MCSWEENEY CASTLES IN IRELAND.

(DOE CASTLE)

(The following was taken from 'The Mac Sweeneys' by Fr. David OFM Cap).

MOROSS CASTLE IN FANAD

It is generally accepted that the first permanent settlement of the MacSuibhne clan in Ireland was in Fanad. It happened early in the fourteenth century. Led by one named Murchadh Mear (Mear = Crazy), they manned a fleet of small sailing and rowing boats and crossed the North Channel.

Having sailed along the north coast of Ireland until they neared Fanad Head, they turned south into the long estuary of Lough Swilly, the west bank of which is Fanad. Here they landed.

It had been the custom of the MacSuibhne chiefs, while they were in Scotland, to be inaugurated in Iona by the successor of Saint Colmcille. In Ireland they began to be inaugurated on the crowning stone of Doon Rock, near Kilmacrenan, not far from the native place of Colmcille.

In the year 1516 Ruadhri MacSuibhne built a castle in Rathmullan, on the east coast of Fanad. Nothing of that castle now remains. It was situated between the present road and the sea, on a site still known as Ard an Chaisil.

Ruadhri 's wife, Máire, built in Rathmullan a Carmelite Priory, the ruins of which are still standing. She and Ruadhri brought the Carmelite Friars from Munster. The first prior was a Mac Sweeney from Connacht.

This Máire, we are told, attended Mass at least twice a day: "Three days each week she used to spend on bread and water, with Lenten fast and winter fast, and the Golden Fridays". She died in 1523. Her prayer book is preserved in the library of Trinity College, Dublin.

She had a church built in Donegal and one in Connacht, where she was born (O Máille), daughter of Eoghan O Máille, chief of Umalia, County Mayo.

In 1532, Ruadhri 's son, Turlogh, built a castle on the west coast of Fanad, at Carraig na Féile, situated on a promontory of the Mulroy known as Moross (Magh Ras). Part of the castle is still standing.

KIDNAPPING OF RED HUGH

Towards the end of that century, Rathmullan became the scene of a historic event. In 1587, the Viceroy (Lord Deputy), Sir John Perrot, got ready in Dublin a ship with a good supply of beer and wine. It sailed north and into Lough Swilly, finally anchoring opposite the castle in Rathmullan. The captain gave word that he had wine for sale and invited people on board to sample it.

Among those who came was Red Hugh O'Donnell, not yet fifteen, who was being fostered at Doe Castle by the Mac Sweeneys. Fosterage was very common among leading families in ancient Ireland. It was a gesture of goodwill. The Brehon code entered into great detail on the obligations of foster parents. While on board the ship, Red Hugh was seized and taken to Dublin as a hostage.

FLIGHT OF THE EARLS

Twenty-one years later, Rathmullan was the scene of what came to be known as "The, Flight of the Earls." Hugh O'Neill, on hearing of the death of Red Hugh O'Donnell by poisoning in Spain, and seeing his enemies pressing against him on every side, knew that his cause was lost. A ship was got ready in Brussels to enable him, and those closest to him, to escape from the country, while that was still possible. The ship was brought to Rathmullan by his close friend and fellow soldier, Hugh Maguire of Fermanagh.

O'Neill wept as he left his castle in Dungannon for the last time and headed north to Rathmullan. He was then aged 58.

The ship, flying the French colours, lay at anchor in the bay. Rowing boats, which carried provisions of firewood and water to the ship, were stoned by the Mac Sweeneys, who saw the departure as a betrayal by O'Neill. However, neither then, nor for eight years after, did Hugh abandon the idea of returning with help from the King of Spain. The number of friends and relatives of O'Neill and O'Donnell who boarded the ship totalled more than ninety. At midnight the anchors were raised and the sails unfurled. It was the 14th September, Feast of the Holy Cross.

Under that date the Four Masters commented: "That was a distinguished company for one ship. For true it is that the sea has not borne, nor the wind wafted from Ireland in modern times a party more eminent, illustrious and noble than they were, in point of genealogy, or more distinguished for deeds of renown, feats of arms, and valourous achievements. Woe to the heart that meditated, woe to the mind that planned, woe to the counsel that determined on that project."

The Viceroy, Sir Arthur Chichester, took a different view. He was the chief architect of the Plantation of Ulster and the mastermind that engineered the Flight of the Earls. His Attorney General, Sir John Davies, wrote: "We are glad to see the day when the countenance and majesty of the law and civil government hath banished Tyrone from Ireland, which the best army in Europe and the expense of two million sterling pounds did not bring to pass."

Accompanying Hugh was his chaplain, Patrick O'Loughran. Some time later, this man returned to Ireland. In June 1611, he was apprehended. He was hanged in Dublin on the 1st February 1612. He was one of the seventeen Irish martyrs beatified by Pope John Paul11 on September 27, 1992.

DOE CASTLE.

The Doe branch of the clan is descended from Donnchadh Mór son of Donnchadh Óg of Fanad who died in 1340 and was succeeded by Donnchadh Mór who resided at Doe and from then on Doe became the chief residence of the clan ruling over the Trí Tuatha Thoraighe.

No one is quite sure when Doe Castle (Caislean na dTuath) was built or by whom. It is however generally accepted by the experts that its first or very early occupants were Sweeney's (MacSuibhne). It has all the features of a fifteenth century fortress and again the experts agree circa 1425 as the date of its building and it remained in Sweeney possession for the next two hundred years. During that time Doe Castle saw many illustrious chieftains from Eoghan Connachtach (d.1359 in captivity) who succeeded Donnchadh Mór, to Eoghan Óg I (d 1554 slain in battle near Bloody Foreland in a family feud) His son Eoghan Óg II was probably one of the better known chieftains who held the castle 1570 - 1592. He provided refuge to survivors of the Spanish Armada, something most northern chiefs were afraid to do for fear of reprisal by the English. He was the only one to be given special mention in the Annals of the Four Masters. He became foster father to Red Hugh O'Donnell who was entrusted to his care in 1587.

The much maligned Maolmhuire an Bhata Buí was the last of a long line of MacSuibhne chieftains to be publicly inaugurated and a nephew of Eoghan Óg II. He revolted from Red Hugh O'Donnell and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth. He earned his nickname, An Bata Buí (the yellow stick) from the gilt baton symbol of his knighthood. There is no doubt but he was an opportunist who switched sides to his own advantage.

In 1601 he was on the side of Red Hugh O'Donnell and together with the chieftains of Fanad and Banagh was on the long disastrous march to Kinsale which was to mark the beginning of the end of the great Irish Chieftains. From 1600 onwards the castle saw turbulent times and changed hands several times. After the rebellion of 1641 the Sweeneys were back in possession. In 1642 Eoghan Rua O'Neill sailed in Sheephaven Bay with 100 veterans of the Spanish armies and were received at Doe Castle. By 1650 the castle was back in English hands with Robert Conygham, a commander in Cromwell's brutal army in residence. He was slain at Cashelmore, near Ards (Creeslough) by two Arranmore Island men for commanding a force who raided Arranmore Island and murdered a total of 83 women and children.

In 1800 the castle bought by George Vaughan Harte. He carried out extensive work on the towerhouse and added the surrounding enclosure. His initials GVH are still above the entrance on the east side. His coat of arms now replaced by the Sweeney coat of arms. His son John who as a boy of sixteen to part in the battle of Waterloo, succeeded him, and by all accounts was extremely well liked by the local population.

After all those turbulent years of war, famine and weather the castle fell into disrepair at the turn of this century and soon became a derelict ruin, that is until the present Sweeney Clan Association began agitating for its restoration to its former glory. It is the only Sweeney Castle to survive intact and was therefore important to have remedial work carried out immediately to ensure its survival for centuries to come.

RAHAN CASTLE IN BANAGH.

In ancient times, people of Donegal spoke of "west of the mountain" and "east of the mountain." The mountain was the long range that was cut through by Barnesmore (Big Gap) on the Ballybofey-Donegal Town road.

In the thirteenth century the O'Boyles were in control of the territory west of the mountain. This territory consisted of the barony of Banagh in the region of Killybegs and the barony of Boylagh to the north. This latter coincided with what today is called the Rosses. It is bounded on the south by the Gweebarra river and in the north-east by the Gweedore river.

With the coming of the Mac Sweeneys in the fourteenth century, the O'Boyles lost control of Banagh. In that century Murchadh Mear MacSuibhne bequeathed Tir Boghaine (Banagh) to his grandson, Dubhghall. In the fifteenth century there was another incursion of the Mac Sweeneys, this time from north Connacht.

The chief stronghold of the Mac Sweeneys in this area was Rahan Castle, on St. John's Point, near Dunkineely. St. John's Point is a peninsula six miles long and rarely more than half a mile wide. On the west coast are still to be seen some of the remains of Rahan Castle.

Under the year 1524, the Four Masters wrote: "Niall Mór MacSuibhne of Tir Boghaine died, after Unction and Penance, in his own fair castle at Rahan, on the fourteenth of December." Niall was buried within the precincts of the Franciscan church at Ballysaggart on St. John's Point, which his father, Eoghan Mac Sweeney, had built. His grave was marked by a remarkable tombstone, which is now at St. Mary's Church in Killybegs. In shape and design it is somewhat similar to another Mac Sweeney tombstone at Doe Castle.

For the year 1588 the Four Masters record an internecine battle of the Mac Sweeneys of Banagh. It was fought on an island called Doirinis off the west coast, near Ardara.

The last of the name to reign in Banagh was Donnchadh Dubh, who, in 1602, submitted to the English. He got a grant, or rather re-grant under English law of 2,000 acres of his own land. We have seen that the last Mac Sweeney chief of Doe Castle benefited in a similar way under the plantation. Donnchadh Dubh died in 1632.

In the nineteenth century (1844) the stones of the castle at Rahan were used to build in Killybegs the parish church, which was dedicated to St. Mary of the Visitation.