The spectacular archaeology and known history of Carrickmines Castle are part of the rich tapestry of our collective past. But can this generation do for Carrickmines what the last failed to do for Wood Quay, asks Howard Clarke
'A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilisation." So asserted Dr Samuel Johnson (he of dictionary fame) over two centuries ago. Whether Ireland, or Britain for that matter, matches up nowadays to his declared standard is debatable, though not the one at issue here.
The poor, of course, are people, and deserve priority in any civilised society. But material objects of a worthy sort also deserve consideration, among them national monuments, declared or otherwise.
Our national heritage, howsoever defined, needs protection in the abstract and protectors in the flesh. It cannot protect itself. Even the poor can speak for themselves, though no one may be willing to listen.
We have been here before, notably when the Wood Quay site in the historic heart of Dublin was declared a national monument by the High Court in 1978. Even that enlightened decision did not save it, however, for there was a loophole in the 1930 National Monuments Act that permitted its demolition.
At this remove from that controversy, it is generally agreed that the best, most "civilised" outcome was not achieved a generation ago. Can this generation do better in the case of Carrickmines Castle?
Wood Quay was special and what was recovered from the incomplete excavations there was of momentous importance for the archaeology of this country. Carrickmines is special, too, though it is a different kind of site. It has been customary to refer to Carrickmines as a castle, a term that fails to convey the remarkable nature of the remains. For one thing, they are situated in wet ground in the bottom of a shallow valley, rather than on the higher ground that is available on either side. The location is reflected in the literal meaning of the place-name, "little plain of rocks". Now that it has been partly excavated by archaeologists, the site can be seen to consist of two large enclosures. The more remarkable of these is roughly square in shape and is defined by a fosse (hollowed-out ditch). The inner face of the fosse is revetted with a sturdily built stone wall.
Attached to this enclosure is a curvilinear one, sometimes protected by more than one fosse. These fosses have no stone revetment, but are sometimes rock-cut, as the medieval moat of Dublin Castle itself is known to have been. The natural stream was used to improve the defensive capabilities of these fosses.
Both enclosures appear to have been full of buildings of different designs, shapes and sizes. Their footings and other remains, interspersed in complex ways, are suggestive of long occupation and frequent rebuilding over time. They have been interpreted as houses and workshops, and are associated with other structures such as kilns and wells.
A vast array of small finds have been recovered so far. These include cannon balls, coins, pottery (in enormous quantities), tiles and weapons. Human remains have also been found. This was no ordinary castle, though it was clearly a fortified site.
The only upstanding structure is a small, ruined gate-house, which it is proposed to retain alongside the motorway. There is no physical sign now of a keep or tower, though written records suggest that, at least in the last stages of the site's history, something of that nature did exist.
WRITTEN records also point to the probable true nature of Carrickmines: that it was a strategic fort serving as a forward base on the edge of the mountains for military campaigns. In those campaigns, horses were vital and, of course, needed to be fed and watered on a regular basis. Carrickmines was near enough to Dublin to be supplied with any additional materials, including fodder, that it could not produce itself. Carrickmines is recorded as a fortified site by the late 13th century, a time when the English colony in Ireland began to feel under serious pressure from the Irish. From the following century onwards, its occupants were Walshes, whose main protagonists were the O'Byrnes and the O'Tooles.
We are told that in 1359 the site was refortified and horses placed there. Thereafter the records suggest that Carrickmines was used as a cavalry base on a regular, even annual, basis. When King Richard II was in Ireland in 1394-5, his main area of campaigning was Leinster.
Only a few years later, in 1402, the citizen army of Dublin, led by its mayor, won a major victory over the O'Byrnes at Little Bray. This was the battle of Bloody Bank, which took place at a spot endowed nowadays with the more genteel appellation of Sunny Bank. A grateful English king, Henry IV, rewarded them with the City Sword that still survives as one of the treasures of City Hall.
By the 15th century the Walshes (or at least some of them) began to become gaelicised by having recourse to Irish customs and the Irish language. In 1456, Henry Walsh of Carrickmines was outlawed as a rebellious marcher lord, along with other undesirables from a colonial perspective such as the Harolds. Yet four years later the same Henry was back "onside", assisting the archbishop of Dublin with defensive arrangements at Newcastle Lyons and Rathdown.
More than a century later, during the Nine Years' War at the close of the reign of Elizabeth I, over 60 troops belonging to the earl of Southampton (patron of William Shakespeare) were stationed at Carrickmines. Even so, the intrepid local Irish conducted a successful night-time raid.
The end came in 1642, on foot of the great rebellion that broke out in the previous year. The Walshes of Carrickmines had remained Catholic and, as Old English gentry, declared for the rebels. Their "castle" was reduced by a large force of men equipped with artillery, though they themselves survived to fight another day as Von Wallis officers in Austro-Hungarian armies.
THE interaction of colonist and native in Irish history is a well-worn theme, but we rarely get a chance to see it in both a natural and a man-made physical setting and extending continuously over the medieval and early modern periods. The spectacular archaeology and known history of Carrickmines are part of the rich tapestry of our collective past. They should be allowed to remain "part of what we are" as far as is practicable.
It is agreed by everyone that the South-Eastern Motorway should be completed - even though, down the road of time when the oil runs out, there may be few or even no vehicles to use it. An Taisce has produced practical proposals for relatively minor roadway realignments and the reduction of the size of a roundabout, with no significant cost or time factors. These should be considered seriously by Minister Séamus Brennan.
Even the compromise proposals will involve the destruction of parts of the complex. That being so, a valuable facility would be an interpretative centre on site, designed to explain the totality of the fortifications and their associated structures and finds. As it happens, a ready-made building already stands there - the late 18th-century farmhouse that was occupied by the Mooney family for over 200 years. This building, too, is an integral part of Carrickmines and should be conserved.
Is it too much to hope that this generation will have the courage and the vision to pass not only Dr Johnson's test, but also the equally challenging one of preserving as much as possible of our national heritage?
Dr Howard Clarke is a lecturer at the Department of Medieval History, UCD. He is a founder member and chairman of the Friends of Medieval Dublin, 1986-98, and author of the Royal Irish Academy's Irish Historic Towns Atlas fascicle, Dublin, part I.