TERAPROOF:User:sambolandDate:17/11/2013Time:18:52:57Edition:18/11/2013ExaminerLiveXX1811Page: 11Zone:XX1

XX1 - V1 Irish Examiner Monday 18.11.2013 ANALYSIS 11

This is the third of a series of heritage-related articles, published by the National Monuments Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht in conjunction with the Irish Examiner and Limerick Education Centre. The focus turns to how we have defended ourselves and our communities through the ages and what relevance these defences have for us today.

How Ireland defended itself and its native communities

ODAY, dedicated gamers were built were quickly construct- come from the longbows and Clockwise from top: A scene from a at a ; Grianan will be familiar with the ed earthwork and timber crossbows of the archers firing of Aileach, Donegal; and everyday life in a . In the trials of Ezio as he known today as mottes and from the or arrow Bronze Age palisaded settlements are known to have existed; negotiates life in the baileys, and . in the Iron Age promontory forts were strategically located T 12th century to protect The mottes that are visible on loops (openings) in the mural towers and curtain walls. These along our coastline, and in early Christian times we find himself against the assassins of the our landscape today are large, tall defensive ring forts. However, most prominent of all iin our Borgia. How many have asked, mounds which, in medieval times, loops were cleverly designed to however, what it was really like to give maximum defensive cover landscape are the medieval stone castles and tower houses live in medieval times? How would while giving good views of the which can be found throughout the country. target. Even if the enemy man- Pictures: National Monuments Service/Uto Hozergeil you have protected yourself, your aged to breach the curtain wall family and your home? and get to the the entrance- In Ireland people have protected STEALTH DEFENCE way itself had a murder hole in themselves since prehistoric times the vault overhead which was by building defences. At the Iron Age promontory used to bombard the enemy with In the Bronze Age, palisaded set- fort Aonghusa on the Aran very unpleasant ammunition. tlements are known to have existed; Islands, the most accessible Taking any stone castle by force in the Iron Age promontory forts approach to the fort is strewn in the 13th century meant the use were strategically located along our with oblong, irregular lime- of grappling irons. Sometimes a coastline, and in early Christian stone blocks pointing in all scaling tower was used because it times we find defensive ring forts. directions and packed closely gave the attackers protection while However, most prominent of all are together. This made a stealth attempting to approach, climb and the medieval stone castles and tower attack from this side impossi- breach a high curtain wall. A houses which can be found ble on horseback or on foot. throughout the country. number of machines were used to This article outlines the different damage the walls — some of ways people defended themselves in would have had a fortified wood- which are familiar from films such en tower (bretache) on the top. as ‘Lord of the Rings’ — for Attached to the base of the example, battering rams and large motte was a — an earthen catapults called mangonels and Since enclosure with a large bank de- trebuchets. Some of the larger ancient fended by a large wooden fence catapults could fire large objects times or . The bailey was mainly up to a distance of 200m, while Ireland used for storage, stables and billets higher trajectory catapults could has while the motte housed the Lord, fire over walls and were often had to his chief advisers and his family. armed with fireballs and even architectural detail are a reflection centres; very often the Lord was wooden door to be opened permit- defend Ringworks are another form of dead animals — thrown inside to of how structured and orderly also a High Sheriff assigned to ting negotiations with the enemy itself castle — similar to a bailey. spread disease. Norman society was. Each castle collecting taxes, overseeing trade but preventing them gaining entry. from Once control had been estab- If all else failed some attacking also served as a residence and was and market rules and holding Most of the ruined castles in the invaders. armies put castles under siege; lished, the Normans concentrated starving the defenders into surren- an important venue for celebrato- court. Some also had ‘pris- Irish countryside are the remnants on building more permanent der was often the most effective ry feasts and tournaments. ons’ for holding the enemy of 15th/16th century tower houses structures and by the 1180s large policy and is a The great halls within the hostage while built by both Gaelic well-documented awaiting pay- and Old English Ireland during the medieval period, tactic in historical ment of ransom. (Norman origin) focussing on the chronological accounts of TOUS DE LOUP DANGER The 14th cen- families. development of castles with their Under attack tury saw a gen- Y They are easily enclosing walls (bawn), battlements, in Ireland. eral decline in all NO ENTR recognisable as tall 3, ■ Mangonel and Even today, In medieval England, Tous de and defensive features like mur- aspects of 4 or 5 storey towers der-holes and arrow loops. trebuchet were types many centuries af- loup were pits dug along the medieval society. The word with narrow win- ter they were built, approach to a castle — then from old French Our castle legacy derives from the of catapult used to This is the peri- is — dows and stepped throw projectiles at a you can still appre- disguised by earth, branches ‘porte coleice’ Normans, originally from northwest od of the Black gate. It battlements, and castle’s walls, and are ciate what impos- and leaves — embedded at the a sliding France, who, in 1066, invaded and Death (1349), a grating of some still retain their conquered England (Battle of familiar from films such ing symbols of base was a sharpened stick plague which was a defensive bawn walls as ‘Lord of the Rings’. power and status sometimes covered in poison! ?iron or wooden Hastings) and eventually arrived in took a heavy toll slats. and fortified gate- Ireland in 1169. The Normans castles were in on mainly urban bars or houses. were highly skilled swordsmen and their heyday. The populations in By the late 16th accomplished horsemen. In addi- stone castles or keeps began to more defensive, elaborate and Ireland. This was century, some tower tion, many were highly trained emerge. These keeps formed an grand the castle, the higher the curtain walls hosted banquets for also a period of houses were keeping bowmen, often being on target at easily defended base from which status of the owner and those who those showing allegiance to the political upheaval up with a new mili- a distance of 100m. control could be maintained over worked for him. Lord, and, in accordance with the and as the power of the English tary trend, incorporating gun loops They were also leaders in defen- conquered lands. A good example While these keeps served a very strict rules of Norman society, monarch eventually diminished, into their defences. However, use of sive strategies bringing with them a of this is Tr im Castle in Co important military function, they people sat in order of rank on side Gaelic clans began to push into gunpowder and cannon sounded the new defensive architecture that has Meath, which was the administra- were much more than that. tables in front of the Lord and Norman territories. death knell of castle building across become one of the most iconic field tive centre of the Lordship of The structures were an integral Lady. By the early decades of the Europe – they proved too easily monuments in our landscape today. Meath. part of Norman feudal life, and The castles also functioned as 1400s, a new type of castle, the breached by cannon fire. To coun- During the early stages of the However, as the Normans were their meticulous layout and important administrative and legal tower house, was being built in teract this threat star-shaped forts, Norman campaign the defences that newly settled in the country the Ireland, which strongly resembled such as James Fort in Kinsale, Co first stone castles had a strong mil- the Norman keeps of the 12th Cork, were developed. itary function; most had a central century. Howeber, their defensive These had sloping external earth- keep with a timber hall, surround- features were tailored to more works to absorb cannonballs, and ed by a large curtain wall defend- local situations where small-scale to provide flanking fire. ed by mural towers and fortified warfare was the nature of the day. Effectively, this led to the end of gateways with a portcullis. For example, tower houses had the ‘age of the castle’ and heralded a Outside was a large water-filled specially protected doorways new era of defensive strategies. crossed by a to where an iron grill allowed the ● www.itsabouttime.ie. a heavily defended gate at the other side, called a . The curtain walls were strong and thick and sloped towards the base to make them less vulnerable to ■ This article is the third in a series of articles published by the National undermining by an aggressive and Monuments Service of the Department of Arts, Heritage, and the Gaeltacht BATTLE-HARDENED determined enemy. in conjunction with The Irish Examiner and Limerick Education Centre However, while the enemy may aiming to supplement the recently revised second edition of ‘Archaeology See www.middle-ages.org.uk have been trying to destabilise the in Classroom, Time in Transition’. The resource offers a comprehensive and www.bayeaux- walls of your keep, an expert army range of engaging lessons across a series of three themes: Worship and tapestry.org.uk to find out would have been dropping heavy Commemoration; Lifestyle and Living; Archaeology at Work. All the more about the Bayeaux objects on the attackers through a lessons are targeted (but not exclusively) at students who are undertaking Tapestry. It depicts a motte and projecting defence at the top of the Transition Year Option. In this article the focus is on the concept of bailey castle being constructed the walls, which had an opening commemoration; the archaeological and historical evidence of its at Hastings in 1066 in at its base, termed a machicola- development and its relevance today. For a more complete picture, this preparation for the battle. tion. Roscommon Castle: Our castle legacy derives from the Norman who arrived article should be read in conjunction with Theme 2, Unit 2, Lessons 1 and Further defence would have in Ireland in 1169. Pictures: National Monuments Service 2 of Time in Transition available on www.itsabouttime.ie.