MOTTES OF THE IRISH

It is one of the surprises of the period in Ireland that there is so little real evidence for the building of castles by Irish kings or lords, especially as there is some from before the coming of the English, and we would expect it to be greatly reinforced after 1170. The evidence comes from the occurrence of sites in places or areas known to have been held by Irish and believed never to have been occupied, even temporarily, by English, and some direct accounts. We might expect that the Wicklow hill country, where the successors of Diarmait Mac Murchada continued to hold land under the lords of Leinster, would have seen the building of castles, but none have yet been identified. The only one suggested

Figure 43 Cloumacnoise castle: aerial view of the earthworks

By O’Conor, for Leinster as a whole, is a small motte at Monally, Co. Laois, a place well away from known English settlement (O’Conor 1992, 9-10).

In Ulster in general, there are mottes far from the borders of the Earldom, even at their widest extent. One of them is the small motte at Coney Island in Lough Neagh (Addyman, 1965), which may possibly have been put up by one of the Irish archbishops of Armagh; it is certainly unlikely to be English. A second is the large motte and bailey of Managh Beg, Co. Londonderry, firmly in the lands of Ua Cathain. In 1220, as part of his efforts to regain his lands in Meath, Walter de Lacy attacked the crannog of Ua Ragallaig, which has been identified by Orpen with the tower on the artificial island of Lough Oughter, Co. Cavan (Orpen, Normans, III, 33; Manning, 1990). Island forts also appear in Connacht built and held by Irish a very little later: at Hen’s Castle and Lough Key (Lynn, 1986, 102-4).

These are scattered examples, however; only one case has ever been put forward of an Irish kingdom being systematically equipped with castles and being able through them to hold off an English advance. This is the land of Ui Tuirtre in central Co. Antrim, which has a number of fine mottes (Fig. 44), is attractive land which the English of the Earldom of Ulster might well have coveted, but which remained outside the Earldom in spite of being surrounded by it on three sides

Figure 44 Harryville, Co. Antrim: a motte and bailey in the heart of the Irish kingdom of Ui Tuirtre

(McNeill, 1980, 103-4). Whether this is enough to make the case for Irish castle building before 1225 must be left to others to judge. It should be emphasised, however, that it would be peculiar if the Irish did not build castles. If they were useful to the English to hold on to land, surely they would also have been so for the Irish. It is also a curious society which will not adapt to save its land. Again, too, we must remember that there was some Irish fortification before the English came. None of this is really enough to overthrow the basic equation of castles, whether of stone and mortar, or of timber and earth, with the new lordships of the English.