Athcarne Castle
| Athcarne Castle | |
|---|---|
 Ruins of Athcarne Castle | |
| Built | 1590 |
| Official name | Athcarne Castle |
| Reference no. | 240[1] |
Athcarne Castle is a ruined
Etymology
The name Athcarne is thought to be derived from either Áth Cairn meaning the Fording Point at the Cairn, or burial mound, or alternatively from Ard Cairn, meaning High Cairn. There is a
History
A location called Cerne, Cernae or Cerna in early historic times, encompassing the townlands of Carnes
In 1172, the lands at Athcarne were granted to the Anglo-Norman knight Hugo De Bathe, who came from Bath in England. He arrived in Ireland, either with Richard "Strongbow", Earl of Pembroke in 1170 or with Hugh de Lacy, Lord of Meath in 1171. It is likely that he built a defensive structure on the site which evolved into a tower house over the next few hundred years.[citation needed]
It was significantly extended in 1590 by the High Court judge Sir
On 31 August 1649, Oliver Cromwell marched north from Dublin with 12,000 men to take Drogheda from the 'Royalists'. He captured Ballygarth Castle on the River Nanny at Julianstown, where it enters the sea. This was a strategically important point to control. On 1 September, the Earl of Ormonde issued an instruction to the Royalist troops in Drogheda to capture three other castles near the crucial crossing points on the river Nanny, and hence strategically important: they were Athcarne, Bellewstown and Dardistown. However, Cromwell's troops got there before them and captured all 3 castles on 1 and 2 September. Cromwell now controlled the river Nanny, running parallel to and south of the Boyne, where Drogheda was located.
Following its capture, Athcarne was granted to Colonel Grace, one of Cromwell's officers. James Bathe and his family then moved to
Of many legends about the Castle, which is said to be haunted, the most plausible is that King James II slept here on his way to the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, the Castle being only six miles from the battlefield. In fact, James II actually owned Athcarne at the time and the Bathe family were simply renting it from him on a long lease (see paragraph above).
The Bathe family eventually left the castle about 1700 and it was owned by the Garnett family for the next 100 years or so. Around 1830, it was bought by the Gernon family who significantly remodelled it. They left the original tower house in place but demolished the Elizabethan mansion house built by William Bathe in 1590 and built a more modern extension with larger windows as was the fashion at the time. They changed the orientation so the front of the house was south-facing and created a boating lake in the field at the front of the castle. This was achieved every winter by creating a dam in the river Hurley, you can still see the dam to this day.
The Gernon family experienced a downturn in fortunes and eventually, the Castle was sold at auction in 1939. The Castle was gutted and the parts were sold off for architectural salvage. A plan to demolish the castle and use the rubble to extend roads in the area came to nothing, and eventually what remained of the Castle passed into the care of the Irish State.
References
- ^ "National Monuments of County Meath in State Care" (PDF). heritageireland.ie. National Monument Service. p. 1. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ Eugene O'Curry, Cath Mhuige Lena or 'The battle of Magh Leana', (Dublin, 1855), p. 66
- ISBN 1-85182-867-2
- ISBN 1-85182-867-2
- ISSN 2009-1338.
- Ball, F. Elrington The Judges in Ireland 1221-1921 John Murray London 1926
- D'Alton, John King James' Irish Army List Celtic Bookshop Reprint Limerick 1997
- Dublin Penny Journal 1833 Vol. 1 No. 28
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Athcarne-Castle/1512769065639078?ref=hl 53°37′19″N 6°26′28″W / 53.6220°N 6.4412°W