THE IRISH PENNY JOURNAL.
| Number 31. | SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1841. | Volume I. |
DUN-GARBRY CASTLE, COUNTY OF LEITRIM.
The Castle of Dun-garbry, or properly Dun-cairbré, signifying the Dun or Fort of Cairbre, is situated on a hill, on the south side, and not far from the mouth, of the Drowis, or Drobhaois—a river very celebrated in Irish history—and the estuary of the beautiful Lough Melvin, in the lower part of the county of Leitrim, bordering on the county of Sligo. Though marked on the maps made in the reign of Elizabeth as an important fortress, its ruins are now but inconsiderable, and consist only of a side wall perforated by an arched doorway. But trivial as these vestiges are, they impart some historic interest to scenery of the most delightful character by which it is surrounded, and are valuable as a memorial of an ancient Irish family, once of great rank in the county, though now reduced to utter decay, at least in their original locality.
Dun-garbry Castle was erected by the chief of the Mac-Clanchys, or correctly Mac-Fhlannchadha, a sept or clan who possessed the ancient district called Dartree, the present barony of Rossclogher, and of which the Castle of Rossclogher, situated on an island in Lough Melvin, was their chief residence. The name of its founder and the date of its erection are not preserved; but the latter may with probability be referred to a period anterior to the reign of Henry VIII., as the Annals of the Four Masters record at the year 1538, that “Cahir (the son of Feradach, the son of William), the son of Mac Clanchy, heir-apparent to the chieftainship of Dartree, died in that year in Dun-cairbre.”
It may be proper to state that there are in Ireland two perfectly distinct families of the name Mac Clanchy, or, as it is now more usually written, Clancey; first, the family of Thomond or Clare, some of whom were hereditary Brehons or judges to the O’Briens, and who were a branch of the Macnamaras; and, secondly, the family of Dartree, who were hereditary chiefs of that district from a very remote period.
The notices of the chiefs of this family, as preserved in the Irish Annals from the twelfth till the seventeenth century, will serve to convey a very vivid impression of the insecurity of life resulting from the unsettled state of society, and its retrogression towards absolute barbarism during this unhappy period of our history, and will teach us also to appreciate the blessings we derive from the progress which civilization has made within the last century.
1241. Donnell Mac Clanchy, chief of Dartree, died.