APPENDIX 6
HISTORY OF THE HAMILTONS OF CASTLE
HAMILTON, CO. CAVAN
June 2003 C.F.B.H.
The only reference Everard Hamilton makes to Castle Hamilton
states that Galbraith Hamilton, the son of Archibald Hamilton (Chap V p.15 )
was the ancestor of the Hamiltons of Castle Hamilton. Further research makes interesting reading[1].
In 1607 Lord Chichester, the new Lord
Deputy of Ireland, undertook an extensive tour through Ulster. As a result it
was decided that six of the Ulster counties should be planted. In 1609, the Co.
Cavan barony of Tullyhunco, which included Killeshandra, was allocated to
Scottish settlers. Many Scots Presbyterians, wanting to escape from the
difficulties facing Presbyterians in their native land, were keen to accept the
possibility of settling in places like Killeshandra..
Under this plantation, 2,000 acres in
the area of Killishandra,
Co. Cavan were granted to Sir Alexander Hamilton of Innerwick in 1610. The lands were to be created into the manor of
Clonkine and Carrotubber, with 600 acres in demesne. He was also granted the
advowson and patronage of the rectory of Killeshandra. and 1,000 acres were
granted to his son Claud near the Leitrim border.
Sir Alexander was a cousin of William
Hamilton 1st of Ballyfatton and married Christian Hamilton his
cousin, the daughter of Thomas Hamilton 3rd of Priestfield and
sister of the 1st Earl of Haddington. Claud, his son, married
Jane (surname unknown) and died after 1618. They had a son Sir Francis
Hamilton who married Letitia Coote (cc 1630), daughter of Sir Charles Coote of
Castle Coote, Roscommon, the Marshal of Connaught. Francis died in 1674. He
appears to have had a son Sir Charles who in turn and had a son Sir Francis,
married to one Dame Anne, and whose prerogative will is dated 19 Jan 1713
(Dublin ref. 20.2004791?)
Sir James Carew, in his report on the
progress of the plantation in 1611, just a year after the grants were made, has
the following to say about the Hamiltons:
'Sir
Alexander Hamilton, Knt, 2,000 acres in the county of Cavan; has not appeared:
his son Claud took possession, and brought three servants and six artificers;
is in hand with building a mill; trees felled; raised stones and hath
competitent arms in readiness. Besides there are arrived upon that portion
since our return to Dublin from the journey, as we are informed, twelve tenants
and artificers who intend to reside there and build upon the same'.
Before the end of the year Sir Claud
sold his lands to John Hamilton, his agent. He in turn sold them to William
Lawder, of Belhavel in Scotland, in 1614. William Lawder died in 1618 and his
son sold the lands to Sir Alexander Hamilton, Sir Claud's father. In this way
the lands made their way back into the Hamilton family.
In 1618 Sir Nicholas Pynnar was
commissioned to report on the progress of the plantation. He was instructed to
ascertain whether the undertakers had complied with the terms of their grants
by building a strong house surrounded by a bawn and a stone wall: by settling a
number of English and Scottish tenants on their lands; by making provision for
defense of their lands. Pynnar found the lands of Sir Alexander Hamilton were
being held in trust for his grand-son, Sir Francis Hamilton, by Sir Francis'
mother Jane, his father being dead. She was living in a strong castle at
Keelagh, known as Castle-Killagh (Keelagh) and there were 31 British families
settled on the lands. The castle was four storeys with flankers and turrets for
defense. It had a bawn 60 feet square surrounded by a wall 12 feet in height.
Nearby was a town with 34 houses inhabited by British settlers. A market was
held there every week. It had three
fairs in the year, on the Feasts of St Simon, St Jude and St Barnaby. This is
the first reference we have to the planter town of Killeshandra growing up near
Castle Keelagh and to a lesser extent around the nearby Croghan Castle. In 1631
all the Hamilton lands, a total of 3,000 acres were re-granted to Sir Francis
Hamilton and created into the manor of Castle Keelagh.
The number of settlers around
Killeshandra increased steadily until 1641, when the Rebellion broke out. While
atrocities occurred in various parts of Ulster, it seems that the O'Reillys in
Cavan showed a more humanitarian attitude towards the settlers. This may have
been due to the fact that they still spoke Gallic and that they, as Scots, had
also suffered at the hands of the English. After a long and heroic stand at
Castle Keelagh and Croghan, the settlers surrendered and were allowed to retire
to Drogheda.
"The rebellion opened on October 23
in 1641 and within a week the County came under the control of the O'Reilly
tribe once again. Two garrisons held out longer. Locked away in two castles at
Croghan and Keelagh were garrisons of English troops. English and Scottish
settlers from Leitrim and West Cavan had become fugitives, many taking refuge.
There had been some provision for this but not for the presence of a further
seven hundred refugees seeking asylum.
Myles O'Reilly had sent his father Edmund to take the two castles near
to Killeshandra town but it was a disaster from the start. Sir Francis Hamilton
was a canny foe and obviously kept his ear to the ground. He gained advance
warning of the rebellion and not only fortified the castles for a bitter struggle;
he burned the town of Killeshandra to the ground, removing any accommodation
for the marauding band of insurgents.
Hamilton had two hundred infantry and
some cavalry. With three barrels of powder and provisions for six months at
Keelagh alone, he must have been sure of drawn out victory. The extra seven
hundred refugees must have come as something of a shock though. His trump card
had to be the difficulty of laying siege over winter in the open now that the
town was destroyed.
There was another twist in this tale. Old enemies had alleged
themselves to the common cause. A force of O'Rourke's from Carrigallen and
Ballinamore had joined Edmund making a force totalling two thousand men. It is
doubtful if Hamilton had quite expected that either. During a Skirmish near to
Keelagh Castle, Edmund was repulsed. Loughlin and Brian O'Rourke were taken
prisoner. The Protestant Bishop Bedell and his son-in-law were soon traded for
the two O'Rourke's.
Hamilton had had the wit to burn away the country for a
three-mile radius around the castle, which removed cover for any attack. This
left the attackers out in the open and when Father O'Rourke, a Friar, led such
an attack, he was killed in his habit while two important leaders of the rebel
cause were captured and immediately seized as hostages. The two were Owen
O'Rourke and Philip O'Reilly.
Myles was not impressed by his fathers'
failure and withdrew from the siege at Drogheda and marched on Cavan. Although
three hundred men of Robert Nugent's from Westmeath and men from Leitrim joined
his force, the rebels failed again in a skirmish near to Cavan at Windmill Hill
and Myles was now livid with the failures. His response was not worthy of a
great leader.
There was a settlement of sixty English
people who had been allowed to stay in the town of Belurbet. Myles had them
thrown off the town bridge over the River Erne. It was detestable murder and
Hamilton's response was even more despicable though under the circumstances,
not unexpected.
At Derewilly on the Leitrim border, some
sixty Irish folk were sheltering in the woods. Hamilton, with a force of one
hundred infantry and thirty cavalry, raided the camp killing twenty-seven. He
then hung fourteen others. The rest escaped but were cut off by Sir James
Craige, the owner of nearby Castle Croghan, who killed ten more and hanged
four.
The artillery made a strong case for not
storming the castles. The easy option was to stick it out and hope for
starvation to quickly bring a surrender. By March the following year, 1642,
both castles were suffering from a lack of supplies. They had realised by now
that all hope of help arriving was in vain. They were on their own and to
compound things, Sir James Craige died on April 8 and disease was rife in the
cramped and unhygienic conditions. One hundred and sixty died from hunger or
disease and the remainder were not well enough to defend the castle and so
responsibility fell on Hamilton's shoulders to defend both castles.
Each day he sent some men over to Croghan
Castle to defend it but they did not dare stay there because of the rampant
disease. One man named Barlow, escaped from Keelagh and sought asylum with the
insurgents. He informed them of the terrible plight of the defenders and a
decision to raid the castles was taken.
Philip Mac Hugh O'Reilly led a force of
two thousand men to the two castles and promptly fouled the water supply by
throwing a dead dog and a man's body into the well that was the source of the
Croghan Castle supply. Thirst added to the misery. Things were little better at
Keelagh.
Hamilton had Keelagh well prepared which gave them some
extra time. They eventually depended on their milch cows for meat but this
could only give short term relief. Soon, hungry eyes turned to the horses and
even the dogs. As the hope of rescue died, so too did the food supply. The
defenders were eventually reduced to eating the hides of the animals that had
fed them.
Mutiny was inevitable. A small group ran
away to join the insurgents who must have felt a grand surge in confidence. By
now, even Sir Francis Hamilton himself was sick. It was time to negotiate.
Sir Francis knew he had lost but he also
knew that he had to protect the people in the castles. Talking was the sensible
option and so talk they did.
To the authors knowledge the official
record of the mediators is incomplete and any recording must only have been
done on the English side. Other than the Irish party being formed between the
O'Reilly's and the O'Rourke's, I have no reference. The English party is well
documented as Sir Francis Hamilton, Sir Arthur Forbes, Masters Bedell and
Price. An agreement was reached that complete surrender of the castles would be
offered on the understanding that the garrisons would be free to leave and
travel unharmed to Drogheda.
And so on June 15 1642 the English forces
were lead from Keelagh Castle by Sir Francis Hamilton enroute for Drogheda.
They marched proudly, torches burning and to the beat of drums with full
colours flying. The O'Reilly's kept their word and escorted them unharmed to
Drogheda
Hamilton,
a Scot, must have earned himself serious respect since today Keelagh Castle is
known as Castle Hamilton."
Coote in his Statistical Survey of
County Cavan (1801) describes Killeshandra as a good market-town with a
flourishing linen market at which coarse linens to the value of £1,500 are sold
weekly. He says that the town itself 'is engaging, being neat and clean, and
industry and its rewards are very conspicuous, everything appears comfortable,
a good market and a brisk trade'. In the neighbourhood of the town was
Castle Hamilton ( remains ) with its
beautiful wooded and watered demesne owned by Col. Southwell. The mansion
itself, was newly built and very spacious.
In 1846 Killeshandra was described as
occupying "a romantic site on a gently rising ground environed by a
chain of interesting lakes; and consists of a spacious and well built street in
the centre of which is a well arranged, neatly constructed market house"(See
left). At this time it was flourishing and had one of the best markets for
linen in the county with many of the local population employed in its
manufacture.
Castle Hamilton was then the seat of
R. H. Southwell, for many years the MP for Cavan. By 1856 James Hamilton, a
wine merchant from Dublin, had purchased the estate. James (See Chap V) was
descended from William 4th of Ballyfatton, via Williams 2nd,
3rd and 4th of Ballyfatton, Archibald and Galbraith Hamilton,
and thus extraordinarily the Castle returned to ownership of the Hamilton
family of this book, after a long period of time.
By the late 1850's the prosperity of
Killeshandra was evident. There were numerous cornmills in the parish and a
flax mill in the vicinity of the town owned by James Hamilton. There were two
forges, one in Church St., and one in Yewer Lane. There was a total of 141
houses in the town, 83 on Main St., 29 in Castle Lane and 29 in Yewer Lane.
There was a police barracks, a courthouse, a market house, a butter market and
a dispensary.
Castle Hamilton was burned
accidentally in 1911 when a heater in one of the chicken houses was overturned
and the resultant fire quickly spread, not only to the other chicken houses,
but also to the estate house itself.
I have been so far unable to discover
what became of the castle between 1713 (when Sir Francis died) and the
ownership by Col. Southwell in 1801.
However, Sir Francis (the first referred to above) fell foul of the monarch
and was indicted for treason in
. It
seems he may have forfeited his lands at that time as he in known to have made
a claim for their return in
.. They
were clearly back in the family hands at the time of death of Sir Francis (the
second referred to above) in 1713.
The
big house that replaced the estate house that was burned in the fire is now
owned by Joseph Fletcher. His father, Charles, bought it from the
Hamiltons. The land and the remains of
the castle out-houses are owned by a man called Alan Kells. He has
tourist apartments in the old buildings and he keeps cattle on the land.
He also runs a market gardening and landscaping business. Guy Hamilton was the
last of the Hamiltons to live in Killeshandra.
Interestingly,
in the neighbouring County of Leitrim, a distant cousin of Sir Francis' was
undergoing similar trauma but reacting rather more robustly. Sir Frederick Hamilton, the grandson of
James 2nd Earl of Arran was
granted land and built Manorhamilton in 1638.
"The rebels also attacked
Manorhamilton, capturing 500 cows and burning the winter supply of corn. Having
taken Sligo, they were savagely attacked by Sir Frederick Hamilton, and Sligo
was burned.
Hamilton, who had been granted lands
around Manorhamilton by James I in the 1620s, proceeded to devastate the whole
countryside of North Leitrim. The MacClancy castles were destroyed and murder
and destruction were the order of the day. Such was the terrible legacy of
Hamilton in North Leitrim in the period following the rising that his name is
vilified to the present day. The O'Connors managed to maintain a shaky foothold
in Sligo until 1645, when Sir Charles Coote (the father-in-law of Sir Francis) with
an army of around 5,000 English and Scottish marched from Tyrone through Dartry
to Sligo and captured the town. The rising was effectively over.
Not only had the rising resulted in the
destruction of the MacClancy fortresses but it also marked the beginning of the
end for the chiefdom. The Down Survey map of 1654/5 records all the Loughside,
formerly MacClancy lands, as belonging to Sir Frederick Hamilton.
We thus have an eyesight into the relations between the owner of Manor Hamilton and his neighbours of the Irish clans in this year of 1641, during the October of which the Irish Rebellion and Massacre broke out. The Diary already referred to begins with mention of the setting on fire and burning of the "Iron Works called the Garrison," Co. Fermanagh, by the MacLaughlins and MacMurrays of the County Leitrim, and that seven or eight score of the sufferers, most of them English, wounded and robbed, fled to Lady Hamilton for relief. "This day by our Colonell's command a gallowes was erected upon the top of an hill neare the castle, and having about 24 prisoners in the castle, he caused eight of them to be hanged up which had been at the burning of Ballyshannon, in the county of Donegall, and at the burning of the iron works in the county of Fermanagh." The gallows was kept busy, for we find that a number of men were tried by and executed under martial law since the beginning of this Rebellion, whose names are given as below:- The names of such as have been Hanged at Manor Hamilton, by Martial Law since the beginning of this Rebellion, Dec 3. Turlogh Mac Clevor Cormack O'Hay's wife, neare Neale Mac Cluan kinswoman to O'Connour Manus O'Gallogher Hugh O'Hart Manus O'Hay O'Donnell O'HartDec 12. Phelemy Duff Mac Cob Granny ny Kewe (Grace McHugh)Dec 18. Gelpatrick O'Kan Phelomy Mac ka Naw Brian O'Moriice Gilpatrick O'MullaneDec 20. Turlogh O'Cally Laughlin O DegannianJan 2. Brian O'Cannan Call boy Mac Garty Con O'Rourk, the Colonell's Donnogh O'Hart brother Hugh O'FlinJan 8.Connour Mac Shane Glasse James Roch, the chief Murtherer MacLoughlin, the chief of the British at Sligo of his name. Donnell O'CleryAug 23. Owen Mac Garraghy Hugh O'Cullen Cormack O'Cornan Glany O'ReganAug 31. Shane Mac Skerrie James Wytherspin John Spence July 12 James HalfpennySept 10. Capt. Con O'Connour July 26 Hugh O'Fay Credagh Mac Derno Nov 4. Captain Charles Mac Guire Cor Mac O'Hay, had Nov 26. Phelomy Mac Peirce been a minister Dec 22. M Gwyre Teig Mac Goane. Jan 7. Edmond MacGawranSept 1. Brian Mac Diffit Turrogh Beagh O MoretelanSept 17. Donnogh O'Dowde Brian O'CuerSept 19. Patrick O'Neale Feb 3. Cormack O'CuerFeb. 2. John Wytherspin Cormack O'QuillanFeb 11. Donnogh boy O'Bane Feb 18. Kahill Mac Kan Mewe Mac Loughlin Donnell Mac GlanaghyFe 22 Owen Mac Thomas William Mac Roregan MurrayFeb 26 Ferrall Mac Regan Tutmultagh Mac Garraghy, subsheriffe deputy of Donegall
[1] Much of the information above is taken from the Killishandra website for which I am grateful to Gerard Alwill, Esq. C.F.B.H.