McDermott's Castle

Last updated

McDermott's Castle
Native name
Irish: Carraig Mhic Dhiarmada
The Rock
MacDermot's Castle
Carrick McDermott
Lough Key Castle Island.jpg
Type Castle
LocationCastle Island, Lough Key,
County Roscommon, Ireland
Coordinates 53°59′22″N8°13′57″W / 53.989522°N 8.232580°W / 53.989522; -8.232580
Ireland adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of McDermott's Castle in Ireland
Official nameMcDermott's Castle (Castle Island)
Reference no.586 [1]

McDermott's Castle is a castle and protected national monument located in County Roscommon, Ireland. [2] The site of a fortification since at least the 13th century, the structure's tower house may date from the 16th century, with much of the current building (including its crenellations) dating to the 19th century. [3]

Contents

Location

McDermott's Castle is located on Castle Island, an island of 0.23 hectares (0.57 acres) in the southeast corner of Lough Key. [4]

History

The Mac Diarmada were the ruling dynasty of Magh Luirg (Moylurg; northeast Connacht) from the 10th to 16th centuries. A castle stood on this island from the 12th century: in 1184, the Annals of Loch Cé report that a lightning bolt caused a fire:

The Rock of Loch-Cé was burned by lightning, i.e. the
very magnificent, kingly residence of the descendents of Máel Ruanaid where neither goods nor people of all that were
there found protection; where six score, or seven score, of
distinguished persons were destroyed, along with fifteen
men of the race of kings and chieftains, with the wife of
Mac Diarmada, i.e. the daughter of Ó hEidhin, and his
son's wife, i.e. the daughter of Domhnall O'Conchobhair,
and the daughter of Ó Dubhda, and the son of Donnchadh
O'Maelbhrenuinn, and the son of Donn O'Mannachain,
and the two daughters of O'Mannachain, and Mac Maenaigh,
chieftain of Cenél-Builg, and the priest O'Maelbealtaine,
and Gillachiarain Ó Connachtain, (i.e. a son of
chastity and lamp of piety), and a countless destruction
besides of good men; and every one of them who was not
burned was drowned in this tumultuous consternation,
in the entrance of the place; so that there escaped not
alive therefrom but Conchobar mac Diarmata with a
very small number of the multitude of his people. [5]

A rebuilt castle featured in the final part of the 1235 conquest of Connacht by Richard Mór de Burgh, 1st Baron of Connaught. The castle came under siege, first by a raft-mounted catapult, and then by fire ships. Cormac MacDermott, King of Moylurg, was forced to surrender.

A poem addressed to Tomaltach an Einigh mac Diarmata (King of Moylurg 1421–58) tells the story of the Hag of Lough Key who used (or abused) Cormac MacDermott's (king 1218–44) hospitality by staying on the Rock for a full year, and laid upon the McDermotts the obligation of perpetual hospitality.

The McDermotts lost the island in 1586, and Eochaidh Ó hÉoghusa (1567–1617) wrote a poem lamenting the castle's emptiness. [6]

By the early 19th century the castle was in ruin, until architect John Nash was commissioned to redevelop the structure as a summer house or folly. [7] [8]

In 2014, the island and castle featured in an episode of sitcom Moone Boy , as the residence of the mysterious "Island Joe."

In 2018, the castle was put up for sale for €80,000. [9] However, the sale was later withdrawn and the castle returned to private Irish ownership. [10]

In 2019, archaeological excavations were also undertaken on the island. [11] The excavations concluded that the island itself is essentially a multi-period fortification, with the earliest elements dating to the early medieval era. An earlier, two to three meter thick enclosure wall pre-dating the standing enclosure wall was excavated at a depth of a meter and a half. Medieval buildings dating to the thirteenth century were excavated on the northern side of the island above the earlier fortification, but were not found to be connected to the standing enclosure wall. High-status Gaelic artifacts were discovered, including silver pins, a gaming piece, and large collections of butchered cattle, boar, and sheep. The research on the island was featured in Archaeology Magazine. [12]

Building

View of Castle Island in Lough Key Castle Island in Lough Key Forest Park.jpg
View of Castle Island in Lough Key

The standing remains on the island date from at least three distinct periods.

The enclosure wall around the island are the earliest standing remains. O'Conor et al. argued that the enclosure wall is probably of medieval construction, but the wall has not been dated, and the excavations by Finan and Schryver were not able to connect the enclosure wall to their excavations. [3] O'Conor et al. identified a late medieval tower house on the interior of main standing building. An arrow slot and medieval windows are found on the western wall of this tower house. The additions on either side of the tower, as well as the kitchen on the eastern side of the tower, were added by the architect John Nash in the early nineteenth century to form a summer house. At that time, windows were inserted into the later medieval tower house. The enclosure wall was modified on the northern end of the island in order to provide a view from the main window inserted into the tower. Isaac Weld, writing in 1832, describes as part of "the castle proper" two rooms, one above the other, each 36 by 22 feet (11.0 m × 6.7 m), with walls 7+1⁄2 feet (2.3 m) thick. It is not clear whether this refers to part of the original castle, or the later construction.

The summer house, as built by Nash, burned down during the mid-20th century. [13] [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">County Roscommon</span> County in Ireland

County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is part of the province of Connacht and the Northern and Western Region. It is the 11th largest Irish county by area and 27th most populous. Its county town and largest town is Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county. The population of the county was 69,995 as of the 2022 census.

Roscommon is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Urquhart Castle</span> Castle that sits beside Loch Ness

Urquhart Castle is a ruined castle that sits beside Loch Ness in the Highlands of Scotland. The castle is on the A82 road, 21 kilometres (13 mi) south-west of Inverness and 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of the village of Drumnadrochit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lough Key</span>

Lough Key is a lake in Ireland. It is in the northwest of County Roscommon, northeast of the town of Boyle. The lough is believed to be named after a mythical figure named Cé.

The Kings of Magh Luirg or Moylurg were a branch of the Síol Muireadaigh, and a kindred family to the Ua Conchobair Kings of Connacht. Their ancestor, Maelruanaidh Mor mac Tadg, was a brother to Conchobar mac Tadg, King of Connacht 967–973, ancestor of the O Connor family of Connacht. Maelruanaidh Mor mac Tadg is said to have made a deal of some nature where, in return for abandoning any claim to the provincial kingship, he would be given Moylurg. His dynasty was known as the Clan Mulrooney, and later still took the surname of MacDermot. The following is a list of their Kings, followed by the respective heads of the family up to the present day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballyfarnon</span> Village in County Roscommon, Ireland

Ballyfarnon is a village in northern County Roscommon, Ireland. Built on the River Feorish at the foot of Arigna Mountain, it lies between Loughs Skean and Meelagh with Lough Arrow, Lough Allen, Lough Bo and Lough-na-Sool nearby. It lies on the Sligo/Leitrim R284 regional road on the border with County Sligo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacDermot Roe</span>

MacDermot Roe is the name of a sept of the MacDermot Kings of Moylurg.

Conchobar mac Diarmata was the ninth king of the medieval Irish kingdom of Moylurg, reigning from 1187 to 1196.

Mac Diarmada, also spelled Mac Diarmata, is an Irish surname, and the surname of the ruling dynasty of Moylurg, a kingdom that existed in Connacht from the 10th to 16th centuries. The last ruling king was Tadhg mac Diarmata, who ruled until 1585.

The Annals of Loch Cé cover events, mainly in Connacht and its neighbouring regions, from 1014 to 1590. It takes its name from Lough Cé in the kingdom of Moylurg - now north County Roscommon - which was the centre of power of the Clan MacDermot. In the sixteenth century, the king Brian MacDermot, commissioned the Annals of Loch Ce, which remain among the most important written records of medieval Irish history. For its earliest centuries it used, among others, the Annals of Boyle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parke's Castle</span> Building in County Leitrim, Ireland

Parke's Castle is a 17th century semi-fortified manor house, situated on the northeast shore of Lough Gill, in the north of County Leitrim, in the western province of Connacht, Ireland. The castle is built on the site of an earlier sixteenth-century O'Rourke Gaelic tower house. The castle and bawn had come into the possession of Robert Parke by 1628, possibly earlier. He had been granted some of the former O'Rourke lands as part of the Plantations. By 1635, Parke had completed his fortified manor house on the site of the older Gaelic castle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballymote Castle</span> Medieval castle in Sligo, Ireland

Ballymote Castle is a large rectangular keepless castle, built around 1300. It is located in the townland of Carrownanty on the outskirts of Ballymote in southern County Sligo, Ireland. This area was known historically as Átha Cliath an Chorainn, which roughly translates as The Ford of the Hurdles of Corann. It is the last of the Norman castles in Connacht. It was probably built in order to protect the newly won possessions of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster, in County Sligo, some distance from an earlier motte.

Aodh Ollabhar Ó Carrthoidh aka Aodh Ollbhar Ó Cárthaigh, Gaelic-Irish poet, fl. mid-15th century.

Clarus Mag Máilin, Irish monk, fl. 1215-51.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muintir Eolais</span> Nobles in Gaelic Ireland

The Muintir Eolais of Conmaicne Réin, were nobles of Gaelic Ireland. For seven hundred years from the 8th century, they lived and ruled an area roughly conterminous to present-day south County Leitrim. Their territory comprised the lands named Maigh Nissi and Maigh Rein, today the baronies of Leitrim and Mohill respectively.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mahee Castle</span>

Mahee Castle, also known as Nendrum Castle, is a small ruined tower house near Nendrum Monastery on Mahee Island in Strangford Lough, County Down, Northern Ireland. It was built in 1570 by Captain Thomas Browne. It was abandoned by the early 17th century, and fell into disrepair. In 1923, H.C. Lawlor and the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society partly renovated the tower house to avoid further erosion and built a buttress wall to support the northwest corner of the tower.

Fergal mac Tomás Mág Tighearnán was chief of the McKiernan Clan of Tullyhunco, County Cavan from 1362 until his death in 1383.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Abbey, Lough Key</span>

Holy Trinity Abbey is a former medieval Premonstratensian priory and National Monument located in Lough Key, Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inchmacnerin Abbey</span> Irish former monastery

Inchmacnerin Abbey is a former monastery and National Monument located in Lough Key, Ireland.

Thomas J. Finan,, is an American medieval historian and archaeologist, and presently Chair of the Department of History at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Missouri. He is formerly the Associate Director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, the Director of the Walter J. Ong, S.J. Center for Digital Humanities and the Director of the Center for International Studies at Saint Louis University. Finan is a specialist in the history and archaeology of medieval Ireland, and has appeared in a number of popular formats as well as an Emmy-nominated documentary, True Gaelic, concerning his archaeological excavations at the moated site near Lough Key, County Roscommon, Ireland, in 2016. He has appeared in local and international media spots. He is a licensed archaeologist in the Republic of Ireland, and is a Registered Professional Archaeologist in the United States. He is a member of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. He was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 2012. In 2019, he was elected to the Comite Permanente de Chateau Gaillard: International Castle Studies Colloque, representing Ireland.

References

  1. ↑ "National Monuments of County Roscommon in State Care" (PDF). heritageireland.ie. National Monument Service. p. 1. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  2. ↑ Grenham, John. "mcdermott surname history".
  3. 1 2 "ArcGIS Web Application".
  4. ↑ "History of Lough Key Forest Park". 16 April 2012.
  5. ↑ "Part 7 of Annals of Loch Cé".
  6. ↑ "From Moylurg to Coolavin". Archived from the original on 5 December 1998.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. ↑ "Stunning photograph of Roscommon castle goes viral". irishcentral.com. Irish Central. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 June 2022.
  8. ↑ "History Of The Estate Of Rockingham". loughkey.ie. Retrieved 27 June 2022. Castle Island [..] was rebuilt as a folly during the King family's reign as one of the largest landowning families in Ireland
  9. ↑ "A Castle With A Catch – McDermott's Island, County Roscommon – £80,000". The Steeple Times. 28 November 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  10. ↑ "Sale of Irish island castle halted after vulture fund forced to withdraw sale". IrishCentral. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
  11. ↑ "29126 « Excavations".
  12. ↑ "Inside a Medieval Gaelic Castle - Archaeology Magazine". www.archaeology.org.
  13. ↑ "Irish Castles - MacDermotts Castle".
  14. ↑ "Geograph:: McDermott's Castle, Lough Key (C) Oliver Dixon".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.