Lieutenant of Ireland. William III. dined in the castle in August,
1690, as the Duke’s guest.
In 1715 he was accused falsely of conspiring against the Crown, and in
anger at the charge he crossed to France, and joined the Stuarts.
His estates, valued at £80,000 a year, were forfeited and he died at
Avignon, supported by a pension from the Court of Spain.
The Irish House of Lords restored part of the estates and the Irish
Earldom to another branch of the Ormonds, and John Butler became 17th
Earl of Ormond.
Walter, the 18th Earl, was created Marquess in 1816, and from him the
present representative is descended, who in 1904 entertained King
Edward VII. and Queen Alexandra at the castle.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
J. Hogan, “Kilkenny.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
J. Robertson, “Antiquities and Scenery of Kilkenny.”
P. Egan, “Kilkenny Guide.”
E. Ledwidge, “History of Irishtown and Kilkenny”
in “Collectanea de Rebus Hibernices.”
J. Graves, “Journey to Kilkenny, 1799” (_Journal
of Kilkenny Archæological Society_).
MacMahon, “Kilkenny Castle” in “Historic Houses.”
Calendar of State Documents.
Calendar of Carew MSS.
_KILLIANE CASTLE_
This fortress is situated in a parish of the same name in the Barony
of Forth, about three miles south-east of Wexford. The name, which is
written Killyan in the _Liber Regalis_ visitations, signifies “The
Church of St. Liedania.”
The building consists of a castellated rectangular keep, to which a
modern house has been attached. There is also an enclosed bawn with
most excellently preserved walls. Near the castle stand the ruins of
its chapel.
In the notes attached to the Down Survey Maps, dating from about 1657,
it is stated that at Great Killiane is “a Castle with a slate house
adjoining, a decayed windmill, and seven cabbins.”
The castle is supposed to have been erected by the family of Hay, whose
first representative in Ireland was Richard de Hay, Lord of Hay in
Wales, who crossed with the Normans in 1196. From this family Killiane
passed to a younger branch of the house of Chevers, of Ballyhally,
early in the sixteenth century. Hamond Chevers, of Killiane, was one of
the jurators to hold an inquisition on Tintern Abbey in 1543. He held
his castle and lands from the Mayor of Wexford.
In 1627 Killiane was still in possession of a Hamond Chevers, and his
son George held it with 237 acres when the rebellion broke out in 1641.
He was present at the siege of Duncannon Fort in 1645, when it was
defended against the Confederate Catholics by Laurence, Lord Esmond,
and in consequence of the part he took in the insurrection Killiane was
confiscated. In 1666 it was granted to Francis Hervey, Esq., with 220
acres, and it has remained in this family’s possession ever since.
One of the daughters of the house, who married the Very Rev. Samuel
Adams, D.D., Dean of Cashel, in 1809, was so famous for her beauty that
she was called “The Rose of Killiane.” The family has not lived in
the castle for some years, and it is let by the present owner, Arthur
Hervey, Esq.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
MSS. Ordnance Survey.
Down Survey Maps.
Inquisitions of Leinster.
Hore, “History of Wexford.”
Lewis, “Typographical Dictionary of Ireland.”
B. Adams and M. Adams, “History of the Adams Family.”
Proceedings Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland.
Chancery Patent Rolls, Act of Settlement.
[Illustration: KILLYLEAGH CASTLE.]
_KILLYLEAGH CASTLE_
“Downpatrick too may boast
Of the great fort by its side,
Where a monarch may have lived,
And have rul’d in savage pride;
But what is Patrick’s grave,
Or cathedral old and grey,
To the proud baronial castle
That adorns Killileagh?”
This castle stands on rising ground above the town of Killyleagh,
five miles north-east of Downpatrick, in the County of Down. It was
the principal fortress of seven which formerly guarded the shores of
Strangford Lough.
About a mile distant is _Loch Cleath_, or “The Lake of the Hurdles,” so
it is probable that Killyleagh signifies “the Church of the Hurdles.”
The gate tower of the castle is entered under a Gothic arch of Glasgow
stone from the main street of the town. It is 59 feet in height, and
crowned with turrets. Curtain walls on each side connect it with
flanking towers, which are again joined by other castellated walls to
the castle itself, thus enclosing a rectangular courtyard, which is
laid out in grass and flower-beds.
The mansion has an imposing frontage, flanked at both sides by circular
towers. One of these dates from the castle’s erection, and the other,
which is a copy, from the year 1666. The centre block of masonry was
entirely restored in the middle of the nineteenth century. Some of the
walls, which were removed at that time, were 15 feet thick, being
composed of rubble and excellent mortar.
The old carved stone over the door was copied in Caen stone. The Royal
Arms are surmounted by a figure of Charles I., while below are the
family arms. The original stone, which was much weather worn, has been
placed over a small door at the side.
Most of the stone used at the restoration was quarried on the estate,
but the facing stones were brought from Scotland.
One of the special attractions of this charming residence is the
beautiful terraced gardens lying to the south. They consist of
three tiers of cultivation beginning with the “Box Garden” of trim
flower-beds, from which you descend by a flight of rustic steps to
“the Rockery Garden” abounding in Alpine plants. Here some beautiful
and extremely ancient yew-trees are to be seen, their branches being
120 feet in circumference, while below a small lake in the centre of
rose-beds leaves nothing to be desired in its delightful effect.
The castle was erected by Sir John de Courcy shortly after his conquest
of Ulster, and in 1356 Edward III. appointed John de Mandeville warden.
After this it fell into the hands of the O’Neills, who retained it up
to 1561, when Queen Elizabeth granted the territory to Hugo White. He
rebuilt the castle and removed the ward from Dufferin Castle near, to
garrison it. After this it was known as “White’s Castle” for many years.
In 1567 the fortress was gallantly defended against a fierce attack
made by the great Shane O’Neill, and he was successfully repulsed.
The strength of the White family gradually decreased, and in 1590
they could only muster a hundred and twenty foot soldiers and twenty
horsemen to defend their lands, while eight years later twenty footmen
was the total of their fighting strength.
The M’Artans and O’Neills joined together and dispossessed them, the
former family taking possession of Killyleagh. Their estates were,
however, forfeited at the close of the sixteenth century for the part
they took in the rebellion of the Northern Earls, and some time after
this the lands were granted to the Hamiltons.
General Monk partly demolished the castle in 1649, and the Hamiltons
began to rebuild it in 1666.
James I. had created the head of the family Earl of Clanbrassil and
Viscount Clandeboye, but the last to hold the title died in 1676. It is
said he was poisoned by his wife, Lady Alice of Clanbrassil, a daughter
of the Earl of Drogheda, who was a beautiful and vicious woman, and
after plunging the estate into debt desired to contract a wealthy
marriage.
At this time the Earl’s mother, Lady Anne, resided at Killyleagh Castle
in accordance with the wishes of her husband’s will.
As Earl Henry left no children the estate was divided amongst his
cousins, Killyleagh falling to the lot of James Hamilton. When James
died in 1683 his lands were divided between his brother Gawin, ancestor
of the present Colonel Rowan-Hamilton, D.L., of Killyleagh Castle,
and his daughter Anne, whose granddaughter, Dorcas, married Sir John
Blackwood, and was created Baroness Dufferin and Clandeboye.
The division of the estate was accurately made and decided by lot,
which had the effect of putting one branch of the family in possession
of the half of the courtyard of the castle which lay nearest the town,
while the other part was attached to the castle.
This division caused a family feud of some two hundred years in
duration. A house was built on the disputed land between the town and
castle, and it was only upon the coming of age of the late Marquis of
Dufferin, who said it should never be said of him that he kept any man
out of his own hall-door, that the contention ended.
The young nobleman presented the land to his kinsman of the castle, to
be held by the tenure of the annual tribute of a red rose to the lady
of Clandeboye, or should there be no such person, a pair of gilt spurs
to the Lord Dufferin of the time. He added to his gift a castellated
gate-house, which was erected from designs by Mr. Ferrers.
The last stone was laid by Lord Dufferin upon the morning of his
marriage with Miss Rowan Hamilton on the 23rd of October, 1862.
It bears an inscription to that effect, as well as the name of its
sculptor, Mr. Samuel Hastings, of Downpatrick.
In 1688-89 Sir Robert Maxwell resided in the castle, having married the
widow of the Earl of Clanbrissal. Captain Savage asked to be allowed to
garrison the gate-tower so as to be some check upon the disturbances
the Protestant party were making in the North. Sir Robert took two days
to consider the matter, but in the meantime the soldiers were attacked
by Hunter, and the captain and lieutenant taken prisoners.
Soon after the castle was reduced by the Royalists, and in the
investigation which followed much credit was taken from the fact that
no plundering was allowed. It was stated that such forbearance was
wonderful in the face of great provocation, inasmuch as the very day
the castle was taken part of Colonel Mark Talbot’s wig was shot off by
a bullet from the fortress.
The celebrated United Irishman, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, owned
and lived in the castle. He was secretary of the Dublin Society of
United Irishmen in 1791, and in 1794 he was sentenced to two years’
imprisonment for seditious libel.
The embroidered lavender dress coat, which he wore at his presentation
to Marie Antoinette in 1781 or 1782, when in attendance on the Duchess
of Manchester, is still preserved as an heirloom in the castle. A pair
of pistols presented to Captain Hamilton, R.N., C.B., after the battle
of Navarino, by the French Admiral De Rigny, for his gallant services
to the French squadron, are also to be seen at Killyleagh.
In 1842 Captain Archibald Rowan Hamilton married Miss Caldwell, of
Cheltenham, and seven years later they began to restore the castle.
In 1862 the marriage of the late Lord Dufferin and Clandeboye, with
Hariot Georgina, eldest daughter of the late Captain Archibald Rowan
Hamilton, 5th Dragoon Guards, was celebrated in the evening of October
23rd, in the drawing-room of the castle.
When the present owner of the castle, Colonel Gawen Rowan Hamilton,
came of age in 1864, Lord Dufferin handed him the keys of the
gate-tower, to which reference has already been made, saying, “The
time is now come for me to hand over to you this gate-house, a gift
which I had originally destined for your father, but which, with equal
pleasure, I now make to you. I trust that you and your descendants may
long continue to enjoy it.”
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Lowry, “The Hamilton Manuscripts.”
Knox, “History of County of Down.”
Praeger, “Official Guide to County Down.”
S. M. S., “Killyleagh Castle, County of Down,” in _Dublin Penny Journal_.
Hanna, “The Break of Killyleagh,” in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_.
Newspaper Cuttings lent by Mrs. Rowan Hamilton.
_KING JOHN’S CASTLE, CARLINGFORD_
This is one of the few names in Ireland which clearly show a Danish
influence. The Irish designation was Cairlinn, and the present name
simply means the “_fiord_ of Cairlinn,” or Carlingford.
It is situated in the County of Louth, on the southern shore of the bay
at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, about eleven miles east-north-east
of Dundalk.
It was a most important town of the Pale, and at one time nearly every
building of any size was of a fortified type. There are still to be
seen the remains of three strongholds called at the present time King
John’s Castle, Taffe’s Castle, and Lee’s Castle.
King John’s Castle is traditionally supposed to have been erected by
that monarch’s orders in 1210 to protect the mountain pass of Goulin.
We know that King John was at “Kerlingford,” but Grose considers that
it is more likely the fortress was built by De Lacy or De Courcy.
It is situated on a rocky promontory which projects into the sea, and
having been built in accordance with the natural formation of the rock
is triangular in shape. It is divided in the centre by a “cross wall”
nearly 12 feet thick. On the southern side the divisions of apartments
are still to be seen, and there are also the remains of galleries with
recesses for archers. The walls are about 11 feet in thickness, and
on the sea side there is a small underground passage some 20 feet in
length.
The chief entrance from the water was protected by a
[Illustration: KING JOHN’S CASTLE, CARLINGFORD.]
platform or battery, which also commanded the harbour. It is said the
promontory once extended further into the sea, and being covered with
soft grass was called the “Green Quay.”
In 1215 the King commanded Roger Pipard to deliver up the castle to
any one the Archbishop of Dublin appointed to receive it. Richard de
Burgh was ordered to give up the fortress to Geoffrey de Mariscis in
1216 or 1217, but this order was immediately followed by a similar
one to William de Lacy, who had evidently taken the King’s Castle at
Carlingford.
In 1388 Stephen Gernon, the constable of the time, was licensed by
the King to take corn tithes in the lordship of Cooley to supply
the castles of Carlingford and Greencastle. Five years later Esmond
de Loundres was appointed Warden of Carlingford, Greencastle, and
Coly, with the profits due to the office. The O’Neill of that day so
pillaged the country round that De Loundres was unable even to meet his
expenses, and he petitioned that, the seignory being laid waste, he
might be either relieved of office or properly supplied with means to
meet the charges attached to it. Whereupon an order to provision the
castles under his command was issued.
Fishing rights seem to have been attached to the castle in 1425, and
more than a hundred years later they still formed a Government revenue.
In 1535 the Treasurer went to Carlingford to inspect the King’s castle.
He reported that it and Greencastle with the country round had been
almost destroyed, and that if the war was to continue English workmen
would have to be sent over to put the castle in repair. He suggested
that the expenses should be defrayed by the fishing dues.
This does not seem to have been done, for in 1549 both castles were
in a dilapidated condition. Three years later Sir Nicholas Bagenall
was granted “the Manor of Carlingford and an old castle there, and the
whole demesne and manor of Mourne and Greencastle, the castle and
demesne of the Black Friars in Carlingford.” Ten years later it was
still in his hands.
In 1596 the Earl of Tyrone, after having pretended to submit to the
Government, made an incursion into the Pale. It seems that his foremost
troops were commanded by his son-in-law, Henry Oge, who endeavoured to
surprise the castle at Carlingford. This he was unable to accomplish,
but, “missing of his principal purpose, there were carried away as
prisoners, in lamentable manner, two gentlewomen, daughters of Captain
Henshaw, the one married and the other a maid.”
The Earl, who was following, had intended to reinforce the troops after
the seizing of the town and fortress, but the failure of the enterprise
prevented his doing so. He acknowledged having carried off the ladies
from the castle “in time of peace,” and refused to return them until
O’Hanlon’s son was liberated in exchange.
Marmaduke Whitechurch was constable of Carlingford in 1610, and had six
warders under his command.
In 1641 “Sir Con Maginse tooke the forte and castle of the Neurie and
Carlingfoorde.”
The next year it was captured by a ruse graphically described as
follows: “5th of May. Newes came from Dundalk to the Lords Justices
by Captaine Cadogan (who came thence through Maday with ten horse-men
only) that the Newry was not only retaken by the Lord Conway and
Munroe, the Scots commander, from the rebels, but also that the
towne and castle of Carlingford were taken by a ship that came from
Knockfergus. Their policy was to put up the Spanish colours, which the
rebels discerning, sent a fisher-boat, with ten or twelve of their
commanders, to goe aboard the ship, supposing that some ammunition
was come unto them; but the captaine of the ships, instead of shewing
them any such commodities, clapt them up under decks, and so landing
his musketiers, they took the towne, which they of the castle soone
perceiving, fled away, and left both unto our forces.”
In 1648 Lord Inchiquin marched on Carlingford after capturing Dundalk,
and seems to have had little difficulty in getting possession of the
town and fortress. The following year Colonel Venables appeared before
the walls with Parliamentary forces. Upon his making preparation for
the landing of cannon the town and castles were surrendered. In a
letter to Oliver Cromwell he speaks with great praise of Captain Ferns,
who “came to the harbour’s mouth with his fregot, and upon a signal
agreed between us, came gallantly in under fire,” although his mainmast
was split by a shot from the castle. He captured a small Wexford vessel
then in the bay.
Carlingford was no mean prize, as it formed the chief storehouse of
their opponents’ arms in Ulster.
The three castles and the sea-fort contained in all seven pieces of
ordnance, nearly 40 barrels of powder and the same of small shot, over
a thousand muskets, and 480 pikes.
They did not find much provision in the town. The next day Newry
surrendered.
The fortress must have been subjected to bombardment at some time, as
cannon-balls have been found among the ruins.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.
Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.”
Grose, “The Antiquities of Ireland.”
Gilbert, “Affairs in Ireland, 1641-1652.”
Graves, “King’s Council in Ireland.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Calendar of Carew MSS.
State Documents.
State Papers.
Reeves, “Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Down, &c.”
D., “Carlingford,” in _Dublin Penny Journal_.
_KING JOHNS CASTLE, LIMERICK_
Limerick City is situated on the Shannon, ninety-four miles south-west
by west of Dublin. The name is a corruption of Luimneach, signifying
“barren spot of land.”
King John’s Castle is one of the finest examples of Norman military
architecture in the country. It was erected to guard Thomond Bridge,
and was the citadel of the English town of Limerick.
The curtain wall by the river is about 200 feet long, and is flanked at
both ends by round towers, each having a diameter of 50 feet, and with
walls 10 feet thick. A third tower protects the north-east angle, while
the corner towards the town had a square platform raised to the level
of the battlements and capable of mounting five or six cannon. In the
lower part of this structure was the sally port of the fortress.
The modern entrance is in Nicholas Street, but the former gate led into
Castle Street, and was protected by a drawbridge. It was exceedingly
narrow, and flanked by two massive towers, one circular and the other
semicircular. The arms of the city surmount the gate. A wet ditch
surrounded the castle, and was supplied with water from the Shannon.
The oldest part of the structure is the tower nearest the bridge, which
shows marks of bombardment.
The dilapidations caused by the guns have been
[Illustration: KING JOHN’S CASTLE, LIMERICK.]
renovated with red brick, which was a happy idea of the contractor so
as to preserve the old war marks.
The ancient battlements were not removed until the close of the
eighteenth century, up to which time they were a favourite city
promenade.
The castle, as its name indicates, was constructed at the command of
King John, and the builders were ruthlessly encroaching on church land
until the bishop remonstrated with the King, who issued a proclamation
in 1207, ordering that the work should cease until his return, which
was in 1210. He furnished the stronghold with every requisite of
defence, and appointed a constable and chaplain.
There was a long uninterrupted line of constables from 1216, when
Godfrey de Rupe, or Roche, was appointed, until the office was
prospectively abolished by Act of Parliament in 1809 to cease with the
life of the constable of that date, the Right Hon. Colonel Vereker,
afterwards Viscount Gort, who died in 1842.
The chaplaincy was also an office of importance.
In 1217 Reginal de Breouse received the custody of the castle and city
for a stated period of years, and in 1226 it was the only castle in
Ireland which was not fortified against the King, Richard de Burgh
holding it for him.
Twenty pounds were granted to Thomas de Winchester in 1326 to repair
the walls, which were much decayed; and six years later the followers
of the Desmonds, who were prisoners in the fortress, took possession of
it, after killing the constable. The citizens soon recovered possession
and put all the occupiers to death.
The Earl of Desmond was made constable for life in 1423, with leave to
discharge the duty by deputy. He was granted £10 and some fishing dues
to repair the building as “the greater part of it had fallen to the
ground.”
We learn from the State Papers that, Mr. Zouche having liberated
O’Sullivan Beare, who had been captive at Limerick in 1582, the castle
no longer required a ward. But the following year it is stated that
John Sheriff having let Patrick Fitzmaurice and his brother out of the
castle cost the Queen £20,000.
Three years later the fortress was occupied only by a constable and
porter, and was in much need of repair and a garrison.
Sir George Carew received an order to repair the building and provide a
ward in 1600, so that it would be a fit residence for the President. He
reported that unless part of the town were removed it was impossible to
make the fortress really strong, and so he was merely able to add some
storehouses, which he regretted, “for that this insolent town has need
of a straight curb.”
The death of the President prevented the intended repairs being carried
out, and two or three hundred pounds were needed shortly after to
roof the towers and the Great Hall, which had been begun, so that the
assizes might be held in it. The arms were being much injured through
the stronghold not being weather-proof.
In 1602 Father Archer informed the Spaniards of a way they could
surprise the castle, he having learned it in Limerick during the
previous rebellion.
The plan consisted of two or three Irish galleys coming up the river at
night with the tide, and carrying about three hundred men, who would
at once force the northern gate by breaking the wooden door with a
“pittarr,” as no watch was kept there. The castle once in their hands,
attacks could be made from all the other sides of the town.
King James I. granted a charter to the city of Limerick in 1609, from
which the castle is exempted.
In 1608 it was stated that a cellar existed under the stronghold, which
could be entered from the town without observation. The following year
great dilapidations are reported by Sir Josias Bodley. He said that
the round towers near the river were so undermined by the water that
a cart might pass below their foundations. He repaired the walls and
towers, and built the square platform for cannon on the town side.
He surrounded the whole with a moat and erected the drawbridge. A
constable’s house was still needed.
Repairs were again required in 1618 and 1624.
Captain George Courtenay with two hundred men maintained a most gallant
siege in 1642. Though short of provisions, and with a garrison who were
not all regulars, he managed to keep the Irish forces at bay for a
considerable time.
The besiegers threw a great boom across the Shannon, formed of aspen
trees fastened together with iron links, so as to prevent Sir Henry
Stradling provisioning the castle by the water gate.