A list of Clare castles made in 1570 is published and analysed here by Martin Breen and compared with a list made four year later. Martin also gives the present name, condition and location of each castle. This article originally appeared in the North Munster Antiquarian Journal vol. xxxvi (1995) pp.130-138. Clare County Library is grateful to Martin Breen for donating this article.

A list made in 1570 of 125 castles in Co. Clare is published here. It is checked against a list made in 1574 which gives 170 castles, and the unlikelihood of the 45 extra castles having been built in the intervening four years is discussed. (In 1899 Westropp listed 214 castles in the county, most of which are at present known.)

While researching source material for a book on the history of the castles of Co. Clare a notice of a State Paper containing a list of 125 castles in Thomond in 1570 A.D. was found in The Calendar of the State Papers of Ireland.^[1] Through the good offices of Professor Etienne Rynne I was allowed access to the microfilm section of the library in U.C.G. where a copy of the manuscript of the State Paper (S.P.I. Elizabeth, Vol. XXX no. 68/1) was obtained. After some research into the handwriting of the sixteenth century, particularly the Elizabethan style known as "the secretary script", the subject matter for this paper was deciphered and transcribed. I must acknowledge at this stage the help given to me by Brian Ó Dálaigh who is no stranger to deciphering the manuscripts of the sixteenth century.

The list can serve as a tool in dating these 125 castles to at least pre-1570. It also gives the owners, some of their occupations, and a few other interesting notes on the castles themselves. A similar list of castles in Thomond in 1574 was published by R.W.Twigge in the precursor of this journal in 1910.^[2] This list gives 170 castles of which 114 are common to both lists. The 1574 list gives no information about the castles other than the actual owners. It can be said that those castles appearing on the 1574 list date to at least that date. It is difficult to explain the 45 extra castles on the later list. It is possible that some had been built in the intervening four years; of course some castles could have been accidentally omitted from the 1570 list. The situation in Thomond in the years 1570 to 1574 would not have allowed such resources as would have been necessary to undertake an extensive campaign of castle-building. The English were attempting to show authority in their newly-acquired lands in Thomond. Conor O'Brien, third Earl of Thomond, had shown his disdain for the English by refusing to attend the assizes held by the President of Connaught, Sir Edward Fitton, in the monastery of Ennis in 1570. When summoned to attend he made prisoners of the messengers and caused Fitton to flee to Gort for safety. The Earl's kinsman, the Earl of Ormond, was sent to calm the situation. O'Brien submitted, fled to France and a year later went to London to ask the Queen Elizabeth's forgiveness. He was restored to his property and pledged not to rebel against her authority again. However, by 1573 the O'Briens were again up in arms. This time it was a quarrel that broke out among themselves, the reason for which we are not aquainted. Suffice to say that a general plunder of the countryside was the consequence.^[3] Castle-building therefore during these years would not have been a priority. It is more likely that the English officials being unfamiliar with the territory in 1570 did not make a very thorough job of the first list. The compiler of the second list, Edward White, was better qualified for the job. According to Sir Edward Fitton, he was born in Limerick and was familiar with the Irish, English, French and Spanish languages, and "is indifferent ready with his penne."^[4]

There are approximately 220 known castles and castle-sites in Co. Clare. T.J. Westropp named 195 of these in 1899.^[5] To his list he added 19 castles from the 1574 list which he could not identify, and he omitted at least 5. Using both lists we can say that the majority of castles in Co. Clare were built before 1574. It is also possible to say that by 1534 there were more than 100 castles in Co. Clare. Conor O'Brien (died 1539), last King of Thomond, wrote in 1534 to King Charles V of Spain, asking him to help rid his country of the English conquerors. O'Brien promised to give to the Spanish King 17,000 armed soldiers and the use of "more than 100 castles" to accomplish the mission.^[6] Unfortunately we do not have a list of these 100 castles.

Two other copies of the 1574 list were made and many errors appear in them. One copy is now among the Carew MSS. (611, p. 234); the other copy is known as the Trinity College List, (MS. E. 2, 14,).^[7] This is the list which appears in Fr. White's History of Clare.^[8] It was mistakenly dated 1584 in the appendix (he correctly dates it 1574 in the text on p. 207). The origin of this list is explained by Twigge as coming from MS. E. 2, 14, of Trinity College Dublin.^[9] He also quotes Hogan's Description of Co. Clare in 1598 in which the same errors are noted.^[10] If one compares the original state paper^[11] with the Trinity College list or with Hogan's list, it will become obvious that an error occurred in aligning the columns of the castles with the columns of their owners when the copies were made. When Twigge's list is checked against a copy of the original 1574 State Paper it is essentially correct.

The following transcription of the 1570 list is given as accurately as possible. Very few details have been changed. Punctuation has been omitted as it is not possible to be entirely accurate due to the condition of the copy of the original State Paper. Some spelling has been regularised where the scribe had different spellings for the same word. Contractions have been silently expanded in all cases. Capitals are unaltered. Letters and words within square brackets have been inserted for the sake of clarity.

In order to make the 1570 castle list useful to students of local history, the present name, condition and location of each castle is given in the right-hand column below.

State Papers Ireland - Elizabeth, Vol. XXX, 68/1

The names of all the Castles in Thomond with the persons in whose hands the same are [rep]putly detained and the names who are to answer for them in an[n]o 1570.

Notes