Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Ballyragget Castle (tower house), Kilkenny

 

Ballyragget Castle (tower house), Kilkenny  

Niall C.E.J. O’Brien

 

Ballyragget castle is a large five storey tower house built in the late 15th century. The castle is surrounded by a bawn wall with a round tower on each of its four corners. The castle stands between the town of Ballyragget and the River Nore in north central area of County Kilkenny. Enda Houlihan has written a large dissertation in 2007 on the castle and the surrounding town for his BA in Education entitled Ballyragget Castle, Co. Kilkenny: A history and comparative analysis. A tower house is a type of medieval castle built from the 15th to 7th century consisting of a square tower with one storey above another and surrounded by a courtyard known as a bawn with the enclosing bawn wall. A few circular tower houses were built but most were square with one side a few feet longer than the other side as at Ballyragget.


Tower House south side


Tower House Description

The tower measures 44 feet by 31 feet according to Canon Carrigan with walls seven and a half feet thick. The doors and windows are surrounded by cut stone limestone. The main entrance door is on the east side of the tower. In the 17th century a large mansion house was built onto the east side of the tower house. The house with a thatched roof was later demolished and survives without a trace except for two lines of corbels jutting out of the east side of the tower house to support a floor beam in the mansion house.[1] The corbels are at ground floor level and first floor level suggesting the vanished house was at least two storeys. A first floor doorway gave access between the tower house and the vanished house.[2]

The tower house was built of limestone with a base batter. Single light windows mainly have round headed surrounds while the double light windows have external hood mouldings. The floor boards of the first, second and third floors were inserted in modern times but have now decayed to such a state as to be unsafe. A garderobe chamber exists at the north-west corner of the first four storeys and was served by two chutes with an exit at the north end of the west wall. The entrance doorway in the east wall of the ground floor was protected internally by a guard room. A hallway led to a pointed doorway through which people entered the ground floor room. At the north end of the hallway was a spiral stairs which led upwards to roof level in the north-east corner.

The ground floor room had a window on the north, west and south walls with three wall-cupboards. The first floor room also had three windows, one in each wall. The south wall of this chamber had a fireplace of cut limestone which was later made smaller by red bricks. The second floor has a window in the west and south walls with a block two-light window in the north wall. This room also has a fireplace in the south wall that was later filled in to make it smaller. The second floor room has three small mural chambers, one each on the west, east and north walls. The third floor room has a window in the north and west walls. The ceiling in this room is a pointed vault of wicker-centring. The main chamber on the fourth floor has the south wall inscribed fireplace dated to 1591 and initialled with the letters GM for Grissel Mountgarret within two heraldic shields.[3] Although most of the tower house displays features common to the 16th century building there are a few scattered features more typical of a 13th century building such as the loop in the north wall mural chamber on the second floor.[4]  

The surrounding bawn wall is about 100meters ENE-WSW and about 91meters NNW-SSE with round two storey towers at each corner. A moat once surrounded the wall of which only traces exist outside the north wall. The entrance gate is on the east side protected by gun loops. A smaller entrance is on the west wall where the wall kicks inward and protected again by gun loops. Inside the walls was a surrounding wall walk now removed in many places.[5] The inwards kick in the western bawn wall could possibly mark the southern wall of an earlier smaller bawn yard. The Butler Mountgarret family could have extended the bawn southwards when they took over the castle from the Pembroke family.


Ballyragget castle c.1840


Besides the tower house the bawn contains a number of farm buildings and possible domestic houses. The House Book of the Valuation Office does not survive from the 1840s to give it’s the function of each of these buildings at that period. It is possible that some of these buildings occupy the site of medieval buildings. The tower house would be where the lord’s family lived. Other medieval buildings within the bawn would include a great hall, kitchens, stables, store houses and a haggard to store the hay. In the Ordnance Survey maps from 1840 onwards the standing buildings occupy the north-west corner of the bawn area leaving about three quarters of the bawn empty. We known the vanished house occupied part of the north-east quarter of the bawn leaving the southern half of the bawn as empty. This empty half possibly had gardens and areas to graze livestock.   


West gateway and kickin bawn wall


Ballyragget in the 13th century

Ballyragget castle and town is situated beside the River Nore and lies in the civil parish of Donoghmore in what is known from the 17th century onwards as the barony of Fassadinin. In medieval times Fassadinin was known as the cantred of Odagh which took its name from the Irish kingdom of Ui Duach Argatrois. In the 12th century the area was part of the Trícha Cét of An Comair (Castlecomer) within the kingdom of Osraige.[6] In 1231 William Marshal the younger, Earl of Pembroke, died unexpectedly and left his large lordship of Leinster to his brother Richard Marshal. The king wrote to the constables of the various castles in Leinster held by Earl William to surrender the castles to the king’s bailiff pending the regrant to Richard Marshal. One of these castles was at Odagh.[7]  

Ballyragget place-name

The name Ballyragget is said derive from Richard le Ragget, a lord of the area after the Norman conquest sometime in the 13th century. It is often translated as the town, or homestead, of the Ragget family with Bally corresponding to Baile in Irish which is the word for town or homestead. Instead the Irish for Ballyragget is Béal Átha Ragad which translates as ‘the gap leading to the ford of Ragad’.[8] In the 1220s Richard le Raggede is mention as a party to the disputed tithes to Tulach Barry church.[9] It is assumed that Richard le Raggede gave his name to the ford over the river. In 1589-94 it was said that there were two hundred burgess acres around Ballyragget.[10] Thus suggests that, whereas Ballyragget was originally just a fording point on the River Nore with Odagh (Threecastles) to the south as the main Anglo-Norman town in the area, that a medieval town did grow up around the ford under the protection of a possible thirteenth castle that was later built over by the 15th century tower house.

The Raggede family in other records

The Pembroke family held property in and around Ballyragget from the 1250s until the 1540s yet the original Raggede family had not totally disappeared. In 1324 Roger le Raggede held one carucate of land in Raggedeston (Ballyragget) in Odagh as a free tenant of Aymer de Valence.[11] When the lordship of Leinster was divided in 1247 among the five heiresses of the Marshal family, the cantred of Odagh (worth £42 10s 4d), although within the liberty of Kilkenny, was granted to Joan Marshal, the second daughter, as part of her liberty of Wexford. Joan Marshal was dead by 1247 and her son briefly inherited before he died to be succeeded by his sister, Joan, and her husband, William de Valence, half-brother of King Henry III. In 1324 the castle of Odagh was described as a Norman motte, upon which were two houses roofed with straw. In 1307 there were 110 burgages in the borough of Odagh.[12] Today Odagh castle motte is located at Threecastles on the west bank of the River Nore near a fording point. Threecastles is about ten kilometres south of Ballyragget.

Elsewhere members of the Raggede family, also spelt as Ragit or Ragid, appear in various medieval records. In the 1350s Thomas Raget was constable of Drogheda castle on behalf of the government.[13] In the 1440s, John Raggyt was a chaplain entrusted with property in Kilkenny city and county.[14] In the 1440s Umfrey Ragyt held land in the manor of Dunfort.[15] In the 1450s John Ragit was a captain under Kilkenny Corporation.[16] In the 1490s Nicholas Raget held property in Kilkenny city.[17] In the 1491 Nicholas Ragid and William Ragid were among the first twelve on Kilkenny Corporation while Thomas Ragit and Robert Ragid were among the second twelve of Kilkenny Corporation.[18] In the 1540s Peter Ragid and Edward Ragid were burgesses of Kilkenny.[19] In 1545 William Ragged was portrive of the corporation of Irishtown beside Kilkenny city while in 1625 William Fitz Michael Ragged was portrive.[20]

Ballyragget in 14th century

In the 1250s the family of John de Evreux held five carucates on the west side of the River Nore in fee of Donoughmore. In about 1250 John de Evreux granted a third part of the five carucates, which were held by his mother, Lady Alice de Hereford in dower, to Roger de Penbroc.[21] In 1310 Roger de Pembroke granted to his son Robert de Pembroke all the messuages, tenements, groves, weirs, gardens and land he held in Balyrayhy in the tenement of Lysdounnechy (Lisdowney).[22] In 1338 Roger, son of Roger de Pembroch granted all his lordship of Balyraghtyn (Ballyragget) in Odagh to his cousin William, son of Robert de Pembroch.[23] In 1347 Patrick Fitz Henry of Donoughmore granted an acre of arable land in Donoughmore to John de Pembroke on the road to Ballyrathyn by the land of William Lercedekne (Archdeacon).[24]


South-east tower and south bawn wall


Ballyragget 1408 to 1542

In 1408 Stephen Pembroke granted five carucates of land with all messuages, rents, lordships and services in Awnadhynwor, Balyrathyn and Garranynanryley to Robert Shortal, lord of Ballylarkin.[25] In 1517 Nicholas, son and heir of David Pembroke, quitclaimed one messuage and three carucates of land in Balyrathyn to James Shortal, lord of Ballylarkin, along with 40d rent from 40 acres at Rathcally.[26] In 1522 James Shortal gave this property to his daughter Joan and her husband James Purcell.[27] In 1541 Robert Shortal of Higginstown granted, in thrust, to two clerics the towns or hamlets of Ballyragget, Donoughmore and Garrynemock to hold forever.[28] On 8th January 1542 Stephen Pembroke, son and heir of Nicholas Pembroke, granted the castle and town of Bellaragged (Ballyragget) to James Butler, Earl of Ormond, along with all the land adjoining the River Nore as far as Rosconyll in consideration of £500 paid to Stephen.[29] A month later, in February 1542 James Purcell of Garran and Robert Oge Shortal of Higginstown granted all their castles, lordships, manors and other property in Ballyragget, Donoughmore and Ballynenoddagh to William Seysse to hold forever. Six days later William Seysse gave the property to Leonard Blanchville to hold with remainder to John Pembroke and his heirs. A month later, on 24th March 1542, Margaret Fitzgerald, dowager Countess of Ormond, agreed to be bound to the judgement of the Chief Justice of the King’s Bench concerning the possession of Ballyragget, Donoughmore, Finnans and Ballynarahen to the sum of £1,000 against James Butler, Earl of Ormond, her son.[30] It would seem that Lady Margaret had a lease of these lands around Ballyragget from before 1542 that has not survived. Sometime after Richard Butler, Margaret’s second son, inherited her dower lands in Wexford, Tipperary and Kilkenny including Ballyragget. But he spent most of his time developing his Wexford estates around Mountgarret which gave its name to his later viscount title.[31]

Ballyragget and Margaret Fitzgerald and Pierce Butler

In 1905 Canon William Carrigan said that Ballyragget castle was built about 1485 when Margaret Fitzgerald married Pierce Ruadh Butler, Earl of Ormond. She died in 1542 and a stone bench on top of the tower house is referred to as ‘Mairgread ni Gearoid’s chair.[32] Samuel Lewis in 1837 said that Ballyragget was a favourite residence of Margaret and she is said to have sent retainers out into the countryside to attack the property of her neighbours and not be slow to hang wrongdoers.[33] Enda Houlihan has argued that Ballyragget tower house was an original construction within its contemporary bawn wall and not part of any reconstructed structure of a previous medieval castle. The above Ormond deeds suggest that Stephen Pembroke, or his father Nicholas Pembroke, built Ballyragget castle before granting it in 1542 to James Butler, Earl of Ormond. Indeed it was only from about 1510 onwards that successive Earls of Ormond started to push Butler power north from Kilkenny city into modern County Laois with control of the area between Urlingford and Castlecomer as their principal objective.[34] The sale of Ballyragget by Stephen Pembroke to James Butler was part of this northward expansion as the Butlers sought not only to push out the Irish families from control but also the Anglo-Norman families.[35] It is possible that Lady Margaret improved an existing Ballyragget castle of the Pembroke family as part of her lost lease between 1515 and 1542 and that the castle may have been constructed at different times.


Ballyragget castle c.1900


Margaret Fitzgerald was the daughter of the 8th Earl of Kildare and was regarded as a very strong willed woman throughout her life. It was said that ‘all estates of the realm crouch unto her’.[36] When she married Piers Ruadh Butler in about 1485 she needed all her inner strength. At the time of their marriage Piers Butler was the third son of the junior Pottlerath branch of the Butler family. Their cousin, Sir James Butler of Ormond, acted as Irish agent for the absentee Earls of Ormond. He is said to have reduced Piers and Margaret to travelling homeless gentry with a few retainers.[37] In 1489 Piers Butler was made sheriff of County Kilkenny with the help of Gerald, Earl of Kildare.[38] It was the beginning of his rise to power and wealth. On 17th July 1497 while Sir James Butler was travelling between Dunmore and Kilkenny with six horsemen Piers Butler blocked the road and killed Sir James with his spear. Piers Butler then became the Irish agent for the Earls of Ormond.[39] In 1515 when the 7th Earl of Ormond died without male heirs Piers claimed the earldom as a great, great grandson of James Butler, 1st Earl of Ormond.[40]

But this was the time of King Henry VIII and the Tudor monarchy had plans to make a centralised state. The landed estate of the Ormond earldom was thus divided between the two daughters of the 7th Earl, the granddaughter of one was Anne Boleyn. In 1529 King Henry made Thomas Boleyn the new Earl of Ormond with Piers having to be satisfied with a new title of Earl of Ossory. But by 1539 when Piers died the Boleyns had fallen from power and Piers died holding two earldoms. The government finally recognised Piers as 8th Earl of Ormond the previous year. He was the first Earl of Ormond to be buried in St. Canice’s Cathedral and was joined in 1542 by Margaret under a fine effigy tomb.[41]

Butler expansion into north Kilkenny

In the period 1536-42 Piers Butler and his son, James, 9th Earl of Ormond, benefitted greatly from the dissolution of the monasteries in Kilkenny acquiring 75% of all the religious estates in the county. Richard Butler, younger brother of James and future 1st Viscount Mountgarret, acquired Inistioge priory to give the Butlers 80% of the religious estates.[42] With this new wealth combined with the fighting ability of Piers Butler the family moved north into the Ballyragget area. The Gaelic MacGiollapadraigs (alias Fitzpatrick) of Upper Ossory opposed the Butler expansion. After 1515 the MacGiollapadraigs pushed south and Upper Ossory was lost to County Kilkenny and the present county boundary between Laois and Kilkenny was established. Occasionally the MacGiollapadraigs took Ballyragget and Courtstown before they were pushed north again. The Brennan family were in this period the chief family of Odagh but their Anglo-Norman lords of Wexford, the Valence and Talbot families had ceased to exercise power. On their own the Brennans were unable to stop the Butler advance and Odagh became firmly part of County Kilkenny.[43] It is estimated that a dozen men garrisoned in Ballyragget castle would cost the Butler family about £75 per year.[44] Thus it was cheaper to let the soldiers travel around the area imposing coign and livery (food and lodging charges) upon the inhabitants. This created resentment in the area and continued unrest for much of the 1515-69 period.    


Ballyragget town and castle 


Ballyragget as part of the Butler Dunmore manor

In 1561 Patrick Dene of Grinan received a lease of the town and manor of Dunmore along with the town of Ballyragget and other places for nine years at a rent of £43 per year from Gerrot, Earl of Desmond, and Joan his wife, Countess of Desmond, Ormond and Ossory.[45] In 1565 Sir Thomas Butler of Ormond granted the manor of Dunmore and its associated towns including Ballyraghtane to Leonard Blanchfield for 21 years at £43 annual rent.[46] In 1572 Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, granted the manor of Dunmore along with Ballyragget and other places to Patrick Shortal of Dunmore for 21 years at £40 annual rent after Patrick paid the Earl £20.[47] Under these leases many Anglo-Norman families still remained in the Ballyragget area such as the Purcell family and their many branches as tenants.[48]

Butler, Viscount Mountgarret, and Ballyragget

In 1551 Richard Butler, youngest son of Pierce Ruadh, was raised to the peerage as Viscount Mountgarret.[49] He acquired Ballyragget as part of a large inheritance of Butler land from his father. In the 1550s the Viscount Mountgarret became to develop his north estates around Ballyragget. He promoted the plantation of Laois and Offaly to secure his estates from northern attacks by the Irish of those parts.[50] In 1584-7 the county sheriff of Kilkenny measured Ballyraghtane for a twelfth part of a plough as part of a tax upon the whole county to raise £80.[51] In 1589-94 Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, petitioned Queen Elizabeth to form a commission to establish the Earl’s proper title to various properties in Kilkenny and Tipperary including Dunmore manor and its associated properties of Kilmokar and Ballyraghtane.[52] In 1591 Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret, renovated the state room on the forth storey installing a large cut stone chimney piece with the initials EM 1591 over the hearth. In 1590-1 the Brennans of Odagh (Idough) had ambushed Edmund Butler as he paraded through the region but they were unsuccessful at pushing the Butlers out.[53] The inscription on the fireplace was thus a display for any visitors to Ballyragget castle that Butler power was here to stay.

In 1594 Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, made his will and granted Dunmore manor with Ballyragget and other places to his wife Lady Elizabeth to hold in her widowhood.[54] In 1602 the Earl of Ormond gave Dunmore manor with Ballyraghtane and other places to Sir Nicholas Walsh and others to hold in thrust for Lady Elizabeth Butler in her widowhood.[55]

Ballyragget in the Nine Years War

During the Nine Years War the strategic location of Ballyragget at the junction of an east-west routeway with the main north-south valley up from Kilkenny city north to County Laois ensured that the castle was attacked and captured on three separate occasions. In the upper River Nore valley Ballyragget was at the main crossing point of that important river. In the 1590s Thomas Butler, 10th Earl of Ormond, was an old man without legitimate male heirs who preferred to listen to the counsel of his legal advisers than his cousins like Edmund Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret. Thus when the Nine Years War began in 1594 Mountgarret and his sons decided to use the occasion to rebel against the Earl of Ormond.[56]  

But the old earl was not yet without a fight. Mountgarret had only a small army of family and tenants with some help from O’Neill of Ulster and the Irish families of Laois. But these were no match for the forces assembled by the Earl of Ormond. In October 1596 Mountgarret was arrested and taken to Dublin. But his sons fought on as best they could. Early in 1598 the royal army approached Ballyragget where they besieged the castle for three days before forcing entry. The surviving garrison of fifteenth men were publicly hanged as a lesson for the local population. But towards the end of 1598 Mountgarret was able to recapture Ballyragget castle. In 1599 the Earl of Essex entered Kilkenny and although he was attacked by Mountgarret’s sons was able to take Ballyragget castle. In May 1599 he placed a garrison of 100 men in the castle under Captain Henry Folliott. The loss of Ballyragget ended Mountgarret resistance in the north.[57]


South-west tower


Ballyragget in 17th century

But in April 1600 the old Earl of Ormond was kidnapped by Owney O’More and the whole of Kilkenny became leaderless. Yet the Irish failed to secure the invasion routes into northern Kilkenny because of the quick response by Lord Mountjoy with government forces. A few days after Ormond was seized Mountgarret’s sons tried to retake Ballyragget castle. the rebels failed to enter the castle and withdrew when Sir George Carew arrived from Kilkenny with 30 men and supplies for the castle to hold out for six weeks. By June 1600 the Earl of Ormond was released following a deal to great acclaim by the people of County Kilkenny. In August 1600 Owney O’More was killed in a skirmish and the rebellion in north Kilkenny was over. In 1602 Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret, died and with his eldest son hanged along with his nephew, the Mountgarret rebellion was at an end.[58]     

After the Nine Years War the Butler family of Viscount Mountgarret were restored as landlords of Ballyragget. Around the town the flat river valley provided excellent ground for wheat production while he surrounding upland provided grazing for cattle and sheep. One tenant of the Viscount hoped to earn £80 per year from two wheat fields.[59] In 1610 Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, was described as of Balleen Castle which suggests that the family had moved their principal residence from Ballyragget Castle.[60] But this seems to have been a temporary move as a few years later the family returned to Ballyragget and started to develop the adjoining town. Indeed Richard Butler began to develop the whole area around Ballyragget as his own feudal lordship and his tenants seemed to have benefitted from this. In 1618 John O’Loughlin held a farm near Ballyragget worth £600 in land, livestock and crops.[61] In 1622 the 3rd Viscount Mountgarret secured a grant of a licensed fair and market at Ballyragget.[62] The town and estate of Ballyragget was also created into a manor at this time.[63] Previously it had been part of the manor of Dunmore.

In the Confederate War of 1641-53 Viscount Mountgarret was among the chief leaders on the Irish side. Ballyragget became a very safe place to express your Irish Catholic culture. The parish priest of Ballyragget took advantage of the situation to repair Rosconnell medieval church as a place of Catholic worship once again.[64] After 1653, when the Irish were defeated, Viscount Mountgarret lost a considerable portion of his estates. In the 1650s Ballyragget was forfeited to the English Parliament and was granted to Colonel Daniel Axtel. During his time Colonel Axtel is said to have hanged many Catholics and Protestants from a lime tree beside the castle. It is said that the town was remodelled in the 1650s during Axtel’s tenure along the English lines of a village surrounding a triangular green.[65] The Down Survey of 1665 describes Ballyragget as a castle and bawn, late the property of Lord Mountgarret, Irish papist. Following the restoration of King Charles II, Lord Mountgarret was successfully at recovering Ballyragget.[66] After 1689 the 5th Viscount Mountgarret was declared an outlaw for supporting King James and his estates were forfeited to the new King William. In 1715 the outlawry was reversed and Mountgarret recovered his estates.  

Ballyragget in 18th century

In 1775 the largest assembly of Whiteboys took place in and around Ballyragget when 300 horsemen and 200 foot soldiers gathered under the leadership of Mr. Moore from Higginstown. The Whiteboys were a secret agrarian organisation that sought to protect tenant farmers from the landlords.[67] On 22nd February 1775 a force called the Anti-Whiteboys League garrisoned Ballyragget castle.[68] This group was led by Robert Butler, landlord of Ballyragget, and the local parish priest, Alex Cahill. A battle ensued with the besieged killing three of the Whiteboys and victory went for the League when the Whiteboys withdrew. Yet the towns lived under fear for several months after less the Whiteboys should return.[69]

In 1775 the Butler family of Ballyragget had a rental income of £7,000.[70] Yet living in a medieval castle of about three hundred years was considered not in keeping with an important landlord of the late 18th century. In 1788 the Butler family left the tower house and built a new house to the south of the castle known as Ballyragget Lodge.[71] During the 1798 Rebellion government troops occupied the castle to control the surrounding countryside. The strategic location of the castle at the crossroads of a north-south routeway and an east-west routeway was still important as it was to the first builders in the 15th century. In the previous year, 1797, the United Irishmen were active in the district of Ballyragget, Castlecomer and Durrow.[72]


South bawn wall


Ballyragget in 19th century

In 1813 the Butler family sold Ballyragget castle and town to their cousins, the McMurrough Kavanagh family of Borris castle in County Carlow.[73] In Griffith’s Valuation of circa 1850 Ballyragget castle was occupied by Thomas Hogan who rented the castle and bawn yard from Colonel Ralph Johnston. The plot consisted of 3acres 3 roots and 2 perches valued at £3 5s while the buildings were valued at £2 5s.[74] In the 1830s and 1850s Thomas Kavanagh was the head landlord for much of Ballyragget town. In 1833 Colonel Ralph Johnston had taken a lease from Thomas Kavanagh of Ballyragget Lodge, a county house to the south of the castle along with Ballyragget castle.[75]

Ballyragget castle in 20th century

In the 1930s a workman, his wife and family lived in the first two storeys of the tower house. The upper storeys were then considered unsafe.[76] In about 1945 the castle and bawn was sold to Mr. Carey along with Ballyragget Lodge. In the 1950s and 1960s the castle was used a timber store.[77] Today the castle and the bawn is private property closed off from the public by its ancient bawn wall. Although the outer walls of the tower house look solid the timber of the internal floor levels is unsound. The tower house is surrounded by 19th and 20th farm buildings just as it would be surrounded by other buildings in the 15th and 16th centuries. Many have described Ballyragget castle as a hidden jewel of north County Kilkenny. Before any plans to open it to the public, the castle would need some renovation and money. Some would say this is too much as it would have to compete against nearby Kilkenny Castle for the tourist interested in medieval castles. But Ballyragget is a different type of castle to Kilkenny. Late medieval tower houses are scattered across the countryside in various states of preservation and ruin. But few tower houses stand within a preserved bawn yard and wall like Ballyragget and that may make the difference in any public access considerations. This then is a brief account of a great survivor, a late medieval tower house within a bawn, known as Ballyragget castle.

 


Ballyragget in the Nore valley and the gap beyond


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[1] Anon, ‘Ballyragget Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016

[2] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[3] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[4] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[5] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001002, Ballyragget bawn wall

[6] MacCotter, Paul, Medieval Ireland: Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Dublin, 2008), p. 182

[7] Orpen, Goddard Henry, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1333 (Oxford, 1920, reprint Dublin, 2005), III, p. 59 (p. 310 in 2005 edition)

[8] www.logainm.ie searching Ballyragget or Béal Átha Ragad

[9] St. John Brooks, Eric (ed.), Knights’ Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny: 13th to 15th Century (Dublin, 1950), p. 178, note 3

[10] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume VI, 1584-1603 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1943), p. 121

[11] St. John Brooks (ed.), Knights’ Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, p. 178, note 3

[12] Orpen, Ireland under the Normans, 1169-1333, III, pp. 86, 87 (pp. 322, 323 in 2005 edition)

[13] Connolly, Philomena (ed.), Irish Exchequer Payments, 1270-1446 (Dublin, 1998), pp. 453, 459, 468

[14] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1935), pp. 27, 28, 130

[15] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D., pp. 123, 124

[16] McNeill, Charles (ed.), Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Dublin, 1931), p. 60; Otway-Ruthven, Jocelyn, Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Kilkenny, 1961), p. 65

[17] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D., p. 274

[18] McNeill (ed.), Liber Primus Kilkenniensis, pp. 93, 95; Otway-Ruthven, Liber Primus Kilkenniensis, p. 70

[19] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1937), p. 194

[20] Ainsworth, John, ‘Corporation Book of the Irishtown of Kilkenny, 1537-1628’, in Analecta Hibernica, No. 28 (1978), pp. 3-78, at pp. 15, 72

[21] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1932), vol. 1, no. 109

[22] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D., vol. 1, no. 455

[23] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D., vol. 1, no. 708

[24] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D., vol. 1, no. 795

[25] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume II, 1350-1413 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1934), p. 285

[26] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume II, 1350-1413 A.D., p. 286; Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 52 gives the date as February 1518

[27] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 52

[28] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 207

[29] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 215

[30] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 216

[31] Edwards, David, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642: The rise and fall of Butler feudal power (Dublin, 2003), pp. 93, 178

[32] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[33] Lewis, Samuel, Topographical Directory of Ireland (2 vols. London, 1837), vol. 1, p. 162

[34] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 17

[35] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 20

[36] Dunboyne, Lord, Butler Family History (Kilkenny, 1991), p. 14

[37] Dunboyne, Butler Family History, pp. 12, 13

[39] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D., p. 279; Dunboyne, Butler Family History, p. 14

[40] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 13

[41] Dunboyne, Butler Family History, p. 14

[42] Dunboyne, Butler Family History, p. 14

[43] Dunboyne, Butler Family History, pp. 17, 18, 19

[44] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 176

[45] Curtis, Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1941), p. 125

[46] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 151

[47] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 230

[48] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 31

[49] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 93

[50] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 179

[51] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 156

[52] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume VI, 1584-1603 A.D., p. 119

[53] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 19

[54] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume VI, 1584-1603 A.D., pp. 74, 165

[55] Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume VI, 1584-1603 A.D., p. 186

[56] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 248, 250

[57] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 252, 253, 255

[58] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 257, 259, 261

[59] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 29

[60] Anon, ‘Ballyragget Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016

[61] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 32

[62] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 52

[63] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001, Ballyragget historic town

[64] Ó Fearghail, Fearghus, ‘The Catholic Church in county Kilkenny, 1600-1800’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and Society (Dublin, 1990), pp. 197-249, at p. 210

[65] Cullen, L.M., ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and Society (Dublin, 1990), pp. 273-288, at p. 277

[66] Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[67] Anon, ‘Ballyragget Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016

[68] Nic Eoin, Mairin, ‘Irish Language and Literature in County Kilkenny in the Nineteenth Century’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and Society (Dublin, 1990), pp. 465-479, at p. 471

[69] Burtchaell, Jack & Daniel Dowling, ‘Social and Economic Conflict in County Kilkenny, 1600-1800’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and Society (Dublin, 1990), pp. 251-272, at p. 271, 272

[70] Cullen, ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny’, pp. 273-288, at p. 274

[71] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[72] Cullen, ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny’, pp. 273-288, at p. 286

[73] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

[74] Griffith’s Valuation, Parish of Donoughmore, plot 49A

[75] www.census.nationalarchives.ie, Valuation Office, search Johnston at Ballyragget, Kilkenny, IRE_CENSUS_1821-5..246762_00380 pdf

[76] J. Kelly, Ballyragget, Folklore Commission, School Project, Scoil Chiaráin Naofa

[77] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house

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