Castlemartyr
tower house and 17th residence
Niall
C.E.J. O’Brien
Castlemartyr tower
house is located to the west of Castlemartyr village in east Co. Cork. The 5
storey tower house is situated in the south-east corner of bawn wall enclosure
(c.65m NW-SE; c.50m SW-NE) with a 3 storey tower at the north-east corner of
the enclosure and a long 17th century residence of 2 storeys with
three large chimney stacks along the south wall of the bawn. The 5 storey tower
house was the home of a branch of the Fitzgerald family who held the title of
seneschal of Imokilly.[1]
South wall of the tower house
In 1466 Richard
Fitzgerald, a bastard son of Sir Maurice Fitzgerald, knight of Kerry, is said
to have built Castlemartyr tower house and bawn. Richard Fitzgerald was the first
seneschal of Imokilly and ancestor of a long line of Fitzgeralds who held
extensive property in east Cork and held many church positions within the
diocese of Cork including successive deans of Cloyne. Indeed, Gerald
Fitzgerald, a son of Richard the Seneschal, made himself bishop of Cork and
Cloyne.[2] In
1463 Maurice Fitzgerald, son of Richard, and second seneschal of Imokilly, was
known as ‘lord of Villa Martir’. It was possibly Maurice who built the
Castlemartyr tower house. His father Richard married in 1430 and was alive in
1442 but had no definite connection with Castlemartyr.[3]
2 storey range with 5 storey tower house in distance
Sir Henry Sidney
attacked the tower house in 1569 and 1575. It is said that in the early 17th
century Sir Richard Boyle acquired the tower house and possibly built the large
south wall residence and that his son, the Earl of Orrery, lived there.[4] But
other sources say that Edmond Fitzgerald, son of John fitz Edmund Fitzgerald
(died 1589), the last seneschal of Imokilly, inherited his father’s lands in
1609 including Castlemartyr. It was Edmund Fitzgerald who built the two storey
south range with its three large chimneys. Edmund Fitzgerald died in Brussels
in 1654. His son, Colonel Richard Fitzgerald fought in the Confederate War
(1641-1653) on the Irish side. After the Restoration in 1660 Richard recovered
some of his ancestral lands but the Earl of Orrery acquired Castlemartyr.[5]
North (left) and west walls of the tower house
The
Boyle descendants of the Earl of Orrery, who took the title of Earl of Shannon,
built a long 18th century residence (now 2019 a hotel) to the west
of the bawn.[6]
Colonel Richard died in 1680 and was succeeded by his son Edmund and grandson
John Fitzgerald. The latter lived at Ballynacorra and was M.P. for Castlemartyr
in the Irish Parliament after conforming to the Church of Ireland. He died in
1728 leaving his sister Mary as heir. She was the wife of Thomas Fitzgerald,
the Knight of Glin.[7]
The tower house
measures 13m N-S by 9.5m E-W and is entered by way of two doors. A doorway with
a pointed arch gives access to the ground floor and the wooden 1st
floor above while the second doorway entered the tower house at the 1st
floor level from on top of the north bawn wall. The 1st floor
chamber was lit by three central windows located on the east, south, and west
walls. The 1st floor level also had a spiral staircase o give access
to the 2nd and 3rd floors.[8]
Sally port in south bawn wall with towerhouse on left
The 2nd
floor was lit by single ogee-headed windows on the north and south walls. The 3rd
floor had three windows, one each on the north, east and south walls. The 3rd
floor also had a fireplace on the west wall. A new spiral staircase took
visitors to the 4th and 5th floors and to the wall walk
at the top of the tower. The 4th and 5th floors are
damaged by fallen masonry but fragments of the original stepped battlements do
survive. The 4th floor contained a garderobe chamber.[9]
North side of the 5 storey tower house
The 3 storey tower at
the north-east corner of the bawn is much ruined although it does displace a
pointed wicker-centred vault of the 1st floor and blocked windows.
The 1st and 2nd floor have inserted fireplaces of
uncertain date. The 2nd floor also has a garderobe chamber.[10]
The 3 storey tower and bawn wall
The 2 storey 17th
century residence was built along the south bawn wall and partially along the
west wall. Its windows are blocked up and the interior much destroyed by 19th
century farm buildings. The three massive chimney stacks along the south wall
with their damaged fireplaces speak of a house that was wordy of the son of the
last seneschal of Imokilly.[11]
South and west range of the 17th century residence
One of the chimney stacks
The bawn wall showing a lower level and undated rebuild
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End of post
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[1]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[2]
MacCotter, P., ‘The Geraldine clerical lineages of Imokilly and Sir John Fitz
Edmund of Cloyne’, in David Edwards (ed.), Regions
and Rulers in Ireland 1100-1650: Essays for Kenneth Nicholls (Dublin,
2004), pp. 54-77, at p. 55
[3]
MacCotter, P, ‘The Fitzgeralds of Imokilly’, in Pádraig Ó Loingsigh (ed.), The Book of Cloyne: Leabhar Chluain Uamha
(Cloyne, 1993), pp. 79-100, at p. 82
[4]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[5]
MacCotter, P, ‘The Fitzgeralds of Imokilly’, in Pádraig Ó Loingsigh (ed.), The Book of Cloyne: Leabhar Chluain Uamha
(Cloyne, 1993), pp. 79-100, at pp. 84, 85
[6]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[7]
MacCotter, P, ‘The Fitzgeralds of Imokilly’, in Pádraig Ó Loingsigh (ed.), The Book of Cloyne: Leabhar Chluain Uamha
(Cloyne, 1993), pp. 79-100, at p. 85
[8]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[9]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[10]
Power, D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory
of County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
[11] Power,
D. (ed.), Archaeological Inventory of
County Cork, Volume 2: East and South Cork (Dublin, 1994), no. 5571
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