[Illustration: THE CASTLE OF DONEGAL.]
The ruins of the old castellated Mansion of Donegal are not only
interesting as affording, to use the words of Sir R. Colt Hoare, “a
good subject for the pencil,” but still more as a touching memorial of
the fallen fortunes of a long-time powerful and illustrious family,
the ancient lords of Tirconnell. These ruins are situated on the north
bank of the little river Easky, or the fishy river, at the extremity
of the town to which, as well as to the county, it has given its name.
This name, however, which signifies literally the Dun, or Fort of the
Foreigners, is of much higher antiquity than the castle erected here by
the O’Donnells, and was, there can be no doubt, originally applied to a
fortress, most probably of earth, raised here by the Danes or Northmen
anterior to the twelfth century; for it appears unquestionable that the
Irish applied the appellations Gaill exclusively to the northern rovers,
anterior to the arrival of the English. Of the early history of this dun
or fortress there is nothing preserved beyond the bare fact recorded in
the Annals of Ulster, that it was burnt by Murtogh M’Loughlin, the head
of the northern Hy-Niall race, in the year 1159. We have, however, an
evidence of the connection of the Danes with this locality more than two
centuries earlier, in a very valuable poem which we shall at no remote
time present to our readers, addressed by the Tirconnellian bard, Flan
Mac Lonan, to Aighleann and Cathbar, the brothers of Domhnall, from whom
the name of O’Donnell is derived. In this poem, which was composed at
the commencement of the tenth century, the poet relates that Egneachan,
the father of Donnell, gave his three beautiful daughters, Duibhlin,
Bebua, and Bebinn, in marriage to three Danish princes, Caithis, Torges,
and Tor, for the purpose of obtaining their friendship, and to secure his
territory from their depredations; and these marriages were solemnised at
Donegal, where Egneachan then resided.
But though we have therefore evidence that a fort or dun existed here
from a very remote time, it would appear certain, from a passage in the
Annals of the Four Masters, that a castle, properly so called, was not
erected at Donegal by the O’Donnells till the year 1474. In this passage,
which records the death of Hugh Roe, the son of Niall Garve O’Donnell,
at the year 1505, it is distinctly stated that he was the first that
erected a castle at Donegal, that it might serve as a fortress for his
descendants; and that he also erected as it would appear, at the same
time, a monastery for Observantine Franciscans near the same place, and
in which he was interred in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and
forty-fourth of his reign. From this period forward the Castle of Donegal
became the chief residence of the chiefs of Tirconnell, till their final
extinction in the reign of James I., and was the scene of many a petty
domestic feud and conflict. From a notice of one of these intestine
broils, as recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, at the year 1564,
it would appear that shortly previous to that period a tower, called “the
New Tower,” had been added to the older structure. This tower being at
that time in the possession of Hugh, the grandson of the builder of the
original castle, while the latter was inhabited by his fraternal nephews,
Con, the son of Calvarch, then Prince of Tirconnell, in the absence of
his father, attempted to get possession of both, and nearly succeeded,
when he was made captive by O’Neill.
Towards the close of the great war with the Earl of Tyrone in 1601,
this castle, as well as the adjacent monastery, having been placed in
the hands of the Queen’s troops, through the instrumentality of Niall
Garve O’Donnell, it was besieged and taken by the celebrated leader, Red
Hugh O’Donnell, who afterwards blockaded the English in the monastery,
from the end of September till the end of October following. But though
the besieged were reduced to the utmost extremity, in consequence of
the explosion of their powder by some accident, which reduced the
greater part of the monastery to ruins, they maintained their position
with undaunted bravery, and O’Donnell finally raised the siege, and
passed into Munster to join the Spaniards. It appears, however, from
a contemporaneous poem, addressed to the ruins of this castle, a
translation of which we shall presently lay before our readers, that
O’Donnell did not depart from his native territory, never to return,
till he had reduced the proud castle of his ancestors to a ruined
pile, assigning as a reason, that it should never become what its name
indicated--a fortress for strangers!
Whether this castle was subsequently repaired or reconstructed by Red
Hugh’s brother Rory, the Earl of Tirconnell, during the few years for
which he held his earldom previous to his flight to Rome, does not
appear from any document which has fallen under our notice, and we are
inclined to believe that he did not do so. But be this as it may, the
existing ruins retain no feature of a castle of the 15th century, but
on the contrary are in every respect characteristic of the castellated
residences of the reign of James I.; so that if it be of Rory O’Donnell’s
age, he must have rebuilt the mansion from its foundation. It appears,
however, at least equally probable that the present structure may owe its
re-erection to Sir Basil Brooke, to whom a grant of the castle was made
in 1610. But it is certain, at all events, that he repaired the castle
and resided in it until his death in 1633; and two chimney-pieces which
still remain are unquestionably of his time, as the arms on one of them
testify. These arms, which are sculptured on two shields, are, on the
first, those of Brooke impaling Leicester--the family name of Sir Basil’s
lady; and on the second, those of Brooke only. These chimney-pieces,
which are very splendid specimens of the architectural taste of the
age, are faithfully represented in wood-cuts in the second volume of
the _Dublin Penny Journal_, and are accompanied by an excellent notice
from the pen, as we believe, of Sir William Betham. In this notice it
is stated that the Castle of Donegal “was granted by patent, dated the
16th November 1610, to Captain Basil Brooke, for twenty-one years, if he
should live so long, with one hundred acres of land, and the fishings,
customs, and duties extending along the river from the castle to the sea.
Captain Brooke was knighted 2d February 1616, by Sir Arthur Chichester,
knight, Lord Deputy, and had a re-grant of twenty-one years, or his life,
of the castle by patent, dated 27th July 1620, and on the 12th February
1623, he had a grant of the fee of the castle for ever.”
According to the same authority, this “Sir Basil Brooke was a scion of
the family of Brooke of Norton, in Cheshire, and his lady was Anne,
daughter of Thomas Leicester of Toft, in that county. Henry Vaughan
Brooke, Esq. Member of Parliament for the county of Donegal, was his
descendant and heir-at-law, who left the estates of his family to his
nephew Thomas Grove, Esq. who took the name and arms of Brooke by royal
sign-manual in 1808. He died without issue, and the estates of the family
went to Thomas Young, Esq. of Lough Esk, who also took the name of Brooke
by royal sign-manual, dated 16th July 1830, and is the present possessor.”
During the troubles of 1641, the Castle of Donegal was garrisoned for
the king by Sir Henry Brooke, the son of Sir Basil; but was taken in May
1651 by the Marquess of Clanricarde, who was joined by the Ulster forces
under Sir Phelim O’Neill, when the O’Reillys and the MacMahons joined
with him. But the castle was shortly afterwards abandoned by him, on
receiving intelligence of the advance of Sir Charles Coote, into whose
possession it then fell. Since that period the Castle of Donegal has
never we believe been used as a residence, and no care has been taken to
save it from the ruined state in which it now appears. It is, however,
to the credit of its present possessor that he has taken every care to
delay as much as possible the further ravages of time on a structure so
interesting in its associations with the past.
It is indeed impossible to look on this venerable pile without carrying
our minds back to the days of its proud but unfortunate chiefs; and in
our feelings of pity for their fate, indulging such sentiments as one
of their last bards has attempted to express in the following poem,
addressed to its ruins, and of which we give a literal translation. It is
the composition of Malmurry Mac-an-Ward, or the son of the bard, and was
written on the demolition of the castle by Red Hugh O'Donnell in 1601.