Castles of Ireland: Some Fortress Histories and Legends

by Constance Louisa Adams

The architecture of one of the windows seems to be that in vogue during the close of the twelfth century.

Lenihan states that Adare was famous for its castle and church in the reign of Henry II.

Geoffrey de Mariscis, Justiciary of Ireland, was granted permission to hold a fair in his manor of Adare in 1226, but according to the Spanish historian, Lopez, it had passed into the hands of the “Earls” of Kildare in 1227, when (still according to him) the Earl of March came from Scotland to Adare on shipping business, and the “Earls” of Kildare, not deeming the accommodation at the inn fit for his rank, insisted that he should come to their castle. During the visit he spoke in such praise of the Trinitarian order that the Earl’s father said he would found a priory at Adare. The story is probably inaccurate. In the first place the Earldom of Kildare was not created until 1316, and Lopez speaks of “Earls” in the plural. It is also hard to imagine what shipping business could have been transacted in an inland town. Yet no doubt there is some foundation for the record, as in 1279, 1315, and 1464 other abbeys were founded at Adare by the Kildare Geraldines.

In 1290 the manor of Adare was in the possession of Maurice FitzGerald, 5th Baron of Offaly, and his wife, Lady Agnes de Valence, cousin of the King. Their claim being disputed, a charter was issued in 1299 confirming the grant.

The castle was rebuilt in 1326 by the 2nd Earl of Kildare.

Edward III. granted the lands of Adare to the Earl’s stepfather, Sir John Darcy, during the Earl’s minority in 1329, and it was probably at this time that the inquisition was held in the report of which we find the first authenticated mention of the castle. It is described as having a hall, a chapel with stone walls and covered with thatch, a tower covered with planks, a kitchen covered with slates, and a chamber near the stone part covered with thatch.

Turlough O’Brien burned it sometime during the fifteenth century.

The estate was forfeited by Gerald, 8th Earl of Kildare, for his adherence to the cause of Perkin Warbeck, but it was shortly afterwards restored.

When the 9th Earl of Kildare was summoned to London to answer the charge of allowing the Earl of Desmond to evade arrest, it is likely that he set out from Adare, as he was in that part of the country. It was during this trial in 1526 that Cardinal Wolsey cried out, “The Earl, nay, the King of Kildare—for, when you are disposed, you reign more like than rule the land.”

Upon the confiscation of the estate after the rebellion of “The Silken Thomas,” in 1536, the Earl of Desmond became possessed of Adare, which he leased the following year from the Crown. He seems to have done so with the intention of restoring the lands to his kinsman, the young Gerald, then in hiding from the Government.