On the north bank of the river Derg, at Castlederg, in County Tyrone, the remains of a castle keep the memory of one of the great intellectual architects of the Plantation: Sir John Davies, Attorney General of Ireland, who transformed an old Irish tower house into a colonist's bawn.
A granted Irish tower house
The site of Castlederg bore an old Irish tower house, mentioned as early as 1497. After the Flight of the Earls, as part of the Plantation, it was granted in 1610 to Sir John Davies, a key figure of the colonisation. Davies transformed the old castle into a bawn (with three open flankers), adapting it to the needs of the Plantation, and linked it to his other castle of Kirlish by a seven-mile causeway. Castlederg thus illustrates the taking-over and transformation, by the colonists, of the pre-existing Gaelic strongholds.
The theorist of the Plantation
Sir John Davies was no ordinary planter: Attorney General of Ireland under James I, he was one of the great theorists and legal architects of the Plantation. It was he who justified, in his writings, the policy of colonisation and the appropriation of Gaelic lands by the Crown; he played a central role in the legal implementation of the Plantation of Ulster. That this figure owned and transformed Castlederg gives the place a particular value: it is the house of the man who thought and legally organised the colonisation. During the uprising of 1641, the castle served as a refuge for the local colonists. To see: the remains of Davies's bawn, the position on the ford of the river Derg, the setting of the town of Castlederg.
Did you know?
Sir John Davies, master of Castlederg, is the man who put words — and law — to the conquest of Ulster. In his treatise A Discovery of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely Subdued (1612), he analysed why Ireland had resisted the Crown so long and justified the Plantation as the means of 'civilising' it definitively. This text, foundational of English colonial ideology, was written by the very owner of this Tyrone castle — a monument, therefore, of the thought that legitimised the colonisation.
Notes
Castlederg Castle lies on the north bank of the river Derg, Castlederg, County Tyrone; remains of the bawn accessible. GPS to confirm. Hours to check.
Quiz
- To whom was Castlederg granted in 1610?
- Sir John Davies (Attorney General of Ireland)
- Sorley Boy MacDonnell
- The pope
- What role did Davies play in the Plantation?
- Theorist and legal architect of the colonisation
- A simple soldier
- A Catholic bishop
- Into what did Davies transform the old tower house?
- A bawn (colonist's fortified court)
- A cathedral
- A war harbour