CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE

CARLOW CASTLE.

Carlow Castle was at this time the centre of government. The courts were held in the hall mentioned, and the Exchequer House was probably situated in one of the towers. The income of the lordship was £750 a year.

After all this expenditure, however, when the Earl’s possessions passed to the Crown in 1306, the castle and hall were so ruined that no value was placed upon them.

J. de Bonevill, of his Majesty’s Castle of Carlow, was appointed seneschal of Carlow and Kildare in 1310 to put down the robberies and outrages in the country.

It is stated that the castle was seized in 1397 by Donald MacArt Kavanagh, the MacMorrough, but the authority is not considered very reliable.

In 1494 James Fitzgerald, brother to the Earl of Kildare, having gone into rebellion, seized the castle and hoisted his standard on its battlements. Sir Edward Poynings marched to Carlow, and after a siege of ten days recovered the fortress.

Carlow Castle was in the hands of Thomas, 10th Earl of Kildare, better known as the “Silken Thomas,” during his rebellion in 1535. After his imprisonment in 1537 Lord (James) Butler, eldest son of the Earl of Ossory, appealed to the Crown for compensation for having defended the Castles of Carlow and Kilkea, “standing on the marches,” close to Irish territory. He was granted his expenses, and appointed constable of both castles.

At the same time the Deputy wrote to the Lord Privy Seal advising him to let the King keep the “manors of Carlagh, Kylea, and Castledermont” in his hands to prevent Lord Ossory and his son from becoming too powerful.

Sir Robert Hartpole applied for the custodianship of the fortress in 1567, it being at that time in possession of Frances Randall, widow of its late keeper.

Rory Oge O’More, Chieftain of Leix, burned the town and Sir Robert Hartpole made a sally from the castle with fifty men and released Harrington and Cosby, who were his prisoners, but O’More escaped in the dark.

Oueen Elizabeth desired the Lord Deputy to exchange some of the crown lands with Henry, Earl of Kildare, for the castle and lands of Carlow in 1589. During the unfortunate Essex’s rule in Ireland, in 1598 to 1600 the Queen’s warders held the fortress, but the Kavanaghs laid the surrounding country waste.

By the State Papers of 1604 the manor of Carlow was granted to Donagh, Earl of Thomond, with the exception of the castle, of which, however, he and his son were made constables. The following is taken from a document setting forth the conditions of the grant:—

“In all works made within the castle, the inhabitants of Carlow are to find six workmen or labourers daily, during the said work, at their own expense; also each tenant and cottager to weed the demesne corn yearly for three days, and a woman out of every house in Carlow to bind the sheaves for one day; each tenant and cottager to cut wood for the use of the castle for three days in summer, and each of them having a draught horse to draw the wood to the castle for three days, also to draw the corn out of the fields to the area of the said castle for three days; to give one cartload of wood, and one truss of straw at Christmas and Easter.”

Shortly after this the castle and bawn was granted to Sir Charles Wilmot.

Five hundred English were besieged in the castle in 1642, and were in a starving condition when relieved by Sir Patrick Wemys, who had been despatched to their relief by the Earl of Ormond. The rebels burned the town and fled at his approach.

In 1647 the King’s garrison was so hard pressed that the Earl of Ormond borrowed £60 for its relief, and forwarded it by Major Harman, but the fifty men who came to reinforce the garrison could not get in, as the stronghold was closely invested. The siege lasted about a month, and then the castle surrendered.

In Dr. Jones’ diary he states that the Cromwellian army arrived before the castle on the 18th of March, 1649. That the garrison of two hundred men refused to surrender ituntil the battery played on the place, and preparations were made for storming.

The next day the castle was surrendered, and two companies left to garrison it. The officers in command being Colonel Hewson, Sir T. Jones, and Colonel Shelburn.

Again we learn that Ireton arrived to take the castle on July 2, 1650, and that he spent the whole day in preparing for the attack. The troops encamped on the Queen’s County side of the river, the field still being pointed out. They had to erect a temporary bridge of ropes, hurdles and straw to cross the river, and the soldiers passed over one by one.

In Edmund Ludlow’s “Memoirs” he describes the place as “a small castle, with a river running under its walls,” and ascribes its importance to the fact of the neighbourhood being in sympathy with the garrison.

Just before sunset Ireton sent a letter to the governor offering terms to the defenders if they surrendered. The officer he sent returned to say Ireton should have an answer the next morning.

Accordingly, Captain Bellew sent a courteous reply to him asking for a truce of three days, so that he might communicate with the Bishop of Dromore. This was granted, and Ireton went on to Waterford, leaving Sir Hardress Waller in command.

After a short cannonade he took the town, and the castle surrendered upon articles. The garrison received a safe convoy to Lea Castle, and a pass of ten days to reach Athlone.

In Carte’s “Life of Ormond,” he attributes the castle’s loss to treachery, but except in a local tradition this does not appear.

It is said that the garrison running short of water sent an old woman to the river to fetch some, but that she was taken prisoner by some of the soldiers, and brought to the hostile camp. She was promised her life and a reward ifon the following night she would show by a torch on the battlements the position of the stairway where the walls were thinnest. The legend runs she fulfilled the conditions and that, the cannonade at once beginning, she was the first to lose her life through her own treachery.

The manor passed from the Earl of Thomond’s family, on account of an unredeemed mortgage, to a Mr. Hamilton, M.P., who, in 1729, brought his case before Parliament for having been deprived of the castle yard during the time of privilege.

The castle was leased in 1814 to a Dr. Middleton. This gentleman intended to convert it into a lunatic asylum, and endeavoured to enlarge the windows and lessen the thickness of the walls by the then little known process of blasting. The results were disastrous. One morning, at about nine o’clock, while the workmen were fortunately at breakfast, the huge pile began slowly to totter to its fall.

An eye-witness who had time to escape from the threatened destruction said: “After viewing the portentous and amazing nodding of the towers, the immense pile gradually disparted into vast masses, which broke with difficulty into fragments less mighty.”

Itis popularly believed that Carrickfergus derived its name from a king called Fergus having been lost there in a storm about 320B.C., whose body was washed up on the rocky peninsular where the castle stands. The name is, however, more likely to be a corruption ofCarraig na Fairge, signifying “rock of the sea.” It is often erroneously called Knockfergus in ancient documents. The town is situated on the northern shore of Belfast Lough, about ten miles distant from that city.

The castle occupies the whole of a tongue of rock at the south end of the town, which was at one time surrounded on three sides by water.

The entrance to the fortress on the north, or landward direction, was by a drawbridge across a dry moat. This was protected by two semicircular towers, and a portcullis which still exists. Above the entrance is an aperture, from which missiles and lead could be poured upon besiegers.

From the gate towers a high curtain follows the formation of the rock that gradually rises to about 30 feet in height towards the south. The wall is at present mounted with ordnance used by the militia. The enclosed space is divided into two yards. The outer one, which is entered immediately from the gateway, contains a number of buildings and offices erected in 1802, at which time the castle was used as a barrack. There are also vaults, which were supposed to be bomb proof. In the line of wall is situated a small projecting tower known as the“Lion’s Den.” The inner yard is approached through a round arched gateway, and contains storehouses and keep. This latter is 90 feet high, and divided into five storeys. Its western side forms part of the outer wall. It was formerly entered by a doorway on the second floor, and a winding stone staircase in the wall of the west angle led to the top. Loopholes admitted light and air, and there was a small door at each storey. At present the ascent is made partly by wooden stairs inside. There are two towers at the summit of the keep, one on the south-east corner covering the top of the stairway, and the other at the south-west corner, which was intended for a sentry-box.

On the third storey is the large room known as “Fergus’s Dining-room,” being 40 feet long by 38 feet broad and over 25 feet high. It was made into a barrack in 1793, but is now employed as an armoury. Over the chimneypiece was once a stone inscribed in Irish, which was removed in 1793.

The former draw-well of the castle, 37 feet deep, was situated in the keep. It was famous for medicinal qualities. The lower portion of the building is now used as a magazine. The walls of the tower are 9 feet thick, and the corner stones, or quoins, are of yellowish limestone, which was probably quarried in the County Down on the opposite shore of the Lough.

The building of the castle is generally ascribed to John de Courcy, and, although there is no direct proof that this was the case, many facts tend to support the supposition. In the first place, as De Courcy settled a colony in Carrickfergus shortly after his conquest of Ulster, it is most likely that he would provide some means for its protection. Again, it was for a long time the hereditary property of the Earls of Ulster, who were descended from De Courcy. The ancient seal of the mayor of the town bears a spread-eagle, which was the De Courcy crest, and several coins of Henry II.’s time have been found near the building. In a preface to State Papers the editors say that “the oldestfort in Ulster is Carrickfergus, built in the days of De Courcy, and never out of the possession of the English.”

In 1605, the Lord Deputy applying for means to have it restored, remarks it was “founded by his Majesty’s ancestors, and much needing repair.”

CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE(From an Engraving made in 1838.)

CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE

(From an Engraving made in 1838.)

It is likely King John stayed in the castle during his visit to Carrickfergus in 1210, and an order is preserved to the Bishop of Norwich to buy supplies for it that year. It appears to have passed into the hands of Hugh de Lacy when King John granted him Ulster, but in 1223 a garrison was to be placed in the castle lest it should be attacked by De Lacy, who was then plotting against the King.

The following year a band of knights and soldiers were despatched by the Earl of Pembroke for its further defence.Although it was being besieged by Hugh they managed to get into the fortress safely, and the siege was then raised.

Two years afterwards the custody of the castle was granted to Hugh de Lacy’s brother Walter.

In 1245 an order was issued for its repair, and later (1253) it was assigned by the King as part of the dowry of Eleanor, Queen Consort.

In 1315 the castle was besieged by Edward Bruce, and Lord Mandeville, who endeavoured to relieve it, failed to do so. The gallant little garrison held out for more than a year, and it is said they were reduced to eating eight Scotch prisoners who had died within the walls. Upon the arrival of King Robert Bruce to aid his brother, the fortress was surrendered. After the death of Edward Bruce the castle passed again into the hands of the English, and it appears to have been the only place in Antrim not in the possession of the O’Neills after the assassination of the Earl of Ulster, 1333.

In 1337 the King appointed a constable to the castle under the belief that he was the owner of the stronghold, instead of holding it only during the minority of the Earl of Ulster, and as there was a constable already in office, compensation had to be found for the disappointed custodian. From this time there was a long list of constables, the last being Stewart Banks, Esq., of Belfast, who used merely to attend annually to see the Mayor sworn in the outer yard of the castle. In 1461 an Act of Parliament decreed that none but Englishmen should hold the office of Governor. The position is now a mere sinecure.

In 1390, in an order for repair, the castle is described as being “totally destitute and desolate of defence,” and sixteen years later its state does not seem to have been much improved.

For the next two years it was kept for nothing by Sir James Whyte, who then (1408) petitioned the Crown to give him aid against the threatened attack of O’Donnell and his Scots.

After the order for English custodians, James, Earl of Douglas, was appointed Governor of Carrickfergus Castle in 1463.

At the beginning of the next century Clannaboy Niall, son of Con of Belfast, was prisoner in the castle on account of a row between his servants and some soldiers (1507). He exchanged his freedom for sixteen hostages, but no sooner was he liberated than he returned with his followers and took the castle and the Mayor, and rescued his pledges. In 1552 Sorley Boy MacDonnell surprised Carrickfergus and carried off Walter Floody, the constable of the castle. In consequence of these disturbances the Earl of Sussex marched to relieve the town in 1555. Two years later Hugh O’Neill Oge and some other prisoners in the castle escaped to join James M’Donnell. In 1559 the fortress was walled in and repaired. The building seems to have been much dilapidated in 1567, and upon Sir Henry Sidney coming north the following year, he had the keep roofed and restored. When the Earl of Essex arrived by sea in 1573, he reports that he discharged the ward of the castle, for it “doth not serve of any use, having in it very few rooms, and none of those covered, so as I have no apt place to employ her Majesty’s munition and other store but in wet vaults.”

From 1583 to 1598 Carrickfergus was the only town held by the Queen in the district, and in the latter year the castle was but poorly provisioned.

General Monroe, with four thousand Scotch auxiliaries, landed and took the castle in 1642, but four years later he was surprised by General Monk, who occupied the stronghold for the Parliament, being made Governor of it shortly afterwards.

The next year, but small resistance was offered to Lord Inchiquin, who then held it for the King for a few months, and it was retaken by Sir Charles Coote, who appointed a Governor for the Commonwealth.

In 1666, while the Duke of Ormond was at the head of affairs, so great was the dissatisfaction that the castle was seized by mutinous soldiers, and a strong force was required to quell the disturbance.

Eight years later the fortress was ordered to be furnished with twenty cannon.

The adherents of James II. sustained here a siege for six days from the troops of the Duke of Schomberg in 1689, after which they surrendered. It was on the 14th of June in this year that King William III. landed at Carrickfergus from the yachtMary.

In 1711 50 feet of the outer wall fell down, and the tower was roofed with lead.

The castle was taken by the French Commodore Thurôt with three ships of war in 1760, but his squadron was captured a few days later by the English fleet.

In 1797 the United Irishmen laid a plot to seize the castle, which was discovered by one of the garrison turning informer.

The year after the rebellion State prisoners were confined at Carrickfergus, having been sent from Belfast. At one time the fortress was used as a prison for all Antrim.

In 1814 a small square tower on the south side was taken down and rebuilt.

The castle is now in the possession of the Crown.

CARRICK-ON-SUIR CASTLE.

“The court of Carrick is a court well fortified.A court to which numbers of the noble resort,A court noted for politeness—a court replete with pleasures,A court thronged with heroes,A court without torchlight, yet a court illumed;A court of the light of wax tapers!A plentiful mansion—so artistically stuccoedWith sun-lit gables and embroidery-covered walls.”Translated from Irish byJ. O’Daly.

Nineteenmiles south-by-west of Kilkenny, in the Barony of East Iffa and Offa, County Tipperary, stands the old town of Carrick on the left bank of the Suir. The name Carrick is derived from a rock in the Suir at the point where the town is built. The castle was erected by Edmond le Bottiller in 1309, he being created Earl of Carrick six years later. Upon his son receiving the title of Earl of Ormond the old title fell into disuse.

The present remains consist of two great towers of the Plantagenet castle, rising behind the Tudor mansion which was erected by Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, in the reign of Elizabeth. Although not now inhabited it is preserved from further decay.

The two quadrangular towers of the older fortress stand on the river bank, and are separated by a courtyard which was entered on the north by an arched gateway from the river front. In one of these towers is situated the chapel, which is connected with the banqueting hall by a narrow passage. A strong light from a double window falls uponthe altar, round which is the remains of a carved stone canopy supported by the figures of angels.

The Tudor house which connects the older buildings is a many-gabled mansion, and said by O’Donovan to be the most perfect specimen of that period’s architecture in Ireland.

The ceiling of the Great Hall is a beautiful example of stucco work. It is divided by richly-moulded ribs enclosing Tudor emblems, and arms and mottoes relating to the Ormond family. This apartment is 63 feet in length by 15 feet in breadth, and is lighted by mullioned windows, that on the north side being large and deeply recessed. It also contains several handsome chimney-pieces.

The walls were richly hung with tapestry, which was removed at the beginning of the nineteenth century, some of it being transferred to Kilkenny Castle.

Little is known of the history of the early feudal fortress. Several charters granted by the Ormonds as Lords Palatine of Tipperary are dated from Carrick, showing that the family were occasionally in residence.

There is a tradition that Anne Boleyn was born in the castle. Thomas, Earl of Carrick and Ormond, who died in 1515, had two daughters, one of whom married Sir William Boleyn, a London merchant, and she was grandmother to the future Oueen. History is uncertain where Anne Boleyn was born, as several places are mentioned; it is, therefore, not impossible that at Carrick Elizabeth’s mother first saw the light. Henry VIII. created Anne’s father Earl of Ormond and Wiltshire, but the former title afterwards reverted to the Butlers.

In 1571 Perrott visited Carrick Castle during his campaign in Munster, and it was plundered by the seneschal in the Desmond rebellion of 1582.

In the time of Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond, it became the chief residence of the family. Thomas Dubh, or the Black Earl, was the favourite of Queen Elizabeth, whoused to call him her “black husband,” to the annoyance of his rival the Earl of Leicester. He was a great statesman and chivalrous nobleman, and enjoyed the full confidence of his Sovereign during her long reign.

In the latter years of his life he lived almost entirely at Carrick. A glimpse of his loyal love for England is given by Sir John Davys in the following observations of his on a journey in Munster in 1606:—

“And because I was to pass by the Carricke, a house of my Lord of Ormond, where his lordship hath lain ever since his last weakness, I went thither to visit his lordship and to rest there upon Easter Day; but because the feast of St. George fell out in the Easter holidays, I was not suffered in any wise to depart until I had seen him do honour to that day. I found the Earl in his bed, for he was weaker at this time than he had been for many months before; so that upon the day of St. George he was not able to sit up, but had his robes laid upon his bed, as the manner is. From thence I returned to Dublin at the end of Easter week.”

Towards the end of his life, Earl Thomas was quite blind, and a quaint old MS., discovered at Brussels in 1822, gives a graphic account of a prophecy supposed to have been delivered by him at a Christmas family gathering in Carrick Castle shortly before his death, which took place in 1614.

Among those present at the feast were Sir Walter Butler, of Kilcash, brother to the Earl, and also his son and grandson, James. The latter was only four years old, and there being no room at the table, he was let play about, and “being a sprightly boy, entertained himself with a whipping of his gigg” (a kind of top) behind his great-uncle’s chair. Black Thomas asked what the noise was, and being told, he took the child (afterwards the great Duke of Ormond) between his knees and said:—

“My family shall be much oppressed and brought verylow; but by this boy it shall be restored again, and in his time be in greater splendour than ever it has been.”

Viscount Tullogh, who was the Earl’s son-in-law and heir, pushed back his chair angrily from the table, and again the blind Earl asked who made the noise. Upon hearing, he said—

“Ah! he is a flower that will soon fade.”

Shortly afterwards the Viscount died without children, and later events proved the strange truth of the prophecy. A long law suit, manipulated for political purposes, impoverished the earldom, but it was brought to a satisfactory termination by James Butler of Kilcash marrying Lady Elizabeth Preston, the other claimant to the estates through her mother’s rights.

The young couple began their married life at Carrick, where Walter, Earl of Ormond, joined them, and died in the castle in 1632.

When civil war broke out in 1646, James, then Marquis of Ormond, was appointed Chief Governor and hastened from France. He landed at Cork, and proceeded to Carrick. Here a deputation from the Confederate Assembly of Kilkenny waited on him.

Three years later Cromwell’s troops, under Colonel Reynolds, took the town of Carrick, and about a hundred of the garrison fled to the castle, but surrendered the following day. It was well provisioned with stores, and Cromwell, it is said, intended to winter there. Ormond, hearing of its capture, despatched Lord Inchiquin to retake it. He was, however, repulsed with great loss.

In the time of the Commonwealth Carrick Castle, with its demesne, deer park, and 16,000 acres, were granted to Sir John Reynolds, brother-in-law to Lord Henry Cromwell. Upon the Restoration it reverted to its former owner, who was created Duke of Ormond. He spent much time at Carrick, and did a great deal to improve the trade of the town.

In 1816 Mr. Wogan was the tenant of the castle, and he carried out some restoration. After he left the place was dismantled, and for many years was allowed to go entirely to decay. It is now, however, better preserved.

In 1876, when the present Marquis married Lady Elizabeth Grosvenor, daughter of the Duke of Westminster, a great feast for the Ormond tenantry was held in the castle.

The fairy “Leather Apron” is said formerly to have haunted the kitchen department and chastised servants who did not do their work.

A local legend foretells the fall of the fortress upon the wisest man. An underground passage is said to connect the building with Edenderry Castle.

“A sort of strength, a strong and stately holdIt was at first, though now it is full old.On rock alone full farre from other mountIt stands, which shews it was of great account.”Thomas Churchyard.

Thisfortress, sometimes called Carrickaquicy, is situated five miles west-south-west of Limerick City, in the same county, in the barony of Pubble Brien. It stands on an abrupt basaltic rock which has forced itself through the limestone, and is surrounded by low marshy ground called Corkass land which stretches away to the Shannon.

O’Donovan states that the name signifies “rock of the O’Connolls,” but it is more popularly believed to mean “rock of the candle,” and several versions of the following legend are related to account for the designation:—

The site of the castle was formerly supposed to be inhabited by a hag of gigantic form called Grana, and every evening she lighted a candle in her habitation, which from its elevated position was visible for miles round, and every one who saw its light died before morning.

The great Finn hearing of this scourge ordered a man called Ryan to go and extinguish the light, and presented him with a charmed cap to accomplish the mission. This covered his eyes until he had scaled the rock, seized the candle, and thrown it into the Shannon.

The witch in a fury was about to grasp him when he took a jump of two miles westward, and she was only able

CARRIGOGUNNEL CASTLE.

to vent her rage by hurling a rock after him, which is still pointed out with the marks of her fingers on it to indicate the “Hag’s Throw.”

The castle ruins comprise one or two towers and part of the ramparts. It was finally destroyed by gunpowder, and huge masses of masonry lie about in all directions, indicating its once extensive proportions.

A great ash-tree adorns the centre of the pile.

William de Braose had large estates in Ireland when he was driven into exile in 1210, his wife and son starved to death, and his Castle of Carrigogunnel granted to Donogh Cairbreach O’Brien for a yearly rent of 60 marks.

This O’Brien had done homage to King John at Waterford, but he seems to have been shortly afterwards deprived of his land.

In 1535 Lord Leonard Grey marched to Limerick and Mathew O’Brien surrendered him the Castle of Carrigogunnel on condition it should only be garrisoned by Englishmen. It was said at this time to have been in undisturbed possession of the O’Briens for over two hundred years.

The Deputy garrisoned it under the command of George Woodward, “an honest and a hardy man.”

In the meantime the fortress was given by indenture to Donough O’Brien to hold for the King. He was son-in-law to the Earl of Ossory, and had long been fawning on the Government with offers to besiege the castle for them, if provided with a hundred men and a piece of ordnance.

The governor of the castle, no doubt regarding this arrangement as a violation of the conditions on which the castle had been obtained, handed it back to its former owner, Mathew O’Brien, which the State Papers describe as losing it “by treachery.”

This was in 1536, and the same year Lord Butler appeared before it to regain it for his relative, Donough O’Brien.

It was garrisoned partly by followers of Desmond and partly by those of Mathew O’Brien.

A messenger was sent to them offering them their lives, but otherwise no quarter. They returned no answer, but imprisoned the bearer.

A breach was soon made with a battering piece, and after several attempts, the castle was carried by storm.

The besiegers lost thirty killed and wounded, while seventeen of the defenders were killed in the attack, and forty-six were afterwards put to death.

A few of the principal O’Briens were conveyed to Limerick, tried for high treason, and executed. Large ransoms were offered for these men but were refused.

The fortress was then committed to Lord Butler, and he transferred it to Donough O’Brien, who, it is stated, “became a scourge to the citizens of Limerick.”

James of Desmond besieged Carrigogunnel in 1538, and the following year great complaints were lodged about the plundering of the neighbouring country by the castle garrison.

Towards the close of the year these charges became so serious that Donough O’Brien was deprived of his possession.

The castle was in the hands of Brien Duff O’Brien, chieftain of Pobblebrien, in 1590, and is described as being very strong and “a most dangerous place if the enemy were seized thereof.”

Donough O’Brien is mentioned as of Carrigogunnel in 1607, yet Brien Duff O’Brien surrendered his possessions and the castle to the Queen and received a patent for the same. He was knighted, and died in 1615.

Daniel O’Brien forfeited the castle and lands for taking part in the rebellion of 1641. Charles II. granted Carrigogunnel and four plowlands to Michael Boyle, Lord Archbishop of Dublin.

In Thomas Dineley’s Journal he states that it belonged to His Royal Highness, and was at the time rented by the Primate and Chancellor of Ireland.

Archdale says that it at one time belonged to the Knights Templars.

In 1691, during the second siege of Limerick, after the battle of Aughrim, it was garrisoned by a Jacobite ward of a hundred and fifty men. Baron Ginle sent a strong party and four guns, under the command of Major-General Scravemore, to summon the castle, which was relinquished without a blow. An historian of the time, commenting upon this, says: “Which seems to have been rather from want of instructions what to do than courage to defend it; for, to give the Irish their due, they can defend stone walls very handsomely.”

The garrison were marched as prisoners of war to Clonmel, and the following month both the Castle of Carrigogunnel and Castle Connell were blown up. Dean Story received £160 to purchase gunpowder for their demolition.

During the Whiteboy disturbances frequent meetings were held amid the ruins.

Mr. and Mrs. Hall relate at length a sad tradition about the daughter of a Palatine who was in love with one of the conspirators, and whose father, having tracked her to the ruins, was only saved from being put to death by her lover, whom she shortly afterwards married against her parents’ wish.

Upon returning to bid farewell to them before going into exile with her husband, who was obliged to fly for his life, her father detained her. Her husband was unable to come openly to the house, and so she never saw him again, but gradually pined away, and died under the ash-tree growing among the castle ruins, where she used to meet him before their marriage. Since then her ghost is said to frequent the spot after nightfall.

“Where Castle Bernard sees with glad surprise,At every wish successive beauties rise.”

Theformer name for this stronghold was Castle Mahon. It is situated on the River Bandon not far from the town. The present castle is said to occupy the site of the former royal rath of the O’Mahonys, Kings of Munster. It was called Rathleann, and the great Saint Fin Barr was born there. This was much anterior to the English invasion, although an inquisition held in 1584 states that the O’Mahonys came from Carbery in 1460, and seized the Crown lands, which had been forfeited by the Barry Oges in 1399.

They were, however, only returning to the country over which they had formerly ruled. The fortress is supposed to have been built by an O’Mahony.

Francis Bernard, who succeeded to the estate in 1660, threw down the ancient bawn walls, and enlarged the windows. His son, Judge Bernard, rebuilt the castle after it came into his possession in 1690.

A new brick front was added on the river side, the bricks having been made in the neighbourhood.

He was succeeded by his son Francis (usually known as Squire Bernard) in 1731, who added an eastern front to the fortress, and planted the great beech avenue. Smith, who collected his information in 1749, describes the castleas having two regular fronts of brick, with Corinthian pilasters and coignes and beltings of Portland stone.

In 1788 Francis Bernard, afterwards the 1st Earl of Bandon, pulled down the two fronts which had been added by his predecessors, and connected the old castle by a corridor (some 90 feet in length) with a mansion he erected a little to the east of the stronghold. This new part has large rooms, the library being a very handsome oval apartment.

This forms the present beautiful country seat of the Earl of Bandon. It is situated in a park about four miles in circumference, through which the Bandon River flows.

The O’Mahonys were not a powerful sept: their regular field force only numbered twenty-six horse, no gallow-glasses, and a hundred and twenty kern.

In 1575 the O’Mahony paid his respects to Sir Henry Sidney during his visit to Cork, of whom Sir Henry writes that he was “a man of small force although a proper countrie.”

Conoher O’Mahony, of Castle Mahon, threw in his lot with the Earl of Desmond during his rebellion, in which rising he was killed at the age of twenty-three.

In 1587, an inquisition held at Cork found that Conohor O’Mahownye, late of Castle Mahown, entered into rebellion with Gerald, late Earl of Desmond, and was slain therein and that he was seized of Castle Mahown and of the barony or cantred of Kineallineaky.

The following year the castle and lands were conferred by patent on Phane Beecher, son of Alderman Henry Beecher, of London.

Mr. William Weever, in his “discourse” on the Munster rebellion of 1598, records that Mr. Beecher deserted Castle Mahon during the rising.

In 1611 it seems the grant to Phane Beecher was confirmed.

The first Bernard to settle in Ireland during Elizabeth’s reign had a son Francis, who was lord of the manor of Castle Mahon, where he lived before the rebellion in 1641. He had one son, Francis, who was in possession of the castle in 1690 when Bandon was surprised and taken by Colonel M’Carthy’s men. After the town had fallen into their hands they proceeded to Castle Mahon and demanded the fortress and its stores to be given up to King James, and the garrison to surrender as prisoners.

Mr. Bernard had served many years with the Bandon Militia, and had been rewarded with a grant of land from Cromwell for military service, so that he was not likely to surrender without a struggle when the trumpeter appeared on the esplanade in front of the castle.

He had gathered his retainers and the neighbouring farmers into the stronghold, and flew the red flag from King John’s Tower.

Having received a negative to their demand, the besiegers attempted to batter in the great gate, but a discharge of musketry killing some of their number they desisted. They shook the windows and doors to try and effect an entrance.

A line of sentries were posted in front of the castle with orders to shoot any one who appeared at the windows, but the deadly fire of the besieged killed them nearly all.

Seeing that their numbers were rapidly thinning they sought cover from the out-houses in the rear, and from there they carried on an ineffectual fusilade for some time.

Finding, however, this was of no avail they retreated to the river, crossing by the ford. A pike blade and some swords of this date were recently found in a pond which lay in their route.

The brave garrison had many killed and wounded, Mr. Bernard being among those who lost their lives.

The dead Irish were collected and covered with straw in a stable until the next day, when they were buried in a disused graveyard at Killountain.

Judge Bernard succeeded his father, having been born in the castle in 1663. He changed the name from Castle Mahon to Castle Barnard.

His son, “Squire Bernard,” did much for the neighbourhood until a dispute with the townspeople about trees caused him to go and live in England.

In 1760 a sad accident took place which led to the death of little Robert Bernard, one of the sons of the house. He had climbed to the top of King John’s Tower, and as the bats and swallows flew in and out he tried to strike them with his battledore, but overbalancing, he stepped back to recover himself and fell through the trapdoor which gives egress to the summit. He died of the injuries received.

Francis Bernard was created Earl of Bandon in 1800, and Castle Barnard is still the principal residence of the Earls of Bandon.

Lord Carew’sdemesne of about a thousand acres is situated in the townland of Ballyboro, six miles west-south-west of Enniscorthy, and is bisected by the River Boro. The ancient name for this stream was Bel-atha-Borumha, and was derived from the Borumha, or cow tribute, which the Kings of Leinster had to pay to the High Kings of Ireland.

To the south-east of Castle Boro mansion, on the other side of the river, is the ivy-clad ruin, formerly known as Ballyboro Castle. It now stands in the farmyard, and is 42 feet long by 27 feet wide when measured from the outside. Two gables are still to be seen, and the windows are built of brick.

Local tradition states that it was formerly the residence of Brien Boroimhe, but the site is all that could possibly have belonged to a dwelling of his.

About the year 1628 Robert Carew, younger son of Carew of Haccombe in Devonshire, obtained through his kinsman, Sir George Carew, afterwards Earl of Totnes, a grant of lands in the County Wexford, which had formerly belonged to the Desmonds. Charles II. confirmed the grant in 1663 to his son. This Carew is generally supposed to have built the now ruined castle, which was occupied by the family until near the close of the eighteenth century. By others, however, the date of architecture is considered to be that of the beginning of the seventeenth century, and the castle believed to have been theresidence of “James Hoar of Bellaborow, constable of the Barony of Bantry” in 1608, who is mentioned thus in the Carew MSS.

When James II. was fleeing to Duncannon, after the battle of the Boyne, he stopped to water and rest his horses at the ford of Aughnacopple, near the castle. The Carew of that time sent provisions to the fugitives, and the pair of gold sleeve links given by the fallen monarch as a mark of his gratitude are still preserved as an heirloom at Castle Boro. There is some doubt as to whether they were presented at the river bank or sent later from Duncannon.

Towards the close of the eighteenth century the head of the family wished to have a more modern house than the old fortress, but not deeming it worth while to go to the expense unless he had a son to succeed him, he delayed the commencement of the work until the very day when his son and heir was born.

The insurgents of 1798 attacked the residence, and a picture hangs in the hall of Castle Boro which has holes in it that were made by the rebels’ pikes.

Mr. Robert Carew was raised to the peerage in 1834, and in 1840, during the absence of the family, the newly-erected house was burned down, the fire having originated in a chimney. The west wing containing the library was the only portion saved.

Building operations were at once commenced under the direction of Mr. Robertson. The present mansion is in Classic style, having a centre block four storeys in height with wings at either side of a storey less. The drawing-rooms are especially handsome apartments, and are being decorated by the present Lady Carew with embroidered panels of Early English design.

In the gardens are a number of trees which have been planted by distinguished visitors, amongst whom were the late Duke of Clarence, the present Prince of Wales, theDuke of Aosta, the Count of Turin, the Earl of Halsbury and the late Sir H. M. Stanley.

A very handsome granite gateway gives access to the grounds.

The present Lord Carew is the 3rd Baron.

Thisstronghold is situated in a wild romantic district among the mountains, to the north of the village of Drimoleague in the eastern division of West Carbery, about seven miles east of Bantry, County Cork.

Above it rises the hill of Mulraugh-Nesha. The country round is destitute of trees, and from its elevated position the castle is visible from a wide area.

The fortress consists of a tall, square keep with crenelated battlements and defences projecting from the angles. It is built on a rock, the rough surface of which forms the floor of the lower room in the castle.

There seems to have been no attempt to make the ground even, as great indentations, nearly two feet in depth, extend the whole length of the apartment.

The first floor is supported by a vault, and this state apartment measures about 26 feet by 20. The windows and loops are exceedingly small, the former being surrounded by label mouldings well cut in the dark freestone.

A spiral stair leads to the hall above the vault, and this is open to the heavens, but the high-pitched gables of the roof still remain. Great cracks in the masonry run down the centre and through the south-west angle.

It belongs to the earliest type of castle which succeededthe peel tower. The outworks, of which little remain but the foundations, are situated close to the keep.

The O’Donovans were descended from a long line of Munster kings. Cahill, the son of Donovan, was killed in 1254, and from him the district round the stronghold took its name, and also the clan of which he was chief.

It is likely that he erected the fortress.

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