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ATHLONE-CARBURY

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*ATIILONE, Roscommon (Cal., i., 80).—Built in 1210 by the Justiciar, John de Gray. The keep is placed on a lofty motte, which has been revetted with masonry. Turlough O'Connor built a caislen at Athlone in 1129, but it was not even on the site of the Norman castle, for which John obtained land from the church, as already stated.

BAGINBUN (Gir., i., 13; Song, 1406).—Mr Orpen has proved that this was the spot where Raymond le Gros landed and entrenched himself for four months.1 It is a headland on the sea-coast, and headland castles seldom have mottes, as they were not needed on a promontory washed on three sides by the sea. Moreover, Baginbun was of the nature of a temporary fort rather than a residential castle, and it is to be noted that Giraldus calls it "a poor sort of a castle of stakes and sods." Still, the small inner area, ditched off with a double ditch, and the large area, also ditched, roughly correspond to the motte-and-bailey plan. [B. T. S.]

BALIMORE EUSTACE, Kildare (Cal., i., 28).—A castle of the Archbishop of Dublin. A motte, with a remarkable platform attached to one side (cf. Wigmore Castle). No bailey now; no stone castle. [B. T. S.]

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CAHERCONLISH (Karkinlis, Kakaulis, Cal., i., 81).— Castle of Theobald Fitz Walter. There is nothing left above ground but a chimney of late date. A few yards from it is a hillock, which has much the appearance of a mutilated motte. [E. S. A.] Mr Orpen, however, thinks that Theobald's castle may have been at Knockatancashlane, "the hill of the old castle," a townland a little to the north of Caherconlish.2

CARBURY, Kildare.--The Song says Meiler Fitz

1 Journ. R. S. A. I., 1898, 155 ; and 1904, 354.

2 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 452.

Henry first got Carbury, so the castle was probably his. It is a motte with two baileys, one of imperfect outline, the other a curious little half-circle. A 15th-century castle is built against the side of the motte. [B. T. S.]

CARLINGFORD, Louth (Cal., i., 95).—Apparently a royal castle (Cal., i., 156), first mentioned in 1215. It stands on a rock, which might possibly have been a former motte. There certainly has been a former castle, for the present ruin is Edwardian in plan and in every detail. [E. S. A.]

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CARRICK, Wexford (Gir., v., 245).—This again seems to be one of the temporary forts built by the first invaders (in this case Fitz Stephen), in a strong natural situation, and Giraldus applies to it the same temptuous language as to Baginbun. There is no motte, but an oval area of 45 yards by 25 is ditched and banked ; a modern imitation of a round tower stands within the enclosure. [B. T.

S.]

CARRICKFERGUS, Antrim (Cal., i., 107).—This was probably one of the castles built by John de Courcy, the conqueror of Ulster. The gatehouse and mural towers are late, but the keep may well be of De Courcy's time, and furnishes an excellent instance of a castle on the keep-and-bailey plan, built by the Normans in stone from the beginning. [E. S. A.]

CASTLETOWN DELVIN, Westmeath [Gir., v., 356].— Castle of Gilbert de Nungent. A motte, with a garden at base, which may have been the bailey; near it the stone castle, a keep with round towers at the angles, probably not as early as John's reign. [B. T. S.]

CLONARD, Meath (Gir., v., 356).—Built by Hugh de Lacy about 1182. A motte, with broad ditch and curious little oblong bailey; no remains in masonry. [B. T. S.]

CLONMACNOISE-DOWNPATRICK

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CLONMACNOISE, King's Co. (Cal., i., 94).—First contemporary mention 1215; the Annals of Loch Cè say it was built in 1214 "by the foreigners." A royal castle. A large motte with bailey attached; the wing walls of the bailey run up the motte. The importance of the castle is shown by the fact that a stone keep was added not very long after it was built. [B. T. S.]

*COLLACHT (Gir., v., 355).—Castle of John of Hereford. Collacht appears to be a scribal error for Tullaght, now Tullow, Carlow.' The site of the castle is marked on the 6-inch O.M.; it has been visited by Mr G. H. Orpen, who found very clear indications of a motte and bailey. (See Appendix L.)

CROMETH (Cal., i., 91).-Castle of Maurice FitzGerald. Supposed to be Croom, Limerick, though the identification is by no means certain. There are the ruins of an Edwardian castle at Croom; no motte. [E. S. A.]

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DOWNPATRICK, Down (Gir., v., 345).—The traveller approaching Downpatrick sees a number of small hills which no doubt have once been islands rising out of the swamps of the Quoyle. On one of these hills stands. the town and its cathedral; on another, to the east, but separated from the town by a very steep descent and a brook, stands a motte and bailey of the usual Norman type. It occupies the whole summit of the small hill, so that the banks of the bailey are at a great height above the outer ditch, which is carried round the base of the hill (compare Skipsea). The motte, which is not a very large one, has had an earthen breastwork round the top, now much broken away. Its ditch falls into the ditch of the bailey, but at a higher level. The bailey is semilunar, extending round about three-quarters of the

1 Butler's Notices of the Castle of Trim, p. 13.

2 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 458.

circumference of the motte. There is not the slightest sign of masonry. As the size of this work has been greatly exaggerated, it is as well to say that when measured on the 25-inch O.M. with a planimeter, its area proves to be 3.9 acres; the area of the motte and its ditch .9, leaving 3 acres for the bailey. [E. S. A.] Fig. 45.

This thoroughly Norman-French castle, which was formerly called a Danish fort, has lately been baptised as Rathceltchair, and supposed to be the work of a mythical hero of the 1st century A.D. Mr Orpen, however, has disposed of this fancy by showing that the name Rathceltchair belonged in pre-Norman times to the enclosure of the ancient church and monastery which stood on the other hill. We may therefore unhesitatingly ascribe this motte-castle to John de Courcy, who first put up a slender fortification within the town walls to defend himself against temporary attack, but afterwards built a regular castle, for which this island offered a most favourable site. A stone castle was built inside the town at a later period; it is now entirely destroyed.

DROGHEDA, Louth (Cal., i., 93).-First mention 1203, but Mr Orpen thinks it probable that it was one of the castles built by Hugh de Lacy, who died in 1186. A high motte, with a round and a square bailey, just outside the town walls; called the Mill Mount in the time of Cromwell, who occupied it; he mentions that it had a good ditch, strongly palisadoed. No stone

1 Eng. Hist. Rev., xxii., 441.

2 "Exile municipium," Giraldus, 345. See Eng. Hist. Rev., xx., 717. 3 Annals of Ulster, 1177.

4 See Orpen, "Motes and Castles in County Louth," Journ. R. S. A. I xxxviii., 249. The town walls are later than the castle, and were built up to it.

5 Cited by Westropp, Journ. R. S. A. 1., 1904, paper on "Irish Motes and Early Norman Castles."

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