Castle — Athlone AND Bigmeadow

National Monument No. 520. Athlone Castle was built as a Royal Castle in 1210 to control an important fording point over the River Shannon which may have had a pre-Norman fortification (WM029-042098-) at this location. The Anglo-Norman stone castle was built on lands originally granted in 1200 to Geoffrey de Constentin who was then granted other lands in Connacht due to the construction of Athlone Castle which became the demesne lands of King John. The king of England then ordered Geoffrey de Constentin to maintain and keep possession of the castle on behalf of the king. In the year 1200 as part of the Anglo-Norman settlement of Connacht, King John of England granted Geoffrey de Costentin, ‘a cantred in Connaught called Tirieghrachbothe’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 22). The castle of Athlone and the western side of Athlone town were located on these lands called ‘Tirieghrachtbothe’. In 1214 shortly after the construction of the Royal Castle of Athlone, King John allowed Geoffrey de Constentin to exchange the lands containing Athlone Castle for the cantred of Trithweth also located in Connacht (Cal. doc. Ire., 92). The lands of Trithweth were described as being located ‘more remote from the castle, and nearer to the Irish’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 257). In this year following a petition submitted by Geoffrey to the Archbishop of Dublin, King John commanded the ‘exchange for the cantred in which the Castle of Athlone is situated, the Archbishop cause Godfrey [Geoffrey] to have another cantred of equal value in the marches’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 81). In 1215, King John granted a mandate to ‘Godfrey [Geoffrey] de Constentin to safely keep the castle of Aslon [Athlone], as he previously kept it’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 95). In 1220 Geoffrey de Constentin was appointed to maintain ‘the custody of the K.’s land and castles in that country, which custody shall be surveyed by counsel of the Archbishop of Dublin, Thomas Fitz Adam, and Richard de Burgh’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 144). The present structure traces its foundation to John de Grey, Bishop of Norwich and Justiciar of Ireland, who commenced construction of Athlone castle in 1210 (ALC; Ann. Clon. sub 1208-9). In this year King John of England, ordered the Bishop to erect three castles in the province of Connacht. The Annals of Loch Cé recorded in the year 1210 that the Bishop of Norwich came along with the forces of Meath and Leinster to Athlone where a ‘bridge (WM029-042004-) was constructed by him across Ath-Luain, and a castle instead of O’Conchobhair’s [O’Conor’s] castle (WM029-042098-)’ (ALC). The following year in 1211 a stone tower (possibly the keep or donjon) collapsed killing Richard de Tuite and eight others (Gilbert 1884, ii, 232, 279) and Orpen (1907, 262-3) has suggested that this disaster might have resulted from the construction of a Keep on top of a motte (WM029-042099-) which had not settled sufficiently to hold the weight. This event was recorded on the Annals of Clonmacnoise in the entry for the year 1210 which stated that the English Bishop who ‘was Deputy, and Richard Tuite founded a stone castle in Athlone, wherein there was a tower of stone built, which soon after fell & killed the said Richard Tuite with eight Englishmen more’ (Ann. Clon.). The stone castle of Athlone was built on monastic lands belonging to the priory (WM029-042003-) of Saints Peter and Paul situated to the south. In 1213 the King of England commanded ‘Henry Archbishop of Dublin to cause the monks of Athlone to have the tenth part of the expenses of the castle in that town, in exchange for their land in which the castle is situated, as the Bishop of Norwich undertook when fortifying the castle’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 80). In 1216, King John commanded the Justiciar of Ireland to exchange with the ‘Prior of Athlone, for the 4 cantreds in the fee of Logseuethy [Lough Sewdy] assigned to the Prior by John Bishop of Norwich in compensation for the site of the K.’s castle of Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 106-07). The King also commanded the Justiciar to ‘cause competent satisfaction to be given to the Prior touching an exchange for his meadow, his fisheries of 12 marks, and the tithes of the castle’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 107). In 1235 the King of England discovered by inquisition that the ‘monks of Adlon [Athlone] have been wont to receive at the Exchequer, Dublin, an annuity of 10 marks of the vill (WM029-042----), castle, mill (WM029-042056-), and fishery (WM029-042081-) towards Connaught, which John Bishop of Norwich, when [justiciary], constructed in the their land, the K. commands the monks to have this annuity’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 340-1). Work on the castle is sporadically recorded during the thirteenth century, in 1232-4 (35th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 37) and 1251 when the King ordered to ‘employ 80 marks of the K.’s money in aid of the inclosure (WM029-042020-) of the K.’s vills of Adlon [Athlone] and Rendun [Rindown, Co. Roscommon], and repair of their castles (Cal. doc. Ire., 469). In 1270-72 the Exchequer paid 5 marks in wages to ‘Nicholas of Gloucester, carpenter of the castle of Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 150). In 1273-4, the justiciar, Geoffrey de Geneville, spent over £3,500 on various projects including ‘repairs of the castle and houses of Athlone’ (36th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 40). In 1276-7 Robert d'Ufford, the succeeding justiciar, spent £2,136 on fortifications and buildings at the castles of Rindown (RO046-004002-), Co. Roscommon and Athlone (36th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 35; Cal. doc. Ire., 267) and a further £3,200 in 1278-9 on work at Roscommon (RO039-043001-), Rindown (RO046-004002-) and Athlone castles (36 Rep Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 48). In 1277-78 Robert de Ufford spent money on ‘repairing houses of the castle of Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 267). In 1281 the Exchequer made a payment to Thomas de Isham ‘for works of the castles of Roscommon, Raundun [Rindown, RO046-004002-] and Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 406). In 1284 the Exchequer made a payment of £11 13s 4d. to William ‘the carpenter, spent in works of the castle of Athlone’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 541). In 1290 the chief justiciary of Ireland went to ‘the castle of Athlone, and remaining there to treat with the Irish of those parts, to inspect the defects of the works of the castle and bridge (WM029-042004-)’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 326). Between 1286 and 1290 the Exchequer made a payment to ‘Geoffrey Brun, clerk, of £300, to be spent on fortifications of the castles of Roscommon (RO039-043001-), Randown (RO046-004002-), and Athlone, in works of those castles’ (Cal. doc. Ire., 370). It is likely that much of the surviving medieval fabric of the castle, particularly the river wall with its three-quarter-round towers at each angle dates to this period (Orpen 1907, 271; Claffey 1970-1, 57; Leask 1951, 42). Parts of the castle had fallen into neglect by 1305 and repairs were carried out in 1306 by Richard de Exeter, constable of Roscommon castle (38th Rep. Deputy Keeper Public Records Ireland, 103). The Annals of St. Mary's, Dublin, note the burning of the castle and town by Ruaidri O Conchobhar in 1315 but Orpen (1907, 272), using the Irish annals, has suggested that the castle was not captured at this time. Little is known of the castle in the later fourteenth and fifteenth centuries although it is clear that it was frequently in Irish hands until recovered by the Crown in 1537. In this year it was recorded that the ‘castle of Athlone, standing upon a passage betwixt Connaught and these parts, is recovered, which has long been usurped by the Irish’ (Gardiner 1891, 47-85). Thereafter the castle remained in English hands serving as the residence of the Presidents of Connacht after 1569 (Murtagh 1980, 81). In 1547, the Annals recorded that the ‘castle of Athlone was repaired by the English, namely, by William Brabazon, the King's Treasurer in Ireland, and the English and Irish of Meath, in despite of O'Kel