Perrot's Siege of Dunluce Castle
Who Fought
History & Significance
Castle Maine, also recorded as Castle Magne and Castlemaine, was a medieval castle located at what is now Castlemaine, County Kerry. The castle, built in 1215, stood on a bridge over the River Maine. A defensive structure of considerable importance in Munster, it belonged first to the Earls of Desmond and later to the English Crown. Castle Maine was besieged on several occasions, including during the Nine Years' War when the garrison resisted for thirteen months. It was destroyed in 1652 during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland.
Castle Maine was built by Maurice Fitzgerald, possibly a son of Thomas FitzMaurice FitzGerald, in 1215. The structure was located in the middle of a substantial stone bridge crossing the River Maine, which marked the southern boundary of territory newly conquered by the FitzGeralds from the MacCarthy Mor dynasty in the early thirteenth century. The river regularly flooded during heavy rains and became impassable, giving the crossing point at Castle Maine strategic significance. A drawing of the castle from 1600 survives, showing the castle as having two central towers of unequal height, protected by walls and with a portcullis and drawbridge facing towards the southern end of the bridge. The foundations of the bridge remain, and are unusually broad with large arches, indicating the size of the structure which once stood above them. A local legend that the castle was built jointly by the FitzGeralds and MacCarthy Mor is fictitious.
Maurice FitzGerald, 2nd Earl of Desmond is recorded as having died at the castle in 1358. In 1510, an army led by Gerald FitzGerald, 9th Earl of Kildare took the castle, although it later returned to the control of the Desmonds.
During the Desmond Rebellions, Castle Maine became one of the last remaining possessions of the Desmonds and was attacked by the English army of Sir John Perrot in 1571. Perrot summoned the chieftains of Munster to meet him at the castle with their forces on 24 June 1571, in order to lay siege to the fortress. In a letter to William Cecil, 1st Baron Burghley, Perrot emphasised the importance of the castle and the "necessity of winning it". Gerald FitzGerald, 14th Earl of Desmond directed his cousin, James Fitzmaurice, to defend the castle. Despite use of cannon against the castle walls, Perrot was forced to abandon the siege at the end of July 1571 as he was running out of gunpowder.
A year later, in June 1572, Perrot again laid siege to the castle assisted by Maurice Roche, 6th Viscount Fermoy, and Donald McCarthy, 1st Earl of Clancare. Perrot's forces reputedly included Scottish gallowglass and native Irish components. The garrison of thirty men, defending Castle Maine, surrendered after a twelve-week siege had exhausted their provisions. From this point, Castle Maine became an English Crown fortress. The castle was occupied by English soldiers with a standing garrison of twelve men and placed under the command of a Constable, the first of which was John Herbert. Perrot submitted a report to London in which he recommended that the castle should be re-edified and that the lands of the nearby Killagha Abbey be annexed to it.
The ground they fought on
The site of Perrot's Siege of Dunluce Castle lies on Unnamed Extrusive Rocks, Palaeogene, bedrock that formed in the Paleogene. The rock here is mafic lava and mafic tuff.
The source records that after Perrot forced Dunluce Castle's surrender on honourable terms, the MacDonnells recovered it by "treachery", only for Sorley Boy MacDonnell to surrender it again to the English in 1585, whereupon it was returned to him in charge and he was formally made its constable.
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