Drumboe Castle
| Drumboe Castle | |
| County Donegal | |
|---|---|
 The ruins of Drumboe Castle | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | H13649478 |
| Location: | 54°48’3"N, 7°47’19"W |
| Village: | Stranorlar |
| History | |
| Country house | |
| Information | |
| Condition: | Ruins |
Drumboe Castle is a Georgian country house which stands in ruin on the outskirts of Stranorlar, a small town in County Donegal. The site has its origin as a fortified house in the seventeenth century Plantation of Ulster, and it last saw active service in the Irish Civil War of the twentieth century.
Early history
In 1622, during the Plantation of Ulster, Robert Redington sold the estate at Ballybofey to Sir Ralph Bingley. Bingley erected the original Drumboe Castle, which had four large towers. Its location protected a ford across the River Finn.
After the death of Sir Ralph Bingley, his widow Lady Jane and Robert Harrington took charge until 1641, when it was granted to Sir William Bazil, Oliver Cromwell's Attorney-General for Ireland. The castle had been destroyed at some time before, and he rebuilt it. He died in 1693.[1]
A descendent of Sir William Bazil was William Basil (who was born William Ball and changed name to Basil[2]). The house a shadow of which stands today is in the Georgian style and so dates from around this time. Basil married Frances Dowdeswell around 1736.[3] Their daughter Mary Basil married Sir Samuel Hayes, 1st Baronet, and through this marriage it became the home of the Hayes baronets, of Drumboe Castle, from 1789 to 1912.
Twentieth century
The last Hayes heir died in 1912.
During the final Irish rebellion leading to the creation of the Irish Free State, British Army units were quartered at Drumboe.
During the Irish Civil War, fought in 1922 and 1923, Drumboe Castle became the General Headquarters for the forces of the Irish Free State in County Donegal. This place is infamous in Republic legend as the location of the 'Drumboe massacre' during the civil war.[4] On 14 March 1923, four anti-Treaty IRA fighters, Charles Daly (26), Sean Larkin (26), Daniel Enwright (23), and Timothy O' Sullivan (23), who had been captured and held in the castle since January, were summarily shot in retaliation for the death of a National Army soldier in an ambush.
The house was largely demolished in 1945.
Outside links
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Drumboe Castle) |
- Drumboe history: Donegal Diaspora
References
- ↑ Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, volume 1, page 748.
- ↑ Deed Poll Office: Private Act of Parliament 1724 (11 Geo. 1). c. 2
- ↑ The Plantagenet Roll of the Blood Royal: Being a Complete Table of All the Descendants Now Living of Edward III, King of England. The Anne of Exeter volume, Volume 2. Melville Henry Massue marquis de Ruvigny et Raineval. Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994
- ↑ Donegal & the Civil War: The Untold Story. Liam Ó Duibhir. Mercier Press Ltd, 20 Apr 2011
- Drumboe Castle, County Donegal: Lost Buildings of Ireland