Cloughoughter Castle

Clogh Oughter castle is a large circular tower situated on a tiny island in Lough Oughter, Co. Cavan. It appears to have been built by the Anglo-Norman de Lacys, lords of Meath, about 1220 as part of their attempt to conquer the territory of Bréifne, roughly equivalent to the modern counties of Leitrim and Cavan. The O’Reillys were the lords of East Breifne (Co. Cavan) and the island on which Clogh Oughter was built had been their royal crannog. In early references to the castle it was called the Castle of Crannog O’Reilly. The de Lacys were driven out of this part of East Bréifne by the O’Reillys in 1233 and Clogh Oughter remained mostly in O’Reilly hands from then until about 1608. During this period it served more as a fortress than a residence and there are references in the annals to it being used as a prison.

The tower measures 10.57m in internal diameter and, with walls 2.5m thick, is 15.47m in external diameter. It stands to a height of 18.35m. About one third of the circumference is missing on the south side as a result of deliberate destruction by gunpowder after the Cromwellian siege of 1653. The original entrance was at first-floor level on the south-western side and was some 5m above external ground level. Only one side of this doorway survives. It would have been accessed originally by external wooden stairs. There is good evidence for the first floor in the form of eleven large beam holes in the north wall and a slot for the floor boards on the east and west side. There are remains of two windows at this level and two other doorways. One of the latter, facing north, gave access to an attached turret that no longer survives, which had a garderobe (toilet) and a spiral stone stairway giving access to the parapets at the top of the tower. The other first-floor doorway, of which only one side survives, faced south-east and gave access to the walkway on an attached wall that enclosed a small area at the base of the tower. Two embrasures with arrow loops survive on the ground floor of the tower and this floor must have been accessed internally by a ladder from the first-floor level. There is no evidence for original floors or openings above first-floor level and it looks likely that the original roof was set deep within the tower.

The tower was captured by government troops in 1608 and was completely renovated between 1610 and 1620 in connection with the Plantation of Ulster. This work involved the insertion of a new doorway, protected by a portcullis and a yett, at ground level, the building of a cross-wall within the tower with fireplaces and a central chimney crowning a new roof at the top of the tower, the insertion of new wooden floors for five storeys and an attic and the insertion of new window openings in the upper part of the tower for these new floor levels. The attached turret on the north side and the enclosure wall were demolished as part of this work. As well as being a fortress the tower was to serve as a prison for priests but remained unused until the start of the 1641 rebellion. An English soldier, Hugh Culme, was made constable of the castle in 1610 as part of the Plantation of Ulster and in due course was given outright ownership of the castle and a number of townlands going with it. The Culmes, who owned other properties in Co. Cavan, did not live in the castle but in a house they built on the shore of the lake to the south in the townland of Inishconnell. No trace of this house survives above ground. Hugh Culme died in 1630 and was succeeded by his son Arthur.

At the start of the 1641 rebellion Arthur Culme was surprised by some of the rebels at his house on the lake shore and had to hand over custody of the castle. He was promptly imprisoned there to be joined some weeks later by the Protestant bishop of Kilmore, William Bedell, and others. Bedell and his sons spent three weeks in prison in the castle and a number of detailed first-hand accounts of their imprisonment survive. The castle remained in the hands of the rebels until the siege of 1653. After the battle of Benburb in 1646 some captured officers, including Viscount Montgomery of Ards, were held prisoner here. The victorious Confederate commander at that battle, Owen Roe O’Neill, died at Clogh Oughter in 1649, probably in the Culme house on the shore rather than in the castle. The same year Oliver Cromwell landed in Ireland with a large army and proceeded to reconquer the country. After he returned to England in 1650 the campaign continued for a few years and by March 1653 Clogh Oughter was the last fortress to hold out against the Cromwellian army in Ireland. The siege was already well underway by 1 March and the castle was being bombarded by artillery, both cannon and mortars, positioned on the southern shore. The commander of the defending garrison, Colonel Philip Mac Hugh O’Reilly, surrendered on relatively good terms on 17 April 1653. After the siege the victors used gunpowder to demolish the southern wall of the castle.

The castle was taken into State care as a National Monument in 1985 and was fully conserved between 1985 and 1989. As part of this process an archaeological excavation was carried out in 1987. This produced much information on the castle especially relating to the period between 1608 and 1653 and a rich collection of seventeenth-century finds including pottery, glass, clay pipes, roof tiles, keys and locks, parts of guns, spurs, hammers and other tools, cooking pots, candlesticks, buckles, harp tuning pegs, book mounts and a large collection of broken cannon balls and mortar bombs. Four skeletons were also found, casualties buried hurriedly during the siege.