Chapter C: O’Neill, “Antrim Castle.” (4)

In the State Papers Sir Arthur Chichester advises that the troublesome youths should be given grants of lands as the best way of making them peaceful subjects. It is also recommended that the castle should be garrisoned by the King’s men.

The latter was evidently done, as shortly afterwards the Earl of Tyrconnell lodged a complaint against Captain Brook and his men being quartered in the castle with privileges, after he (the Earl) had in person expelled the discontents.

The following year (1608) Doe was again lost to the English in the rebellion of Sir Cahir O’Doherty. It was in charge of a man named Vaughan and six warders, when a cowherd and a friar arriving with the tale that a body of wolves had set upon the cattle, they easily managed to draw six of them from the stronghold, who were at once killed, and the castle seized and garrisoned for the enemy.

A party was organised to retake it, and in the encounter with the rebels Sir Cahir was killed.

The castle was captured by Sir Oliver Lambert, and it was said to be “the strongest hold in all the province, which endured a hundred blows of the demi-cannon before it yielded.”

Captain Elling was then appointed constable, and £76 13s. 4d. was granted him towards repairing the damage done by the cannon in the siege.

At this time it had a garrison of fifty men.

Sir Richard Bingley was appointed constable in 1610, and at the same time received a grant of land in the county. After this there seems to have been a succession of constables until it was captured by the Irish in 1641. Owen Roe O’Neill landed here the following year from Dunkirk, and, being met by Sir Phelim O’Neill with other chiefs and one thousand five hundred men, proceeded to Ballyshannon.

In 1646 Quartermaster Harrison asked for the possession of the castle, which the enemy had deserted, and offered to garrison and maintain it with thirty warders.

Sir Charles Coot captured it in 1650, and Colonel Miles M’Sweeny tried to retake it the same year.

The Harrisons sold it to the Harte family during the eighteenth century.

General Harte was present at the battle of Seringapatam, and the capture of Tippoo Sahib, whose servant was also taken prisoner at the same time, and afterwards came to Ireland with General Harte.

He lived at Doe Castle, and was devotedly attached to his new master. He always wore his native dress, and is reported to have slept fully armed on a mat at the General’s door.

He did not long survive his master, the General meeting with a sad death by falling down the stairway leading to the tower.

Cannon captured at Seringapatam were mounted on the lawn of the castle.

The Hartes subsequently let Doe to a Mr. Maddison, but it remained in the possession of the family until 1866, when it was purchased by Mr. Ards.

The history of Doe Castle is not altogether as clear on many points as could be wished, for the authorities seem to be greatly confused over many important points.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

State Papers.
Harkin, “Scenery and Antiquities of North-West Donegal.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
M’Devitt, “Donegal Highlands.”
Parliamentary Gazetteer.

_DRIMNAGH CASTLE_

About three miles from Dublin, between Crumlin and Clondalkin, is situated the old fortress of Drimnagh or Druimneach, which signifies the “ridged lands,” so called from the proximity of the sand ridges called the Green Hills.

The castle is an oblong building with pointed battlements at the corners. A passage with an arched entrance high enough for a loaded cart to enter is visible from the road, above which rises three storeys, with a modern window in each.

A turret stairway also projects on this side and rises above the battlements. An ancient chimney flue is to be seen crowned by a modern addition.

A small turret rises above the battlements on the north side as well, at which side a strong, modern house has been added.

The castle is covered by a modern slated roof. Some outhouses bear marks of antiquity, and a little distance from the main building is a small, square tower, which, no doubt, formed an outpost for the garrison. The fortress was surrounded by a moat at the beginning of the nineteenth century, and its position can still be traced.

In 1215 the lands of Drimnagh were granted by King John to Hugh de Bernivall, and he is supposed to have built the castle early in this reign.

The lands were confirmed to his brother in 1221, and they remained in his descendants’ possession for four hundred years.

In 1435 Wolfran Barnewall had licence to entail his estates, and in 1613 the family leased the castle to Sir Adam Loftus, a nephew of the Archbishop, with the reservation that no timber was to be cut.

Some time later a Peter Barnewall succeeded to the property, and he was unwilling to renew Sir Adam’s lease, whereupon that gentleman endeavoured with some members of the Barnewall family to prevent his inheriting the estate, and proceeded at the same time to cut down the great trees which surrounded the fortress. After much litigation the King at length intervened on behalf of Barnewall, and Sir Adam was restrained from doing any more damage.

In 1649, after the battle of Rathmines, the Duke of Ormond seriously contemplated fortifying Drimnagh and making it his headquarters, but he was dissuaded by General Purcell.

Colonel Nicholas Walker, a Cromwellian officer, lived in the castle after the Restoration. It was said that he was present on the scaffold at the execution of Charles I. with his face covered by a vizor. The Hearth Money Returns of 1664 state that Drimnagh was occupied by “Lt.-Col. -----,” and had three “smooks” or chimneys.

In 1841 the fortress was the property of the Marquis of Lansdowne. It was one of the castles of the Pale, and the scene of Mr. R. D. Joyce’s romance entitled “The Rose of Drimnagh” is laid there.

Until lately it was inhabited by Mrs. Mylott, but it is now empty.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

D’Alton, “History of County Dublin.”
P., “Drimnagh Castle,” in _Irish Penny Journal_.
E. Ball, “Descriptive Sketch of Clondalkin, Tallaght,”
&c., in _Journal of Royal Society of Antiquaries_, Ireland.
Dix, “Lesser Castles in the County Dublin,” in _Irish Builder_.
Joyce, “Rambles Round Dublin,” in _Evening Telegraph_ Reprints.

_DUBLIN CASTLE_

The situation chosen by the Norsemen for the first fortress of “Duibhlinn” (A.D. 840) was naturally strong, being on a hill at the junction of the Liffey and the Poddle. After this date we read of several raids upon the dun, or castle of Dublin, including the treacherous entry into the city of Milun DeCogan and Meyler Fitz-Henri during a truce, when all the defenders of the stronghold were put to the sword. This was shortly after the landing of Strongbow. The present area covered by Government buildings includes the ancient site.

When Henry II. came to Dublin a large wooden hall, covered with wattles, was erected in Dame Street, that he might entertain the Irish chiefs who came to pay homage. Upon his return to England he committed “Dublin with its castle and donjon to Hugh de Laci, Fitz-Stephen, and Morice Fitz-Gerald.” Hugh de Lacy became the first Viceroy. It was while he was in England that Meyler Fitz-Henry, who had been appointed Lord Justice in his absence, wrote to King John complaining that he had no safe place to store the King’s treasure, and asking for leave to erect a proper fortress. This he received in the form of a patent dated 1204, which says:--

“But you are first to finish one tower, unless afterwards a castle and palace, and other works that may require greater leisure, may be more conveniently raised, and that we should command you so to do.”

The grant consisted of 300 marks, which was owed to the King by G. Fitz-Robert, and there are no records to show whether FitzHenry ever collected the debt, or even began the castle in the three years afterwards for which he held office. It seems to be a very general opinion that the castle was built about 1220 by Henry Loundres, Archbishop of Dublin, either at his own expense, or that he advanced the money as a loan. A State paper, however, dated 1217, grants the Archbishop two cantreds without Dublin for damage done to his churches in fortifying the castle, and later there are many entries regarding compensation to be paid in money to Henry Loundres in lieu of land which had been encroached upon when extending the fortifications.

In 1242 an entry records that the windows of St. Edward’s Chapel belonging to the castle were to be glazed, and divine service held. This building seems to have been outside the fortress walls, on the site of the present Chapel Royal which was erected in 1814. In 1243 a hall was to be built 120 feet long and 80 feet wide. It was to have glazed windows, with a round one at the gable end 30 feet in diameter.

The entrance to the castle was by a drawbridge on the north side, the site now being occupied by the gate to the Upper Castle Yard. This bridge was flanked by two towers, and defended by a portcullis, and later by ordnance as well. From the gate towers, often used as State prisons, a high curtain or wall extended east and west. In the westward direction it joined what in later years was known as Cork Tower, because it was rebuilt by the great Earl of Cork in 1629, it having fallen in 1624, and been only partly restored. He spent £408 on it.

From this the wall was continued south to the Birmingham Tower, which is said to have derived its name from its having been erected either by John Birmingham, Earl of Louth, Lord Justice 1321, or Walter Birmingham, who held office in 1348. It is more likely, however, that this tower is identical with that known as the high tower, and that it received the name Birmingham after William Birmingham and his son Walter had been imprisoned there in 1331, otherwise the fortress would have been incomplete prior to 1321, and the side with least natural defence unprotected. From Birmingham Tower the curtain extended eastward (intersected by two smaller towers) to Wardrobe Tower. From this the wall was continued northward to the Store Tower near Dame’s Gate, which was in its turn connected with the eastern gate tower. There were two sallyports in the wall.

Of the eight towers which once protected the fortress only the Wardrobe Tower now remains, often erroneously called Birmingham Tower. This, as its name implies, is where the royal robe, cap of maintenance, and other furniture of state were kept. The sword of state is still preserved there, and also the records which were removed from Birmingham Tower. The lower portion is the original masonry, but an upper storey was added when the Chapel Royal was built. The Birmingham Tower was rendered unsafe by an explosion of gunpowder in Ship Street and had to be taken down. A lighter structure was erected on the site, which contains the present kitchen and viceregal supper-room. The other towers were gradually removed to make room for new buildings.

The Anglo-Irish used to decorate the gate and walls of the castle with the heads of the slain, and in 1316 some four hundred heads were sent from Wicklow for this purpose.

The castle did not become a permanent residence of the Viceroy until 1560 by order of Elizabeth, and in 1565 Henry Sydney took up his abode in it. He also enlarged and beautified it, and placed the State papers there in safe keeping.

The castle has stood several successful sieges. In 1478 Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, was superseded as Lord Deputy by Lord Grey of Codnor. He refused to resign, and Keating, Prior of Kilmainham, and Constable of the Castle, sided with him, and fortified the stronghold against the new Deputy. He destroyed the drawbridge, and Lord Grey, finding his numbers too small to force an entrance, returned to England, and Kildare was shortly afterwards reinstated.

Again, in 1534, young Lord Offaly, known as “Silken Thomas” from the splendour of his horses’ trappings, hearing a false report that his father had been treacherously executed in England, returned the Sword of State to the Council, which he held as Deputy in the Earl of Kildare’s absence, and commenced hostilities against the castle.

It is said the citizens readily admitted him within the walls of Dublin. His chief attack was from Ship Street, but the Constable of the castle getting the thatched houses there set on fire, the besiegers fell back into Thomas Street.

Lord Offaly having been obliged to commence hostilities against Ossary, the siege was not carried on with much heart. Many of the arrows sent into the castle were headless, and others bore letters saying some of the besiegers were really in sympathy with the King’s party.

Upon the rumour of help from England, the citizens closed the gates and made prisoners of the attackers.

Lord Thomas hurried back, and at once laid siege to the city itself, but his force was too small to have any effect.

As he had seized the Dublin children who had been sent to outlying villages on account of the plague, the citizens agreed to liberate his party if the little ones were restored. This was done, and shortly afterwards aid from England quelled the rebellion.

Several exciting escapes have been made by prisoners from the castle. In 1587 Hugh O’Donnell was confined in one of the gate towers for three years, when he and a companion managed to escape on to the drawbridge by a rope. He was, however, treacherously sent back to Dublin by O’Toole of Castlekevin, upon whose hospitality he had thrown himself. At this time a partly dry and partly wet moat surrounded Dublin Castle, and O’Donnell was now imprisoned in the Wardrobe Tower round which the Poddle flowed. He, however, escaped again the next year through the water, and, arriving after much hardship at Glenmalure, eventually reached the North in safety.

In 1697 Lord Delvin was imprisoned in one of the gate towers for taking part in a conspiracy against the King. The Lord Deputy hearing that he meditated escape, desired Tristram Ecclesten, Constable of the Castle, to remove his prisoner from the upper to a lower storey. Not only did Ecclesten neglect to do this, but he allowed Lord Delvin to have visitors, who managed to convey him a rope, by which he escaped. Next year he surrendered himself and was pardoned.

Law Courts and Parliaments have at different times been held in the castle.

In 1689 King James made a State entry, and stayed one night there after the battle of the Boyne.

In 1783 St. Patrick’s Hall was built. In 1784 the Viceregal Lodge was bought, and since then the State apartments of the castle have only been used during the Dublin season.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

O’Donovan, “Annals of the Four Masters.”
Calendar of Irish State Papers in England.
Wright, “Historical Guide to Dublin.”
Harris, “History of Dublin.”
Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.”
Brewer, “Beauties of Ireland.”
M’Gee, “History of Ireland.”
Joyce, “History of Ireland.”
Gilbert, “Castle of Dublin” (_University Magazine_).
Haverty, “Ireland.”
Collins, “Sydney State Letters.”

_DUNDANIEL CASTLE_

This castle is situated on the western margin of the Barony of Kinnelea, in the townland of Skevanish, County Cork. It stands on the left bank of the Bandon River, in the angle formed by the influx of the Brinny. It is half a mile above Innishannon, and three miles below Bandon.

The present name seems, from ancient documents, to be a corruption of Dundanier, or a word of the same phonetic sound. Different suggestions have been put forward as to the probable meaning of the original name, including “Dane’s Fort,” or “the fort of the foreigner,” and “the fort of the two rivers.” This latter would be a very appropriate appellation, its south and west sides being protected by the converging streams.

Nothing now remains of the castle save the keep, which measures 32 feet east and west, and 44 feet north and south.

The entrance is in a ruined state on the east side, and between it and the river on the south the masonry has almost wholly disappeared. The walls on the north and west are 6 feet thick, while on the south and east they measure 8 feet, although these sides have otherwise apparently less provision for defence.

Mr. Herbert Gillman gives a most interesting suggestion regarding this fact. He says that in all probability a winding stair was situated in the thickness of the walls at the south-east angle, the building of which has now disappeared, and that this stairway terminated at the hall or chief apartment of the castle usually occupied by the castellan. Upon the north-east angle of the tower is now the remains of a ruined turret, and Mr. Gillman thinks this is most likely to have been the protection for the egress to the _allur_ or battlemented walk, which was reached from the main chamber by a second stairway in this part of the wall. By such an arrangement no watchman could leave his post of duty without passing through the room in question, and thus a greater protection would be secured.

We learn from the Lismore papers that the top of the fortress was reached by a very narrow “pair of stairs.”

The tower is about 55 or 60 feet high. The stone arch which is usual in such buildings covering the internal space, is in this instance situated singularly high up, being immediately beneath the top storey, and there is no mark on the lower walls to show that a second ever existed. The ground floor was used for defence as well as for the usual store, and above it beams, on stone corbels, supported two oak floors between the basement and the arch. Light and air were chiefly admitted by long openings splayed for archery. It is interesting to note also the later apertures introduced after musketry superseded the bow and arrow.

Of the former outworks of the fortress little trace remains. On the east of the tower, at about a hundred yards distant, is what an old inhabitant stated to be a disused channel of the River Manghane or Brinny. This fact is borne out, and contradicted, respectively by several maps. The fact that the field lying west of the river is still called “Castle Garden” seems to point out that the channel of the Brinny has been changed. Also the north and west walls of the fortress have the greater number of crenellated openings, which show that they were considered the most vulnerable sides.

The Down Survey map of 1656 shows a dwelling-house to the east of the castle.

In the mortar on the inside surface of the arch, the marks of the twigs are still visible which formed part of the temporary support used when building. The mortar has much less lime than is usual in such work, no doubt from the distance it would have had to be brought.

These markings, as well as the general architecture, indicate that the date 1476, which is usually stated as the time of its erection, is likely to be accurate.

It is supposed to have been built by Barry Oge, or Barry the Younger, whose family displaced the O’Mahons in this district, being a descendant of Philip de Barry, the Anglo-Norman invader.

The lands of Innishannon were granted to the Barry Oge family either in Henry III.’s or Henry IV.’s reign.

In 1449 Barry Oge forfeited the confidence of the Crown, and his lands were seized for the King. But a letter of the time states that he was there “upon the King’s portion, paying his Grace never a penny of rent.” At this time wars at home and abroad had weakened the English power in Ireland, and it is most likely that Barry Oge built Dundaniel Castle to protect the lands he was holding in spite of the forfeiture.

In 1548 mention is made of a pirate called Colle coming to Kinsale in a pinnace and marrying Barry Oge’s aunt, living in his castle, and not allowing any one to enter Kinsale. Probably this castle was Dundaniel, where the honeymoon was being spent, but the Barry Oge himself does not seem to have shared the odium in which his uncle-in-law was held.

Pirates were a very grave trouble to the south coast for many years following.

After the Desmond rebellion Barry Oge’s land was again forfeited in 1588, and bestowed upon MacCarthy Reagh, and in 1599 “Downdandier” is referred to as being in his possession.

After the siege of Dunboy Castle, in 1602, Sir George Carew relates having sent some companies of foot soldiers to MacCarthy’s Castle of Dundaniel, to remain there until the army was leaving Munster.

Eight years later the estate was purchased by the East India Company for the sum of £7,000. They constructed a dock, where they built two ships, and colonised three villages with some three hundred English settlers.

They garrisoned the castle with “four light horse, six corslets, and ten muskets, trained at the Company’s charge.”

But this form of industrious innovation was not at all to the liking of the native inhabitants, and they so harassed the company’s workers that they were obliged to appeal to the Government for protection in 1613. This does not appear to have been accorded, as a second petition in the same year asks for leave to place three or four pieces of ordnance in the castle for defence against the “wylde Irish.”

The Company, still receiving no Government aid, relinquished their enterprise. In the “Castle Garden” slag, like the refuse of ironworks is still found, which is most likely the remains of the East India Company’s industry.

After this the MacCarthys seem to have again taken possession of the castle, and a scion of the old house, named Teige O’Connor, occupied Dundaniel upon the breaking out of hostilities in 1642.

This O’Connor seems to have been a man of unqualified barbarity. A MS. in Trinity College records a most unwarrantable attack by him on five peaceful fishermen who were whipping the rivers near the stronghold. By his orders they were seized by some of the garrison and carried within the castle. Four of them were hanged at once, and the fifth offered £10 for his life. This was accepted, and some of them accompanied him to his house to receive it. Upon finding where he kept his money, they seized the whole of it, amounting to £35, and then hanged the unfortunate owner.

John Langton, writing to the Earl of Cork, gives a most graphic description of the assault upon Dundaniel Castle on the 20th of April, 1642, when the English forces marched from Bandon under the command of Lord Kinalmeaky and Captain Aderly of Innishannon.

It appears a party of rebels had seized some cattle and brutally killed four children and wounded a fifth, who were minding them near the town. The distracted parents traced the crime to the garrison of Dundaniel Castle, “neere the ould iron worke.” So horse and foot marched out, recovered the cattle save one animal, and attacked the castle.

Three of the besiegers were killed and six wounded by shot and stone from the fortress, but the musketeers posted themselves round the castle and on the neighbouring hill, and kept up a fire of small shot so that each of the defenders who looked out was killed.

They next tried to drive in the door with sledges, and these failing they set it on fire, but they had to undermine the wall in the neighbourhood before the fire became sufficient to make the door yield.

They rushed into the lower room, and the enemy fled to the top of the castle above the vault.

The attacking party then loaded themselves with corn and oatmeal which was stored in the lower chambers, and having provided themselves with plunder they set fire to the wooden floors of the lower rooms. Night came on, and they returned to Bandon with their booty.

Next morning they came back to view the scene, and found that the rebels (who had escaped the fire which did not penetrate the vault), had let themselves down from the battlements in the night time by means of ropes and other contrivances. Many lay dead on the top of the castle, and round about it.

The victors found four or five muskets and fowling pieces, some brass and iron pots and pans, and some money hidden in the oatmeal bins.

About forty of the enemy escaped and joined the Roches. They were pursued, and an encounter took place where over a hundred were killed, but the chiefs escaped.

After this the MacCarthy property was confiscated, and Dundaniel Castle was granted to Richard Earl of Cork, by whom it was leased to various tenants, and through whom it descended to the present Duke of Devonshire.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

H. Gillman, “The Castle of Dundanier,
miscalled Dundaniel”
(_Cork Archæological Society’s Journal_).
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Calendar of State Papers.
G. Bennett, “History of Bandon.”
Grosart, “Lismore Papers.”

_DUNDRUM CASTLE, COUNTY DOWN_

Situated three 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 as _Dun 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 of wood 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.

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 the ruined 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 Magennis was 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.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

Phillips, “Dundrum Castle.”
Praeger, “Guide to County Down.”
Joyce, “Irish Names of Places.”
Grose, “Antiquities of Ireland.”
Harris, “History of County Down.”
Calendar of State Papers.
“Notes to Sir Henry Sidney’s Memoir,” and
“Facsimiles of Signatures of
Irish Chieftains” in _Ulster
Journal of Archæology_.

_DUNDRUM CASTLE, COUNTY DUBLIN_

This fortress 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 feet high, 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.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

E. Dix, “Dundrum Castle,” in “The Lesser Castles in the
County Dublin”; F. Ball,
“Dundrum Castle,” both _Irish Builder_.
Ball and Hamilton, “The Parish of Taney.”

_DUNLUCE CASTLE_

The ruins 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, or _lis_, signifies “strong fort,” and in all probability the castle is built on the site of an ancient _lis_.

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 demand his 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-filled their 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 his relations 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.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

G. Hill, “Macdonnells of Antrim.”
Calendar of State Papers.
Parliamentary Gazetteer.
Proceedings of Archæological Association
of Ireland, Papers by R. Young and
J. O’Laverty.
Joyce, “Irish Place Names.”
“The Description and Present State of
Ulster,” in _Ulster Journal of Archæology_.

_DUNSOGHLY CASTLE_

This castle 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 of the 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.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED.

J. D’Alton, “History of County Dublin.”
Proceedings of Royal Archæological Association of Ireland.
W. Wakeman, “Rambles near Dublin,” in Dublin _Evening Telegraph_ Reprints.
Carew MSS.
State Documents

_ENNISCORTHY CASTLE_

Situated on 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.