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The castles of Ireland are exceedingly numerous and vary from the single keep-tower of the predatory chieftain to the defensive fortresses erected under the Anglo-Norman barons and their successors. All through the Middle Ages, strongholds, necessary in a land torn by petty wars and successive rebellions, were built, and as occasion required, strengthened and restored, so that some of the more important features of the chief castles now remaining date from a much later period than their original foundation. In a few, indeed, such as Dublin, Kilkenny, and Lismore, much of the work is of modern date. Many fine castellated mansions were built in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. by the new settlers on the confiscated lands in the North and South.

The County of Wexford was sprinkled with castles, many of which were built by the first Anglo-Norman settlers; and a ring of fortresses surrounded the Pale at an early date. John de Courcy and Hugh de Lacy were the chief builders of these strongholds to defend the lines of their new possessions. In the North the remains of Dundrum Castle​—​a fine example of the donjon keep​—​Greencastle, Kilclief, Carlingford, and others testify to the defences necessary in those days to hold the conquered lands. In the great territory of the princely Desmonds, stretching from the Barrow to the Shannon mouth, the ruins of many of their castles still exist, besides others of lesser clans. Clare had numerous castles, the Macnamara clan alone being credited with fifty-seven. Some fine examples still exist, such as Bunratty, which was used as a residence down to comparatively recent times.

Though the castles of Ireland, in point of architectural magnificence, are not to be compared with many of the more important structures of a similar character in England, they are frequently of very considerable extent. Placed as they often are upon the summit of a lofty and precipitous rock, the base of which is usually washed by the waters of a river or lake, or by the sea, encompassed with walls and towers pierced with shot-holes, and only to be approached through well-defended gateways, they must, before the introduction of artillery, have been generally considered impregnable. Several of the early keeps are circular; but they usually consist of a massive quadrangular tower with smaller towers at the angles. The internal arrangements are similar in character to those seen in the military structures of the same period in England and elsewhere. The outworks and other appendages to the majority of the most remarkable castles in Ireland have been destroyed, not by the usual effects of time and neglect, but by gunpowder, as the enormous masses of masonry overthrown, and lying in confused heaps, sufficiently testify. The cannon of the Cromwellian army left most of the strongholds of the Irish and of the Anglo-Irish in ruins. Shortly after the Restoration the necessity for castles ceased; and, with some exceptions, the few that had escaped the violence of the, preceding period appear gradually to have been deserted and suffered to decay.

Malahide Castle.​—​The castle of Malahide, situated about nine miles from Dublin, is perhaps the most perfectly preserved of the ancient baronial residences now remaining in Ireland. It owes its foundation to Richard Talbot, who, in the reign of King Henry II., received a grant of the lordship of Malahide, and of whom the present lord is a lineal descendant. The castle, upon the exterior, retains but little of its ancient character; portions have been rebuilt; the old loop-holes have given place to modern windows; the tower upon the south-east angle is an addition of the last century; the formidable outworks have long been removed, and a grassy hollow indicates the position of the ancient moat; yet notwithstanding all these changes it is still an object of much antiquarian interest. The entrance is through a low Gothic porch, attached to which is an ancient oak door studded with huge nails, and from which an antique knocker is suspended. The interior presents many features unique in Ireland. The oak room is of particular interest with its quaintly carved arabesques, black as ebony, its antique armour, and the storied panels of the northern side. The banqueting-hall is a room of fine proportions and retains its original oak roof and gallery. The walls of the chief rooms are hung with pictures and portraits, several of which are of much historical interest. Among the former an altar-piece by Albert Durer is perhaps the most remarkable. It is divided into compartments representing the Nativity, Adoration, and Circumcision. This interesting picture, which is said to have belonged to Mary Queen of Scots, was purchased by Charles II. for the sum of £2000, and presented by him to the Duchess of Portland, by whom it was given to Lady Talbot.

The chapel, popularly called the ‘Abbey’ of Malahide, lies a little to the east of the castle. Though its architectural features are no way remarkable, it is a picturesque building. The Perpendicular window in the east end, however, should be noted, as also the tomb of Maud Plunkett, lying in the nave. Of this lady it is recorded that she was a maid, wife, and widow in one day, her husband having fallen when resisting a sudden predatory attack made by a neighbouring clan during the day of his marriage. The story forms the subject of a ballad from the pen of Gerald Griffin.

We have noticed the castle of Malahide first, not that it is supposed to be the most characteristic example of an ancient fortress lying within easy access from Dublin, but because it remains certainly the finest structure of its age and purpose at present to be met with in Ireland, still inhabited, and occupied by a descendant of the original founder.

King John’s Castle at Trim is of at least equal antiquity, and, though in a state of utter ruin, will impress the visitor with a much more correct idea of the ancient feudal stronghold. Trim stands upon the borders of what was once considered the ‘English Pale,’ and lies at an easy distance from Dublin. It is singularly rich in antiquarian remains, and figured largely in the past history of the English rule in Ireland.

The castle consists of a triangular walled enclosure, defended by circular flanking towers, and a large and lofty donjon or keep in the centre. The north-east side is 171 yards long, and is defended by four towers, viz. two at the angles, and two intermediate. The west side is 116 yards long, and was defended by flanking towers at the angles, and a gateway tower in the centre. The portcullis groove is very perfect; and it seems, from the projecting masonry, that there had been a drawbridge and barbican to the gate. The third side sweeps round at an easy curve to the Boyne; it is 192 yards long, defended by six flanking towers, including those at the angles and at the gate. The gate tower is circular and is in good preservation, as well as are the arches over the ditch, and the barbican beyond it. The gate had also its portcullis, the groove for which, and the recess for its windlass, are perfect. The entire circuit of the castle wall, then, is 486 yards, defended by ten flanking towers, at nearly equal distances, including those at the gates. The donjon is a rectangular building, the plan of which may be thus described: on the middle of each side of 64 feet rectangles are constructed, the sides perpendicular to the square being 20 feet, and those parallel to it 24 feet: thus a figure of twenty sides is constructed. The thickness of the walls of the large tower is 12 feet, and of the smaller towers from 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet. The walls were carried up 60 feet above the level of the ground, but on each angle of the large tower, square turrets, 16 feet 6 inches in height, are built. By this arrangement, a large shower of missiles might have been projected in any direction.129

A castle, which there is every reason to believe occupied the site of the present structure, was erected by Walter de Lacy in 1173, who had obtained from Henry II. a grant of Meath. During the absence of de Lacy, while the castle was in the custody of Hugh Tyrrell, it was attacked and demolished by Roderick O’Conor, King of Connaught. In Hanmer’s Chronicle of Ireland, the circumstances of its erection are thus given: ‘Anno 1220. Meath was wonderfully afflicted and wasted by reason of the private quarrels and civil warres between William, Earl Marshall, Earle of Pembroke, &c., and Sir Hugh de Lacy, Earle of Ulster and Lord of Connaught. Trimme was besieged and brought to a lamentable plight, and when the rage and fury of these garboiles were somewhat mitigated and appeased, after the shedding of much blood the same year, to prevent afterclaps and subsequent calamities, the castle of Trim was builded.’

Maynooth Castle.​—​The once great castle of Maynooth, erected in 1176 by Maurice FitzGerald, who came over with Strongbow, can be easily visited from Dublin. It is a fine example of the kind of structure which combined the baronial residence with the military fortress. The keep is of the original Norman work. The ground-floor, like that of Athenry Castle, and others of the same period, is divided into two large vaulted apartments, over which were state rooms of fine proportions. Bedrooms of various sizes occupied the upper portion of the tower. The servants and members of the household were accommodated in buildings stretching between the barbican of the outworks and a strong flanking tower which still remains. It is stated in Holinshed’s account of the sack of this Geraldine stronghold by Sir William Skeffington in 1553, as the result of Silken Thomas’ Rebellion, that ‘great and riche was the spoile, such store of beddes, so many goodly hangings, so riche a wardrob, such brave furniture, as truly it was accompted for householde stuffe and vtensils one of the richest Earle his homes under the crowne of Englande.’ It was again restored, and finally dismantled by the Irish troops of Owen Roe O’Neill in 1647.

It seems to have taken a considerable period to reconcile the native Irish to the use of castles or tower houses as places of every-day abode. The free-roving Celt could ill brook the confinement of narrow vaults and stifling chambers. To him, as a chieftain actually declared, ‘a castle of bones was every way preferable to a castle of stones.’ By this was meant that the head of a clan, surrounded by his following of hardy kerns and gallowglasses, was safer and every way better off than an effeminate sojourner between the four walls of a tower. A time at length arrived when the native potentates, petty chieftains, and gentlemen of lesser degree, followed the example of their invaders, and erected stone dwellings, very similar to those of the strangers with which they had become familiarised. These almost invariably consist of a tall quadrangular tower, with or without outworks, but generally furnished with a bawn or enclosure into which at night, or during raiding times, the owner’s cattle were driven.

The apartment on the ground-floor was almost invariably covered with a vault of stone, evidently a precaution against fire. In some instances all the flooring was supported on pointed or barrel arches of stone; but, generally, the upper storeys were provided with floors of timber. A staircase of stone usually led to the upper apartments; sometimes it ran straight through the thickness of the wall from floor to floor, access to the various apartments being provided by narrow doorways, with pointed, flat, or semicircular heads. These three forms are not unfrequently found in the one building. Sometimes the staircase is enclosed in a projecting tower, and rises spiral fashion, with doorways at one side like those already referred to. A second staircase leading to small apartments, which may have been used as bedrooms, is often to be noticed.

‘The entrance to an Irish house, castle, or tower,’ writes the late J. H. Parker, ‘is usually protected in a manner unknown in England​—​at least not commonly known​—​for there are a few instances of a similar arrangement in England. There is no external porch, but the doorway opens into a small space, about 6 feet square and about 8 or 10 feet high; in front is the door to the cellar; on the right is the door to a small guard-chamber; on the left the door to the staircase; each of these doors is barred on the other side, so that the visitor can proceed no further without permission, and immediately over his head is a small square or round hole, emphatically called a “murthering hole”; this opens into a small chamber in which a pile of paving stones was kept ready for use, so that if an enemy had forced the outer door, he would not be much the forwarder. These precautions were evidently taken to guard against any sudden surprise.’ But in the Irish tower-houses there was another provision for security. The outer doorway was frequently furnished with a portcullis, so that an unwelcome visitor upon entering the space referred to by the great authority on the domestic architecture of the Middle Ages, with the doors in front and at the sides fastened, the ‘murthering hole’ above his head, and the portcullis grate dropped behind him, would be securely entrapped. A small projecting bartizan or machicolation set in the top of the tower, is usually found surmounting the doorway on the exterior. Similar turrets occasionally protect angles of the building, by means of which any foe attempting to dislodge the coign stones might be easily crushed. A large, and often handsomely-constructed, fireplace is generally found in the principal apartment. The chimney-shafts, as a rule, are quadrangular. Curiously enough, the kitchen is usually placed outside the building. In a good many examples well-constructed ‘garderobes,’ or closets, occur.

The windows, which, it should be observed, are commonly very small, splay internally, and are usually placed slightly above the level of the floor, from which they are approached by a few steps. There is generally a stone seat within the splay, upon each side of the light. This remark, of course, only refers to the principal windows.

The castle of Scurloughstown, which stood in the immediate vicinity of Trim, was probably as good an example as any which have remained to our own day of the lesser keep, usually found in those districts wherein the earlier colonies of the English or Anglo-Normans obtained footing. It no longer exists. The above sketch was made a few years before the tower, which upon one of its sides exhibited a crack extending from summit to foundation, fell to the ground.

The castle of Bullock, standing immediately above the little harbour of the same name, not far from the Dalkey station of the Dublin, Wicklow, and Wexford Railway, is worth a visit. It has been very carefully restored, and is now used as a residence. The castle of Dalkey is used as a town hall.

Of the origin of these very interesting structures, no notice, as far as we could ascertain, has been preserved. It is extremely probable that they were erected by English settlers, not long after the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland​—​their architectural features indicating an early period; and similar buildings, connected together by a wall enclosing a very considerable space, occur in several localities known to have been occupied by the early English.

We may here also mention the picturesque and well-preserved castle of Drimnagh, lying at a distance of about four miles from Dublin, on the road to Crumlin. Its bawn is still perfect, and the ancient fosse, by which the whole was enclosed, remains in fine preservation, and is still deep. Drimnagh was considered a place of considerable strength during the rising of 1641, and it appears to have been strengthened, and in a great measure re-edified, about that unhappy period of Ireland’s history.

In Swords are the dilapidated remains of what was once a fine mediæval castle and bawn, which belonged to the Archbishops of Dublin. There are the remains of other castles, small keeps, and castellated mansions in the neighbourhood of Dublin, particularly in the south, which lay open to the predatory incursions of the lawless tribes that once inhabited the Wicklow Mountains.