Burt Castle.This is probably the best known castle in the North-west because of
its prominent position on a hilltop clearly visible from the Derry-Letterkenny
Road. There is no path or road to the site of the castle and it is on
private land. It is possible to get close to it by taking one of the
roads leading off the main Derry-Letterkenny Road. It was built in the
sixteenth century during the reign of Henry the 8th. A medallion found
near the castle was dated 1525 and a coin of 1547 was found near by. In
1587 two brothers, Richard and Henry Hovenden were in command here and
they were ordered to resist the Spanish Armada. When the O`Dohertys lost
Elagh Castle, they took refuge here. Sir Cahair O`Doherty was in charge
in 1601 and it was later garrisoned by Hugh Boy O`Doherty. When Sir
Cahair began his rebellion against the crown, the English attacked it
but were beaten back.
After the defeat of Sir Cahair, it fell into the hands of the Chichester
family.It is recorded that it was in ruins in 1833, and has suffered
further damage since. The walls are built of rough rubble and the keep
is three storeys. There are two circular watch towers which offer superb
views of the surrounding countryside. Both have openings for maskets. A
stair within one of the towers is in good condition and can be used to
the top storey, where there is a small vaulted chamber.
Inch Castle .The Castle was built in the middle of the fifteenth
century and although it was mentioned in the grant of Inishowen to
Chichester in 1609, it was in a state of disrepair. The walls are built
on the edge of a cliff of rubble and split stone. The building
originally had three stories and the holes in the walls indicate the
position of the joists. The ground floor has two chambers, none of which
are vaulted. Access to the second is via a staircase is built into the
wall and is in very good repair. There is a garderobe built into the
wall and there are two recesses. The murder hole shaft can also be seen.
Many details in the construction of the castle are similar to those at
Greencastle. There is a similarity in the way the vaults were built and
wicker-centring was used for the loophole recesses in both cases.
The Castle was at the center of
a famous dispute between two O'Donnell cousins over the lordship of Tir
Connaill, Donal and Rory. The latter was killed when Donal threw a stone
down from the battlements during an attack on the Castle. Donal became
Lord of Tir Connaill but he remained in power for only two years when he
was killed by Rory's brother. The castle belonged to the O'Dohertys and
it was O'Doherty who imprisoned Donal in the castle in the first
instance. O'Doherty was Lord of Inishowen. When the Castle was built,
Inch was an island and was considered very secure. It guarded the waters
of the Swilly and protected the heatlands of the O'Dohertys. They
resided at the castle at Elagh, about four kilometers from Derry and
very close to the border until the year 1600. The lands between the
Swilly and the Foyle were rich in cattle and corn and access by land and
sea was easy for potential invaders. Inch Castle was part of a network
of O'Dohertys castles stretching from Carrigans to Derry all of which
were designed to ward off anyone who threatened the lordship of the
O'Doherty family. The island of Inch had over four hundred houses in the
1600s and it was the wealthiest district in Donegal. It was the loss on
Inch Island that was the first step in driving Sir Cahir O'Doherty into
rebellion against the state.
Norman Castle. In 1305 the Red Earl of Ulster, Richard de Burgo
established a base for Norman power in the North-West with the building
of a castle at Greencastle. It was at that time known as Northburg or
Newcastle and in Irish Caislean Nua. This historic event is recorded
briefly in the Annals of the Four Masters.
It was not long before the new castle was put to the test. In
1316, a fleet led by Edward Bruce set sail from Scotland with the
intention of invading Ireland. One of the first places they attacked was
Greencastle. They succeeded in taking it and Bruce was crowned King of
Ireland in 1316. He fell from power later the same year and the castle
was then returned to de Burgo. He remained in possession until 1333. In
that year Richard de Burgo's grandson, William, the Brown Earl was
murdered and Norman power in the North-West came to an end.
The castle later fell into the hands of the O'Dohertys but in 1555,
their power was threatened by Calvagh O'Donnell who brought an army of
mercenaries from Scotland and declared war on Tir Connaill. He attacked
the castle with a new weapon called the 'gunna cam' (crooked gun in
Ireland) and then laid siege to the castle at Enagh, just outside Derry.
Both castles were very badly damaged in these attacks. The incidents are
recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters and they state that the two
castles were demolished. The fact that the castle today lies in ruins is
largely due to these attacks.
Attempts were made to restore the building in the early 1600s. It then
became the property of Sir Arthur Chichester who carried out some
repairs and made it habitable for some troops. Later it was leased to a
William Newton but by the year 1700, it was a total ruin. In 1835, it
was described by the antiquarian, John O'Donovan as follows "The ruins
of this castle still remaining show it was one of the strongest and most
fortress in all Ireland." The Castle has stood for almost seven hundred
years but has undergone many reconstructions. A number of features are
clearly visible. The Gatehouse Tower at the South-West end dates from
the fourteenth century. It is a seven-sided structure and from here a
vaulted passage led into the castle center. The remains of a circular
stone stair can be seen inside along with a garderobe. The remains of
seventeenth-century ovens can be seen on the right within the gatehouse;
these were used by the Chichester garrison. The Polygonal Tower at the
North end has walls twelve feet thick. The remains of narrow slit
windows can also be seen. A large square stone tower juts out from the
North wall and this was one of the structures added by O'Doherty in the
sixteenth century. No excavation has been carried out on this site.
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