Castle - motte and bailey

The National Monuments Service's description

The motte at Clones is at the highest point of a NNE-SSW drumlin ridge. The barony of Dartree, together with the baronies of Cremorne and Farney were part of the grant of Ardee made to Peter Pippard c. 1190 (Otway-Ruthven 1968, 70). In 1211 the castle of Clones was erected by the ‘English and the English bishop, and they made a predatory incursion into Tyrone; but Hugh O’Neill overtook them, and routed and slaughtered them, and slew amongst others, Myler, the son of Robert’ (AFM). Robert Pipard built the castle with the active support of John de Grey, the bishop of Norwich and Justiciar of Ireland (1208-13) as Pipard’s financial accounts for Oriel and Ulster in 1211-12 testify (Davies and Quinn 1941, 63, 67). The Justiciar had the feudal army at Clones in 1211 to support Pipard (Otway-Ruthven 1968, 82-3), but the following year Hugh O’Neill and the men of the north burnt the castle (AFM). It was probably abandoned after this as there is no further mention of it. (Shirley 1879, 167)
The motte is a wooded mound (diam. of base c. 50-55m; H c. 6-8m) with a fosse at its base, and a second fosse (Wth c. 3m) that is c. 3m above the basal fosse on the sides of the motte. The basal fosse (Wth c. 4.5-5.5m; ext. D 0.75m at NW to 2.5m at SW) is often water-logged but is absent N-SE where the bailey is situated c. 3m above the level of the basal fosse. The upper fosse is largely silted up and forms a terrace but it has a bank (Wth c. 1.8-2m; int. H c. 0.5m) on its outer edge except where it too is absent or destroyed N-E. The summit (diam. c. 10-12m) is uneven and probably has been quarried, but it is c. 3m over the level of the upper fosse. The bailey is almost flush with the upper fosse but it is separated from the motte by a slight dip (Wth c. 15-16m). Wakeman (1875, 328) recorded a local tradition of an underground passage or possible souterrain and there are folk references to one, but there is no physical evidence of it.

The bailey is to the NE of the motte on the spine of the ridge. It is a subrectangular grass and scrub-covered area (dims 28m NE-SW at SE; 34.5m NE-SW at NW; 38-40m NW-SE) defined by overgrown scarps (H c. 2-3m) with a fosse (Wth 4.5-5m; int. D 2.7m; ext. D 0.6m) surviving only on the NW side, which has a pond at its N end. There are raised triangular projections at the N (dims 8m N-S: 8.5m E-W at S; H 1.6m over interior) and W (dims 12m E-W; 6.5m N-S at SE; H 1.1m over interior) angles. These angle bastions could indicate that the bailey was re-fortified in the late sixteenth or seventeenth centuries, and the Down Survey barony map (1656-8) depicts and names a rectangular ‘fort’ with concave sides at this location. It may have been strengthened by the garrisons occasionally noted at Clones in the early seventeenth century. In 1689 Jacobite forces made it their base when they attacked the settlers’ castle (MO011-015----), which is probably the last active use of the monument (Schlegel 1999, 38).

The above description is derived from the published 'Archaeological Inventory of County Monaghan' (Dublin: Stationery Office, 1986). In certain instances the entries have been revised and updated in the light of recent research.

Date of revision: 26 January 2018

Revised by: Michael Moore

References

Shirley, E.P. 1879 (Reprint 1988) The history of the county of Monaghan. London. Pickering.

Otway-Ruthven, A.J. 1968 A history of medieval Ireland. London. Ernest Benn.

AFM - Annals of the kingdom of Ireland by the Four Masters from the earliest period to the year 1616, ed. and trans. John O'Donovan (7 vols., Dublin, 1851; reprint New York, 1966)

Davies, O. and Quinn, D.B. 1941 The Irish pipe roll of 14 John, 1211–1212. Ulster Journal of Archaeology 4, 1–76.

Schlegel, D. M. 1999 Scots Clan Donald in Dartree and Monaghan Baronies, Clogher Record, vol. 16, No. 3, 38-57.

Wakeman, W. F. 1875 On the Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Cluain-Eois, now Clones, County of Monaghan. Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, vol. 13, 327-340 (RT 329-32; ‘Abbey' 333-35; Shrine 335-8