Fassaroe Castle

Castle at Fassaroe as a Ruin

In 1536 Brabazon the vice treasurer of Ireland was building the castles of Powerscourt and Fassaroe, which were outside the southern boundary of the Pale, an outpost of the O’Toole clan. This area was left without protection due to the fall of the Fitzgerald’s. In the 16th century Fassaroe Castle was owned by Peter Talbot (qv, see People) and his descendants. In 1642 Fassaroe Castle was besieged and taken by some of the troops under the command of the Marquis of Ormond. Following the massacre at Drogheda in 1649 Cromwell’s troops destroyed Fassaroe Castle as they passed through Bray, at that time Bernard Talbot owned Fassaroe. In 1667 a patent of Clonkeen and subsequently Fassaroe Castle Co Wicklow and Garvey Co Tyrone was granted to William Moore of Garvey as a reward for his loyalty to Charles 1. In the The journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, in 1892 recorded that Fassaroe Castle was in a very ruinous condition, which was caused by intentional demolition. Today little remains of Fassaroe Castle.

Bibliography 

Scott, George Digby (1884) The Stones of Bray, Cualann Publications, Bray.

Smal, Chris (1993) Ancient Rathdown and St. Crispin’s Cell, A uniquely historic landscape, Friends of Historic Rathdown, Greystones.

Turner, Kathleen (1982) If You Seek Monuments, A guide to the antiquities of the Barony of Rathdown, Rathmichael Historical Society, Dublin.

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