Askeaton Castle, County Limerick
General information: 087 113 9670, askeatoncastle@opw.ie
From the OPW website https://heritageireland.ie/visit/places-to-visit/askeaton-castle/:
“In the very heart of this County Limerick town stand the impressive remains of a medieval fortress. Askeaton Castle dates from 1199, when William de Burgo built it on a rock in the River Deel.
Over the centuries, the castle proved itself key to the history of Munster. It was the power base of the earls of Desmond after 1348. In 1579 it held out against the English general Sir Nicholas Malby, an incident that helped spark the second Desmond Rebellion.
The banqueting hall is one of the finest medieval secular buildings in Ireland. The tower is partly ruined, but some fine windows and an exquisite medieval fireplace have remained.
The early eighteenth-century building nearby was used as a Hellfire Club. These clubs were rumoured to be dens of excess in which wealthy gentlemen indulged in drink, mock ritual and other nefarious activities.“
The Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, held the castle for over 200 years and ruled Munster from it.
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. 14. “(Fitzgerald, Desmond E/DEP) One of the chief castles of the Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, mostly C15 and extending round two courtyards on a small rocky island in the River Deel. The buildings include a magnificent mid-C15 banqueting hall raised on a basement of vaulted chambers. Also in the castle bailey is the ruin of an enigmatic house of rubble stone with red brick dressings, which old pictures show to have had a very high roof and tall chimneys. It has a curved bow at one side of each of its two principal fronts, one of them with a Venetian window. This could be the earliest example of a Venetian window on the curve, not just in Ireland but anywhere, if, as is possible, the house dates from late C17. It may not, however, have been built until ca. 1740s, when it is said to have been the headquarters of the Limerick Hell Fire Club. In C19, it was used as barracks. Askeaton Castle is now a ruin maintained as a national monument.”
Built on a small island in the river Deel, Askeaton Castle, County Limerick dates from 1199 when built by the Norman settler William de Burgo. It subsequently became a stronghold for the FitzGerald Earls of Desmond but while surviving assault during that family’s rebellions against the English crown in the 16th century the castle was eventually dismantled around 1650 by the regicide Colonel Daniel Axtel when he was crushing opposition to Cromwell’s forces in this part of the country. Even as a ruin, its remains continue to dominate the surrounding landscape.
http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/limerick/ashkeaton/ashkeaton_castle.html
Map Reference: R341503 (1341, 1503)
Askeaton Castle was founded on an island in the River Deel about 1199, probably by William de Burgo. It is not accessible at present but the remains of its tall 15th century tower can be plainly seen from a distance. It is at least five storeys high with vaults above the second and third floors. Although it stands to full height one wall is completely gone.
The Banqueting Hall can also be seen although its finer details are not visible. These buildings stand within a bawn wall and a second strong wall surrounds the island.
http://www.thestandingstone.ie/2010/06/desmond-castle-and-hellfire-club.html
Desmond Castle and the Hellfire Club, Askeaton, Co. Limerick.
Location – On the N69 in the centre of Askeaton. The castle is on its own little island in the River Deel. It is connected to the road via a bridge.
OS: R 341 503 (map 64)
Longitude: 8° 58′ 24.74″ W
Latitude: 52° 35′ 59.56″ N
GPS: R 34044 50282 (Accuracy: 7m)
See map at the bottom of the page.
Description and History – Like the nearby friary, this site is really fantastic and has such a rich history. At present it is only open to the public on Saturday and Sundays as the castle is being conserved and is being worked on during the week. While it is great to see the site being looked after so well it means that you have to be taken in by a tour guide and can only see certain areas and cannot get inside any of the buildings at the present time. But in the long run it will last many more years because of this essential work.
Dominating the town, Desmond Castle was built in 1199 by William de Burgo and it became the dwelling place of the Kings of Munster. The castle was built for defence and is perched on top of a rocky outcrop. The original castle was rebuilt in the 13th century and parts of this foundation still remain. Thomas de Clare was owner of the castle in 1287 but it was granted to Robert de Welle by King Edward II in 1318 and by 1348 the Earls of Desmond has made the castle their main seat of power. The castle went through another phase of rebuilding in the 15th century and most of the remains date to that period. English forces attacked the castle in 1579 when the Earls of Desmond rebelled against the English crown. When the English forces failed to take the castle they burned the town and attacked the friary. In 1652 the castle was dismantled by the Cromwellian forces and remains the same to this day, slowly crumbling away until restoration work was begun.
Also in the grounds is a banqueting hall built in 1440 by the seventh Earl of Desmond. Known as ‘Halla Mor’ (the great hall) it is one of Ireland’s finest examples of a banquet hall and has a fine groin vaulted chamber on the first floor which is part of an earlier hall built on the same spot. A small medieval church is attached to the rear of the hall which is largely featureless with only one window remaining.
Next to the castle is the infamous Hellfire Club which was built in 1740 (curiously the same year that the friary was finally abandoned) and is constructed of a mixture of red brick and stone. The Hellfire Clubs, found throughout Ireland and Britain were gentleman’s clubs where rich men would gather to drink, play games and meet prostitutes. Many stories of the occult surround the various Hellfire Clubs with the devil himself being said to have frequented certain clubs. Some clubs even have stories of human sacrifice attached to them but how true these stories are remains to be seen. One thing that did come out of the Hellfire Clubs is the tradition of mixing whiskey and cream known as ‘scaltheen’. It was a mixture of whiskey, cream and butter which was heated by a red hot poker. The club closed down by 1800. The façade of the building collapsed in the 1990’s.
Difficulty – Easy to get to but only open on Saturday and Sundays by guided tour only. Go to the yellow tourist office in the square to ask for a tour. Alternatively contact Anthony Sheehy who gives fantastic tours of here and the friary:
Mobile: 00353 (0)86 0850174.
Home: 00353 (0)61 392149.
Summer rain seems to add a distinctive translucent quality to the light in Ireland, and the pastel coloured shops and houses of Askeaton and the mediaeval walls of the Desmond Castle sparkled in the sunshine that was trying to break through the clouds this afternoon.
This weekend, Askeaton’s celebrated local tour guide and raconteur Anthony Sheehy is offering guided tours of the Desmond Castle, telling the historical tales behind its tall towers and crumbling crenellations.
Anthony Sheehy tells the tales behind the tall towers and crumbling crenellations of the Desmond Castle in Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
Anthony is a former butcher who lives by the banks of the River Deel. In his retirement, he has taken on the role of volunteer historian and tour guide during summer weekends.
He does it for free, on a voluntary basis, but has received glowing recommendations on TripAdvisor and in the Lonely Planet Guide, which describes him as the ‘resourceful local historian and expert Anthony Sheehy.’
Anthony knows every nook and cranny of the Desmond Castle, the adjoining Banqueting Hall and Hellfire Club and the former 14th century Franciscan Abbey nearby with its well-preserved cloisters. A full tour of Askeaton with him takes about 2½ hours, and he does it in a way that keeps his audience enthralled.
These tours could easily be longer yet remain equally enjoyable and educational at one and the same time.
Summer reflections in the River Deel this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
The castle is only open to the public at weekends in the summer at present because the Office of Public Works is continuing stabilisation works on it.
This weekend [5 and 6 August], Anthony Sheehy is offering his tours of the Desmond Castle in Askeaton on Saturday, at 10.30, 11.30, 1.30 and 3 p.m., and on Sunday at the same times.
The tours leave from the tourist office in East Square, by the bridge over the River Deel.
The bridge over the River Deel at Askeaton, Co Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
The ruins of Askeaton Hellfire Club on an island in the River Deel, with the ruins of the Desmond Castle in the background (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
Patrick Comerford
The ruins of Limerick Hellfire Club stand beside the ruins of the Desmond Castle on the island in the middle of the River Deel. As the fast-flowing waters of the river thunder past, making their way under the old narrow bridge, these ruins appear like a benign presence in the heart of the town, especially in the early evening as the sun sets behind them and the rooks and herons hover above the remains of this centuries-old crumbling structures.
The ruins of the Hellfire Club stand within the bailey of Askeaton Castle. They date from 1636-1637, when this building was first erected as a detached barracks or tower.
The barracks or tower was built by the builder and designer, Andrew Tucker, for Richard Boyle (1566-1643), the 1st Earl of Cork, who had recently acquired Askeaton Castle.
The tower was built with battered walls with cut stone quoins, and the remains of a three-bay was built on top of the battered base later, some time in the mid-18th century.
There is a bow to the south elevation of the house and a shallow projecting end-bay to the north elevation. The house is roofless, with a limestone eaves course. The course rubble limestone walls have tolled quoins, a brick stringcourse and brick quoins to the upper floors.
There are square-headed door openings to the north elevation, a square-headed window opening to the bow with a brick architrave, and camber-headed window openings to the west, with brick voussoirs. The round-headed window opening to the east elevation has a brick surround, flanked by round-headed niches with brick surrounds and a continuous brick sill course.
By 1740, the building belonged to the St Leger family, who may have engaged John Aheron to design the bow-sided house which was built on top of the base of the barracks. By then, this was the meeting place of the Askeaton Hell Fire Club, and the building was probably used by the club until the end of the 18th century.
The club in Askeaton traced its origins to the first Hellfire Club, formed in 1719 by Philip Wharton (1698-1731), 1st Duke of Wharton. Wharton was a rake who gamble away Rathfarnham Castle in Dublin and most of his inheritance. In 1726, he married Maria Theresa O’Beirne (sometimes known as Maria Theresa Comerford). When he was in the advanced stages of alcoholism, the couple moved to a Cistercian abbey in Catalonia, where he died in 1731. His widow returned to London, and after his will was proved in court she lived comfortably in London society.
The club continued long after Wharton’s death, and the club in Askeaton was founded around 1736-1740. Known as a satirical gentlemen’s club, the revelries of its members shocked their neighbours and the outside world. The two other clubs in Ireland were based on Montpelier Hill, south of Tallaght, and near Clonlara, Co Clare.
In his recent book Blasphemers & Blackguards, The Irish Hellfire Clubs (2012), David Ryan examines the stories of these clubs. But, while local folklore recalls lurid tales of outrageous rituals, there is little actual information or evidence of the activities of the Askeaton Hellfire Club, and the name and supposedly lurid activities may have been opportunities to slight the church and to snub clerical authority, or mere excuses to hide their debauchery during evenings of wine, women and song.
James Worsdale’s painting of the members of the Askeaton Hellfire Club
One tradition recalls how a member of the club was thrown from one of the windows into the River Deel below during the course of a ‘drunken frolic.’
Evidence of the club and its members survives in a painting by James Worsdale (1692-1767) from sometime between 1736 and 1740. This painting shows a group of club members in Askeaton drinking, smoking and in conversation. Bottles of wine sit on a rack in the foreground, and there is a large bowl of punch on the table.
Eleven men and one woman, as well as a boy, fill the painting. Some of the figures that have been identified include: Edward Croker of Ballingarde, his son John (died 1804); Wyndham Quin of Adare, father of the 1st Earl of Dunraven; Thomas Royce of Nantenan, near Askeaton; John Bayley of Debsborough, Nenagh, Co Tipperary; and Henry Prittie, father of Henry Prittie (1743-1801), father of Lord Dunalley.
Worsdale, who was a founding member of the Dublin Hellfire Club, is on the far left of the painting, trying to attract the attention of the only woman in the painting. Most critics identify this woman as Margaret Blennerhassett, who was known as Celinda and who was the wife of Arthur Blennerhassett, a magistrate, of Riddlestown Park, Rathkeale. She was born Margaret Hayes, the eldest daughter of Jeremiah Hayes of Cahir Guillamore, Bruff.
Celinda is said to have been the only woman who ever became a member of the Askeaton Hellfire Club. The story is told that in her curiosity she tried to find what the men did during their meetings at the club. She hid herself in the meeting room before the members arrived, and when they discovered her she was formally inducted as a member to ensure her silence.
Later, her husband drowned in a boating tragedy in the Lakes of Killarney in 1775.
Some critics, however, have identified the woman in this painting as Laetitia Pilkington, alongside her husband, the Revd Matthew Pilkington (1701-1774), one-time friends of Jonathan Swift, Dean of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. This would date the painting from some time before 1738.
Matthew Pilkington moved to London, where he became friends with the painter James Worsley, led a dissolute life, divorced Laetitia, and was jailed in 1734. When he returned to Ireland, he enjoyed the patronage of Archbishop Michael Cobbe of Dublin and the Cobbe family of Newbridge House, Donabate.
Laetitia Pilkington (1709-1750), was the daughter of a Dublin obstetrician, Dr John van Lewen. After Matthew fabricated the circumstances that led to their divorce, she was arrested for a debt of £2 and ended up in a debtors’ prison in London.
If she was forced into discreet prostitute to earn a living later in life, she was also scathingly critical of the clergy of day. Speaking probably from the experience of her husband’s own lifestyle, she said ‘the holiness of their office gives them free admittance into every family’ and they abuse this so that ‘they are generally the first seducers of innocence.’
‘Our seducers were our accusers,’ she wrote.
When Laetitia Pilkington died in 1750, a monument was erected in Saint Ann’s Church, Dawson Street, Dublin, with clear references to the sufferings she had endured at the hands of her merciless husband. Less than a month after her death, Matthew Pilkington married his mistress Nancy Sandes.
In 1811, an evangelical magazine published an obituary of Captain Perry, a carousing individual and likely member of a Hellfire Club. After a short lifetime of excessive living and radical thinking, he died an early death as he struggled to repent. It was a warning to readers of the dangers of being involved in such circles.
The building was abandoned by the club sometime around 1840, and the club is inaccessible to the public, as the Office of Public Works continues work at stabilising the building.
The Limerick Leader in May 1958 that James Worsdale’s painting of the members of the Askeaton Hellfire Club was being offered for sale to Limerick City Council for £350. It is now in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Although the ruins of the Askeaton Hellfire Club have fallen into disrepair, the overall original form of this building is easily discerned, as are features such as the door and window openings. It retains many well-crafted features such as the brick window surrounds and limestone battered walls, and the high roof and the tall chimneys are of interest.
The building has a curved bow at one side of each of the building’s two principal fronts, and one of them has a Venetian window. If, as is possible, the house dates from the 17th century, then this could be one of the earliest known examples of a Venetian window on a curve, not just in Ireland but anywhere else in Europe – which could just make it a far more interesting building than the myths and legends surrounding its rakish revellers.
http://www.patrickcomerford.com/search/label/castles?updated-max=2017-03-10T11:30:00Z&max-results=20&start=79&by-date=false
Exploring the stories of Askeaton Castle and
the legacy of the FitzGeralds of Desmond
Askeaton Castle is perched on a rocky island in the middle of the River Deel and is the focal point of the town (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
Patrick Comerford
I got back to Askeaton in the mid-afternoon today [10 February 2017] after working in Dublin for the last two or three days. As I walked into Askeaton from the rectory, facing towards a sky filled with a beautiful red sunset, the skyline was dominated by the majestic ruins of Askeaton Castle in the centre of the town. The castle is perched on a rocky island or outcrop in the middle of the River Deel and is the focal point of the town.
I understand that at the moment the site is only open to the public by appointment on Saturdays and Sundays in the summer months. Much of it is hidden from view behind corrugated gates and fencing. Continuing restoration and repair work make it unsafe for visitors, and as I looked at it this afternoon, I imagined this essential work may last many more years.
The castle dates back to 1199, when Askeaton and the surrounding area were granted to Hamo de Valoignes, who was the Justiciary of Ireland from 1197 to 1199. However, the Annals of Inisfallen record that William de Burgo was granted the castle and estates of Askeaton by Dónal Mór O’Brien, King of Thomond. Other accounts say Askeaton Castle was built in 1199 by William de Burgo and that the original castle was rebuilt in the 13th century.
By the end of the 13th century, Thomas de Clare (1245-1287) was the owner of the castle. On 26 January 1276, he was granted the Lordship of Thomond by King Edward I, and he spent the next eight years attempting to conquer it from the O’Briens of Thomond. Thomas de Clare died in 1287, and eventually, in 1318, Edward II granted the castle to Thomas de Clare’s son-in-law, Robert de Welles.
I was interested to note that Thomas de Clare was an uncle of Lady Elizabeth de Clare, who gave her name to Clare College, Cambridge, where I stayed last year[August 2016]. She was a granddaughter of King Edward I and the heiress to large estates and tracts of land in Ireland, through her descent from Strongbow and her marriage into the de Burgo family, Earls of Ulster and ancestors of the great Burke families.
Robert de Welles died in 1320, and the Earls of Desmond made Askeaton Castle their main seat of power after 1348, when Maurice FitzGerald, 1st Earl of Desmond, paid 40 shillings for the Barony of Lystifti. The castle that stands in the River Deel today dates from this time, and the FitzGeralds of Desmond made the castle one of their principal residences for two centuries.
The Earls of Desmond were a powerful presence in mediaeval Munster, and they held Askeaton Castle for over 200 years. They made it their power base, and from here they ruled most of Munster for generations.
Askeaton Castle was the powerful stronghold of the tragic Gerald FitzGerald (ca 1533–1583), 15th Earl of Desmond, also known as the Rebel Earl. He succeeded his father in 1558 and a year later, in 1559, he rebelled against the policy of surrender and regrant imposed on Irish lords. The Desmond Rebellion turned into a war across Munster.
Desmond strengthened the defences of Askeaton Castle in 1574, and Sir Nicholas Malby was unsuccessful when he attacked the castle in 1579. In his anger and his frustration, Malby then attacked the neighbouring Franciscan Abbey and destroyed the town of Askeaton.
During a second attack on Askeaton on 3 April 1580, Desmond and his dwindling band of followers slipped out of Askeaton Castle, and as they made their departure they blew up part of the outworks. What was left of the castle was easily captured the next day, it was garrisoned, and Captain Francis Berkeley was put in command as warden of the castle and appointed Provost Marshall of Connaught and Thomond.
Berkeley continued to hold Askeaton Castle throughout the remainder of the Desmond rebellion, despite opposition from the President of Munster, Sir John Norreys. Desmond’s followers would abandon him, however, and as he fled with just four loyal retainers he was slain on 11 November 1583 by Moriarty of Castledrum, at Glenagenty, five miles east of Tralee. The Lord Justice, Sir William Pelham, who had proclaimed Desmond a traitor in 1579, then took possession of Askeaton Castle. It was the beginning of the end of the FitzGerald reign in Munster.
Askeaton Castle then came into the ownership of Francis Berkeley, who also received a grant of 7,000 acres of confiscated Desmond land in the area. Although technically the castle was now in the hands of the Crown, he received a grant for the new Manor of Rock Barkley and settled 56 new families on the estates. In 1596, he married Jane Loftus of Rathfarnham Castle, a daughter of Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin. In 1597, he was appointed the Governor of Limerick Castle.
Askeaton Castle and the mediaeval bridge seen from the quays on the banks of the River Deel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
In 1598, the tenants of Berkeley’s manor, 500 men, women and children, sought refuge in Askeaton Castle as it came under siege. Most of the people who were hiding in the castle were taken to safety on boats at the quay on the River Deel and were brought up the River Shannon to Limerick. The town of Askeaton was pillaged and the siege turned into a blockade.
When a relief of the castle was organised in June 1599, the besieging forces were encouraged by the new claimant to the title of Earl of Desmond, James FitzThomas FitzGerald, known as the ‘Sugán Earl.’
The siege had lasted 247 days when Lord Essex and his troops arrived at Askeaton on Sunday 10 June 1599. Berkeley was knighted, and later as Sir Francis Berkeley he took a leading role at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601. Some years later, the ‘Sugán Earl’ died in the Tower of London ca 1607 or 1608. His brother, John FitzThomas FitzGerald, married a daughter of Richard Comerford of Danganmore Castle, Co Kilkenny, and the couple escaped to Spain, where he was known as the Conde de Desmond. He died a few years afterwards in Barcelona. FitzGerald His son Gerald, also known as the Conde de Desmond, entered the service of the Emperor Ferdinand, and was killed in 1632.
Meanwhile, in 1610, Berkeley proposed walling the town of Askeaton and strengthening the castle at his own cost. James I granted him the castle for life, the grants to the Manor of Rock Barkley were confirmed. Askeaton became a parliamentary borough, sending its own MPs to Irish House of Commons, and a new town council was formed in 1612, with Edmond Drew as the first provost or mayor of Askeaton.
Francis Berkeley died at Askeaton on 20 December 1615. His interests in Askeaton passed to his sons, first Maurice Berkeley (1598-1622) and then Henry Berkeley (1606-1625). But they had no children, and Askeaton Castle and the Berkeley manor were then inherited by the descendants of their sister Gertrude, who married John Taylor.
During the civil wars in the 1640s and 1650s, Askeaton Castle was occupied by Lieutenant Patrick Purcell of the Confederate Catholic forces. Askeaton was attacked and destroyed by the Cromwellian Captain Daniel Axtell in 165, and he hanged Patrick Purcell. Axtell had been the captain of the parliamentary guard at the trial of King Charles I in 1649, and shortly after the Restoration in 1660 he was hanged, drawn and quartered as a regicide.
After the restoration, the ruined Askeaton Castle and the estates were recovered by the Taylor family. Robert Taylor was the MP for Askeaton in 1715, Berkeley Taylor was MP in 1723-1727, and Edward Taylor was MP in 1727.
William Taylor’s daughter Catherine married Hugh Massey, 2nd Lord Massey, in 1760, and so Askeaton Castle and the estates passed to the Massey family, while her sister Sarah married Henry Butler, 2nd Earl of Carrick. Both Lord Massey and Lord Carrick received substantial financial compensation when the ‘rotten borough’ of Askeaton was abolished at the Act of Union in 1800.
The castle that was dismantled by Axtell and his Cromwellian forces remains as it must have looked in 1652 and was slowly crumbling away until the present restoration work began.
Askeaton Castle, the Banqueting Hall and the former Hellfire Club form one integrated archaeological and architectural site (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)
In the grounds of the castle, the Great Hall is one of the finest examples of its kind in Ireland. It was built ca 1440-1459 by James FitzGerald, 6th Earl of Desmond or ‘Usurper’ Earl, who died in 1463. It served as a place of feasting, where the Earls of Desmond entertained their allies and welcomed their guests.
The hall was 72 ft long by 30 ft wide, and is one of Ireland’s finest examples of a banquet hall. It has a fine groin-vaulted chamber on the first floor that is part of an earlier hall built on the same spot. The three blind arcades and carved windows on the south wall are of exceptional design. They are said to have been built by the same craftsmen who built the nearby Franciscan friary, and they are of the same design.
Underneath the hall are said to be wine cellars and kitchens dating from the 13th century, although I have yet to see these. A small mediaeval church attached to the rear of the hall is largely featureless with only one window remaining.
Castle Gate is an 18th century landmark building at the entrance to the castle. It has surviving mediaeval fabric, spans one branch of the River Deel at this point, and probably served as the gate lodge of the castle. It is a Protected Structure and is listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
Next to the castle, the infamous Hellfire Club was built in 1740, the same year that the friary was finally abandoned by the Franciscan friars. It is built built of a mixture of red brick and stone. The Hellfire Clubs of the time, which were found throughout Ireland and Britain, were gentlemen’s clubs where rich men met to drink, play cards and consort with prostitutes. Many stories of the occult and appearances of the Devil surround these Hellfire Clubs, and they may have been circulated to deter prying intrusions by inquisitive neighbours anxious to find out about the club activities.
The club in Askeaton had closed by 1800, and the façade of the building collapsed in the 1990s.
Askeaton Castle is a National Monument in State ownership, but it remains closed to the public as structural renovations continue. But the influence of the castle on the layout of the town is still discernible. Askeaton is unusual to this day in having two town squares – the East Square and the West Square located on either side of the Castle Island.
Irish Historic Houses 