The Fall of Daingean Uí Bhigh Castle

There is a little Indiana Jones in all of us...

In the summer of 2005, I found myself living and working in central County Clare, Ireland. While tending a biodynamic farm, living in a 280-yearold thatched cottage, and conducting biodiversity and geomantic studies in the region, I began to play football (soccer) with the international community who lived in the area.

The organizer told me about 150 acres of Celtic-Broadleaf Forest across the street from his house, my interest was peaked. When he told me there was a 14th century Norman castle in the middle of the forest, my eyes lit up. When he went further to say that the forest had taken over the castle since the Cromwell years and was almost impossible to find, I showed up the next day. After hours of wandering, I almost gave up. One last go, directly through a wetland, into a mature wood, I came face to face with a 35-foot high curtain wall of ivy. I had found the castle.

Daingean Ui Bhigh Castle was once a MacNamara castle or tower house where Gaelic and Norman-Gaelic chieftains reigned and banquets were enjoyed. While frequently the castle is believed to have suffered a Cromwellian attack in the 1650's, Diarmuid told me the true story shared herein.