Category Archives: Castle

A Fine Specimen


Handsomely set against a background of woodland, the 16th century tower house at Castlegrove, County Galway is known as both Feartagar Castle and Jennings Castle, the latter name derived from a family believed to have lived there for a period. The building is thought to have been constructed by the de Burgos (otherwise Burkes) who controlled much of the land in this part of the country, but the Jennings may indeed have been responsible, since the two families were related to each other. The surname Jennings originally McSeonins, or sons of John (de Burgo), which was first anglicised to Jonine and then to Jennings, sometimes spelled Jenings.




The castle comprises a rectangular, five-storey tower measuring some 12 by 10 metres. Both the eastern and west roof gables survive, as do chimney stacks on either end as well as on the northern side. At the top of each of the four corners are well-preserved curved bartizans, while above the pointed arch doorway on the eastern wall is a further machicolation. At various levels on every side are a series of arrow slits as well as a number of mullion windows with hood mouldings. Although apparently unoccupied since the mid-17th century, the building is in an excellent state of repair, certainly when compared with many other tower houses found elsewhere around the country. 




The castle is believed to have remained in the hands of the de Burgo or Jennings family until the 1650s when, like so many other such properties, it was taken from the owners by the Cromwellian government in the aftermath of the Confederate Wars. It was then granted to the Blakes, members of another well-known County Galway family who had likewise been displaced from their original land holdings. Successive generations of Blakes lived on the property until the mid-19th century, a new house being erected here in the 1830s. However, in the aftermath of the Great Famine, the entire estate was sold through the Encumbered Estates Court, bought for £15,750 by John Cannon. Following his death, it was sold again to Frederick Lewin and was inherited by his son Thomas before being burnt July 1922, seemingly by anti-Treaty forces. The remains are now lost in nearby woodland, with the older tower house today in better condition than its successor. 

A Momentary Lull


Particularly at this time of year, it is hard to catch a picture of Ross Castle, County Kerry without the inclusion of milling crowds since every car, coach and jaunting cart in the area visits the place. Located on the shore of Lough Leane, the castle is a 15th century tower house and keep originally constructed for the the O’Donoghues Mór. It passed to the McCarthys in the 1580s and thence to Sir Valentine Browne, forebear of the Earls of Kenmare. Today it is under the care of the Office of Public Works.

A Missed Opportunity




In her marvellous memoir Bricks and Flower, Katherine Everett described how, in August 1922 and at the age of 50, she had cycled from Limerick to Macroom, County Cork at the request of her distant cousin and godmother Olive, Lady Ardilaun to see what remained of the latter’s property, a castle in the centre of the town which had just been burned by anti-Treaty forces. Located above the river Sullane, the castle dates back to the 12th century and for several hundred years was occupied by the McCarthys before eventually passing into the ownership of the Hedges Eyre family before eventually being inherited by Lady Ardilaun. Two years after the fire, she sold the castle to a group of local businessmen; the main part of the building was demolished in the 1960s, with just the outer walls remaining, a series of mediocre school buildings erected within them. What survives suffers badly from neglect (as indeed does the river and the nine-arch bridge crossing which dates from c.1800) with the local county council failing to make the most of what has potential to be a popular visitor attraction. Instead, Macroom’s most significant piece of architectural heritage as been left to moulder: a missed opportunity.


A Well Selected Site


‘The Cathedral of Aghadoe  or Achadh-dá-eó’ (the Field of the Two Yews) is situated three miles west of Killarney, on high ground, 405 feet above sea level, from which, perhaps, a better general idea of the magnificence of the lake and mountain scenery of the district can be got than from any other point of vantage in the neighbourhood. The ground slopes up the whole way from the north shore of the Lower Lake to the Cathedral, a distance of about a mile. No one who has visited any considerable number of ancient ecclesiastical buildings can fail to have been struck by the care which the monks took in selecting sites where feelings of religious devotion might be intensified by the contemplation of all that is beautiful in nature. Sometimes the church stands beside a brawling stream, amidst the sylvan scenery of some secluded glen; or it is found by the banks of the broad river flowing through the rich meadows of the plain; or, as at Aghadoe, the charm lies in the extent of the landscape to be seen from an elevation, with its ever-changing effects of light and shade and variations of colour. The ecclesiastical remains at Aghadoe consist of the ruins of the Cathedral and the stump of a round tower, besides which are the mouldering remains of an old castle on the grassy hill-side sloping down towards the Lake. A church was founded here at a very early period by St Finan, the Leper, who also founded the monastery of Innisfallen, and whose festival is held on March 16th. Aghadoe afterwards became the site of a bishopric which was in later times joined to that of Ardfert…’
From ‘Notes on the Antiquities in Co Kerry’ by J. Romilly Allen, Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Volume II, Fifth Series, 1892





‘All the interest of this building is concentrated in the west door. It is of four orders. The external order is more or less destroyed; it is now composed of three different ornaments, parts of three arches which have been stuck in when the door was repaired and patched up. I have rubbings of one…it is an uncommon variety of the incised chevron. The height of this doorway above the present level of the ground is 5ft 3in; the width at the top is 2ft 7in, and 2 ft 9in at the bottom. The bases of the jambs are square, plain and slightly projecting. The shafts have the rope pattern with beads…There is a peculiar ornament running around one of the orders. I should say the height of the jambs is 5ft 8in, not 4ft, and that one-third of their length is hidden which spoils the proportions of the door as represented. It is built of sandstone which is said to have been brought from a distance, there being none like it to be found for many miles around…’
From Notes on Irish Architecture by Edwin, third Earl of Dunraven, edited by Margaret Stokes (London, 1877)





‘The Castle or Military Tower is situated outside the churchyard, a little way down the hill to the south. It is a circular Norman keep of the thirteenth century, 21 ft diameter inside, having walls about 6ft thick, rudely built of rounded, water-worn boulders. A staircase in the thickness of the wall leads to the first floor, and there are indications of a second floor above. The doorway is on the east side on a level with the ground. The tower stands within a square intrenchment, having projecting bastions of the south side.’
From ‘Report on the Forty-Sixth Annual General Meeting at Kerry, Ireland’. Archaeologica Cambrensis, The Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Society, Volume IX, Fifth Series, 1892)

For what Purpose?



Located on Patrick’s Hill and above a stone outcrop in the village of Dunfanaghy, County Donegal, this crenellated little tower’s origins are unclear. While it does not appear on the original Ordnance Survey map of the late 1830s, it is shown on Griffith’s Valuation map a couple of decades later. Was it constructed as a folly or a lookout post with views across the local Sheephaven Bay? And who commissioned it? Set on a plinth and of rubble stone, the structure has a pointed arch opening on the west side and square-headed window opening to the north, with an infilled opening on the south face. It holds one small room: what can its purpose have been?

Awaiting Attention



Lucan House, County Dublin was discussed here a few weeks ago (see Addio del Passato « The Irish Aesthete). As noted then, the property, having been under the care of the Italian government for almost 80 years, has now been taken over by the local council. Included in the demesne is not only the house but a number of other significant buildings, including the remains of a mediaeval church. This is located to the immediate east and within sight of the former Italian ambassador’s residence. The church is recorded as being in existence since 1219, some 15 years after the manor of Lucan had been granted to the Norman Waris de Peche. He was probably also responsible for developing the original castle, thought to have stood in the vicinity of the present house, and close to the banks of the river Liffey.






The church of St Mary in Lucan was granted by Waris de Peche to the Augustinian Priory of St Catherine, located on the other side of the Liffey. By 1332, St. Catherine’s had passed to St Thomas’s Abbey on the outskirts of Dublin and remained under its control until the suppression of religious houses in the second quarter of the 16th century. St Mary’s church was then acquired, along with the castle, by William Sarsfield and appears to have remained in a good state of repair until at least the late 1500s. However, in 1630 the chancel was described as ruinous and has remained so ever since. Constructed of rubble limestone, the building consists of a nave and chancel, the former having lost its north wall. Inside the chancel are a number of tombs erected by later occupants of Lucan House, a particularly poignant one commemorating Nicholas Peter Conway Colthurst who died in November 1820 aged six weeks, the tomb noting ‘It pleased Almighty God to take him from his afflicted parents after four days illness.’ On the north-east corner of the building is a three-storey tower, sometimes mistakenly called Lucan Castle. Most likely this was erected in the 15th century as a residence for the clergy serving St Mary’s, during a period when civil disturbances meant some protection from attack – even for priests – was considered necessary. 






On the opposite side of the parkland around Lucan House and quite different in character can be found another building in need of attention: an eighteenth century Gothick bathhouse. Thought to date from the mid-1780s, and therefore perhaps constructed while Agmondisham Vesey was still alive, it was constructed during the period in which the local sulphurous waters made Lucan popular as a spa. However, the limestone rubble bathhouse, complete with whimsically irregular form and bellcote, was for private rather than public use. It sits at the end of a long tree-lined avenue on a site above the river, views of which were offered by a tall arched opening on the north side. This opening gives access to a vaulted antechamber, warmed by a central fireplace on the south wall, the pointed arch stone surround looking as though it may have been taken from an older building, perhaps St Mary’s church? There are arched openings on both the western (external) and eastern (internal) walls of the chamber, the latter leading to the bathhouse itself, a sunken pool with a series of shallow steps. Like other buildings in the grounds of the property, the bathhouse is now in need of restoration, along with the stableyard and a pair of charming Gothick lodges which lie immediately inside the gates. All of this now awaits the local council. One must hope that the authority appreciates the importance of the site’s architectural legacy, and affords it due respect. 


Three-Sided




The three remaining sides of Tullomoy Castle, County Laois. Like so many other Irish ‘castles’ this is actually a tower house, possibly originating in the 16th century but then undergoing alterations in the 17th when larger windows with hood mouldings were inserted, along with the cut limestone chimneypieces with hood mouldings still visible inside some of the walls. Originally it was of three storeys over basement but the top floor is now almost entirely gone, as are the internal divisions and the eastern wall. The history of this building appears to be unknown. It may have suffered serious damage during the Confederate Wars of the 1640s and their aftermath and never been repaired thereafter, or perhaps only been abandoned as a habitation some time later.



In Carrickfergus


‘For several miles before the traveller reaches Carrickfergus, his attention will be arrested by its fine old castle, built upon a rock, which, though not lofty, yet projecting into the sea, causes it to stand out conspicuously. It consists of a massive and lofty keep, surrounded by an embattled wall of considerable circuit, fortified by towers at intervals, and having a frowning gateway, protected by two half-moon towers, connected by a curtain wall; the draw-bridge has disappeared, and the moat is filled up, but the portcullis and the apertures for letting stones, melted lead, &c., fall on the heads of assailants, are still to be seen.
The exact period at which the castle was built and the town of Carrickfergus founded, seems to be involved in some degree of doubt. M’Skimin, the accurate and laborious historian of the town, informs us that “the founding of this building is lost in the depths of antiquity;” elsewhere he, however, states that a colony was established here in 1182 by the celebrated John de Courcey, who “soon after began to erect castles and forts to secure his conquests” in Ulster. Perhaps the earliest distinct mention of the castle of Carrickfergus occurs in the account of King John’s journey in the year 1210. From the itinerary compiled by Thomas Duffus Hardy, F.S.A., from original records and published by the Record Commissioners, we find that John remained at Carrickfergus from the 19th to the 28th July, and a dispatch from him to his father, Henry II, king of England, dated at Carrickfergus, in which he mentions having taken the castle, is said to be still extant among the MMS. in the library of Trinity College Dublin. The architecture of the castle clearly shows it to have received many additions and alterations at various periods. The assizes for the county of Antrim were long held within its walls. It has at all times been esteemed an important fortress, and from time to time has been accordingly repaired; in 1793 it was converted into a barrack, as which it was until recently occupied, the great tower serving as an armoury, magazine, and ordnance storehouse. A ramble through its court-yards, along its walls, and into many of the obscurer parts of this ancient fortress, will amply reward the tourist for a short delay.’
From Belfast and its Environs (Dublin, 1842)






‘Carrickfergus Castle is supposed to have been founded by De Courcey about the end of the twelfth century, and is a place of considerable importance in the history of Ireland. From the middle of the fourteenth to the end of the sixteenth century, it was the only stronghold north of Dundalk which remained uniformly in the hands of an English garrison, and to the loyalty of the townsmen of Carrickfergus is chiefly to be attributed the recovery of the Northern Pale in the reign of Elizabeth. The castle was besieged and taken by Edward Bruce in 1315; it is said that the garrison, before surrendering, were driven to devour thirty Scots whom they had made prisoners. In 1333 the Irish overran all the south part of the county of Antrim, and the garrison of the castle with the inhabitants of the town that had arisen under shelter of its walls, were left alone in the midst of enemies. In 1386 the town was burned by the island Scots, and suffered again in 1400. In 1503 Gerald, Earl of Kildare, lord-deputy, afforded some relief to the struggling colonists by garrisoning the castle. In 1555, he Scots undere Mac Donnell, Lord of Cantyre, laid close siege to the castle until July 1556, when Sir Henry Sidney relieved the garrison with great slaughter of the besiegers. In 1573 the town was burned by Brian Mac Phelimy O’Neill, chief of Claneboy, who was hanged here along with Mac Quillan, chief of the route, in 1575…’
From The Penny Cyclopedia, Vol.VI (London, 1836) 






‘The year 1760 is memorable as being the year in which the French, under the command of Commodore Thourot, landed in Carrickfergus and attacked the town. Though the castle was in a most dilapidated state, a breach being in the wall next to the sea fifty feet wide, no cannons mounted, and the garrison few in number, yet Colonel Jennings, encouraged by the mayor and other inhabitants, bravely met the invaders, and when driven back by the superior strength of their assailants, they retreated into the castle and repulsed the French, even though they forced the upper gate. But all the ammunition being expended, a parley was beaten, and the garrison capitulated on honourable terms. During the attack several singular circumstances occurred. When the French were advancing up High-street, and engaged with the English, a little child ran out playfully into the street between the contending parties. The French officer, to his honour be it recorded, observing the danger in which the little boy was in, took him up in his arms, ran with him to a house which proved to be his father’s, the sheriff, and having left him safe, returned to the engagement. This really brave and humane man was killed at Carrickfergus Castle gate…The French kept possession of Carrickfergus for some time; but the alarm having been carried all over the country, and troops gathering fast to attack them, they were constrained to embark on board their vessels and set sail; and two days afterwards were attacked off the Isle of Man by an English squadron, when Commodore Thourot was killed, and the French ships captured, and so ended an expedition which was better executed than planned, cost the French money, men and ships, without one single advantage to be derived which any man of experience or military discernment could possibly look for.’
From The Dublin Penny Journal, No.15, Vol.I, October 6 1832

Of Small Extent but Very Strong


‘Castle of Doe – or MacSwine’s Castle, is situated on Cannon-point, a peninsula but little broader than its extent, on the bay of Ards, to the demesne of which it appears in various handsome views. It was built by a lady of the name of Quin, who afterwards married one of the Mc’Swine family, a couple of years before the reign of Queen Elizabeth; it was since then fortified with a strong bawn by the grandfather of the present Mr. Mc’Swine of Dunfanaghy; it was only of small extent, but very strong, and surrounded by a deep fosse, which admitted the sea-water on the landside.’
From Statistical Survey of the County of Donegal by Dr James McParlan (1802)





‘The MacSwines held Doe Castle (Dhuv or Black Castle) for ages. It is a lofty round tower, surrounded by high walls, on the northern coast of Donegal, at the entrance of a small bay or estuary. It is in perfect preservation, and is inhabited to the present moment. It contains several good rooms, especially a banqueting-hall, and the view from the top is grand and extensive. Up to the reign of Elizabeth, it was held by the MacSwines. After the rebellion of Sir Cahir [O’Doherty, killed at the Battle of Kilmacrennan, 1608], it came into the hands of captain Harte, or Culmore, and is at the present date the property of lieutenant Harte, R.N., the lineal descendant of the governor of Culmore.
The Hartes retain the property they got to the great extent at Sir Cahir’s death. The present head of the family, lieutenant Harte, resides at Kilderry, near Culmore, and is considered to be worth from £1,500 to £2,000 per annum. His grandfather, General Harte, of the Indian service, lived at Doe Castle and, of course, extraordinary stories of the nabob are circulated freely in the neighbourhood. He was at the taking of Seringapatam, and, if we can credit rumour, made a very considerable “loot” thereat.’
From The Fate and Fortune of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone and Rory O’Donel, Earl of Tyrconnel, by the Rev. C.P. Meehan (1868)





‘The Hartes of Culmore and Kilderry were the owners of Doe Castle and the landed property attached up to the year 1866 when it was purchased by Mr. Stewart of Ards. General Harte, of the Indian Service, who was present at the battle of Seringapatam and at the capture of Tipoo Sahib, lived at Doe Castle for many years in true Oriental magnificence. He met with an accident by falling down the steep staircase leading to the tower, from which death ensued afterwards. Captain Harte, his son, who succeeded him, was famous for his hospitality and very popular with the people. Tippp Sahib’s body-servant, a Hindoo, was made prisoner by the General, brought to Ireland and died at Doe Castle. He slept at night at the General’s bedroom door, dressed in oriental costume, and fully armed. The Hindoo’s health started to decline after his master’s death, to whom he was devotedly attached, and in a few years he died broken-hearted. The cannon captured at Seringapatam are yet to be seen on a green lawn sloping downwards to the sea from the outward walls of the castle…’
From Scenery and Antiquities of North-West Donegal by William Harkin (1893) 

 

Quaint and Old-Fashioned


‘Whoever has travelled by the coast road in County Antrim which connects the towns of Larne and Ballycastle, may have observed at the distance of five miles from Larne, after passing one of the boldest promontories on the entire coast, a castellated edifice, standing immediately on the roadside at the head of a beautiful and romantic bay. Nor can anyone with a taste for the picturesque have seen it – backed by an amphitheatre of mountains and fronted by the Irish Channel coast – without bestowing upon it at least a passing admiration…This castle was for many years the hospitable residence of the Shaws of Ballygally, who came originally from Greenock, in Scotland, where, from very early times, their ancestors occupied a very high position in Renfrewshire. The first of the Shaws, who came to Ireland in the beginning of the seventeenth century, was one of the Scottish settlers who were located in Ireland by King James I. In the Irish wars of 1641, the castle of Ballygally, garrisoned by its own tenantry, afforded shelter to the Protestants of the district, and in the Revolutionary wars of 1688-90, the name of Lieutenant-Colonel Show is often honourably mentioned.’
From The Architect, March 1st 1879.





James Shaw is thought to have been born around 1594, the son of Scotsman John Shaw who settled in Ireland with his family in the early 17th century and duly received a grant of land from the Earl of Antrim. One grant was made on 1st February, 1634, to ‘John Shaw, the elder, of Ballygellie, in the county of Antrim, gentleman,’ of ‘all that eighteen score acres of land in Ballygellie, aforesaid, Tarnemoney, Nogher, Carncaslen, and Corcermain’ to hold forever in fee farm, at the yearly rent of £24.  James Shaw subsequently married Isabel Brisbane, also of Scottish birth, and the couple were responsible for constructing a castle which in style very much reflects their country of origin. In form, the building is a four-storey rectangular tower with a steep gable-ended roof and at each corner cone-topped bartizans supported by corbels and flanked by little dormer windows. The castle was formerly surrounded by a bawn wall, necessary given the time and place in which it was built. Early photographs do not show the small circular turrets at the corners of the grounds, so these must be a late-19th century addition to the site. Inside, above the stone door giving access to a spiral staircase can be seen inscribed ‘GODIS PROVIDENS IS MY INHERITANS’ and the date 1625, and over this a coat of arms with the initials JS and IB, standing for James Shaw and Isabel Brisbane. This used to be on the exterior of the castle but was moved to its present location around 1760 when alterations were made to the building, some of which – such as a panelled room on the first floor and sash windows – still remain.





Thought to be the oldest continually-inhabited building in Northern Ireland, Ballygally Castle remained occupied by successive generations of the Shaw family until the early 19th century. Unfortunately a litigation over ownership of the property in the 1780s left them heavily indebted and in 1820 some 450 acres around the castle had to be sold. Thereafter it appears to have been rented to a variety of tenants. In 1834, for example, it was reported as being ‘the dwelling of the chief officer of the coastguard for the prevention of smuggling, from which it would appear that it has been subject to a complete reversal of destiny, having been supposed at one time to have been a stronghold for smuggling.’ Four decades later, the Presbyterian minister and historian Classon Porter was living there and described the castle as ‘quaint and old-fashioned but that I like, and it is very warm and comfortable, the walls being 5 or 6 feet thick so that we never feel the greatest storm that blows.’ After the First World War, Colonel William Agnew Moore, whose great-grandmother had been a Shaw, came to live in the castle, the last member of the family to do so. Within a few years, he had put the building up for sale and in 1936 it was bought by the Earl of Antrim (whose ancestor had first granted the land on which it stood to John Shaw). A local newspaper reported that the earl ‘is busy at present converting this ancient mansion into a modern hotel’ which duly opened in 1938. It was sold again in the early 1950s, this time to entrepreneur Cyril Lord (who had a carpet factory in neighbouring County Down). He refurbished and extended the property before it changed hands once more. Today Ballygally Castle continues to operate as an hotel, the late Charles Brett deeming additions to the north to be ‘unobjectionable.’ while ‘more lurid, Disneylike proposals were fortunately disallowed in 1984.’