Category Archives: Ruins

A Victim of Temperance



After Monday’s examination of a fake castle in County Tipperary, here is a real one, albeit now in very poor condition, elsewhere in the same county. On the banks of the river Cromogue, Borrisoleigh Castle is a rectangular four-storey tower house, with the remains of a gable on the south-east wall and evidence of lower buildings once on the north-western side. It was constructed by a branch of the de Burgo (Burke) family, who were prominent in the area, although often under attack from their neighbours the O’Dwyers. A stone once embedded in a wall of the castle had a Latin inscription which translated as ‘Richard Bourke—Alice Hurley, Friend and foe make this marble rise. Come friend to our arms; the enemy begone.’ It has since been moved elsewhere. As for the castle, according to John O’Donovan who was employed by the Ordnance Survey in 1840, a brewery operated by the Biddulph family had been attached to the castle but by the time O’Donovan arrived, this had closed (he attributed the business’s failure to the temperance movement then being driven by the Capuchin friar Fr Theobald Mathew).



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Castles in the Air


The origins of the Royal Irish Constabulary can be traced back to July 1814 when Robert Peel, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, established the Peace Preservation Force, a rudimentary policing body intended to counter growing rural unrest around the country. The colloquial names ‘Bobby’ and ‘Peeler’ used to describe members of the police force originated during this period and were derived from Peel’s name. Sir Richard Willcocks, a former Dublin Magistrate and Special Government Magistrate, is the PPF’s first appointed Chief Magistrate and was sent to the Barony of Middlethird with a base at Cashel, County Tipperary. This part of the country includes the village of Annacarty, which lies some ten miles north-west of Cashel. Within a few years, it was experiencing disturbances occasioned by Cornwallis Maude, 3rd Viscount Hawarden whose family had a history of evicting tenants and raising rents on their estate. In 1821, he provided the land on which  a police barracks was built in Annacarty. A year later, Peel’s legislation was superseded by the Irish Constabulary Act, which established a police force in each of Ireland’s four provinces, all having their own inspector-general appointed by the Lord Lieutenant. The Constabulary (Ireland) Act of 1836 then merged those provincial forces into a single centralized body (though it did not operate in the capital, which retained its own force, the Dublin Metropolitan Police). Following its involvement in the suppression of the Fenian Rising of 186, Queen Victoria granted the organisation the prefix ‘royal’, being thereafter known until its disbandment in 1922 as the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC). 






During the War of Independence (1918-21), the RIC Barracks at Annacarty was attacked on several occasions and, as a result, the resident force was supplemented by members of the Black and Tans (‘Temporary Constables’ made up largely of British ex-soldiers who were brought to Ireland in an attempt to suppress revolution). During this period, the barracks sergeant was a man called Cornelius O’Sullivan, originally from Kerry: his being from outside the area was not unusual in the RIC, since there was a concern that locals might have an excessive allegiance to the immediate locality). It appears that O’Sullivan was in contact with the IRA unit in the area, encouraging it to take the barracks. However, he was then taken away from the site by members of the British military and never seen again, presumed killed: his body has never been found. Perhaps due to its defensive design, Annacarty was one of only two RIC barracks to hold out throughout the War of Independence. Once the Following the official declaration of a truce between the British and Irish on 11th July 1921, the building was handed over to the local IRA which then occupied the building. Unfortunately, the following year it was subsequently attacked by an Anti-Treaty force and a siege of several days then took place. After the barrack’s leader was wounded and his men had run out of ammunition and supplies, in early May 1922 they were forced to surrender. The Anti-Treaty group then set fire to the place, which has stood a ruin ever since. 






Standing on high ground above and a short distance from the village, the former RIC barracks in Annacarty is of interest for a number of reasons, not least that it was one of the very first such buildings to be constructed, believed to be 1821-2. The architect is unknown, but must have been someone with an interest in historic design, since the barracks takes the form of a miniature castle, with crenellations along the roof level, an hexagonal tower on the south-west corner (note the gun loop on one of its sides) and a bartizan on the north wall. There’s also an unusual cross pommy-shaped gun loop on the second floor of the west wall, further indicating a knowledge of mediaeval architecture. The large arched openings on both ground and first floor soften the otherwise aggressive appearance of the barracks, but overall its form is indicative of the need at the time it was commissioned for a police barracks capable of withstanding attack: most later RIC barracks were altogether more domestic in character and quite often stood within the local town, rather than apart from it. While the interior of the building has now gone, the sturdiness of its construction means the barracks continues to provide an observation point for activity in the immediate area. A fascinating survivor.


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Ecclesiastical Ambition




Yet another example of the Church of Ireland’s ambitious building strategy during the 19th century, this is St John’s in Kilturk, County Wexford. Later than most and not part of the Board of First Fruits programme, it was designed in 1859 by Joseph Welland, then Architect to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the first service being held here three years later. One reason for the relatively late date is that it replaced an earlier church of 1808-12, described by Samuel Lewis in 1837 as ‘a neat edifice whose tower fell down soon after its erection’ and this, in turn, stood on the site of a medieval parish church. The present structure continued to be used for services until the mid-1970s, and after its closure suffered from vandalism, leading to large-scale dismantlement and leaving what can be seen today.




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A Little Known Site


‘Among Mr. Windele’s MSS.* in the Royal Irish Academy is to be found a comparison between Mallow Castle and that of Dromaneen, which latter was erected by the O’Callaghans, and occupies a strikingly bold position on a rock over the Blackwater, about three miles west of Mallow. He considers them as practically contemporaneous, each belonging to the Tudor era, and he is of opinion that Dromaneen may be taken as a specimen of the last phase of castellation in the descent from the lofty moated keep to the simple Manor House. The forms of doorways, fire-places, etc., would refer the date of the building at once to the close of Elizabeth’s reign. Both castles, he considers, fair specimens of the transition style which pervaded the strong houses of a semi-military class of the period. Mallow, somewhat earlier than the other, preserves much of the general form of the structure of the era of the Roses, while Dromaneen approaches more nearly to the modern domestic building. The precautions adopted for defence in the earlier castles are nearly all rejected in this, and what few military features it possesses seem to have been designed as much for ornament as protection. In both castles the broad Tudor windows descend in greater proximity to the ground, the dark loop disappears and the strongarched floors and stone stairs are absent; the walls are not of massive thickness, while domestic comfort and accommodation seem mainly studied. Mallow but little diverges from the old outline of the stately keeps of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, while Dromaneen is but the next step to the modern mansion, and all defences in the former are greatly abandoned, but still in a less degree than in the latter, as has been already noted.’
Extract from ‘The Manor and Castle of Mallow in the Days of the Tudors’, by Henry F. Berry, Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Volume II, March 1893.
(For more on Mallow Castle, see Picturesque Remains – The Irish Aesthete)





As noted above, Dromaneen Castle, County Cork dates from the early 17th century, c.1610, when constructed by Cahir O’Callaghan, who had submitted to the English crown and then been regranted the property. It stands immediately east of an earlier square tower house to which it is linked by a bawn wall. The castle’s location is particularly striking: to the south, it is approached across a wide flat plain, but the north side stands at the top of a limestone  above the river Blackwater. In 1637 Donough O Callaghan succeeded his father at Dromaneen and in the following decade he played a prominent part in the Confederate Wars, being a member of the Supreme Council of the Irish Confederation of Kilkenny. In consequence, and following the English parliament’s Act of Settlement of August 1652, he and his family were transplanted to County Clare and Dromaneen, together with 1,000 acres of land, were granted to Sir Richard Kyrle. Following his appointment as Governor of the Province of Carolina in America, Kyrle sold his Irish property to Richard Newman, who had already bought some 5,000 acres in this part of the country. Dromaneen Castle appears to have suffered during both the Confederate and Williamite Wars, being occupied by an English cavalry troop during the latter period. However, the Newmans are supposed to have lived there until c.1738 when they built a new residence nearby called Newberry. Thereafter the castle was abandoned and left to fall into the customary dereliction. 





Dromaneen Castle is an L-shaped building, composed of a three-storey gable-ended block to the north and what may have been a later, and lower, kitchen range to the south. Like so many other semi-fortified mansions built around Ireland during this period, the upper floors have large window openings and inside a particularly fine chimneypiece with mouldings can be seen on the first floor. As mentioned, the castle sits within a bawn wall, with principal access to the courtyard being through a handsome classical gateway, with an elliptical arch and a three-tier cornice carried on brackets: this is comparable to a doorcase seen at the near-contemporary Kanturk Castle elsewhere in the county (see An Abandoned Project – The Irish Aesthete). A fascinating site, although a National Monument Dromaneen Castle is located on private land, and this helps to explain why it is less well-known than other similar buildings of the same period.  


*John Windele (1801-1865) was a Cork-based antiquarian.

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The Real Thing


After last Monday’s discussion of the incomplete fantasy that is Brittas Castle, here are some remains of the real thing. Moylough Castle in County Galway dates from the first half of the 13th century and is associated with the Norman de Cotterell and de Cogeshale families who would have arrived in this part of the country around that time. Three sides of the building survive, of three storeys and constructed of local limestone rubble, almost 40 feet long and 21 feet wide, rising to 46 feet with walls over six feet thick. It is thought that the Normans occupied the site until the late 13th or early 14th centuries, after which it passed into the possession of the dominant O’Kelly family. However, like many such properties, it was probably abandoned in the 17th century and left to fall into its present ruinous state, today beloved only by the cattle sharing the same site. 


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Of More than Ordinary Interest


‘Clonmines: Ths group of ruins is of more than ordinary interest, as it contains a church which was described by the late G. V. Du Noyer as, in his opinion, quite unique in Ireland, if not in Britain the fortified or Castle Church of Clonmines [see last section of text below]. This singular building stands on a rise of ground adjoining the monastery but detached from it, and when viewed from the westward quite resembles a square castle, the north-east and south-west angles of which are prolonged into small but lofty crenellated turrets. Du Noyer thinks that it is exceedingly probable that this building was erected by Nicholas the clerk at the close of the fourteenth century…’





‘…Clonmines was a parliamentary borough, and elected members of Parliament until the Union. A castle was built here by one of the family of Roger de Sutton, who accompanied Fitz Stephen to Ireland. This castle was in modern times converted into a dwelling-house. Archdall, in his “Mon. Hib.,” states that “Clonmines is a borough town, in the barony of Shelburne, six miles south-east of Dunbrody. The family of Cavanagh founded a monastery here for Eremites following the rule of St. Augustine. In A.D. 1385 it was enlarged and beautified by Nicholas the clerk, son of Nicholas; and the friars of the order of St. Dominick afterwards obtained possession of it. Nicholas Woding was the last prior…’





‘…Fraser, in his Survey (Robert Fraser, Statistical Survey of the County of Wexford, 1807), tells us that the Danes had a mint at Clonmines, and we learn from the State Papers that Henry VIII., Edward VI., and Queens Mary and Elizabeth, all worked the silver and lead mines here. On the 12th of January, 1552, Joachim Gunderfilgen explains to the Privy Council that he is building a workshop at Ross, and was unable to send particulars about the mines. Later on Mr. Robert, Record Surveyor of Mines for the Privy Council of England, sends an account of the silver and lead got at Clonmines and molten at Ross. In the time of Queen Elizabeth, Walter Pepparde had charge of these mines for the Queen; his son Anthony seems to have been the founder of Peppard’s Castle, Co. Wexford.’
Extracts from Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Volume VI, Fifth Series, 1896.





‘I allude to a fortified church, or rather castle-church, forming one of the groups of ecclesiastical ruins at Clonmines on the shore of Bannow Bay, in the county of Wexford. This singular building stands on a rise of ground adjoining the monastery, but detached from it, and when viewed from the westward quite resembles a square castle, the north-east and south-west angles of which are prolonged into small but lofty crenellated turrets…The doorway nearly facing the spectator conducts to the church, and the arched recess adjoining it may have been intended for a tomb or seat, and probably the former. Externally this church measures thirty-seven feet by twenty-six feet, the walls being five feet thick, thus imparting to it an unusual degree of strength and solidity; the parapet walls are about two feet eight thick , and are all embattled.
The east wall is pierced, at the height of about seven feet from the ground, by a small window of two pointed lights. It is not till we enter this building that its true character and object become apparent, and we at once perceive that we are in a lofty arched room, half church and half residence. The eastern end of this room forms a square of sixteen feet six inches, and is groined with massive chamfered ribs, springing from each corner, and crossed by others, springing from the sides. This groining defines the limits of the church; the remaining western portion being simply arched, and is somewhat lower than the eastern, thus forming a flat typanum overhead, against which was laid the wooden partition which screened off the living room. In the sill of the window on the south side, is a small piscina; and in the north and south walls, at their junction with the east wall, there are small square unornamented aumbries; to the right of the door in the west wall there is a small stoop.’ 
Extracts from ‘Notes on some Peculiarities in Ancient and Mediaeval Ecclesiastical Architecture’, by George Victor Du Noyer, Esq in Journal of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Volume V, New Series, 1864-66


Please note: The remains at Clonmines, County Wexford stand on private land and are not open to the public.
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An Antiquarian’s Delight


The O’Dwyer family claimed descent from Milesius of Spain who, according to legend, conquered Ireland for the Gaels (hence the term ‘Milesians’ to describe the Irish race). By the late Middle Ages, the O’Dwyers had settled in the Barony of Kilnamanagh, Co. Tipperary, where their primary base was Dundrum, some eight miles to the west of Cashel. In this area, they constructed a number of castles, not least one at Dundrum, later replaced by a house constructed in the 18th century for the Maude family. Not far away, in the 16th century the O’Dwyers built another large castle at Killenure, which remained an important base for them until the Confederate Wars and their aftermath. According to the Civil Survey of 1654, the site had until then been occupied by ‘Charles O’Dwyer of Cullynuer Irish Papist.’ As for the property, it was described as ‘one demolished castle irreparable and one thatched house.’ Like many other such families, in the course of the Cromwellian settlement, the O’Dwyers were dispossessed of their lands, which in this case subsequently passed into the ownership of a branch of the Coppingers, who have featured here before (see Holding Court « The Irish Aesthete). They must have been responsible for adding a small residence to the east of the castle, using this as a shooting lodge. However, in 1746, the Coppingers sold Killenure to William George Cooper. 






The first of Killenure’s new owners to arrive in Ireland was Austin Cooper, originally from Surrey where he inherited property, but having sold it for some £1.500 around 1661, he moved to this country and settled in County Wicklow where he became responsible for the gardens around the house at Blessington built by Michael Boyle, future Archbishop of Armagh. There Cooper was responsible for creating one of the finest baroque gardens in Ireland, its greenhouse was one of the first places in the country where fruit was grown out of season. He became renowned for his feats of strength, such as taking two men, one in each hand, slapping them together and throwing them on a dunghill. Seemingly, if he held onto a cart, the horse pulling it could not move. It was his great-grandson, William, who moved to Killenure, having been appointed Diocesan Registrar of Cashel by Archbishop Arthur Price. Cooper and his wife Jane Wayland would have 14 children, their eldest son Samuel acting as land agent for his neighbours, the Maudes of Dundrum, whose estate management was much admired by Arthur Young when he visited in 1776. One of Samuel Cooper’s younger brothers was Austin Cooper who despite a life working in the Irish Treasury Office in Dublin is today remembered as an ardent antiquarian who measured, described and drew historic monuments, predominantly castles and churches, throughout the country. All this material was donated by the family to the National Library of Ireland in 1993: one of his pictures shows Killenure Castle, as it then looked. 






As can be seen here, Killenure Castle is very much a building in two parts, with a large house built to one side of the old O’Dwyer property. As it exists now, the two-storey house is L-shaped, and dates from two periods, the original five-bay pedimented block c.1770 and what is now the entrance front of four bays added c.1800. Adjoining this to the west stand the substantial remains of the original building, which is a curious blend of an old-fashioned defensive castle and an Elizabethan manor house, with a gable-fronted facade, mullioned windows and tall chimney stacks. Another distinctive feature is that it has a circular defensive tower at each of the four corners. One of these towers has later, larger window openings with brick surrounds, indicating this section was in use relatively recently but otherwise the castle seems little altered since first constructed, although nothing of substance remains inside. The Coopers remained at Killenure until 1963 when the estate was sold and the family moved to England. Happily,after a period when it appears the future of the property was in doubt, almost 20 years ago, it was bought by a family and has remained well cared for ever since.


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Norman Wisdom


Nine years ago, Wexford County Council opened the first phase of ‘The Norman Way’, a 65-kilometer self-guided heritage trail along the south-east coast, which leads to a variety of mediaeval buildings in diverse stages of repair. According to the website promoting this route, while the Normans invaded England in 1066, ‘a century later they came to Ireland,’ thereby suggesting that their arrival in this country was an altogether peaceable affair. Furthermore, apparently, ‘as generations of Normans made their home here, their Norman way of doing things enhanced everyday life in Ireland.’ It’s open to question whether the native Irish were delighted to welcome the arrival of Norman wisdom. As Tony Canavan of History Ireland has observed, ‘from a historian’s point of view, on the trail’s website and information panels, ‘the presentation of the Normans (setting aside questions of definition) may raise an eyebrow’ since they are portrayed not as invaders but as though they were modern-day immigrants. It is easy to understand the appeal of creating such a route – the official site expresses hope that this initiative will stimulate commercial and community benefits in the areas through which it runs – but this ought not to be at the expense of historical accuracy. 





Although of Norman origin and hard to miss as it rises above the flat Wexford countryside, Ballyteige Castle is not one of the sites included in The Norman Way. For several hundred years, this was one of the seats of the Anglo-Norman Whitty family, with references to its members being found in Irish documents from 1247 onwards; in 1418 Robert Whitty of Ballyteige became Bishop of Ferns, an office he held for the next 40 years. The original castle is said to have been burned by Art Mac Murrough Kavanagh in 1408, so what can be seen today – a four-storey tower house – was constructed after that date. What makes the site particularly fascinating, and important, is that so much remains, including much of the bawn wall and two large circular towers at the north-east and north-west. Attached to the tower house and running along the east side is a later house, now abandoned and boarded up, and behind this is what would have been a substantial courtyard enclosed by the western wall. It is known that the Whittys remained in occupation of Ballyteige until the mid-1650s when, like so many other Roman Catholics, Richard Whitty had the property taken from him. Ballyteige was then granted to the Colcloughs of nearby Tintern Abbey (see The Little Sister « The Irish Aesthete) and it was later sold to an Edward Meadows. It appears to have been occupied until relatively recently, but is now abandoned and falling into dereliction. 





Some two miles north-east of Ballyteige Castle can be found a cemetery surrounding what remains of a mediaeval church called Grange, thereby suggesting it was once part of a monastic estate. On the church’s interior north wall is a large and well-preserved monument to Walter Whitty of Ballyteige. In April 1594 he had been kidnapped by Spanish sailors whose vessel was then passing along the Wexford coast, and carried back to their country after they declined payment for his release, declaring that ‘they desired more the credit in Spain of having taken a great gentleman prisoner, than any ever so great ransom.’ (cited in Journal of the Waterford & South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society, Vol IV, 1898). Somehow, Walter Whitty managed to find his way back home and spend the rest of his days at Ballyteige where he died in 1630, but the marble monument inside the church dates from 1647. The Whitty coat of arms features a lion rampant, but locals, perhaps unfamiliar with these animals, preferred to believe it was a cat. This, in turn, gave rise to a legend that a feline murderer was responsible for Whitty’s demise. There seem to be two versions of the story. In one, Walter Whitty, having failed to shoot any rabbits while hunting, took out his wrath on a cat he saw sitting on a sandbank. When he returned home to Ballyteige Castle, a cat on the premises took its revenge by lunging at his throat and killing him. In the other version, Whitty seduced the daughter of a local witch and then, having taken her out to see in a boat, drowned the girl. Hearing of this, the witch transformed herself into a cat, lunged at Whitty’s throat and killed him. Strangely, neither account features in the Norman Way literature. Neither does Ballyteige Castle, which could benefit from official attention as a building that holds evidence of human habitation across many centuries, from the Normans to the present day. 

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A Very Superior Style of Sculpture and Architecture


‘Abbey of Sligo: A monastery was founded in this town A.D. 1253 by Maurice Fitz Gerald, then Lord Justice, under the invocation of the Holy Cross, for friars of the Order of St. Dominick. It is seated pleasantly, on the river Gitley, and near the sea.
In 1270, 1360, and 1394, the town was destroyed by contending factions, and the monastery pillaged; and in 1414 there were but 20 Friars resident in it. The next year the whole pile was consumed by fire. This misfortune being represented to Pope John XXIII, then present at the Council of Constance, he issued the following Apostolic letters:’ 






‘ “John, bishop, servant of the servants of God, to all Christian believers, who shall see these present letters, salvation and apostolic blessing.
It having been represented unto us, that the church and house of the Dominicans at Sligo, in the diocese of Elphin, in which it is affirmed twenty brothers have long devoutly served God, were lately burnt by fire, and that the prior and some of the brethren of the order desire to repair said church and house, a work of considerable expense, the means to defray which they do not possess. We, consulting the honour of said church, and willing that it should be repaired, that the faithful may resort thither more freely for devotion, and be desirous to contribute more liberally towards its repairs when they shall find themselves replenished with celestial gifts: relying, as we do on the mercy of the Omnipotent God, and by the authority of his blessed apostles, Peter and Paul, do compassionately relax ten years, and as many forty days of penance (decem annos et totidem quadragenas) enjoined on all penitents and those who have confessed, on the feasts of the assumption of the blessed Virgin Mary and St. Patrick shall devoutly visit the aforesaid church, and contribute to its repairs.
Our will is, that if there is any indulgence, either for ever or for a certain time, granted by us, to those who shall visit and assist in repairing said church and house, that it shall from henceforth be null and void. Dated at Constance, the 16th of the Calends of February, in the 5th Year of our Pontificate, A.D. 1415”.’






‘The present building was now begun in a very superior style of sculpture and architecture. Among its principal benefactors were O’Conor, Lord of Sligo, and Peirce O’Timony, a man of considerable wealth and property, whose statue was placed in the cloister. There are two large chapels, divided by a square belfry: the tower is entire, except the battlements at the top. The arches are lofty, and enriched with foliage and angels. The three sides of the cloisters are covered by an arched roof. The front and sides of the altar are ornamented with Gothic arches, foliage, and tracery, and there are pedestals for statues. The eastern window is very beautiful, and a stone gallery surrounds the nave. Several feet from the ground is the tomb of O’Conor and his lady, kneeling on each side of an altar. The Gothic arches, fluted pillars, and multiplicity of minute and curious ornaments, make us wonder at the high degree to which the arts of sculpture and architecture were now carried, and particularly how much money could be procured for the accomplishment of such a work in a country torn by rebellion and domestic dissension, as was the case with Ireland at this time… An inquisition, on the 27th of Elizabeth, finds this monastery had a church, a steeple, cemetery, and two other stone buildings, a fishing weir, with some parcels of land.’ 


From The Antiquities of Ireland by Francis Grose, Vol. I (London, 1791)
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Castle Hackett


Castle Hackett, County Galway dates back to the 13th century when, as the name indicates, it was built by the Anglo-Norman Hacketts who had arrived in the country during the previous century and mostly settled in the south-east (for example, in County Carlow, where the settlement of Hacketstown testifies to their presence). By the 15th century, the castle had passed into the possession of the Kirwan family, one of the 14 Tribes of Galway and the only one to be considered of Gaelic origin. They continued to occupy the building until the early 18th century when a new house, also called Castle Hackett, was constructed nearby: this was burnt by anti-Treaty forces in 1923 but subsequently rebuilt. As for the old castle, still surrounded by portions of a bawn wall, it makes for a striking ruin on the landscape.


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