66 Limerick, after the battle of Aughrim, it was garrisoned by 150 men, adherents of James II., but surrendered without resistance to Major General Scravenmore," the leaving these detachments in such places," remarks Story, being very unaccountable, since they had a mind to defend them no better. This seems," continues the same writer, "rather a want of instructions what to do than courage to perform it, for, to give the Irish their due, they can defend stone walls very handsomely." handsomely." The castle was considered so tenable a position, that it was deemed expedient to destroy it, and it was accordingly blown up, together with Castle Connell; Dean Story receiving no less a sum than 1601. for the purchase of gunpowder to ruin these fortresses. The violent effect of the explosion is still evident in the dilapidated remains of Carrigogunnel. Massive fragments of the walls and towers lie scattered around in a confusion not unpicturesque, and it is a matter of some difficulty to trace the original plan. A drawing of its distant effect is annexed. Near this castle Charles Johnson, the author of Chrysal, or the Adventures of a Guinea, and other works, was born in 1719, and received his education at the diocesan school of Limerick. At Faha, the seat of Mr. Tuthill, between Carrigogunnel and Adair, a meteoric stone of considerable size, which fell there in 1815, was shown me by Mrs. Tuthill. It weighs, I imagine, nearly half a hundred weight, although there is an appearance of a piece having been struck off it. Adair is a small and neat village, eight miles west of Limerick, and deserving the particular notice both of the antiquary and the artist from its assemblage of ancient monastic edifices. It is well situated on the River Maig, which passes through the richly wooded and extensive park of Mr. Quin, and is navigable for small vessels. One of these abbeys is at present converted into a Roman Catholic chapel, and another, larger and more perfect, into a Protestant Drawn from Vature by Crofton Greker on Stome by Marianne Nichelsen. CARRIGO GUNNEL CASTLE Printed by Koney & Forster church, the cloisters of which latter are in excellent preservation, but it contains little more that merits examination. The third abbey stands within Mr. Quin's demesne, and, surrounded by venerable trees, becomes a most impressive and romantic object. The seclusion and beauty of its situation are calculated to excite poetic feelings in the mind, which are heightened by the gloom of ash and ancient yew trees, that almost darken the cloisters at noon-day. Some years since, the ground within its walls was levelled, and most of the tombs and inscriptions destroyed by order of the proprietor, to prevent the abbey being used as a burial ground. A pious superstition deterred the peasantry from disturbing the ashes of the dead, and no one could be procured to perform so sacrilegious an act as if they feared the fulfilment of Shakspeare's threatening epitaph would be the consequence of the violation: "Blest be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones." A party of soldiers were brought from Limerick for the purpose, who soon completed the work, and " the trim grassy aisle" replaced the legends commemorative of the old fathers and feudal chiefs. Some monumental and confessional niches have escaped, and may still be seen. In the cloisters I found two little carved fragments; one of these was an escutcheon charged with a cross saltire; the other, a figure in rude bas-relief about eighteen inches high, representing a grey friar, as appears from the costume. These abbies were founded by the Earls of Kildare, and were granted, on the dissolution of monasteries, to Sir Henry Wallop. The ruins of an extensive castle also stand within Mr. Quin's demesne. In the wars of Elizabeth's time it was a post warmly contested by the Irish and Spanish followers of Desmond with the English, who were driven to extremes by a blockade, and out of necessity com pelled to hazard a desperate excursion into the Knight of Glen's country, where a severe skirmish of eight hours took place, in which the English came off without much loss, having killed fifty of their opponents. Shortly after the death of Desmond it was seized by the Lord Kerry, and the garrison put to the sword, but Captain Zouch obliged him to abandon it. |