Esker Castle

Esker Castle

The Mooney family of the Doon is unique in occupying the same lands as did their ancestors in the sixteenth and earlier centuries. The ruins of their castle of Esker, starts on a sandy ridge north of the road roughly midway between Athlone and Ferbane, near Doon crossroads, in the parish of Lemanaghan. The castle was occupied down to about 1775 when our clan moved a short distance southward across the road o Doon, the present residence. A family tradition says the latter was originally built as a dower-house on the estate and was considerably enlarged and renovated when the old castle among many other antiquities, including a handkerchief belonging to Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, are still preserved in the Doon. A member of the Moony family, who was a Maid of Honour at the French court, brought the handkerchief to Ireland.

About 12 ft. high on the castle wall is carved a large sile Na gcioch. A short distance to the east near the crossroads stands the ruin of an ancient building know locally as ' the monastery'. It was evidently the private religious house attached to the castle, but no details of it has survived. Some writers of the last century recorded a tradition that Esker castle was the site of a treacherous massacre carried out by the Mooney of the time on some of his neighbours whom he invited to a feast. This story is discounted by our family, who say the castle was once attacked by the MacCoghlans, the Mooney's overlords, to whom we paid tribute in cows-milk at certain times of the year. The attackers came from the north side along the level ground and forced Mooney's people back towards the castle gate. The Mooney steward captain was wounded and was unable to move quickly. Mooney defenders kept the castle gate open for him but he called to them to close it lest the attackers get in. His loyalty to his master cost him his life but the castle was saved. During the eighteenth century the shrine of Saint Manchan, now in Boher church, was used in litigation to swear oath on and was kept in Esker castle.

Approaching Esker castle from the south its quite obvious what a brilliant strategic defensive position it holds, the steep climb through some dense undergrowth to reach the tower itself only adds to the powerful and disorientating nature of this site. It is difficult to ascertain when the castle at Esker was built, but it is known that it was occupied until 1775. One of the unique features that leads to this castles infamy is the inclusion of a ‘Sheela-na-Gig’ halfway up the tower’s eastern wall. To those who haven’t hard of a ‘Sheela na Gig’, they are essentially figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. The origins of the Sheela-na-Gigs, found in a heavier density in Ireland than anywhere else, is still debated to this day. To some they are related to early Anglo-Norman areas and were designed to represent female lust as hideous, others believe they were used to ward off evil. Another school of thought is that they come from a pre-Christian fertility or mother-goddess religion and may have been taken from earlier ruins and built into these newer structures. The horizontal placement of the Sheela at Esker is something I have not seen before and it is a truly wonderful carving.

As stated earlier the origins of Esker Castle are uncertain, it is known that in 1556 Rory O’Mooney was proprietor of Esker Castle and its lands. The castle appears to have stayed in the ownership of the O’Mooneys and other families related to them by marriage during its lifetime. There is some debate around a massacre that may or may not have happened at Esker. One story states that it was meant to have been carried out by the Mooneys, who committed as massacre after inviting some neighbouring families under the pretence of a feast, however this story has been discounted by the family. The Mooney’s side to the massacre story states that the castle was once attacked by the more powerful MacCoghlans, to whom they paid tribute to in cows milk at certain times of the year. The MacCoghlans advanced from the flatter earth to the north of the castle, during the attach the Mooney’s steward captain was injured, he demanded the family close the gates and protect the castle, this act of loyalty saved the O’Mooney’s at Esker.