The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-05-10

| ILAC Uul1L II, a COuSCduL1u6 lOSL 1t, ana
now another Constantine is waiting
eagerly outside it's gate for the be-
leaguered inhabitants to throw them
selves on THE mercy of the troops he
leads.
TALE OF An IRISH CASTLE
DATES FROM TWELFTH CENTURY
ABANDONED SINCE THE FIF-
TEENTH-A VISIT TO THE
RUINS.
BY the shores of the Irish Sea, lord
ing it over Ardglass harbor, stands an
old grey castle, strong with stony
towers, grim and domineering still,
after Drawing the storms and blasts of
more than seven centuries. 1t dates
from the days when de Courcy in
vaded ireland, being built by one
Jordan de Saukville at the end of the
twelfth century Jordan's castle
changed hands many times in those
adventurous days. Shane the Proud,
writes Seumas Douglas in Sydney
Press, was monarch of all he sur
veyed here at one time, and Simon
Jordan gallantly defended it for three
long years, siege that was relieved
by Lord-Deputy Mountjoy in 14O1.
Forty years later, in the famous rebel
lion of 1441, the castle was burnt out,
and has since stood desolate and
stern, by the blue waters of the bay,
uncared for by anyone, hugging it's
memories alone
| After such an adventurous career,
few years ago the land about was to
be sold, and there were rumors that
nearby publican proposed to buy the
place to use as bottling store. To
avert such disastrous fate, Francis
Joseph Biggar, M. R. I. A., bought the
castle as it stood, roofess and de-
serted. Floors and a roof were con-
structed, though the walls and the bat
tlemented turrets, the old hearths and
the still perfect columbary were left
untouched, thus restoring the castle as
nearly as possible to its original state.
The stout beams were placed in the
original holes that the early builders
had designed for them, and bit by bit
the place was furnished with things of
local interest or significance. The cot
tagers in the surrounding townlands
bring offerings of articles quaint or
antique, even things that have re-
NAMED in their family for generations
I-deeming their fittest resting place to
be the old castle. Castle Shane, which
is the name by which the old Jordan's
Castle is now known, is plain square
keep, 70 feet high. The arched pro-
lection over the doorway has narrow
space between it and the wall to en-
able defenders from the stone gutter
pour boiling water upon the heads of
the besiegers, a delicate attention
much resorted to in those old days
by way of discouraging undesirable
callers.
Chattering of these old times we
passed through the gateway of Castle
Shane, and lightly, even gaily, faced
the circular staircase, with its deep,
rugged steps, built for the strides of
fighting men, All unthinking, /
stumbled at the first doorway, and fell
headlong down four centuries or more
into a dim room strewn with rushes,
where twilight reigned, with the suf-
fused glow of logs burning on a
cavernous hearth, and singing kettle
hanging from an old iron crane above
the bright flames. There were old
iron spits for roasting and coasters for
bacon, racks for hardening oatcakes, a
candle-box, grids, girdles, branders and
the like, cheek by jowl with swords,
pixies, blunderbuss or flintlock. This
was the guardroom, where the men-at-
arms lived, and the food for the whole
garrison was prepared. From the cell
ing hung cask and musket, old iron
grapples and a circular iron candle
stick of great antiquity. A huge
dresser filled one side, with methers,
horn drinking cups, pewter platters,
and wooden bowls.
Then we climbed the stair to the
banquet hall. All it's contents are
things of age made for the most part
in Ireland In the days Of fine crafts
manship, when man was worker and
designer at the same time, and put
the stamp of his individuality into his
work, and thing made was a thing
accomplished, not thousand all alike.
A fine reproduction of an illumination
from the Book of Durrow hangs over
the mantelpiece. 1t CLEANS with blue
and gold, rich in the intricate inter
lacing so characteristic and so beloved
by the Celtic scribes. There is nothing
quite like it in the world. Here hangs
a portrait Of the famous Shane O'Neill
and the raven of the standard OF. the
Morse rovers, who landed on the coast
here in the ninth century, though they
were finally repulsed. Strangely,
enough, some Danish sailors arrived
at Ardglass last year for cargo of
salt herrings, and some of them wan
dered round the castle Nothing in
the place gave them SO much pleasure,
and when they saw the Danish raven
they clustered round the standard and
chartered enthusiastically, but they
had no English.
Sitting in the deep window en-
brasures one is transformed to a
simpler. if harder life-a life shorn