Looking back at ‘deireadh na gcoillte’

During our school days one of the Irish poems we all had to learn was Cill Chais. We all heard about “deireadh na gcoillte” and how the great native woods were cleared. The woods were indeed cleared not just for sale but also to ensure that the disposed Irish had no place to hide or from which to attack the planters.

Located outside Kilsheelin near Sliabh na mBan, Cill Chais, or Kilcash in English, is now a ruin but has a long association with Irish history. As recently as the 1920s it was used by the Anti-Treaty forces during the Civil War.
It was originally owned by a family named Wall but by the 1500s had become a Butler stronghold and home to a son of the Earl of Ormond. During the 1600s it was the home of Richard Butler one of the leaders of the Confederation of Kilkenny.
Butler was married to a sister of the Earl of Castlehaven. During the rebellion of 1641 Castlehaven had offered to suppress the rebels but was not trusted because he was a Catholic. Afterwards he was arrested but succeeded in escaping from Dublin Castle. He made his way to Kilkenny where he became one of the leaders of the Confederation.
He was appointed to lead the army marching against Munro in Ulster but was replaced by Eoghan Rua O’Neill. Generally not regarded as a great commander he did however have a number of successes including one against Lord Inchiquin in Cork. After the Confederate War he retired to Kilcash where he wrote his memoirs.
The noble lady referred to in the poem was Margaret Butler, Viscountess Iveagh. She was a daughter of Burke, the Earl of Clanrichard, who fought on the side of King James and was taken prisoner after the Battle of Aughrim. Her sister was married to Patrick Sarsfield and her brother William was killed at the Battle of Fontenoy.
Margaret’s first husband was Brian Maginnis, Lord Iveagh. They were a staunchly Catholic family from County Down and after the Cromwellian wars many of them joined armies on the continent. Brian Maginnis was a colonel in the Austrian Imperial Army and was killed in battle in 1703. Following his death Margaret married Colonel Thomas Butler of Kilcash Castle.
As the poem says “Aifreann a ra” was a regular occurence in Kilcash and even though Butler was Protestant, he helped in sheltering Catholic bishops and priests. He and also helped educate men for the priesthood.
The poem uses the demise of Kilcash and its family as symbols of the decline of those great Irish families. The woods themselves were sold off around 1797 long after Lady Margaret had passed away and the poem was probably written in the early 1800s.
The old ruin at Kilcash remained in the Butler family and was acquired by the State in the late 1990s. Structural faults had developed in part of the tower house and the Office of Public Works has initiated a series of repair and restoration works.
While those works will undoubtedly be successful, the glory days of old will never return for Cill Chais.
In those days it was home to the noble lady of the poem Margaret, Viscountess Iveagh who died on July 19, 1744 – 268 years ago this week.
n Michael Torpey