Monday, June 5, 2017

Barnankile castle: a hall house in the Waterford landscape

Barnankile castle: a hall house in the Waterford landscape

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

The ruins of Barnankile castle is situated in the townland of that name in the civil parish of Kilrossanty in mid County Waterford. Barnankile means the ‘Gap of the Hazel Copse’. The building stands on an east facing slope with the Comeragh Mountains as a backdrop in the west. The castle is officially classified within the small seigniorial castles known as a hall house. These buildings are generally two-storey structures with a defended ground floor and a great hall on the first floor. The entrance is normally on the first floor by way of an outside timber or stone staircase. Most hall house types said to be thirteenth century with a few examples in the fourteenth century or later.[1]

Medieval Barnankile

Barnankile was in the thirteenth part of the large manor of Comeragh and owned by the Fitzgerald family of Shanid in County Limerick who were raised to the peerage as Earls of Desmond in 1329. In July 1298 an extent of the manor of Comeragh was made in Dungarvan following the death of Thomas Fitz Maurice. The manor was valued at £13 10s 10¼d (in 1300 revalued at £12 15s) and extended from Seskinan, on the Dungarvan to Clonmel road, to Kilrossanty and onto Stradbally by the sea. Apart from the mill at Stradbally no structure was mentioned.[2] It is therefore unclear if Barnankile castle was built by 1298 or was later in the fourteenth century. Elsewhere the escheator accounted for £6 15s 5¼d in income for Comeragh manor. This record also mentions Stradbally mill bot no mention of any castle.[3]

The extent of the manor of Dungarvan mentions a good number of places in 1298 but none that can be identified as Barnankile. This is not surprising as later records associate Barnankile with Comeragh manor.[4] 

Arrival of the first O’Briens

In the late fourteenth century Barnankile became associated with the O’Brien family. There were two migrations of O’Briens from their native County Clare to County Waterford in medieval times. In the late eleventh century, Murtagh Mór O’Brien, King of Thomond and Munster, settled some members of his extended family in County Waterford, then known as the Kingdom of the Deisi. This was to strengthen his control over the Deisi and keep an eye on the Vikings of Waterford city. The McGrath clan also came from County Clare to Waterford at the same time and for the same reason.[5]

At first the O’Brien clan were settled along the Blackwater and Suir rivers but following the Norman invasion of 1169 they were pushed into the higher ground around the Comeragh Mountains.[6]

Arrival of the second O’Briens

After the death in 1367 of Mahon O’Brien, King of Thomond, his brother, Tirlagh Maol became king but shortly after he was displaced by Brian Sreamhach O’Brien. The Earl of Desmond came to the assistance of Tirlagh Maol at the battle of Monasternenagh but both lost. As compensation, in 1370, the Earl of Desmond settled Tirlagh Maol O’Brien in the manor of Comeragh in County Waterford. Thus Tirlagh Maol O’Brien came to live at Barnankile castle and died there in 1398.[7]

Building of Barnankile castle

When Tirlagh Maol O’Brien came to Barnankile in 1370 it would appear that the castle was built by that time. The historical records are not extensive enough to say when the castle was built and no archaeological excavation has been carried out on the site to locate any dateable evidence. It is not mention in 1298 but as Professor Mike Aston used to say ‘The absence of evidence [is not the] evidence of absence’.[8] The window surrounds could have provided some dating evidence but they were removed long before 1901 by people seeking as easy quarry for stone.[9]

Barnankile castle c.1901 - Waterford County Museum photo

Grant of Barnankile in 1413

In 1413 James, 7th Earl of Desmond, granted Tirlagh mac Tadhg O’Brien the manor of Comeragh subject to the payment of an annual chief rent. The manor cover eight plowlands and included the townlands of Comeragh, Briska, Knockancullin, Crough, Gortnalaght, Furraleigh, Kilcomeragh, Graiguerush, Cutteen, Ballykilmurry, Curraun, Barnakile, Boulattin, Curraheen, Knockyelan, Bellaheen, Leamybrien, Kilgobnet, Ballyknock, Inchindrisla, Killadangan, Ballyconnery, Currabehy, Kilbrien, Ballynakill, Kilfarrel, Coolnasmear, Scartnadriny, Bohadoon and Barracree.[10]

O’Briens of Barnankile

After 1421 when much of the Fitzgerald estate in County Waterford was entrusted to the Fitzgerald family of Dromana, the O’Brien family of Barnankile paid the chief rent to Dromana and no longer to the Earl of Desmond.[11]

The O’Briens of Barnankile became noted horsemen with smart harness for their horses and flamboyant dress code, particularly in ceremonial occasions.[12] They were known as the O’Briens of the Silken Bridles.[13]

In the wars between the Earl of Desmond and the le de Poer family of County Waterford in the sixteenth century, the O’Briens of Barnankile sided with the de la Poers. At the battle of Curraghbaha East (also known as the battle of Boreen-na-Gurp) both families were heavily defeated.[14] In the early seventeenth century both families fell out of friendship and in June 1639 Thomas Power of Carrickanure challenged Derby O’Brien of Kilcomeragh for the ownership of Comeragh manor. The deed of 1413 was produced in court and the O’Briens continued to hold Barnankile and the Comeraghs.[15]

Among the chiefs of the O’Brien family to live at Barnankile included Tirlagh O’Brien (alive 1421), Tirlagh O’Brien (grandson of the latter), Donagh O’Brien, Tirely O’Brien (pardoned 1567), and Donagh O’Brien (pardoned 1620).[16] Although Barnankile castle was the grandest of all the O’Brien castles the chief of the family in the seventeenth century, Derby O’Brien, preferred to live at Kilcomeragh.

In the famous battle of Affane in 1465 the O’Briens of Barnankile supported the Earl of Ormond and their immediate chief, Sir Maurice Fitzgerald of Dromana against the Earl of Desmond. Yet within twenty years many O’Briens went out in rebellion and supported the Earl of Desmond. These were pardoned and for a time kept their lands.[17]

But having survived the reign of Queen Elizabeth the O’Briens were under pressure in the reign of James the First. Early in the reign King James granted the eight ploughlands held by the family since 1413 to Richard Nugent, Lord Delvin in Westmeath. This grant was forever subject to a chief rent of £5 per year to Dromana. By 1618 Derby O’Brien of Kilcomeragh had come to an understanding with Richard Nugent of Cloncoskeran and they both became trustees of the McGrath estate of Mountain Castle.[18] In 1639 Derby O’Brien was a witness to the lease of Mountain Castle by Philip McGrath to his son, John McGrath and Edmund Butler (brother-in-law of John).[19]

Barnankile in 1640

In 1640 Derby O’Brien of Kilcomeragh held the one and a half ploughlands of Barnankile and Curriheenedoty. There a chief rent of £3 per annum payable to the Fitzgerald family of Dromana from the property. Barnankile castle was described as a mansion house with a considerable slate roof encircled by a large bawn.[20] The considerable slate roof was remembered in local folklore up until 1938 when Shelia Flynn recorded this feature in the Folklore Commission Schools Collection.

Around the house were outbuildings and a good orchard and quickset hedges which implies a well layout landscape. Nearby was a mill worth £4. The land had 150 maturing trees with 150 acres of meadow, 94 acres of pasture and 4 acres of meadow and this land was worth about £16.5 per acre.[21]

Confederate War 1641-53

In October 1641 rebellion broke out in Ireland to follow the war in Scotland and the forthcoming civil war in England. Tirlagh and Donagh O’Brien of Barnankile joined their neighbours in rebel. In January 1642 Tirlagh O’Brien defeated Lord Broghill’s army at Affane and advanced across the River Blackwater into the English area of control.[22]

With this advance of the Irish forces many English settlers came to have suffered physical harm and to be robbed of their possessions. Charles Hart of Kilgobinet claimed that Tirlagh O’Brien robbed him of £9. Katherine Croker of Ballyanchor claimed that she was striped and robbed of £42 by various people including Tirlagh O’Brien.[23]

By July 1642 the English forces had recovered from their initial setbacks and went on the advance. Lord Broghill retook Cappoquin and relieved Knockmoan castle on the road to Dungarvan.[24]
At the start of 1643 Sir Charles Vavasour took charge of the English army in County Waterford and advance on Dungarvan. After a hard fight he took the town and castle. Vavasour then moved eastwards to Barnankile castle.[25] A fierce battle was fought at Barnankile castle in 1642 [1643?] as the O’Brien were entrenched behind the barricades. It was said that about eight hundred people were killed.[26] But the battle was a draw rather than a victory for either side. The strong medieval walls of the hall house were just too much. Instead Vavasour moved on to take Kilcomeragh castle without a fight and went on to take Kilmacthomas and Stradbally.[27]

Local folklore says that after the O’Brien family left Barnankile the O’Whelan family had the castle in the late 1640s. In 1649 the castle was attacked by Oliver Cromwell’s forces while O’Whelan was in occupation. The castle was bombarded from the top of Grawn Hill.[28]

This story is in conflict with other accounts. On 2nd December 1649 Oliver Cromwell lifted the siege on Waterford and moved onto Kilmacthomas. On the following day he crossed the Mahon River and advanced on Barnankile and Kilcomeragh castle. On this day the O’Briens were still in residence and were actually surprised by Cromwell’s advance. It seems the family offered some resistance and four sons of Derby O’Brien were said to be hanged for this.[29]

Barnankile after 1653

Although Derby O’Brien appears not to have gone out personally to fight in the Confederate War he suffered blamed like many others. The Parliament government had promised their soldiers land in Ireland in lieu of their long overdue wages and so Barnankile was in the line of fire for confiscation. In 1653 Derby O’Brien, his wife Mary and their family were transplanted to Connacht.[30]

In about 1660 there were 34 tax payers in Barnankile townland, the second highest population figure in Kilrossanty parish – Ballykerogemore had more people (38 tax payers).[31] In 1662 James Fitzgerald, Daniel oge McGrath, John Grant, Nicholas Power, Edmund O Mychan, Morish Forehane, Frances Hally and Teige O Mulcahy were all residents at Barnankile and were all husbandmen.[32]
The restoration of King Charles II held out the promise of restoration of the confiscated Irish lands but the king found this politically impossible to do even if he wished to do so. Instead further people were named as former rebels. In the 1660s Terence O’Brien of Kilcomeragh was indicted as a rebel during the Confederate War (1641-1653).[33]

But of course not all the confiscated land was acquired by retired English soldiers. Much of the O’Brien estate in Kilrossanty parish was taken over by Katherine Fitzgerald, daughter of Gerald Fitzgerald of Dromana. The house of Dromana was the previous head landlord of these lands and so had a good claim to have the property.[34] By 1850 Barnankile had passed to the Kennedy family with Sir Charles Edward Kennedy, baronet, as immediate landlord.[35]

Barnankile c.1940 showing south wall and outer west wall

Later accounts

Local folklore recounts the story that there was gold hidden in the castle. Yet although the castle has only possessed two outer walls for many decades, possibly centuries, few people have ventured in the find the gold or they would be chased by two black bulls.[36] It is not known when this story first became popular.

In 1746 Charles Smith mentioned the ancient castle at Barnankile but gave no description of it save to say that it was surrounded by a large tract of wood.[37]

In about 1840 John O’Donovan described Barnankile as a two storey structure with large window embrasures in the first floor.[38] A photo of Barnankile castle, taken about 1901, shows the outer west wall and a portion of the south gable wall.[39] This was the same description given by Shelia Flynn in the 1938 Schools Folklore collection. Shelia Flynn gave the castle dimensions as sixty feet long by twenty-five feet wide by thirty feet tall with the recollection of it once having a flagged roof.[40]

The Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford, published in 1999, described Barnankile as a strong-house of internal dimensions of 19.65meters N-S and about 6.85meters E-W. By 1989 only three double-splay loops in lintelled embrasures could be seen in the west wall. That same wall had fallen considerably since 1938 as it was only about 3meters high or about 10feet.[41]

It is not known for how long more the seven hundred year old Barnankile castle will survive. Even to find it on the ground can be a challenge as it is sited at different locations in different maps. Yet it is an important castle to preserve as a hall house type of castle are not that common in County Waterford and they bridge the gap between the great Anglo-Norman castles of the thirteenth century and the more numerous tower houses of the fifteenth and sixteenth century.

Bibliography

Ainsworth, J., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 25, 1967

Ainsworth, J. & MacLysaght, E., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20, 1958

Aston, M. and Gerrard, C., Interpreting the English Village: Landscape and Community at Shapwick, Somerset (Oxford, 2013)

Moore, M. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford (Dublin, 1999)

O’Brien, F., The O’Briens of Deise (author, 2001)

Pender, S. (ed.), A census of Ireland circa 1659 with essential materials from the Poll Money Ordinances 1660-1661 (Dublin, 2002)

Simington, R. (ed.), The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 County of Waterford Vol. VI with appendices (Dublin, 1942)

Smith, C., The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford, edited by Donal Brady (Dungarvan, 2008)

Sweetman, D., ‘The origin and development of the tower-house in Ireland’, in Ludlow, J. & Jameson, N. (eds.), Medieval Ireland: The Barryscourt Lectures I-X (Cork, 2004), pp. 261-287

Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (5 vols. Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 4, 1293-1301

Tallon, G. (ed.), Court of Claims: Submissions and Evidence 1663 (Dublin, 2006)

Walton, J., ‘The subsidy roll of County Waterford, 1662’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 30, 1982, pp. 49-96

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[1] Sweetman, D., ‘The origin and development of the tower-house in Ireland’, in Ludlow, J. & Jameson, N. (eds.), Medieval Ireland: The Barryscourt Lectures I-X (Cork, 2004), pp. 261-287, at p. 264
[2] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland (5 vols. Liechtenstein, 1974), vol. 4, 1293-1301, pp. 259, 260, 340
[3] Thirty-Eighth report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records in Ireland (Dublin, 1906), p. 41
[4] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, vol. 4, 1293-1301, no. 551
[5] O’Brien, F., The O’Briens of Deise (author, 2001), pp. 30, 32
[6] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 34
[7] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 38, 39
[8] Aston, M. and Gerrard, C., Interpreting the English Village: Landscape and Community at Shapwick, Somerset (Oxford, 2013), p. 132; Mick Aston Interviewed by Oxbow Books & The David Brown Book Company https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RR7-A3ghAQ accessed on 2nd June 2017
[10] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 38, 39
[11] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 40
[12] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 40
[13] Dúchas, Shelia Flynn story for the Schools Folklore Collection = http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5286167/5285600 accessed on 1st June 2017
[14] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 42
[15] Ainsworth, J., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 25, 1967, p. 61
[16] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 45, 46, 47
[17] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 61, 67
[18] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 71, 72, 92; Ainsworth, J. & MacLysaght, E., ‘Survey of Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20, 1958, p. 93
[19] Ainsworth & MacLysaght, ‘Documents in Private Keeping’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 20, 1958, p. 95
[20] Simington, R. (ed.), The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 County of Waterford Vol. VI with appendices (Dublin, 1942), p. 78
[21] Simington (ed.), The Civil Survey A.D. 1654-1656 County of Waterford Vol. VI, p. 78
[22] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 101
[23] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 102, 103
[24] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 105
[25] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 107
[26] Dúchas, Margaret Kiely story for the Schools Folklore Collection = http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428144/4381560 accessed on 1st June 2017. Thank you to Aisling Corcoran for locating this source.
[27] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 107
[28] Dúchas, Shelia Flynn story for the Schools Folklore Collection = http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5286167/5285600 accessed on 1st June 2017
[29] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, pp. 110, 126
[30] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 51
[31] Pender, S. (ed.), A census of Ireland circa 1659 with essential materials from the Poll Money Ordinances 1660-1661 (Dublin, 2002), p. 337
[32] Walton, J., ‘The subsidy roll of County Waterford, 1662’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 30, 1982, pp. 49-96, at p. 78
[33] Tallon, G. (ed.), Court of Claims: Submissions and Evidence 1663 (Dublin, 2006), no. 889
[34] O’Brien, The O’Briens of Deise, p. 131
[35] Griffith’s Valuation, Barnankile, Kilrossanty parish, Decies without Drum barony, County Waterford
[36] Dúchas, Margaret Kiely story for the Schools Folklore Collection = http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/4428144/4381559 accessed on 1st June 2017
[37] Smith, C., The Ancient and Present State of the County and City of Waterford, edited by Donal Brady (Dungarvan, 2008), p. 61
[38] Moore, M. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford (Dublin, 1999), no. 1624
[40] Dúchas, Shelia Flynn story for the Schools Folklore Collection = http://www.duchas.ie/en/cbes/5286167/5285600 accessed on 1st June 2017
[41] Moore, Archaeological Inventory of County Waterford, no. 1624

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