The next Earl lived chiefly at Kilkea Castle, and Maynooth gradually fell into decay.
In 1707 Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, wished to restore the building, but finding it too dilapidated he decided to enlarge Carton House instead.
Houses were subsequently built among the castle ruins, and these were removed by the Duke of Leinster in 1848, and the space round planted and enclosed.
| Authorities Consulted. |
| Duke of Leinster, “Maynooth Castle.” Addenda by Miss M. Stokes (Kildare Archæological Society’s Journal). |
| Marquis of Kildare, “Earls of Kildare.” |
| Most Rev. John Healy, D.D., “Maynooth College.” |
MONGEVLIN CASTLE
This castle is situated on the banks of the Foyle where it narrows inland, somewhat over a mile south of Saint Johnstown and seven miles from the City of Londonderry.
Only the keep now remains, but during the last century the walls of the courtyard which lay between the Foyle and the fortress were still standing, and over the arch of the gateway was a small stone engraved with the initials “I.S.E.S.T.” and the date 1619. This has, however, now disappeared. Another inscribed stone bears the following: “The Hon. Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of John Lord Culpeper, and widow of Colonel James Hamilton (who lost his life at sea in Spain, in the service of his king and country), purchased this manor, and annexed it to the opposite estate of the family, which paternal estate itself has improved by her prudent management to nearly the yearly income of the dower she received thereout. She has also settled her younger son, William Hamilton, Esq., in an estate acquired in England, of nearly equal value in the purchase to this, and given every one of her numerous offspring, descended from both branches, some considerable mark of her parental care. Her eldest son, James, Earl of Abercorn, and Viscount Strabane, hath caused this inscription to be placed here for the information of her posterity, Anno, 1704.”
There are two incidents in the castle’s history which are of particular interest. In the sixteenth century it was the chief residence of the beautiful “Ineen Dubh,” daughter of Macdonnell, Lord of the Isles, and mother of the famous Red Hugh O’Donnell, Chief of Tyrconnell.
It was said of her that she was “excelling in all the qualities that become a woman, yet possessing the heart of a hero, and the soul of a soldier.”