Castle Writers
Out of the Cocoon
Athlone 2020
Roscommon Castle
The castle was built in 1269 by Robert de Ufford, Lord Justice of Ireland, beside a lake on lands seized from an Augustian Priory. It was built in a large quadrangle with corner towers and a gatehouse. A mote with a drawbridge surrounded the Castle. It was attacked by the Connacht King Aodh O'Connor in 1272 and in 1280 it was again in the hands of the English garrison and fully restored. By 1340 the O'Connors regained possesion of it and held it for almost two centuries. The O'Connor family enjoyed a good time and had lots of parties. They enjoyed listening to music,they liked to be entertained by minstrels and bards and loved music played on a harp. The Castle changed ownership between the Irish and English many times, through many battles. It was made into a modern Elizabethan Mansion in the late 1570's by Sir Nicholas Malbay the English govener of Connacht. windows were added and gardens on the east side were enclosed by high walls. inside the Castle walls was a kitchen, hall, pantry and buttery, a bake house and store room where food and other supplies were kept. Toilets called garderobes were built into the thick Castle walls. A murder hole, an opening in the roof was put in so the soldiers could drop hot oil on, or shoot arrows at attackers, which were many. In 1641 the Parlimentarian faction gained the Castle until Confederate Catholics under Preston captured it in 1645. It remained in Irish hands until 1652 when it was partically blown up by Cromwellian "Ironsides". The castle was burned in 1690, and the remainder fell slowly into ruins. Some of the stones from the Castle were used to build the Old Jail in the town, a stone's throw away from the Castle! The Castle remains open to the public, but there is no access to the towers. It was not so in the 1950's when my siblings and I, having lived in view of the Castle, used climb up the crooked stone staircase and stand on top of a tower and view the scene below.
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