Halla Mór in Newcastle West castle
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
A
large castle complex at Newcastle, Co. Limerick, in post medieval times
generally referred to as Newcastle West, was one of the two great castles in
County Limerick belonging to the Earl of Desmond, that at Askeaton being the
other. The castle enclosure is divided between public (one third) and private
ownership (two thirds). This, along with the reduction and removal of many of
the enclosure walls, and the many of the buildings within the castle yards,
makes it difficult to see the full castle at the height of its glory. A large
two storey building, with a roof and windows, within the yard, known as the
Banqueting hall, gives its name to the official name of the site, the Desmond
Banqueting Hall.[1]
Also in the castle yard is another banqueting hall without any roof or glass in
its bare windows and this building is usually called Halla Mór.
Connello sub-infeudation
In
medieval times Newcastle was sometimes known as the castle in Connello or the
castle of Connello as this was the pre-Norman name for the western area of
County Limerick in which the castle is situated and in Norman times was formed
into the four cantreds for administration purposes. The two eastern cantreds of
Rathkeale/Askeaton and Bruree were created from the Uí Chinn Fháelad section of
the Uí Chonaill dynasty that was allied to the Thomond part of pre-Norman
Munster under the O’Brien family.[2] In
1199 King John granted these cantreds to Hamo de Valognes.[3]
The western half of Uí Chonaill was held by the Uí Chuilein part of the dynasty
and was allied to the Desmond part of Munster under the MacCarthy family. This
area formed the two cantreds of Shanid (in the north) and Killeedy (in the
south) in Norman times.[4]
In
1177, when King Henry II divided the territory/kingdom of Desmond between
Robert Fitz Stephen and Milo de Cogan the western half of Uí Chonaill was
included in this carve up of Irish territory because it was previously part of
Desmond, which means South Munster, just as Thomond means North Munster. In
1178 Fitz Stephen and de Cogan shared out the seven cantreds of Desmond that
were by that time under Norman control or accessible to Norman influence. Thus
De Cogan got Kenalbek, Obathan and the two Kenaleths in what is now the area
from Ballinaboy to Rosscarbery along the Cork coast. Fitz Stephen got the
larger area of Omakille (Imokilly), Olethan (Barrymore & Kinnatalloon) and
Fermoy (Fermoy along with Condons & Clangibbon) in east Cork as the Normans
control was more secure the further east you went. By the time Fitz Stephen
died in 1183 the Normans had laid claim to the Buttevant/Charleville area of
north Cork, known as Muscridonegan, and western Ui Chonaill but they didn’t
fully control the area. Before he died Fitz Stephen granted Killeedy and
Muscridonegan to his nephew Philip de Barry as Fitz Stephen had no legitimate
children of his own.[5] In
1207 King John confirmed Olethan, Muscridonegan and Killeedy to William Fitz
Philip de Barry, son of Philip de Barry, for the service of ten knight fees.[6]
It
is possible that Philip de Barry built a number of motte and bailey castles in
Killeedy at Mahoonagh and Killeedy as he established military control over the
area.[7] These
castles could also have been built by Philip de Prendergast who was granted
southern Killeedy by Philip de Barry to make settlement effective.[8] It
is also possible that these mottes and that at Shanid in the northern half of
Killeedy were built by William de Burgh who was granted the area in sections by
the de Barry and Prendergast families. Sometime between 1185 and 1190 Simon le
Poher, the second husband of Margaret de Cogan, daughter and heiress of Milo de
Cogan enfeoffed William de Burgh of the two cantreds of Altry and Acumys in
north Kerry. These two cantreds bordered those of Killeedy and Shanid. Later
Richard de Burgh, son of William, married a daughter of Richard de Carew, heir
of FitzStephen’s half of Desmond.. it would appear that William de Burgh
arrived in Ireland in the 1190s to make effective his enfeoffments.[9] In
1199-1205 William de Burgh granted land in Shanagolden near Shanid to
Glastonbury Abbey and a tuath in Killeedy to William le Petit.[10] William
de Burgh (died 1204) was a powerful lord with interests in various parts of
Ireland. In the County of Munster he held lands at Kilfeale, Clonmel,
Tibberaghny, Kilsheelan, Castleconnell, Ardpatrick and Fontymykill.[11] As
son-in-law of Donnell O’Brien, King of Thomond, William de Burgh was seen by
Prendergast and Barry as a good man to effective permanent settlement in
western Uí Chonaill. His grandson, Walter de Burgh, became first Earl of Ulster
of the de Burgh family.[12]
In
1199 Richard de Carew died as heir of the lordship of FitzStephen’s half of
Desmond, leaving a son, Robert de Carew, aged about 4 years. In 1216 Robert de
Carew took seisin of his father’s lordship but by then the government had
transferred Killeedy and Shanid into the new County of Munster.[13] Later
on the County of Munster was divided into the Counties of Tipperary and
Limerick thus western Uí Chonaill is today in modern County Limerick instead of
in County Cork.
The
manor of Connello (O’Conyll) was granted before 1213/4 to Thomas Fitz Maurice.[14]
He may have constructed the first castle at Newcastle or adopted an existing
structure as it is difficult to call something new unless there was an old
castle nearby to compare it with. It was possibly called Newcastle if we take
the old castle to be the motte and bailey castle at Mahoonagh. Thomas Fitz
Maurice was a follower of William de Burgh and seems to have acquired a grant
of Shanid and Killeedy from William de Burgh.[15]
In the second quarter of the 13th century John Fitz Thomas, son of
Thomas Fitz Maurice, held the two cantreds of western Uí Chonaill for four
services. It appears that William de Burgh held Killeedy from Prendergast and
Newcastle from the Barrys as did John Fitz Thomas in his time.[16] The
triangular shape of the first stone castle at Newcastle West with its angular
corners and no round towers reminds one of a small group of Norman castles in
County Cork that have angular corners with no round towers like Ballincollig,
Kilmaclenine and Mogeely.[17]
The latter castle was within the de Barry cantred of Olethan. Thus the builder
of Newcastle West was possibly in communication with the de Barry family on
what type of castle they would like on their estate.
The
presentation above of the many possible builders of Newcastle castle; namely,
Philip de Barry (1180s), William de Burgh (1190s), William de Barry (1207) and
Thomas Fitz Maurice (pre1213) is because archaeology of the castle, and the
surrounding motte castles, has not being sufficiently carried out, or not
occurred at all, such that not date line can be constructed. Documentary
sources for the period don’t give any clear date line also and only started
referring to the castle at Newcastle from the second half of the thirteenth
century onwards.
Newcastle parish
By
the end of the thirteenth century, such as in 1298, the parish in which
Newcastle was located was called Newcastle but this cannot be its original
name.[18] Folklore
from at least the early nineteenth century said that the area around Newcastle
was once held by the Knights Templar as in the 1st Ordnance Survey
map in 1840 calls the castle, the Templar’s castle. There is no medieval
evidence that the Templar’s had any connection with Newcastle. It is suggested
that the Templar idea was a misinterpretation of the Irish word, teampul, which is one of many words for
a church.[19]
About a kilometre south of the castle, on the road to Ardagh, is a place known
as Churchtown where a medieval church stands in ruins in the cemetery. This
place is also called Ballintemple and was possibly the name of the parish
before sometime in the mid 13th century that the named changed to
Newcastle. A survey of the property and parishes owned or attached to the
Bishop of Limerick in 1200-1 mentions a number of parishes surrounding
Newcastle such as Cluenclaidmech (Mahoonagh), Kellite (Killeedy), Ardachad
(Ardagh) and Magmor (Moymore in Athea) but unfortunately not Ballintemple or
Newcastle.[20]
In 1777 the parishioners of Newcastle asked to relocate their parish church
from Churchtown to new church within the town. This new church was built north
of the Desmond Hall (banqueting hall) and south of the town square. The church
was dedicated to St. Thomas. Owing to the decline in the protestant population
in the twentieth century the church fell into disrepair and in 1962 was
demolished leaving only the outline of its foundation walls to be seen today. A
mounted bronze figure of Gearóid Iarla Fitzgerald, the 3rd Earl of
Desmond and celebrated poet, stands within the former church site.[21]
Newcastle manor
In
1282 the jurors of Limerick said that John Fitz Thomas held the cantred of
Aylly (Killeedy) of John de Barry by the service of two knights and that in 1261
was worth £200 but by 1282 was only worth £100.[22] In
March 1298 the manor of Novo Castro (Newcastle) was worth £98 17s 5d. At that
time the castle was worth nothing inside and outside the walls because greater
sums were expended in repairs and maintenance than could be earn from castle
rents.[23] In
April 1300 the manor of Newcastle was worth £98 17s 5d while the manor of
Kilyde (Kileedy) was worth £20 15s a year.[24] In
1302 the town around the castle was attacked and the church was burnt.[25]
In 1315 the town was burnt again, this time by the Irish, as part of the
invasion of Ireland by Edward Bruce.[26]
Building the Halla Mór
The
Halla Mór was built sometime in the second half of the thirteenth century when
the castle curtain walls of Newcastle were moved to the east and to the west.[27]
This changed the layout of the castle from a triangular castle to a rectangular
castle with the long side along by the river. As the cantred of Killeedy had
declined in value between 1261 and 1282 the expansion of the castle possibly
took place after 1282 when Thomas Fitz Maurice Fitzgerald and before 1298. The
Halla Mór is likely to be one of the works built at the castle as part of its
expansion under Thomas Fitzgerald.[28] The
area to the west of the Halla Mór accommodated a new domestic range and
defensive towers. This area was further extended at a later time, maybe 15th
or 16th century to allow for more domestic buildings. To the
extended area to the east of the Halla Mór allowed for service buildings such
as a possible kitchen behind the present visitors centre. Round towers were
also constructed at the corners of the new east curtain wall.
The
expansion of the castle extent and the building of the Halla Mór marked a new
departure for the castle at Newcastle. It elevated the castle from a mere
defensive structure, guarding the crossing of the Arra River, to an
administration centre of importance in the cantred of Killeedy, the caput of Killeedy. The hall was used not
just for feasting but also when matters relating to the administration of
Newcastle manor were conducted. The hall possibly also functioned as the court
for the cantred of Killeedy.[29]
When the chapel in the north-east of the castle yard was converted into an
upstairs banqueting hall in the 15th century, the administration
functions of the Halla Mór possibly continued to be held there rather than in
the new banqueting hall.
After the Earl of Desmond, 1586-1900
After
the forfeiture of the expansive estates of the Earls of Desmond in 1586 the
land was divided into smaller estates that were mainly given to English
grantees who were obliged to plant English settlers on their new estates, thus
the transfer of the Desmond lands is usually referred to as the Munster
Plantation. In 1591 Sir William Courtenay of Devon acquired the castle and
surrounding lands of Newcastle. The castle was in partial ruins by that time
owing to the four year Desmond rebellion of 1579-83 and the years of neglect
between 1583 and 1591. Because of the poor state of preservation the castle was
captured by the Irish during the Nine Years War but the ruins also allowed for
the easy recapture of the castle in 1601 by Sir George Carew. By 1609 the
castle was held by Sir George Courtenay and by 1622 he had carried out much
repair work and reconstruction. This work greatly helped the castle in 1642 to
withstand a siege of seven months and only surrendered when the Irish brought
up heavier cannon from Limerick.[30]
Sometime in the years 1709 to 1760 the Courtenay family built a large house on
the footings of the medieval domestic range which was located just west of the
Halla Mor.[31]
A coach house was built in the middle of the yard to the east of the Halla Mór
and this today acts as the visitor centre for the public part of the castle.
Between the visitor centre and the east curtain wall of the castle are the
foundations of a long rectangular building of possible medieval date as it is
sixteen feet wide which is a common width for medieval buildings. This building
was erected after the castle was expanded post 1282 but its use is unknown. It
could be part of the kitchens to serve the Halla Mór and the Desmond Banqueting
Hall but this is unclear.
Twentieth century
In
1910 the Courtenay family sold much of the urban estate in Newcastle town and
the family of the estate agent, Charles Curling, purchased the castle complex.[32]
In 1922 the castle was occupied by the Anti Treaty forces until August 1922
when they were driven out by advancing Free State forces on behalf of the newly
formed Irish government in the civil war which occurred between July 1922 and
May 1923 following independence from Britain. The Anti Treaty forces burnt the
Courtenay mansion before they left to deny its use to the Free State. The
castle was occupied by the Free State army and later for a time by the Garda
Siochana (the civilian unarmed police force). Sometime after 1922 the castle
was divided into lots and sold off (suggestively date to early 1940s). The Nash
family purchased that part of the castle which is now (2023) the public area
and became known as Nash Yard. A new partition wall was built from the river to
the gateway of the castle. The west gable wall of the Halla Mór became part of
this partition wall.[33]
It is not clear in what condition the Halla Mór was at that time but by the
1940s it had being reconstructed into a cinema with new doorways and blocked up
windows and internal partitions. The cinema opened in 1941 with room for about
500 seats and was known as the Desmond Cinema. The operator was Patrick
Carroll-Nash.[34]
On the night of 26th February 1968 the cinema went on fire. This
fire recalled for many the tragic cinema fire in Drumcollogher a few miles
south-east of Newcastle in 1926 when forty-eight people lost their lives.
Drumcollogher was also once owned by the Courtenay family.[35] The
building was left a roofless ruin until the whole public part of the castle was
purchased by the state through the Office of Public Works in 1989. The
Banqueting Hall, which was used variously as a Masonic Lodge and local
community hall, was restored and opened to the public. In 2022 the government
outlined plans to restore the Halla Mór with a roof and glass in the bare
windows.
The fabric of the Halla Mór
The
Halla Mór is built of roughly quarried limestone with no quoins. The Halla Mór
is circa 21meteres east-west, and 7.5meters north-south. The north and south
walls of the Halla Mór are near to full height of circa 4.5meters. The west
gable is circa 8meters high. The east gable varies in its medieval fabric from
1.25meters to 3.5meters in the north-east corner. The post medieval part of the
gable extends the whole height to circa 7.5meters.[36] The
entrance to the single storey building was at the east end of the north wall.[37] This
is in keeping with the layout of enclosure castles and manor houses where the
doorway of the banqueting hall is opposite the gateway to the castle. This
north facing doorway was for visitors. The Earl entered via a doorway at the
east end of the south wall having walked from the domestic range located just
west of the Halla Mór over the previous boundary wall.
The
east and west gables appear to have had no windows. Inside the east gable were
two niches for food or lighting. The south wall presently has four windows
evenly spaced along its length. The most westerly window had a stone seat on
each side of the opening for people to have a private conversation. The mostly
easterly window was a doorway in the original 13th century Halla Mór
but was blocked up and cut across by the 14th century. The present
north wall has three windows towards the western end. A blocked doorway or
window lies on the east side of the centre of the wall with the doorway at the
east end. It would appear that the late 13th century Halla Mór had
eight large cusped twin light windows of dressed limestone.[38]
These were long windows that extended down to near the base of the wall. The
windows have some sculptural decorations like small oak leaf motifs.[39] Some
of these were removed in the early 14th century, during the time of
Maurice FitzThomas Fitzgerald, created 1st Earl of Desmond in 1329,
when the Halla Mór underwent structural changes. The most westerly window on
the north wall and the two westerly windows on the south wall along with the
mostly easterly window on the south wall were replaced by embrasures with four
light cusped windows with a fifth cusped light above.[40]
In
the 15th century the Halla Mór was again the subject of
reconstruction when the walls were raised and tall stepped battlements were
added to the roof line. Stone corbels were placed inside the north and south
walls to support the new roof line. But this was insufficient to take the extra
weight on the original walls. Thus a base batter was added to the base of the
walls of circa 1.65meters high and 35cm out from the wall line.[41]
The batter blocked up the bottom half of the 14th century windows
leaving just three lights on each window. This worked is attributed to James
Fitzgerald, 7th Earl of Desmond, in the period 1440 to 1462 when he
died.[42] The
14th century windows have grooves for glass while the mullions and
sill of the third window (13th century window) from the west on the
south wall were added in 14th or 15th century. It is
likely that the original 13th century windows all had glass as this
would enhance the then new banqueting hall and show visitors that the
Fitzgeralds were people of substance.
It
is unlikely that Earl James would reconstruct the Halla Mór while at the same
time building a second storey on top of the 13th century chapel in
the north-east corner of the castle yard to create what we now refer to as the
Banqueting Hall or Desmond Hall. It is more likely that James’s son, Thomas
Fitzgerald, 8th Earl of Desmond, built the Desmond Hall between 1462
and 1468 when he was beheaded at Drogheda. In 1463 Thomas was appointed Lord
Deputy of Ireland.[43] The
new two storeys Desmond Hall would be far more impressive as a banqueting hall for
the most senior official in Ireland than the single storey Halla Mór which was
possibly downgraded to the dinner hall of retainers and servants of visitors.
Of course both halls would need a kitchen or two to cook the food and the
foundations of the medieval building to the east of the visitor’s centre may
have fulfilled that function.
The
Desmond castle at Newcastle West is a most impressive complex, even with only a
third of it accessible to the public. This post on the Halla Mór features just
one of its many buildings. When I visited the castle in April 2023 the Halla
Mór was fenced off for reconstruction work and so this post only touches the
surface of this one building as a full examination was not possible. It is
hoped that in a future time the OPW will succeed in reroofing the Halla Mór and
that will be a sight to see.
===============
End
of post
[1] Tietzsch-Tyler,
Daniel, ‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co.
Limerick’, in the North Munster
Antiquarian Journal, vol. 51 (2011), pp. 27-51, p. 27
[2] MacCotter, Paul, Medieval
Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Dublin, 2008), p. 186
[3] Keegan, Mark, ‘The archaeology of manorial settlement in west
county Limerick in the thirteenth century’, in James Lyttleton & Tadhg O’Keeffe
(eds.), The Manor in Medieval and Early
Modern Ireland (Dublin, 2005), pp. 17-39, at p. 23
[4] MacCotter, Medieval Ireland:
Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions, p. 186
[5] MacCotter, Paul, ‘The Sub-infeudation and Descent of the
Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of Desmond (Part 1)’, in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol. 101
(1996), pp. 64-80, at p. 64
[6] MacCotter, ‘The Sub-infeudation of the Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of
Desmond (Part 1)’, pp. 64-80, at p. 76
[7] Keegan, ‘The archaeology of manorial settlement in west county
Limerick in 13th century’, pp. 17-39, at p. 27
[8] MacCotter, ‘The Sub-infeudation of the Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of
Desmond (Part 1)’, pp. 64-80, at p. 76
[9] MacCotter, Paul, ‘Lordship and Colony in Anglo-Norman Kerry,
1177-1400’, in Journal of the Kerry
Archaeological and Historical Society, Series 2, Vol. 4 (2004), pp. 39-85,
at p. 41
[10] Keegan, ‘The archaeology of manorial settlement in west county
Limerick in 13th century’, pp. 17-39, at p. 26
[11] Empey, C.A., ‘The Settlement of the Kingdom of Limerick’, in James
Lydon (ed.) England and Ireland in the
later Middle Ages: Essays in honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven (Dublin,
1981), pp. 1-25, at pp. 5, 6
[12] Orpen, Goddard Henry, Ireland
under the Normans, 1169-1333 (Dublin, 2005), p. 514
[13] MacCotter, ‘The Sub-infeudation of the Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of
Desmond (Part 1)’, pp. 64-80, at pp. 66, 67, 70
[14] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 28
[15] MacCotter, Paul, ‘The Sub-infeudation and Descent of the
Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of Desmond (Part II)’, in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society, Vol. 102
(1997), pp. 89-106, at p. 97
[16] MacCotter, ‘The Sub-infeudation of the Fitzstephen/Carew Moiety of
Desmond (Part 1)’, pp. 64-80, at p. 76; Empey, C.A., ‘The Settlement of the
Kingdom of Limerick’, in James Lydon (ed.) England
and Ireland in the later Middle Ages: Essays in honour of Jocelyn Otway-Ruthven
(Dublin, 1981), pp. 1-25, at p. 12
[17] O’Keeffe, Tadhg, Medieval
Irish Buildings, 1100-1600 (Dublin, 2015), p. 241
[18] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 4, 1293-1301 (5 vols. London,
1877-1881, reprint Liechtenstein, 1974), no. 551, p. 257
[19] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 28
[20] MacCaffrey, Rev. James, The
Black Book of Limerick (Dublin, 1907), nos. XXIII, XXIV, p. 171
[21] OPW, Desmond Hall, visitor’s guide (no date)
[22] Sweetman, H.S. (ed.), Calendar
of Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 2, 1252-1284 (5 vols. London, 1877,
reprint Liechtenstein, 1974), no. 1912, p. 429
[23] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 4, 1293-1301, no. 551, pp. 256, 257
[24] Sweetman (ed.), Calendar of
Documents relating to Ireland, Vol. 4, 1293-1301, no. 727
[25] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 28
[26] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 28
[27] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 33
[28] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 29
[29] O’Keeffe, Medieval Irish
Buildings, 1100-1600, p. 213
[30] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, pp. 38, 39
[31] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 40
[32] Internet Blogpost,
Comerford, Patrick, The castle in
Newcastle West that has survived wars, fires and name changes, posted 11th
September 2017 (accessed on 2nd August 2023)
[33] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 40
[34] www.cinematreasurers.org Desmond Cinema by Gavin McGrath
(accessed 2nd August 2023)
[35] Irwin,
Liam, ‘The Calamitous Burning: The Drumcollogher Disaster of 1926’, in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal, Vol.
53 (2013), pp. 241-265, at p. 241
[36] www.archaeology.ie Archaeological Inventory via the
Historic Environment Viewer on that website (accessed 2nd August
2023)
[37] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 33
[38] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 33
[39] OPW, Desmond Hall, visitor’s guide (no date)
[40] Tietzsch-Tyler,
‘Reconstructing the Earl of Desmond’s Castle, Newcastle West, Co. Limerick’,
pp. 27-51, p. 34
[41] www.archaeology.ie Archaeological Inventory via the Historic
Environment Viewer on that website (accessed 2nd August 2023)
[42] OPW, Desmond Hall, visitor’s guide (no date)
[43] McCormack, Anthony M., The
Earldom of Desmond, 1463-1583: The Decline and Crisis of a Feudal Lordship
(Dublin, 2005), p. 58
