[Illustration: DUN-GARBRY CASTLE, COUNTY OF LEITRIM.]
The Castle of Dun-garbry, or properly Dun-cairbré, signifying the Dun or
Fort of Cairbre, is situated on a hill, on the south side, and not far
from the mouth, of the Drowis, or _Drobhaois_--a river very celebrated
in Irish history--and the estuary of the beautiful Lough Melvin, in the
lower part of the county of Leitrim, bordering on the county of Sligo.
Though marked on the maps made in the reign of Elizabeth as an important
fortress, its ruins are now but inconsiderable, and consist only of a
side wall perforated by an arched doorway. But trivial as these vestiges
are, they impart some historic interest to scenery of the most delightful
character by which it is surrounded, and are valuable as a memorial of
an ancient Irish family, once of great rank in the county, though now
reduced to utter decay, at least in their original locality.
Dun-garbry Castle was erected by the chief of the Mac-Clanchys, or
correctly _Mac-Fhlannchadha_, a sept or clan who possessed the ancient
district called Dartree, the present barony of Rossclogher, and of
which the Castle of Rossclogher, situated on an island in Lough Melvin,
was their chief residence. The name of its founder and the date of its
erection are not preserved; but the latter may with probability be
referred to a period anterior to the reign of Henry VIII., as the Annals
of the Four Masters record at the year 1538, that “Cahir (the son of
Feradach, the son of William), the son of Mac Clanchy, heir-apparent to
the chieftainship of Dartree, died in that year in Dun-cairbre.”
It may be proper to state that there are in Ireland two perfectly
distinct families of the name Mac Clanchy, or, as it is now more usually
written, Clancey; first, the family of Thomond or Clare, some of whom
were hereditary Brehons or judges to the O’Briens, and who were a branch
of the Macnamaras; and, secondly, the family of Dartree, who were
hereditary chiefs of that district from a very remote period.
The notices of the chiefs of this family, as preserved in the Irish
Annals from the twelfth till the seventeenth century, will serve to
convey a very vivid impression of the insecurity of life resulting from
the unsettled state of society, and its retrogression towards absolute
barbarism during this unhappy period of our history, and will teach
us also to appreciate the blessings we derive from the progress which
civilization has made within the last century.
1241. Donnell Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, died.
1274. Cathal Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, died.
1278. Gillchreest Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, _was slain_.
1301. William (the son of Cathal) Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, _was
slain_.
1303. Murtogh Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, _was slain_.
1337. Teige (the son of William) Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, _was
slain_ by O’Conor.
1349. Hugh Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, and Gillchreest Mac Clanchy,
_were slain_.
1366. Cathal (the son of Teige) Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, _was
slain_.
1418. Teige (the son of Cathal) Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, died in a
monastery.
1420. Cathal (the son of Teige) Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, and Hugh
boy (or the yellow) Mac Clanchy, _were slain_ in their own house, about
the festival of St Bridget, by their own kinsmen Teige, Maurice, and
Henry.
1421. Cathal O’Rourke and his sons made a nocturnal attack on Mac Clanchy
on Iniskeen, an island of Lough Melvin, and the guards of the lake
delivered up the boats of the lake to them. They took young Mac Clanchy
prisoner, and possessed themselves of Lough Melvin and its castle. Five
of the sons of Mac Clanchy, and a great number of the men of Dartree,
were slain by them, and the remainder of the sons of Mac Clanchy went
after that into Carbury.
1532. Turlogh, the son of Mac Clanchy, was slain by his own two brothers
in the doorway of the mansion of Mac Clanchy. In revenge of this murder,
Brien O’Rourke destroyed a great portion of Dartree.
1536. Mac Clanchy (Feradach, the son of William, the son of Teige), chief
of Dartree, died. He was a charitable and humane man.
1578. Mac Clanchy (Cathal Duff, the son of Feradach), chief of Dartree,
died, and his son Cathal Oge assumed his place.
1582. Mac Clanchy (Cathal Oge), chief of Dartree, _was slain_ by his own
kinsman Teige Oge.
It appears from an inquisition taken at the Abbey of Creevelea, on the
24th September 1603, that Cathal Oge Mac Clanchy died on the 3d of
January 1582, seized of the castle and manor of Dun-carbry, and of the
whole country called Mac Clanchy’s country, leaving a son and heir,
Cathal Duff, then aged twenty-eight years.
It appears, however, that in accordance with the Brehon law, the
chieftainship of Dartree passed at his death not to his son, but to the
eldest surviving representative of the name, as an inquisition taken at
Rossclogher on the 3d of October in the same year, finds that the greater
part of the country, including the Castle of Dun-carbry, and the castle
and chief town of Rossclogher, &c., were in the possession of Malaghlin
Mac Clanchy, who died so seized on the 13th of August 1603, leaving a
son and heir, Cahir Mac Clanchy, three years and ten months old at the
time of his father’s death; and it is stated that all these castles,
lands, &c., were held of the king by knights’ service _in capite_, but
the quantity of the service was not ascertained by the inquisitors. By
the will of this Malaghlin Mac Clanchy he bequeathed to his son and heir,
Cahir, all his lands except such as were nominated wife’s jointure;
and to his wife, Katherine Ny Rourke, who was found to have been his
legitimate consort, he bequeathed his Castle of Dun-garbry, as also his
chief town called Rossclogher, in pawn of her marriage goods, until his
heir should redeem it.
The property of the Mac Clanchys was confiscated after the rebellion of
1641, but their name is the prevailing one in the barony of Dartree, or
Rossclogher, to the present day.