Clare Island Survey — History and Archaeology. & 69 



the martyrdoms, even of obscure monks and laity, so industriously amassed by 

 Anthony Bruodin and other Irish monks of the period, and published on the 

 Continent ; and it is equally absent from the lists of bishops and from the 

 wonderfully minute information (so far as I have examined it) in the Eecord 

 Office, relating to the period from 1651 to 1660. That the Cromwellians 

 were " zealous to slaying " in hot blood is certain ; but after the enemy 

 was reduced there was no hole-and-corner cruelty : all was harsh, cold, 

 and in the open daylight, according to the letter of the law. The date of 

 Guarim lacks even legendary consistency, one account 1 making him a con- 

 temporary of St. Colman, others an ally of " Bosco," and thereby of Grania 

 Uaile, nine centuries later. 



Bosco, whose name was attached to the castle embodied in the Cromwellian 

 " Barrack " was a pirate, a Dane or Spaniard, who stretched a chain from his 

 castle to the Cat's Hole, near Guarim's Castle, to protect the combined fleets 

 of himself and Grania. He also placed a cannon on the " Gun Bock " for 

 better defence. He used to throw his prisoners into the sea through an 

 embrasure, still shown in the castle. He buried a large treasure somewhere 

 in the ruin ; but it is supernaturally defended, and when even a priest com- 

 menced to dig in the haunted courts, he was ordered to stop by a voice speaking 

 in Irish from underground. 



Bosco's Castle, or Cromwell's Barrack. — Though very featureless, the 

 ragged mass of walls, opes, gables, and chimneys is distinctly impressive as 

 seen across the harbour, or from its waters. Tradition says that it was pre- 

 ceded by a castle of Bosco, or of Grania Uaile. The latter, in all records known 

 to me, only held Eockfleet Castle on Clew Bay ; even her traditional chief 

 castles of Doonagh and Clare Island are only mentioned as held by her father, 

 and were certainly in other hands in Crania's day, so far as the Government 

 recognized the ownership. 



The history of the present building seems well ascertained, and I saw no 

 remains in it that appear to be of earlier date than the rest, which is clearly 

 of the time of the records. The island was surrendered to the Commonwealth 

 in 1652, and its soldiers repaired an existing building of some sort, and used it 

 as a barrack. After a few years they determined to abandon the station, 

 and in 1655, Sir Hardress Waller and Colonels Hewson and Sankey recom- 

 mended to the Council of State that the garrison should be withdrawn 

 and the works dismantled. The Irish Government accordingly offered to 

 any contractor the Galway barque " Elizabeth " (employed in bringing 

 limestone for the intended " buildings of Buffin ") and a sum of £600, on 



1 See John Moran's Letter, loc. cit. 



