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Greencastle
Taken From Inishowen (Its History, Traditions, and Antiquities)
Maghtochair
Convenient to the ruins of the old castle of the O'Dohertys at
the northern extremity of the parish, the English have erected a
fortress, and this, with a battery at Magiligan on the opposite
side, commands the entrance to the lough. The Greencastle fortress
consists of a battery, tower, and magazine, and there is accommodation
within it for forty-two men and four officers. The Magnetic Telegraph
Company have an office at Greencastle, from which messages are transmitted
to any part of the United Kingdom, etc. Here are also stations of
the Pilots and Tide-waiters of the port of Derry, and a Coastguard
station; there is also a station of the Coast guards at Port Kennego.
On reference, however, to the Annals of the Four Masters
we find another account respecting it. It is here stated that in
1305 Richard Burke, the Red Earl of Ulster, erected it to subdue
the O'Neills and O'Donnells, and check the incursions of the Scots.
It was then called New Castle. In 1322 Walter, son of Sir Walter
Bruke, was taken prisoner by the Dun Earl of Ulster, William Burke,
and imprisoned here, where he was starved to death by order of the
Earl. On that account the Earl was murdered the following year at
Carrickfergus, in the 21st year of his age. He left an only daughter,
who was married to Lionel, son of Edward III, of England, and this
prince was then created in her right of Earl of Ulster and Lord
of Connaught, and these titles were enjoyed by different [princes
of the Royal Blood, until at length they became, in the person of
Edward IV., the special inheritance of the Crown of England. On
the Earl's death the chiefs of the junior branches of the Burke
family seized upon his estates in Connaught. One of these was Sir
Ulick Burke, the ancestor of the Earls of Clanrickard, and another,
Sir Edmund, the progenitor of the Viscounts of Mayo. The Duke of
Clarence laid claim to their possessions, but the government appears
to have been too weak to assert the authority of the English laws,
and the territories of the Burkes were suffered to remain with them.
In 1555 Greencastle was demolished by Calvagh O'Donnell, at the
head of an army of mercenary Scots.
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