![Moyry Castle 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Moyry_Castle_1.jpg)
Moyry Castle (from the Irish ''Maġ Rí'' or "plain of the king") is situated in
County Armagh
County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of an ...
,
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
. It was built during the latter stages of the
Nine Years' War in June 1601 by
Lord Mountjoy to help secure
Moyry Pass
The Moyry Pass is a geographical feature in Ireland. It is a mountain pass running along Slieve Gullion between Newry and Dundalk. It is also known as the Gap of the North.Spring p.105
The pass was of historical military importance as it controll ...
and the Gap of the North. It is set in the corner of a small
bawn and is a small rectangular tower three storeys high.
Moyry Castle is a State Care Historic Monument sited in the
townland
A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic orig ...
of Carrickbroad, in
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
Newry, Mourne and Down District Council ( Irish: ''Comhairle Ceantair an Iúir, Mhúrn agus an Dúin'') is a local authority in Northern Ireland that was established on 1 April 2015. It replaces Down District Council and Newry and Mourne Distri ...
area, at grid ref: J0576 1466.
Moyry Castle, is built on solid rock, It is almost square, 8 metres (26') each way and is three stories high. There are musketry loopholes on each wall except the North facing wall. This wall held the fireplaces which protrude on the outside.
History
From 1601 on this place became known as Ballinemoyree, or Place of the Moyre, and was called "Bother a Mhaighre" in Irish. A captain Anthony Smith, was made constable of the castle and left to guard the pass with twelve men.
In the patent rolls in 1606
King James 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 hi ...
set aside the following area for the maintenance and security of the castle, fort and ward of Moyry: the towns,
Dromintee
Dromintee or Drumintee (, or ''Droim an Tí'' in modern Irish) is a small village and townland in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. In the 2001 Census it had a population of 364 people. It lies within the Newry and Mourne District Council area. ...
, Carrickbroad, Dromad, Faughilotra, Faughart Faughiletra, part of Feede. The man who ordered the castle to be built was called Lord Deputy Mountjoy, who replaced Lord Deputy Essex who was beheaded after signing a truce with the enemy, the O'Neills. Lord Mountjoy's real name was Charles Blout. He was 36 when he was sent to Ireland by
Queen Elizabeth. He was a soldier, Courtier, Scholar, Bookman and was also deeply religious. He could also speak French and Italian.
It was Mountjoy's belief that "in every fort some little keepe (or tower) of stone be built, neither need these little castles be works of any great charge for they may be easily made such as this people will hardly force them". After this the Moyry pass was a relatively safe passage from North to South. In 1641 the confederates garrisoned the castle and in August–September 1690 King William's army, under the command of Schomberg marched from Belfast, through this pass to Dundalk on their way to the Boyne.
Lieut. Colonel
Laurence Dempsey of Galmoy's commanding 40 dragoons and Lieut. Colonel Fitzgerald of Bellew's regiment with a company of infantry ambushed a Williamite detachment at the stone bridge near
Jonesborough on 23 June early in the morning, routing the Williamite infantry and taking prisoners. There were casualties on both sides, and Dempsey, a veteran of almost half a century of European warfare died of his wounds on the eve of the Battle of the Boyne at Oldbridge.
In one account of this journey this area is described as having vast mountains between which there is a great bog. Through the middle of this bog is a long road with a deep ditch and a small stone bridge. The road runs towards a place called the Four-mile house the present Half-way house. The bog is believed to be the Dun-a-ree bog which is now believed to be part of the railway embankment.
The most famous story of this area, is about a cat. Mountjoy left his warder and 12 men to garrison the Castle in 1601. Shortly after this, his warder shot a local man reputed to be a wizard, as a spy. The wizards sole companion was an enormous black cat, who in revenge, destroyed the garrison. He slit the throats of the army's flocks and herds and carried them off. And so, for many a long day, the Cat of Moyry Castle was a terror to the soldiers of the pale.
References
See also
*
Jonesborough, County Armagh
Jonesborough or Jonesboro (Irish: ''Baile an Chláir'') is a small village and civil parish in the Ring of Gullion in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is about south of Newry and lies from the border with County Louth in the Republic of Irel ...
*
Castles in Northern Ireland
Moyry Castle and The Gap of the North
{{Places of Interest in County Armagh
Castles in County Armagh
Ruined castles in Northern Ireland
Tower houses in Northern Ireland