Castles of Ireland: Some Fortress Histories and Legends

Soon after the castle was reduced by the Royalists, and in the investigation which followed much credit was taken from the fact that no plundering was allowed. It was stated tha...

This Earl was called the “Wizard Earl,” and the haunted room of the castle (which also contains a carved stone) is said to have been the place where he practised the Black Art....

“MacMorogh marched to besiege Dublin, but left FitzStephen behind, who was then building a hold or castle upon a certain rocky hill called the Carricke, about two miles from Wex...

At the beginning of the next century (1308) the Viceroy Wogan marched against the O’Tooles, but was defeated with the loss of several knights. Castle Kevin was captured and the...

Rory Oge O’More, Chieftain of Leix, burned the town and Sir Robert Hartpole made a sally from the castle with fifty men and released Harrington and Cosby, who were his prisoners...

Fishermen say that the spirits of the ill-fated pair haunt the bay, and by moonlight a phantom skiff may sometimes be seen skimming the waters containing the two ghostly lovers.

J. Dowd, “The County of Limerick.” The Countess and Earl of Dunraven, “Memorials of Adare.” Marquis of Kildare, “The Earls of Kildare.” M. Lenihan, “Limerick: Its History and An...

MacClancy (Cuellar calls him Manglana) decided to fly to the mountains with his people, most likely by a bridlepath still to be traced from the “cattle-booley.” It was two feet...

Upon the disestablishment of the Church of Ireland the castle ground was purchased by the late Charles Cobbe, Esq., who leased it to the late Henry Baker, Esq., whose successor...

Captain Adam Loftus seems to have been the only one who endeavoured to redeem the day. He was wounded in the leg and conveyed to the castle. A surgeon was sent for, though the w...

The eastern front of the castle has one tower, with a five-sided exterior likewise. In 1836 a portion of the east side of the castle fell. The whole of it is now extensively cov...

A man is said to be interred between the top of the main stair and the roof of the tower. His family having held the castle by a lease which expired when he was put underground,...

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 sufficie...

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 c...

Richard de Verdon was besieged in the castle in 1288 by Richard de Burgo, and the same year John, Archbishop of Dublin, took up residence there to oversee its better fortificati...

The hall is square, and is used as a billiard-room. A stone stairway ascends on the left side of the entrance. The present banqueting hall was originally a chapel, and has a Got...

Mason, “Parochial Survey of Ireland.” Murphy, “Cromwell in Ireland.” Bagwell, “Ireland Under the Tudors.” State Papers. Parliamentary Gazetteer. In Journal of _Kilkenny Archæolo...

In 1555 Calvagh O’Donnell went to Scotland to raise forces with the help of Mac Calin (Gillaspick Don), and returning with them and a cannon called _gonna cam_, or “crooked gun,...

In 1642 Lord Castlehaven retook Lea, and at this time some of the brass money known as St. Patrick’s halfpennies was struck here. These coins have the letter L on them and are v...

The second fortress, which was an imposing castellated building of the Tudor period, was burnt in 1826. The chief apartments were the great hall, handsome state drawing-room, an...

The Castles of Ireland are far too numerous for any single volume to contain their separate histories, and all that I claim for the present work is that it includes epitomised a...