The Bermingham Tower in Dublin Castle
16 Jan 1931State Prison and Court of Law
THE present month witnesses the migration of the Courts from their temporary abode in the Castle to the re-arisen Four Courts. No more shall the anxious litigant, as he toils up the slope of the Lower’ Castle Yard, gaze with feelings of awe upon the massive Bermingham Tower, with its grim associations with the famous Irishmen who have languished in its’ dungeons.
ERECTED about the year 1213, the Tower has weathered the storms of Irish history from Anglo-Norman time’ down to the placid waters of our own day. It takes its name from Sir John de Bermingham, who was appointed Justicean of Ireland in 1321
The Tower has not survived to us in its original state – Tracing back its history, in 1557 we find the Master of the Rolls sending a memorial to the Lord Deputy, in which it is stated: . ” Because there is no place so ” meet to keep the King’s treasure as in His Grace’s Castle of Dublin in the Tower called the Bermingham Tower,” it is convenient that the said Castle be repaired.” In 1622 so ruinous had it become that part of the Tower fell. Two years later Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork, subscribed the sum of four hundred and eight pounds towards the completion of the repairs. In 1775 a explosion of gunpowder in a neighbouring store greatly damaged the Tower, and it was found necessary to pull most of it down and rebuild it. So strong was the mortar binding the stones that the – workmen could only dislodge it with the aid of hammer and chisel. It was rebuilt in the lighter style in which it now appears during the Viceroyalty of the Earl of Harcourt, and was called for some time thereafter the Harcourt Tower, eventually reverting to its older name.
O’Donnell’s Captivity.
So well constructed was the Old flower that, like the present Dartmoor Prison, it presented a well high insurmountable barrier to the escape of those incarcerated in it. Yet “where there’s a will there’s a way,” says the old proverb, and the way was discovered on two memorable occasions by the intrepid Hugh Roe O’Donnel], lord of Tirconnell. In 15S7 O’Donnell was trapped on board a vessel anchored off Rathmullen and brought to Dublin, where he was thrown in the Bermingham Tower. A quaint description of his captiviiy _is given in ” The Annals of the Four Master” which says: ” The Lord
.Justice and Council were rejoiced at the arrival of Hugh, though, indeed, not for love of him. They ordered him. to be put into a strong stone castle (the Bermingham Tower) which was in the city, where a great number of Milesian nobles’ were in chains and captivity, and also some of the. old English. The only amusement and conversation by which these beguiled the time by day and night -was lamenting to each other their sufferings and troubles, and listening” to the cruel sentences passed on the high-born nobles of Ireland in general. For three weary years O’ Donnell and his friends languished in prison. Eventually they managed to secure a rope by means of which they climbed down to a drawbridge and made their escape towards the “Wicklow Hills. Their feet were lacerated by stones and briars, and their bodies, weakened by long enforced inaction, quickly became exhausted. • Hugh O’Donnell sank by the’ wayside, but his companions fled ‘onwards, leaving- him alone with his servant.
In desperation he sent the servant to seek aid from Phelim O’Toole at Powerscourt. O’Toole had always professed friendship to O’Donnell, but in the’ hour of need he proved himself a man of straw. Fearing that he would incur tho displeasure of the English if he harboured a rebel, O’Toole delivered him hack to the hands of his
The Second Escape.
So for another year Hugh Roe O’ Donnell lay “in durance vile.’.’ Then, in December, 1591, he made’ a successful bid for freedom in company with Henry and Art O’Neill,- sons of the great Shane O’Neill. Once more it was O’Donnell’s faithful servant who procured and smuggled a rope in to them. Striking off their fetters, they managed to lower themselves through a tunnel into the river Poddle. Thence they dashed to the mountains.
To pass through the tunnel they had been compelled’ to cast off their outer garments. The weather was bitterly cold, and rain was falling. As the night advanced the rain gave place to snow. On the side of Slieve Roe they sank exhausted in the snow, while Turlough Roe O’ Hagan, who had been in waiting to.. -help .them. . on their journey, hastened on to Feagh O’ Byrne at Glenmalure in search of aid.
When he returned with assistance he had great difficulty in finding the young men who were almost buried in the snow. Art O’ Neill had succumbed to the cold and teas buried where he lay. O’Donnell was borne on a litter to O’ Byrne’s house ; in Glenmalure. Thence, when restored, he proceeded by devious ways to .his own people at Ballyshannon. So severe, however, had been his exposure on Slieve Roe that the doctors were compelled to amputate his great toes.
The Bermingham Tower, has imprisoned the King’s enemies. It has housed, the King’s treasure. But “the old order changeth.” Its regal’ functions have given place to the democracy of the law. Now, with sublime indifference, it awaits the next change in its story.”‘
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