Cahir Castle

Exploring Ireland is always a fun thing -especially when I have companions to go exploring with! Today, I’ve headed to Cahir Castle. I’ve been here before with my friend A; and on my own, and this time I decided that Mr.🐟 would love to see this impressive castle – so in the car we went and a couple hours later – arrived to Cahir, and the gorgeous castle.

View of Cahir Castle in Spring with the road to the right.

Cahir Castle was first built in wood in 1142 by Conchobar Ua Briain, King of Thomond, on what was then an island in the River Suir, and replaced an older stone ring fort (Irish: Cathir) at the same location. This “stone fort” lent its name to the castle and later, the town that grew up around the castle (Cahir).

The Castle grew in two parts, with the side nearest the main street and bridge being built about the 13th century when the original fortress was granted to James Butler, newly created Earl of Ormond, for his loyalty to English King Edward III. The Butler family became very powerful, and in the 1500’s (about 200 years later) added in the section of the castle which now houses the Audio-Visual presentation. By 1542 when the first of the Barons Cahir was created, and during the Tudor – Elizabethan era, the Butlers in Ireland sided with the Catholics.

View of castle from inch field / park area

Despite being thought of as rather impregnable (It had stood strong for nearly 400 years) in 1599, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the castle was beseiged by Robert Devereux, the Earl of Essex before finally falling to heavy artillery that was used against it for the first time. Sir Charles Blount was put in charge of the castle and area for a year – until Lord Cahir joined with the Earl of Tyrone in 1601 took it back (he was charged with treason and later freed). In 1627, Cahir’s son-in-law, Lord Dunboyne, shockingly murdered his distant cousin, James Prendergast, at the castle in a dispute over an inheritance. Dunboyne was he was tried for the killing but acquitted not long after.

inside the great hall

During the Irish Confederate Wars it was besieged twice more, in 1647 and 1650. Out of “date” design wise, the castle fell into ruin in the late 1700s before being partially restored (the great hall) in the 1840s. While mostly disused, the castle then remained in the Butler family line (Lord Cahir) until 1961 when the last Lord Cahir died and the castle became the property of Ireland. Tours and visits are currently run by the Office of Public works (OPW).

A short Tiktok of my third visit is below (note that the outside area only was open during covid and the photos above are from the other 2 visits).

@phoenixrosedsgn lets explore #Cahir #Castle #Tipperary #Ireland #free #opw #staycation #history #travel #tourism #thingstodo #midevilcastle ♬ Wasted by the Water (Original Club Mix) – Joe & Cahir

Swords Castle – Digging up History (part 2)

Yesterday, I told you a bit about Swords Castle, digging on day 1. Basically, this fortified house / castle is undergoing a series of 2 week long community participation Archaeological digs supervised by Fingal Community Archaeologist: Christine Baker. You can find out more about when they are held and participate yourself much like I did for two days:

http://www.fingal.ie/planning-and-buildings/heritage-in-fingal/swordscastledigginghistory/

The archaeology is in preparation for renovations to be held on the site (some of the modern buildings along the street are to be pulled down) and to allow for further discovery and historical preservation of the location. I decided to join the dig for 2 days and was placed into the third trench.

While Day one was hard going with the digging (hard dry ground – despite the cool temperatures), it rained over night. For Day two this was a mixed blessing. This meant that the soil was softer to dig – but much more muddy and messy. Not fearing the mud, we began tackling the trench and removing layers of soil with picks and shovels. Then, it started to rain. Everyone was quite determined, and kept on plugging away at the trench – having donned rain gear

We continued until lunch, when the heaviest of downpours started. I ate lunch, then went on to explore the Constable’s building which was open and dry inside.

The constable’s building (above) was redone in 1995-1998. They basically put a wooden roof on the building and restored it to the expansions that the Dutch settlers to the castle put in in the 1500’s. The ground floor is all set for storage of food, wine and other goods. If you open the door with it’s massive hinges and go up the circular staircase to the first floor

Massive hinges
You enter into the living quarters. Here you will find a huge oaken door with a wooden timber that is embedded into the wall – and could be locked in place for security in case of invasion.

There’s a huge fireplace with metal braziers with horned dragons:

If you go up again, there’s another fireplace, and a welcoming benched table next to stained glass windows, and above you there’s a gorgeous wooden ceiling with a carved animal type chandelier.

There’s also the Privvy / Guardrobe area (where one would hang the clothes for airing out the lice). One funny thing to note about the Privvy – is that it’s quite set to recline – and that there’s an angled hole (you can’t see in or out) to allow for sound to carry through so conversations / meetings could still continue while they were doing their business.

After lunch the rain continued. Trench 1 had digging halted – they had discovered a wall, but the depth of it (over 5 feet deep) was making it unsafe in the rain.

Trench two where a flag stone floor was discovered was cleaned up and logged:

Trench 3 still had digging continue, but because I didn’t have great footwear – I opted to go under the tent and started cleaning our finds with water, toothbrushes, small dental picks, and the like.

A few more finds from the site:

An old pipe

Wall plaster

Pottery from the 1400’s – not fully baked

By the end of the day – I had to laugh. Two of the “mudlark” archaeologists who stayed out in the weather came in for a well deserved hot cup of tea – and I had to snap a picture… Digging the castle isn’t for the weak.

I’m looking forward to more excavations in the summer, and you can follow the discoveries and finds on their facebook page at:

https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=swords%20castle%3A%20digging%20history

Swords Castle – Digging up History (part 1)

Irish National Heritage Week - volunteering to dig Swords Castle Archeology. Despite the hard work and rain, we had lots of fun and interesting finds so far. Volunteers over 18 needed through September 11. #swordscastle #archaeological #archaeology #excav

Technically, Swords Castle isn’t a castle. It’s a fortified house which once belonged to the first Anglo-Norman Archbishop of Dublin, John Comyn, and was built around 1200. The “castle” underwent a few different iterations, first as a wooden palisade and then a stone structure. It’s interesting because the “palace” did house the archbishop’s own knights, a separate tower for the Constable (who was responsible for the day to day running of the location – as the Archbishop mostly came in Summer or on through trips), and had a banqueting hall to the right (now a ruin) and a multi story chapel (once located where the one story chapel from the 13th century is today). The site not only held regular “judicial” practices for the region but also held an ecclesiastical court.

After Robert The Bruce came through Ireland in 1317, parts of the fortified house / palace began falling in disrepair. Use of other parts of the site, however, continued until the 15th century as there are records of retired archbishops being stationed here. Eventually, the castle was sold on to a family and used as parts of orchards.

Today, the castle is undergoing a series of 2 week long community participation Archaeological digs supervised by Fingal Community Archaeologist: Christine Baker. You can find out more about when they are held and participate yourself much like I did for two days:

http://www.fingal.ie/planning-and-buildings/heritage-in-fingal/swordscastledigginghistory/

Trench 1: looking for the remains of the great hall

Trench 2: Looking for the edges of the chapel, and a middle ages floor

The map below might help give an idea of the layout:

Starting out, Trench 3 it was dry, cool, and decent weather. Stephen, the archaeologist seen in the picture, gave us 2 meters instead of the 3 we had planned, because we were short on people power.