On a beautiful morning like this morning its easy for us to forget what an inhospitable and harsh environment much of Co. Wicklow was, in previous centuries, at this time of year. From the arrival of the Normans in the 1170's Ireland was fiercely fought over with alliances constantly shifting and land regularly changing hands as Normans, Gaelic Chieftains and English Adventurers fought for dominance. Three names in particular stand out when considering the bloody history of Wicklow and Powerscourt; O'Toole, O'Byrne and Wingfield.
Nowadays the Wicklow Mountains are a mecca for hill walkers and tourists and sites such as Powerscourt and Glendalough have gained an international reputation for their beauty and breathe taking vistas. However for many centuries the wild, rugged hillsides were harsh and inhospitable lands, the last recourse of the Gaelic Chieftains forced off their fertile plains of central Ireland by the invading Normans. Fortunately for the O’Toole clan they already had a foothold in the glens as St. Lawrence O’Toole had been made Abbot of the monastic city of Glendalough by his father, and he settled his relatives on church land. For a hundred years after the Anglo-Norman invasion, which displaced them to the Wicklow Mountains, the native chieftains battled the harsh climate and poor grasslands to feed their families. However the particularly harsh winter of 1270 forced the starving Gaelic clans to attack the Anglo-Norman colonies of East and North Wicklow, and emboldened by their success they became the scourge of the entire English Pale to the very boundaries of Dublin city. The Gaelic chiefains became as feared as the Viking raiders were before them and eventually the O’Tooles were even exacting a “black rent” from the city of Dublin.
From the early thirteenth century up until the early seventeenth century, when Richard Wingfield first Viscount Powerscourt succeeded in almost completely subjugating Wicklow for the Crown, this geographically diverse and topographically challenging county was battle scarred by shifting allegiances and treachery between the Gaelic lords, Anglo-Normans and English settlers.
The history of Powerscourt, or Stagonil as the area was originally known, really commences with the building of a fortification by the Normans in the late 13th century. The first stronghold was probably an earthwork structure but by 1316 Balytenyth Castle was under the control of Eustace le Poer. This structure stood at the end of the granite ridge where Powerscourt House now stands. Four Le Poer brothers were sent by Henry II in Strongbow’s wake to protect his interests in Ireland. In the Calendar of State Papers for 1296 Eustace Le Poer was allowed have six stags and six hinds in the Royal Forest at Powerscourt. The Anglo-Normans hunted the great herds of native Irish Red Deer as well as Fallow Deer they introduced from the continent. However by 1235 the Deer Park had been abandoned due to attacks and poaching by the hungry native Irish.
In 1302 Geoffrey le Poer “requests the King’s grace as to the matter of the arrears of his rent for his land in Ballytenny”. In reply he was told “The King has pardoned all the arrears. He is to pay his rent in future.” Alan’s Black Book at the end of the reign of Edward II notes that the rent for Ballytenny was twenty shillings per annum. Geoffrey died in 1311, and his son, Arnold, seems to have assumed the name of FitzEustace, which was borne by his family until changed to Eustace soon after the introduction of surnames in 1465. He was Lord of the Manors of Oughterard and Castle Warden, thus showing that the Le Poers had spread north from Waterford into County Kildare by the end of the thirteenth century.
In 1316 Robert de Bruce invaded Ireland from Scotland and provided the Gaelic Lords with the perfect opportunity to pillage and take control of the areas under Anglo Norman control. The O’Byrnes from Glenmalure invaded north Wicklow, burning Bray and the neighbouring villages, including Stagonil and Killegar. By 1326 the Archbishop of Dublin described all his possessions in this area as “now worth nothing, because waste through war” and the king’s castle of Balytenyth was in ruins. Worse was to come for the Le Poers in 1328 when Arnold was imprisoned and later died in Dublin Castle accused of heresy following his support at her witch trial of Dame Alice Kytler who was married to another Le Poer. In 1345 Eustace de Poer, eldest son of Arnold and a Knight of the Golden Spur, joined the Earl of Desmond in rebellion, was taken prisoner while defending The Castle of the Island (Co. Kerry) and hung, drawn and quartered as a traitor and a rebel by order of the Lord Justice Ufford, and his estates were confiscated. Indicative of the shifting alliances and desperation of the English Government in 1355 it took the drastic step of employing the O’Tooles from West Wicklow as mercenaries, to protect the city of Dublin from the fury of the O’Byrnes.
The O’Tooles soon established themselves at Powerscourt and in 1390 showed their true allegiances (at least at that time) by counter attacking the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, after he took the O’Byrne Castle at Wicklow Town, and spiking sixty English heads on the gates of their castle at Powerscourt.
Heads on Spikes at Dublin Castle
The O'Byrnes and O'Tooles now marched against the English killing the Lord Lieutenant and taking the mountainous area around Powerscourt away from the English Crown. The O’Tooles continued to extract protection money from Dublin and it was not until the 1490’s that the powerful Earl of Kildare began to turn the tide against the native Irish and reinforced his power by putting troops in a number of strongholds including Powerscourt. Indeed he spent almost 5,000 marks building the Castle at Powerscourt. After the unsuccessful Fitzgerald rebellion of 1535 Turlough O’Toole took back control of the area and went to London to meet with Henry VIII, but was later killed by O’Toole relatives in the Glen of Imaal.
Though the isolated and virtually impregnable Wicklow Mountains seemed a long way from the Royal Courts of Europe the political machinations of Spain and England were to have far reaching consequences for the native Irish. In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailing from a Spanish port and discovered the West Indies. Five years later John Cabot, sailing from the English port of Bristol, discovered Newfoundland. There followed a century of rivalry between Spain and England for control of the sea routes to America, which turned to bitter war after the accession of Elizabeth I. The queen encouraged the revolt of Philip of Spain’s subjects in the Netherlands and Philip encouraged her rebellious subjects in Ireland.
Because the queen feared that Ireland would be used as a base by the Spanish enemies, the English government was driven to the savage subjugation and plantation of Ireland. The conquest of Munster and of Ulster was followed by “plantation” of these provinces by landlords from England or Scotland, and much the same happened here North Wicklow, where neither the O’Tooles nor the O’Byrnes were ever completely trusted.
In 1578 the Crown tried to shire Wicklow (the last county in Ireland to have its county boundaries defined) but the Lord Justice Sir William Drury said that “finding that there were not sufficient, and fewer gentlemen to be shriffes (sic sherriffs), nor freeholders to make a jury for her Majiestie (sic) the matter was let drop”! However the Seneschal Sir Henry Harrington was instructed when dealing with the native Irish to "Fyrst that you cause proclamacion to be made that no idele persone, vagabonde or masterlesse man, barde rymoure, or any other notorious or detected malefactor do haunte, remaine, or abyde within the limits and bondes of your authoritee". (Singers and poets were clearly not to be trusted!).
Gaelic Bard
It goes on to give him permission to administer; "....sharp correction as you shall in good discreation appoint" and that it would be lawful: “.....for you be vertue of this commission to execute him marshally".
Richard Winfield 1st Viscount Powerscourt
Among the O’Byrnes it was Fiach McHugh O’Byrne who rose to particular prominence after he drew a large English Force into Glenmalure Valley and decimated the troops. Following his beheading in 1597 his sons defeated Sir Henry Harrington and his army at Deputy’s Pass, between Rathdrum and Wicklow town. The O’Tooles and O’Byrne’s remained in control of the area until the early 17th century, when the lands were granted to Richard Wingfield, who was created Viscount Powerscourt in 1618. The two clans did remain a force in the Wicklow Mountains until the 1650s, when Luke O'Toole of Castlekevin and Brian O'Byrne of Glenmalure (Fiach's grandson), were prominent fighters against the Cromwellians.
