Mount Long Castle

Fergal Browne

18 th Century Representation of Mount Long Castle by Daniel Grose

The grim ruin of Mount Long Castle still stands guard over Oysterhaven Creek, despite the fact that the family whose name it bears vanished into history more than 350 years ago. The Long family were said to be descended from Longadh, an ancient Irish Chieftain, and their ancestral home is based around Canovee, Mid Cork. The lands of Kilmonoge and Oysterhaven came were granted to Dr. Thomas Long, who was originally from Kilmurry, in June 1589 by Sir Thomas Barry Oge. Thomas Long was a Doctor of Canon and Civil laws, who had graduated from the University of Paris in 1576. Dr. Thomas Long died in Kinsale on the 30 th of March 1603 – leaving his extensive estates in the Baronies of Muskerry and Kinalea, to his son John Long – who was fourteen years old when his father died. John Long was made a ward of Lord Kerry, who in 1618 granted him possession of the lands of Kinalea and Oysterhaven – and allowed him to have a manor of 600 acres. John Long constructed a huge fortified mansion there – consisting of a main block surrounded by four towers - in 1631. The castle was enclosed within a park of 1000 acres. A mortar made from oxblood, mud and ox hair held its stones together. Up to the late eighteenth century it was possible to see the date 1631 inscribed in the stuccowork of the castle walls. The interior walls of the castle were decorated with murals of biblical and hunting scenes. Mount Long Castle was built at a time when the design of castles was changing. It was more ornamental in its design than the older type of tower houses – such as Blarney Castle – which were built solely for the purpose of defence. These uncomfortable buildings were designed to withstand attacks and sieges. However, the effective development of artillery meant that castles were no longer impregnable and so builders tended to opt more for decoration and comfort – considering that the prime use of the buildings was no longer defence. However, they did not abandon defences entirely. The walls of Mount Long contained loopholes suitable for pistols and other small arms – as well as machicolations - a type of gallery which extended from the walls from which missiles and boiling oil could be thrown down upon would-be attackers. Furthermore, the positioning of the four towers meant that an armed defender could shoot around an arc of 270 degrees. An identical building to Mount Long can also be seen in this area – Monkstown Castle. By 1638 John Long was serving on Government Juries – holding inquisitions in Cork and by 1641 he had been appointed High Sheriff of the County. 1641 was the year of the Confederate Rebellion – in which Irish Catholics attempted to take advantage of the turmoil in England caused by the Civil War between Charles I and Oliver Cromwell and formed what became known as the Confederation of Kilkenny. The Confederates started a rebellion and attempted to take over the country. John Long joined this rebellion and together with his brother James Long of Tullymoghelly founded a Rebel Camp at Belgooly. The Catholics of Kinsale supplied it with arms and ammunition. The longs were later joined by the Roches of Poulnalong (Shippool Castle, Inishannon) and by the McCarthy’s of Carrigaline. They remained in Belgooly until April 19th1642 when a Lieutenant Birkett captured Kinsale and moved to attack Belgooly. Long and his forces broke camp and headed towards Cork. Meanwhile, on April 25 th Tristan Whitcombe – Sovereign of Kinsale – sent 300 men out from Kinsale to attack Mount Long Castle. They found the castle deserted – and left 32 men to garrison it. One of these men wrote ‘‘We found nothing to do. The people were all run away with the best of their provisions with them, only a few empty chests, stools, bed-steads, hutches and the like were left.’ Whitcombe himself later rode out from Kinsale to have a look at the castle. He wrote that it was ‘a very stately building, the like of which could not be built for £2000 (a huge fortune in those days) and it would be a great commodity for the man who would enjoy its loads thereafter’. As it turned out nobody was to enjoy its loads as orders came from the Lord President of Munster – Sir William St. Leger - to destroy the castle. The 32-man garrison then burned it to the ground. While this was going on, John Long and his army, which had been encamped at Belgooly, had joined the forces of the Earl of Muskerry, who was besieging the City of Cork. Lord Muskerry sent a force to the South Gate of the city in an attempt to lure the city’s garrison, lead by Murrogh O’Brien - Lord Inchiquin - onto his main army – encamped at Rochfordstown. However, Inchiquin made a surprise counter attack across South Gate Bridge and overwhelmed them, before attacking and defeating the main body of Rochfordstown. Lord Inchiquin, who was known by the nickname ‘Murrogh of the Burnings’ was not a merciful man. Lord Muskerry was beheaded, and most of his army was put to the sword – except for his pipers who were forced to play in front of Muskerry’s head – which was paraded through Cork City on a pole – Inchiquin riding in front of it. Inchiquin’s other somewhat unpleasant claim to fame is that he ordered the destruction of the Rock of Cashel – later in the war. John Long and his two sons managed to escape the disaster at Rochfordstown. They fled to East Cork and Inchiquin sent his second in command, - Sir Charles Vavasour - in pursuit. Vavasour captured Long and his sons at Youghal and brought them back to Cork in chains. Inchiquin imprisoned John Long in Shandon Castle – which at the time was the centre of Civic Administration for Cork City. It stood on the site of what is now the Firkin Crane Theatre. The Mount Long estate was then divided and redistributed. The castle and demesne went to one Giles Busteed – a Cromwellian adventurer. The townlands of Knockleigh and Killeagh were granted to an Ensign Hodgkins. Hodgkins later sold the lands to a newly arrived ‘planter’ – Thomas Knolles. The original deed of sale drawn up between Knolles and Hodgkins is still in the possession of the Knolles family today. Knolles built a manor called Killeighy in the Killeagh townland. His descendants would later build Oatlands House. The townland of Kinure, at the top end of Oysterhaven, went to Swithin Walton, who built a manor called Walton Court. In 1776 this manor was replaced by the present day house. Near Ballinhassig, John Long had owned the lands of Ballyheada. These went to the Riggs family – who built a manor there called Riggs Dale. Other sections of the estate were granted to Tobias Browne – whose descendants built Knockduff House near Kinsale - the Duke of York and the Earl of Kingston. This is why farmers in this area were paying rents to the Earls of Kingston at Mitchelstown Castle up to the end of the nineteenth century. And what of John Long? He remained in prison in Shandon Castle for ten years, until Cromwell sent over one John Cooke to try ‘certain persons alleged to have performed deeds contrary to the uses of warfare’. John Long was sentenced to death along with 34 other prisoners. He was hanged at Shandon Castle in 1652 – when he was 64 years old. Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 and his son Richard – better known as ‘Tumbledown Dick’ took over as Lord Protector. Richard Cromwell lacked the administrative ability or the political genius of his father and before long the whole Cromwellian system had fallen apart. The English people called on the exiled Charles II to return to the throne. He was restored as King of England once he had signed an amnesty for all of the Cromwellian supporters. In a grisly act of revenge – Charles II had Oliver Cromwell’s body exhumed from his tomb and hanged at the public gallows at Tyburn. The body was later dumped in a mass grave. Once Charles II had regained the throne all of those families disposed during the Cromwellian era petitioned Charles for the return of their estates. Among these was John Long Jr, who asked for his late father’s estate to be returned. Charles agreed ‘provided that Long was able to compensate the adventurers in possession’. This meant that the only way John Long jr could get the Mount Long Estate back would be to buy out Busteed, Knolles, Walton, Riggs and all the others who had been given slices of the cake – something that he simply could not afford to do. The Long family’s connection with Mount Long was broken forever. Giles Busteed made no attempt to rebuild the castle. Instead he built a new house in its shadow. He died in 1666 and the estate passed to his son Luke. The Busteed family consolidated their position in the area by intermarrying with the other local landed families, such as the Knolles’ and the Daunts. They also held a prominent position in the area – serving on the local Volunteer Regiments in the 18 th Century and as Recorders of Kinsale. By 1724 the estate was owned by the Revd. Michael Busteed. In June 1724 he signed it over to his son Jephson Busteed – who married Elizabeth Gumbleton of Marshallstown, Co. Cork. The Busteeds held Mount Long until the 1830’s. In 1837 Francis Tuckey, in his ‘Cork Remembrancer’ stated that as the North Tower of Mount Long Castle had collapsed, it was his view that remainder of the structure could not survive much longer. Over 150 years later, the castle still stands to prove him wrong. During the Twentieth Century it was used as a byre, a sheep pen and a grain store. The farm on which the ruin stands is the property of the Coughlan family.