Castlemaine () is a small village in

County Kerry County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...

, southwest

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. It lies on the N70

national secondary road A national secondary road ( ga, Bóthar Náisiúnta den Dara Grád) is a category of road in Ireland. These roads form an important part of the national route network but are secondary to the main arterial routes which are classified as national ...

between

Killorglin Killorglin () is a town in County Kerry, Ireland. As of the 2016 CSO census, the town's population was 2,199. Killorglin is on the Ring of Kerry tourist route, and annual events include the August Puck Fair festival, which starts with the crown ...

and

Tralee Tralee ( ; ga, Trá Lí, ; formerly , meaning 'strand of the Lee River') is the county town of County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland. The town is on the northern side of the neck of the Dingle Peninsula, and is the largest town in County ...

History

The village takes its name from a castle that once stood on a bridge over the River Maine at the current location of Castlemaine. Until the seventeenth century the river formed the boundary between the

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

territories of the Fitzgerald family and the Gaelic lordships. The castle was originally built on a rock in the centre of the river in 1215 by the Fitzgeralds, marking the southern limit of their newly conquered territory. It remained in the possession of the

Earls of Desmond Earl of Desmond is a title in the peerage of Ireland () created four times. When the powerful Earl of Desmond took arms against Queen Elizabeth Tudor, around 1578, along with the King of Spain and the Pope, he was confiscated from his estates, ...

until the 1570s, when it became an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Crown fortress, overseen by a constable. The constable held considerable power in the locality and could raise taxes from the town that emerged near the castle. The first constable was Thomas Spring. The castle's strategic position made it a valuable building, and it was besieged for 13 months in 1598-1599 during the

Nine Years' War The Nine Years' War (1688–1697), often called the War of the Grand Alliance or the War of the League of Augsburg, was a conflict between France and a European coalition which mainly included the Holy Roman Empire (led by the Habsburg monarch ...

. During the

Irish Confederate Wars The Irish Confederate Wars, also called the Eleven Years' War (from ga, Cogadh na hAon-déag mBliana), took place in Ireland between 1641 and 1653. It was the Irish theatre of the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a series of civil wars in the kin ...

of the 1640s the castle changed hands on a number of occasions, before being finally destroyed by a

Cromwellian Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in History of England, English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 ...

army in 1652. Despite the destruction of the fortress, a Constable of Castlemaine Castle continued to be appointed until 1832, receiving income from the fisheries and fairs of the town and river. In June 1921, an

IRA Ira or IRA may refer to: *Ira (name), a Hebrew, Sanskrit, Russian or Finnish language personal name *Ira (surname), a rare Estonian and some other language family name *Iran, UNDP code IRA Law *Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, US, on status of ...

ambush near Castlemaine during the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence () or Anglo-Irish War was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and British forces: the British Army, along with the quasi-mil ...

resulted in four security-force members being killed. The village was attacked in January 1923 during the

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War ( ga, Cogadh Cathartha na hÉireann; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United ...

by Anti-Treaty fighters under Tom McEllistrim and John Joe Sheehy.

Cultural references

The song ''

The Wild Colonial Boy "The Wild Colonial Boy" is a traditional anonymously penned Irish-Australian folk ballad which tells the story of a bushranger in early colonial Australia who dies during a gunfight with local police. Versions of the ballad give different names fo ...

'' sings "There was a wild colonial boy, Jack Duggan was his name / He was born and bred in Ireland in a place called Castlemaine." The song may be based on the career of

Jack Donahue John Donahue (c. 1806 – 1 September 1830), also spelled Donohoe, and known as Jack Donahue and Bold Jack Donahue, was an Irish-born bushranger in Australia between 1825 and 1830. He became part of the notorious "Wild Colonial Boys". Early l ...

. Jack Donohue was convicted under English law and was transported to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. He escaped and continued a life opposed to English law, but was eventually captured and shot in 1830. There is a small pub called "Jack Duggan's" on the Tralee Road.

Transport

River Maine, From Castlemaine Bridge - geograph

Castlemaine railway station Castlemaine railway station is located on the Deniliquin line in Victoria, Australia. It serves the town of Castlemaine, and it opened on 21 October 1862.

opened on 15 January 1885, but it closed on 1 February 1960.

Sport

Castlemaine United is the local soccer club. Milltown/Castlemaine is a local football club

People

Pat Carey Pat Carey (born 9 November 1947) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin North-West constituency from 1997 to 2011. He served as the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs from 201 ...

, TD was born in Castlemaine. *

Dan Keating Daniel Keating ( ga, Dónal Céitinn, 2 January 1902 – 2 October 2007) was a lifelong Irish republican and former president of the Republican Sinn Féin. At the time of his death, he was Ireland's oldest man and the last surviving veteran o ...

, was born in Castlemaine.

References