Castle — Bremore

The rebuilt Manor Castle of Bremore (Brí Mhór/Big Hill) aka Pierstown, the ancestral home of the Barnewall (De Berneval) family stands 985m to the N of the town of Balbriggan, 280m W of the coastline, with Balbriggan Martello Tower No. 12 (DU002-004----) 480m to the SSE. The present castle has been rebuilt by the Parks Department of Fingal County Council, all of the upper floors from c. 4m upwards have been built in these 20th-century works.  In 1783, the artist and antiquarian, Austin Cooper described the setting of Bremore Castle as; ‘situated on a rising ground very near the sea & commanding a delightful prospect thereof’ (Price 1942).  The manorial chapel or the chapel of Lambecher (Bee Keeper) (D’Alton 1838, 479) also known as St Molaga’s Church (DU002-002002-) and graveyard (DU002-002003-) stands 55m to the S.    Architectural Description: In 1783, the artist and antiquarian, Austin Cooper described Bremore Castle as; ‘a modern building with good limestone quoins, window frames, muinnions [mullions] &c.. ......The lower part of this Cas[tl]e is very strong & arched in a very irregular manner, & appears to me to have been not many years ago inhabited. Besides a number of Garden walls & such like inclosures still to be traced are the walls of a Chapel in wch. nothing is remarkable’.  The front doorway in the centre of the west wall was drawn and described by Cooper as a; ‘particularly neat, ornamented on each side with a pilaster w[hi]ch support a suitable pediment in the space of w[hi]ch are two coats of arms parted pale Vist.–Ermine, a border engrailed on the sinister side–(Barnewall) & a fess between 5 martins 3 & 2 on the dexter side’.  The ruins of Bremore Castle were described in the 1880s by Ernest Reginald McClintock Dix (1857-1936) which was then in the possession of the King family; ‘Mr King who takes a great interest in this relic of antiquity, and showed me every part of it.  He stated that his late father was of the opinion that their residence, which adjoins the Castle, and the walls of which are fully 8ft. [2.4m] thick, formed originally the malt-house belonging to the Castle.  The existing remains are of an oblong shape stretching from north to south, the walls of which are of great thickness, being in some places 5ft. [1.5m] and 6ft. [1.8m] thick. The walls do not extend up many feet now, but no doubt there was a very strong Castle here of two or three storeys high.  The faces of the north, east, and south walls, for the height to which they extend, and so far as they are not hidden by ivy, are strong and good, and the angles as sharp as when they were made.  The south wall [L 12m] looks into the corner of Mr. King’s garden.  In this wall about 8ft. [2.4m] from the ground is a well formed loop window, with an arched top and stone jambs and sill.  The arch is formed by one stone.  There are some slight cuttings or bevelling on the sill.  In the eastern wall [L 24m], proceeding up from the south corner, are two windows, forming little more than loopholes on the outside, but very widely splayed within.  Then comes a rectangular projection from the wall, containing a small chamber [garderobe tower], for what purpose I am unable to conjecture.    Then the wall continues until it reaches the angle formed with the north wall.  In the latter [north] wall are three windows, two small, mere loopholes, and a third to the west, now built up, which was the largest.  There are also traces of a modern doorway.  To reach the interior of the castle one has to go round into the yard and enter on the west side where the original doorway or main entrance to the castle was.  The west wall to the right is of great thickness, at least 6 ft. [1.8m], though much broken down so that one can clamber on to it; it seems to have suffered the most.  There are no windows in it.  In the south wall is seen the inner wide splay of the small stone-framed window which I referred to before.  Facing then the east wall, we see its great thickness through the widely-splayed and deeply-recessed windows also mentioned before.  North of them is the little chamber in the rectangular projection; it is roofed.  Coming then to the north side we find still the remains of a roofed-in chamber, having a stone barrel-vaulted ceiling, built originally upon wattles.  A small window looks out from it through the north wall.  This chamber is about fifteen yards [13.7m] wide, and is greater in length than in width. From the outer or southern face of this chamber to the opposite wall is about forty-two yards [38.4m].  This forms the interior length of the main ground floor of the castle; it is at present roofless.  There is, however, clearly apparent the spring of a stone barrel-vaulted ceiling, and probably this ceiling extended over the greater part, if not all, of the main ground floor chamber of the castle.  Proceeding westward along the north side, but still inside the castle, we find a small open space immediately adjoining the small stone chamber, and then comes the place where the stair turret was, at the north-west corner.  A few steps still remain, showing that the stairs were strong and wide. This turret projects beyond the west wall a few feet, as is found so often.  The southern wall of this turret forms the north side of the original main entrance.  At a little distance from this entrance, and right across the present yard, are seen stone pillars in a wall which, Mr. King explained, were the remains of the outer gate through which the castle was approached in old times.  There are immediately adjoining the remains of the stair turret, a long stone building [aligned E-W] with a modern roof, now used by Mr. King for farming purposes.  It is clearly not by any means as old as the rest of the castle, but still may have been added a century or two ago when the fine castle was still inhabited.  It is built up against the corner of the stair turret, but projects a good deal further north.  The chief features which strike one in connection with this castle, are the immense thickness of the walls and its unusual shape. It must have been very strong and very extensive. Outside lying under the protection of the eastern wall, is the curious carved stone with six coats-of-arms on it and some central figures, which have been visited and drawn, I believe by others. It bears the name of Buriforde, Howth, and Barnewall amongst others.  Whether the stone was portion of a tomb, or as some say, decorated the fireplace, would be hard now to say, but the former seems to me more likely.  It was made, according to the inscription on it by Margaret St. Lawrence’ (Dix 1897, 68).  The ruins of Bremore Castle ruins were inspected in 1974 by the Archaeological Survey of Ireland, when the walls of the building at that time were described as standing circa 12ft. [4m] high. In the 1980’s Bremore Castle consisted of a single storey building in a ruinous condition standing inside a farmyard, the present castle structure is mainly a 20th-century building which was built from the first floor upwards from 1994 onwards by a FÁS training scheme under the support of Fingal County Council and the Balbriggan and District Historical Society.    The 1783 drawing of the western wall (L. 24m) of the castle by Austin Cooper clearly shows the ruins of a rectangular building one room deep, roughly aligned on a N-S long axis, standing three storeys high with an attic level lit by a series of small lights just below the eaves of the castle roof. The castle doorway was located off centre to N in the W wall and consisted of a round arched cut-stone pedimented doorway with decorated keystone and armorial plaque above the arch framed by the pediment.  The first floor and second floor were lit by a tall wide mullion and transomed multi-light windows.  A tall gable-ended chimney stack is visible on the S gable rising high above the roofline of the castle, with remains of a lateral chimneystack located off centre to S on the E wall.  Possible remains of a damaged gable ended chimney stack on the N gable of the building. A later single storey thatched farm-building is visible running W off the NW angle of the castle.  This building has a small chimney rising from the centre of the roof.  The crease line of an earlier and steeper roof is visible in the external face of the W wall above the roofline of the farm building.  The alignment of this higher roofline matches the alignment of the farmbuilding running W off the NW angle which suggests that it was originally built as two storey high building and was later reduced in height to a single storey thatched building. A pointed-doorway at first floor level is present in the E gable of the farm building which gave access to a stairs in the NW angle of the main building.  An opening for this stairs is partial visible in the 1783 drawing.  The 2013 Conservation Plan for Bremore Castle suggested that this first floor doorway located close to the NW angle was the original doorway of the castle and that in the late 16th-century a new ground-floor doorway was inserted into the centre of the W wall.  The chimney stacks appear to be triple diamond-shaped stacks of typical 17th-century date which match the dating of the multi-light flat headed transomed and mullioned windows visible at first floor level in the drawing. The architectural features of the doorway, windows, and chimneystacks all suggest a late 16th or early 17th-century date for this building, although it is possible that they may have been inserted or added to an earlier building. The coat of arms above the doorway described by Cooper in 1783 are the coat of arms belonging to John Barnewall (d. 1606) and Eleanor Dowdall (d. 1607) who married in the second half of the 16th-century.    The S wall (L 12m) of the main building stood to first floor level only, standing c. 4m high.  A photograph taken by Patrick Healy in 1985 shows the presence of a single light round-headed window with chamfered punch-dressed jambs in the centre of the S wall.  A putlog hole is visible to the E of the window.     The 2013 Conservation Plan of Bremore Castle commissioned by Fingal County Council stated that ‘a mantel piece which celebrates the marriage of James Barnewall to Margaret St Lawrence which is now housed in Lusk Church. It comprises a sub-rectangular limestone plaque that is decorated with six-shields bearing arms, at the centre of which is an annunciation scene which commemorates the union. According to David Newman Johnson this bridal mantel provides a mid-sixteenth century date (c. 1546) for the vaulted hall-house which is thought to be the earliest standing phase of the castle. While the mantel provides a relative date it could be argued it was inserted into an already existing castle’.    Historical Background: In the 1654-56 Civil Survey of Dublin, Bremore Castle was described as standing on the lands of ‘Breemore & Newhaven a fishing towne’ which in 1641 belonged to the ‘Irish Papist’ Matthew Barnewall of Bremore (Simington 1945, 6).  The 16th-century fishing town of Newhaven (DU002-005----) stood in the fields 1.2km to the N of Bremore Castle.  The castle building and associated structures was described in the 1654-56 Civil Survey as; ‘one Burnt Castle with a great Barne & eight tenements one orchard & parke with some small young Ashtrees’ (ibid.).   In 1669 James Barnewall of Bremore, was granted by Charles II the right to convert 500 acres of land into the Manor of Bremore and he was granted the ‘liberties, courts and priviledges’ of a manor, he was to hold a manor court at Bremore every 3 weeks and was granted the right to hold a court leete or view of frankpledge within this manor every 3 weeks, he was to keep at Bremore one or  more Seneschalls and or Bailiffs for the executing of the writs of the manorial court.  He was also granted the right to hold one annual fair to last for two days on the 24th and 25th of June and was granted the power to hold a court or courts of piepowder during the annual fair’ (TNA SO 1/7/98). In a land grant of 1678 to James Barnewall, his estate in Bremore was described as; ‘The Manor, Castle, Town & Lands of Bremore, with a ruinous Water-Mill & several Tenements’ (NAI Lodge/8/89).   The Barnewalls were descended from Alanus, son of Hoel, Earl of Brittany and Warwick, and their coat of arms dating from the 15th-century is based on that of the Duke of Brittany with red engrailing indicating a cadet branch of the family (Barnwell 1959, 124). In 1215, Hugh de Berneval was in possession of the lands of Drimnagh and Terenure, in the ‘Vale of Dublin’ and the manor of Drimnagh (DU018-036---) became the seat of the senior branch of the Barnewall family from the 13th-century onwards (ibid.).  Bremore was part of the medieval Manor of Balrothery and was in the possession of the Barnewalls of the Manor of Drimnagh (DU018-036---) from the 14th century (Barnwell 1963, 445; D’Alton 1838, 479).   Sir Thomas Barnewall of Robertstown, Co. Meath was knighted before 1554 and he was the brother of James Barnewall of Bremore and Patrick Barnewall of Crickston (Barnwell 1963, 384).  In the early 16th century, Bremore estate was leased by Robert St. Lawrence, son of Sir Nicholas St. Lawrence, 16th Lord of Howth, who married Eleanor Aylmer.  Their only child Margaret St. Lawrence married James Barnewall, 5th and youngest son of Sir John Barnewall, 3rd Baron of Trimelstown and Lord Chancellor of Ireland who died in 1538 (Barnwell 1966, 445-6).  Through this marriage James Barnewall of Bremore became a tenant of his distant cousin, Edward Barnewall of Drimnagh Castle (ibid.).  In 1559 James Barnewall of Bremore was appointed by Queen Elizabeth to the hold the office of Attorney General (ibid.). James and Margaret had eight children, including their heir and eldest son John Barnewall born c. 1548, Robert of Rathesker, Co. Louth, Bartholomew of Bremore and Rathesker, Thomas, Catherine who marrried Patrick Bellew of Weston, The Naul, Ellen, Elizabeth and Mary who married Alexander Barnewall of Luston, Co. Meath (ibid., 447-8).  Their eldest son John married Eleanor Dowdall, daughter of Sir James Dowdall. John died in 1606 and Eleanor died a year later in 1607. An Inquisition into the estate of the deceased recorded that the Manor of Bremore consisted of lands including; ‘Clonluske, Orde, Flemingston, Moylaragh next to Flemingstown, and Plunkett’s land next to Moylaragh, all containing 600 acres, from Barnewall of Drimnagh for an annual payment of one red rose (ibid.).  John and Eleanor Barnewal had sixteen children, their eldest son and heir was James Barnewall who was born around the year 1574.   Some time before the year 1607, James married Elizabeth Barnewall, daughter and heir of Mark Barnewall of Drimnagh Manor who died in 1606.  Their eldest son and heir was Matthew Barnewall who was born some time around 1608.  In 1636 he married Anne Bellew, daughter of Sir Christopher Bellew of Castletown, Co. Louth.  In 1641 Matthew became a Captain in the Irish Army and was outlawed as a result, he died a year later in 1642.  His eldest son and heir was James, who was the last lord of Bremore and in 1663 was declared to be an Innocent papist and was allowed to keep 2,414 acres of his father’s estate.    In 1727 Walter Bagenal of Dunleckney, Co. Carlow who was married to Eleanor Barnewall, daughter of James, sold the lands of Bremore and Drimnagh to Henry, Earl of Shelburne (Barnewell 1965, 452).  Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of Compilation: 07 November 2025