Derg Castle, Castlederg & Sir John Davies - v1

Castlederg, Castle Dirge, Castle-Derrick or Derg Bridge (earlier Caslanadergy, from Irish: Caisleán na Deirge, meaning "castle on the Derg") is a village in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It stands in the townlands of Castlesessagh and Churchtown, in the historic barony of Omagh West and the civil parish of Urney. The castle is located on the northern bank of the River Derg alongside the village play park which s freely accessible to the public, although not much architectural detail is left of the castle.

The townland has two ancient tombs known as the Druid's Altar and Todd's Den.

 

The castle changed hands several times in the late 15th and early 16th centuries during the contests for land and supremacy between the warring O’Neill and the O'Donnell clans.

The Annals of Ulster, record a castle at Castlederg from 1497 when, Henry Og O’Neill (d. 21 July 1498) returning from Tirconnell (Donegal) and after succeeding over the forces of the O’Donnells, took possession of Derg Castle, at that time probably a tower house.

 

Eight years later in 1505 the castle was recaptured after seige by the O’Donnells and a further 3 years after that in 1508 it was retaken by the O’Neills. A peace was negociated at Ardstraw in 1514. It’s suspected that this castle was in the style of a square Tower House, strategically positioned to command and defend the adjacent fording point on the river Derg.

 

Following the defeat of the Irish forces at the infamous Battle of Kinsale (Oct 1601 to Jan 1602) and the departure of the Earls in the Flight of the Earls on 14 Sept 1607, when Hugh O'Neill, (b.c.1550 d.1616), Earl of Tyrone (Irish: Tír Eoghain, meaning land of Eoghan') he was also known as the ‘Great Earl’ and Rory O'Donnell, (b.1575 d.1608), Earl of Tyrconnell (Irish: Tír Chonaill, meaning 'Land of Conall', present-day County Donegal) and Cúchonnacht Maguire (b.c.1570 d.1608) Lord of Fermanagh along with their families and followers, boarded a ship at Portnamurry, Rathmullan on Lough Swilly, Co. Donegal. The ship was hired by Cuchonnacht Maguire (d.1608) in the spring of 1607 in Nantes in France and sailed from there to Rathmullen by Captain John Rath. The planned passage was to transport the earls from Ireland to Spain, however stormy weather resulted in landfall being made in France, the earls ended up dwelling in Rome. After which, under the scheme for the Plantation of Ulster, Sir John Davies (b.1569 d.1626), an Englishman who was appointed as a commissioner by King James I in 1610 granted him 2,000 acres of land between Castlederg and Drumquin.

 

The existing Derg Castle was reconstructed by Davies between 1609 and 1622 into a bawn in stone and lime which was 30 metres long, 24 metres wide and 1.50 metres high, with square towers at each corner with 3 open flankers and housed 16 British families. A brick built bread oven is located in the north east corner of the larger room to the left of the castle exit where the wall was increased in thickness to accommodate it.

During that time Davies is also reputed to have constructed the first bridge over the River Derg. The present day bridge replaced the original in 1835 at an estimated cost of £700.

 

 

The ancient church of St John in Castlederg was in ruins in 1619, when it was rebuilt by Sir John Davis, however was later destroyed by Sir Phelim O’Neill in 1641, it remained in ruins until 1731, when the nave of the present church was built by Hugh Edwards Esq. (b.c.1700 d.1737) of Castlegore townland and was later improved in 1828.

 

Davies also had another tract of land at Claraghmore, upon which he built a castle, called Kerlis (Kirlish) Castle (aka Castle Curlews) outside Drumquin.

Connecting both castles was a causeway, seven miles long and eight feet wide, in a straight line over mountains and through bogs, from one castle to the other. Several parts of this road are still traceable, but others have been broken up to make the road from Castlederg to Drumquin to provide an easy escape during the threat of invasion or siege. It’s believed that this causeway is known locally as the Castle Hole.

Castle Curlews is mentioned in Pynnar's survey of 1619, which describes it and Davies' second house, 'Castle Dirge' (Castlederg), as 'strong and fair castles of lime and stone but no bawn'.

 

As part of the “Plantation of Ulster,”Davies moved many Protestant settlers from England and Scotland into the area. The response to the Plantation by Sir Phelim Roe O’Neill of Kinard (b.c.1604 d.1653) was the Irish rising of 1641 with the bloody massacre of Protestant settlers all over Ulster, especially in County Tyrone where Derg Castle was a place of refuge for the local settler community. Apparently, it was of considerable strength because a small garrison was able to withstand a siege by a much larger force, led by Sir Phelim O'Neill, before being forced to abandon the castle after considerable loss of men, horses, and running out of ammunition.

 

Anyone implicated in the Rebellion of 1641 would be held responsible for the massacres of Protestant civilians and would be executed. Phelim O'Neill was specifically named as a ringleader in the Cromwellian Act for the Settlement of Ireland 1652 and therefore could expect no mercy.

 

A sum of £100 were put on the head of Phelim O’Neill. Philip Roe MacHugh O'Neill betrayed Phelim O'Neill’s hiding-place on a crannog (island) in Roughan Lough next too Roughan Castle, Newmills, County Tyrone. Phelim O'Neill was captured by William Caulfeild, (b.1624 d.1671),1st Viscount Charlemont on the 4 February 1653, where he had taken refuge. He was taken to Dublin, where before the high court of justice, his trial was presided over by Sir Gerard Lowther (b.1561 d.1624). He was found guilty, however the court offered to pardon him if he implicated Charles I in the Ulster rebellion of 1641, but O'Neill refused to comply. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered for treason on 10 March 1653, the authorities impaled his remains on the gates of Dundalk, Drogheda, and Dublin.

 

In 1689, during the Williamite War (March 1689 to October 1691), Derg Castle was again garrisoned by the settler population, but surrendered to James II's forces on being promised that their lives would be spared. After this conflict the castle appears not to have been used much and fell to ruin.

The north wall with its 2 flankers, is the most intact section of the wall. During the 17th century, a two-storey house was erected on the north side of the bawn. This construction extended the bawn by some metres in that direction.

 

The word "bawn" is derived from the Irish word badhún or bábhún, meaning "enclosure" or "bulwark," with potential connections to words for "cow" and "fort".

 

The southwest corner tower have largely disappeared due to erosion by the River Derg over the centuries. All the corner towers had gun loops in their 1.25 metre thick walls. The wall is of sufficient thickness to allow a musketter to lie forward in the gun loop whereupon the musket was aimed through the tiny apeture. This apeture on the outside of the wall was fashioned out of a slab of schist.

The tower house has disappeared. Almost nothing survived any buildings inside the bawn.

 

Local Events

Castlederge town hosts some of the district's key events each year, including the Derg Vintage Rally, Dergfest music festival, Red River Festival and the traditional Apple Fair which sees the apple growers of County Armagh visit to sell their wares.

Traditionally, Castlederg was a traveller's stop along the ancient pilgrimage route to Station Island on Lough Derg. The town boasts ancient ruins of Derg Castle and the monastic settlement of St Caireall's Church.

 

Historically the area around the town was a site of contestation between the territories of Owen (later Tír Eoghain) and Connail (later Tír Chonaill, mostly modern County Donegal). This rivalry between the two powers continued until the 16th century when they combined in the defence of Ulster against the encroaching Elizabethan armies.

 

Sir John Davies

Sir John Davies (baptised 16 April 1569, died 8 December 1626) was an English poet, lawyer, and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1597 and 1621. He became Attorney General for Ireland and formulated many of the legal principles that underpinned the British Empire.

 

Davies was born at The Manor House, Lower Chicksgrove, Wiltshire, to John Davies (b.1533 d.1589) and Mary Davies, née Bennett (b.1542 d.1590).

John & Mary had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls.

Matthew Davies (b.c.1564 d.1624)

Edward Davies (b.1566 d.1614)

Sir John Davies

Edith Davies (b.1571 d.?)

Mary Davies (b.1572 d.1617)

Maria Davies (b.1574 d.?)

 

Davies was educated at Winchester College for four years from 1580, a period in which he showed much interest in literature. He studied there until the age of 16 and went to further his education at the Queen's College, Oxford, 15 Oct 1585, where he stayed for a mere eighteen months, with most historians questioning whether he received a degree. Davies spent some time at New Inn after his departure from Oxford, and it was at this point that he decided to pursue a career in law. On 10 Feb 1588 he enrolled in the Middle Temple, London, where he did well academically, although suffering constant reprimands for his behaviour. Following several suspensions, his behaviour cost him his enrolment.

 

In 1594 Davies's poetry brought him into contact with Queen Elizabeth l. She wished him to continue his study of law at the Middle Temple and had him sworn in as a servant-in-ordinary. In 1595, his poem, ’Orchestra’, was published in July, prior to his call to the bar, July 1595 from the Middle Temple.

He was elected Member of Parliament to the English parliament in 1597 for the borough of Shaftesbury, and in 1601 for Corfe Castle, both Dorset seats; in the latter parliament he took a leading part in the attack on the grant of monopolies by the crown.

 

In February 1598, Davies was expelled from the Middle Temple for the offence of entering the dining hall of the Inns in the company of two swordsmen and striking Richard Martin (b.1570 d.1618) with a cudgel. The victim Martin was a noted wit who had insulted him in public, and criticised his poem the “Orchestra.” Davies immediately took a boat at the Temple steps and retired to Oxford, where he chose to write poetry. Another of his works, ’Nosce Teipsum’ ("Know Thyself"), was published in 1599 and found favour with the Queen and with Charles Brooke Blount (b.1563 d.1606), Lord Mountjoy, later Lord Deputy of Ireland.

 

Davies became a favourite of the queen, to whom he addressed his work ’Hymns of Astraea’ in 1599. Later that year, however, his Epigrams was included in a list of published works that the state ordered to be confiscated and burned. In 1601 he was readmitted to the bar, with the support of influential figures and having made a public apology to Martin, and in the same year served as the member of Parliament for Corfe Castle. On 5th April 1603, twelve days after the death of Queen Elizabeth I Davies was part of the deputation sent to bring King James VI & l from Edinburgh to London as the new monarch. The Scottish king was also an admirer of Davies's poetry, and rewarded him with a knighthood in Dublin on the 18 October 1603 by the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir George Carey (b.c.1541 d.1616) of Cockington, Devon, and appointments (at Mountjoy's recommendation) as solicitor-general and later attorney-general in Ireland.

 

Ulster

Davies became heavily involved in government efforts to establish a plantation in the rebellious province of Ulster. In September 1607, Davies delivered to Robert Cecil, (b.1563 d.1612) the Secretary of State, his report detailing the "Flight of the Earls," a pivotal event in Irish history where key Irish leaders, including Hugh O'Neill (Earl of Tyrone) and Hugh O'Donnell (Earl of Tyrconnell) fled to the continent, before long, Davies had travelled into the absent earls' territories to lay indictments against them there.

In August 1608, he went with Sir Arthur Chichester (b.1563 d.1625), Lord Deputy of Ireland to view the escheated lands, reporting that the “wild inhabitants” of the remote districts, "wondered as much to see the King's Deputy as the ghosts in Virgil wondered to see Aeneas alive in hell". (In Virgil's Aeneid, ghosts, or "manes," represent the souls of the dead, often appearing to the living to deliver messages, warnings, or to guide them).

 

In October, Davies was in England, pushing for the plantation of the province.

In May 1609, Davies was made serjeant, with a grant of lands valued at £40 p.a. He revisited England in 1610 on plantation business, which had so advanced that he thought his assistance to the commission charged with bringing the project to fruition would no longer be needed. In 1610 he defended proceedings brought by the Irish against the plans for the plantation of Cavan, but in the following year he begged for recall from Ireland. At about this time he wrote the ’Discoverie of the True Causes’ that explores why Ireland was not fully subdued by England until the reign of King James I (published 1612).

 

Davies Late Career

Davies was the crown's candidate for speaker of the commons in 1613. While the vote was being taken, catholic MPs angered at what they considered to be an unjustified creation of new parliamentary boroughs to ensure an artificial protestant majority, placed a catholic candidate, Sir John Everard (b.c.1560 d.1624) in the speaker's chair. In the ensuing tussle ‘divers knights and gentlemen of the best quality took Sir John Davies by both his arms and lifted him from the ground and placed him upon Sir John Everard's lap’; Everard was subsequently removed from the chair, prompting catholic MPs to walk out of the commons in protest

 

In 1613 the only Irish Parliament of the reign of James I was called, and Sir John Everard (b.c.1560 d.1624) was returned as member of the House of Commons for County Tipperary. Everard was the choice of the Catholic members, who were still, if not a majority, at least a very large minority, as Speaker. However, Lord Deputy Arthur Chichester was determined that his own right-hand man Sir John Davies, the Attorney General for Ireland, should be Speaker. The Catholic members, led by Thomas Luttrell, (b,c.1578 d.1634) MP for Dublin, declared that Everard had been elected and he took the Speaker's chair. Matters then descended into farce when the Government declared that Davies had been elected Speaker. Everard, normally a man of good sense, foolishly refused to leave the chair until Davies, a very fat man, sat on him (or was lifted onto him). Everard and his supporters withdrew in protest. As a result of his conduct, Everard was summoned to England,where he unsuccessfully tried to put the case of the Catholic MPs, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London, and was expelled from the King's Inns.

 

In 1617 Davies failed to win the position of Solicitor General for England and Wales and consequently resigned as Attorney-General in Ireland. In 1619 he returned to England permanently, in the expectation that his chance of gaining office there would be improved by his presence. He practised as king's serjeant, and eventually went on circuit as a judge. He was a founder member of the Society of Antiquaries. In 1621, he was elected MP for Hindon, and Newcastle-under-Lyme, choosing to sit for the latter constituency. He occasionally spoke in parliament on Irish matters. Davies retired to Englefield House in Berkshire, but was then appointed Lord Chief Justice. He had always been fat, and on 7 December 1626 he died in his bed of apoplexy (cerebral haemorrhage or stroke) brought on after a supper party, and thus never enjoyed the appointment he had been angling for throughout his career. Upon his death the estate passed to his daughter Lucy and later to her husband’s family the Earl’s of Huntingdon.

 

Davies Legacy

In political terms, Davies was significant in his work on constitutional law and in framing the terms of the Plantation of Ulster, a model that served the English crown as it extended its colonial reach in North America and elsewhere. In literary terms, he was a fine poet who lay quitely neglected from the mid-17th century, until his cause was championed by T. S. Eliot (b.1888 d.1965).

Davies's poem "I know my soul hath power to know all things" was set to music by the composer Hubert Parry (b.1848 d.1918) in his choral work, ’Songs of Farewell’ (1916–18).

 

Davies Family

Davies married on March 1609 in Englefield, Berkshire, Dame Eleanor Touchet (b.1590 d.1652), daughter of George Tuchet (b.c.1551 d.1617), 1st Earl of Castlehaven, sister of the executed Mervyn Tuchet (b.1593 d.1631) 2nd Earl of Castlehaven who was beheaded after being convicted of rape and sodomy.

 

Eleanor was a bright girl, learned in Latin, theology and law and was aged eighteen when she married the forty-year-old Davies in March 1609. She became one of the most prolific women writers in early seventeenth-century England, author of almost seventy pamphlets and prophecies, and one of the first women in England to see her works through to print, she was know as the mad prophetess.

 

During the marriage, Eleanor published numerous books of prophecy, particularly anagrammatic prophecies; her prophetic writings was a source of conflict in the marriage. Davies was exasperated by his wife's excesses and once addressed her, "I pray you weep not while I am alive, and I will give you leave to laugh when I am dead".

John & Eleanor had four children, 2 sons and 2 daughters.

1. John Jack Davies (b.1600 d.1652) married 24 Oct 1627, Mary Peacock (b,1600 d.1665)

2. Richard Davies (b.1609 d.?).

3. Lucy Davies (b.1613 d.1679), Countess of Huntingdon.

4. Martha Davies (deceased)

 

His only son to survive infancy John (Jack), was deaf and dumb but his daughter Lucy (b.1613 d.1679) married Ferdinando Hastings (b.1609 d.1656) 6th Earl of Huntingdon on 7 August 1623.so she became Countess of Huntingdon.

 

It is thought by many that Sir John’s wife Eleanor may have been one of Davies's biggest problems in getting a job. On 28 July 1625 she was working on a commentary of the ’Book of Daniel’ and believed she heard the voice of the prophet; she wrote about the experience and took it to George Abbot (b.1562 d.1633) Archbishop of Canterbury. When Davies found out he burned her writing, she predicted he would die within three years, and went into mourning wearing mourning clothes. In November 1626 Davies was appointed to high office in England. In early December, following her husband's appointment, Eleanor started weeping during a dinner with friends. When asked why, she explained it was in anticipation of her husbands funeral. 3 days later, Davies was found in his home, dead of apoplexy, a cerebral haemorrhage or stroke, on the morning of 8 December 1626.

John Donne (b.1572 d.1631) gave an oration at Davies funeral. They were both members of the Middle Temple, Davies having studied under Donne. Davies was buried in St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Westminster, London.

 

In 1633, Eleanor was brought before the high commission in England on charges relating to her religious anagram practices. During a fruitless examination of her under oath, one of the commissioners devised an anagram of his own: ’Dame Eleanor Davys, never so mad a ladye’. She was sent to prison, and afterwards remarried, Sir Archibald Douglas, (d.1644) 7th of Tilquhillie. He too burnt her prophecies, for which she struck him dumb, reducing his speech to pig-like grunts. He lived with relatives and eventually died in 1644. She continued to make prophesies until her death on 5 July 1652, she was buried next to Davies.

 

St Patrick’s Sanctuary or Purgatory

Lough Derg is also known as “Lake of the Cave” or “Purgatorium Sancti Patricii” (St Patrick’s Sanctuary or Purgatory). The lough contains 42 islands and spreads itself over 2,140 acres and lies embosed in wild hills and bog. The lake is approx. 2.59 miles (4.17km) long and at its wides point approx. 2.8 miles (4.50km) in depth and is stated to be 120 feet (36m) deep and standing 467 feet (142m) above sea level.

Station island is approximately 743 ft (226m) long) and approx. 436ft (133m) wide. Lough Derg translates from the Irish, Loch Dearg to “Red Lake”. This name derives from the russet hue of Lough Derg’s waters which, scientifically speaking, is due to drainage from the surrounding bogs.

According to legend, a cave upon this island was shown to Ireland’s patron saint, St Patrick by Jesus Christ himself as the entrance to Purgatory. The cave was considered a turnstile to the Gates of Hell, where Saint Patrick is said to have witnessed the tortures of eternal damnation.

 

In May 1632, by order of Adam Loftus (b.c.1533 d.1605), 1st Viscount Loftus, Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1581 and Richard Boyle (b.1566 d.1643), 1st Earl of Cork and Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland issued an order to Sir James Balfour (b.c. 1567d.1634), 1st Baron Balfour of Glenawley and Sir William Stewart (b.1574 d.1646) of Aughentean & Newton-Stewart to visit St Patricks Purgatory with troops, and expel the monks. Having had warning of their coming, the monks dispersed to an adjacent island before their arrival.

 

He seem to have gone to “Saints Island” the larger of the one mentioned in the Inquisition of 1603, and a party to “Station Island” which the Anglican Bishop of Clogher, James Spottiswoode (b.1567 d.1645) visited in the following month on the 8 June 1632 when he personally supervised the destruction of everything on the island after gaining an order from Lord Justices to ‘cause the Chapel, and all the Irish houses now situated on that island called St. Patrick’s Purgatory, and all buildings, pavements, walls, works, foundations, circles, caves, cells, and vaults thereof of lime or stones to be thrown in the lough or water’.

 

In 1704 an Act of Parliament was passed to impose a fine of 10 shillings or a public whipping as a penalty for going to such places of pilgrimage.

 

The cave had been closed from 25 October 1632, only to be rebuilt and reopened, and then again demolished in 1780, this time as a safety hazard due instability caused by heavy pilgrim traffic. However the cave was covered over by the Basilica which was built between 1924 and 1931.

 

The pilgrimages to Lough Derg in ancient times very rigorous. The station lasted for a period varying from nine to fifteen day. In later times it was reduced to six, and at present only continues for three days and a one-day retreat.

Currently Lough Derg welcomes around 11,000 pilgrim visitors each year, mainly in the programmes outlined below.

 

Archaeological Finds

Archaeological conservation excavations in 1991 by Conor Newman lasted for 10 weeks revealing at least four phases of development including evidence of the original tower house which stool within the bawn. The second phase saw the construction of a bawn wall around the tower house. During the third phase of activity, part of the site was used as a burial ground, three human skeletal remains, two children, both of whom suffered from spina bifida, and an elderly man were unearthed, including pottery, coins and a belt buckle were also found. Excavation has confirmed that the Plantation period castle occupies the same site.

 

Bronze-Age Cauldron

A bronze-age 700-600 BC Cauldron was found in a bog at Castlederg, County Tyrone in 2011. The Cauldron is a superb example of sheet-metalwork formed with offset sheets of bronze held in place by horizontal rows of conical rivets.

The base is rounded, the profile is incurving at the shoulder and ends in an everted rim that is decorated with four rows of small holes. There are two large suspension rings in loops on the rim. More than thirty cauldrons have been found in Ireland of which about 15 are of the type represented by the Castlederg cauldron, a type based ultimately on Greek and Oriental prototypes. The Cauldron is on display at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.

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