Westropp— X^'ss^r Castles or Feel Towers of Clare. 359 



Fall of Castles. 



Strange to say, most of the towers that have fallen (several in 

 the last twenty years) have broken across the vaults and not (as one 

 should expect from the thrust of the arch) along the crown. The 

 staircase angle has fallen in many others. So solid are the walls that 

 the side of Dough fell out in one piece, and the huge fragments lie or 

 lay on the shore of the creek in the order in which they once stood. 

 The top turret of Dangan, near Ballynecally, is so undercut that 

 it seems to rest only on a core of masonry and some steps, and yet 

 has defied the storms and frosts in this condition as long as human 

 memory extends, and even resisted a recent effort to pull it down with 

 a rope attached to several horses. The whole side slipped out of 

 Shanmuckinish on to the beach. 



Lightning has also played its part in the ruin of our castles, espe- 

 cially (it should seem) in cases where animals were kept in the lower 

 rooms. In the opening months of the present year, for example, 

 lightning passed down the chimney of Moyree Castle, burst asunder 

 the massive blocks of an arched fireplace, flinging masses of masonry 

 about the second floor. It then passed through the bottom vault, 

 killing several pigs in the lower room, and struck a farm-house near 

 the castle. 



An angle of Lemeneagh also shows several cracks, which tradition 

 attributes to a similar cause. 



The tower of Inchiquin Castle was thrown down many years ago 

 by some mischievous pleasure seekers, one of whom borrowed a sledge- 

 hammer and broke a stone beside the door. The greater part of the 

 turret immediately collapsed, though without avenging itself on its 

 destroyers. 



Their Occttpants and Destrotees. 



A French traveller, M. Bouillaye le Gouz, travelling in Ireland 

 during the Civil War of 1644, thus describes the Munster Peel 

 Towers :^ — " The castles or houses of the nobility ^ consist of four walls, 

 extremely high and thatched with straw; but to tell the truth, they 

 are nothing but square towers without windows, or at least having 

 such small apertures as to give no more light than there is in a prison. 

 They have little furniture, and cover their rooms with rushes, of 



1 Edition published by Crofton Croker. 



^ I suppose rather "aristocracy " for noblesse. 



