Eglish Castle

 Artist's impression of Eglish based on an early photograph taken before the Castle was partially demolished.

 Eglish Castle 2008 from S showing  remains of tower                                       Eglish Castle viewed from SE in the 20th Century showing
house (right corner) and part of Eglish Church (far right).                                Palladian front, ruins of the tower house (right corner)                                                                                                                                                                  and part of Eglish Church (far right).

(photo: Pat David).              

Introduction

“Eglish” is derived from the word “Eaglais” meaning church in the Irish language. The Irish pronunciation is somewhat like "Ah-glish".

Eglish Castle, a large country house, in the parish of Eglish, Kings County (now Offaly), was occupied by my Berry family from 1776 until c.1876. Its name is derived from the original tower house (castle) built by the O’Molloy family in the late 15th/early 16th Century, onto which the house was added in two stages. Sadly, it is now derelict and uninhabited. Eglish Castle and about three surrounding acres was owned by the late Mr Sam Alexander who passed away in 2022 . (It's current ownership is unknown to me). It is situated near Fivealley, in the heart of the Bog of Allen1 in the Irish midlands, a region not generally acclaimed for scenic features, apart from the heathery Slieve Bloom Mountains. However, the Bog is noted for the prehistoric and archaeological treasures it has yielded (e.g. the Dowris Hoard), as well as the rich natural history that survives in what remains of it.

Immediately adjacent to Eglish Castle is the Eglish graveyard which has been the site of human habitation dating back to medieval times and beyond. This is because local geomorphology results in a natural “bottleneck” that directs north/south travelers to pass it. This would have facilitated trade, collection of tax from travelers and strategic defence - hence the location of the O’Molloy castle. The present graveyard is on elevated ground surrounded to the south and east by a defensive earth mound and ditch, possibly originating in ancient times and is surrounded by a stone wall, probably built in the Tudor period. Some outlines of stone structures, probably medieval buildings, are still visible. An early church of which there are now no upstanding remains was recorded within the graveyard in the 19th century2. The now abandoned Holy Trinity Church, built in 1839, stands in the graveyard, along with the Berry burial enclosure which is surrounded by a stone wall. Other places of interest shown in the 1911 ordinance map are the ruins of the flax mill which was supplied with water via a canal leading from the Rapemill River SE of Eglish Castle and the grain mill associated with Irishtown House (home of James Armstrong Berry).

1911 Ordnance map showing Eglish Castle and precincts. I have marked the following localities of interest which are still present: A, flax mill ruin; B, Berry Burial enclosure, C, canal taking water to flax mill; D, hand water pump (position marked on map but no longer present); E, stables; F, walled orchard; H, mill associated with Irishtown House ruin; I, Rapemill River.

Eglish Castle/house

The tower house is said to have been built by the O’Molloys in the late 15th or early 16th Century. In 1532 it was attacked and taken from the sons of John O’Carroll by his rival, Ferganainm O’Carroll, assisted by his son-in-law, the Earl of Kildare. When King’s County was created in 1557, the ancient territory of Firceall was included in it and divided into the baronies of Eglish, Ballyboy and Ballycowan. The baronies were named after the strongest castle in each  at the time. By 1612 the tower house was owned by the then Earl of Kildare. At some later date its ownership must have passed to the Loftus family who appear to have been in occupation when the house was added onto the west side of the castle. According to Pey3, the Loftus family connected to the Eglish Barony were descended from a Yorkshire family. Adam Loftus, Archbishop of Dublin, came to Ireland in 1561 and lived at Rathfarnham Castle, Dublin. He was an uncle to Adam Loftus who was appointed Lord High Chancellor of Ireland in 1619. He  was created Lord Ely in 1622 and represented the King in Parliament. Through these powerful offices the Loftus family were in a position to acquire numerous tracts of forfeited lands. Edward Loftus, who leased Eglish Castle from 1712 to 1756 was a great, great, grandson of Archbishop Adam Loftus.

Eglish Castle was purchased by Marlborough Sterling from the executors of Mrs Ellinor Loftus (widow of Edward Loftus) in about 1756. Ellinor lived at Eglish Castle from 1714 until her death in 1755.  Knight Berry (1743-1807) of the ‘Dovegrove’ family first obtained the lease of Eglish from Lucy, widow of Marlborough Sterling in 1766, at a rent of £140. This lease he assigned to  his son-in-law, Thomas Berry (1737-1815), on 15 June 1770 in return for an annuity of £98. In about 1776 Thomas bought the head interest of the Sterlings, which was sold in Chancery. He apparently farmed most of his estate himself. Eglish, together with land at Claughill amounted to 284 acres in 1809. Thomas’ eighth son, Francis Berry (1779-1864) succeeded to the lands of Eglish, Cloughill, Ballincollinda and Shanlone. The Rev. William Berry (1850-1920) succeeded to Eglish under Francis’ will. In 1872 William, then of Queens College Cambridge, leased Eglish Lodge, the townland of Shanacloon, part of Eglish with the Mansion House and outbuildings to his brother in law, Nathaniel Slator, who was married to Matilda Berry. However, in 1876 William sold Eglish Castle (to the Dillon family) and the rest of the estate under the Irish Land Acts. He owned 828 acres in King's Co., valued at £402 p.a.

For a summary of the history of ownership and leasehold of Eglish Castle and Townlands, see Pey3 (279-285).

 Heritage architect Dr C. Southgate reported Eglish Castle to consists of ((Salters Sterling pers. comm. 2005):

(a) a late 15th early 16th Century tower house, built by the O’Molloys.

(b) a late 17th C addition on one side; and

(c) a mid 18th C addition with a Palladian front. (Sterling family history records that the Palladian addition was paid for with the dowry of Sophia Sterling, daughter of Capt. James Sterling and Patience Hansard, when she married Knight Berry).

 Eglish Castle is registered on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH)4 (#14930004), which describes it as follows:

 “Detached U-plan seven-bay two-storey over basement country house, built c.1770, with remains of castle abutting east side, with pediment and oculus window covered by growing ivy. Now in a ruinous state. Hipped slate roof with tooled stone eaves course and red brick chimneystacks. Roughcast rendered walls. Timber sash windows with tooled stone sills. Venetian window to rear. Round-headed door opening with timber fanlight having switch-track glazing bars and timber panelled door flanked by timber sash sidelights with tooled stone sills. Door accessed by tooled stone steps flanked by splayed rendered plinth wall with tooled stone capping.

Eglish Castle is in a state of disrepair, with its roof falling in. In spite of this the elegant nature and special character of the old country house remains. A round-headed doorway with decorative Gothic style timber fanlight, accessible via tooled steps, compliments the symmetrical façade with its six-over-six sash windows. In all, the house plays a significant role in the county's built heritage”

In Sept. 2011 I visited Eglish Castle and, with the help of Messrs Sam and Richard Alexander, was able to draw floor plans of the building. Dimensions and proportions are approximate.

Eglish Castle is currently within a working farmyard. Ruins of original outbuildings and traces of the original yard at the rear (N) of the house include the stables on the E side and two small barns/outbuildings on the NW (shown on ordnance map above).  Some cobbles remain in front of the stables. There are the remains of a high stone wall adjoining the NW corner of the house with gate hinges. The walled orchard was entered through high stone gateposts on the W of the house, only one of which remains partially intact. There is no sign of the hand water pump that was in the yard. This appears to have been the only source of water for the house, although the Alexanders built a concrete water tank in the recess between the original house and the Palladian addition on the the SE. This was filled by a downpipe from the roof.

The O’Molloy Tower House in the 21st Century

Kerrigan5 describes the O'Molloy tower house as follows: “...the remains of the poorly preserved tower house (ext. dims. 10.4m N-S x 9.9m E-W; wall T 1.9m) comprise portions of its N and W walls constructed of roughly coursed limestone rubble standing two stories high. There are traces of a slight base-batter on the surviving walls and the original entrance was probably located in the E wall. A later 18th century house adjoins the N Wall. A rebuilt doorway at the west end of the N wall gives access to a mural stairs running from W-E . The now destroyed first floor was reached from this mural stairs. Among the surviving features at this level are a mural passage in the west wall and a guardroom in the NW corner containing a musket loop. The support for a wall-walk is discernable on the N wall. A bawn wall which is largely intact adjoins the tower house at its SW angle and encloses the site on its S and E sides. Several later outbuildings adjoin the bawn, and cobblestone paving is visible in the SW corner of the courtyard. (Cooke 1875, 25-6; O’Flanagan 1933, vol 2, 2-6).”

According to Richard Alexander (pers. comm. 2011), stone from the castle was removed by his father probably in the 1950’s and used for roadworks at Thomastown. Additional observations I made in 2011 include recording the existence of two more musket loops high in the S and SE walls which are not visible externally, having been filled in presumably when the exterior of the north face of the castle was rendered to match the adjoining house additions. There are four doors between the house additions and the castle: The first, and possibly the main connection between the 17th C house, is a large arched doorway at the E end of the basement passage (see photo). This has been infilled with stone, presumably when the 18th C extension was done. Second is a rectangular door at the landing level of the steps between the first (ground) floor and basement. This is infilled with concrete. The third is in the E end of the first (ground) floor passage and enters the castle at ground level in the present shed. It is infilled with bricks, probably done when Sam Alexander sen. added the toilet. The fourth is from the stair landing between the second and third floors and is infilled with bricks which are now partially removed.

It is clear that the ground level at the time the 17th C house was added to the castle was lower than it is today because its basement windows and doors are below today’s level.

When I visited Eglish in 2011 I learned of the existence of a watercolour painting of Eglish Castle owned by Pat Alexander, but was unable to arrange to see it. The painting was created from an old black and white photograph by Birr artist, Chris O'Donoghue, in 1991 for Pat's husband, Dick Alexander. Brian Pey kindly photographed this painting for me and Lorraine Wilson recently produced another watercolour for me based on it (see above). I have been unable to find in the literature an illustration of the O'Molloy tower house or a detailed description of it before its partial demolition. As the original photograph from which O'Donoghue did his watercolour appears to be lost, his painting may be historically significant as the only record of what the tower house originally looked like. 

Holy Trinity Church

Holy Trinity (Eglish) Church built in 1839 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners stands just to the E of Eglish Castle. It is accessible  through an opening in the graveyard wall on the N side of the Castle. Being so close to the house, the Church and the family burial enclosure must have been an integral part of the lives of my family at Eglish.  The Church faces S and appears to be located on the original medieval road past the tower house. Unfortunately there is now a hole in the roof and some window panes are missing which allows birds and rain to enter and consequently deterioration of the interior appears to be happening quite rapidly. The under-floor heating system (where the sexton died of asphyxia 6 ) has been filled in. The graveyard contains outlines of stone structures, probably medieval buildings, and many very old and interesting burials, both Catholic and Protestant. Unfortunately there appears to be no available record of surviving inscriptions, something that should be undertaken. The church and graveyard is said to be for sale.

.                 

                                                                                                     Holy Trinity Church, Eglish in winter of 2010. (Photos: B. Pey)

The Berry Burial Enclosure

During my visit to Eglish in Sept. 2011 I drew the following plan of the burial enclosure and recorded all the tombstone inscriptions in it. My list of burials is not in total accord with the lists made in the late 1900's by the Rev. William Berry and Rev. J.T. Webster, or recorded as located there by L.A.Wilson.

The burial enclosure is surrounded by a 2m high stone wall. Although there is a view that this is built on the location of the old ruined church this is unlikely, though the wall may have been built on the outline of a medieval building.

List of people buried in the Berry enclosure

* = recorded as buried in the Berry enclosure by Rev. William Berry who died in 1920, and in 1921 by Rev. J.T. Webster.

^ = recorded by P.F. Berry in 2011

# = reported to be buried at Eglish by L. Wilson, but no marked grave found by P. F. B in 2011.

Red font = Dovegrove Family

Gravestone Inscriptions recorded by P.F.B. in 2011

Numbers corresponds to those in plan of Berry Burial enclosure above. Script is laid out as it is on the tombstones and I have tried to retain characteristics of the script used i.e. spelling, upper or lower case, underscored etc. ? denotes illegible.

(1)

The Remains of Knight Berry

Who Died the 27th of March 1793

In the 79th Year of his age

……………………………………….

(tombstone broken along next line of illegible script and missing)

(2)

Sacred to the Memory

Of Mrs FRANCES BERRY

Wife of Thomas Berry of Eglish Castle Esq

She Departed this Life May 26th 1807

AGED 63 YEARS

And was the Sole Heir

Of the late Knight Berry Esq

And Sophia his wife

(4)

(Inscription as recorded by Rev. William Berry)

The remains of the late Thomas Berry of Eglish Castle, Esqre are interred beneath this stone. He died Oct. 30th 1815 in the

79th year of his age. The bodies of his two sons, John the eldest and Luke Michael, the ninth son, are deposited on each side.

(6, 7)

Sacred to the Memory

of

Robert Fleetwood Berry Esq

Who died August of 1822

Aged 45 Years

He won the enduring afection

Of his neighbours

Yet he sought not popularity

?through the awful impression upon his mind

Of the inestimable love of GOD

In a redeeming Saviour

Was ?vinced

In the integrity of his Transcention

The earnestness of his vigilance

For the Welfare

Of his Fellow men

He is laid in this Grave

To which he had himself

But three Weeks before his death

Committed the body of his daughter

Catherine was aged four years

(8,9,10,12,13)

Under This Tomb are interred the mortal remains of

Maria Berry who died on the 6th of November1824

Also

Of John Berry her twin brother who died on the 19th February 1825

Also

Of Frances Berry who died the 24th May 1825

In the 12th year of her age

Also

Of their Mother Mrs Dorothy Berry wife of

Sterling Berry Esqr of the City of Dublin

Who died on the 30 of July 1826 in the 46th year of living

And

Of Sterling Berry Esqr whom died on the 10th of April

1825 in the 57th year of his age

(11)

Within this Tomb

are deposited

the Mortal remains

of

Dorothea late Wife of

M P Berry

Tullamore

Who died 9th of November

1825

universally and deservedly

 lamented

she assigned her pure soul

into the hand of her

MAKER

firmly relying on the

merits and intercession

of her generous and merciful

REDEEMER

for Salvation

and everlasting happiness

in a World

of

GLORY

(14,15)

Underneath this Stone Lie

the Remains of

Frances Berry

Daughter of Francis and Alice Berry

of Tullamore

Who died on the 12 July 1832

Aged 23 years

Also of her Mother Alice Berry

Who joined her Beloved

only Four* Months

on the 20th May 

* apparently an error

                                                     (16)             (stone broken longitudinally (along red lines))

                Sacred To the | Memory

              of  Martha Berry|

           Who Died March| 7th 1833

Like crowded forest trees|we stand

And some are marked| to fall

           The axe will smite at G|ods  command

        And soon shall smi|te us all

             God--------------| on high

          We leave                |delighted

                                             |o         hand

                ----------------|--------

         This Tomb|

              Was erect|ed

          By her husba|nd

                        Smith Mas|sy Berry

(17,21,24)

The Remains of the Late

James Armstrong Berry of Eglish Esqr

Are Interred Beneath this stone

He died July 10th 1833 in the

Sixty second year of his age

Also Margaret his Wife

Who depd this life June 30th 1851

In the 61st Year of her age

ALSO THEIR DAUGHTER

SOPHIA

WHO DIED 2ND FEB 1860

AGED 38 YEARS

GOD IS LOVE

(18)

In

Memory

of

MARLBOROUGH PARSONS BERRY Esq

Late Barracks of the Buffs 64 Reg of Foot

Who departed this life

The 28th of October1842

Aged 69 Years

(20)

Sacred

 To the memory of

Mrs ELIZABETH Berry wife of the late

ROBERT FLEETWOOD BERRY Esq

Of Shannon Harbour in Kings Co

She  died April ?---

Aged ?----

(26, 30)

SACRED

TO THEMEMORY OF

FRANCIS BERRY ESQUIRE

OF TULLAMORE AND EGLISH

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE

ON THE 31ST OF OCTOBER 1864

AGED 85 YEARS

ALSO

SUSANNA HIS WIFE WHO DIED

AT MONKSTOWN COUNTY DUBLIN

ON THE 3RD OF JULY 1876

AGED 60 YEARS

“THEM ALSO WHICH SLEEP IN JESUS

WILL GOD BRING WITH HIM”

1 THESS. v 14

(27/28/29)

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ROBERT BERRY ELDEST

SON OF THE REV EDWARD BERRY RECTOR OF ATHLONE

AND OF PENELOPE HIS WIFE WHO DIED NOV 6 1864

AGED 18 YEARS ALSO EDWARD SECOND

SON OF THE SAMEWHO DIED JUNE 4 1869 AGED 21 YEARS

ALSO

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE VEN

EDWARD FLEETWOOD BERRY

ARCHDEACON OF MEATH & VICAR OF TRAM

FORMERLY RECTOR OF ATHLONE

WHO DIED AT TREAM 29 APRIL 1875

AGED 58 YEARS

(31)

SACRED

 TO THE MEMORY OF

FRANCES

DAUGHTER OF

MARLBOROUGH P BERRY

CLONEEN

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE

21 JULY 1882

AGED 12 YEARS

(35)

ERECTED BY

JAMES BERRY MITCHELL

IN REMEMBERANCE OF HIS BELOVED

MOTHER

MARGARET MITCHELL

DAUGHTER OF THE LATE

JAMES ARMSTROMG BERRY ESQR

DIED 18TH SEPTEMBER 1905

AGED 82 YEARS

WITH CHRIST IN PERFECT PEACE

(36)

IN LOVING MEMORY

OF

JAMES BERRY MITCHELL

CLOGHEEN MANOR BUTTEVANT Co CORK

DIED 30 DECEMBER 1935

AGED 73 YEARS

References

    1 Bog of Allen http://www.ipcc.ie/bogofallenvisitorguide.html

   2 O’ Flanagan, 1933, vol. 2, 6).

   3  Pey, Brian (ed) 2003. Eglish and Drumcullen A Parish in Firceall. p.90. Published by Firceall Heritage Group.

   4 National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

5Kerrigan, Paul M., 1995. Castles and Fortifications in Ireland, 1485-1945. Collins Press, Cork, 1995.

  6 Pey, Brian (ed) 2003. Eglish and Drumcullen A Parish in Firceall. p.33. Published by Firceall Heritage Group.

        Copyright 2006-2025 Patrick Berry