Ballyragget Castle (tower house), Kilkenny
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
Ballyragget
castle is a large five storey tower house built in the late 15th
century. The castle is surrounded by a bawn wall with a round tower on each of
its four corners. The castle stands between the town of Ballyragget and the
River Nore in north central area of County Kilkenny. Enda Houlihan has written
a large dissertation in 2007 on the castle and the surrounding town for his BA
in Education entitled Ballyragget Castle,
Co. Kilkenny: A history and comparative analysis. A tower house is a type
of medieval castle built from the 15th to 7th century
consisting of a square tower with one storey above another and surrounded by a
courtyard known as a bawn with the enclosing bawn wall. A few circular tower
houses were built but most were square with one side a few feet longer than the
other side as at Ballyragget.
Tower House Description
The
tower measures 44 feet by 31 feet according to Canon Carrigan with walls seven
and a half feet thick. The doors and windows are surrounded by cut stone
limestone. The main entrance door is on the east side of the tower. In the 17th
century a large mansion house was built onto the east side of the tower house. The
house with a thatched roof was later demolished and survives without a trace
except for two lines of corbels jutting out of the east side of the tower house
to support a floor beam in the mansion house.[1]
The corbels are at ground floor level and first floor level suggesting the
vanished house was at least two storeys. A first floor doorway gave access
between the tower house and the vanished house.[2]
The
tower house was built of limestone with a base batter. Single light windows
mainly have round headed surrounds while the double light windows have external
hood mouldings. The floor boards of the first, second and third floors were
inserted in modern times but have now decayed to such a state as to be unsafe.
A garderobe chamber exists at the north-west corner of the first four storeys
and was served by two chutes with an exit at the north end of the west wall.
The entrance doorway in the east wall of the ground floor was protected
internally by a guard room. A hallway led to a pointed doorway through which
people entered the ground floor room. At the north end of the hallway was a
spiral stairs which led upwards to roof level in the north-east corner.
The
ground floor room had a window on the north, west and south walls with three
wall-cupboards. The first floor room also had three windows, one in each wall.
The south wall of this chamber had a fireplace of cut limestone which was later
made smaller by red bricks. The second floor has a window in the west and south
walls with a block two-light window in the north wall. This room also has a
fireplace in the south wall that was later filled in to make it smaller. The
second floor room has three small mural chambers, one each on the west, east
and north walls. The third floor room has a window in the north and west walls.
The ceiling in this room is a pointed vault of wicker-centring. The main
chamber on the fourth floor has the south wall inscribed fireplace dated to
1591 and initialled with the letters GM for Grissel Mountgarret within two
heraldic shields.[3]
Although most of the tower house displays features common to the 16th
century building there are a few scattered features more typical of a 13th
century building such as the loop in the north wall mural chamber on the second
floor.[4]
The
surrounding bawn wall is about 100meters ENE-WSW and about 91meters NNW-SSE
with round two storey towers at each corner. A moat once surrounded the wall of
which only traces exist outside the north wall. The entrance gate is on the
east side protected by gun loops. A smaller entrance is on the west wall where
the wall kicks inward and protected again by gun loops. Inside the walls was a
surrounding wall walk now removed in many places.[5]
The inwards kick in the western bawn wall could possibly mark the southern wall
of an earlier smaller bawn yard. The Butler Mountgarret family could have
extended the bawn southwards when they took over the castle from the Pembroke
family.
Besides
the tower house the bawn contains a number of farm buildings and possible
domestic houses. The House Book of the Valuation Office does not survive from
the 1840s to give it’s the function of each of these buildings at that period.
It is possible that some of these buildings occupy the site of medieval
buildings. The tower house would be where the lord’s family lived. Other
medieval buildings within the bawn would include a great hall, kitchens,
stables, store houses and a haggard to store the hay. In the Ordnance Survey
maps from 1840 onwards the standing buildings occupy the north-west corner of
the bawn area leaving about three quarters of the bawn empty. We known the
vanished house occupied part of the north-east quarter of the bawn leaving the
southern half of the bawn as empty. This empty half possibly had gardens and
areas to graze livestock.
Ballyragget in the 13th century
Ballyragget
castle and town is situated beside the River Nore and lies in the civil parish
of Donoghmore in what is known from the 17th century onwards as the
barony of Fassadinin. In medieval times Fassadinin was known as the cantred of
Odagh which took its name from the Irish kingdom of Ui Duach Argatrois. In the
12th century the area was part of the Trícha Cét of An Comair
(Castlecomer) within the kingdom of Osraige.[6] In
1231 William Marshal the younger, Earl of Pembroke, died unexpectedly and left
his large lordship of Leinster to his brother Richard Marshal. The king wrote
to the constables of the various castles in Leinster held by Earl William to surrender
the castles to the king’s bailiff pending the regrant to Richard Marshal. One
of these castles was at Odagh.[7]
Ballyragget place-name
The
name Ballyragget is said derive from Richard le Ragget, a lord of the area
after the Norman conquest sometime in the 13th century. It is often
translated as the town, or homestead, of the Ragget family with Bally
corresponding to Baile in Irish which
is the word for town or homestead. Instead the Irish for Ballyragget is Béal Átha Ragad which translates as ‘the
gap leading to the ford of Ragad’.[8] In
the 1220s Richard le Raggede is mention as a party to the disputed tithes to
Tulach Barry church.[9] It
is assumed that Richard le Raggede gave his name to the ford over the river. In
1589-94 it was said that there were two hundred burgess acres around
Ballyragget.[10]
Thus suggests that, whereas Ballyragget was originally just a fording point on the
River Nore with Odagh (Threecastles) to the south as the main Anglo-Norman town
in the area, that a medieval town did grow up around the ford under the
protection of a possible thirteenth castle that was later built over by the 15th
century tower house.
The Raggede family in other records
The
Pembroke family held property in and around Ballyragget from the 1250s until
the 1540s yet the original Raggede family had not totally disappeared. In 1324
Roger le Raggede held one carucate of land in Raggedeston (Ballyragget) in
Odagh as a free tenant of Aymer de Valence.[11]
When the lordship of Leinster was divided in 1247 among the five heiresses of
the Marshal family, the cantred of Odagh (worth £42 10s 4d), although within
the liberty of Kilkenny, was granted to Joan Marshal, the second daughter, as
part of her liberty of Wexford. Joan Marshal was dead by 1247 and her son
briefly inherited before he died to be succeeded by his sister, Joan, and her
husband, William de Valence, half-brother of King Henry III. In 1324 the castle
of Odagh was described as a Norman motte, upon which were two houses roofed
with straw. In 1307 there were 110 burgages in the borough of Odagh.[12] Today
Odagh castle motte is located at Threecastles on the west bank of the River
Nore near a fording point. Threecastles is about ten kilometres south of
Ballyragget.
Elsewhere
members of the Raggede family, also spelt as Ragit or Ragid, appear in various
medieval records. In the 1350s Thomas Raget was constable of Drogheda castle on
behalf of the government.[13] In
the 1440s, John Raggyt was a chaplain entrusted with property in Kilkenny city
and county.[14]
In the 1440s Umfrey Ragyt held land in the manor of Dunfort.[15] In
the 1450s John Ragit was a captain under Kilkenny Corporation.[16] In
the 1490s Nicholas Raget held property in Kilkenny city.[17] In
the 1491 Nicholas Ragid and William Ragid were among the first twelve on
Kilkenny Corporation while Thomas Ragit and Robert Ragid were among the second
twelve of Kilkenny Corporation.[18] In
the 1540s Peter Ragid and Edward Ragid were burgesses of Kilkenny.[19] In
1545 William Ragged was portrive of the corporation of Irishtown beside
Kilkenny city while in 1625 William Fitz Michael Ragged was portrive.[20]
Ballyragget in 14th century
In
the 1250s the family of John de Evreux held five carucates on the west side of
the River Nore in fee of Donoughmore. In about 1250 John de Evreux granted a
third part of the five carucates, which were held by his mother, Lady Alice de
Hereford in dower, to Roger de Penbroc.[21]
In 1310 Roger de Pembroke granted to his son Robert de Pembroke all the
messuages, tenements, groves, weirs, gardens and land he held in Balyrayhy in
the tenement of Lysdounnechy (Lisdowney).[22]
In 1338 Roger, son of Roger de Pembroch granted all his lordship of Balyraghtyn
(Ballyragget) in Odagh to his cousin William, son of Robert de Pembroch.[23]
In 1347 Patrick Fitz Henry of Donoughmore granted an acre of arable land in
Donoughmore to John de Pembroke on the road to Ballyrathyn by the land of
William Lercedekne (Archdeacon).[24]
Ballyragget 1408 to 1542
In
1408 Stephen Pembroke granted five carucates of land with all messuages, rents,
lordships and services in Awnadhynwor, Balyrathyn and Garranynanryley to Robert
Shortal, lord of Ballylarkin.[25]
In 1517 Nicholas, son and heir of David Pembroke, quitclaimed one messuage and
three carucates of land in Balyrathyn to James Shortal, lord of Ballylarkin,
along with 40d rent from 40 acres at Rathcally.[26] In
1522 James Shortal gave this property to his daughter Joan and her husband
James Purcell.[27]
In 1541 Robert Shortal of Higginstown granted, in thrust, to two clerics the
towns or hamlets of Ballyragget, Donoughmore and Garrynemock to hold forever.[28] On
8th January 1542 Stephen Pembroke, son and heir of Nicholas
Pembroke, granted the castle and town of Bellaragged (Ballyragget) to James
Butler, Earl of Ormond, along with all the land adjoining the River Nore as far
as Rosconyll in consideration of £500 paid to Stephen.[29] A
month later, in February 1542 James Purcell of Garran and Robert Oge Shortal of
Higginstown granted all their castles, lordships, manors and other property in
Ballyragget, Donoughmore and Ballynenoddagh to William Seysse to hold forever.
Six days later William Seysse gave the property to Leonard Blanchville to hold
with remainder to John Pembroke and his heirs. A month later, on 24th
March 1542, Margaret Fitzgerald, dowager Countess of Ormond, agreed to be bound
to the judgement of the Chief Justice of the King’s Bench concerning the
possession of Ballyragget, Donoughmore, Finnans and Ballynarahen to the sum of
£1,000 against James Butler, Earl of Ormond, her son.[30] It
would seem that Lady Margaret had a lease of these lands around Ballyragget
from before 1542 that has not survived. Sometime after Richard Butler,
Margaret’s second son, inherited her dower lands in Wexford, Tipperary and
Kilkenny including Ballyragget. But he spent most of his time developing his
Wexford estates around Mountgarret which gave its name to his later viscount
title.[31]
Ballyragget and Margaret Fitzgerald and Pierce
Butler
In
1905 Canon William Carrigan said that Ballyragget castle was built about 1485
when Margaret Fitzgerald married Pierce Ruadh Butler, Earl of Ormond. She died
in 1542 and a stone bench on top of the tower house is referred to as
‘Mairgread ni Gearoid’s chair.[32]
Samuel Lewis in 1837 said that Ballyragget was a favourite residence of
Margaret and she is said to have sent retainers out into the countryside to
attack the property of her neighbours and not be slow to hang wrongdoers.[33] Enda
Houlihan has argued that Ballyragget tower house was an original construction
within its contemporary bawn wall and not part of any reconstructed structure
of a previous medieval castle. The above Ormond deeds suggest that Stephen
Pembroke, or his father Nicholas Pembroke, built Ballyragget castle before
granting it in 1542 to James Butler, Earl of Ormond. Indeed it was only from
about 1510 onwards that successive Earls of Ormond started to push Butler power
north from Kilkenny city into modern County Laois with control of the area
between Urlingford and Castlecomer as their principal objective.[34]
The sale of Ballyragget by Stephen Pembroke to James Butler was part of this
northward expansion as the Butlers sought not only to push out the Irish
families from control but also the Anglo-Norman families.[35]
It is possible that Lady Margaret improved an existing Ballyragget castle of
the Pembroke family as part of her lost lease between 1515 and 1542 and that
the castle may have been constructed at different times.
Margaret
Fitzgerald was the daughter of the 8th Earl of Kildare and was
regarded as a very strong willed woman throughout her life. It was said that
‘all estates of the realm crouch unto her’.[36] When
she married Piers Ruadh Butler in about 1485 she needed all her inner strength.
At the time of their marriage Piers Butler was the third son of the junior Pottlerath
branch of the Butler family. Their cousin, Sir James Butler of Ormond, acted as
Irish agent for the absentee Earls of Ormond. He is said to have reduced Piers
and Margaret to travelling homeless gentry with a few retainers.[37] In
1489 Piers Butler was made sheriff of County Kilkenny with the help of Gerald,
Earl of Kildare.[38]
It was the beginning of his rise to power and wealth. On 17th July
1497 while Sir James Butler was travelling between Dunmore and Kilkenny with
six horsemen Piers Butler blocked the road and killed Sir James with his spear.
Piers Butler then became the Irish agent for the Earls of Ormond.[39]
In 1515 when the 7th Earl of Ormond died without male heirs Piers
claimed the earldom as a great, great grandson of James Butler, 1st
Earl of Ormond.[40]
But
this was the time of King Henry VIII and the Tudor monarchy had plans to make a
centralised state. The landed estate of the Ormond earldom was thus divided
between the two daughters of the 7th Earl, the granddaughter of one
was Anne Boleyn. In 1529 King Henry made Thomas Boleyn the new Earl of Ormond
with Piers having to be satisfied with a new title of Earl of Ossory. But by
1539 when Piers died the Boleyns had fallen from power and Piers died holding
two earldoms. The government finally recognised Piers as 8th Earl of
Ormond the previous year. He was the first Earl of Ormond to be buried in St.
Canice’s Cathedral and was joined in 1542 by Margaret under a fine effigy tomb.[41]
Butler expansion into north Kilkenny
In
the period 1536-42 Piers Butler and his son, James, 9th Earl of
Ormond, benefitted greatly from the dissolution of the monasteries in Kilkenny
acquiring 75% of all the religious estates in the county. Richard Butler,
younger brother of James and future 1st Viscount Mountgarret,
acquired Inistioge priory to give the Butlers 80% of the religious estates.[42]
With this new wealth combined with the fighting ability of Piers Butler the
family moved north into the Ballyragget area. The Gaelic MacGiollapadraigs
(alias Fitzpatrick) of Upper Ossory opposed the Butler expansion. After 1515
the MacGiollapadraigs pushed south and Upper Ossory was lost to County Kilkenny
and the present county boundary between Laois and Kilkenny was established.
Occasionally the MacGiollapadraigs took Ballyragget and Courtstown before they
were pushed north again. The Brennan family were in this period the chief
family of Odagh but their Anglo-Norman lords of Wexford, the Valence and Talbot
families had ceased to exercise power. On their own the Brennans were unable to
stop the Butler advance and Odagh became firmly part of County Kilkenny.[43] It
is estimated that a dozen men garrisoned in Ballyragget castle would cost the
Butler family about £75 per year.[44]
Thus it was cheaper to let the soldiers travel around the area imposing coign
and livery (food and lodging charges) upon the inhabitants. This created
resentment in the area and continued unrest for much of the 1515-69 period.
Ballyragget as part of the Butler Dunmore manor
In
1561 Patrick Dene of Grinan received a lease of the town and manor of Dunmore
along with the town of Ballyragget and other places for nine years at a rent of
£43 per year from Gerrot, Earl of Desmond, and Joan his wife, Countess of
Desmond, Ormond and Ossory.[45]
In 1565 Sir Thomas Butler of Ormond granted the manor of Dunmore and its
associated towns including Ballyraghtane to Leonard Blanchfield for 21 years at
£43 annual rent.[46]
In 1572 Sir Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, granted the manor of Dunmore along
with Ballyragget and other places to Patrick Shortal of Dunmore for 21 years at
£40 annual rent after Patrick paid the Earl £20.[47]
Under these leases many Anglo-Norman families still remained in the Ballyragget
area such as the Purcell family and their many branches as tenants.[48]
Butler, Viscount Mountgarret, and Ballyragget
In
1551 Richard Butler, youngest son of Pierce Ruadh, was raised to the peerage as
Viscount Mountgarret.[49]
He acquired Ballyragget as part of a large inheritance of Butler land from his
father. In the 1550s the Viscount Mountgarret became to develop his north
estates around Ballyragget. He promoted the plantation of Laois and Offaly to
secure his estates from northern attacks by the Irish of those parts.[50] In
1584-7 the county sheriff of Kilkenny measured Ballyraghtane for a twelfth part
of a plough as part of a tax upon the whole county to raise £80.[51] In
1589-94 Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, petitioned Queen Elizabeth to form a
commission to establish the Earl’s proper title to various properties in
Kilkenny and Tipperary including Dunmore manor and its associated properties of
Kilmokar and Ballyraghtane.[52] In
1591 Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret, renovated the state
room on the forth storey installing a large cut stone chimney piece with the
initials EM 1591 over the hearth. In 1590-1 the Brennans of Odagh (Idough) had
ambushed Edmund Butler as he paraded through the region but they were
unsuccessful at pushing the Butlers out.[53]
The inscription on the fireplace was thus a display for any visitors to
Ballyragget castle that Butler power was here to stay.
In
1594 Thomas Butler, Earl of Ormond, made his will and granted Dunmore manor
with Ballyragget and other places to his wife Lady Elizabeth to hold in her
widowhood.[54]
In 1602 the Earl of Ormond gave Dunmore manor with Ballyraghtane and other
places to Sir Nicholas Walsh and others to hold in thrust for Lady Elizabeth
Butler in her widowhood.[55]
Ballyragget in the Nine Years War
During
the Nine Years War the strategic location of Ballyragget at the junction of an
east-west routeway with the main north-south valley up from Kilkenny city north
to County Laois ensured that the castle was attacked and captured on three
separate occasions. In the upper River Nore valley Ballyragget was at the main
crossing point of that important river. In the 1590s Thomas Butler, 10th
Earl of Ormond, was an old man without legitimate male heirs who preferred to
listen to the counsel of his legal advisers than his cousins like Edmund
Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret. Thus when the Nine Years War began
in 1594 Mountgarret and his sons decided to use the occasion to rebel against
the Earl of Ormond.[56]
But
the old earl was not yet without a fight. Mountgarret had only a small army of
family and tenants with some help from O’Neill of Ulster and the Irish families
of Laois. But these were no match for the forces assembled by the Earl of
Ormond. In October 1596 Mountgarret was arrested and taken to Dublin. But his
sons fought on as best they could. Early in 1598 the royal army approached
Ballyragget where they besieged the castle for three days before forcing entry.
The surviving garrison of fifteenth men were publicly hanged as a lesson for
the local population. But towards the end of 1598 Mountgarret was able to
recapture Ballyragget castle. In 1599 the Earl of Essex entered Kilkenny and
although he was attacked by Mountgarret’s sons was able to take Ballyragget
castle. In May 1599 he placed a garrison of 100 men in the castle under Captain
Henry Folliott. The loss of Ballyragget ended Mountgarret resistance in the
north.[57]
Ballyragget in 17th century
But
in April 1600 the old Earl of Ormond was kidnapped by Owney O’More and the
whole of Kilkenny became leaderless. Yet the Irish failed to secure the invasion
routes into northern Kilkenny because of the quick response by Lord Mountjoy
with government forces. A few days after Ormond was seized Mountgarret’s sons
tried to retake Ballyragget castle. the rebels failed to enter the castle and
withdrew when Sir George Carew arrived from Kilkenny with 30 men and supplies
for the castle to hold out for six weeks. By June 1600 the Earl of Ormond was
released following a deal to great acclaim by the people of County Kilkenny. In
August 1600 Owney O’More was killed in a skirmish and the rebellion in north
Kilkenny was over. In 1602 Edmund Butler, 2nd Viscount Mountgarret,
died and with his eldest son hanged along with his nephew, the Mountgarret
rebellion was at an end.[58]
After
the Nine Years War the Butler family of Viscount Mountgarret were restored as
landlords of Ballyragget. Around the town the flat river valley provided
excellent ground for wheat production while he surrounding upland provided
grazing for cattle and sheep. One tenant of the Viscount hoped to earn £80 per
year from two wheat fields.[59] In
1610 Richard Butler, 3rd Viscount Mountgarret, was described as of
Balleen Castle which suggests that the family had moved their principal
residence from Ballyragget Castle.[60]
But this seems to have been a temporary move as a few years later the family
returned to Ballyragget and started to develop the adjoining town. Indeed
Richard Butler began to develop the whole area around Ballyragget as his own
feudal lordship and his tenants seemed to have benefitted from this. In 1618
John O’Loughlin held a farm near Ballyragget worth £600 in land, livestock and
crops.[61]
In 1622 the 3rd Viscount Mountgarret secured a grant of a licensed
fair and market at Ballyragget.[62]
The town and estate of Ballyragget was also created into a manor at this time.[63]
Previously it had been part of the manor of Dunmore.
In
the Confederate War of 1641-53 Viscount Mountgarret was among the chief leaders
on the Irish side. Ballyragget became a very safe place to express your Irish
Catholic culture. The parish priest of Ballyragget took advantage of the
situation to repair Rosconnell medieval church as a place of Catholic worship
once again.[64]
After 1653, when the Irish were defeated, Viscount Mountgarret lost a
considerable portion of his estates. In the 1650s Ballyragget was forfeited to
the English Parliament and was granted to Colonel Daniel Axtel. During his time
Colonel Axtel is said to have hanged many Catholics and Protestants from a lime
tree beside the castle. It is said that the town was remodelled in the 1650s
during Axtel’s tenure along the English lines of a village surrounding a
triangular green.[65] The
Down Survey of 1665 describes Ballyragget as a castle and bawn, late the
property of Lord Mountgarret, Irish papist. Following the restoration of King
Charles II, Lord Mountgarret was successfully at recovering Ballyragget.[66] After
1689 the 5th Viscount Mountgarret was declared an outlaw for
supporting King James and his estates were forfeited to the new King William.
In 1715 the outlawry was reversed and Mountgarret recovered his estates.
Ballyragget in 18th century
In
1775 the largest assembly of Whiteboys took place in and around Ballyragget
when 300 horsemen and 200 foot soldiers gathered under the leadership of Mr.
Moore from Higginstown. The Whiteboys were a secret agrarian organisation that
sought to protect tenant farmers from the landlords.[67]
On 22nd February 1775 a force called the Anti-Whiteboys League
garrisoned Ballyragget castle.[68] This
group was led by Robert Butler, landlord of Ballyragget, and the local parish
priest, Alex Cahill. A battle ensued with the besieged killing three of the
Whiteboys and victory went for the League when the Whiteboys withdrew. Yet the
towns lived under fear for several months after less the Whiteboys should
return.[69]
In
1775 the Butler family of Ballyragget had a rental income of £7,000.[70]
Yet living in a medieval castle of about three hundred years was considered not
in keeping with an important landlord of the late 18th century. In
1788 the Butler family left the tower house and built a new house to the south
of the castle known as Ballyragget Lodge.[71] During
the 1798 Rebellion government troops occupied the castle to control the
surrounding countryside. The strategic location of the castle at the crossroads
of a north-south routeway and an east-west routeway was still important as it
was to the first builders in the 15th century. In the previous year,
1797, the United Irishmen were active in the district of Ballyragget,
Castlecomer and Durrow.[72]
Ballyragget in 19th century
In
1813 the Butler family sold Ballyragget castle and town to their cousins, the
McMurrough Kavanagh family of Borris castle in County Carlow.[73] In
Griffith’s Valuation of circa 1850 Ballyragget castle was occupied by Thomas
Hogan who rented the castle and bawn yard from Colonel Ralph Johnston. The plot
consisted of 3acres 3 roots and 2 perches valued at £3 5s while the buildings
were valued at £2 5s.[74] In
the 1830s and 1850s Thomas Kavanagh was the head landlord for much of
Ballyragget town. In 1833 Colonel Ralph Johnston had taken a lease from Thomas
Kavanagh of Ballyragget Lodge, a county house to the south of the castle along
with Ballyragget castle.[75]
Ballyragget castle in 20th century
In
the 1930s a workman, his wife and family lived in the first two storeys of the
tower house. The upper storeys were then considered unsafe.[76]
In about 1945 the castle and bawn was sold to Mr. Carey along with Ballyragget
Lodge. In the 1950s and 1960s the castle was used a timber store.[77] Today
the castle and the bawn is private property closed off from the public by its
ancient bawn wall. Although the outer walls of the tower house look solid the
timber of the internal floor levels is unsound. The tower house is surrounded
by 19th and 20th farm buildings just as it would be
surrounded by other buildings in the 15th and 16th
centuries. Many have described Ballyragget castle as a hidden jewel of north
County Kilkenny. Before any plans to open it to the public, the castle would
need some renovation and money. Some would say this is too much as it would
have to compete against nearby Kilkenny Castle for the tourist interested in
medieval castles. But Ballyragget is a different type of castle to Kilkenny. Late
medieval tower houses are scattered across the countryside in various states of
preservation and ruin. But few tower houses stand within a preserved bawn yard
and wall like Ballyragget and that may make the difference in any public access
considerations. This then is a brief account of a great survivor, a late
medieval tower house within a bawn, known as Ballyragget castle.
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[1] Anon, ‘Ballyragget
Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016
[2] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[3] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[4] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[5] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001002, Ballyragget
bawn wall
[6] MacCotter, Paul, Medieval Ireland:
Territorial, Political and Economic Divisions (Dublin, 2008), p. 182
[7] Orpen, Goddard Henry, Ireland
under the Normans, 1169-1333 (Oxford, 1920, reprint Dublin, 2005), III, p. 59 (p. 310 in 2005 edition)
[8] www.logainm.ie searching Ballyragget or Béal Átha Ragad
[9] St. John Brooks, Eric (ed.), Knights’
Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny: 13th to 15th
Century (Dublin, 1950), p. 178, note 3
[10] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds,
Volume VI, 1584-1603 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1943), p. 121
[11] St. John Brooks (ed.), Knights’
Fees in Counties Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny, p. 178, note 3
[12] Orpen, Ireland under the
Normans, 1169-1333, III,
pp. 86, 87 (pp. 322, 323 in 2005 edition)
[13] Connolly,
Philomena (ed.), Irish Exchequer
Payments, 1270-1446 (Dublin, 1998), pp. 453, 459, 468
[14] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds,
Volume III, 1413-1509 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1935), pp. 27, 28, 130
[15] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
III, 1413-1509 A.D., pp. 123, 124
[16] McNeill, Charles (ed.), Liber
Primus Kilkenniensis (Dublin, 1931), p. 60; Otway-Ruthven, Jocelyn, Liber Primus Kilkenniensis (Kilkenny,
1961), p. 65
[17] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
III, 1413-1509 A.D., p. 274
[18] McNeill (ed.), Liber Primus
Kilkenniensis, pp. 93, 95; Otway-Ruthven, Liber Primus
Kilkenniensis, p. 70
[19] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds,
Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1937), p. 194
[20] Ainsworth, John, ‘Corporation Book of the Irishtown of Kilkenny,
1537-1628’, in Analecta Hibernica,
No. 28 (1978), pp. 3-78, at pp. 15, 72
[21] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds
1172-1350 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1932), vol. 1, no. 109
[22] Curtis (ed.),
Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350 A.D.,
vol. 1, no. 455
[23] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350
A.D., vol. 1, no. 708
[24] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds 1172-1350
A.D., vol. 1, no. 795
[25] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds,
Volume II, 1350-1413 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1934), p. 285
[26] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
II, 1350-1413 A.D., p. 286; Curtis (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 52 gives
the date as February 1518
[27] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 52
[28] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 207
[29] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 215
[30] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
IV, 1509-1547 A.D., p. 216
[31] Edwards, David, The Ormond
Lordship in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642: The rise and fall of Butler feudal
power (Dublin, 2003), pp. 93, 178
[32] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[33] Lewis,
Samuel, Topographical Directory of
Ireland (2 vols. London, 1837), vol. 1, p. 162
[34] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 17
[35] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 20
[36] Dunboyne, Lord, Butler Family
History (Kilkenny, 1991), p. 14
[37] Dunboyne, Butler Family
History, pp. 12, 13
[38] https://chancery.tcd.ie/document/patent/4-henry-vii/2
(accessed on 31st March 2024)
[39] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
III, 1413-1509 A.D., p. 279; Dunboyne, Butler Family History, p. 14
[40] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 13
[41] Dunboyne, Butler Family
History, p. 14
[42] Dunboyne, Butler Family
History, p. 14
[43] Dunboyne, Butler Family
History, pp. 17,
18, 19
[44] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 176
[45] Curtis,
Edmund (ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds,
Volume V, 1547-1584 A.D. (6 vols. Dublin, 1941), p. 125
[46] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 151
[47] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 230
[48] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 31
[49] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 93
[50] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 179
[51] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
V, 1547-1584 A.D., p. 156
[52] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
VI, 1584-1603 A.D., p. 119
[53] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 19
[54] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
VI, 1584-1603 A.D., pp. 74, 165
[55] Curtis
(ed.), Calendar of Ormond Deeds, Volume
VI, 1584-1603 A.D., p. 186
[56] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 248, 250
[57] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 252, 253, 255
[58] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, pp. 257, 259, 261
[59] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 29
[60] Anon, ‘Ballyragget
Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016
[61] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 32
[62] Edwards, The Ormond Lordship
in County Kilkenny, 1515-1642, p. 52
[63] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001, Ballyragget
historic town
[64] Ó Fearghail, Fearghus,
‘The Catholic Church in county Kilkenny, 1600-1800’, in William Nolan &
Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and
Society (Dublin, 1990), pp. 197-249, at p. 210
[65] Cullen, L.M., ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan
(eds.), Kilkenny History and Society
(Dublin, 1990), pp. 273-288, at p. 277
[66] Historic
Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget tower house
[67] Anon, ‘Ballyragget
Castle – The forgotten jewel of Kilkenny’, in the Kilkenny People, 5th May 2016
[68] Nic Eoin, Mairin, ‘Irish Language and Literature in County Kilkenny
in the Nineteenth Century’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan (eds.), Kilkenny History and Society (Dublin,
1990), pp. 465-479, at p. 471
[69] Burtchaell, Jack & Daniel Dowling, ‘Social and Economic
Conflict in County Kilkenny, 1600-1800’, in William Nolan & Kevin Whelan
(eds.), Kilkenny History and Society
(Dublin, 1990), pp. 251-272, at p. 271, 272
[70] Cullen, ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny’, pp.
273-288, at p. 274
[71] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[72] Cullen, ‘The Social and Economic Evolution of Kilkenny’, pp.
273-288, at p. 286
[73] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
[74] Griffith’s
Valuation, Parish of Donoughmore, plot 49A
[75] www.census.nationalarchives.ie, Valuation Office, search Johnston
at Ballyragget, Kilkenny, IRE_CENSUS_1821-5..246762_00380 pdf
[76] J. Kelly,
Ballyragget, Folklore Commission, School Project, Scoil Chiaráin Naofa
[77] Archaeological Survey of Ireland, Historic Environment, KK010-001001, Ballyragget
tower house
