Carbury Castle, Co Kildare (or Castle Carbury or Carbery)  – ruin 

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. 64. “(Colley, sub Wellington, D.PB; and Harberton, V/PB) A fortified Jacobean manor-house, with tall chimneys, former seat of the Colleys, ancestors of the Duke of Wellington; built on the site of a medieval castle of the de Berminghams. Still inhabited by the Colleys ca 1750, but became a ruin soon afterwards.” 

In Blake, Tarquin. Abandoned Mansions of Ireland. Collins Press, Cork, 2010. 

Loeber, Rolf. Irish Houses and Castles: 1400-1740. Edited by Kevin Whelan and Matthew Stout, Four Courts Press, 2019. : 

p. 39. Under the seventh and eighth earls of Kildare (Thomas, 143078; Gerald, 1456-1513), a renewed expansion took place, starting with the recovery of Rathangan (Kildare) in 1459; by 1500, the O’Connors had been pushed further westward, losing the strongholds of Morett and Lea in Laois. Fortifications were erected in Kildare, particularly at key border points, noteably in Castledermot (1485), where theere had been a medieval walled town, and Powerscourt (1500) in Wicklow. IN the early 16^th C, the earl of Kildares justiced administered English law from Carbury Castle in Kildare near the Laois border….A map of Leinster (1520-30) showed Kildare castles at Maynooth, and along or near the “frontier” Barrow at Rathangan, Woodstock, Athy, Kilkea and Castledermot. A subsequent earl of Kildare, however, revolted between 1534 and 1536 [Silken Thomas]; in 1536, the border county of Kildare was “much waste and void of inhabitants… But would God that it would please the King’s Highness to send Englishmen to inhabit here…” 

https://theirishaesthete.com/2017/01/02/in-a-commanding-position/

Some readers might not be aware that the Wellesley family, of which the most famous line is that descended from the first Duke of Wellington, used to spell their name Wesley. More importantly, their original name was Colley: in 1728, on inheriting the estates of Dangan and Mornington in County Meath from a cousin called Garret Wesley, Richard Colley legally adopted the latter’s surname. The grandfather of the Iron Duke, Richard Wesley was eventually created first Baron of Mornington (his son, called Garret Wesley in memory of the man who had bequeathed them his estates, would become first Earl of Mornington in 1760). All this is by way of explaining an oft-mentioned but rarely understood link between the Duke of Wellington and Carbury Castle, County Kildare. … 

Carbury Castle stands at the top of a hill believed to have been at the heart of an ancient territory known as Cairbre Uí Chiardha, associated with a sept of the Uí Néill clan, Lords of Carbury first mentioned in the Annals of the Four Masters. From this clan was supposed to have been descended Niall of the Nine Hostages, a fourth century king. The name Carbury derives from Cairbre (or Coirpre), one of Niall’s sons. However the origins of the castle lie with the Norman Meiler Fitzhenry who constructed a motte on the site. The land then passed into the possession of the de Berminghams. During the confused wars of the 15th century Castle Carbury, as it was then called, was attacked and plundered on several occasions, passing in and out of diverse hands. By then titular ownership lay with the Prestons: in the second half of the 14th century, Robert Preston, first Baron Gormanston had married Margaret, daughter and heiress of Walter de Bermingham, Lord of Carbury. 

In the early part of the reign of Elizabeth I, the lands of Carbury were bestowed by the crown on Henry Colley, an English soldier who rose to become an Irish Privy Counsellor and was invested as a Knight in 1574. He was succeeded by his son, another Henry who made an advantageous marriage to Anne, eldest daughter of Adam Loftus, the great Archbishop of Dublin who also acted as Lord Chancellor of Ireland and first Provost of Trinity College Dublin, which he was instrumental in founding. Several more generations of Colleys followed, until another Henry inherited Carbury in the late 17th century: it was his younger son Richard who, on inheriting estates in County Meath changed his surname to Wesley. Richard’s elder brother, yet another Henry Colley, only had one child, a daughter Mary who married Arthur Pomeroy, created first Viscount Pomeroy in 1791. It was during this couple’s lifetime that Carbury Castle was abandoned, since in the 1760s the Pomeroys built themselves a new residence nearby, the Palladian Newberry Hall. 

What remains today of Carbury Castle is primarily a late 16th/early 17th century fortified manor house, presumably erected on much earlier foundations. Its most striking feature are the tall chimney stacks but inside the building one also finds the remnants of the stone window mullions and large fireplaces. The internal floors have almost gone, as have room divisions so it is difficult to gain any sense of the original layout. No doubt soil levels have altered over the centuries, making such an assessment even harder but since the site naturally slopes quite steeply it is likely there were more storeys on one side of the building than on the other, one portion holding a barrel-vaulted cellar. A little further down the hill lies an ancient graveyard, with the remains of a chapel’s west gable, and the Colley mausoleum which looks to be of early 18th century origin. It is not hard to see why a castle was built and maintained here, since it commands views of the surrounding flat Kildare countryside for many miles around, ensuring the occupants were well warned of any threat of attack. Today the scale and location of Carbury Castle ensure that even as a ruin it still exudes authority.

http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/kildare/carbury/carbury.html

Map Reference: N687350 (2687, 2350) 
 
The motte near Carbury Castle was probably built by Meiler FitzHenry who was granted the area by Strongbow. The castle was acquired in the 14th century by the de Berminghams.  

They probably built the older parts of the existing castle. In the 15th century it was taken by the native Irish and in 1562 it was granted to the Colley (or Cowley) Family. They were the ancestors of the Dukes of Wellington. The Colleys built a large strong house in the 17th century. Originally there seems to have been a rectangular building with vaulted rooms at the lower level. A projecting wing was added on the W side although the stonework in both sections is similar.  

An added section on the E side has four 17th century chimney stacks and some large mullioned windows. The top of the hill may be partly artificial.  

https://www.antaisce.org/blog/spotlight-on-carbury-castle

Carbury Castle is a multi-period structure featuring – 

• A probable 12th century earthwork castle/motte [KD008-001001]. 

• Abutting the earthwork on its eastern flank, a 13th century masonry castle [KD008-001002]. 

• The castle was enlarged to the north and east in the late 16th/early 17thcentury [KD008-001003]. 

• 18th/19th century alterations with landscaped gardens [KD008-001004]. 

There is also the possibility that the church remains [KD008-001005], lying 80m downslope, had a Medieval origin and thus an association with the castle complex.  

‘Carbury Castle is a multi-period fortress sited on high ground in a very isolated area with no obvious easy access to it. It is, however, close to a graveyard and church which could originally have been contemporary with the building of the earthwork castle which is sited immediately to the west of the stone fortress. Also, like Loughcrew and Knowth, there are prehistoric burial mounds which are located on higher ground to the south of the castle’ (Sweetman 1999, 38). 

The lands of Carbury were granted in the late 12th century to Meiler FitzHenry by Strongbow (Devitt 1899, 92). He was probably responsible for the construction of the original earthwork castle. Upon his death the holdings would have reverted to Strongbow’s heirs. Thus in 1189, Carbury came into the possession of William, Earl Marshall, the husband of Strongbow’s daughter Isabel (ibid., 93). 

The first specific mention of the castle was in 1234. In that year a ‘mandate (was given) to Hugh de Lascy, Earl of Ulster, to give seisin to the messenger of Gilbert, Earl of Pembroke, of the castle of Cabry in his custody owing to the war between the King and Richard Earl of Pembroke’ (CDI 1875, i, 323). In 1249 the Justiciary was instructed by the King to grant Margaret, Countess of Lincoln, wife of Walter, late Earl Marshall, seisin of the castles of Kildare and Carbury (ibid., 446). 

By the 14th century the castle was in the hands of the de Bermingham family. The family remained prominent throughout the following centuries. In 1319 John de Bermingham was created Earl of Louth. In 1329 he was slain during a siege of his castle at Braganstown by the gentry of that county. In 1368 a parley was held between the Irish and the English in Carbury. The Berminghams exploited the situation and seized Thomas Burley, Prior of Kilmainham and Chancellor of Ireland, John FitzRichard, Sheriff of Meath, and several others. The Chancellor was subsequently handed over in exchange for James Bermingham, who had been held, ‘in handcuffs and fetters’, in Trim Castle (Butler 1842, 154-5). 

On the 23rd of October 1554 ‘Henry Cowly’ was granted a lease of ‘Castlecarbre’ – the castle, its demesne lands, along with other lands, for example Kylemore and Derrygarte (DKR 9 1877, 63). The Cowly/Colley family were ancestors of the Duke of Wellington (Mac Lysaght 1982, 209). 

The crowning glory of Carbury Castle are the unrivalled examples of Elizabethan/Jacobean-style chimneys (see attached photograph). Whilst castles at Enniscorthy in County Wexford and Newtownstewart in County Fermanagh have similar examples, none are as perfectly realised as those at Carbury. It is these chimneys that are, by their very nature, currently under the greatest threat unless stabilisation work is urgently undertaken. Their avoidable loss would simply be unforgivable. Destruction by neglect. 

Sir William Wilde wrote – ‘…with its chimneys, narrow pointed gables, and large stone-sashed windows… (it’s) one of the best specimens of the castellated mansions of about the time of James the 1st’ … ‘Four of the chimneys, three of which are in the eastern front, have sixteen sides, … being beautifully wrought and moulded at the top’ (Wilde 1849, 28). 

David Sweetman, former Chief Archaeologist of the National Monuments Service, has stated – ‘Carbury Castle was surveyed because I thought it was an extremely important site (see attached plan). Few sites have such a continuous occupation with obvious periods of building from the Anglo-Norman fortification to the Elizabethan period. The site is obviously a dangerous structure and because of its uniqueness it would be great if stabilisation works could be undertaken’ (Pers. comm., PDS). 

To achieve proper stabilisation, and to maintain ongoing maintenance, it is imperative to take this valuable monument-rich complex into the care of the State. 

References: 

Butler, R. (ed. & Trans.) 1842 Jacobi Grace, Kilkenniensis, Annales Hiberniae. Dublin. Calendar of Documents relating to Ireland, 1171-1307, Vol.1. 1875, London. 

Devitt, M. 1896-99 ‘Carbury and the Birmingham’s country’, JKAS 2, 85-110. 

Mac Lysaght, E. 1982 More Irish Families. Dublin. 

Report of the Deputy Keeper of the Public Records and Keeper of the State Papers in Ireland: Ninth report. 1877, Dublin and London. 

Sweetman, P.D. 1999 The Medieval Castles of Ireland. Cork & Woodbridge. 

Wilde, W.R. 1849 The Beauties of the Boyne, and its tributary, the Blackwater. Dublin. 

Published: 21st June, 2021