Philip
Macdonald
Contributions to journals
The inland promontory fort at Knock Dhu was the subject of limited excavations in 2008. This paper provides a full account of those excavations and considers the place of hillforts and promontory forts within the Later Bronze Age settlement sequence. The long-term social consequences of a phase of permanent nucleated settlement in the Later Bronze Age are also considered.
The inland promontory fort at Knock Dhu was the subject of limited excavations in 2008. This paper provides a full account of those excavations and considers the place of hillforts and promontory forts within the Later Bronze Age settlement sequence. The long-term social consequences of a phase of permanent nucleated settlement in the Later Bronze Age are also considered.
Contributions to edited collections or authored works
Situated upon a prominent summit overlooking the coastal town of Dundrum and the adjacent tidal inlet of Inner Dundrum Bay in Co. Down, Dundrum Castle commands a strategic position, close to a historically comparatively safe anchorage, on the border of the three medieval lordships or baronies of Lecale, Kinelarty and Iveagh. As the first earl of Ulster, Hugh de Lacy possessed the castle from 1205 to 1210 and, following his restoration to his Irish lands, from 1227 until his death in 1243. Dundrum Castle has an imperfectly understood, long and complex history. Occupation of the castle extended both before and after the period of de Lacy’s possession. Artefactual and place-name evidence indicates the castle was built upon the site of a high-status settlement dating to the early medieval period. The earliest phase of the castle itself can confidently be attributed to John de Courcy and probably dates to the period immediately following his invasion of Ulster in 1177. After the death of de Lacy, ownership of the Castle reverted to the Crown before it was granted, as part of the earldom of Ulster, to Walter de Burgh in 1264. William de Burgh, the last resident earl of Ulster, was murdered in 1333 and following the subsequent decline of the Anglo-Norman earldom in the fourteenth century, the castle was occupied by a branch of the Magennis family. In the aftermath of the Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) the castle and its associated estate was held by Edward Cromwell, whose son subsequently sold it to the Blundell family. After being garrisoned during the wars of the 1640s the castle was apparently slighted by Parliamentarian forces and never occupied again. This paper seeks to ascertain to what degree specific building elements and phases can be attributed to the various lords who directed the castle’s destiny during this time. Particular focus is given to the role of Hugh de Lacy.
Situated upon a prominent summit overlooking the coastal town of Dundrum and the adjacent tidal inlet of Inner Dundrum Bay in Co. Down, Dundrum Castle commands a strategic position, close to a historically comparatively safe anchorage, on the border of the three medieval lordships or baronies of Lecale, Kinelarty and Iveagh. As the first earl of Ulster, Hugh de Lacy possessed the castle from 1205 to 1210 and, following his restoration to his Irish lands, from 1227 until his death in 1243. Dundrum Castle has an imperfectly understood, long and complex history. Occupation of the castle extended both before and after the period of de Lacy’s possession. Artefactual and place-name evidence indicates the castle was built upon the site of a high-status settlement dating to the early medieval period. The earliest phase of the castle itself can confidently be attributed to John de Courcy and probably dates to the period immediately following his invasion of Ulster in 1177. After the death of de Lacy, ownership of the Castle reverted to the Crown before it was granted, as part of the earldom of Ulster, to Walter de Burgh in 1264. William de Burgh, the last resident earl of Ulster, was murdered in 1333 and following the subsequent decline of the Anglo-Norman earldom in the fourteenth century, the castle was occupied by a branch of the Magennis family. In the aftermath of the Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) the castle and its associated estate was held by Edward Cromwell, whose son subsequently sold it to the Blundell family. After being garrisoned during the wars of the 1640s the castle was apparently slighted by Parliamentarian forces and never occupied again. This paper seeks to ascertain to what degree specific building elements and phases can be attributed to the various lords who directed the castle’s destiny during this time. Particular focus is given to the role of Hugh de Lacy.
