The Ghosts of Drimnagh Citadel

Drimnagh Citadel bears ghostly secrets and techniques if we’re to consider the legends. Some declare it’s haunted by an alchemist that used to stay there, some say it’s the ghost of Eleanora, who died after a love gone flawed. 

Within the suburb of Drimnagh exterior of Dublin, Drimnagh Citadel (Caisleán Dhroimeanaigh in Irish) nonetheless stands. This Norman fortress is exclusive in Eire, boasting the excellence of being the only surviving fortress with a surrounding flooded moat from the Camac River. 

The annals of Drimnagh Citadel harken again to a time when Eire was nonetheless rising as a nation. The primary recorded proprietor of the fortress was Sir Hugh de Bernival as early as 1216. The legacy of possession handed by way of generations, with the Bernival household finally adopting the title Barnewell, typically referred to as Barnewall.

Learn Extra: Take a look at all the ghost tales from Eire

Whereas the foundations of the fortress had been initially laid within the mid-Thirteenth century, the first buildings that endure right this moment date again to the early fifteenth century. 

Drimnagh Citadel remained within the Hatch household’s care till the mid-Nineteen Fifties. Louis Hatch bequeathed the fortress to Dr. P. Dunne, the Bishop of Nara, who subsequently offered it for a nominal sum to the Christian Brothers. The Christian Brothers utilized the premises to ascertain a faculty, a legacy that continued till 1956 once they relocated to new colleges and a close-by monastery.

Learn Extra: Take a look at all the Haunted Castles from around the globe

By the mid-Nineteen Eighties, the fortress had fallen into disrepair. Roofs had collapsed, home windows had been lacking, and masonry lay in partial smash. It was throughout this era of neglect that Peter Pearson, an artist affiliated with An Taisce (the nationwide belief for Eire), initiated an area committee’s involvement in a restoration endeavor. FÁS (Foras Áiseanna Saothair), the state coaching authority, grew to become a significant accomplice on this painstaking restoration program.

The Alchemist within the Tower of Drimnagh Citadel

Whereas Drimnagh Citadel has witnessed centuries of historical past and restoration, it isn’t devoid of ghostly tales. One of many supposed ghosts haunting the place is the ghost of the Man in Black. Apparently he was an alchemist that labored within the outdated tower from the seventeenth century. In accordance with the legend, he made a take care of the satan and for his sins, he needed to stroll the earth without end. 

Learn Extra: Take a look at The Alchemist Home on Carrer D’Estruc in Barcelona or Black Magic at Pfaueninsel for extra tales about alchemists.

Essentially the most instructed story although is that a couple of younger lady who is claimed to hang-out the fortress to today. The haunting story that lingers inside its historical partitions is that of Eleanora Barnwall in Within the late sixteenth century.

Eleanora’s Descent into Everlasting Sorrow

Eleanora Barnwall was the orphaned niece of Hugh Barnewall and destined to wed her cousin, Edmund Barnwall to maintain their estates within the household, a person she preferred and revered as household, however didn’t love as a person.

As soon as she went to a celebration at her pal’s manor within the outskirts of Dublin and Eleanora’s future was without end altered. She crossed paths together with her real love, Sean O’Byrne. Sean, or Hugh as he’s typically named was from the O’Byrne Clan of Wicklow, one of many enemies of the Barnwalls and the remainder of the Norman households in Eire. She liked him although, though she didn’t dare to admit to her household and the marriage was taking place. 

Eleanora and Edmund launched into a journey from Drimnagh Citadel, with a lot fanfare befitting a noble marriage ceremony. Their vacation spot was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the place the grand ceremony was set to unfold.

Sean O’Byrne and his followers descended upon Edmund’s coach once they had been midway there, shattering the dreamlike procession and attacking them. Edmund was killed amidst the tumultuous scene. 

Within the chaos that unfurled, Eleanora’s uncle, Hugh, grasped the fleeting moments to rally his knights and repel the assault. Many O’Byrnes met their tragic finish, and, heartbreakingly, so did Eleanora’s cherished Sean.

Eleanora was thrust again to Drimnagh Citadel. Her uncle was furious and he incarcerated Eleanora inside the fortress’s imposing partitions, pushed by a maelstrom of feelings—partly out of concern for her security, however principally engulfed by an all-consuming anger. In his eyes, she bore the blame for the audacious assault on the marriage occasion—a stigma she may by no means escape.

At midnight or two after the assault, she managed to flee from the fortress and went to Sean O’Byrne’s last resting place, deep inside the Dublin Mountains. She clung to the earth that hid her beloved till she as properly died from publicity.

Because the winds howled and the snowflakes blanketed her frail type, Eleanora’s sorrowful existence culminated in a haunting tragedy—a story without end etched into the annals of Drimnagh Citadel’s tormented historical past.

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