Carnew Castle, Carnew, Co Wicklow
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
P. 57. [Fitzwilliam; Spicer] “An old castle which was in ruins by the end of C18 – according to the popular account, it was battered by Cromwell’s troops from a rock above the village – and which was re-roofed and remodernised ca. 1817 by 4th Earl Fitzwilliam whose Irish seat, Coolattin, is nearby. As restored, it is of 3 storeys with regularly disposed Georgian sash windows; there is a round tower at one side of the front, and a porch with a Georgian-Gothic door. The parapet is battlemented in a simple manner. The entrance from the village street is through a Gothic gateway with an ogee arch. Having been restored, the castle was used as the Rectory. Post WWII, it became the home of Capt. S.R.F. Spicer.”
Detached multiple-bay three-storey over basement former tower house, built in the late 16th century. The building is now in use as a private home. The earlier castle fell into disuse and was abandoned during the later 17th and early 18th century and was re-roofed by the 4th Earl Fitzwilliam, in the early 19th century. It was used as a rectory some time in the 19th century; post WWII it became a private home. The building is finished in render, however much of this has crumbled away to reveal a granite rubble construction. To the south elevation is a projecting three-storey curved bay while to the north-west is a bartizan. The front door is recessed within a gothic-arched opening with moulded stone surround. Window openings are a mixture of flat-headed openings with gothic-arched heads to others. Frames are generally timber sash. The roof structure is entirely hidden behind a castellated parapet. It is slightly set back behind a tall castellated stone wall which incorporates early 19th-century lean-to stables which were later part re-built, altered and extended.
Appraisal
This is a late medieval castle which although it has undergone various refurbishments, it still retains a brooding presence. It is an important physical manifestation of the interesting history of the town.
http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/wicklow/carnew/carnewcastle.html
Map Reference: T014630 (3014, 1630)
This was a substantial late-16th century tower-house which was incorporated into an 18th-century Georgian Gothic house. The original castle was a four-story tower which now forms the main part of the present three storeys over basement building. It had a large adjoining angle-tower with a turret. The present entrance, which is the original entrance to the tower-house, is in the angle formed by the tower-house and the angle-tower. There is another turret on the tower-house at the NW corner. To the north of the entrance is a machicolation at second-floor level. The roof structure is hidden behind a castellated parapet and the castle sits behind a tall castellated wall. The castle was abandoned in the late 17th and early 18th century but was re-roofed by 4th Earl Fitzwilliam in the early 19th century. It was used as a rectory later in the century and after WWII it became a private home.
http://carnewhistory.blogspot.com/p/the-castle.html
We are going to start today’s tour by thanking Wicklow County Council. They gave grants to repair the castle wall in 2012 and having the castle open during heritage week was a condition of receiving the grant. The first point of interest on this tour is the wall itself. The wall is a curtain wall which was built in the 1820s under the ownership of the Fitzwilliam estate. A curtain wall consists of two walls built closely together and then in filled by rubble, lime mortar and, it is rumoured, bodies. The wall was covered in a lime and sand mortar, which looked a lot more attractive than it does today. This mortar was easily eroded, as the builders of the time had to resort to dung and other materials to stick it to the wall. As I pointed out earlier there are outlines of windows and doors on the wall. Before the wall was built there was a row of cottages, which were amalgamated into the wall. Lord Fitzwilliam also built a school, which is known today as the Carnew Training and Development Centre[Enterprise Centre], for both Catholics & Protestants. The local Reverend Moore was not pleased with this development and decided to build a separate school for Protestants. Lord Fitzwilliam refused to supply him with either land or stone to build the school. The Reverend decided to build the school on the church grounds in the corner and to get the stone he bought the cottages off tenants and used them as building material. The school is still located there. He also built an extra room on top of the school which was called the peephole. He built this because he had a dispute with the tenants in the castle and wished to see over the wall. This room was removed 30 years ago. We will now move on to the castle itself. The castle is one of many stages of settlement in Carnew. The earliest evidence for settlement here are the decorated stones in Covesbrook Estate. These stones could be a throwback to the Neolithicperiod. There is also a fifth century cross in the Church of Ireland graveyard. There are reports of a motte and bailey castle in Carnew in the 11th Century, and the first Anglo Norman settlement of Carnew was in 1247. This castle was at first a fortified house built by the Irish Chieftain O’Toole. In the 1570’s the land was seized by royal forces and granted to Sir Henry Harrington.
He developed the house into an English style castle, although it did not have walls like the ones we see today. If you look at the castle walls you can see where changes have occurred over time. Through here we can see the dungeons. This is where the rebels captured in 1798 were held overnight. They were held in horribly cramped, uncomfortable conditions and it is a miracle that that they lived through the night. The next day they were shot in the yard opposite us and there is a monument on the other side of the wall to commemorate them. In here we have a number of plants of interest. When the Woodhouses lived here from the 1920s to the 40s they had a dairy and vegetable shop where partners chipper is now. Mrs Woodhouse grew vegetables in the gardens and sold them. When the Spicers lived here this area was a stable. The Gardener lived up those steps. When we come out here we can see circles in the walls where guns used to be held. It is important to remember that this was once an exterior wall as the road ran along the side and around past the gardens. These cannons would have been for defence. On top of the wall you can see the bell that Mrs Spicer used to call her husband in from the ground [e.g.for dinner]. Part 2 And now we come to what was originally the front of the castle, which, is also one of the most beautiful parts of the castle. After the 1798 rebellion, Lord Fitzwilliam had the castle made habitable again. He renovated the Castle in a style known as the Georgian order. This was a style which, originated in the late 17th century and carried on throughout the 18th century. Its focus was patterns and symmetry. This stepped garden was a feature of the Georgian order which was quite popular as it helped to elongate the garden. In order to achieve this stepped style, the entire surface had been raised up twenty feet –it was originally level with that field. As you can imagine, the castle would have looked more imposing before the renovation as there was a steep incline leading up from flat ground. This raising of the surface is evidenced by the sunken arch I pointed out earlier, which was originally an entrance. [you can see this in the gate along the side; the arch seems very low down but it used to be the entrance] As we come around the side of the castle I would like to point out the sills above the windows. These sills were developed by Lord Fitzwilliam, who was on the richest men in England had the sill built on most of his properties. This part of the castle is one of the newest parts, as it was completely ruined beforehand. [You can also see these sills on the Enterprise Centre building] As we enter the wooded section I would like to point out the Spanish chestnut which is several hundred years old. There are many old trees both exotic and native in this forest. Through this gate you can see what used to be a walled garden. There were originally 4 towers in this garden, the last of which fell in 1981.The Spicers and the Woodhouses both put a lot of work into this garden. The woodhouse grow produce for their shop here and the Spicers hired a gardener to keep it presentable. From here you can see the Mulroney, which used to be Carnew’s only source of water. It used to be said that a stranger who drank from the Mulroney would never leave Carnew. On our left here we have a lime tree also several hundred years old. Further along we have a whitethorn bush, which has been here long enough to develop into quite a large tree. We are now coming out onto what was once a tennis court during the time of the Spicers. What they didn’t realise was that they could be playing on the bodies of many people. In 1641, the Colcoff Chambers were living in the castle when a rebel force headed by the Sinnots, the Byrnes and the O’Tooles attacked Carnew. At least 160 people fled to the castle while the rebels burned Carnew and vandalised the Church of Ireland. They then laid siege to the castle. Many people died due to cramped conditions, lack of food and water. Although there is no official record it is possible that these bodies were buried in the castle grounds somewhere. Just 10 years later the castle was attacked again by Cromwell’s forces, who bombarded it with cannons until it was ruined. The castle would remain a ruin until the renovations under Lord Fitzwilliam.That concludes our tour. You are welcome to look around the grounds but I ask you to be careful, especially in the woods as the surface is very uneven. Patricia Kenny 2012
Irish Historic Houses 