Duncannon Fort — Duncannon

Located on a NE-SW promontory (H c. 20m) jutting out into the estuary of the Barrow/Nore/Suir. Outside the ramparts the ground slopes down almost to sea-level over c. 50m. The original name of the promontory – Dunmechanan, the fort of the son of Canan – indicates that it may be an ancient promontory fort, but there is no confirmation of this (Sinnott 1970-1, 63). The name was first recorded in the foundation charter of Dunbrody Abbey (WX039-030001-) in 1172-77 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 3, 39). A castle, probably a tower house, with a wall cutting off the end of the promontory is depicted on what are probably late 16th century maps with the bastioned fort already established (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 2). John Inglysshe occupied Duncannon in 1541, and it was granted to Sir Osborne Itchingham in 1545 and Sir Nicholas White, the Master of the Rolls, in 1569 (ibid. vol. 4, 4), but the castle is first mentioned in 1580 when John Itchingham, who was involved with pirates there, resisted arrest by the sheriff (ibid. vol. 3, 148-9). A circular tower of this castle survived into the early 20th century (ibid. vol. 4, Pl., P5-6) and became known as King James’ tower, but it is no longer extant. (Sinnott 1970-1, 63-5) The fortification of the promontory was first proposed in 1551-2 in order to provide a base for a permanent garrison that would suppress piracy and secure Waterford and Ross against invasion. However, it required the threat of a Spanish invasion in the 1580s to initiate construction in 1587 when a rampart 50ft long and 16ft wide was built (ibid. vol. 3, 10). By 1590 there were outer defences consisting of a trench 8ft deep, a rampart 20ft high, with stone towers at either end and a drawbridge (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 22). In addition there were earthwork banks (H 7ft) on the sea cliffs to the N and S. In 1591 the trench is described as 35ft wide and 16ft deep, the rampart 12ft wide and the counterscarp or glacis is 19ft wide and 19ft high over the trench. Four gun platforms (diam. 15ft) had been erected at the W end of promontory, two at water level and two higher up (ibid. vol. 4, 25). In 1611 the rampart was doubled in width, stone cladding was provided on the sea cliffs to secure the ramparts at N and S, and the gun platforms were doubled in size (ibid. vol. 4, 47). At the same time a blockhouse for troops (dims. 120ft x 18ft) built in 1590s and the original castle and bawn wall (H 19ft) were repaired. (Sinnott 1970-1, 65-9) Sir Laurence Esmonde of Limerick castle (WX003-024----) in the north of the county was governor from 1606 into the 1640s, but the garrison was being reduced and neglected from the 1620s. With the outbreak of rebellion in November 1641 the fort became a refuge for Protestants in the surrounding area. The fort was besieged by Confederate rebels from December 1641 until March 1642 when the garrison of about a hundred men were reinforced by the arrival of 200 men from Bristol (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 57-63), and this broke the siege. Supplying the garrison proved difficult for the Royalists, and the garrison declared for the Parliament in September 1644 (ibid. vol. 4, 138-44). The siege was resumed by the Confederates in January 1645 and on 19th of March 1645 the fort was surrendered by Lord Esmonde to General Thomas Preston (ibid. vol. 4, 147-53; see WX044-015004-). Esmonde died shortly afterwards. Capt. Thomas Roche and Col. Edward Wogan were joint governors of the fort when it was besieged briefly by Cromwellian forces in November 1649 (ibid. vol. 4, 201-16), but the garrison suffered from plague and when the siege was resumed in the following August it surrendered to Samuel Cooke on 17th August (ibid. vol. 4, 223-4; Sinnott 1970-1, 69-76). The fort was retained by the Parliament, although no repairs were made, and it was occupied briefly in 1660 by the staunchly Parliamentarian Gen. Edmund Ludlow (ibid. vol. 4, 225-27). In order to forestall the financial and supply problems that had undermined every garrison since it was built a grant of 3000 acres in east county Waterford was made for the maintenance of the fort in 1667. The land was on the opposite side of the estuary in the townlands of Knockroe, Passage, Crook, Newtown, Knocknagapple, Raheen, Faithlegg and Parkeswood (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 227-8). After the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 king James II embarked from Duncannon for Kinsale, and from there he fled to France. James’ governor, Col. Michael Bourke, resisted Brig. Epingher for king William until the arrival of 16 frigates induced him to surrender on 26th July, 1690 (ibid. vol. 4, 236-7). King William himself was there in September when bad weather delayed his return to England (Sinnott 1970-1, 77-8). The defensive capability of Duncannon fort depreciated from the end of the 17th century in favour of Passage East on the Waterford side of the estuary, but the fort was renovated in 1724 when a new W battery was erected at sea level. The fort may have taken on much of its present appearance at this time when it was supplied with 18 heavy guns (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 246). During the 1798 rebellion the fort under the command of Major General Fawcett was the only loyal strongpoint in the county, and it became a refuge for loyalists (ibid. vol. 4, 254). A sortie by Fawcett towards Wexford town was defeated by the rebels at Three Rock Mountain (Anon. 1921) (WX037-083----). The fort continued to be garrisoned until 1857 (Jeffery 1979, 142-7). Burned by IRA in 1921, it was occupied by the Irish Army during the Emergency (1939-45) when some concrete pillboxes and gun platforms were built. It was used intermittently by the FCA until the 1980s. The fort was acquired by Wexford County Council in the 1990s and was closed for a period of conservation works after 2015 but is now available for guided tours. See this web-page accessed on 26/05/2023:https://duncannonfort.ie/#!/contact The surviving remains, apart from the design of the ramparts, date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The fort has two courts or wards. The E court is on top of the promontory and is defended on the E side by a wide, flat-bottomed fosse or ditch that is lined with brick and stone. The ditch runs roughly N-S across the peninsula with one V-shaped bastion protruding to the E at the centre. The main entrance is through the SE-facing aspect of this bastion and the ditch is now crossed here by a causeway. Inside the ditch is a massive rampart, and a narrow tunnel from the interior leads through the rampart to a postern gate at the bottom of the ditch, which would enable maintenance work to be carried out. The ditch is closed off at both ends now with a masonry wall, and there are two gun-emplacement chambers and three magazine chambers under the glacis at the S end of the ditch. These provide enfilading fire for the S wall of the fort as well as covering the estuary to the S. The E court (dims c. 60m E-W; c. 30-40m N-S) is surrounded by two-storey barrack buildings which communicate by bridges with the top of the ramparts. The command centre is at the SE angle of this parade ground, but the church that was just to its W is no longer extant. This had memorials dating from 1703 or 1728 (Hore 1900-11, vol. 4, 247). A narrow tunnel leads from the parade ground down to the W court, which is D-shaped and provided with gun-emplacements covering the estuary S-NW. An archaeological excavation (97E0314) here, conducted with voluntary labour, removed rubble from the lower area and revealed two of the emplacements (McCutcheon 1998). The garrison burial ground is a D-shaped area (dims c. 80m E-W; c. 50m N-S) at the N end of the glacis with the straight side at S, but there are very few headstones in it. Remote sensing surveys combined with a metal-detecting survey of the glacis produced evidence of considerable activity that could amount to a multi-phase habitation including ditched enclosures, pits and industrial activity, with the evidence being more pronounced towards the