Ardfinnan Castle

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Ardfinnan Castle
Ardfinnan Castle

Ardfinnan Castle

Alternative name (s): Caisleán Ard Fhíonáin
Creation time : 1185
Castle type : Hilltop castle
Conservation status: converted into a country house
Standing position : Irish nobility
Construction: Quarry stone , partially plastered
Place: Ardfinnan
Geographical location 52 ° 18 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 52' 49.5"  W Coordinates: 52 ° 18 '40.3 "  N , 7 ° 52' 49.5"  W.
Height: 45  m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference
Ardfinnan Castle (Ireland)
Ardfinnan Castle

Ardfinnan Castle ( Irish Caisleán Ard Fhíonáin ) is a hilltop castle in the village Ardfinnan on Suir , 11 km west of Clonmel in Ireland's County Tipperary . The castle was built around 1185 as a sister castle to Lismore Castle to guard the river crossing there. Today it is in private hands and not open to the public.

The Anglo-Norman castle sits on a large rocky slope above the Suir valley; the Knockmealdown Mountains are south of it and the Galtee Mountains in the northwest. The castle covers the base of a parallelogram and has square battlements at the corners and a fortified gateway.

history

Early history

The English King John Ohneland , then Lord of Ireland, had the castle built in 1185 during his first campaign in Ireland. John's father, King Henry II , had suggested Ardfinnan and Thybroughney on the Suir River and Lismore on Blackwater as key positions in the building of castles. It was particularly important that Ardfinnan Castle would secure a route from the Anglo-Norman-ruled south coast to central Ireland. Johann Ohneland arrived in Waterford in April 1185 , after which he soon enfeoffed the Cambro-Norman knight Maurice de Prendergast with the rule of Ardfinnan, commissioned him with the construction of Ardfinnan Castle and asked him to defend it as his castellan .

Front part of the remains of the 13th century donjon, which - unusual for Ireland - had a round instead of a square plan.

In retaliation for the construction of the castles by Johann Ohneland, Lismore Castle was captured by the Irish in a surprise attack and their castellan, Robert de Barry , slaughtered along with the entire garrison. The King of Munster , Domnall Mór Ua Briain , the King of Connacht , Ruaidrí Ua Conchobair , and the King of Desmond , Dermod MacCarthy , then turned against Ardfinnan Castle. When Ua Briain faced the imposing castle on the other bank of the river, he realized that he could not take it by force. He faked his retreat but turned back only to be pursued by the small garrison of knights that Ardfinnan Castle held, which was an advantage to Ua Briain. He turned back to Ardfinnan on the spot, surrounded the now defenseless knights with his army, cut down a large part of them and then conquered Ardfinnan Castle. After this battle and other lost battles against the Irish kings, Johann Ohneland's original force of 300 men was so decimated that he was recalled to England by his father in December of the same year, 1185.

Ardfinnan Castle was promptly retaken and continued to change hands between the competing Anglo-Norman owners until it was handed over to the Knights Templar and later given to the Knights of St. John . The Johanniter protected this important transition between Cashel and Lismore and at the beginning of the 13th century they had the round donjon built.

Siege by Cromwell's forces

On February 2, 1650, Major General Henry Ireton , who accompanied Oliver Cromwell in the reconquest of Ireland , found neither good weather conditions nor did he have boats for the crossing of the River Suir with his army. So he set out for the Ardfinnan Bridge, in order to conquer another important crossing over the river in addition to the bridge at Carrick . With the prospect of conquering the strategically placed castle that protected the passage from high above, he waited until about 4 a.m. the next morning to undertake a siege. David FitzGibbon (The White Knight), castellan of Ardfinnan Castle on behalf of King Charles II , defended the castle against the parliamentarians with a small group of soldiers . With cannons, which Ireton had placed on a hill opposite the castle, he bombed the once impenetrable walls until a major breakthrough resulted after 8 shots. He then killed about 13 men in the outer guard, losing only two of his own people, and 10 of his men were wounded. After that, Ardfinnan Castle was promptly handed over to the New Model Army , which then used it as a garrison for their entire time in Ireland. Because of his quick abandonment of the castle, FitzGibbon's life was spared, but he then lost his lands in Ardfinnan and was transferred to Connacht in 1653. Firearms, ammunition and other supplies that arrived at Youghal were carried across the Blackwater River to the Cappoquin crossing and eventually Ardfinnan down the Suir River, reaching the rest of the army in Tipperary. With the end of the reconquest of Ireland , the retreating parliamentary troops dragged Ardfinnan Castle and left it as a partial ruin.

British Army garrison

Under the threat of an invasion in the wake of the French Revolution , the castle was again occupied by a garrison, namely with Fencibles of the British Army . Even if Ardfinnan Castle was in ruins, it had a strategically important location over an important crossing over the River Suir and was used together with the rest of the area around Ardfinnan and Neddans for a summer training camp for the British Army, which also included reserves. prepared for a French invasion. Training in shooting and marching was important in forging an effective military force out of this militia . The initial summer training camp became a permanent camp in March 1796 on the orders of John Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden , which consisted of a force of 2,740 mostly Protestant soldiers. The camp was closed in 1802.

restoration

At the beginning of the 19th century, Ardfinnan Castle and 6 hectares of surrounding land were returned to the descendants of Maurice de Prendergast. These belonged to the family branch from Newcastle . The castle keep was restored in Victorian style around 1846 , with buildings added and the castle essentially converted into a country house. In the early 1920s, Ardfinnan Castle was sold to a certain Mr Mulcahy of the successful Ardfinnan Woolen Mills from the Royal Navy Admiral Sir Robert Prendergast to no member of the Anglo-Irish nobility . This mill overshadows the castle at a point where Prendergast's flour mill used to stand. Mr. Mulcahy had the house done further in 1929. The last extension was a three-story building with gables, which was probably built in the 1930s.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Richard Bentley: A Summer Visit to Ireland in 1846 . Whitby West 1847.
  2. ↑ Dáil Éireann debate - Thursday, 24 Oct 1929. Houses of the Oireachtas, accessed April 18, 2019 .

Web links and sources

Commons : Ardfinnan Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files