Town Trail: Stop No. 9

Villiers' Castle    (words courtesy of Mary Weir)

George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham

Villiers' Castle at the entrance to Dromahair village was to be the intended Irish home for George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham. Though only the son of a small Leicestershire landowner, George Villiers had a meteoric rise in society to become the first Duke in a hundred years who was not of royal lineage. His widowed but ambitious mother had sent her handsome son, aged sixteen, to France, where he learned all the skills of a courtier; music, dancing and fencing. When he was introduced at the Court of James I in 1614, he was an instant hit, quickly becoming the favourite of the King, who showered him with titles before finally creating him a Duke. He was a dashing figure and much later Alexander Dumas used him as a model for one of his Three Musketeers.

At Court, he was in a position of great power, and used his influence with the King to secure promotion for his relations. His nephew, George St. John, became commander of the fort at Carrick-on-Shannon, while another became Governor of Athlone. James wished to settle his favourite comfortably so when the Plantation of Leitrim got underway in the 1620s it was obvious that George Villiers would benefit. The rightful heir, Brian O'Rourke, was at the time incarcerated in prison in London. In spite of opposition from a jealous Court, George was granted 6,500 acres of good land and 1,500 acres of bog in "O'Rourke  country". One of the provisions stated that there was no obligation to reside on the estate as long as an agent stayed there as caretaker. There must also be two weekly markets on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the "Manor of Dromahere" as well as two fairs yearly on 20th July and October.

The future seemed rosy for George Villiers but grim fate  intervened. His high position with the King had created enemies. There was a wave of hostility against him which escalated into fierce antagonism, before finally culminating in his assassination by one John Fenton. Villiers had gone to Portsmouth to take command of the Fleet and Fenton was an unpaid sailor who stabbed him with a butcher's knife. Villiers shouted "Villain!" as he fell dead.

The estate at Dromahair passed to his half-brother William. The building of Villiers' Castle commenced. It was of an unusual design, based on a U-plan with stairs on the inside corners and with seven chimneys. It is believed to have been designed by John Johnson, who had been appointed at that time to the vicarage at Dromahair. He was both a cleric and an engineer and was involved in many architectural undertakings. He lived in a "Tymber house" in his parish of Killery. Built on the site of O'Rourke's castle, it is likely that the stones from this were used in the construction of Villiers' Castle.

A year after the assassination the most rapacious and notorious of the planters who received lands, Sir Frederick Hamilton, made an attempt to acquire the estate at Dromahair for 4,000 pounds. William Villiers initially agreed, but had second thoughts and offered 100 pounds to be released from the deal, which Sir Frederick rejected. He brought a lawsuit and hounded the now gravely ill Sir William, until the King intervened, much to Sir Frederick's disgust. Later he would cast his eye on the lands at Parke's Castle. William Villiers died just a year after his brother, and George's son, an infant also called George, inherited the castle and became the 2nd Duke of Buckingham.

During the 1641 rebellions Sir Charles Coote used Villiers' Castle to quarter his troops. In April 1646 a worried George Villiers wrote to the King about his "valuable and strong house in Leitrim at Dromahair". Sir Charles had withdrawn his garrison and he feared "that the rebels may occupy it.....he prays that Philip Taylor may be commissioned to raise a company of dragoons or firelocks and that half of them may be ordered to remain at Dromahair where he will provide for them". During the period mid-1640s to mid-1650s, which saw the destruction of Manorhamilton Castle and the breaching of the walls at Jamestown, it is likely that Villiers' Castle was also under attack. The Villiers family remained absent and the edifice gradually fell into ruin. In 1710 the whole estate was sold by George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham to George Lane, Viscount Lanesborough of Rathcline Castle, Tulsk, Co. Roscommon. Today Villiers' Castle remains an impressive ruin.