Town defences in Bolton,callan South,dirtystep,minnauns,prologue,tinnamoona

The medieval town of Callan, located 15km SW of Kilkenny, was situated primarily on the S bank of the NW-SE flowing Kings River (formerly the River Rye), with a northern suburb across the river, between the manorial demesne to the W, with its motte and bailey (KK026-010009-), and the Augustinian Friary (KK026-010016-) to the E. There is no surviving evidence of a town wall, however, there are references and cartographic evidence of town gates to the E, S and W gate, the locations of which would suggest that Callan was a very large town of c. 34 hectares, as well as an inner or ‘midle’ gate, possibly ‘Skerry’s Castle’ (KK026-010008-), on West Street which hints at a possible inner town defence (Thomas 1992, vol. 2, 30-31). Cartographic evidence shows that the S town boundary ran along Lower Green Lane (previous called Fair Green Lane and Cuddy’s Lane) to the SE and Chapel Lane to the SW (Manning 1998, 63). Archaeological excavations (licence no. 01E0014) on Lower Green (Fair Green) Lane revealed two fosses which appear to be part southern town defences (Elliott 2002). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 292), Callan’s town walls were constructed in the 15th century but, ‘of the enclosing wall (with its cleemoore, or fosse) only a small fragment remains, at the east end of Mill-Street (formerly East St.)’. There are numerous references to castles in Callan, some were probably urban tower houses while others may be associated with town gates (Carrigan 1905, vol. 3, 296). There is a reference in 1595 in the Ormond Deeds to, ‘a castle in the east street of Callan’ and this is probably, ‘A large castle joining to the East Gate’ mentioned in the Civil Survey (1655-6) (Curtis 1970, vol. 6, 3-4, deed 2; Manning 1998, 59). In the N suburb, a castle is mentioned in ‘Kenles street’ in 1593 and this is probably the same, ‘ruins of a castle house’ described on Kells Street in the Civil Survey (1655-6) (Curtis 1970, vol. 6, 2, deed 2; Manning 1998, 56). The N suburb also had town defences and at least one town gate. Descriptions in the Ormond Deeds of the ‘hill of Callan’ suggest that this was located in the N suburb. Within this area there are references to Haggard Lane and Haggard St., possibly one and the same (Curtis 1941, vol. 5, 282-3, deed 292). It follows that the ‘Haggard gate’ is a town gate on Haggard Lane/St. (Curtis 1937, vol. 4, 181, deed 225). In 1539 the Ormond Deeds there is a reference to a property in the town which, ‘lies by the Haggard gate in length from the King’s street in the east to the common ditch in the west’ (ibid.). A deed of 1583 gives permission, ‘granted by the sovereign, portreeve, burgesses and commons of Callan to Richard Merry of the same to enlarge a holding on Kenles street (Kells St./Lower Bridge St.) on condition that he shall extend, hedge, cast and cut the town ditch outside the holding in good defensible and decent manner from time to time’ (Curtis 1941, vol. 5, 324, deed 365). In the ‘Aphorismical Discovery’, a contemporary account of the Cromwellian campaign in Ireland, describes how, in 1650, ‘Ormond did apeinte a garrison in Calluyne, 5 miles from Kilkeny, 1500 men in the greate castle, an impregnant peece of worke, under the comaunde of Sir Robert Thalbott. Amonge the rest was one Captain Marcus Geoghegan of Frevenagh, in the barony of Moycashell [Westmeath], with his company, in a petty castle, a kinde of gate hous, thatched with strawe’ (Gilbert 1880, 64). Thomas Stuish’s map of 1681, copied in 1765 by Richard Frizell, indicates the town defences, with a ‘Strong Castle’ and ‘Gate’ at the E end of the town, a ‘South gate’, ‘West gate’ and ‘Midle Gate’, the latter along West Street. It has been suggested that the middle gate refers to ‘Skerry’s Castle’ (KK026-010008-), portion of which still survives, and which traditionally is associated with the castle/gatehouse occupied by Captain Geoghegan (Kennedy 1984, 50). The ‘greate castle’ is possibly the castle at the end of Mill Street, referred to by Stuish as a ‘Strong Castle’. It may be the ‘castle in the east street’ leased to Robert Rothe and Henry Shee in 1595 (Curtis 1970, vol. 6, 3-4, deed 2). According to Carrigan (1905, vol. 3, 293) this castle was, ‘known as Coorthfeerish, or Pierce’s Court, the lower part of which served as one of the entrance gates of the town; some fragments of the walls may still be seen’. Indicated as, ‘Castle in ruins’ on the 1st (1840) ed. OS 6-inch map, it appears to have been levelled subsequently as it is shown as ‘Castle (site of)’ on the 1948 revision. Given the large area enclosed by the medieval town of Callan, it has been suggested that the town was never walled but was defended by a town ditch/fosse, with town gates. Against this it can be argued that Callan appears to have presented a formidable obstacle to advancing Cromwellian forces in 1650, with a battery (KK026-010001-) being set up to bombard the town from a position c. 300m to the S. The initial focus of the attack was the S gatehouse, which was eventually taken following unexpected resistance (Kennedy 1984, 49). According to Kennedy (ibid. 50) further fierce resistance was offered by Captain Geoghegan and his force at the inner/middle gate, which tradition associates with Skerry’s Castle on West St., the West gate having offered no resistance. To explain why Callan offered such a stout resistance, despite enclosing such a large area, Thomas (1992, vol. 2, 31) proposes that the town had an inner walled area. This suggested area being confined to the centre of the town, S of the river, the W side running from Chapel Lane northwards to Skerry’s Castle and N from there to the river, with the E side running from Lower Green/Fair Green Lane northward, along the line of Collins Park and northward to the river (ibid.). While the W side is possible, the E side is less likely, given that that the strong castle where the main garrison were positioned appears to equate with the castle and gatehouse at the E end of town, outside of Thomas’s proposed core. Also by the mid-17th century there may have been another bridge across the river (the ‘New Bridge’ on the 1691 map), probably in line with the lane which runs N from Mill Street and is c. 150m E of the main bridge, and which would have been outside of the suggested line. So perhaps only the E half of the town, extending to Skerry’s Castle, was walled, with a town ditch being considered sufficient defence for the W portion. See attached: KK026-010007-_01 Extract from Down Survey map of Callan, from Manning, C. 1998 The Civil Survey of Inistioge and Callan, Co. Kilkenny, 65, fig. 15 KK026-010007_02 Map of Callan with archaeological monuments highlighted, from Farrelly, J. et al. 1992 The urban archaeological survey County Kilkenny, vol. 2 KK026-010007_03 Map outlining the possible town defences, from Thomas, A. 1993 The walled towns of Ireland Compiled by: Jean Farrelly Date of upload: 22 June 2022