Ballymote Castle (Irish: ''Caisleán Bhaile an Mhóta'') is a large rectangular

keep A keep is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in castles that were fortified residen ...

less castle, built around 1300. It is located in the townland of Carrownanty on the outskirts of

Ballymote Ballymote () is a market town in southern County Sligo, Ireland. It is around 20 km south of Sligo town in the province of Connacht, which is in the north-west of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Ballymote lies in the Barony (Ireland), barony ...

in southern

County Sligo County Sligo ( , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region and is part of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. Sligo is the administrative capital and largest town in ...

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

. This area was known historically as ''Átha Cliath an Chorainn'', which roughly translates as ''The Ford of the Hurdles of Corann''. It is the last of the Norman castles in

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

. It was probably built in order to protect the newly won possessions of Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster (also known as the ''Red Earl''), in County Sligo, some distance from an earlier

motte A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or Bailey (castle), bailey, surrounded by a protective Rampart (fortificati ...

Construction and design

Ballymote castle is a large enclosure castle, the most symmetrical of all the Irish "keepless" castles. It has many similarities with

Beaumaris Castle Beaumaris Castle ( ; , ), in Beaumaris, Anglesey, Wales, was built as part of Edward I of England, Edward I's Conquest of Wales by Edward I of England, campaign to conquer north Wales after 1282. Plans were probably first made to construct t ...

, in

Anglesey Anglesey ( ; ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms the bulk of the Principal areas of Wales, county known as the Isle of Anglesey, which also includes Holy Island, Anglesey, Holy Island () and some islets and Skerry, sker ...

, Wales, built by King

Edward I of England Edward I (17/18 June 1239 – 7 July 1307), also known as Edward Longshanks and the Hammer of the Scots (Latin: Malleus Scotorum), was King of England from 1272 to 1307. Concurrently, he was Lord of Ireland, and from 1254 ...

. The entrance, with a double towered gate, is in the north wall and had twin D-shaped towers. It has a gatehouse typical of the period, the outer portions of which have almost completely disappeared. The castle, however, remains an impressive structure. The interior measures about . There are three-quarter round towers at all four corners and also in the middle of the east and west walls. A postern gate, which was planned for the centre of the south wall, was never completed, probably because of the events of 1317, when the castle was lost to the O'Connors. A small square tower had protected this gate. The walls are about thick and flanked with six noble towers. Passages of about wide ran through the centre of the walls all around and the passages were built in such a way that they gave access to the towers, and to the intervening curtain walls at different heights, thereby meeting the needs of attack or defence. No traces of the interior domestic buildings survive. Local folklore suggests that underground passages connected Emlaghfad church with the castle and with the nearby

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related organizations in the Catholic Church, founded or inspired by the Italian saint Francis of Assisi. They include three independent Religious institute, religious orders for men (the Order of Friars Minor bei ...

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

, though such stories are common throughout Ireland and are unlikely to be based on fact. The Red Earl is also credited with building the ancient road from

Boyle, County Roscommon Boyle (; ) is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It is located at the foot of the Curlew Mountains near Lough Key in the north of the county. Carrowkeel Megalithic Cemetery, the Drumanone Dolmen and the lakes of Lough Arrow and Lough Gara ...

Collooney Collooney or Coloony () is a town in County Sligo, Ireland. Toponymy Collooney is thought to derive from . Reverend Terrence O'Rorke has previously also suggested ''Culmaine'', as Collooney is designated this way in such works as the ''Annal ...

, known as ''Bóthar an Corann'' and as the ''Red Earls Road''.

History of occupation

The castle changed hands many times since construction. It was captured by the O'Connors of Sligo in

1317 Year 1317 ( MCCCXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. Events January – March * January 9 – The 23-year-old Philip the Tall, younger brother of the late King Louis X of France, is hastily crowned K ...

, but was taken by the

Mac Diarmada Mac Diarmada (anglicised as McDermott or MacDermot), also spelled Mac Diarmata, is an Irish surname, and the surname of the ruling dynasty of Moylurg, a kingdom that existed in Connacht from the 10th to 16th centuries. The last ruling king was ...

, during the course of local struggles, in 1347. By 1381 it had passed to the

McDonagh The surname McDonagh, also spelled MacDonagh is from the Irish language Mac Dhonnchadha, and is now one of the rarer surnames of Ireland. Mac Dhonnchadha, Mac Donnchadha, Mac Donnacha or Mac Donnchaidh or Mac Donnacha is the original form of ...

s. Although owned by Tadhg MacDermot, one of the last of the Kings of Moylurg in 1561, it appears to have passed to the O'Connor Sligo by

1571 Year 1571 ( MDLXXI) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. Events January–March * January 11 – The Austrian nobility are granted freedom of religion. * January 23 – The Royal Exchange opens in Lond ...

, at which time he surrendered the castle and had it regranted to him by

James I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 unti ...

. In 1577, the castle fell into English hands for a short period and then more permanently in 1584, when it was taken by the Governor of Connacht Richard Bingham. A lack of occupation levels implies that the building was virtually abandoned during the above period (from 1317 to 1584). The O'Connors, O'Hartes and O'Dowds sacked the castle in

1588 Events January–March * January 22 – Pope Sixtus V issues the papal bull '' Immensa aeterni Dei'', a major reorganization of the Roman Curia creating 15 congregations of cardinals, including the Congregation of the ''Index ...

. The English surrendered it in 1598 to the MacDonaghs who sold it shortly afterwards to

Red Hugh O'Donnell Hugh Roe O'Donnell II (; 20 October 1572 – 30 August 1602), also known as Red Hugh O'Donnell, was an Irish Chief of the Name, clan chief and senior leader of the Irish confederacy during the Nine Years' War (Ireland), Nine Years' War. He was ...

(one source says he bought it for £400 and 300 cows). It was from here that Red Hugh O'Donnell marched to the disastrous

Battle of Kinsale The siege of Kinsale (), also known as the battle of Kinsale, was the ultimate battle in England's conquest of Gaelic Ireland, commencing in October 1601, near the end of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, and at the climax of the Nine Years' War� ...

1601 This Epoch (reference date)#Computing, epoch is the beginning of the 400-year Gregorian leap-year cycle within which digital files first existed; the last year of any such cycle is the only leap year whose year number is divisible by 100. Jan ...

. When the O' Donnells surrendered it to the English in 1602, it was already in a bad state of repair. In

1633 Events January–March * January 20 – Galileo Galilei, having been summoned to Rome on orders of Pope Urban VIII, leaves for Florence for his journey. His carriage is halted at Ponte a Centino at the border of Tuscany, wher ...

, the Taaffes owned it for a short time, but had to surrender it again to the English Parliamentary forces in

1652 Events January–March * January 8 – Michiel de Ruyter marries the widow Anna van Gelder and plans retirement, but months later becomes a vice-commodore in the First Anglo-Dutch War. * February 4 – At Edinburgh, the parl ...

. In the Williamite wars the castle was held by Captain Terence MacDonagh for King James II, but he had to surrender it to Lord Granard in the face of an artillery attack in 1690. Soon afterwards the fortifications were made harmless, the

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch dug around a castle, fortification, building, or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. Moats can be dry or filled with water. In some places, moats evolved into more extensive water d ...

was filled up and the castle fell into ruins. In more recent years the

Office of Public Works The Office of Public Works (OPW) (; legally the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland) is a major Government of Ireland, Irish Government agency, which manages most of the Irish State's property portfolio, including hundreds of owned and ren ...

have carried out preservation work on the castle.

Access

The castle is on the R296,

Tubbercurry Tubbercurry or Tobercurry () is the second-largest town in terms of both population and land area in County Sligo, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It lies at the foot of the Ox Mountains, on the N17 road (Ireland), N17 national primary road, and ...

road, opposite the Ballymote railway station, and just past the Catholic church. Access is through the grounds of the Ballymote Community nursing unit. Open from 9 am – 5 pm Monday to Sunday.

References

{{Castles in Connacht Buildings and structures completed in 1300 Castles in County Sligo Ruins in the Republic of Ireland National monuments in County Sligo Ballymote

Construction and design

History of occupation

Access

See also

References