Situatedthree and a half miles north by east of Newcastle, County Down, this donjon fortress commands an extensive view of Dundrum Bay and the surrounding district of Lecale. The castle was built on the site of an older fortification known asDun Rudhraidhe, or Rury’s Fort, which is said to have been the scene of the great feast given by Bricrin of the Poisoned Tongue, to King Connor MacNessa and the Red Branch Knights at which he induced them to make war on one another, as is chronicled in “The Book of the Dun Cow.” The present village of Dundrum (Dundroma, signifying the fort on the ridge) lies between the castle and the shore, while to the east of the fortress are the ruins of an Elizabethan mansion erected by a former owner of the castle.
The circular keep or donjon is built upon a rock, and has an external diameter of some 45 feet, the walls of which are 8 feet thick above the projecting base. The tower at present stands about 50 feet in height. The cellar below is hewn out of the rock on which the building was erected, and is said at one time to have contained 200 tuns of Spanish wine belonging to O’Neill.
To the east of the entrance is a circular newel stair 3 feet 3 inches in diameter, constructed in the thickness of the wall and leading to the parapet. From this there are openings at each storey, and it is most likely from the position of the offsets in the wall that the floors were ofwood supported on beams, the holes for the latter being still visible at different levels.
Round this tower was the courtyard or bawn, encircled by a high wall 4 and 5 feet thick, which was again protected by a fosse or moat, still to be seen on the north and west sides. The bawn was occupied by the buildings for the retainers, and perhaps the family in times of peace, and is of a roughly circular form about 150 feet across.
DUNDRUM CASTLE, CO. DOWN.
DUNDRUM CASTLE, CO. DOWN.
DUNDRUM CASTLE, CO. DOWN.
South-east of the donjon, in the line of wall, are the two ruined towers which protected the barbican gate, the corbel blocks of which still remain over the archway, and originally supported the defences of the gateway. From these, numerous rebels were hanged in the rebellion of 1798.
The castle was built of stone quarried to form the fosse, mixed with land stones of the district. Little has been done to alter the twelfth or thirteenth century architecture, except the opening out of windows. On the side of theruined manor the outer fortifications would seem to have been levelled to make terraced gardens to the later dwelling.
It is generally supposed that Dundrum Castle was built by John de Courcy at the end of the twelfth century for the Knights Templars, after his daring conquest of Ulster in 1177 with only a force of about a thousand men. The stronghold remained in the possession of the order (which was bound by vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience) until the suppression of the Knights Templars in 1313. It then passed into the hands of the Prior of Down, and is mentioned by Archdall in his “Monasticon Hibernicum” as a religious house. Upon the abolition of the monasteries the reversion of the castle and manor, with a yearly rent of £6 13s. 4d. reserved out of it, was granted to Gerald, Earl of Kildare.
In 1516, however, it appears to have been in the possession of O’Neill, who fortified it, with a boast he would hold it against the Earl of Kildare, at the same time sending to the King of France to come and help him to drive the English out.
The following year Gerald, 9th Earl of Kildare, and Lord Deputy, marched into Lecale and took Dundrum by storm, but it seems almost immediately to have reverted to the Magennises, who repaired it. In 1538 it was retaken along with seven other castles by the English, commanded by Lord Deputy Grey, who says: “I took another castell, being in M’Geeon’s countrie called Dundrome, which, I assure your lordship, as it standeth is one of the strongest holds that ever I saw in Ireland, and most commodious for defence of the whole countrey of Lecayll, both by sea and land, for the said Lecayll is invironed round about with sea, and no way to go by land into the said countrey but only bye the said Castle of Dundrome.”
After this the castle appears to have remained in the hands of the Crown for a few years. In 1551, we learn from the records of the Privy Council that Prior Magenniswas seized and imprisoned in Dundrum Castle by Roger Broke without order of law. Six years later Lord Deputy Sussex asked that Lecale with the Castle of Dundrum might be granted to him in fee-farm for ever.
But again in 1565 it was occupied by the great Shane O’Neill, who placed his own ward in it for defence, and the Magennises (with whom O’Neill was intimately connected) were in possession of the stronghold in 1601, when Phelim Magennis surrendered it to Lord Mountjoy.
O’Neill is said to have been a constant visitor at the castle while it was possessed by the Magennises, Lords of Iveagh, and after a night of revelry would indulge in a strange kind of bath, by being buried to his neck in the sands on the shore of the bay.
Four years subsequently to the stronghold passing into the hands of the Crown, Lord Cromwell was commissioned to be governor and commander of Lecale and the tower and castle of Dundrum.
In 1636, Lord Cromwell’s grandson, Thomas, Lord Lecale and 1st Earl of Ardglass, sold it to Sir Francis Blundell, from whom it descended by marriage to its present owner, the Marquis of Downshire.
Sir James Montgomery fought the Irish on the shore at the foot of the castle hill 1642, and placed a garrison in the fortress to protect the district. At this time Dundrum belonged to the Blundells, who afterwards built the now ruined mansion adjoining, and the ancient stronghold was finally dismantled in 1652 by the order of Oliver Cromwell.
Thisfortress was one of the long chain of the Pale castles which defended the metropolis, but having been inhabited until the beginning of the nineteenth century it is in a much better state of preservation than most of these old buildings.
It is situated about three miles south of Dublin on a rise of ground above the Dundrum River, a tributary of the Dodder, at the junction of the Ballinteer and Enniskerry roads.
It is probable that the castle was built on the site of a more ancient stronghold, as Dundrum signifies “the fort on the ridge.”
The principal ruin of the present castle is a keep which is battlemented in a slightly projecting form on the south-east, while the south-west wall rises in rather a high gable. The building is oblong in shape, and the entrance, which is on the south side, is evidently of more modern construction. A gate now gives egress to the interior, which is occupied by a flower bed.
Two large windows on the ground floor also point to later alterations, especially as they occur simultaneously with the remains of earlier openings.
The stairs are likely to have been situated in the south-west side. There are numerous small chambers and passages in the thickness of the walls.
Of the three fireplaces in the north-west wall that on the ground floor is the largest, measuring 9 feet long by 5 feethigh, and as the flagstones of the hearth are covered by some inches of gravel its height was once greater. At the back of the fireplace and slightly to one side is an aperture about two feet square, which is framed in cut stone, and was probably used as an oven.
On the south-west end of the keep are the ruins of a smaller building several storeys high, which is connected with the main building by a square topped doorway. The dividing wall is nearly 6 feet in thickness.
Both buildings are largely covered with plaster, and on the south-east the keep has been partly rough cast.
The situation of a third building can be seen adjoining the tower on the north-east side, where the pitch of its roof may be traced about three-fourths of the way up, but very little of the walls remain.
The castle is partly covered with ivy.
The fortress seems to have been built soon after the Norman invasion, and as the lands of Dundrum were held by Hugh de Clahull, it was probably erected for their defence. It subsequently passed to the Fitzwilliams of Merrion, from whom it descended to the Earls of Pembroke, and it forms at present part of the Pembroke estate.
Robert le Bagod, ancestor of the Fitzwilliams, had license to convey the manor of Dundrum to his son William, and in 1332 Thomas Fitzwilliam was found seized of the lands round.
From this time on it is likely the fortress was occupied by cadets of the Fitzwilliam family.
In 1542 Sir Thomas Fitzwilliam was in possession of the manor, and in 1616 his grandson Thomas, afterwards first Viscount Fitzwilliam, recovered the lands of Dundrum and Ballinteer, with the castle and water mill.
His brother William, who had married Archbishop Ussher’s widow, lived at Dundrum Castle about this time.
The building was slated and in good repair during the Commonwealth. It is stated to have had three hearths and a barn, with a garden.
It was tenanted by a Mr. Isaac Dobson during the reign of Charles II. He was a Nonconformist, and probably a trader in Dublin. When James II. came to the throne he left the country, and was attainted by Parliament in 1689.
His son, who was a bookseller, succeeded him at the castle. He greatly improved the grounds, and when he died in 1720 he left the use of the castle to his wife for her life, after which it went to his sons.
The last Dobson who lived in it died in 1762, and when Mr. Cooper visited it in 1780 it was most likely inhabited by a farmer, who was then cutting down the grove of ash which grew between it and the river.
He speaks of the inhabited part as a modern addition to which older remains were adjoining. He states that the principal entrance was from the courtyard by stone steps.
It soon afterwards fell into ruin, and at the beginning of the 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.
DUNLUCE CASTLE.
DUNLUCE CASTLE.
DUNLUCE CASTLE.
Theruins 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, orlis, signifies “strong fort,” and in all probability the castle is built on the site of an ancientlis.
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 demandhis 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-filledtheir 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 hisrelations 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.
DUNSOGHLY CASTLE.
DUNSOGHLY CASTLE.
DUNSOGHLY CASTLE.
Thiscastle 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 ofthe 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.
Situatedon 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 asthe 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 theEnniscorthy Newswas 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.
Thechief 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
ENNISKILLEN CASTLE.
ENNISKILLEN CASTLE.
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.
Maguire’s brother held the fortress in 1598.
It was again in English possession in 1607, and Captain William Cole was constable in 1610, when he asked for some land to be allotted to his office. That immediately round the castle was in the hands of Scottish settlers, and there was no demesne land attached to the building.
In 1611 he built “a fair house” on the old site, adding numerous outhouses.
A moat surrounded the bawn, and the river was crossed by a drawbridge. He also erected a wall 26 feet high with flankers and parapet, which still remains.
The castle was granted to Sir William Cole in 1620 on a lease for twenty-one years, and he was responsible for its repair. The Earl of Enniskillen at present represents the family.
Four hundred pounds was granted for State repairs in 1646, some of which had been expended on the castle of Enniskillen.
During the famous siege of the town in 1689 the Governor, Gustavus Hamilton, took up his residence in the castle, which belonged to Sir Michael Cole, who was absent in England.
In 1749 the fortress was in ruins.
Thisancient seat of royalty is situated five miles and three-quarters north-by-east of Enniscorthy, on the River Bann, in the County of Wexford. The name comes from Fearna, meaning alders, or “a place abounding in alders.”
The erection of the first stone castle is ascribed to Strongbow, and it is supposed to have been built upon the site of the fortress or dun of his father-in-law, Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster.
The present ruins are the remains of four round towers, which were joined by high curtain walls enclosing a courtyard. The building is one of great strength, and occupies an imposing situation above the town.
The most perfect of the towers contains a chapel, with a beautifully groined roof springing from consoles. Richard Donovan, who inherited the property in 1773, is said to have converted the sanctuary into an Orange Lodge, where high revel was held, and a visitor in 1864 states that an equestrian statue of William III. occupied the site of the altar beneath the east window.
Mr. Baranger, however, writing in 1780, says that the chapel was without a floor, and made one with the under apartment. He describes the room above it as arched, and also remarks that the edges of the stones of the long loophole windows had been cut underneath as if for cannon to be pointed through. A brass fieldpiece found in the castle was used for the defence of Wexford, 1641.
Three kinds of masonry are visible in the constructionof the tower, each occupying about a third of its height. The bottom layer consists of small stones, the middle part of larger ones, while those at the top are hewn.
At one time part of the wall connecting the towers was used as a ball-alley (the ground being flagged for this purpose), until the owner of the castle enclosed the ruins with a wall for their preservation.
In 1865 part of the fortress on the north side fell in a thunderstorm, and the tenant of that date procured leave to blast the rest of this wall for fear of accident. The ground is littered with broken masonry.
After Strongbow’s death in 1177, Henry II. bestowed the manor and castle of Ferns upon William FitzAdelm de Burgo. The same year FitzAdelm seized the Black Castle of Wicklow from the three sons of Maurice Fitzgerald, giving them Ferns by way of compensation.
The brothers at once began to rebuild and strongly fortify their new possession, but it was hardly completed before Walter Allemand, a nephew of FitzAdelm, attacked the castle and left it in a ruined condition.
William Marshall, Earl of Pembroke, who married the grand-daughter of Dermot MacMurrough, began to erect a much larger fortress on the same site in 1192. He was succeeded by his son, who had married the daughter of King John, and he completed the stronghold in 1224. He then presented it to the Bishop of Ferns as restitution for Church land which his father had seized.
It remained in the possession of the Church from 1224 to 1364, during which time it was used as an Episcopal Palace.
In 1243 Geoffrey St. John, Vicar-General of Ferns, and Escheator of Ireland, came into residence, and was succeeded by Bishop Lambert in 1282, who died in the castle.
He was followed by Richard of Northampton, who had been Canon of Kildare, while in 1304 Robert Waldrond was consecrated, and took up his abode at Ferns. Duringthis time the neighbourhood was much disturbed, and the next Bishop was arraigned for high treason in 1317, but was pardoned the following year.
In 1331 the clan of O’Toole seized the castle, pillaged, and burned it. Next year the Crown took possession again, and three years later they thought it expedient to appoint Lord Gerald Rochford constable of Ferns Castle. He held office for ten years, and was summoned to Parliament as a Baron.
In 1347 Bishop Esmond came into possession of the stronghold, and was succeeded by Bishops Charnels and Denn. The latter prelate was the last Bishop to reside in the castle, for from 1402 to 1530 the stronghold was in possession of the MacMurroughs.
At the end of this period it was captured by Lord Deputy Grey. He was on his way from Kilkenny to Dublin, when he sent word from Leghlyn to Stephen FitzHenry at Kilkea, to meet him at Ferns Castle with his guns and men.
Lord Grey marched by night, and arrived in the morning before the fortress. He demanded its surrender, which was refused by the garrison, “using very spiteful language.” The day was spent in preparing for the attack. He posted his men round the building in the ditches and other cover, so that none of the besieged should escape, and the troops broke down the gate leading to the drawbridge. A Mr. Thomas Allen, who was with the attacking party, noticed that one of the garrison kept watch every now and then from one particular place, and he sent a gunner to hide himself where he could cover the spot with his weapon. This was successful, and the man was shot as soon as he returned. He was the governor and chief gunner of the castle.
The rest of the garrison then asked for a parley, which was granted.
Lord Grey told them that unless they surrendered beforethe arrival of the ordnance, which was within a mile of the stronghold, he would not accept a surrender, but kill them all. They then agreed to give the castle up, and two of the English were stationed in it during the night.
The next day the Lord Deputy appointed a garrison of the MacMurroughs to guard the stronghold, taking their chief with him to Dublin as a hostage.
A writer of this time describes the castle as the old inheritance of the Earl of Shrewsbury or the Duke of Norfolk, and “oon of the auncientis and strongest castells within this lande.”
In 1536 Cahir Maclnnycross Kavanagh, the MacMurrough, was appointed constable by the Crown, but two years later he was superseded by Sir Richard Butler.
At the time great anxiety was felt for fear of an attack from the Kavanaghs; and in 1550, we learn from the State Papers that Cahir M’Arte Kavanagh had managed to get possession of the castle by treatment.
The next year Richard Kettyng asked the Privy Council to confirm the King’s letter granting him the stronghold, but they refused.
It was considered necessary to have English captains in the castles of the districts to hold the Kavanaghs in subjection, so that a list of constables to Ferns Castle is recorded, the most remarkable being the Mastersons, father and son, the former being accused of conspiring against the Queen in 1569.
Thrilling traditions are related regarding his wife, Catherien de Clare, who was said to decoy the neighbouring chiefs and Irish gentlemen within the fortress under the guise of hospitality and murder them by pushing them down a trapdoor.
In 1588 Masterson entered a petition for land, as recompense for thirty-four years’ service.
His son spent large sums on rebuilding the castle; nevertheless it was granted to Lord Andley in 1608.
Sir Charles Coote occupied the stronghold in 1641, but finding he was unable to hold it against the insurgents, he dismantled the outworks, blew up part of the building, and left the neighbourhood.
It must, however, have been partly repaired, for eight years later, when Cromwell’s commander, Colonel Reynolds, appeared before it, the garrison fled, leaving their arms, ammunition, and provisions behind them.
In 1669 Charles II. granted the castle to Arthur Parsons; while in 1689 it seems to have been in the possession of Alderman Thomas Keiran, who gave it to his brother-in-law, Richard Donovan, in 1694, from whom it descended to its present owner, Richard Donovan, Esq., D.L., of Ballymore House, Camolin.
Thechief interest attaching to the castles of Ferrycarrig and Shana Court is the fact that one or other of them was the first Anglo-Norman fortress erected in Ireland.
The sites of the two strongholds occupy positions one on each side of the Slaney, a little more than two miles west of Wexford. The parish of Carrig lies on the right bank of the river in the Barony of West Shelmalier, and here on an isolated rock commanding the ferry is situated Ferrycarrig Castle—Carrig signifying a rock.
It is a square tower of great age and occupies the whole summit of the rocky point on which it stands, and does not seem, therefore, to have ever been of larger dimensions than at present. The masonry is rough and massive and the loopholes unusually small, while the door is so low and narrow that it is necessary to stoop when entering.
An opening in the wall is usually called the “murdering hole,” but as there is another aperture to correspond with it in the exterior at the base they are likely to have had some other use.
The close resemblance which this tower bears to Trajan’s Tower at Paboquaipass on the Danube, even to a similar entrance, has been the subject of remark.
On the south bank of the river, where the Crimean monument now stands, were traceable some years ago the fosse and outworks of Shana Court. They occupied about half an acre, but the walls of the fortress had beendemolished to supply stones for the building of the old mansion of Belmont.
Tradition asserts that Ferrycarrig was erected by FitzStephen, who landed in Ireland in 1169, and that Shana Court was built by King John, it deriving its name from his having held court there as Viceroy.
We know FitzStephen de Marisco erected a castle at Carrig from the following passage in Giraldus Cambrensis:
“MacMorogh marched to besiege Dublin, but left FitzStephen behind, who was then building a hold or castle upon a certain rocky hill called the Carricke, about two miles from Wexford, which place, although it was very strong of itself, yet by industry and labour it was made much stronger.”
From the same source we also learn that it was environed on two sides by the river, but this might apply equally to either fortress.
A further description says: “It was at first made but of rods and wiffes, according to the manner in those daies, but since builded with stone, and was the strongest fort then in those parts of the land; but being a place not altogether sufficient for a prince, and yet it was thought too good and strong for a subject, it was pulled down, defaced, and razed, and so dooth still remane.”
The most likely assumption, on the whole, seems to be that King John erected on the ruined site of FitzStephen’s stronghold the castle known as Shana Court, the stones of which were used in building Belmont, and that Ferrycarrig was an outwork of the larger fortress or else was erected by the Roches of Artramont as a watch-tower to protect the ferry.
FitzStephen suffered a memorable siege in his castle in 1170. He had weakened his garrison by sending a detachment to serve with Strongbow, when the men of Wexford and Kinsellagh rose and laid siege to Carrig Castle with a force of about three thousand.
Several desperate assaults were successfully repulsed before the attackers asked for a parley. This was granted, and they informed FitzStephen that Strongbow and his followers had been utterly routed, and that King Roderic was marching with a great army to annihilate his garrison, but that out of respect to his person they wished him to escape.
FitzStephen could not be induced to believe the tale until three bishops took a false oath as to its truth, whereupon he capitulated upon honourable terms. These were at once violated, and, against the conditions, he was made prisoner and sent to Beggery Island, while many of those with him were killed.
Donald Kavanagh, with great difficulty, arrived in Dublin to inform Strongbow that FitzStephen could not hold out more than three days. It was on this occasion that Maurice FitzGerald made his famous speech, in which he said: “FitzStephen, also, whose courage and noble daring opened to us the way into this island, is now with his small force besieged by a hostile nation. What should we, therefore, wait for?”
Stirred by his eloquence, the English forces, though of small numbers, set out and carried victory before them, but in the meantime Carrig had surrendered.
Strongbow was warned that if his forces marched on Wexford all the prisoners would be at once slain, so that FitzStephen was not liberated until King Henry arrived in Ireland in 1172.
Ferrycarrig is situated on the Earl of Donoghmore’s estate.