Kilcash Castle is a ruined castle off the N24 road just west of Ballydine in

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

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 is in the care of the Irish State. The

Butler dynasty Butler ( ga, de Buitléir) is the name of a noble family whose members were, for several centuries, prominent in the administration of the Lordship of Ireland and the Kingdom of Ireland. They rose to their highest prominence as Dukes of Ormonde. ...

has important links to the area.

History

The main castle building is a fortified tower dating from the sixteenth-century. An adjoining hall was added at a later date, when the need for defence gave way to the large windows associated with settled times. In the sixteenth century the manor of Kilcash was taken from the Wall family after the Irish Confederate Wars and given to the Butlers of Ormond. The latter sold the castle to the Irish State in 1997 for £500. In 1614, Walter, 11th Earl of Ormond, who lived at Kilcash, inherited the Ormond title from his uncle Thomas, 10th Earl of Ormond. The possession of the Ormond lands was disputed and Walter spent 1619-1625 in prison in London while

James VI and I James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until ...

pressurised him to surrender most of his property. Walter passed the manor of Kilcash on to one of his grandsons,

Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

Richard Butler of Kilcash (d. 1701). The 3rd Earl of Castlehaven, a noted Confederate Catholic commander in the 1641-52 wars, frequently stayed at Kilcash where his sister, Lady Frances, was married to Richard of Kilcash, another confederate commander. Lord Castlehaven wrote his memoirs there (published as ''The Earl of Castlehaven's Review''). In the 19th century, the castle fell into ruin after parts of the Kilcash Estate were sold c. 1800. 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 ...

, the castle was occupied by Anti-Treaty forces in an attempt to slow the approach of Pro-Treaty forces towards Clonmel. They were finally dislodged by artillery fire under the command of

Commandant-General Commandant-general is a military rank in several countries and is generally equivalent to that of major-general. Argentina Commandant general is the highest rank in the Argentine National Gendarmerie, and is held by the national director of the g ...

John T. Prout John T. Prout (October 25, 1880 – April 27, 1969) was an Irish soldier. He served in the United States Army in the First World War, as a training officer in the guerrilla Irish Republican Army during the Irish War of Independence (1919–1 ...

, further damaging the already dilapidated structure. By the late twentieth century, the castle was in a dangerous state of repair. Beginning in 2011, the castle underwent extensive repairs to prevent it from collapsing.

Church

Near the castle are the remains of a medieval church consisting of a chancel and a nave with a Romanesque doorway in its south wall. This building was partially repaired in the 1980s and is now open to the public. In the graveyard, a Butler mausoleum (which is nearly as large as the church) contains the tombs of: *

Thomas Butler of Garryricken Colonel Thomas Butler of Garryricken (died 1738), also known as Thomas Butler of Kilcash was an Irish Jacobite soldier. He commanded a regiment, Thomas Butler's foot, during the Williamite War and fought at the Battle of Aughrim in 1691 where ...

; * Christopher Butler, Roman Catholic

Archbishop of Cashel The Archbishop of Cashel ( ga, Ard-Easpag Chaiseal Mumhan) was an archiepiscopal title which took its name after the town of Cashel, County Tipperary in Ireland. Following the Reformation, there had been parallel apostolic successions to the title ...

(1673–1757), a younger brother of

; *

Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh Margaret Magennis, Viscountess Iveagh ( ; ; 1673–1744), also known as Margaret Butler, was the mother of John Butler, the ''de jure'' 15th Earl of Ormond. She is remembered by the song ''A Lament for Kilcash''. Birth and origins Margaret ...

(1673–1744), widow of Bryan, 5th Viscount

Magennis Magennis ( ga, Mac Aonghusa), also spelled Maguiness, Maginnis, Magenis, McGinnis, or McGuinness, is an Celtic_onomastics#Surnames, Irish surname, meaning the "son of Angus", which in eastern Ulster was commonly pronounced in Irish as ''Mac Aong ...

and Thomas Butler; *

Walter Butler, 16th Earl of Ormonde Walter Butler (1703–1783), also known as Walter Butler of Kilcash, and Walter Butler of Garryricken, was the ''de jure'' 16th Earl of Ormond and 9th Earl of Ossory. He did not assume these titles as he thought them forfeit as a result of the ...

(died 1773); and *

John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde John Butler, 17th Earl of Ormonde, 10th Earl of Ossory (1740–1795) was an Irish peer and Member of Parliament (MP). He became a Protestant in 1764. He was an Irish MP, representing Gowran between 1776 and 1783, and Kilkenny City between 1783 ...

(died 1795). Some of the eighteenth-century headstones are carved with elaborate scenes of the crucifixion.

The lament for Kilcash

The castle is best known for the song "Kilcash" ( ga, Cill Chaise), which mourns the ruin of the castle and the death of

. The song has been ascribed to Fr John Lane (d. 1776), but the woods lamented in its first stanza were not sold until 1797 and 1801, long after Lane's death. The earliest manuscripts of the poem date from the mid-nineteenth century. Its first stanza reads: Kilcash Castle1

:''Cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan adhmad?'' :''Tá deireadh na gcoillte ar lár;'' :''níl trácht ar Chill Chais ná ar a teaghlach'' :''is ní chluinfear a cling go bráth.'' :''An áit úd a gcónaíodh an deighbhean'' :''fuair gradam is meidhir thar mhnáibh,'' :''bhíodh iarlaí ag tarraingt tar toinn ann'' :''is an t-aifreann binn á rá.'' :Now what will we do for timber, :With the last of the woods laid low? :There's no talk of Cill Chais or its household :And its bell will be struck no more. :That dwelling where lived the good lady :Most honoured and joyous of women :Earls made their way over wave there :And the sweet Mass once was said. (translation by

Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin (; born 1942) is an Irish poet and academic. She was the Ireland Professor of Poetry (2016–19). Biography Ní Chuilleanáin was born in Cork in 1942. She is the daughter of Eilís Dillon and Professor Cormac Ó Cuil ...

)

External links

Website on the history and archaeology of Old Kilcash

References

* * * * * {{Historic Irish houses National Monuments in County Tipperary Castles in County Tipperary Ruined castles in Ireland Ruins in the Republic of Ireland