Rock of Dunamase: A Hiberno-Norman Castle in Ireland
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.8
- Popularity
- Medium
- Country
- Ireland
- Primary era
- Medieval
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Early Modern
- Civilizations
- Norman
- Site type
- Military
- Remains
- Castle
On this page10 sections
History
The Rock of Dunamase is a fortified site in Ireland, where an early Christian settlement and later Hiberno-Norman castle occupied a rocky outcrop above the plain. The hill fort was constructed in the ninth century, while Dunamase Castle was built during the second half of the twelfth century. The site later became the most important Hiberno-Norman fortification in County Laois, linking it to the political and military changes that followed the Norman intervention in Ireland.
Early Christian Settlement and Viking Attacks
The Rock of Dunamase was identified as a landmark on the map of the second-century Greco-Roman geographer and astronomer Ptolemy, whose geographical work recorded places across Europe and beyond. Archaeological excavations carried out in the 1990s showed that the rock was first settled in the ninth century, when a dún, an Irish fortified settlement or hill fort, was constructed. It formed part of an early Christian settlement associated with Ireland’s Christian communities before the later medieval period. Clear evidence for occupation during the tenth and eleventh centuries has not been established.
The site was attacked by Vikings in 842. Vikings from Dublin returned in 845, during an assault in which Aed son of Dub dá Chrích, abbot of Terryglass, was killed.
The Norman Intervention
Dunamase Castle was built during the second half of the twelfth century. After the arrival of the Normans in Ireland in the late twelfth century, it became the leading Hiberno-Norman fortification in County Laois. Hiberno-Norman refers to the Norman settlers and institutions established in Ireland after the intervention, together with their adaptations to Irish conditions.
The site was drawn into the disputes that preceded the Norman invasion. Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, brought the wife of O’Rourke, King of Breifne, to Dunamase after abducting her. With help from the O’Connor clan, the O’Rourkes drove MacMurrough from the site, and he fled Ireland. In 1170, MacMurrough gave Dunamase and his daughter Aoife in marriage to Richard de Clare, the Norman earl commonly known as Strongbow. The agreement was intended to secure Strongbow’s help in recovering MacMurrough’s lands, and the Norman invasion of Ireland followed.
Marshal, Mortimer, and O’More Ownership
Through the marriage of Strongbow and Aoife’s daughter and heir, Isabel, the castle passed to the Marshal family. William Marshal, an Anglo-Norman nobleman, later served as Regent of England during the minority of Henry III. After William Marshal’s five sons inherited his lands in succession and died without issue, the Marshal estates were divided among his five daughters in 1247.
Dunamase passed to Eva Marshal and then to her daughter Maud, who was married to Roger Mortimer. The castle remained in Mortimer hands until 1330, when another Roger Mortimer was executed for treason. After the family was rehabilitated, Dunamase appears to have passed beyond the area under Norman control. By about 1350, the castle had become a ruinous shell.
From the later fourteenth or fifteenth century until the sixteenth century, Dunamase formed part of the lands of the O’More family, which ruled County Laois for several centuries. Rory O’More, Lord of Laois, was a notable owner and resisted English power. In 1574, the O’More family left Dunamase and moved to Kildare after receiving land there from Elizabeth I of England, who was Rory O’More’s cousin. The family subsequently adopted the surname Moore.
Abandonment and Later Reuse
The castle played no role in the Cromwellian wars, the campaigns associated with Oliver Cromwell and the Parliamentarian conquest of Ireland in the mid-seventeenth century. It was slighted in 1650 to prevent military use and was later abandoned.
In the later eighteenth century, Sir John Parnell began constructing a banqueting hall within the ruins. The work incorporated medieval architectural details taken from other sites in the surrounding area. Dunamase is now a National Monument of Ireland under the official name Dunamase Castle, with reference number 615. This designation identifies it as a legally protected heritage site of national historical or archaeological importance.
Remains
Medieval Castle
The ruins of Dunamase Castle occupy a rocky outcrop that rises 46 metres above the surrounding plain and commands a view towards the Slieve Bloom Mountains. The castle represents a defensive stronghold of the early Hiberno-Norman period. Its principal surviving arrangement includes a great hall enclosed by a curtain wall, the defensive wall surrounding a castle’s main buildings.
Great Hall and Curtain Wall
The great hall forms the main enclosed architectural group within the castle ruins. Its relationship with the curtain wall reflects the defensive organization of the medieval stronghold, with the enclosing wall defining the castle’s protected interior. The surviving remains belong to the castle built during the second half of the twelfth century.
Entrances and Defensive Structures
A postern, or small secondary gate used for escape or limited access, lies on the southwest side of the castle. On the southeast side, a gatehouse opens inward into a barbican, an outer defensive structure protecting an entrance. Together, these features form the castle’s surviving entrance and access arrangements.
Eighteenth-Century Banqueting Hall
The later banqueting hall was built within the medieval ruins in the eighteenth century. Its construction incorporated medieval architectural details brought from other sites in the surrounding area, combining a later building project with surviving elements associated with the earlier castle.
