Chapter C: O’Neill, “Antrim Castle.” (2)

In 1432 the Earl of Ormond went to war with O’Carroll of Ely, and demolished his two chief castles, which most likely were Birr and Leap, for in spite of Royal grants the stronghold remained in the possession of the O’Carrolls.

A dispute arose about the chieftainship of the sept in 1532, the senior branch of the family holding Birr Castle.

Ferganainm O’Carroll, the son of the late chief, enlisted the aid of the Earl of Kildare, whose daughter he had married, and together they laid siege to Birr. The Earl received a bullet in his side from the garrison. It is said that a soldier, hearing him cry out in agony, remonstrated with him, remarking he himself had been wounded three times and was none the worse, to which the Earl replied he was sorry he had not received the fourth bullet in his stead. The ball was extracted the following spring, but it is said to have hastened his end.

In 1537 Lord Leonard Grey took Birr Castle, and is reported to have received submission from O’Carroll, who was created Baron of Ely in 1552.

At the time of the plantation of Ely, Birr and its castle were granted to Sir Laurence Parsons in 1620, and the same year his steward arrived to make preparations. Shortly afterwards O’Carroll appealed in vain.

In 1641 Sir William Parsons was made Governor of Ely O’Carroll and the Castle of Birr, which latter he garrisoned with his tenants.

He put the place at once in a state of defence. He raised a flanker behind the stables, and erected scaffolds inside the castle for the garrison to fight from.

After some skirmishing the fortress was closely besieged in 1642, and of the nine hundred people in town and castle many died of starvation, while others were reduced to eating dogs and cats.

At length the Earl of Ormond sent a detachment to its relief, but early the next year General Preston approached the stronghold with artillery and troops.

He reconnoitred the town from Drumbawn Hill, and after firing a few shots encamped in the neighbouring woods. On the second day of the siege he sent a messenger to the Governor to inquire if he held the castle for the King or the Parliament, and asking to be allowed to garrison it for his Majesty’s use.

Sir William replied that he had not heard of any difference from his Majesty or from the Parliament, and that he held his commission as Governor of Ely O’Carroll.

At this reply Preston entrenched, and next day began to bombard the fortress in earnest. The following night a mine was commenced under the direction of a mason who had been employed in the castle. The garrison, hearing the noise, fired on the sappers, but the darkness prevented the shot taking effect, and in the morning they were underground.

Preston continued firing, and destroyed much of the wall and one of the flankers. He said he would break down the fortress about the Governor’s ears. Some of the balls found in the masonry weighed 9 lbs. each.

Under cover of a parley the defenders of the mill were withdrawn, and the garrison held out for two days after they had been undermined. A conference was held and the besieged were granted honourable terms.

Lord Castlehaven conducted them to Athy. They numbered about eight hundred men, women, and children.

Preston seems to have retained possession of Birr until 1645, when for five years it was held by the Confederate Catholic forces.

It was taken from the Irish in 1650 by General Ireton, the enemy having burnt it before retreating. The Marquis of Clanrickarde tried to retake it in vain.

In 1688 Birr was so infested with robbers that Sir Laurence Parsons took some of his neighbours and tenants inside the castle and closed the gates. This act was magnified to the Government by his enemy, Colonel Oxburgh, who obtained an order from the Lord Lieutenant to put a garrison in the castle.

Oxburgh demanded admittance, and Sir Laurence refused until he should hear from Lord Tyrconnel. A siege then began, and when they attempted to undermine the fortress terms of capitulation were agreed upon.

Both terms of surrender (1643-1688) are preserved in the castle and have been published in the Report of the Historical MSS. Commission.

Sir Laurence and some of his tenants were imprisoned in the fortress. He was tried for high treason and several times reprieved. He was liberated after the Boyne, and appointed High Sheriff for the King’s County.

In 1690 the castle garrison, being English, was summoned, but after a parley the enemy retired.

Later the same year it was attacked by Sarsfield, who fired all day on the stronghold. The marks of the shot are still to be seen upon the castle walls. The besieged, under Captain Curry, held out until reinforcements arrived.

The English army, passing through Birr in 1691, left four hundred wounded men in the castle for two months.

Sir Laurence Parsons died in 1698.

The second Earl of Rosse succeeded to the estates in 1841. His experiments towards improving the reflecting telescope had been begun in 1827 at Birr Castle. He employed local workmen, and the tools, machinery, furnaces, ovens, &c., were all constructed on the spot, many of which are still to be seen.

At length, after many failures, two specula were cast in 1842-43. They each measured 6 feet in diameter, weighed 4 tons, and were of 54 feet focus.

The tube in which one was mounted is 58 feet long and 7 feet in diameter. It is slung on chains between two piers of masonry, and the telescope is moved and supported by a complex system of cast-iron platforms, triangles, and levers.

It is the largest telescope in the world, and cost about £20,000 to construct. Observations were commenced in February, 1845. There are several smaller telescopes at the castle as well.

The present Earl of Rosse is the third Earl, and, like his father, is an eminent scientist.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

T. Cooke, “History of Birr,” &c.
Cooke, “Picture of Parsonstown.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.”
S. Lee, “Dictionary of National Biography.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Report of Historical MSS. Commission.

_BLACK CASTLE, WICKLOW_

Wicklow is situated about twenty-five miles south-south-east of Dublin, and the ruins of the Black Castle occupy an isolated rocky promontory east of the town, and on the south side of the Leitrim river. The name Wicklow is likely to have been of Norwegian origin, but the meaning is uncertain. The Irish name Kilmantan signified S. Mantan’s Church. The castle followed the natural shape of the dark rock on which it was built, and from which, no doubt, the designation “Black” is taken. It was divided from the mainland by a chasm, which was probably bridged in former times. A few fragments of walls, with window openings, are all that remain.

The fortress can never have been of large dimensions if it was confined to the rock on which the ruins now stand.

In 1176, after Maurice FitzGerald had been recalled by Strongbow, he received a grant of the Castle of Wicklow, among other possessions, in lieu of his lands in Wexford, which King Henry wished to retain. From this it would appear to have been the site of an older fortification.

Maurice FitzGerald began to erect a Norman stronghold on the promontory, but he died before it was completed.

Soon after his death William FitzAdelm managed by falsehood to get possession of the Black Castle from his son Gerald, first Baron of Offaly, and surrendered him instead the unprotected Castle of Ferns.

The Earl of Ormond being arraigned for treason in 1422, one of the charges against him was that he had retained William Edward, Constable of Arklow, in his service after he had assisted the O’Byrnes in seizing the King’s Castle of Wicklow. They killed John Liverpoole, the constable, and sent his head to the O’Byrne. They also imprisoned a priest, whom they found in the fortress, to hold for ransom.

The O’Byrnes seem to have been in possession of the castle in the early part of the sixteenth century, but in 1534 it had again passed to the Crown, and Thomas Stevyns was appointed constable. In 1567 Sir Thomas Fytzwylliams began his suit for the fortress, which, in 1575, he offered to re-edify, though his doing so does not seem altogether to have worked in his favour.

It seems generally believed that the present ruins represent the stronghold he built, but in 1580 it was reported that Wicklow Castle was razed by the enemy.

Nineteen years later the terrible disaster took place in June, 1599, in which the English troops were utterly routed between Rathdrum and Glenmalure by the combined Irish septs of the district. It was this that caused Essex such a sharp reprimand from Oueen Elizabeth.

Sir Henry Harrington was in command, and his troops fell back upon Wicklow Castle in the wildest disorder, chased by the Irish within half a mile of the town.

Captain Adam Loftus seems to have been the only one who endeavoured to redeem the day. He was wounded in the leg and conveyed to the castle. A surgeon was sent for, though the wound was not considered dangerous at first; but he shortly afterwards succumbed to the effects.

In 1610 Sir William Usher, Knight, was made constable of the fortress, and in 1641 Luke O’Toole and a band of insurgents laid siege to the town and castle, but retreated upon the approach of Sir Charles Coote with some English troops.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

Gilbert, “History of Viceroys of Ireland.”
Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.”
O’Toole, “History of the Clan O’Toole.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
State Papers.
Book of Howth, Carew MSS.

_BLARNEY CASTLE_

“There is a stone there whoever kisses,
Oh, he never misses to grow eloquent,
’Tis he may clamber to a lady’s chamber
Or become a member of Parliament.
A clever spouter, he’ll sure turn out, or
An ‘out an’ outer’ to be let alone,
Don’t hope to hinder him or bewilder him,
Sure he’s a pilgrim to the Blarney Stone!”
FATHER PROUT.

Appropriately built on an isolated limestone rock, the castle of the Blarney (Blarna meaning “little field”) was the chief stronghold of the chiefs of the sept Carty, from Cartheigh, “an inhabitant of the rock.” It is situated some three and a half miles north-west of Cork, near the junction of the Comane (_i.e._ crooked stream) and the Awmartin River. The present ruins show three distinct periods of construction, of which the oldest is a slender tower, or peel, situated at the north-west corner of the larger block of masonry that was built to it, the whole being the great keep of the fortress.

A stone bearing the inscription “Cormac M’Carthy, Fortis Me Fieri Facit, A.D. 1446,” forms the sill of one of the machicolations on the south side of the tower, and being damaged during the siege in Cromwell’s time, has been supported with iron.

The keep is gnomon in shape, the later rectangular tower being 60 feet by 36 feet, while the peel, which is half built into the north-west corner, forms a projection of 18 feet by 12 feet. The tower is about 120 feet high. The original entrance to the peel, which was 10 feet above the ground, is now built up, and access is gained by the large newel stair in the later building. What are called “the back stairs,” were the original flight belonging to the first tower. Here is situated the “Earl’s bedroom,” with a more modern bay window, and remnants of the tapestry which once covered the walls may still be seen. In the very top storey is situated a kitchen with two great fireplaces, and one of the now floorless rooms in this tower was probably the chapel.

In the later portion of the keep is the store-room and guard chamber near the entrance, which is a low-pointed doorway once defended from above. The apartment in the third floor was most likely used as a reception room, above which the great banqueting hall is situated, with an elaborately-worked chimney, and a fireplace 12 feet wide. The tower on the south and east is finished by machicolated parapets, resting on fourteen corbels, and having a corresponding number of opens or crenelles above.

The keep represents the fifteenth-century masonry, except where it is surmounted by the ogee parapet of brick work, which was seemingly added at the time the now ruined mansion to the east of the tower was built. This dwelling, erected by the Jeffreys family, was unroofed and its timber sold in 1821.

What are locally called “the dungeons” are merely divisions in the well cavern, which was at one time connected with the castle by a covered passage now filled up.

There seems to be great uncertainty as to the identity of the famous kissing stone, said to give a persuasive tongue to whoever touches it with his lips. The power of conferring this accomplishment appears to have been unknown in the early part of the nineteenth century.

The inscribed stone already mentioned is generally supposed to be the true “Blarney stone,” chiefly, it seems because it has been carefully propped, and most likely had the mystic reputation conferred upon it when a slightly water-worn hollow stone situated on the parapet of the east side of the turret disappeared more than a quarter of a century ago.

Again a stone bearing the date 1703, on the highest part of the north-east angle, and another engraved with a shamrock in relief have each been asserted to be the original stone.

The origin of “Blarney,” meaning flattery, is said to have been from an exclamation of Queen Elizabeth upon receiving a very plausible letter from M’Carthy, to the effect that it was all “Blarney” and he did not intend to carry out his promises.

The castle at one time covered eight acres. In a quarry near a large number of human bones have been found.

Cormac MacCarty, surnamed Laider, or the Strong, came into the lordship of Muskerry three years after he had built Blarney Castle, and such was his power that English settlers paid him a yearly tribute of £40 to protect them against the attacks of the Irish. He was fourth lord, and direct descendant of the former Kings of Desmond and Cork. He died in 1494.

Teige MacCormac Carty signed an indenture of allegiance to the English laws in 1542, and this was faithfully adhered to by his descendants, who, unlike the other great Irish septs, never went eagerly into rebellion. At this time the clan could raise three thousand fighting men. His son Dermod was knighted in 1558.

The Manor of Blarney, Twhoneblarney, the entire country of Muskerry, with all its lordships and possessions, were granted to M‘Dermod to hold by military service in 1589.

His cousin Charles, however, was page to Sir Walter Raleigh, and through his interest procured from the Privy Council a sequestration of the rents.

In 1596 Cormack M‘Dermot M‘Carthy asked for a new grant of the Manor of Blarney with a release of all conditions.

When war broke out, although Lord Muskerry remained with the English forces, he was seized as a traitor (1600) because his brother had joined the rebels, and a relative informed the Council that he himself was plotting against them.

Tyrone at this time encamped with all his forces near Blarney, which is described as one of the strongest castles in the province of Munster, “for it is four piles joined in one, seated upon a main rock, so as it is free from mining, the wall 18 feet thick, and flanked at each corner to the best advantage.”

Sir Charles Wilmot and Captain Roger Harvey endeavoured to surprise the garrison after the arrest of Lord Muskerry, but the warders, suspecting their motive, made them partake of the food they asked for, outside the castle walls.

When Lord Muskerry was put upon his trial he indignantly denied the charges made against him. The President replied that he had better either confess his guilt and ask pardon, or deliver up Blarney Castle until the accusations were proved false. This Lord Muskerry hesitated to do, and so was committed to prison. At length he consented to give up Blarney to Captain Taafe, on condition that it would be restored to him unaltered.

Shortly after this he escaped, in 1602, but seeing the struggle against the Crown was hopeless, he asked leave to make submission to Sir George Carew, which was granted.

In 1628 he was created Baron of Blarney and Viscount Cartie of Muskerie, and as such went to Parliament.

Charles I. appointed him President of Munster, but in 1646 Lord Broghill, afterwards Earl of Orrery, took the castle of Blarney and made it his headquarters. Lord Muskerry was the last Royalist in Ireland to lay down arms, and he was tried for his life by Ludlow and others. He was permitted to pass to Spain, while his wife was allowed to receive his income from the estate, except £1,000 a year granted to Lord Broghill for his services (1656).

Two years later Lord Muskerry was recalled, after the Restoration, and created Viscount Muskerry and Earl of Clancarty. His property was given back to him, except the portion allowed to Lord Broghill, who was now a supporter of the King.

When James landed at Kinsale, Blarney Castle was used as one of the prisons for the Protestants of Cork, the fourth Earl of Clancarty being one of the King’s chief supporters.

Upon the succession of King William the Clancarty estate, worth about £150,000, was confiscated and sold, a pension of £300 being allowed to the Earl, who died at Hamburg, 1734.

The Rev. Dean Davies, of Cork, was tenant of the castle for some years after the Hollow-Sword-Blade Company of London bought it. Upon leaving he took away many of the oak beams of the castle for his new residence at Dawstown.

Chief Justice Pyne then purchased it, and held it for a short time, but in 1703 Sir James Jeffreys bought the castle and lands, and from him the present owner, Sir George Colthurst, is descended.

There is in the possession of The O’Donovan, at Liss Ard, Skibbereen, a dadagh, or Irish skean, with which an O’Donovan killed M‘Carty Reagh about the middle of the sixteenth century. The dispute arose about some plundered cattle which M‘Carty wished to drive into the bawn of Blarney without division. Being opposed by O’Donovan, he attacked him and threw him down, but O’Donovan, although on the ground, snatched the dadagh from him, and slew him with his own weapon.

About a quarter of a mile south-west of the castle, in the park is the lake, where it is supposed the plate chest of the last Earl of Clancarty was thrown before the castle was surrendered to William’s forces, and a legend says that the Earl rises from the lake every seven years, and walks two or three miles in the hope that some one will speak to him, so that he may tell them where it lies. Another version says that as soon as the estate is restored to the MacCartys the chest will be discovered. A little silver ring has been found in the lake.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

Calendar of State Papers.
Carew MSS.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Croker, “Fairy Legends,” and “Researches in the South of Ireland.”
Savage, “Picturesque Ireland.”
Windele, “Notices of the City of Cork and Vicinity.”
Smith, “History of Cork.”
C. C. Woods, “Blarney Castle” (_Journal of the Cork
Archæological Society_).
Proceedings of Archæological Association of Ireland.

_BUNRATTY CASTLE_

The village of Bunratty is situated in the Barony of Lower Bunratty, County Clare, and the castle stands on the banks of the Ougarnee River, a little above its juncture with the Shannon on its northern bank, about six miles below Limerick.

The former name of the river was Ratty, and the name, therefore, signifies the end or mouth of the Ratty.

The fortress is still in a very fair state of preservation and shows many signs of alterations during its existence.

It consists of an oblong structure, flanked by four square towers built into the angles, which are joined at the head by depressed arches.

The north-east tower contains an oratory. It has a piscina, and the ceiling is a handsome specimen of richly moulded seventeenth-century stucco work, probably executed when the “great Earl” of Thomond restored the castle in 1610. Out-offices and servants’ quarters formerly surrounded the main building, but were removed by the late Mr. Studdert to supply material for the modern manor house.

An inscribed stone at the summit of the castle states that the present building was erected by O’Brien in 1397. There are marks of shot still visible on the walls.

The cantred of Tradee was granted in fee farm to the Norman Robert de Muscegros, at a yearly rent of £30.

Henry III. remitted him two years’ rent in 1251 to enable him to fortify Bunratty Castle, which he had built. Shortly after he surrendered it to the King on condition he was allowed for the repairing, provisioning, and defending of it. It was taken by the Irish in 1257.

De Muscegros exchanged his lands of Tradee, in Thomond, with Sir Richard de Clare in 1275 for property in England, and the following year Bunratty Castle was taken for the King by Geoffry de Gyamul, Lord Justice.

The same year King Brian the Red granted to de Clare the district he had acquired by exchange, and he at once began to repair the castle. It is recorded he built “a defensive thick-walled castle of lime and stone, which was a sheltered, impregnable fortress, and a wide white-washed mansion which he founded in the clear-harboured Bunratty,” and that he resided here with English retainers whom he purchased “for love or money.”

Torlough O’Brien invaded Thomond, and its King, Brian, fled to Bunratty. Among those who opposed the invaders was de Clare’s brother-in-law, Patrick Fitz-Maurice, who was slain in the conflict. When news of his death reached Bunratty there was great lamentation, and his sister, de Clare’s wife, denounced King Brien, who was then at dinner, as the cause of the disaster.

He was thereupon dragged from the table, bound to wild horses, and literaly torn to pieces. This act of treachery was rendered even more horrible from the fact that he and de Clare had sworn friendship with the most solemn rites.

Among the State Documents of 1298 is an entry for expenses and wages of horse and foot soldiers in an expedition to relieve Bunratty, which was besieged by Turlough O’Brien. This attack probably took place at an earlier date.

The castle was besieged again in 1305 by Coveha MacConmara and the outworks burnt, which is thus picturesquely described: “Yea, at this bout, the open-spaced Bunratty, when it was gutted, fed the flames; and by the Wolf-dog’s pertinacity, not once, but twice, were many of the lime-white towers burnt.”

The fortress was not taken, and Lord Burke persuaded MacConmara to raise the siege.

At this time Maurice de Rochford was custodian.

The Earl of Ulster marched into Clare with a great army in 1311 to besiege Bunratty. Richard de Clare sallied out to meet him on the hill behind the fortress, but was obliged to retreat. William de Burgo, pressing too far in pursuit, was taken prisoner, as well as John, son of Walter de Lacy.

In 1313, de Clare was about to hang O’Brien’s son, who was hostage for the tribe of Coileau, but his wife, with the clergy and nobility, interceded for him.

De Clare and his son Thomas were killed in 1318 in the battle of Dysert O’Dea, and upon his wife, Lady Johan de Clare, hearing of the disaster, she set fire to the castle and sailed for England.

The following year it was spoiled by King Mortogh.

It was immediately repaired, and the Government assigned it to Matilda, wife of Robert de Wills, and Margaret, wife of Bartholomew de Badlesmere, sisters to Richard de Clare, and appointed Robert Sutton constable.

In 1326 it was held for the Crown by James de bello Fago, and in 1332 it was besieged and taken by the Macnamaras.

There is an order dated 1356 to liberate Thomas, the son of John FitzMaurice, who had been imprisoned as accessory to the loss of the castle.

The Lord Deputy recovered the fortress in 1558 by firing across the river until the garrison of Donnell O’Brien surrendered it.

The Earl of Thomond was proclaimed rebel in 1570, and fled to sea; the Earl of Ormond meantime garrisoned Bunratty with his own men, but in 1585 the castle was confirmed to the Earl of Thomond.

The “Great Earl” of Thomond restored it in 1617.

Some authorities say Lord Forbes seized the castle in 1642 in a buccaneering expedition.

When the rebellion broke out in 1641 the Earl of Thomond of the time found himself in a difficult position, for by religion he might have been supposed to side with the Government, while at the same time he was closely related to many of the prominent Confederates, being uncle to Lord Muskerry who commanded their troops in the south. He, therefore, remained quietly at Bunratty taking neither side, but he was too powerful to be allowed to presevere in neutrality.

The Supreme Council of the Confederates entrusted the seizure of both the castle and Earl to his relatives, the O’Briens, but in the meantime the Earl of Ormond had entered into a treaty with the Earl of Thomond whereby the latter was to surrender the castle of Bunratty to a governor they mutually agreed upon.

The choice fell upon Colonel Adams, “a stout officer,” who, with upwards of six hundred men, took possession of the stronghold in 1645. The governor was a Scotchman whose family name was Adam, but upon settling in Ireland he seems to have been called Adams, and sometimes MacAdam. He was married to the Hon. Catherine Magennis, granddaughter of Hugh, Earl of Tyrone, therefore his wife was first cousin to Owen Roe O’Neill, which, no doubt, guided his selection as commander of Bunratty garrison.

Before the castle was surrendered the Earl of Thomond built all his plate and money into the walls to the amount of £2,000, and had the place plastered and rough cast. Some of the servants betrayed the fact to the soldiers, and they seized the Earl and threatened to kill him unless he showed them the treasure, whereupon they took it before his face. He afterwards tried to recover it as a debt from the Government in vain.

The castle was provisioned at the cost of £1,200 by John Davies.

The Earl of Thomond left his fortress in the hands of the soldiers and sailed for England. Colonel Adams at once set to work to put the place in a state of defence by raising earthworks and fortifying outlying positions, as well as mounting cannon in the garden, his was much helped in his operations by the marshy character of the surrounding country.

The Confederates sent an army to besiege the castle, which encamped in the park. They were shortly afterwards joined by Lord Muskerry, who seems to have been only half-hearted in attacking his uncle’s property, and it required the persuasion and presence of the Nuncio to push the siege to a victorious issue.

Cardinal Rinuncini must have been much impressed by the beauty of the spot, as later he had scenes of the siege painted on the walls of his Italian palace.

After some weeks a dam about half a mile from the castle was captured, but only held a few hours when deserted by its guards, who were hanged for the offence.

Two pieces of cannon were then directed upon a small outlying castle, and at the end of two days’ firing Colonel Adams repaired to the place to see if it could be held any longer. A chance shot at the upper window mortally wounded him, and being carried out he died that night.

When Muskerry heard this he decided to attack in force, “knowing how much discouraged they were at the loss of so valiant a person.”

The Irish gradually gained position, and at length the garrison capitulated for their lives, and the officers their swords, and returned to Cork by water. This was in 1646.

In 1712 Henry, 8th Earl of Thomond, disposed of his estate, and the castle passed to the Studdert family, who lived there until the neighbouring mansion was built.

For some years afterwards it was partly used for a police barrack, and now it is in the hands of a caretaker.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

MS. Ordnance Survey.
Frost, “History of the County Clare.”
White, “History of Clare.”
O’Donoghue, “Memoirs of the O’Briens.”
B. Adams and M. Adams, “History of the Adams Family.”
Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.”
Dwyer, “Diocese of Killaloe.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Gilbert, “Affairs in Ireland, 1641-52” (Apporismical
Discovery of Treasonable Faction).
Gilbert, “History of the Irish Confederation by Richard Bellings.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
State Documents.
State Papers.
Proceedings of Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland.
Westropp, “Normans in Thomond;” Macnamara, “Inchiquin,
Co. Clare;” Shirley and O’Brien, “Extracts
from the Journal of Thomas Dineley,”
all in _Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, Ireland_.
Westropp, “On the Churches of County Clare,” in Proceedings of R.I.A.
“Bunratty,” _Dublin Saturday Magazine_.

_CARLOW CASTLE_

The town of Carlow, Catherlough or Catherlogh, is situated on the banks of the Barrow, five and a half miles south-by-west of Castledermot near the junction of the above river with the Burren. The name signifies “the city on the lake,” but the sheet of water from which it derived its name has disappeared.

The castle stands on a slight eminence to the west of the town on the east bank of the river, where it commanded the ford.

The present ruins consist of two round towers, and the western wall, which measures about 105 feet in length and some 70 feet in height. One of the towers is joined to this structure, and a small portion of the north and south walls adhere to both turrets respectively.

The doors were remarkably low and narrow, and light was admitted almost entirely by loopholes.

In Thomas Dineley’s quaint diary he states that the fortress was built of freestone, and a picture in the same work represents it with gables and a high-pitched roof. It is flanked by round towers and has many tall chimneys. It appears to be surrounded by a low battlemented wall, and to have numerous little out-houses.

Like so many castles in Ireland, local tradition ascribes its erection to King John, but Eva, Strongbow’s wife, Isabel, their daughter, Hugh le Bigod, 4th Earl of Norfolk, and Bellingham, Lord Deputy of Ireland, have been mentioned by other authorities. Ryan, in his history of Carlow, deals with the likelihood of each claim, and thinks that it was most probably built by Hugh de Lacy. He is said to have erected it about 1180, but the architecture is rather that of the beginning of the thirteenth century.

The castle is mentioned in the charter of William, Earl Marshal.

In 1283 we find the repairing of the old hall, kitchen, and tower among the accounts of Roger le Bigod, Earl of Norfolk, in whose possession it then was. Among the items of expenditure are 700 nails and canvas, which were probably for the roofing of the great hall, which was covered with wooden shingles, and seems to have been difficult to keep in repair.

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 it until 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 if on 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.”

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

J. Ryan, “History of County Carlow.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
State Documents.
State Papers.
Book of Howth, Carew MSS.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Lord Walter Fitzgerald, “Kilkea Castle,”
in _Journal of Kildare Archæological Society_.
R. Malcomson, “Cromwell at Carlow”; J. O’Meagher,
“Diary of Dr. Jones”; E. Shirley, “Extracts
from Journal of Thomas Dineley”; and J. Mills,
“Accounts of the Earl of Norfolk’s Estates
in Ireland”: all in _Journal of
Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland_.
MS. Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

_CARRICKFERGUS CASTLE_

It is popularly believed that Carrickfergus derived its name from a king called Fergus having been lost there in a storm about 320 B.C., whose body was washed up on the rocky peninsular where the castle stands. The name is, however, more likely to be a corruption of _Carraig 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 oldest fort 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.”

(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 yacht _Mary_.

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.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

State Papers.
Russell and Prendergast, Preface to State Papers.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
M. Haverty, “History of Ireland.”
Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club Guide.
S. M’Skimin, “History of Carrickfergus.”
Calendar of Patent Rolls.
Sweetman, Calendar of Documents.
Carew MSS.
“Notes on a Plan of Carrickfergus.”
J. Bell, “Origin of the Name of Carrickfergus”
(_Ulster Journal of Archæology_).

_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 stuccoed
With sun-lit gables and embroidery-covered walls.”
Translated from Irish by J. O’DALY.

Nineteen miles 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 upon the 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, who used 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:--