Parke's Castle

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Parke's Castle
Caisleán Parke (Irish)
Parkes Castle in Winter.JPG
Outer bawn of Parke's Castle, built by Brian O'Rourke in the 15th century
Parke's Castle is located in Ireland
Parke's Castle
Location within Ireland
General information
LocationLough Gill, County Leitrim
CountryIreland
CoordinatesCoordinates: 54°15′53″N 8°20′04″W / 54.264768°N 8.334429°W / 54.264768; -8.334429
Construction startedlate 15th century
Completed1628
Demolished1610s (Original tower house)
ClientBrian O'Rourke
Robert Parke
National Monument of Ireland
Reference no.390

Parke’s Castle (also known as Newtown Castle and O'Rourke's Castle[1]) is a plantation era castle situated on the banks of Lough Gill, in County Leitrim, Ireland. Originally an earlier fifteenth-century O'Rourke (Uí Ruairc) tower house, it came into the possession of Captain Robert Parke, who, by 1628, had completed his fortified manor house on the site of the older Gaelic castle.

History[]

O'Rourke's Castle[]

The Annals of Lough Cé first mention O'Rourke's tower house at Newtown, Baile Nua close to Dromahair. A roughly circular rock-cut ditch with an opening to the east is probably the oldest feature of the site. The moat provided limestone to build a rectangular bawn wall within the enclosure. The tower house probably dates from 1480-1500, and was the main residence of the ruler of Breifne, Brian O'Rourke.[2]

During his rebellion against the Crown O'Rourke damaged or "slighted" the castle in 1581 to make it unusable by the English. He also demolished his castles at Dromahair and Leitrim at this time. O'Rourke was knighted in 1585 but continued to defy the Crown, sheltering at least eighty Spanish sailors who had been shipwrecked at Streedagh in 1588. Accused of treason, O'Rourke was hunted out of Breifne, fleeing first to Donegal and then to Scotland. He was eventually captured in Glasgow, indicted and executed for high treason in London in November 1591."[3]

His son and successor, Brian Og O'Rourke inherited his title and continued his father's struggle against English invasion. O'Rourke harboured many Irish lords during the Nine Years' War and his castle in Leitrim was the destination for O'Sullivan Beare's infamous march from the Beara Peninsula in the winter of 1602. O'Sullivan arrived with only thirty followers, nearly 1,000 of his kingdom's men, women and children had died on the journey.

Parke's Castle[]

During the plantations of Leitrim in the 1620s, Captain Robert Parke, an English captain and planter, inherited O'Rourke's castle at Newtown and 1000 acres of the surrounding countryside. Parke had a difficult time during the uprising of 1641, where he attempted to stay neutral, much to the outrage of Sir Fredrick Hamilton, another planter who had built his castle at Manorhamilton. Hamilton, who was keen to suppress the remnants of the O'Rourkes had Parke arrested and held him prisoner for 18 months at Manorhamilton. At this time there were about 150 refugees living at Parke's castle.[2]

Parke was married Roscommon woman Ann Povey, and they had three children; Anne, Robert (b. 1661) and Maggie (b. 1663). The name given to the estate by the Parke family was Newtown Castle, and they made it their permanent residence. Tragedy befell the Parke family when Maggie and Robert drowned while boating on Lough Gill in 1677, leaving Anne as the sole heiress. Anne married Sir Francis Gore and went to live with him in County Sligo, allowing the castle to fall into disrepair following her parents’ deaths. The castle was left deserted for three centuries and the bawn was used as a farmyard. The site came into state ownership in 1935 and was used as a storage depot.[2]

Restoration & Layout[]

Sunset over Lough Gill with Parke’s Castle in Foreground

Excavations in 1972–73 revealed the base of the original O'Rourke tower house beneath the courtyard cobbles, and this is now exposed to view.

The castle had extensive and sensitive restoration carried out between 1980 and 1988 by the Office of Public Works. The window glazing was reinstated, and local artisans restored the timber stair and the mortise and tenon oak roof, using techniques of the 17th century.

The walls of the original bawn were a spacious pentagonal defensive area, with the O'Rourke tower house placed in the centre of the courtyard. The stones of O’Rourke’s tower were used to build the three-storey manor on the eastern side, eventually adorned with mullioned windows and diamond-shaped chimneys. One of two round flankers guarding the north side of the bawn forms one end of the manor. The other end has the gate building with an arched entrance leading into the enclosure. Inside the courtyard are many stone work buildings and a covered well. There is also a postern gate and a sally port.

Location and access[]

Parke’s Castle is located 7 kilometres (5 miles) north-west of Dromahair on the Sligo road (R286) and 11 km (7 miles) from Sligo. The castle is open from late March to mid November in 2021. Admission is free for the 2021 season, but access is limited to the outside and courtyard area.[4]

Five hundred meters south-east of Parke's Castle lie the remains of Castle Duroy (from the Irish Dubhshraith), another former stronghold of the Ó Ruairc clan. The ruins of Castle Duroy sit on a small peninsula which juts out into Lough Gill. Very little of this castle now remains above ground.[1] The site of Castle Duroy is on the northern shore of Lough Gill, just off the main Sligo to Dromahair road (the R286).

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Tom Condit, Gabriel Cooney, Claire Foley and Colm Donnelly, Archaeology Ireland Heritage Guide No. 62: Parke's Castle, Co. Leitrim, p. 1–2. Archaeology Ireland, Dublin, 2013.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c Foley, Claire (2012). Parke’s Castle, Co. Leitrim: archaeology, history and architecture. Wordwell. ISBN 9781406427141.
  3. ^ Weir, Mary (2009). Breifne. THP Ireland. ISBN 9781845889630.
  4. ^ "Parke's Castle". Heritage Ireland. Retrieved 12 October 2016.

External links[]

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