Waterford Castle

More Castle Pictures

According to tradition a Monastic settlement existed on the island sometime between the sixth and eighth centuries and two "finds" on the land have lent substance to this. A Winged Angel dating from the 8th century and the crude carving of a Monk's head, which is now prominently displayed over the main entrance to the Castle, dating from the 6th Century. The island's seclusion was attractive to the Monks, however due to its strategic importance they came under frequent attack and were eventually forced to move to safer quarters. The Island was then home to a Danish settlement with two Castles guarding the river at the North and South and was thereafter referred to in annals as Dane's Island or Island Vryk.

Maurice Fitzgerald, cousin of Strongbow, the English Earl of Pembroke, landed in Waterford during the Norman invasion of Ireland 1160. During a battle he was taken prisoner by the Ossermen of Waterford and held on the island until rescued by his son-in-law to rejoin the victorious Norman Army. He was rewarded for his support of the invasion by becoming potentate over large tracts of land in Munster and Leinster, including the island on which he decided to make his home, thus sealing the fate of the island for eight centuries, being home to the Earls ofKildare and Ormond and the Knights ofGlin and Kerry, in one of the longest unbroken stewardships on record in Ireland. The first structure built by the Kfyeralds was a Norman Keep; a tower like stone structure with thick walls, narrow arrow slit windows and a lead roof. At that time the Keep would have been the core of any defence in battle and would have been virtually impregnable.

History

Adare Castle

The castle was probably begun in the 1190s and initially comprised a large square tower and an enclosing D-shaped fosse, together with a hall block to the south in an outer ward.The River Maigue protects the castle along the south side. Just outside the wall in the west and northwest isa substantial ditch. Within the wall, along the south edge, are two
rectangular halls.

Adare Castle (Desmond Castle) Ruins An early medieval stone castle
with rectangular great tower and domestic range. de Marisco, FitzGerald
-- 13th century Adare 

Adare Castle, County Limerick

The time-worn remains of this Anglo-Norman fortress on the banks of the River Maigue may be counted among the most impressive castles in Ireland. It was first mentioned in 1226 as being held by Geoffrey de Marisco, but later passed to the FitzGeralds, possibly as early as 1240. The Earls of Kildare retained ownership for nearly 300 years until Silken Thomas's rebellion of 1536, when it was forfeited and granted to the Earl of Desmond. Barely forty years later, in 1578, the Munster Geraldines were themselves in rebellion and lost the castle to English troops after an eleven-day siege. Attempts to retrieve the castle resulted in a series of notably bloody sieges in 1579, 1581 and 1600, leaving the fabric badly damaged. It was finally dismantled by Parliamentary troops in 1657.

The castle was probably begun in the 1190s and initially comprised a large square tower and an enclosing D-shaped fosse, together with a hall block to the south in an outer ward. The tower, notable for having corner turrets projecting from the side walls, was remodelled in the fifteenth century and is thus difficult to assess confidently, though it appears originally to have had three storeys with a first floor entrance. No doubt it served as the lord's accommodation and thus complemented the more public function of the Great Hall by the river, which was clearly built to entertain visitors: a spacious rectangular apartment with round-headed lights with roll mouldings. At a later period its basement was subdivided and a latrine added on the south side.

The curtain walls around the inner ward and along the west side of the outer ward were possibly built around 1240, no doubt replacing timber palisades. The inner ward has a south gate tower and an open-gorged bastion on the west side, while there is a square west-gate tower into the outer ward. The very ruined aisled Great Hall, to the east of the old hall, may have been added in 1326 when the second Earl of Kildare undertook extensive works at the castle. It is flanked by kitchens and service rooms, which extend to the eastern perimeter of the outer ward - whose well-preserved battlemented walls may be largely fifteenth century in date.

Located 9 miles SW of Limerick on the E side of the main road into Adare (T11).
NGR: R 471467.
National Monument. The castle is in a dangerous condition, but plans are in effect for a programme of conservation.
There is a new heritage centre nearby.

Cafaggiolo Villa

The origins of the House of the Medici family are to be found buried in the depths of the Tuscan countryside, in other words, in the Mugello, where the castle-villa of Cafaggiolo can be identified as their "cradle". However the first historical traces of the family were in Florence, where Salvestro, the son of Messer Alamanno dei Medici, joined the "common people" in the well-known revolt of the Ciompi (1378), the largest social upheaval in the history of the Florentine Republic. Originally farmers who had moved into the city, the Medici became first merchants and then bankers. The origins of their coat of arms, whose design was changed several times over the years, is not known. It was at first formed by eleven red balls on a golden field

Also ...Cosimo the Elder. Born 1389, died 1 August, 1464, the founder of their power and so-called "Padre della Patria", was the son of Giovanni di Averardo de' Medici, the richest banker in Italy.

 Carew Castle

3m E of Pembroke, Pembrokeshire, south Wales

William FITZGERALD was born before 1100 in Carew Castle, Pembrokeshire, Wales (photo on the left) and died 1173 in Carrucastle in County Pembroke, England. He inherited Carew Castle and is the ancestor of the family Carew.

His Father Was 

Gerald FITZ WALTER de Windsor who was born between 1065 and 1070 in Windsor, Berkshire, England and died 1136 in England. He married Nesta Rhys, daughter of the Prince of Wales in about 1089.

 Castle Matrix

 Earls of Desmond

Corridoio Vasariano

In 1333 a great flood destroyed the wooden bridge, which was replaced by one of stone. No longer having any defensive purpose, a “double row of shops” was added on top, and by 1442 the butchers’ association dominated its commerce (A). In 1565, the Corridoio Vasariano (Vasari’s corridor) was added so Duke Cosimo I could cross from the Medici offices (the Uffizi) to his palace (the Palazzo Pitti) without having to mix with the commoners buying meat on the bridge below (I). This addition not only changed the appearance of the bridge, but also set into motion a chain of events that would forever change its purpose. Walking every day over the shops, the Grand Duke Ferdinando I could not help notice the pungent stench of meat mixing with odors from Arno river, currently the butchers’ personal sewer system. Consequently, in 1593 he replaced the butchers with goldsmiths and artisans, providing cleanliness, a touch of class, and a higher tax base. Also at this time a back row of shops was constructed to accommodate a flourishing Renaissance Florence, actually adding to the strength of the bridge.

History of the Bridge

The Ponte Vecchio, or “old bridge,” is the oldest bridge in Florence, crossing the river Arno at its widest point (H, B). And unlike in the United States, where something from the 17th century seems practically pre-historic, when the Italians call this bridge “old,” they mean over two thousand years old. In fact, before the second century BCE, a wooden bridge existed only a few feet away from where the modern bridge stands today (G). According to legend, the bridge has always been used for commercial purposes. Some attribute this to entrepreneurs capitalizing on traveling soldiers constantly crossing the bridge, which might explain why so many “blacksmiths, butchers, and tanners” chose to set up shop (D). Others claim that merchants who occupied the bridge were given a tax exemption (K). Some even believe the commercial roots of the bridge are so strong that the concept of “bankruptcy” originated here: “banco” was the term for the merchants’ display tables that were broken, or “rotto,” if they didn’t pay their debts

The invisible's corridor

In the Uffizi Gallery, the largest collection of paintings in Italy, between room 25 and room 34 there is a small passage leading to the famous and well hidden Vasarian Corridor. The Corridor was built in 1564 within only 5 months by Giorgio Vasari by order of Cosimo I De' Medici. Two reasons induced Cosimo to have the Corridor built. The first reason was the necessity to link his residence over Boboli Garden to the Uffizi (which means "the offices"), where the Grand Duke worked. The second reason, stemming from the psychosis of conspiracy typical of that time, was to give the Medici family the possibility of escaping in case of an uprising, or a discreet passage to move without being seen from the outside. So, as not to bother the Grand Duke with bad smells while walking through the Corridor, the meat market was driven out from the famous Ponte Vecchio, and was replaced by the jeweller shops, which are still there today.

Corsini Palace

Grand Duke Ferinando II   ( Is a DeMedici )
The Ballroom, that overlooks an internal courtyard,
 is reached via the middle door (on the left) of the Salon. The large
 crystal chandelier and the gilded eighteenth century wall sconces
 complete the decorations. The fresco, painted by Alessandro
 Gherardini between 1695 and 1696 

Maria Maddalena Machiavelli, wife od Marchese Filippo Corsini, purchased the Palace from the Grand Duke Ferinando II in 1649. Her son, Bartolomeo, began rermodelling and redecorating the Palace in 1650. Initialy the work was done by Alfonso Parigi the Younger, and then by Ferdinando Tacca, who continued with the project until 1671. Actual construction work on the Palace as it stands today was commissioned by Filippo Corsini junior, in 1685, after the death of his father Bartolomeo.

Croom Castle

A stronghold of the Fitzgeralds, Croom Castle (1190)

Croom had an original 13th century castle, which was replaced by a Geraldine stronghold around 1340, and destroyed in 1689

Seven miles (11 km) south-east of Adare is the pleasant little town of Croom, in wooded country on the banks of the River Maigue. Beside the town are the remains of a stronghold of the Fitzgeralds, Croom Castle (1190). the war-cry of the Geraldines (Kildare branch) 'Crom Abu' (Croom to Victory) was taken from here. In the eighteenth century the town was the meeting-place of the 'Maigue Poets': Sean O Tuama, Aindrias Mac Craith and Sean Clarach Mac Domhnaill. An annual literary festival, Feile na Miaghe, held in towns in the Maigue district, now commemorates this gathering.

CROOM, Co. Limerick
Croom or ‘crom’ derives its name from Cromadh, which means the ‘sloping place’, ‘bend’, ‘curved’ or ‘strong’.
Situated almost in the centre of Co. Limerick, 19kms southwest of Limerick City on the N20 route, on the River Maigue - part of the famous Golden Vale region of Munster.

Croom had an original 13th century castle, which was replaced by a Geraldine stronghold around 1340, and destroyed in 1689. Other interesting historical buildings include the church, a round tower, approx. 65 feet high, 54 feet in circumference, with walls four and a half feet thick and divided into 5 storeys. The 15th century Glenogra Castle, with its octagonal tower is another historical building near Croom, as is Ballycahane House. The main claim to fame of this house is that it was the home of "Colleen Bawn" and her husband John Scanlon, who was executed in 1819 for her murder. One of those mills has been transformed into a heritage centre, restaurant and craft shop open to visitors.

Stone out houses at Croom castle Co Limerick

Castle History - The Normans

In the late twelfth and early thirteenth century the invading Anglo-Normans identified the strategic importance of the Maigue, and gradually established a series of fortresses along its western shore, some a rebuilding of existing forts. An early castle was built at Newtown near the mouth of the river, another near the ford at Croom by 1215 when it was granted to Maurice Fitzgerald, an old fort at Adare was walled, and by 1280 there was a castle on raised ground near a bridging point on the river at Castleroberts.

There was a castle at Fanningstown by 1285. Situated a few miles from the bank of the river behind Castleroberts Fanningstown seems to have been part of a second line of defence. It is difficult to date the remaining castle ruins which consist of a small, almost square chamber without upper floors or roof, and a round staircase tower which, pierced with arrow-slit windows, rises about three floors, but from which the staircase and roof have been removed.

There is the remains of a bartizan (a turret corbelled out from the wall on cut stone corbels, used for defence) on the west corner. This castle was incorporated into one corner of a battlemented bawn wall which enclosed a large courtyard.

Desmond Castle

Built in the early 13th century on the site of an ancient ring-fort.
Besieged by the English in 1580
Occupied by the Earls of Desmond during the 17th century.

Desmond Castle is an example of an urban tower house located in the town of Kinsale in County Cork, Ireland. It was built as the Customs House for Kinsale about the year 1500 by the ninth Earl of Desmond Maurice Fitzgerald, following the grant of the custom of the port of Kinsale to the Earls of Desmond by King Henry VII in 1497. It was used for this purpose up until 1641 when it was converted into a naval prison, following the construction of another Customs House. The prisoners kept in the Castle were in the main French and Spanish, and the place became known locally as the French Prison as a result.

Dunloe Castle was built by the Norman Fitzgeralds, Earls of Desmond, in 1215. After the battle of Callan (1261) the Fitzgeralds were pushed from south Kerry by the combined efforts of the O'Sullivans, O'Donahues and McCarthys. It then became a stronghold of the O'Sullivan Mor clan. During the Elizabethan wars, it was demolished by the Earl of Ormonde, leaving only some of the walls standing. The O'Sullivans retreated to Dunkerron Castle in 1595. In 1665, ownership of the property passed to the O'Mahonys who rebuilt the castle primarily as living quarters rather than as a garrison. There is some of the original castle present as the foundation for the present structure. In 1706 Daniel O'Mahony inherited the property. He was referred to as "the great and terrible Papist" who ruled south Kerry with his 4,000 man army. When he died in 1747 he left his velvet breeches to his daughter as "she was the only person in the barony worthy of wearing them." In 1776 the lands belonged to the Crosbie family. The O'Mahonys regained control in the early 1800s and kept it until the 1940s when it was owned by a Miss Petit. She sold it to the German Consortium in the 1960s.

Glin Castle

FITZ-GERALD The Knight of Glin.

DESMOND FITZ-JOHN LLOYD FITZ-GERALD, THE 27th KNIGHT OF GLIN, of Glin Castle, Co Limerick, JP and DL, High Sheriff 1904, late Capt 3rd Battery Roy Dublin Fusiliers, and late Capt South Irish Horse; b March, 1862; s his f 1895; educ Cheltenham; m 28 Oct 1897, Lady Rachel Wyndham Quin, 2nd dau of the 4th Earl of Dunraven (see BURKE'S Peerage), and by her (who d 30 Jan 1901) has issue,

Lineage-GILBERT FITZ-JOHN, ancestor of the WHITE KNIGHT; SIR JOHN FITZ-JOHN, ancestor of the KNIGHT OF GLIN; MAURICE FITZ-JOHN, ancestor of the KNIGHT OF KERRY; and THOMAS FITZ-JOHN, ancestor of the FITZGERALDS

Background to the Family
The romantically-titled Knights of Glin, a branch of the great Norman family, the FitzGeralds or Geraldines, Earls of Desmond, were granted extensive lands in County Limerick in the early 14th century by their Desmond overlords.

The Desmond family were all descended from the Norman Maurice FitzGerald, a companion-in-arms to Strongbow. Maurice was the son of Gerald of Windsor and his wife, the Welsh Princess Nesta. She was famous for her many children including, among others, a son by King Henry I of England. As a result she became known as 'the brood mare of the Normans'.

Palazzo Medici-Riccardi

Built for Cosimo Vecchio begun 1444

 This urban palace in central Florence rises about 70 feet above the ground. String courses separate the three stories, each of which is progressively decreased in height and the surfaces of which become smoother with less visible joints

 .

 Pembrook Castle

The name _de Windsor_ was chosen as their surname from the
estates on which they were born and raised. One of their sons, _Gerald
de Windsor_, married the famous _Nesta_, daughter of Rhys ap Tewdyr,
Prince of South Wales. But it was warfare that first took Gerald to
Wales. Henry I had appointed him Constable of the great castle of
Pembroke (near present day Milford Haven), which had been built by
Arnulf Montgomery and was the most important for/tress in South Wales.
Gerald was also placed in charge of the Norman forces fighting the
Welsh. In 1094, he won distinction by his gallant defense of the castle
when the Welsh laid siege.    ( copied from  gherardini sub page *Gerald
de Windsor   )

The unsurpassed strength of this mighty Norman Castle, sited on a high ridge between two tidal inlets, gave it the distinction of never haven fallen to the Welsh. The strategic position, on a major routeway, was chosen early in the first Norman incursions into south-west Wales, when the castle was founded by Roger of Montgomery in 1093, and it stood firm against Welsh counter-attacks in subsequent years.

Rahanane Castle

Fitzgerald, Knight of Kerry

An Irish ring-fort with a 16th century (?) Anglo-Norman (?) "L-plan" towerhouse.

The picture you see here could be the ruins of
Rahanane Castle which is four miles west of Dingle in the
Rahanane/Ventry area. You can view it on the web site for
the Dingle Peninsula under the sub heading of 6,000 years
of history and activities to do.

Shanid Castle

Built by William de Burgo, a Norman baron, in 1203

Shanid Castle was the seat of the Earls of Desmond, the first being Thomas Fitzpatrick who was granted the land, and possibly the already built castle in 1230.  It is said possibly because the castle is not spoken of until this time, but is widely believed to have stood since a little earlier.  The house of Desmond inhabited the tower up until 1641, when it was pillaged and ruined.

Springfield Castle

Henry 2nd. granted this kingdom to Herebert Fitz-Herebert; who having soon after resigned his claim, it was bestowed upon Philip de Braosa, and the grant was renewed to him by Richard 1st., with the exception of the city and the cantred of the Ostmen, which were committed to the custody of William de Burgo, who established a settlement there that defied all subsequent attacks of the natives. Braosa's grants having been forfeited, various Anglo-Norman settlements were made in the county (which was one of the twelve formed by King John, in 1210) under Theobald Fitzwalter, ancestor of the Butler family, Hamo de Valois, William Fitz-Aldelm, and Thomas, son of Maurice Fitzgerald. With these, the O'Briens of Thomond had part possession: Donogh O'Brien, Lord of Thomond, having been enfeoffed of the extensive lands of Carrigoginniol by King John.

The Irish of Thomond often proved themselves formidable enemies of the English settlers. In 1367, they took prisoner, at Manister-Nenagh, the Lord-Justice Gerald Fitzgerald and many persons of distinction.

Villa Vignamaggio

Villa Vignamaggio, surrounded by an elegant Italian garden in a stunningly beautiful corner of the Chianti countryside, offers an authentic testimony of countrylife during the Renaissance period. The main part of the villa dates back to the 14th century. The Gherardi family who bought the villa from the Gherardini at the end of the 16th century.

Windsor Castle

The Coat of Arms of the Royal House of Windsor

Windsor, or rather Royal Windsor, is a seductive mix of history and romance with a unique atmosphere. It is a place where the sense of history is never far away, it is a town where the English have gathered to pay homage to British King's and Queens, ever since the great castle was first begun on the orders of William the Conqueror in 1066.

Windsor Castle is the world's largest inhabited stronghold and the largest castle in Britain. It is one of the Queen's three official residences and holds the royal art collection, which is considered one of the finest in the world. Works by Rembrandt, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo are on display. The construction of the castle was first begun 900 years ago by William the Conqueror but at that time the castle was no more than a wooden stockade designed to protect the west side of London. St Georges Chapel within the grounds of the castle is the resting place of 11 sovereigns including Charles the first who was beheaded for treason against the British public and Queen Victoria, Britain's longest serving monarch.
We will witness the changing of the guard while in Windsor. If the Queen is in residence the Royal Standard will be flying above the castle and the changing of the guard will be accompanied by a full regimental band.

Guards at Windsor Castle

Other Non-Related Irish Castles

     Adare Castle, Athlumy Castle, Aughnanure Castle, Avery Castle, Ballylee Castle, Ballymoon Castle, Blarney Castle - kiss the blarney stone, Ballymoon Castle, Ballymote Castle, Bunratty Castle, Carrick-on-Suir Castle, Cahir Castle, Carrigaholt Castle, Carlow Castle, Carrickfergus Castle, Charles Fort, Cloghoughter Castle, Conna Castle, Carrigafoyle Castle, Donore Castle, Dublin Castle, Dundrum Castle, Dunluce Castle, Dunsoghly Castle, Gleninagh Castle, Glinsk Castle, Greencastle, Kilkenny Castle, Lemanagh Castle, Mallow Castle, Monea Castle, Ballynahow Castle, Newtown Castle, Old Crom Castle, Parkes Castle, Rathmacknee Castle, Ross Castle, Slade Castle, Swords Castle, Trim Castle, Trim Castle part 2, Tully Castle