years, and the following year
it was surrendered by his assignee, Thomas Stucley, Esq., who then
received a lease of it.
It was sacked by Sir Edmund Butler in 1569, and remained uninhabited
for thirteen years, though it was leased to Richard Synnot for
twenty-one years in 1575, and in 1581 the great poet Edmund Spenser
received it upon like condition.
“Lease (under commission, 15 July, XXII.) to Edmund Spenser, gent., of
the site of the house of friars of Enescortie, with apputences; the
manor of Enescortie, a ruinous castle, land, and a weir there, lands of
Garrane, Killkenane, Loughwertie, Barrickcrowe, and Ballineparke, and
the customs of boards, timber, laths, boats bearing victuals, lodgings
during the fair, and things sold there, and fishings belonging to the
manor, and all other appurtenances as well within the Morroes country
as without. To hold for 21 years. Rent, £13-6-4. Maintaining one
English horseman. Fine, 20s.”
It is stated that fear of the Kavanaghs prevented his coming into
residence, for the year afterwards his lease was transferred to Sir
Richard Sinnot, of Ballybrennan, and ratified by the Crown for a term
of forty years.
In 1595 Queen Elizabeth granted the estate to Sir Henry Wallop,
Treasurer of War, by letters patent.
He restored the castle, but his son preferred to reside in the more
modern dwelling of the Franciscan monks, which was close to the
fortress. He died here in 1624, and was succeeded by his son Robert.
Sir Henry’s grandson was one of the judges at the trial of Charles
I., and after the Restoration he was imprisoned in the Tower of
London, where he died in 1667. His great grandson was created Earl of
Portsmouth in 1743.
The castle was in the hands of the Confederates in 1642.
In 1649 (whilst in the possession of Mr. Robert Wallop) the army of
the Commonwealth laid siege to the stronghold. It was well manned and
provisioned.
Close to its walls was the “fair house,” formerly the largest
Franciscan monastery in Ireland, and then the residence of the Wallop
family, who deserted it upon the approach of the army.
When the castle was summoned the garrison refused to surrender, but
they shortly afterwards reconsidered their decision and left their
great guns, arms, ammunition, and provisions in the hands of the
victors.
Shortly afterwards the castle was, however, re-taken by a trick. Some
Royalist supporters feasted the men of the garrison and sent women
to them to sell whiskey. When they were helplessly drunk the Irish
overpowered them and took possession of the castle.
The Governor, Captain Todd, and his wife, as well as the officers
under him, were all put to death. Only four of the soldiers were
spared, they having betrayed the fortress for the sum of £7.
As soon as Colonel Cooke, the Governor of Wexford, heard of the outrage
he marched to Enniscorthy and took the castle by storm, killing every
one of the Irish garrison.
The first Earl of Portsmouth repaired the building and leased it to
Adam Colclough in 1745.
During the rebellion of 1798 it was used as a prison by the insurgents
during the period that Enniscorthy remained in their hands.
They greatly defaced the place, but the Earl of Portsmouth restored
it between 1806 and 1812, altering it to the requirements of a modern
residence for his agent. After this period it had many tenants.
From 1852 to 1863 it was used as an estate office, and a printing
press was also erected within the walls. It was from here that the
_Enniscorthy News_ was first issued.
It fell into a state of dilapidation about 1863, though in 1867 it was
used as a temporary barracks for the extra police required in the town
during the Fenian rising.
In 1898 it was sold to Mr. P. J. Roche of New Ross.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Flood, “History of Enniscorthy.”
D. Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
State Papers.
Calendar of Patent and Close Rolls, Ireland.
Fiants of Elizabeth.
_ENNISKILLEN CASTLE_
The chief part of the town of Enniskillen is situated on an island in
Lough Erne, seventy-five miles west-by-south of Belfast, in the County
Fermanagh.
The name is supposed to be derived from a small islet near to the
eastern bridge where the heroic wife of a great chief is buried, and
which was called Enis-Cethlenn or “the Island of Cethlenn.”
The castle stands at the western side of the town, where it commanded
the lake.
It is now incorporated with the Castle Barrack, but the original
quadrangular keep (a storey lower than in former times) is still to
be seen, while the curtain wall and towers, which were erected in
1611, and figure in the arms of the town, are in a good state of
preservation. The ditch which once surrounded it has now been filled
up. The castle was the chief fortress of the Maguires, lords of
Fermanagh. In 1439 it was surrendered to Donall Ballach Maguire, and
three years later Thomas Oge Maguire gave it to Philip Maguire.
In 1593 Maguire had the houses round the castle burnt for fear of
attack. Nevertheless, early the following year, during his absence,
Captain Dowdall laid siege to the fortress.
On the ninth day he attacked the castle “by boats, by engines, by sap,
by scaling.” He placed 100 men in a great boat covered with hurdles and
hide, which, with
[Illustration: ENNISKILLEN CASTLE.]
Connor O’Cassidy as guide, drew up close to the wall of the barbican.
Here a fierce onslaught was made, and the garrison retreated to
the keep. This, Captain Dowdall threatened to blow up unless they
surrendered, which they accordingly did.
The steersman of the boat gives the number as thirty-six fighting men,
and nearly the same of women and children; whereas Captain Dowdall
states he put a hundred and fifty to death, which is most likely an
exaggeration.
He says it came into her Majesty’s hands with small loss, though it was
very strong, with walls seven feet thick and “soundrie secret fights
within it of great annoyance uppon the barbican.”
He remained ten days mending the breaches, gates, and doors, and laid
in three months’ provisions. He elected a constable, and, garrisoning
it with thirty soldiers, took his departure.
Marshall Bagnall was on his way to ward the castle, but Dowdall
reported that he was too ill to await his coming.
The same year Maguire laid siege to the fortress, it is said, at the
instigation of the Earl of Tyrone. The relieving party was defeated,
and the Lord Deputy himself set out to the rescue of the garrison.
They had been reduced to eating horseflesh, and had only one more
animal when they were relieved. The ward was then reduced from forty to
thirty, and the castle victualled for six months, which supply was to
be augmented by fishing for eels under the walls.
Shortly after this the bawn was seized and seven warders killed; and
in 1595 the whole fortress surrendered. In the State Papers the Lord
Deputy declares he cannot understand why this should have been, as the
castle was well provisioned. He says that he hears the constable and
fifteen warders were promised life and goods, but that when they came
out they were all put to death. It does not seem that this report was
confirmed.
In 1596-97 the Lord Deputy asks for three falcons with their carriages
and ladles, to replace those which Maguire had taken with the castle,
and which had belonged to Dublin.